Pink Clouds

Hello Darlings! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far.  Today, I have a very simple manicure that is perfect for all skill levels.  I created this pink cloud pond mani, for the final #nailthattechnique Instagram challenge of March.  I know it's April already but I had until today to submit (hey at least its on time).  This is probably the only non-Easter nail art design you are going to see from me this week too.  So, what is a pond mani?  Well, I call this a jelly sandwich manicure but I heard that a jelly sandwich is layered with glitter, were a pond mani involves a sheer polish and a design.  Whether or not this true I'm not entirely sure (if you know, please comment).  I decided to do a simple cloud design because it is simple and I always have my head in the clouds.

Materials I used:
Base coat - Seche Vite
Sheer polish - Sinful Colors 'You Just Wait'
White polish - Sinful Colors 'Snow Me White'
Medium/small dotting tool
Top coat - Seche Vite

Creating a pond manicure is fairly easy, I created a very similar manicure with heart's a couple of months ago.  You simple alternate between layers of your design (in this case clouds) and sheer polish.  On the previous design I started with a layer of sheer polish, however, this time around I started with my cloud layer first, and then applied a sheer layer.  I continued alternating between clouds and sheer until I was satisfied.  This time around it was about a total of nine layers; five layers of clouds, and four layers of sheer, beginning and ending with a cloud layer.

I love the cute little puffy clouds, which are simple random groupings of four or five dots.  It makes me long to get up there in the skies.  How I wish the weather would cooperate so I could do some flying (for those of you who don't know, my other hobby is aviation).      

A pond mani is so easy to create and can be done with flowers or just dots, really any shape that you can draw can be used to create a pond mani.  It allows you to practice one pattern repeatedly, and you can cover up mistakes with the next layer.

I hope you enjoyed this simple and cute, pink cloud manicure. As a side note, this is the first time I have ever completed a mani challenge.  Even though I didn't get them all done for their weekly due date, I did get them all done before the final deadline.  Hooray!  Thank you for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



Carroticure

Hello Lovelies!  I have a very cute Easter design for you today, that is bright and colorful, a carroticure. 

Materials I used:
Base coat - Seche Vite
Base polish - Paint Box Polish 'Marshmallow Peeps'
White polish - Sinful Colors 'Snow Me White'
Acrylic paints - orange, white, green, brown
Detail brush
Large dotting tool
Top coat - Seche Vite

I started out with three thin coats of Paint Box Polish 'Marshmallow Peeps,' this is one of the polishes I received in the Indie Bunny Mani Box.  I love this pastel yellow shade, full of silver shimmery flakies.

I then used orange acrylic paint and a small detail brush to create small carrot shape triangles.  I then toned down the orange with some white to create a little orange shade.  Using the detail brush I drew light orange lines across the triangles.  Lastly, I used green paint and the same small brush to paint leafy tops.

On my accent nail (ring finger) I painted the backside of a chocolate Easter bunny, with a white tail.  I performed a quick clean up and applied a shiny top coat.

This is a really fun and cute Easter design, perfect for a full manicure or just use it to accent another Easter manicure design.  It also works well on short or long nails too, just adjust the size of the carrots to fit accordingly.  I hope you enjoyed this Easter nail art design, thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



Garden Easter Egg Hunt

Hello Lovelies! Today is the first day of April, and the first decent day we've had here in NY in a long time. My nails of the day, are for two challenges; the weekly NPQ Spring challenge, and my first submission for a new Instagram challenge, the Freehand challenge, Flowers.  Of course, I had to make it an Easter themed manicure, well because Easter is coming up and it's my third favorite holiday.

This post is more of a show n' tell than a tutorial because it is primarily freehand and because my tripod broke which made it difficult to take pictures for each step.  However, I do have a few pictures to show you.  Special thanks to my hubby for helping me with taking the double hand shots.

I started off this design with two coats of Color Club 'Blank Canvas' and Nicole by OPI matte top coat.  I applied Ellagee's Liquid Latex Mask around my cuticles to help with the clean up process.

I then did a sponge gradient using Essie 'Truth or Flare,' 'Sew Psyched' and Color Club 'Blank Canvas'.  I removed the latex, performed a brief clean up and applied another layer of matte top coat.

Then using a large variety of brushes, dotting tools and acrylic paints, I freehand a scene including flowers, Easter eggs, and various other little things.  I topped this all off with a shiny top coat.

This turned out a bit more abstract than I intended it to, but I really like the way it looks.  It has everything that I wanted.  The above picture was painted with my non-dominant hand and I'm really proud of the control I have achieved with my left hand.  What more could I ask for, well maybe more fingers to paint on, because I'm so proud of this I don't want to take it off.  I hope you enjoyed this nail art design just as much as me.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,