Freehand Neon Stripes

Hello Lovelies!  I was doing really well keeping up on the Freehand Challenge on Instagram for the last couple of months, but this month I have fallen a week behind.  I had initially created a neon flakie rainbow gradient that I was going to use as the base for this prompt, but couldn't bear to cover it up with any of my not so perfect freehand stripes.  (If you are on Instagram checkout my feed to find the gorgeous gradient I created.)  I spent the weekend wearing and enjoying my gradient nails,  so that is how I ended up falling an entire week behind on the Freehand Challenge.  This is what I ended up creating for the Neon Stripes prompt for last week...

Materials I used:
Base coat - INM Ridge Free
Black base polish - Sinful Colors 'Black on Black'
White and black nail art stripers
Neon Polishes - Essie 'Too Taboo,' 'Serial Shopper,' 'Vices Versa,' 'I'm Addicted,' & 'Sittin' Pretty'
Top Coat - Rica 'Glossy Glam'

I often use white as a base color this time of year because its summer and warmer weather calls for brighter colors.  However, I decided to go with a black base this time around just to change it up a little bit.  I started off with two coats of black polish.

Using a white nail art striper I drew three horizontal lines across each nail.  I started with white stripes so that the neon colors would be brighter and more visible over the black.  Freehand stripers are so difficult to draw perfectly, so these end up very uneven and messy.

With a black nail art striper I fixed up some of my mistakes and evened out the widths of the stripes.  There still not perfect but much better.

Using a thin brush and my neon polishes, I filled in the white stripes.  I used Essie's neon collection from 2014, its not a very good neon collection so a white base is vital to make the colors look neon, which makes them perfect for this nail art design.

I finished up by correcting minor mistakes with my black nail art striper, then performed a bit of clean up with acetone and a brush, and topped it all off with a glossy top coat.

I'm really glad I decided against skipping this prompt and went ahead and created this manicure.  Even though this was not my first intended design for neon stripes, I'm still very please with how it turned out.  It may not be perfect but it still is pretty good.

I may end up recreating this design using tapes to achieve that perfect straight line mani that I so love, but it was good to practice freehand.  Someday, with enough practice I might just be able to paint a straight line without making a big mess.

I hope you enjoyed this freehand design, stay tuned because I have many more posts planned this week.  I will finally get around to testing out some squishy nail art stampers, I also have some new stamping polishes arriving this week, I will be swatching the lovely Gothic Gala Lacquer's Science is Beautiful Collection, and I have this week's Freehand Challenge Ikat nail art design.  All in all, it's a busy nail week.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



80's Style Palm Trees

Hello Lovelies!  It has been so rainy and dreary here, it has been a bit depressing.  Today, is the first day the sun has tried to make an appearance, and according to the forecast its not going to stay long.  I have been planning this palm tree nail art design for a while, so I thought now would be the time to post it, it might encourage the sun to stay a bit longer.  Not to mention, it happens to be this week's NPQ challenge...

Materials I used:
Base coat - INM Ridge Free
Base color - Color Club 'Tiny Umbrella' (on the right)
Stripe color - Color Club 'Bermuda Beaches'
Striping tape
White nail art striper
Top coat - Rica 'Glam Gloss'

I used a pale orange polish for my base color with a top coat.  I actually wore Color Club 'Tiny Umbrella' for a day or so before I actually got around to creating the design.  You can see a little bit of tip wear but I'll be covering up that part before the design is complete.

For most of the palm tree nail art designs I've seen and for the one I created last summer (Happy International Nail Art Day) the background is usually a gradient.  I decided to go with just a very simple horizontal stripe for the background this time.  I used striping tape and outline three stripes (four tapes) a little higher than the center of my nail.  I carefully applied my pink polish within the stripes, so that when the tape is removed there are only three pink stripes.

In a second, attempt to be slightly different I used a white nail art striper, instead of the typically used black and created my palm tree design.  I lined the tip, almost as if capping my free-end with the striper, because this is the horizon I wasn't concerned with it being absolutely perfect.  I then drew in the trunk of the tree, making the base slightly wider than the top and giving the top a bit of a curve.  I then drew in four palm leaf or branches.  Lastly, I filled out the leaves with a little hashing motion extending from the branches.

I repeated this design on all my nails, and then as usual I performed a bit of clean up with acetone and a brush, and applied my favorite top coat.

I'm really glad I did this palm tree design with an 80's twist.  Not that gradient background palm tree designs aren't fantastic, because you know I love gradients.  I'm just really pleased with how these turned out.  Palm trees are great for the summer, or for vacations, or if you wished you were on vacation.

This design and color combo is both subtle yet eye-catching.  Also, it's difficult to see in these pictures but the orange and pink polishes have a slight shimmer to them which really adds to the overall design.

For my fellow plebe's out there this design is a great alternative if you haven't mastered or aren't ready to tackle gradients.  You can use striping tape like I did or you can practice your freehand and do it without any tapes.

Hopefully, this nail art design will encourage the sun to stay a little longer.  I hope you enjoyed this nail art design as much as I am.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



May's Freehand Challange Recap

Happy Monday Lovelies!  I can't believe June is upon us already, that means the year is about half over.  There is still so many more nail art goals I want to complete before the year is over, so I got to get in gear.  I am really happy that one of the goal that I am managing to complete (or maintain) is participating in monthly challenges.  Yup, I completed all the prompts in May's Freehand IG Challenge.  The Freehand Challenge is a great challenge because it gives you ideas to help you practice your freehand skills or help you learn freehand techniques you have never tried before.

Here is a quick recap of May's prompts...

The first prompt was Cartoon, which I did complete but did create a blog post for,  I did, however, post them on IG.  I created these Perry the Platypus nails, because he is my favorite character from my daughters favorite cartoon 'Phineas and Ferb.'  Seriously, who doesn't love a crime fighting platypus?!

The next prompt was for any kind of freehand over a gradient.  As you know gradients are my new favorite things, and this turned out to be my favorite nail art design that I created for this challenge.  I love everything about my 'Outline Flower Over a Gradient' design, the bright colors, the 'Fairy Dust' sparkle, and the flower design.  It was very difficult for me to remove this design because I loved it so much,  http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/05/outline-flower-over-gradient.html.

The next prompt was for a Nature design.  When I think of nature, I think of things that a green and growing, bright colored and pretty.  I was reluctant to create another flower design, but I'm happy I did.  I created these abstract vines and flower design for the Nature prompt http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/05/abstract-vines-and-flowers.html.

The last prompt of the Freehand Challenge was Favorite Color.  This leaves open so many realms of possibility.  I, of course, had to use blue but decided to also incorporate my favorite technique, gradient, and my favorite pattern, vertical stripes.  The resulting affect was this interesting Fading Stripe design, http://polishplebe.blogspot.com/2015/05/fading-lines.html.

With this last design I completed another month of the Freehand Challenge.  I have been participating in this challenge, since its start in April, and I will be participating in until I can no longer paint my nails or they stop posting the challenge, whichever comes first.  If you haven't tried out this challenge, I strongly recommend you do.  If you don't have IG, I've posted June's prompts at the bottom of this post.  If you are on IG, share your challenge manis with #freehandchallenge so that we can find them easier.  Even, if you are to shy to share you should still give it a try.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,