Abstract Vines and Flowers

Hello Lovelies!  Sorry for the long time no post, last week I was very busy preparing for one of my most favorite events, The Steampunk World's Fair.  Yeah, I'm into cosplay too!  Just one of my many other hobbies!  Sadly, I didn't have time for nails and barely had time for maintenance, which means my nails are in a terrible state.  However, Cindy (my right hand) mostly survived, so you'll be seeing a lot of her until my nails grow back enough to reshape them.

Either way, I really wanted to get back to my favorite hobby, nail art.  I created this abstract-ish flower and vine design for this week's Freehand IG challenge for the Nature prompt...

Materials I used:
Base coat - Seche Vite
Green polish - Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer 'Queen Lime Rose Zinnia'
Pale peach polish - Sweet Heart Polish 'Peach Cobbler'
Bright pink polish - Zoya 'Rooney'
Dark green and white acrylic paint
Black polish from a nail art striper
Various of brushes
Top coat - Rica 'Glossy Glam'

I started off with two coats of BEGL 'Queen Lime Rose Zinnia', this is truly one of the most gorgeous green polishes I have ever seen.  It is a pale green with a beautiful pink holo shimmer.  You can see the shimmer in the bottle a bit better than on my nails.  I haven't been able to take a picture that does this polish any justice.

Using green acrylic paint and a small brush, I drew curlicue vines across all my nails.

Then with white acrylic paint and a brush I painted large flowers extending from various parts of my nails.  I also dotted some smaller flower buds.

I then switched to polish and used a pale peach, with a small brush I filled in most of the large white flowers, leaving some of the white exposed.

I then used a bright pink and created another layer inside the pale peach, again leaving part of the previous layer exposed.  I also used this bright pink to dot the center of my little flower buds.

I added one final splash of white at the flowers centers, stippled black dots in the flowers centers, did a bit of cuticle clean up and applied a top coat.

Because my right hand is in such disrepair you only get one duel shot, and here it is (be nice)...

I love how the pink and green compliment each other in this nail art design.  When I think of nature (the theme of the challenge),  I think green and flowers.

I really hope my nails grow back quick, they usually do (fingers-crossed they don't disappoint me this time).  I hope you enjoyed this nail art design, thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



Outline Flower over Gradient

Hello Lovelies!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I hope you had an opportunity to spend some quality time with your mother and/or children.  I had an exceptional day!  My two year old who usually likes to get up with the sun decided to give me some quiet time in the morning and slept in, which gave me time to create this nail art design.  I created this for this week's Freehand challenge on Instagram, the prompt was a freehand design over a gradient.  If you've read the last few posts I've made involving gradients you know that gradient designs are my new favorite thing, so I was excited and ready for this prompt.  This is what I came up with...

Materials I used:
Base coat: Seche Vite
White Undie: Sinful Color 'Snow Me White'
Three polishes for gradient: China Glaze 'Lotus Begin,' 'Grass is Lime Greener,' & 'Thistle Do Nicely'
Glitter topper: China Glaze 'Fairy Dust'
Latex mani mask: Ellagee 'Lickity Split Latex Mani Mask'
Makeup sponge
Black nail art striper
Top coat: Rica 'Glossy Glam'

I prepped my fingers with a white base polish to make my colors brighter and applied my mani mask for easier clean up.  Remember, when using a latex mask, don't allow your fingers to touch together where the latex is.  It will stick to itself and most likely pull off, like it is between my pinky and ring fingers.

I then did a sponge gradient of light purple, green, and a neon orangy (almost pink shade).  It took me four sponge coats to get the opacity that I wanted.  I really like how these colors blended because it creates an almost rainbow affect.

After removing my mask and performing a small bit of clean up I applied a glitter topper, 'Fairy Dust,' over the gradient.

I was quit content with this gradient and the 'Fairy Dust' that I would have been more than happy to leave it here.  However, this was to be the base for this week's Freehand challenge and so it is.  I decided to do a simple flower outline over this gradient.  I used a black nail art striper and started the flower by drawing a half circle in the corner of my nail.  I outlined that with a second circle, then drew three petals extending from the circle.  I drew petals between the full petals and then finished off the flower by drawing a grid in the center and triangle-like shapes on the full petals for dimension.

I repeated this flower design on all my nails only changing the orientation of the flowers.

I did some light clean up and then added my new favorite top coat Rica 'Glossy Glam' after giving the flowers a few minutes to dry.

I was a little worried that the flowers would take away from the gradient, but I think they turned out quit well.  In fact, I am absolutely in love with this nail art design.  I know I've said that about designs in the past but I really don't want to take this one off.  I am hoping it will last for a few days at least.

I am really enjoying the freehand challenge so far.  Those of you who are keeping track, the first prompt of this months Freehand Challenge on Instagram was actually cartoon.  I did create a nail art design for this but not a blog post.  I did post pictures on Instagram, so if you are interested in seeing that nail art design checkout my Instagram feed and look for my Perry the Platypus nails.  If you are interested in trying out this challenge the prompts are listed at the very bottom of this post.  It's never to late to start, and I highly recommend this challenge to all skill levels.

I really do hope you like this nail art design and found the pictorials helpful.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



Retro Cherries and Stripes

Hello Lovelies!  As many of you know I love all things retro, vintage, and/or pinup style, and since its been a while  I thought it was time for me to create a retro nail art design.  I decided to go with a classic cherry pattern because I have never done one (can you believe that)!  I wanted to do a little something more than just cherries so this is what I did...

Materials I used:
Base coat: Seche Vite
White polish: Color Club 'On Cloud Nine' (white chocolate scented)
Red polish: Color Club 'Red-Handed' (cinnamon scented)
Black polish: Sinful Colors 'Black on Black'
Green Art Club stripper (not shown in picture below)
Striping tape
Dotting tools
Silver studs from bornprettystore.com
Top coat: Rica 'Glossy Glam'

I started off with two coats of white on my pointer, mid, and ring fingers, and two coats of red on my pink and thumb.  I applied top coat to my pointer and mid because I will be using tape on these fingers for my stripes.

On my ring finger, I created a cherry pattern on the entire nail.  This is relatively easy because it really is just a series of dots.  Using a medium/small dotting tool I placed two dots together randomly over the nail.  I then used a green nail art striper and drew a v-shaped stem connecting the two dots.  Then with a very small dotting tool I applied a very small white dot on the same side of each cherry.

I finished off this manicure by dotting medium/large dots over the red on my pink and thumb.  On my pointer I used striping tape and applied black over the white.  Lastly for the mid finger I did a half stripe, half cherry pattern using medium sized silver studs over the center.

I really like this nail art design, because I love the retro look.  The classic red, white, and black combo are just the perfect pin up combo, and the little splash of green really livens up the look.  I also like that even though this design looks complicated that it was actually very easy to create.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far, and I hope you enjoyed this nail art design as much as I.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,