ZTA

These are some Zeta Tau Alpha inspired nails I did up for my sorority's recruitment week. The first set was done with Caviar beads, but once the beads fell off I replaced them with white zebra strips. But the whole mani is done in Gel.

 

 

 

 

First Gel Nails

This was my first try at Gel mani. I got it as a Christmas present. So this will also be my review of Gel polish.

~When I first did this it took me forever. I was just learning. Now when I do them it takes maybe 10mins or less depending on if I do designs or not.
~ I love the fact that when you do these they are dry and you are ready to go.
~ But when you do them make sure you have nothing to do and have plenty of free time, cause if you pick things up while doing them, air or fuzz sticks very easily to them till youre finished and you can not get the fuzz off, leaving your nails a little rough feeling when theyre done.

~ It takes 30secs for the base coat
~ 60secs for the color to cure
~ And 30secs again for the top coat.
~ Once you are doe you take this solution to clean them and get the stickiness off so no fuzz sticks them.

~ You do need to be careful not to get any on your skin around your nails, when the polish is cured and hardens and will take a while to fade off.

~ The directions and other reviews I have read about Gel mani have said it will last 2weeks. I have
found that mine lasted a lot longer.

~ I have read some things saying this is unhealthy for you and will cause damage to your cuticles. The only damage is if you don't know what youre doing when go to do it and take the polish off. If it was that harmful to your health it would have been taken off the market already.
~ I love this polish! Its easy, quick, fun, and long lasting!

 

 

~ The pictures I am posting lasted for 3 maybe 3 and half weeks. I posted the end result of them before I took them off to show how well they still looked. My thumb did start to peel off, and you can see how far my nails had grown at the cuticles where there is no polish.

 

 

Christmas Presents!

I did both my toes and finger nails in Christmas presents.
They are both done differently.
My toes are glitter, and my fingers are Caviar.

~ I first painted my nails in a sparkle red, and my ring and middle finger in silver.

 

 

~ Then on all the nails but the sliver ones I drew a cross to form the bow, then loops for the bow, and dot in the middle to complete the bow.

 

 

 

~ Then on the silver nails I did the Caviar affect with white beads.

 

 

 

Toes:

 





Christmas!

Each nail was done differently, something relating to Christmas.

Thumb = Santa
Pointer = Elf
Middle = Rudolph
Ring = Lights
Pinky = CandyCane

* I first painted each nail a solid color as the base for the picture going on them.

 

 

 

*Then I began to add the designs to each nail to create the pictures.\

 



*On the Thumb for Santa I put a white line down the middle and tip, made it uneven to look like fur. Then a black like in the middle sideways for the belt, and gold square as the belt buckle.

*On the Elf I painted a black like for the belt then a gold square for the buckle.

*Rudolph, I painted a half moon in light brown on the tip, a red circle in the middle of it. 2small black dots and white dots inside for the eyes. And in light brown again at the cuticles drew partial antlers.

* Lights, a curvy black line, then added different color rain drop shapes along the line.

* CandyCane, just added red strips in the form of a CandyCane.

 

1st try at Caviar Nails

So I have been wanting to try the new "Caviar" nails since they came out. I was unsure how well they would actually work, being beads on yours nails. I figured they would get caught on everything and fall off. So I finally broke down and bought the mini kit at Sephoras. The kit was $28 and they have a bigger one is $80ish. Its by the company "Ciate" which also have a regular nail polish line at Sephoras.
The mini caviar kit came with 4polish colors and 4 different kinds of pearls, and a small funnel.

Since this was my first time trying this, this is going to be a review blog as well as showing you what they look like and how to.

• I didn't do every nail like it shows in some of the pictures. I did my ring finger and my thumb.
• The ring finger is a good nail to put the pearls on. The thumb not so much. With picking things up and such the thumb nail did scrap or get caught on things. So those did not last as long.
• It also says to only put topcoat on the tips of the nails to seal in the beads on the edge. I read before that if you put it all over the nail it will wash the color away. It didn't wash the color away on the tips for me. But after a few days the color had worn off on the beads. I believe the main reason the color coming off cause I kept rubbing my nails and looking at them since they were new. But the tips with topcoat on them kept their original color. So its up to you, you can experiment with the topcoat if you want.
• I read about this product online before actually buying it. It says that it will last about 2-3days.
• By just putting them on two nails they lasted quite a bit. I had done them on a Thursday afternoon and the pearls hadn't really fallen off till late Sunday night. I think they would've lasted maybe at least one more day, but when quite a few fell off and I started picking at them.
• I feel like they are cute and are perfect for certain events. (Since they don't last long). But the polish line by "Ciate" does last a long time. It is a very good polish but since its a Sephoras its a little pricey.

 - A tip that I found online on some other nail blogs. Was that they used the craft brand "Recollections" microbeads to pour onto the nails instead. So you can use any kind of nail polish and go to a craft store purchase the crafting beads and do your nails for a whole lot cheaper. The beads are around $3-4. And they are the same size as the caviar beads. And more of selection of colors.


Now time for the pictures and how to:

• First I painted all the nails with the pink shade; the first polish in the picture. Let dry and do your second coat.
• On the nails that you're going to put the pearls on do that second coat last when you're ready to pour the pearls on.
• The lid that is in the kit is to be used as a tray for the pearls when your pour them. Don't becareful with them, just pour them all over the wet polish.
• Gently press the pearls on your nail to make sure they are in place, and on the edges of the nails.
• The directions it comes with says to let dry for 15-20mins. This may seem long but being my first try I did what it said.
• Once dry it says to add topcoat on the tips like I talked about above in the review.

Sorry for this post being soo longg. But I wanted to give a review on this manicure. Its becoming very popular. Look forward to doing it more :)

Brown on Brown Cheetah

This is your typical brown cheetah design. Its a nice simple and elegant design. And the brown is always good for fall.

~ First I painted all the nails a dark brown. (My brown is from the "Hunger Games" collection by China Glaze.

~ Then I placed some random light brown spots on all the nails. The dots can be any size and shape. (The light brown I used is also from the "Hunger Games" Collection by China Glaze.)

~ For this you can either use a dotting tool or an art brush. But I then outlined the dots in black.

~ The next step is something extra I did. I used a (Matte) topcoat on the nails. Which took away the shine but still looked cute. Compare the top images to the bottom ones to see the difference. (Note: the camera flash did still add a shine to it. Matte polish is supposed to be kinda dull, if one black makes it look like chalkboard.)

Purple Party Tips

This is a fairly simple nail design and looks very cute. Kinda made me think of a party nail design or something for new years eve. They also lasted a long time. Tips are not hard for me to do free handed, also at the time my nails were quite long so it was a lot easier to do the tips.

* I first painted a base coat on the nails.
* Next I used a purple to paint the tips only. Except for my ring fingers I painted the entire nail purple.
* Once all the purple dried, I went over the purple parts only with a glitter polish; that had black, blue, and purple glitter in it. I did a few coats once they dried to make sure there was enough glitter to my liking.
* Then I outlined the tips with black to seal the tips and make it look even.
* And finally added top coat :)