Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I've been in a Vintage mood lately...

....so I've created a couple of designs over the last week that tie in with my mood.

For the first design I got the idea from Katrinasnailblog it's a little different, but similar enough that I must give her idea credit here. I used China Glaze Something Sweet & E.L.F. Desert Haze for my base colors & then used pink, white, red & green acrylic paint for the polka-dots & roses:


I put a 60's vintage film on it just to play up the vintage vibe.




The second design was inspired by copythatcopycat & is meant to look like an old vintage necklace & pendant. I used Zoya Pandora for my base & black, white & gold acrylic paints for my design:





Thursday, July 26, 2012

Navy on White Floral inspired by DevilishPolish

I haven't posted anything the last few days, my heart has been heavy since my last post & it's taken me a while to find inspiration for anything lately. But I did find this pretty & simple flower design created by DevilishPolish that was simply lovely, so I decided to try it out.

I used a Sally Hansen white for my base & a Navy blue acrylic paint for the dots & flowers, here is my design:





Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Batman, Dark Knight Rises:


The wait is over & the final installment of the Dark Knight starts in 24 hours. Batman has long been my favorite hero as a kid & grew into a proper adult obsession:-)

I have loved the comic books, cartoons, & all of the Batman movies. But the most recent collaboration between Christopher Nolan & Christian Bale in the latest Batman movie series has just been incredible & sadly this installment will be the last of them. Last year I got my picture taken with a particularly hot batman at the San Diego Comic Con, check out this picture, isn't he just gorgeous? I wanted him as a souvenir but the hubby said no, lol!





Anyways, the movie theater is having a marathon evening playing the two Christopher Nolan Batman's leading up to the midnight showing of Dark Knight Rises, so naturally we bought tickets right away & will be going to see it tomorrow. But, first things first, gotta get my nails ready....

I love the poster where you see the Batman logo in the middle of buildings that are crumbling down, I really wanted to create this look but didn't have time or patience to really get into a super detailed painting on my nails. Solution, I made a Batman logo cut out using a sticker label that I printed the logo on & an exacto knife. I painted my thumb white, waited for it to dry, stuck my logo stencil on there & painted over the logo with black crackle polish...came out perfect, just how I wanted it to! For the rest of my nails I chose to paint them black, except for my ring finger on which I used dark red & painted MEOW with white acrylic paint for the lovely Catwoman. (Favorite Catwoman= Michelle Pfeiffer). It came out really cute & simple, just what I wanted.


Inspiration






I added a "comic" editing look to it, for funsies!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Summer Fun Challenge, Day 8: Fun in the Sun

For the last & final day of the Summer fun Challenge, created by neverlandnailblog, bright colors & crazy patterns are in order....so I decided to go with some of my favorite summer fruits. Now I have seen many fruit nails along my nail art journey, but my favorite fruits are quite different than what I've seen so I had to put on my creative cap a bit here & found my inspiration from the fruits themselves.

These are some of my favorite summer fruits that I have chosen for today's art: Cherries, Kiwi, Papaya, Passion Fruit & Mango. Now, there are actually many different kinds of mangoes to choose from, my favorite is actually the golden mango, but I chose the red mango because the colors are so pretty:-)

I used different colors for each of my fruits, can't remember which & don't have time to look right now, but you get the general idea. I then used acrylic paints to complete the fruit creation for each one.

Here is my last Summer fun Challenge nail art design for you, starring the beautiful colors of nature in these delicious fruits:



L-R: Passion Fruit, Mango, Kiwi, Papaya & Cherries on the thumb!



Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Summer Fun Challenge, Day 7: Summer Stylin'

Day 7 is finally here in the Summer Fun Challenge by neverlandnailblog, I've been waiting for this one as I absolutely love getting ideas from Fashion...so many colors, so many choices, but alas I can only pick one.

When I think of summer styles I think of light & airy dresses, pretty pastels, whites, lace & ruffles. Either that, or bikini's shorts & tank tops. I decided to go with my first vision of summer stylin'.

My inspiration


I used Sally Hansen white for my base color, then used: light blue, brown, burgundy & light pink for the whimsical flower pattern.

Here is my Summer Stylin' design:











Monday, July 9, 2012

Summer Fun Challenge, Day 6: The Big Blue

Day 6 of the Summer Fun Challenge by Neverlandnailblog, we're makin' waves & getting inspiration from the ocean.

I grew up in Brasil, I was in the water 70% of every day growing up & loved every second of it! There was this little town about an hour outside of Rio called Cabo Frio (translates to "Cold Cape" but it's far from it), where we used to go camping on the weekends. Cabo Frio is known for it's white sand dunes & crystal blue water. If you ever take a trip to Brasil & you want to enjoy a day of relaxing at a beach, don't go to Copacabana or Ipanema, take a drive out to Cabo Frio & experience it's lovely scenery. Although there are many wonderful things to experience being in Rio de Janeiro as well. Take a look at these...

One of my favorite beaches, Praia das Conchas, meaning "beach of shells"


The white sand dunes at Praia das Dunas (Dune Beach). We would bring cardboard boxes & slide down the dunes.

Praia do Forte, meaning "Fort Beach" because of the little fort at the end

This is the picture I got my inspiration from, Praia das Conchas (beach of shells) is on the left, Praia do Pero (Pero beach) is on the right. Praia do Pero has some of the best waves, so it's a favorite for surfers. In contrast, Praia das Conchas is very calm & perfect for snorkeling or scuba diving.

So I'm going to take my inspiration from one of my favorite places in the world, a place filled with memories, good times & beauty...the Cabo Frio beaches in Brasil:

I'm using white for my base color, then adding blue gradients to make waves using this cloud design technique I saw on Nailside's blog, which I think also looks like waves. I think somebody here used this for their Hot hot hot design too, seen here... here is my Ocean inspired mani:





























Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Summer Fun Challenge, Day 5: Are we there yet?

Day 5 of the Summer Fun Challenge, Neverlandnailblog asks us to show our most creative road trip or vacation mani.



Well, just so happens that my Hubby & I are taking my 4 youngest siblings (I come from a family of 15) to Disney this week. It's going to be their first time there, they are ages 3-14, we will be driving 14 hrs from Houston to Orlando & spending 4 days there. So although my theme might not be the most creative, it definitely is going to be one hell of a road trip with 2 cars full of kids & adults heading for a week of fun!

For my Disney mani & I chose Cinderella as my "muse" because one of my other many sister's, Tina, was Cinderella for 3 years in Orlando a while back & I was able to visit her there & had a blast!


Inspiration

My nails were already painted a light blue so I just dabbed some dark blue acrylic paint, using an eye shadow sponge applicator, to make it look like night. I then did a silhouette of Cinderella & the Prince (because there is no way I could paint them that tiny, I mean my nails are like 1x1 centimeters small) I used silver for the moon & the bridge.

Here is my Disney vacation mani:










Monday, July 2, 2012

Mickey & Minnie Mouse inspired by SimplyRins

Today I will be copying another cute design I found by SimplyRins, it's her Mickey & Minnie nail art. SimplyRins has so many great designs, she also has many good tips for those starting out with nail art & just comes up with the best ideas which is helpful when you hit a creative road block. I give her full credit for this one, it was really fun to do. My nails are shorter than hers so I couldn't fit the noses, but I think it came out pretty good. It's the perfect choice because I am going out of town tomorrow to Disney World & I just had to have my nails match the occasion.

Here is my Mickey & Minnie Mouse nail art, designed by SimplyRins & copied by me: