Jessie J Black and Gold Manicure

As promised, here is the other manicure that I spotted in Jessie J's music video for Domino. Did you spot it? Here are some screen shots:

I really like this one. It's pretty fierce and I love how she pairs it with that bedazzled hat. Awesome! For my version of this manicure, I started with two coats of Essie's Licorice (my go-to black). For the gold accents, I picked up one of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear nail colour in Golden-I. It's a little bit more silvery gold as opposed to Jessie J's yellow gold, but I didn't have my YSL Gold that I used here. 

After letting two coats of black and one coat of Seche Vite dry for about 20 minutes, I used Scotch tape to section of a thin line in the middle of the nail.

Then, after making sure there were no bubbles along the tape line on each nail, I carefully painted one coat of gold over the uncovered areas.

One word of caution - wait as long as possible to let your coats of base colour and Seche Vite dry before doing the tape step. For this manicure, even though the tape didn't pull up any black, the tape left tiny, and almost unnoticeable, ridges and valleys in the black as it was still slightly sticky under the Seche Vite.

I decided to add gold polka dots with my dotting tool (found in the painting/sculpting section of your local craft store - a toothpick would also work) instead of adding 3D decals like Jessie J's. I love the look of decals but would rather not have them all over my nails. It would be so devastating if one caught on something and ripped off - taking some of the manicure with it! Then I added one coat of Seche Vite to lock it in and, fortunately, this final coat of polish eliminated the appearance of those minuscule ridges and valleys mentioned earlier. This is what it ended up looking like:

I didn't realize until after I got started that these nails are probably supposed to be dominos (duh) but, either way, they are cute and I see a lot of variations of this manicure in Beauty School Dropouts' future!
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Jessie J Multicolour Manicure

I was watching Jessie J's music video for her latest song, Domino, the other day and I was happy to find out that, in this video, nails are front and centre. I spent a while trying to get a good screen shot of one of the manicures and, this is what I got.

Pretty, right? It looks like a warm base that consists of a bright yellow, a pink, and a teal-ish colour, topped off by thick and thin dark purple stripes. I thought I would attempt this complex manicure. Since I am on holiday in Florida and don't have my trusty nail box along with me (I brought some basics but not the necessary colours for this manicure), I ran out to my local Walgreens and grabbed a bunch of Sinful Colors polishes. They are only $1.99 each (I know!!!) and are sold in a ton of colours and go on the nail really well.  They show up rather opaque after two coats and seem to really last. For the teal-ish blue, the most similar colour I could find was Rise and Shine.

I found a pretty perfect pink called Pink Forever.

The yellow, Unicorn, is light and buttery and I can't wait to work it into other pastel manicures.

For the dark purple stripes, I grabbed Let's Talk. This colour is a deep, grapey, metallic purple but, unfourtunately, photographs as blueish!

I decided to free-hand the manicure as opposed to using tape to make the lines sharper, but I think next time I might opt for the more precise tape or sticker method that I used here and here.

Also, I wish the polish colours I used were slightly different (specifically I wish the teal was slightly less green and more blue) but, alas, I am without my supplies so I'm working with what I have!

This is what it turned out like. Keep in mind, the purple lines in the photos with flash appear more purple-y in real life :)

Overall, it actually looks pretty cute. The pattern is inspiring - I can't wait to try it out with different colour combinations...maybe monochrome. Greys and black would be awesome, as would different shades of pink...Valentine's Day anyone? It's coming up! Thanks to Jessie J for the inspiration!

P.S. There is another manicure in the video that I'm itching to try...can you spot it? Keep your eyes peeled on the blog!

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Rihanna You Da One Manicure

I have loved this song since I first listened to Rihanna's Talk That Talk album - it's definitely one of the few songs on the radio that I blast whenever it comes on while I'm driving. Take a listen! (Warning: be prepared to witness a both unnecessary and excessive amount crotch-grabbing)

Other than the aforementioned aspect, the video is pretty fun to watch. I also had a feeling that her video would have some sort of awesome manicure and, sure enough, it does! Here are some screen shots if you didn't catch it:

Cool, right? I'm really loving simple, geometric manicures with sharp lines like this one. It creates a cool look without being too busy. To start off, I did a basecoat (as always) and two coats of white and then top coat (Seche Vite). Then, I ended up letting it sit overnight but half an hour to an hour would be sufficient. This way, you can be sure that the tape in the next step won't pull up the white polish (Seche Vite is key here). Otherwise, the whole manicure could be ruined by a little white section being pulled off.
Then, with regular Scotch tape, I taped off a little triangle section starting at the cuticle and ending about 3/4 of the way toward the nail tip.
This is what it looked like (kind of hard to see on the white):

Then, I painted Essie's Licorice on the section left uncovered by the tape, making sure to cover all the white polish at the cuticle.

These big tape pieces make hand movement pretty awkward so I could really only do one hand at a time. However, you could trim the pieces and it would be much easier.
I let the black polish dry for about 15 minutes, carefully peeled off the tape, added another coat of Seche Vite to lock it all in and here's how it turned out:

Other than the fact that I don't have the long claws Rihanna does, I really like the way this manicure turned out. It's very dramatic and eye catching and also has a similar elongating effect as the geometric holiday manicure I did here. What do you think? Would you rock this mani?

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NYE Sparkle in the Midnight Air

I finally decided on a manicure for tonight! Since I haven't settled on an outfit yet (I know...cutting it close), I opted for a manicure that could go with pretty much anything.

I used two coats of Essie's Licorice (black) as the base and added Deborah Lippmann's I Love the Nightlife as a gradient concentrated at the tips.

As expected, Lippmann did it again - created an awesome glitter. The chunks of glitter themselves are octagonal in shape and are silver with a slight blueish-purpleish tint. The glitter is in a clear base which makes it easy to apply to any base colour. I love the shape and size of these glitter pieces because, even though they are pretty glamorous and intense, the fact that they are slightly biggers makes them pretty adorable because they kindof look like polka dots on the nails.
Overall, a great glitter that helped create a black and silver manicure that will (hopefully) match whatever I end up wearing tonight.

Whether you decide to go out all night or opt for a quiet night in, have an amazing NYE and Happy New Year! Pin It

NYE Keep the Champagne Flowing Manicure

With bubbly in mind, I created this mani by first using two coats of OPI's Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous as the base, which is a graphite and silver micro glitter.

Then, after creating a white background along the tips of the nails, I added one coat of Sinful Color's This is It, a sparkly yellow-gold.

I love how the champagne flows along the nails - fun! As a finishing touch, I added a tiny bit of Orly's Tiara to the champagne to create the illusion of bubbles. Still brainstorming which manicure I am going to wear tonight... oh, decisions!



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NYE 2012 Let the Glitter Rain Manicure

My family and I are on holiday so my little (teenaged) sister requested a special NYE manicure for tonight. I used Deborah Lippmann's Between the Sheets for the base because it is a lovely bright fuschia perfect for a lovely night out for dinner. Then, starting at the cuticle, I created a glitter gradient using Orly's Tiara. I finished it off with tiny numbers on four of the nails on each hand...bring on 2012! 

Definitely looking forward to tonight... but still deciding what to wear and, most importantly, how to accessorize my finger tips!

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Midnight Kiss NYE Manicure

For this New Year's Eve inspired manicure, I used China Glaze's Icicle for the base.  I love this micro-glitter metallic polish and also used it here. Then, I added hand-painted kiss marks with Deborah Lippmann's beautiful Between the Sheets which is a vibrant, dark fuschia.

Then I added some white glossy light reflections and voila! How is your NYE outfit planning going? The fun thing about this manicure is that you can tweak the base and lip mark polish colours to more closely match your outfit (I know I am at fault of overplanning...can't help it!). Happy NYE planning!

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