(Just Another) Mani Monday: Olympic Nails
First off, I’d like to say again- THANK YOU for all the support, and for all the interest in the giveaway!
As I mentioned on Facebook, I drew the names of the winners last night, and they have already responded! So big congratulations to Tina, Patricia, and Cayce!! 2 of the 3 winners will have their packages on their way to them tomorrow- the 3rd (at her request) will be getting hers mailed as soon as the Olympics are over. My first international winner!
Be sure to post pictures on my wall when you make a fuzzy monster mani, guys!
Now onto today’s post- Olympic Nails. Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which is always possible, I’m fairly in the dark with news a lot of times), you know that the Olympics began this weekend. Go Team USA!
I will freely admit, this is not my best work. But the kids were screaming, and I’m sure it’s fun to see the ‘fails’ as often as the wins. The idea is good though, in my opinion! Maybe you can recreate it a bit better 🙂
Here’s the first round of polishes I used. This is OPI’s DS Radiance, Essie’s Penny Talk, a franken thrown together 5 minutes earlier by me, Color Club’s mini gold with no sticker (from May’s BirchBox), and Julep Kate. (Or in other words- you need white, gold, silver, bronze, and (optional) patriotic topcoat)
I had planned to use Pretty and Polished’s Freedom Calling, but I couldn’t find the bottle for the life of me. I know it’s around here somewhere. That is a good one to use though, it’s fairly similar to this one but not identical. Same idea- red, white and blue mixed glitter.
I painted white on my thumb and pinky, and did the 3 medal colors across the inner fingers, like so:
I think using all 3 colors from Essie’s Mirror Metallics would be good if you have them. This gold and silver did not play nicely when it came to cleanup, because of the glittery effect.
Next round of colors:
You’ll need black, green, yellow, red, blue, and some straws (cutting them is up to you- but you’ll need 5 ‘sides’). I used Cult Nails Nevermore, Julep Emilie, Sinful Colors Pull Over, Zoya Sooki, and Sinful Color’s Rain Storm. For cleaning purposes, I also used a paper plate, but a piece of paper will also work.
Now we’re going to use these colors to create the Olympic rings on our thumb!
To make the rings, I dipped the tip of the straw into a little blob of polish. If you don’t know off the top of your head (I didn’t), the rings go blue-black-red, and then yellow-green below them. So I began with blue, and worked my way down!
Here’s the tip of the straw with polish on it. Then you’ll place the straw end where you want the first ring, and gently rock it around to ensure the polish gets on the nail around the entire circle. On my first circle, I lifted up after just placing it on my nail, and 1/2 the circle was missing. When I re-did it, it made it look a bit ‘off’. Do make sure you have a good bit of polish on the straw, but it doesn’t have to be dripping.
My nails, in addition to being shorter, are not very big. I could *barely* fit the rings on my thumb, and they were all overlapping each other. If you have slightly smaller nails, I’d advise trying out a coffee stirrer straw instead of a standard one. If I had any, that’s what I would have used!
My ghetto rings. At least it’s obvious what they’re supposed to be!
I didn’t take photos of the next step (because my husband wasn’t home to help with pictures), but I wrote ‘USA’ in red and blue polish on my pinky. I did this using a paintbrush, but you could easily do it using nail art stripers, or maybe even a standard brush if you’re patient.
I then finished it all off with my red, white and blue topcoat over the gold, silver and bronze nails. Obviously, if you’re not from the USA, Britain, or another r/w/b country, you can use something else to represent your colors!
Believe it or not, I DID clean up those metallic nails. The gold and silver really don’t like me!
And I didn’t realize my USA was upside down in the swatches until after I’d taken pictures. I didn’t want to redo the entire nail, so I hope you guys understand 🙂
Go Team USA! Make us proud!
If you do any kind of Olympic mani, even if it’s completely different from this, please link up on my Facebook page- I’d love to see it and feature it!
(Just Another) Mani Monday: Ladybug, Ladybug
Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home; Your house is on fire and your children all roam!
I used to say ‘burn’ as a kid but that’s really sort of depressing, so I didn’t teach Syd that version 😉
The other night my husband spotted a baby ladybug on our bed. My daughter LOVES ladybugs- in fact, her nickname from my mother-in-law is ‘Nana’s Little Ladybug’- so of course we called her in and she spent a good chunk of time staring at it.
So when I was trying to decide what to do for today’s Mani Monday, I remembered the little visitor and decided to do ladybug nails!
Here’s what you’ll need:
Nail polish, and dotting tools. I used Revlon Colorstay in Red Carpet, Sinful Colors Happy Ending, Cult Nails Nevermore, and Julep Kate. You can use whichever colors you like! I got my dotting tools for super cheap somewhere on Ebay from China, but you can find them in a lot of places. If you need help locating some just leave a comment!
First off, I painted each nail with Happy Ending- this was my closest ‘grass’ type color, and I hadn’t used it before so I was glad to have the chance.
I had never noticed this color before, but I think it’s part of some core lines of Sinful Colors? Most of my stores don’t carry it, but I noticed it as part of the standard larger display at Rite Aid. I really like it! This was almost a 1 coat polish- I added a second coat to make the color a bit brighter. I also had NO CLEANUP. I did my nails last night and took the photo this morning… and I didn’t have to touch up a thing. I honestly think that’s a first for me! I don’t know if it’s a testament to the polish, or to my increasing skills with a brush!
I didn’t take photos while I was doing the mani, but it’s very straightforward and easy. I used one of the larger dotting tools, dipped in red, and did 2-3 dots on most fingers. I let that dry a little, and then I took one of the tiny dotting tools, dipped it in black, and added the ladybug’s characteristic spots. As an afterthought, I used a larger dot of black for the ‘head’ area and dotted small white dots for ‘eyes’. I didn’t have a teeny tiny brush, so I didn’t add antennae. I TRIED on my thumb and it came out awful and thick, so I covered it with Happy Ending- this explains some of the inconsistencies in the coverage on that nail 🙂
Super quick, easy, and cute! I struggled a little more with my right hand because I have issues keeping my left hand steady… but it still looks decent!
Some of the eyes are giant, next to a little eye. My ladybugs are crazy I guess 🙂
Hope you enjoy! If anyone decides to recreate a similar look, please share pictures on my Facebook page!
Polish Monster 