Christmas Lights Nail Pictorial!

This year I am feeling unusually festive. I've already decorated my house with Christmas lights, and have been pinning Christmas nails and crafts like a mad woman. I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I've already done my Thanksgiving nails for the year, and I can't think of anymore to do. Don't worry I'll show you those in a minute. :) It's freezing in Tennessee today and it already feels like winter so why not get a head start!! Christmas nails are my favorite to do and there's endless possibilities!!! Here is a simply, three step tutorial for some ADORABLE Christmas light nail art.

But first, here's my turkey Thanksgiving nails for your viewing pleasure.

On to the Christmas lights! For this mani I used:

• Sally Hansen - White Tip
• Julep - Payton
• Julep - Jackie
• Julep - Lexie
• Wet N Wild - Saved by the Blue
• Sinful Colors - Black on Black
• Nutranail Green Tea Fast Dry Top Coat

The first step is to paint all of your nails white. I tried to pick a nice opaque white with little to no shimmer. Next, I went ahead and added a coat of my fast dry topcoat to make the nails dry enough to start painting on the lights! I also went ahead and cleaned them up to ensure there would be no bleeding of the colors together from the remover in cleaning up later.

The next step is to paint on your string that the lights are going to painted on. I picked black for this, but green would also work if you're looking for a more traditional Christmas light feel. I used the thinnest brush in my collection that I could find. I also saw on Pinterest that you can use a piece of thread for this to make a really thin string of lights. You just place it where you want while your nails are still tacky and trim it then put a topcoat on to hold it in place.  

Next, use a small brush, dotting tool, or even a toothpick to carefully paint on the lights. I used a toothpick that way I could get a tiny triangular shape for the lights. It allows for precision and I think if you're a beginner it would be your best bet. The best part is you can pick any color you want! You can do just red and green, or multicolored lights like I did! Just make sure and alternate the colors you're using. I painted on one color at a time. I used red, blue, green, and yellow. Sorry for the bad quality photo. My camera was not cooperating. :( Once you're done with that, add on your favorite topcoat and you're done!

And that's all there is to it! Super easy, Super cute nails for Christmas!

Here's a picture of my favorite one! :)

Hope you guys enjoyed my tutorial!!! I think these nails are super cute and I will definitely be trying them again with different variations and hopefully a little less mess. Until next time!

Xx Ashley C.

Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top Coat Review

Recently, I ran out of Seche Vite. Sad day. Apparently, Walgreens doesn't carry it, so I picked up a bottle of Nutra Nail's Speed Dry 30 Second Top Coat. I'd used their Nail hardener before and really liked it. Plus, I did some quick searching for topcoat reviews and for the price, it seemed like a good buy. It cost a mere $3.99!!!

Overall, I really like this topcoat. I find it comparable to Seche Vite with significantly less shrinkage. It takes a little bit longer to dry your nails and is not quite as high gloss. That being said, if you follow the instructions and wait 1 minutes after painting your nails to apply it, it dries them to the touch in about another minute! This works for me! I don't know about you, but I always find that I have something important to do right after I finish my nails and end up screwing them up, so fast dry time is my number one priority!!!

Here are some pictures of my current mani with the Nutra Nail Top Coat! I took these pictures on day two so you will see there is minimal shrinkage, no chipping, and they still look FABULOUS!
For this mani I used:
Julep - Evangeline (LE Holo from 2013 Cupid's Mystery Box)
Sally Hansen- Black Out
Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top Coat

Here is a picture with flash!

And a grainy one without!

EDIT: I should probably mention that I have an office job and type constantly all day. My nails usually chip an hour after coming to work, so this is extra impressive for day 2!

Isn't it great!? 

Xx Ashley C.

Halloween Drip Nails!

Time for some easy peasy nail art everyone!!!
Nail drippies are one of my favorites because they are so ridiculously easy and look really cool no matter what colors you use. You could do blood drips with white and red too with this same technique.

For this tutorial I used:
Julep - Adrianna
Sally Hansen - Black Out
Random Nightlights glow in the dark polish from Sally's mentioned in another post

Start out by painting your nails whatever solid color you are using. This is really obvious but for the sake of this being a tutorial I will say it. :)
Allow that to dry for a bit and then add your glow in the dark topper. I used two coats of mine just to make sure they glowed really nicely and had a lot of glitter. :)
Once that is dry, you get a dotting tool, pen, bobby pin, toothpick, whatever you have thats roundish on the end and start in the middle of your nail and make a dot. You then drag it upward toward the tip of your nail and repeat this as many times as you want on your nail to make the dripping paint.

When you're done it should look something like this:

The last step is to paint a line across the tips of your nails. You can do this as thick as you want. Mine is pretty thin and is just like a french mani tip.

See how easy it is!! I may do blood drips next and I'll add a picture of it! :)

And here comes the best part!

I swear if I could find more of this stuff I'd buy a million bottles!! It glows like crazy!!!

Xx Ashley C.

Ghost Nail Tutorial!!

I love October. More importantly I love Halloween. Especially Halloween inspired nails. I did Nicole's nails Friday night and we decided on ghost nails. Even better they glow in the dark! :)
Here's how you can do it yourself!!

For this mani we used:
Julep - Cleopatra
Sally Hansen - Hard to Get
Random black nail polish
Night Lights Glow in the dark polish that I bought from Sally's years ago... it's great.

And here's what it looks like completed!!

And here's the glow in the dark!! 

Hope you enjoy this super easy Halloween inspired tutorial!!

:D Xx Ashley C.

Mani of the day!!

I'm so so so excited for fall!! I can finally wear my sweaters, boots, hoodies and fall colored nail polishes!! For my nails today I decided to do a glitter ombre! I am OBSESSED with glitter ombres and fades right now. They are super cute for any season but I think my favorite gold glitter is perfect for fall! I probably need a little bit more practice with them but I'm really liking my nails!! Hope you enjoy! :)

For this mani I used:
Sephora by OPI - I'm with Brad
Sinful Colors - All About You

The glitter ombre itself was really easy to do! All you need is a makeup sponge. First paint you nails a solid color and wait until they are almost all the way dry. Then you paint the glitter onto the sponge and just sponge it on slowly and make sure there is more at the tip of the nail! :) Then seal it with a topcoat of course!

Another tragedy I'm also out of cuticle oil!!! Anyone have any suggestions for a brand that will help a really big problem with cracking cuticles???

Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do!! :)

Don't forget to subscribe and like us on Facebook!!

Xx Ashley C.

Music Note Nail Tutorial!

Last night I did the cutest nails and I figured I'd show you how to do them as well!! It's one of the easiest tutorials ever so here you go!

For this mani I used:
Julep - Annette
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out
Seche Vite Top Coat

First you paint your nails a solid color. I picked Julep Annette because it's kind of grey and kind of white and I hoped it would go on smoothly. It, however went on horrible and gloopy so forgive the mess. I should have just used regular white.

Next take a striping brush and paint three thin lines on the tips of each nail like this:

Mine are a little messier than I'd like them to be.

Next with a dotting tool, pen, bobby pen end, or a rounded end brush paint two dots on the lines. I did some of mine on the lines and some of them in between so the notes weren't on the same lines on each nail. :)

Then you finish off the notes. Paint lines on the dots on the right side and form your notes! I chose to do different notes on each nails to make it look more like sheet music. :)

And you're done!! Super easy peasy and adorable nail art for your weekend!

Enjoy!

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Xx Ashley C.