Spun Sugar Ombré

Hello everyone!

Today I decided my nails have waited enough for a new manicure, therefore I brought my summery colours out of the box, a few toothpicks, the beeswax balm and spent about 2 hours doing an ombré manicure while watching "Eat, Pray, Love".

As I had no any other ideas, I chose to do a Spun Sugar manicure which turned out way better than expected and below is the best shot of my nails.

I used a gradient with sunny yellow, acid yellow, apple green, light turquoise and teal. And fortunately, I managed to take a few photos with my sister's phone before she leaves. Below are some pictures in artificial light (with and without flash).

(This one's actually in both natural and artificial light)

I'm absolutely in love with this kind of manicure, it's definitely my no. 1 WOW nail art, the technique is easy to use and it's definitely a good option if you want to impress with your skills.

That's it for now, don't forget about my discount code which you can use when you purchase from BornPrettyStore.com and get a 10% discount when you place the order. I'll see you all really soon. Kisses!

Skittle Mani (+ Tutorials & The Techniques Challenge)

Hello!

I'm back with yet one more skittle mani! (Sorry for the background, I took these photos this morning while I was still in bed..)

 I decided I've been using too many glequins lately, so I chose to replace the middle gleguin pattern with a gradient Spun Sugar, the pinky with a Cut-Out and the thumb with a layer of a row of glequins and a dark blue jelly.

I can't list  all the polishes, they were quite a few, but I can show you the (quite big) mess I've made doing my nails:

And that doesn't include the Cut-Out, the grey accent nails and the jelly layering on my left thumb nail.

"Wait, grey accent nails? They don't even have a specific pattern on them!" Exactly, that's the point! I decided I can't ruin the gorgeous iridescent pink glow with any pattern, so these are the actual accent nails.

I also made some step-by-step tutorials (one of them isn't included in this manicure, but it was supposed to.. The layering was a complete mess.):

(Glequin placing - use a the very end of a tothpick dipped in clear polish to place the glequins one by one)

(Glitter & jelly layering - let each coat dry for 5-10 minutes to prevent smudging!)

(Jelly layering - let each coat dry for 5-10 minutes to prevent smudging; in order not to cover the first-drawn stripes, do them thicker, or redo them after the 2nd layering!)

Keep your eyes peeled for The Techniques Challenge! The first post will be up next Monday. Kisses! xx

Spun Sugar Nails

Hello!

This will be the last post for a while, but I'm looking forward to having a guest post on Monday, if possible.

Anyway, here's a fresh post and, because I was so excited to share it with you, I haven't done my right hand yet.

It's about Spun Sugar nails. Here are the steps.

1. Choose a base colour (I chose 3 jelly polishes for this one: GR 209, Gabrini S01 -pink- and Gabrini S12 - turquoise).

2. Apply some greasy cream around your nails and on your fingers (I used my essential beeswax balm). Scotch tape might work well, too!

3. Add a few drops of a different polish on wax paper or something else useful (I used an adhesive note).

4. Give it 5-10 minutes to get tacky, then stir with a toothpick. Slowly lift the toothpick and, if the polish is stringy, you can apply it on the nail just like this: stir a bit in the polish, lift the toothpick and drag the polish string on the nail, and keep doing this until you reach the desired look.

5. The cleanup is easy: just remove the excess polish on your skin and cuticles with the toothpick, or simply remove the tape surrounding your nail. It's easier if you apply vaseline or chapstick on the skin, anything greasy keeps polish from drying on the skin, so you don't waste a lot of polish remover. Also, it's a lot less messy. And here's a useful tip: before the cleanup, slightly press the strings' ends on the sides of your nails. In this way, you can get a nicer finish after the full cleanup.

It's a 3D/textured pattern, so I recommend skipping top coat at leat for this manicure. Also, try to do it early during daytime, not in the evening, as the polish dries very slow, so you have to give it some time to make sure it won't be ruined by the next day.

You can also mix it with other patterns, like I did on my ring (Tribal-like + Spun Sugar) and index nails (Geometric + Spun Sugar).

God, I love how it feels! This will definitely be my must-have manicure this summer. Anyway, I hope this tutorial helps, and I'll see you again in 1-2 weeks. Fingers crossed for my surgery on Monday! xx

P.S.: Basically summer in Romania. -.- (The rain was pouring hard, unfortunately my camera wouldn't take a clear, unblurred shot.)