Texas Rangers Mani

I'm not a huge baseball fan, but we ended up with free tickets for tonight's Rangers game so I'm here with a Rangers inspired mani. Two actually, because this is the second time I've ended up at a Rangers v Red Sox game, and I can't resist a themed mani. 

This is the first Rangers design, from almost a year ago:

This design used Sally Hansen Cherry Red, Sinful Colors Hot Spot, Bonita Blue Txt, and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. I really liked this one (and so did Pinterest - it's my most shared original pin at 360 pins. Wow!), but I wanted to change it up a little for tonight.

This design is very similar, but I've moved the baseball to my thumbs and added the Texas Ranger "T" to my ring fingers (apologies for the poor quality): 

Thanks for reading! ~ Maggie

Something a little different...

So life has been kind of crazy this summer, and while I do plan to get back to my nails, they've been on the back burner so far. Today, I just wanted to share a project I've been working on (one that has, along with work, torn my nails to shreds).

My cousin had a baby on the 17th, a handsome little boy named Jace. To welcome him out into the world, I knit him a little baby afghan.

The color is the picture is a little dull thanks to my poor lighting. For a better idea of the colors, I used Caron in:

Pistachio

and Chocolate

I have a few other knitting projects I've promised myself I'd finish, so I'll likely be focusing more on those than my nails for a bit. I plan to post those projects here too, to keep me motivated and because I'm proud of myself for actually getting them finished. I have so much yarn that needs using. So please be patient with me while I let life settle and my nails heal, and I'll be back to posting about polishes soon!

Thanks for reading! ~ Maggie

4th of July

Happy 4th, everyone!

I'll be spending today at the Willie Nelson picnic with my daddy (the tickets were my Father's Day gift to him). Of course, I just had to do red, white, and blue nails. Please excuse the sloppy tips, I decided at 1am that they were good enough for me.

My fingers are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet with OPI Alpine Snow tips. My thumbs are OPI Swimsuit...Nailed It with hand-painted stars in Alpine Snow.

Have a happy 4th! ~ Maggie

Essie Cascade Cool Nail Art

First off, I'm so sorry for my absence, life has been getting in the way of all the important stuff like takign pictures of my nails and blogging. =P

So day I'm wearing Essie Cascade Cool. This is a really pretty cream pink polish that I borrowed from a coworker. It's very nearly a Barbie pink, great for summer. I used three coats because I was having some patchiness issue with it - a problem I run into often with Essie.

I forgot to get a picture of my nails with just the Cascade Cool before I got started with my stamper. I used Konad plate M63 to stamp a houndstooth (my favorite pattern) in black. I love it!

The stamping isn't perfect, but the imperfections are far less noticeable in person. For some reason, my stamper just didn't want to pick up all the polish from the plate today, but I did the best I could with it. I used Sinful Colors Black on Black for the stamping, and I've never had problems with it before. Guess it was just one of those days. Oh, well. I still love the final look!

Thanks for reading! ~ Maggie

Quick Leopard Print Tutorial

Hi all, I'm just here for a quick how-to today. I did a purple leopard print on my sister's toes to match a dress, and I've had a few people ask for a tutorial. Since I hate to post foot pictures (have I mentioned I think feet look gross?), I used my trusty mannequin hand, Hannah, to replicate it. These hands are generally used to display painted acrylics, but I'm not buying nail tips just for Hannah, so I paint directly on the skin. Let's get started:

For this leopard print design you will need: a detailing brush or toothpick, a paper plate, a black polish, and a light and dark polish in the color of your choice. For the pictures below, I painted four of Hannah's fingers, each one in a different color scheme just for some variety.

First, you want at least two coats of your lighter color, making sure you have full coverage.

For the second step, you'll need your detailing brush or toothpick (or whatever you choose that will give you better control than the brush in the bottle). I use a tiny brush like this:

Make sure your nails have dried completely after step one. You want to drip a bit of your darker color onto the paper plate (I generally just pull the brush out of the bottle and let a full drip fall to the plate). Dip your brush/toothpick into the polish on the plate and paint small spots on your nails. You want the spots to be unevenly spaced and imperfectly shaped. Click here for some inspiration. You don't want to do too many spots, or paint them too close together, because you will outline them in the next step.

The third step is what really gives it that leopard print look. Clean your brush after step two, and make sure your nails have dried again. Get a good drip of black polish on your plate and dip the tip of your brush. Use the black to outline the spots from step two. You don't want to outline them all the way around; it's better to do two or three short, unconnected, lines around each spot. In the larger spaces between spots, add another black line or outline, as though there were a spot there. 

And now you have leopard print nails!

Any question's or other tutorials you'd like to see? Leave a comment and let me know! Thanks for reading! ~ Maggie