Eiffel Tower Tutorial

Hello, dolls!

Today I have a tutorial on how I achieved my "Eiffel Tower Mani".  I recieved a lot of positive response for it and at the request of Rhonda over at Nails Beautiqued, I've put together a step by step tut :)  Instructions will be listed under the image...

 

( I apologize for the image being so huge!  The next size down made it too small to read :\ )

Directions:

1. After base-coating, apply your base colors (black ring finger, pink for the rest)

2.  Using a medium sized dotting tool, place 3 dots down the center of your nail.

3.  Continue placing dots on either side of your nail, between the dots you've already created. (having the dots at the tip of your nail halved creates a continuation effect)

4. On your ring finger, paint 2 horizontal lines as if you are drawing an "A".

5. At the bottom 3rd of your tower, paint a vertical line that extends outward.

6. At the top 3rd of your tower, paint a smaller vertical like that extends outward.

7. Near the very top of your tower, paint your final vertical line.  Then go down to the base of your tower and begin painting the "curved arch".  I always go right to left, but do what is comfortable for you :)

8. Once you've completed the legs, fill in any bald/thin spots of your tower and then top coat.

That's it!  I hope you'll give this look a try.  For my Instagramers, be sure to share your inspired manis with me via #fairlyinspired  :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Ice Cream Nails Tut for Nail It! Magazine

Hello, lovelies!

I usually don't post on Thursday's because I'm swamped with work and rehearsal, but I have to share some exciting news!  

Last week I was asked by Nail It! Magazine if I would do a tutorial on my Ice Cream Nails.  I gladly accepted the challenge and am happy to say that said tutorial can be found on their website.  Take a look-see and let me know what you think :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

A Plaid Mani Tutorial

Happy Friday everybody!  As they say, "There is no rest for the wicked!".  And I am certainly not an exception.  It's going to be a very long weekend :(

Well, today I have a tutorial for you!  The plaid mani seemed to be a pretty popular one and it's a fairly simple look to achieve.  Here is a pick of the one I did for this tut...

Here is what you will need:

• Base Coat
• Top Coat
• 3 Nail Polishes
• Striping Brush (if you don't own a striping brush, try an old liquid eyeliner brush?)

That's it!  I promise, this look is super easy to achieve :)  So here's what I did...

 Colors Used: Julep - Gloria, Sally Hansen - Green With Envy, Sally Hansen - White On

With spring winding down, I thought I'd use some springy colors to give it a pretty send off haha.  I really love this look and I have some ideas in my head for more color combos in the future :)  I started by applying my base coat.  I am currently using Triple Wrap Thickener by Nail-Aid.  It has not strengthened my nails like I thought it would by it definitely makes them harder than they are naked.

I then applied 2 thin coats of Gloria to the tips of my nails.  You don't have to worry about being perfectly neat and even when applying this.  You're going to cover it up with stripes later :P

 Then I applied 2 thin coats of a thick, off-centered, streak/stripe (using the polish brush of course).  Again no need to stress about it looking perfect.

Time for the striping brush!  With my brush I applied a stripe of Envy onto each nail tip.

After cleaning the brush off, I applied White On to the left of the large streak, overlapping the green stripe.  And then I painted two white stripes near the bottom of the nail.

I cleaned the brush a final time and applied Envy to the right side of the streak, overlapping the white stripes.

I finished it off with one coat of Out The Door and, voila!  A simple plaid mani :)

 I cannot express how much I love this look.  It's really fun and detailed without being a butt load of work, you know?  I hope that this tutorial is helpful to you!  Please let me know how you do with your own plaid mani's :)

I'll have a polish haul to share with you within the next week.  Aside from that I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Until next time!

Stef <3

A "Whimsical" Mani!

Greetings, friends!  It's mid-week and I'm just truckin' along with my mani's:)

Around a week ago I posted about my first trip to an Ulta store (which was amazing!).  While I was there I stumbled upon Whimsical by Revlon.  I've seen this polish on a lot of nail blogs and I was so excited to find it for myself but I had no idea how I was going to incorporate it into a mani... until now...

Colors Used: Essie - Borrowed & Blue, Revlon - Whimsical, Jesse's Girl - Spring Break

I LOVE the way these turned out!  I put Essie on my tips before I applied the Revlon (because it's very sheer and I wanted the colors to pop!) and then I used a striping brush to apply the purple.  I brushed on a layer of top coat (Seche Vite) and then applied the fimo bows with glue.   I have some minor staining on my index finger that I plan on buffing out later (I think it came from the SH - Golden-I; I messed up that nail and had to start over and I think I forgot to redo the base coat).  Overall, I'm really happy with this mani :)

I've said that I want to do more than just nail art with this blog.  I want to share tricks and tips that I learn with you, so I'll start with a trick I learned on how to remove glitter polishes (they're such a pain!).  Click "Read More" to view the tutorial :)