Nail Art Nail-Off: Fruit Nails

Interestingly enough, we have now had multiple people suggest to us that we do some fruit-inspired nail art, so today we're both trying our hands at painting fruit on our nails!

Arden:  I decided a bowl of fruit would be my inspiration.  I'd draw a different fruit on four of my nails, and then have them all in a bowl on my thumb.

I started by painting each nail a lighter version of the color of fruit that was going to go on it.  (For the bowl of fruit on my thumb, I used a light blue.)  Then I went through and drew the fruit!

I used a dotting tool to make all of the grapes, and then used a couple of brushes from our new Mash nail brush set to paint on the rest of the fruit.

Here they are in detail:

Nail Art Nail-Off: Matte Nails

This week on Nail Art Nail-Off, we're experimenting with matte nail polish!  Matte nails are pretty fashionable right now, and there's actually a lot of fun stuff you can do by mattifying (is that a word?) your manicure!

Arden's take: I started by painting my nails with two coats of Maybelline Color Show's Impeccable Greys.

I then added a thin top coat of Essie Matte About You.  If you want to read more about this matte coat, check out my review here.

I then cut 3 triangles out of Scotch tape and applied them to my nails leaving a star burst pattern visible at the tips.  I'm afraid I forgot to take pictures of this step, but I went back later and took a picture of the tape so you could get an idea of how to position it:

Nail Art Nail-Off: Newspaper Nails

If you've spent any time on Pinterest recently, you've probably seen a picture like this floating around:

From this video by Cutepolish

 Those look so cool, right?  And all the videos make them seem not that hard, so we decided to try it.  Arden's attempt first:

I started by painting my nails OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls (I use this so much I don't know why I keep taking pictures of it; I could easily just use an old one.)  I didn't want to wait too long for them to dry, so I then painted a fast-drying top coat (Essie Good to Go) on top.

Next, I cut out small sections of newspaper.  A cursory look at all the newspaper nails tutorials led me to think that one shortfall to most of them is that only a few words of newsprint can fit on each nail.  I decided to try to avoid this issue by cutting out pages with smaller type; specifically, the baseball highlights.

Nail Art Nail-Off: Tape Manicures

Arden here:  This week, we're tackling tape manicures!

For mine, I decided to use tape to mark off three triangular regions on my nails.  I started with a base coat, and then two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  (Apparently I use this polish a lot!)

Nail Art Nail-Off: Happy Easter! (Part 2)

Happy Easter, everyone!  I hope you enjoyed Lisl's Easter nails and decal tutorial!  Here is my take on Easter nails. 

I started by painting my nails with Revlon Dreamer.  Then I sponged on OPI Did it On 'Em  for grass.  I carved an egg shape out of a pencil eraser (no picture cause I'm a little embarrassed how makeshift my egg stamp looks).

I used the erase egg stamp to stamp eggs onto the nails using L'Oreal Creme Puffs,  Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Pink Blink, L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented, and Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant Coral Silk.  I used the same colors to decorate the eggs using a "dotting tool" (read: a super small wall nail).  I also stamped some Revlon Snow Flurries onto the remaining eggs for some sparkle.  (Disclaimer: I have had Snow Flurries since I was in 9th grade or something, so I have NO IDEA if they still make it or not.)

Please excuse the cut on my pointer finger

Nail Art Nail Off - Easter, Part 1 + DIY Decal Tutorial

Nail Art Nail-Off: Two Takes on One Nail Art Technique!

Lisl here:  Today Arden and I are going to show you our Easter themed manicures! Since I have a long tutorial, we're splitting it up into two posts!

So when we first started talking about our plans for Easter manicures it became very apparent that, over several days of scheming, we had both come up with the exact same idea for manicures: a blue background with "grass" on the tips, and Easter eggs peeking out.  We haggled and brainstormed and tried to think of alternatives, so that we didn't end up doing the exact same thing, but we couldn't come up with any better ideas and figured that y'all could just deal with it. 

Turns out that even when we're trying to do the exact same thing, the outcome is totally different!

Nail Art Nail-Off: Saran Wrap Nails Tutorial

Nail Art Nail-Off: Two Takes on One Nail Art Technique!

Arden here: Today, both Lisl and I are going to show you our own unique versions of the same nail technique: the Saran wrap marbling effect.

We're starting with me, because I went through A LOT of trial and error to perfect my technique.  First, we have my very flawed attempt at using NOT Saran wrap.  When I first sat down to do my nails, I couldn't find any Saran wrap in our apartment, and decided (erroneously) that we didn't have Saran wrap.  I put on my MacGuyver cap, and decided that surely I could just use a Ziploc perfect portions bag (basically the consistency of a produce bag from the grocery store).  Fun fact: this does not work as well as Saran wrap.

Here's my first attempt using this less effective form of kitchen plastic:

Index finger: This was with one coat of the base color (gold), then the top color (turquoise) immediately on top of it.  As you can see, a LOT of the polish was pulled off.  There's a lot of natural nail shining through!

Middle finger: Two coats of base color, then top color.  This worked better, but there were still a couple of holes.

Ring finger and pinky: Two coats of base color, one layer of fast-drying top coat, then the top color.  This was definitely the best way to do it, but it still didn't look quite as good (and marble-y, if that's a word) as Saran Wrap nails are supposed to look.  MacGuyver might've been able to make a bomb out of Windex and a coat hanger, but Ziploc bags really aren't a good replacement for Saran wrap when it comes to nail art.

Nail Art Nail-Off: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Nail Art Nail-Off: Two Takes on One Nail Art Technique!

Our theme for today: St. Patrick's Day!  Let's break out the green polish!

Hi!  It's Arden here.  For my St. Patrick's Day nails, I went with a simple gradient, plus a crosshatch pattern on my accent nail.  (Lisl: it's just so amazing).

This wasn't my first attempt at gradient nails, but it was definitely the most successful!  This time, I followed the instructions from the Nailasaurus' gradient tutorial and they worked like a dream!  I definitely recommend swirling the two colors together before putting them on the sponge-- that might be the secret to making it work!