Easter Egg Nails

Arden: Ok, here's my second try at Easter egg nails, and these were much more successful!  They might be the design I go with on Easter Sunday itself!

I was trying to go for the kinds of Easter eggs my family used to dye-- where you've drawn on designs in white crayon before you dye them, and then the dye leaves them unevenly colored.  Like this:

Using that as my inspiration, here's what I came up with:

How I Did It:
I started my painting each nail white (Sally Hansen White On) and then applied a fast-drying top coat (Essie Good to Go).  Once each nail was dry, I applied tape.  I used both striping tape for the thin lines and washi tape cut using zigzig scissors.  Then I applied several shades of the same color to a makeup sponge, and sponged over the tape.  I immediately removed the tape, and voila!  Easter egg nails!

Left hand pic!  I think my egg designs got better on my left hand, but sadly my hand positioning for pictures with that hand needs some work!

Colors Used (so many!):

Orange/Yellow:
Julep Marjorie
Color Club Ringo & Love Letter

Pink:
Julep Drew & Helen
Color Club Hot Tub

Purple:
Julep Bette, Charlotte, Joanna, & Helen


Blue:
Julep Annie & Joanna
Essie Bouncer, It's Me

Green:
Julep Diana & Shenae
Color Club Double Dare

What do you think?  Have you decided on your Easter manicure yet?  Let me know in the comments!

Casa de Polish Returns!

Arden: Hey everyone!  We're back!  Sorry for our long absence, but we're hoping to post regularly again now (in a little more simplified form).  Just so you know, even when we aren't updating the blog, we're always posting our manicures on our individual Instagram accounts, so you should follow us:

Arden: @arden_elise
Lisl: @slisl

Here are some of the manicures I've done recently:

Glitter sandwich using Julep Soraphine & Autumn, with dots of Julep Myriam, Majorie, Karen, & Helen.

Striping tape nails with Julep Roc Solid and Diamond Theory for St. Patrick's Day.

Neon dotted nails using Color Club Double Dare and Love Letter.

 Rainbow nails with a twist: sponged on a rainbow gradient, applied striping tape, painted over nails with black, and then removed the tape!  (Used wayyyy too many colors to list.)

Passion fruit tips with Julep Paige and Veronica.  (P.S. Veronica is an amaaazing color for spring!)

More dots using Julep Diana and Bette.  (I just keep being drawn to dots this spring!)

Bright sponged on colorful nails (again, too many colors to list!)

Blue sparkly chevrons with Julep Joanna, Tracy, & Jordan.  (P.S. Julep reposted these nails in a blog post about spring manis-- check it out here.  How cool is that?)

All right, that's it for now.  Will post again soon!

Geometric Watercolor Nails

Arden: Hey everyone!  I'm playing catch-up today; this manicure is using Wednesday's 33 Day Challenge prompt: geometric nails.

Much like Monday's manicure, I started with a base coat of Julep's Nicolette and then applied striping tape, this time in a diamond pattern.

Then I used small pieces of sponge to apply little patches of different colors.  I used too many colors to list here, but ask in the comments if you really want to know about a specific color.

This manicure was very similar to the multicolored striping tape nails I did a couple of months ago, which I loved, but I think I might've liked these even better!

Be sure to check out all of the other geometric nails below!

Three Color Gradient + Pattern

Arden: Today in the 33 Day Challenge, I was tasked with creating a manicure using a 3 color gradient plus a pattern.  Since I still am a total novice at stamping, I created my pattern using striping tape.

I started with a white base (Julep Nicolette) and then added strips of striping tape to make rectangles.  (If you want all the details, I started by applying two long strips on my nail from base to tip, then added three shorter strips horizontally.)

I then sponged on a gradient using one regular polish (Julep Joanna) and two liquid sand polishes (Julep sea salt finish Tracy and Zoya PixieDust Liberty).  After sponging on the gradient on the first nail, I immediate removed the tape before moving on to the next nail.

For accent nails, on my thumb and ring finger I painted each taped-off square/rectangle with one of the three polishes.

Since I was using texture coat polishes, I did not add a top coat at the end (though you certainly could if you wanted to!).

I think these turned out pretty well, though if I were to do them again I might sponge on another coat on the gradient nails-- they look a lot lighter than the accent nails since the texture polish wasn't as densely applied.  But oh well!

As always, let me know what you think in the comments and check out all the other entries in today's challenge below!

33DC - Wave Nails (A Pattern From My Wardrobe)

Hey y'all! It's Lisl!  Today's 33DC prompt was "a pattern from your closet."  I chose to base it off the white stripe in that dress I'm wearing up there!

Trivial Pursuit Nails

Arden: Hey everyone!  Today's prompt in the 33 day challenge was to "create artwork using your oldest untried polish."  I looked through my collection, and it turns out I really don't have that many polishes that I've never tried.  I tend to try new polishes out as soon as I get them!  So I ended up going with a couple polishes I've barely ever used: Julep Marjorie (shimmery orange) and Julep Drew (hot pink).  I had only ever used Marjorie before to make the center dots in these flower nails, and I know I'd tried out Drew before, but don't think I'd ever done any nail art using it.

I decided for this challenge I would finally do a pattern I'd been itching to try for a while: nails that look like Trivial Pursuit pieces!  I got the idea from this post I found on Pinterest; the original blogger didn't reference Trivial Pursuit, but that was the first thing I thought of when I saw that design!

Full disclosure: I decided to emulate the newer Trivial Pursuit pieces that have replaced the brown piece with a purple wedge, because purple is much prettier than brown. I hope this doesn't anger any hardcore Trivial Pursuit enthusiasts!

I started with a base coat, then painted on two coats of OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  I then used three pieces of striping tape per nail to create the 6-wedge design of a Trivial Pursuit playing token.

I then painted each wedge a different color.  I just used the regular brush from the polish bottle, but it did require me to be super careful (especially on my pinkies) so you might prefer to use a smaller brush to paint on your wedges.

Colors used (clockwise from top right):
Sally Hansen Butterscotch 
Sinful Colors Rise and Shine
Julep Drew
Essie Butler Please
Zoya Mira
Julep Marjorie

I then carefully peeled the tape off using tweezers and added a top coat of Essie Good as Gold.  I was a little worried I might have some issues with streaking, but no problems this time.  (Maybe I just waited long enough for the polishes to dry). 

As you can tell above, I had some trouble with the polishes applying evenly.  The top coat helped some with that, but I still think the orange and yellow wedges are a little messy (especially on my first two fingers; I think I must've gotten better at it as I went along).

 

I wasn't sure how the Trivial Pursuit design would look over the sparkly base of Her Majesty's Secret Service, but I think it turned out ok!  A solid color might've looked more crisp, but I feel like the colors of all of the wedges pop more against the sparkly background.

My attempt at doing a more artsy hand pose.  Successful, or claw-like?  You decide!

Overall I was pretty pleased with this rainbow wheel manicure design!  Let me know what you think in the comments, and as always, check out all the other entries in today's challenge below!

Striping Tape Multicolored Nails

Arden: Hey everyone!  Today's prompt in the 33 Day Challenge is "tape manicure."  I originally was going to do a manicure that involved regular Scotch tape, but then I saw this design on Pinterest and just had to try it out!

I started with one coat of L'Oreal All in One Base coat, and then painted two coats of Sally Hansen White Out.  I added a coat of Essie Good to Go to help my nails dry faster, and then applied striping tape in a random, vaguely spiderweb-like pattern.  I think I used 4-5 pieces of striping tape per nail.

I then cut up a makeup sponge into a bunch of little pieces (one for every color I would be using).  I took the first color I was going to use, dabbed a bit on a piece of junk mail (wax paper or aluminum foil also work well), dipped a piece of sponge in it, and sponged a tiny amount on each nail.  I repeated the process for each color.  When I was done, I removed the tape with tweezers and followed up with a top coat.

Colors used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pink Blink
CoverGirl Boundless Color Fuchsia Girl
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening
Essie Mint Candy Apple
Color Club London Calling
Essie Butler Please
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac

I think these turned out AMAZING.  I freaking love them, they might be my most favorite nails I've ever done (I know I say that kind of a lot).  I just loved the sponged nature of the rainbow colors, and how crisp the tape lines look in comparison to the smudginess of the colors.

This was also not that difficult to do-- sponging on colors was great because if I messed up, I could just sponge something else on top of it and no one could tell.  The most time-consuming part of this manicure was applying all of the striping tape (as it always is with striping tape manicures).  The rest was super user-friendly!

What do you guys think of this manicure?  Let me know in the comments!

If you haven't entered our giveaway yet, you should do it!  You can see all the rules and prizes here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, be sure to check out all of the other people who are participating in the 33DC below!

Geometric Nails

Arden: Today's inspiration comes from this tutorial I saw online a week or two ago:

I wasn't super impressed with the argyle pattern in the tutorial, but I REALLY liked the other nails in the picture.  I liked them so much, I decided to recreate them in the same colors and everything!

I started with a base layer of L'Oreal One Stop Base Coat, then two coats of Sally Hansen White Out.  I applied Essie Good to Go to help the white base dry faster.  Once it was good and dry, I applied striping tape in the pattern I wanted, then painted over it with L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight and Cover Girl Non-Stop Stone.  After painting each nail (before the polish had a chance to dry) I removed the striping tape using a pair of tweezers.

Here's the previous instructions in a picture tutorial!

I then painted an additional coat of Essie Good to Go on top of each nail, and voila!  Super fun geometric nails!

You can tell in the pictures that I had a little trouble with the white showing through at the tips of my nails.  Not sure what caused this: not painting the grey or real all the way to the tip? adding the top coat while the polish was too wet? It's probably some combination of all of the above.

If you haven't tried striping tape yet, you SHOULD!  It's really really amazingly cheap (we're talking less than a dollar for 10 rolls) and it has a pretty shallow learning curve.  Once you figure out how to remove it with your tweezers, you're basically good to go!

Plus, it is ALWAYS my striping tape nail designs that make people take one look at my hands and go, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!?!?"  So try it!

Tri-Polish Challenge + Bonus Color Club Wanderlust Swatch

Lisl: Hey y'all!  So I missed the first two days of the Tri-Polish Challenge this month since I was away and spacey, but I am trying very hard to catch up!  Everything you need to know about the Tri-Polish Challenge is here in case you're curious!

Here are the official three colors:
Zoya - Liberty 
Nicole by OPI - Khloe Had a Little Lam Lam (best name for a polish ever)
Color Club - London Calling

London Calling is part of Color Club's Wanderlust Collection which is available exclusively at Birchbox.  I got it in my monthly box and thought I'd add a swatch into the mix today!

London Calling is a neon-y pastel.  It goes on smoothly with really good coverage.  And it's really neon-y! I'm showing it here with two coats.  I kind of love it.  I am a bit of a sucker for minty greens and this is an excellent addition to the our collection.  

Gradient Candy Stripe Nails

Arden: Hi, imaginary friends!  So sorry for our spotty posts last week-- I was out of town on leading my youth mission trip, where I often didn't have cell service, much less Internet access and nail polish supplies.  But I'm back now and excited to share my mission trip nails with you!

Before I left on my trip, I put a lot of thought into what manicure I wanted to sport on my nails for the whole week I was gone.  I ultimately decided on this gradient candy stripes design I found on Pack a Punch Polish. 

I started by painting my nails white using OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  I decided that instead of doing my usual base coat + two coats of white, I'd follow these directions Julep published recently.  So, I painted a base coat, one coat of white, a matte top coat, and then another coat of white.  Not gonna lie, didn't really see a huge difference in how evenly my white coat looked.  Sorry, Julep, don't think I'll be using your method again.

Then I applied striping tape in diagonal lines across my nails (three pieces per nail).  Following the instructions on Pack a Punch Polish, I then sponged on brightly colored gradients doing each color individually on the sponge.  In retrospect, I think my colors would've blended a lot better if I'd followed my usual gradient method of applying several colors on the sponge at once.   If you try these out, let me know which way you think works best!