Posts tagged with nails

At the 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night, nail art was the beauty trend that stole the spotlight! Among the trendsetters at the awards show were Anne Hathaway, Sarah Hyland, and Kelly Osbourne.

One of the biggest stars of the night was Anne Hathaway, who won Best Supporting Actress in her role in Les Miserables.  Hathaway coordinated her nails with her stunning sheer black Giambattista Valli gown by painting the base color a bright white, and accenting a few fingernails with intricate hand-painted butterflies.

 

Sarah Hyland, star of one of our fave shows, Modern Family, took our breath away in a purple strapless Dolce and Gabbana dress. Not to take away from her purple perfection, Hyland chose a classic nude manicure, and dressed it up with tiny rhinestones. Love!

 

 

 

One of our favorite Fashion Police panelists, Kelly Osbourne’s nail decoration was true to her personality and complemented her glam rock studded black Jenny Packham dress perfectly.  Kelly went with an edgier heart design, accenting her nude nails with pointy black heart-shaped tip.

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Glam Nails for Rent

Have you ever found buying nail polish to be a little bit too expensive? I mean, getting the good stuff will cost you a minimum of $10 a bottle, if not much, much more.

For that reason, Lacquerous is a new service that allows you to rent polishes so you can use lots of colors, but now have to actually purchase them. How genius is that?!

For $18 a month, you get to choose three designer polishes to rent. The site features brands such as Chanel, Butter, Nars, and MAC and they have tons of uh-may-zing colors!

Signing up for this is a great way to save money, use and sport top brands, and look absolutely fabulous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brazilian Beauty

We all know that Brazilian beauty is totally fabulous – from Brazilian blowouts to waxing treatments – but there is a new crazy surrounding this country!

Brazilian manicures are a new fad that are hitting salons everywhere. You may be asking what is it? We are here to tell you!

A Brazilian manicure is an intense manicure that focuses on the cuticles. After a luxurious paraffin soak your cuticles will be removed. This is to ensure that the nail is completely flat.

The interesting thing about these manicures is that not only the nail is painted, but the skin around the nail is as well to ensure the entire bed is coated and to make the manicure last longer.

After the painting is done, a special tool is used to wipe away any excess polish.

Then, voila! You’ve got yourself a fab manicure!

What do you think? Are you going to try this new treatment?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Holiday Nails

With the holiday season upon us, it is a fabulous time to glam from head to toe accordingly. This, of course, includes our nails!

One of the best ways to show your holiday cheer via your nails is through sparkles. They are not only completely glamorous, but perfect for the season.

Here are some great picks to put on your nails to show your spirit:

  • Maybelline Color Show Sequins
  • Butter London Holiday Lacquer Glitter Trio
  • Deborah Lippman colors such as:
    • Let’s Go Crazy
    • Ruby Red Slippers
    • Bad Romance
  • OPI colors such as:
    • Sparkle-licious
    • Gettin’ Miss Piggy With It
    • Extra-va-vaganza

What is your favorite glam nail look for the holiday season?

candy cane nails!

 

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Ombré

If you checked out celebrity hair trends over the past year, you would know that ombré was one of the most popular trends. Everyone from Jessica Biel to Drew Barrymore to Ashlee Simpson was sporting the trend. Even my own college roommate dyed her hair to make her tresses go from brown to blonde. It’s such a beautiful, carefree style and became a popular trend quickly. Although many stars have gone back to classic colors, the ombré is still alive and kicking.

The most popular ombré trend today is with nail polish. If you check out pinterest, ombré nails are everywhere and there are so many different variations. We’ve compiled a few of the different ombré nail looks here along with instructions for you to try yourself.

 

This week, I shared a picture of my own pink ombré nails. It’s one of my absolute favorite nail designs because it’s simple and classy, but it still catches my eye every time I look at my nails. This is another trend that Lauren Conrad originated and I duplicated. It’s one of the easiest nail trends to recreate. All you need is five different colors of nail polish in the same hue. The key is getting different shades of the color so that your nails go from dark to light and look as though they belong together. For some reason, I have an obscene amount of pink nail polishes, so using pink was the easiest way for me to do this. LC has used browns and blues, however, showing that the trend is very versatile. If you can’t find five different colors that you think look perfect together, they’ve made the trend even easier to create: the nail polish line The New Black actually sells a set of nail polish in graduating shades!

 

One variation of ombré that I’m desperate to try is the full nail ombré. Pictured above, this trend has different shades of one color graduating on the nail itself. Again, this is actually an easy design to create! You need about three different shades of one color, a sponge makeup brush, and a clear coat or sparkle polish for the top layer. First get one color onto the sponge (I would probably start with the lightest color). Blot the sponge at the base of your nail, going about one-third of the way up. Next, add the middle shade to the sponge and blot this color in the middle-third of your nail, gently blending it with the lighter color until it seems graduated. Add the darkest shade to the top of your nail by blotting it with the sponge and again, blend it into the middle shade for graduation. When you are satisfied with the blending of the shades, paint a clear coat over the top, or, for extra pizazz, use a sparkle polish.

 

Another variation of ombré is one using glitter. Although I haven’t tried this method, again, it seems relatively simple. All you need is one color of nailpolish, some glitter, and a clear top coat. The first step is to paint one layer of nail polish on each nail. The next step is where it gets a little more difficult. Paint a second layer of polish on one nail. While the nail is still wet, grab a pinch of glitter in your opposite hand. Sprinkle the glitter from the base of your nail upwards, getting the heaviest concentration at the base and allowing the graduation to trickle down up your nail. Wait a minute or two and paint the clear coat. This will further blend the glitter up your nail, so the timing is important. If you do it too soon, the graduation will be ruined. Continue these steps on the rest of your nails, and your look is complete!

 

This look is similar to the one above, but instead of starting at the base of the nail, you start at the tip. There are a few ways to do this. One would be to use glitter, following the directions above but starting at the tip of the nail and gradually sprinkling the glitter towards the base. Another method is similar to the second type of ombré, using a sponge to create graduation. Use the sponge to really concentrate the color at the tip of the nail and gently blot down the nail. This look is great with glitter nail polish, like above, or a regular color, like below. As always, don’t forget to put a top coat to keep your ombré looking sharp.

 

On a rainy day like today, having different nail trends is a great way to pass the day indoors!


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DIY Cheetah Nails

I hate to honk my own horn, but I’m sort of a DIY nail guru. It’s not that I’m some great nail artist or anything. I just see a new design, fall in love, and simply must try to recreate the look myself. This past summer I was looking at my sister’s Sally Hansen Salon Effects (the stickers) in a cheetah print and thought, I can totally do that myself. Two bottles of nailpolish and an hour later, I had fabulous cheetah nails. I got stopped so many times about how great they looked and it made me so proud to say I did them myself. I’ve since recreated the look a few times, and I have to say that it’s one of the easiest designs I’ve ever done. Anyone could do this with the right instructions… And that’s what I’m here for.

 

What You Need:

  • Two complementary colors of nail polish (Mine are OPI Gargantuan Green Grape & OPI Cajun Shrimp)
  • Clear nail polish
  • A toothpick or fine paintbrush
  • Sally Hansen Nail Pen in black

If you don’t want to buy the nail pen (although I must say, it’s a great investment), you can use:

  • Black nail polish
  • An extra toothpick or another fine paintbrush

 

Step1:

Paint your nails a solid color. I did two coats for best color quality. Allow the color to fully dry.

 

Step 2:

Use your toothpick or fine paintbrush to paint polka dots on your nails. Leave some space around each dot. Wait for the color to dry.

 

Step 3:

This is the only hard step. Using the Sally Hansen Nail Pen or black nail polish, you are going to outline the polka dots. Looking at something cheetah print, like a shirt that I have, really helped me on this step. The best ways to outline the polka dots are either to go 3/4 of the way round the circle or to make two lines on opposite sides of the polka dot.

The best part about this step is that cheetah looks more real when it’s messy, so if you’re hands aren’t too steady, it’s okay.

 

 

Step 4:

Use your discretion to fill in any overly empty spaces by putting black dots or lines. Again, be a bit messy. You can look at the pictures above to see how I added the black spots. As always, wait for nails to dry before moving on to the next step.

 

Step 5:

Top your look with a clear coat so your nails remain fierce.

 

 

Voilà!

You are officially cheetah-licious and look fabulous. And now that you know how to do cheetah print, you can create your own variations: interesting color combinations, different shapes, a cheetah version of a French-tip. There are so many fun, creative ways to paint your nails but cheetah print is one of my favorites!

 

 

 

 

Have you ever gotten a pedicure and then gotten an “emergency phone call” from either your sister, friend, child, or boss?  Yup, I’m talking about the phone calls that are never really an emergency, but you have to leave the nail salon anyway because you have to comfort your friend who recently dumped her boyfriend.  Or it could be your child who half way through the school day, realized he forgot his homework assignment at home and needs it right away.  Well, it’s always been annoying trying to run out of the nail salon in the flimsy pedicure shoes that the salons give out.  Somehow, they always seem to fall apart while you walk to your car or some other disaster.  Hence, Alissa Kraisosky, the owner and designer of Summer Jasmines has come up with the solution!  Let me introduce you to the revolutionary pedicure shoes:

Now you can run out of the salon whenever without worrying that your new pedicure gets ruined!

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Beautiful Nails Easy

nailsWhen giving yourself a home manicure, it is wise to always start by applying nail polish remover to your nails, even if you do not have any polish to remove. It helps to get rid of any grease or build-up, and makes your polish stay beautiful longer. When applying your polish, keep in mind that you should let each coat of paint dry before applying the next coat, and that it is much better to put on several thin layers then one thick one. Add a little spunk by adding fun designs to your nails using a toothpick dipped in polish, or you can purchase a bottle of polish that is specifically for nail art. Choose a polish remover with built in moisturizers, as it is much better for your nails; and try not to remove and reapply polish more than once or twice a week.