An Accent Nail: May 2013

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Artsy Wednesday: Vintage

I wanted to tip a hat to the aesthetic of the '20s-'30s, and did a sort of Art Deco/Geometric manicure with vampy, glamorous colors for this one!

I channeled Doris Duke a bit, with her embrasure of geometric patterns, and so I threw a tropical background into these pictures to further the effect!

I used Julep's Trina and Sienna for the luxe colors, and used striping tape to get the diamond patterns. I love the fancy french tip concept, and with the striping tape this look really is a breeze; just make an X at the tip of your finger with the striping tape and paint the tip color over the gaps in the X. Peel the tape off, and voila!

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday bloggers; they all do some pretty gorgeous work!

And don't forget, I'm having a major giveaway, including 3 Zoya minis as a prize (Plus an Ulta giftcard, a Sephora giftcard, and a Llarowe giftcard as other possible prizes)! Click the image below to enter!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Artsy Wednesday: Pastels

Watercolor manicure time! I used Zoya polishes for this beaut, Gaia as the base, and Jaime, Blu and Neely for the watercolor effects.

Watercolor manicures are super easy; dot one-three small dots of polish (straight from the bottle brush) on your painted/topcoated nail, then dab a small brush with pure acetone (no gelatin, no fragrances, no non-acetone; pure acetone is a must for this) on the polish dots. The polish will spread as you continue to dab, creating lovely dreamy watercolor-like dots of color.

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday bloggers; they all do some pretty gorgeous work!

Friday, May 10, 2013

10,000 Blog Views; you know what that means! GIVEAWAY!!

It happened! 10,000 blog views (plus 2!) Thank you so much for your support, this has been an awfully fun project, and I wanted to host a giveaway as a thank you to all of you :) There will be four winners, picked at random from the Rafflecopter results. U.S. only for now, for shipping purposes. The giveaway runs until 6/1/13, good luck!!

Giveaway Prizes!

Three Zoya Minis! Pippa, Gilda and Zuza, perfect for summer!

$10 Sephora Gift Card!

$10 Ulta Gift Card!

$10 Llarowe Gift Card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Artsy Wednesday: A color I usually hate

I tend to really dislike caramel colored polish against my skin; it can lean so yellow as to be atrociously ugly, or so red as to look almost ketchupy (or make my nails look like wounds, gross!). I tried to harmonize a caramelly colored polish with my skin by adding metallic peachy tips; I think it turned out okay!

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday bloggers; they all do some pretty gorgeous work!