Saturday, January 29, 2011

Chill out with ice cream nails!

Oh where to begin with this. This must be the most random design I've done. I wanted something like summer fruits but it didn't work out so I went back to the drawing board and ended up with ice cream nails ;-) And it was a process but eventually I got there:


These super cute nails were a bit of effort! First I'll show you the colours I used:


Left to right we have China Glaze Snow from the holiday 2010 collection, Essie Demure Vixen, Knockout Pout, Splash of Grenadine and Lapis of Luxury and finally Inglot O2M polish in no. 631. Whew! What a list.


To start off with I painted Essie's Lapis of Luxury and Splash of Grenadine to the left and right of each nail. These stripes were 2-3 coats, then I did a stripe of China Glaze Snow down the middle (using the side of the brush so it wouldn't be too thick), again about 3 coats. I finished off with a top coat, Seche Vite.

Next part was a bit tricky. I drew the outline of the ice cream cone on a bit of paper and used that as a guide of what I wanted to end up on my nails. Then I used an Orly detailer brush to draw the outline of the ice cream tops (easier to start with the ice cream in case you make your cones too big), filled in with the brush and painfully waited for it to try and repeated 3-4 times. Then I did the same for the cone. For the ice cream I used Essie Knockout Pout and the cone was Demure Vixen. I added a lattice type effect to the cone to give it that 'waffle cone' look with Inglot 631. So after a lot of effort I ended up with this:


I was going to stop there but I decided to add some dots to the ice cream with China Glaze Snow to bring the ice cream more to the foreground. I felt it was getting a bit lost in the stripes :-) And voila! Pretty ice cream cone nails (natural light shot below):


Even though it took a bit of effort, I love this design. And you can make it work with any colour, I wanted mint choc chip to start off with but by the time I figured that out it was too late ;-) Well I hope you enjoyed this look and try it out for yourself! I'd love to see alternative colours. Have a lovely weekend everyone and I'll see you next time.

2 comments:

  1. whats the best way to take care of nails and best nail strengthener that you know of?

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  2. I think the most important tip I can provide for nail care is to have a good quality base coat - you never know what harmful chemicals are in some brands and how it can affect your nails. I use the Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base and Top coat (as a base coat). I was using a cheap base coat before and it didn't stop my nails from going yellow one time from a Formaldehyde containing colour :-( Took months to grow out! Also don't peel off your nail polish - it can take a layer of your nail off and if you're concerned about harsh chemicals you can use an Acetone free remover (although it's a bit more effort to use).

    I haven't tried any other type of strengthener but I think giving your nails a 'break' from constant manicures is also worthwhile to let them breathe and recover naturally. Hope that helps!

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