My Manicure

I was never a big fan of Hello Kitty, but I do like a few of Sanrio’s other creations such as Pandapple. He’s like a half-fruit, half-animal abomination of nature or something. I love him. :)

This isn’t just a tutorial about Pandapple. This is also a post about stamping, or using stamps to create nail art on your nails. You can freehand if you like, but having a guideline or outline to work with can make the process much easier. 

You can use this post to freehand your own Pandapple, or you can see how stamping works and create something using any rubber stamps you have.  

Here is my Pandapple stamp. I bought it at the Sanrio store and I’ll be using it to give myself a light guideline. Pandapple is a very simple character though, so if you’re confident with a brush you can freehand this character or Hello Kitty, as she is very similar. If you want to make a regular panda just replace the red apple top with white. 

Paint your full nail with any color of nail polish. I think light blues look nice with Pandapple. I’m using China Glaze’s “For Audrey.” This is two coats. 

Do not continue until your nail is about 90% dry. I waited about 15 minutes before moving on to the next step.

(Waiting for nail polish to dry is boring, so I always watch a movie or a show while I do my manicures. Pause the show while you paint and watch while it dries. You’ll be much less likely to smudge your polish from continuing on too soon if you have something to do that doesn’t involve your hands.)

After your nail polish is about 90% dry, (do not try this on a freshly painted nail, it will be a squishy mess) roll your stamp against your nail. This will work with any stamp, just push against your nail to create a light imprint. What we’re left with is a very faint partial outline. It’s not exactly coloring-book-easy to fill in, but it will definitely help keep things in proportion. 

Using regular white acrylic paint and a small rounded paintbrush, outline the lower half of Pandapple’s face. 

Then fill it in. I avoided the eye area, to make it easier to see where they will be placed later. Again, you can freehand this, I just find the guideline very helpful. 

Always rinse out your paintbrush in between colors or when the paint becomes gloppy on the brush. 

Using the same paintbrush, pick up some red acrylic paint and fill in the upper half of the circle that is Pandapple’s bizzare head. 

Again, same paintbrush. I just rinsed it out. Dip into some green acrylic paint to create an almond-shaped leaf. 

Now comes the most difficult part: outlining with black. For outlining anything you need a paintbrush that comes to a very sharp point, like pictured. Any decent rounded paintbrush should do this. If you lightly dip into your black paint and your bristles don’t taper to a point, your brush is horrible. (Pictured is a size one paintbrush.)

Pick up a small amount of black paint. We’re going to “draw” with our paintbrush, just like it’s a pen. 

No matter the manicure design, it’s always easier to have a visual reference. When I did the Pink Leopard Tips tutorial I looked up pictures of leopards to see examples of spots, and when I did the Candy Corn Nails post I bought real candy corn. Your mind thinks it knows what something looks like, but it makes a huge difference to visually see it. What you draw when thinking “sailboat” and what you draw when looking at a sailboat are worlds apart. :)

It takes two seconds to do a Google-search. I’m using the sticker on top of my Pandapple stamp as my reference. 

Fill in the gaps we previously left for Pandapple’s eyes, leaving small white pupils. If you accidentally fill in the pupils while drawing your black circles, it’s okay! That’s what’s so great about acrylic paint. Wait for the black to dry and you can dot your white acrylic paint right over it. The same goes for if you accidentally make the black eyes too large. Just wait for it to dry and use your white acrylic paint like “Wite-Out.” 

Add a little nose and a smile.

Drag out a line between your white and red.

Outline and add ears.

Add a clear topcoat to protect your nail art and add shine. You can never skip this step because acrylic paint is water soluable. 

There he is! A creepy Pandapple friend for your thumb or big toe. :)

Taking hints from my Making the Most of a Sheer Polish technique post, I’m making a traditional French manicure more interesting by replacing the white tips with a colored nail polish, and using an interesting sheer in place of a nude-tinted or pink-tinted clear. 

My dark blue tips are OPI’s “Dating a Royal,” and I applied one coat of Sephora by OPI’s “Fancy Schmancy” over everything, to add a silver shimmer. I used French manicure guideline stickers to keep my smile lines sharp. 

If you have weak nails that break often or just don’t seem to grow, I know where you’re coming from. About six months before I started this nail art blog my nails were so thin they would actually bend when I pushed on them. They’d break the instant they grew past my fingertips and I never had to cut them - they never got long enough to! I tried every nail polish that claimed to be “diamond strength” or “maximum growth” and none of them did a thing for me. 

Then I heard about the vitamin method - specifically “Biotin.” Biotin is a natural B-vitamin that stimulates the growth of nails and neutralizes harmful molecules that circulate the body and inhibit nail strength and health. I purchased a $12 bottle of Sally Hansen’s Nail Essentials and took one 3mg pill a day for a month. It took about a week and a half for me to notice a difference, but after that waiting period my nails were visually thicker! When I pushed on them they would no longer bend, which led to less breakage, which led to significant length.

After I finished my bottle of Sally Hansen I switched to a cheaper grocery store brand of Biotin that offered 5mg in a much smaller pill, more pills in a bottle. This is what I’m taking now, one a day, and I can’t even remember the last time I broke a nail. My nails grow fast, (I actually have to trim them now!) and they feel so much stronger. I can wear all the nail art I want, and it’s all thanks to Biotin. :)

 

If your nails break often or aren’t long enough to support all the nail art designs you’d like to try, this product might be your answer. I frequently see Biotin sold as either 600mcg, 3mg, or 5mg. I recommend you buy a bottle that is 5mg, any less and you won’t see as significant results. One tablet a day is all you need.

You can purchase Biotin at drug stores like CVS or Rite-Aid, or at any grocery store in the vitamin suppliment section. (Personally I order my Biotin from Amazon, because they have a Source Naturals 240-tablet deal for about $30. If you just want to try a single month supply though, to see if it works for you, you can find a 30-tablet bottle at a grocery store for about $5.)

Little wrapped presents are the look we’re going for today, complete with a tied holiday ribbon. (This is a pretty complicated nail art design; if you’re finding it too difficult I recommend trying the snow sponging tutorial instead.)

You can wear almost any nail polish color as your base for this look; I’m using a shimmery gold. Pictured is two coats of a cheap gold nail polish, and one coat of OPI’s “Up Front and Personal,” (a champange-colored microglitter polish that I like to layer over other colors for added sparkle.)

I don’t have the right sort of burgundy-colored acrylic paint that I’m after, so I’m going to mix my own using red and purple acrylic paint. Acrylic paint is really easy to mix, even if the companies are different. 

I added some red acrylic paint to my purple, and mixed them up with my paintbrush. 

This is optional, but you can attach a gemstone, sequin or jelly-ball embellishment to be the center of your ribbon. Otherwise a simple acrylic paint dot in the center will do. 

Dip your paintbrush into your acrylic paint, and draw out a loop surrounding your center dot. I’m using a size one paintbrush, (not a special “nail art brush,” just a regular paintbrush.)

Repeat the same loop on the opposite side. As you can see, I made each of my loops in two strokes. This is easier than trying to paint the loops in one rounded brushstroke.

For the bottom tail of your bow, you can simply draw out a line, or you can paint a line with two little flicks at the end like pictured. 

Repeat the same tail on the opposite side. 

Paint a triangle-shaped stripe above, and on the sides of your ribbon. 

Apply a clear topcoat over your entire nail for shine, and to protect your nail art. 

If you have any questions about this design or any other tutorial, feel free to ask me in any comments section or e-mail me at: mymanicure@yahoo.com. I’m always happy to help. :)

Back in August I posted a sponging tutorial. When sponging is done in white, it always looks like snow to me, so I’m bringing back this design as a holiday look. 

Paint your full nail in red or green nail polish. 

Put a bit of white acrylic paint onto a piece of tin foil and have a cup of water ready. Wet your sponge very lightly and squeeze out any excess water before stamping it over your white acrylic paint.

Then stamp your sponge onto your tinfoil or paper towel until you can see a sponge pattern emerging. (See the original sponging post for an image showing how much paint should be loaded onto your sponge.)

Press your sponge onto your painted nail for snowy tips. 

Continue until you get the amount of snowy paint spots you desire.

Coat your entire nail in a glittery clear, or a regular clear topcoat. 

If you’re going to decorate several nails this way, I recommend using different areas of your sponge in order to keep your snow looking fresh and even. (Using the same area over and over can load up your sponge with too much paint.) This is a quick and easy nail design that also looks cute on toes. Happy holidays!