My Manicure

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!

This is a colorful holiday nail design meant to look like slightly tangled Christmas tree lights draped across your nail. 

Your base color can be anything you want, but since the lights themselves are colorful I’d suggest keeping it simple and avoiding bright shades. I’m using two coats of Sephora by OPI’s “Fancy Schmancy” as it gives off a nice holiday frost look, like clean snow.

We’ll be using forest green acrylic paint and a short liner/striper brush to create our string of Christmas lights. 

Dip the tip of your liner brush into your green acrylic paint and draw out a wavy line across your nail. Go light and just worry about getting your shape in; we can go over the paint after to make the line more even. 

I retraced my green acrylic paint line to make it darker and easier to see. Add some green dots here and there: that’s where our “lights” will hang from. 

I’m using almond-shaped gemstones, but round gemstones will work as well. (If you don’t have colored gems, try making dots using brightly colored nail polish, acrylic paint, small sequins, etc.) I placed small dots of clear nail polish along the green strand to give something for the gems to stick to. 

Coat your entire nail in a clear topcoat to protect your “Christmas tree lights” and your nails are all set for the holidays. :)