Boo to You- Happy Halloween

Hello everyone! Happy Halloween! For today's post we will be creating a cute/ spooky nail design that you can wear to a party or just for fun.

 Boo to you! Halloween nail design. This design is inspired by Nail Storming ghost design with a design a photo I found on line to inspire the spooky graveyard scene.

Here are the nail polishes and tools used for this Halloween design: 

Base and top coat- Nicole OPI-  3in1- base, top, & strengthener and Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat.

Nail polishes- Sinful Color-Let's Meet, Sally Hansen- xterme wear- Sun kisses, Wet n wild- Glitter orange, Revlon- Rebel graffiti, and China glaze- white on white. 

Nail art tools- thin slanted nail at brush, latex free makeup sponge, and a cup of water to clean the paint off of your brush.

Acrylic paint- black, white, and red.

*Optional- school glue or liquid latex for easy clean up around your fingers.  

The skill level for this Halloween nail design is:

 Intermediate

This design has some parts to it that can be difficult, with the small detail that are created when painting the graveyard scene on the index, middle, and ring finger nail. As for the ghost that is a little more simple to create and the pinky nail just has glitter on it.

Let's start this spooky/ cute nail design!  

1. Start off with a base coat.

2. Paint your index, middle and ring finger nails yellow, your pinky nail with a glitter orange, and then for your thumb nail we will paint it white and orange, first swipe the white polish across the nail a little ways down the cuticle, leaving a little bit of space at the top, then fill in the bottom half near the nail tip with white polish. After that swipe a orange glitter polish at the top of the white, you may need to go over this three times to get the polish to be opaque enough.

3. We will first start off with the cute ghost on the thumb nail. Take your thin nail art brush dipped into black paint, make a two dots to know where to place the eyes then draw a line for the mouth. The make the two dots bigger for the eyes. 

Right know your ghost looks a little like Baymax, but we will fix that.  

4. Now we will make his smile. Once again take your thin nail art brush dipped into black paint and make a curved line under the straight line, then fill it in for the smile. 

5. This next part will get a little bit messy, that is why you can put liquid latex around your finger or school glue to make the clean up a little bit easier. I don't have any liquid latex so I just used some school glue, it didn't work to well so I would recommend getting some liquid latex. As you can see I could not get all of it off of my nails, but if you wash your hands it does come off then.

Anyways for this step you may have guessed that we will be doing a gradient. For this step take your makeup sponge, just a small piece of it, then paint some of it orange and yellow, then sponge on the colors onto your nails to create a gradient. You may need to do this a few times to get the color to be opaque enough. 

6. Now we will start to create our spooky grave yard scene that will go on three of the nails the index, middle, and pinky nail. We will start with the index nail, take your thin nail art brush dipped into black paint, make a thick line at the tip of the nails, then make a line going from that thick line for the stem of the tree, then make a lot of thin lines for the grass.

7. After that we will make a lot of small lines for the tree branches.Their was not really a set way of how I did this I just found and image online that I based this design on. Due to this part being a silhouette, that makes it a little bit easier to make, in my opinion. You can also look ahead at step 9 for a reference if needed. 

8. For the ring finger do the last step again, the only thing you can do different is make the tree on the other side of the nail. As for the middle finger we will be make a tombstone, take your thin nail art brush dipped in black paint, draw a line near the tip of the nail, fill that part in, then draw two lines in the center with a curved line at the top, then fill that in for the tombstone.     

9. To add the final touch to your graveyard scene you can add a cross and a pumpkin shape, or just have a tombstone and a cross.

10. For the pinky nail we will keep that nail simple, you can just keep it the way it is with the orange glitter or if you have some black and white glitter polish, you can paint that over the orange. 

For the final touches to the ghost on the thumb nail we will add some squiggly lines to the bottom of the ghost. Take your thin nail art brush with black paint and draw a squiggly line at the tip of the nail, then fill that in. Next we need to add the ghost tongue, this step helps to make him look cute. Take some white and red paint and mix them together to make a pink color. Take your clean thin nail art brush and make a tongue shape in the middle of the mouth. 

If you are like me then you thought that the tombstone scene was missing something, some bats, or you can leave this as is or add three bats in the sky. Take your clean thin nail art brush dipped in to black paint make a small dot for the body, then two curved lines for the wings, then some small lines from the two curved lines that you just made, to add more to the wings. 

Once your spooky/ cute nail design has dried apply a top coat to seal in your design.

 

Using acrylic paint for my nail designs has really helped to improve the designs and just make it a lot easier to create. Acrylic paint does not get sticky, it does not dry as fast, and can be layered with out getting to thick.

Hope all of you enjoyed this Halloween nail design and have a safe and Happy Halloween!

See you next time for more fun nail tutorials!

Let's See your Feathers- Peacock Design

Hello everyone! For this weeks post their really was no theme for this design, I just deiced to do a peacock feather design. This design was inspired by a photo that I found on Pinterest, and I just deiced to make it into a nail design.

    Peacock Nail Designs. Design inspired by Pinterest Peacock photo

Here are the polishes and tools used for this peacock design:

Base and Top coat- Nicole OPI-  3in1- base, top, & strengthener and Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat.

Nail polishes- Sinful Color- Gorgeous, KBShimmer- Up and Cunning, Revlon- blue mosaic, Zoya- Charla, and Kiss nail art stripper- Silver.

Acrylic paint- blue, black, and white.

Nail art tools- thin slanted nail art brush, and a latex free makeup sponge.

Other- a cup of water to clean off your brush.

The skill level for this Peacock nail design is: 

 

Beginners

This design is simple. The only part that has some small details is the ring finger nail, with the peacock feather. Although this does have some small details they are simple curved lines.

Let's start this colorful peacock nail design!

1. Start off with a base coat to protect your nails.

2. Then we will paint our nails with some shimmery teal colors. On the pinky, middle, and index finger paint your nails with a shimmer teal, I used Sinful Color- Gorgeous. Then on the ring and thumb nail we will paint them with a teal holographic polish, I used KBShimmer- Up and Cunning. 

3. Next we will sponge on a bluish teal color with a metallic shimmer(I used Zoya's Charla) on to just the index, middle, and pinky nails. Take a makeup sponge that is cut into a small piece, you don't need all of the sponge a small piece will work just fine. Then paint the color onto the sponge, and then dab the sponge on to the nail tip, then just go slightly up the nail to create a gradient. You may need to repeat this step two more times for the color to be opaque enough.

4. Now we will start the peacock feather on the ring finger nail. Take your thin nail art brush dipped into blue acrylic paint and make a line going up the nail, then a circle at the top, and two curved lines on the sides. The way it looks right now is kind of like a stick figure with his hand in the air.

5. For the next step it is a little hard to show step by step of how to create the peacock feather, due to their being a lot of small little lines, but I will try to explain it. First we need to mix together our different shades of blue. First squirt some blue, black, and white on to a piece of paper or a piece of foil. Then take your blue and a small about of black and mix them together to make a dark blue, then take some more blue and add some white to it to make a light blue. Now you can start to make different curved lines going up your stick figure looking shape. I really had no order of how I put the colors I just started to paint a lot of curved lines.

Also for this step you can always add a little more or less of each color while painting to make the color you want.

 Final peacock nail design.

6. After you finish that side go onto the other side that is closes to your finger and repeat the last step. Also if you would like you can add some sliver to your feather, by taking a silver nail art stripper and just make a few sliver lines on the feather.

7. To finish off this look you can always stop here or if you want a little more glitz, you can add some glitter polish to the gradient. Once again take a small piece of makeup sponge and paint a blue, green, sliver glitter polish onto the sponge (I used Revlon- blue mosaic.) You may need to do this one more time, so that their is enough glitter or you can just take the brush that came in the bottle and paint some glitter on after sponging on the first layer. 

As for the thumb nail I just left it as is with just a holographic polish on it.

Then once everything has dried apply a top coat to protect your beautiful bright nail design.

Hope all of you enjoyed this bright peacock nail design!

See you next time for more bright and fun nail designs! 

  

Mouse is in the House- Mickey Mouse Design

Hello everyone! This week I have a tutorial that is for all you Disney/ Mickey Mouse lovers out there. Growing up Mickey and Minnie Mouse where and always will be my favorite Disney characters. As you know if you have been checking out the M.M.M blog, then you know I don't really care for fall colored nail polish, so I thought I would do some character designs for all of you instead.

 Mickey Mouse nail design 

Here are the nail polishes and tools used for this Mickey Mouse nail design-

Base and top coat- OPI Natural Nail base coat and Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat.

Nail polishes- Sinful Color-Let's Meet, Sally Hansen- Hard as Nails- Black Heart, Finger paints- Cubism Crimson, China glaze- white on white, and NYC- Fashion Safari.

Acrylic paint- Black and white. Also a cup of water to clean of your brushes with paint on them.

Nail tools- Glass jar with nail polish remover to clean nail art brushes, thin slanted nail art brush, small thin nail art brush,and extra large dotting tool.

The skill level for this Mickey Mouse nail design is:

 Intermediate 

This design got an intermediate rating because some of the design like the Mickey Mouse on the thumb nail and his glove can be difficult, and the rest of the design might be a little bit easier to create, depending on your skill level.

Oh Boy let's get's get this fun Mickey design started!

 1. Start off with a base coat.

2. For this Mickey design we will be painting all of the nails a different color. Paint your thumb nail yellow, your index black, your middle finger black at the top and red at the bottom, your ring finger white, and your pinky nail red.

Just a tip when painting your nail half black and red, start off by first swiping the black polish across the nail in the middle, then filling in the top part with black. After that paint the bottom part near your nail tip red by painting downward. This seem to help me to make it look even.  

*For this design we will be doing some jumping around, from nail to nail in order for each part to dry.

3. First we will start off with the Mouse himself, Mickey. For the shape of his face, I first took a small nail art brush dipped into a peach nail polish and made the shape of his face, starting with the checks, then creating the shape of his face. After that you can take the brush that came with the polish and go over the shape you just made, to make sure it is opaque enough. 

4. As we let Mickey's face dry, we will start to do another nail, the pinky nail. On the pinky nail we will make Mickey's silhouette peaking from the side of the nail. Take your thin nail art brush dipped into black acrylic paint and create a half circle, on the side of the nail.

5. Then make two circles on top of Mickey's head for the ears. You are now finished with that nail.

6. Now back to Mickey on the thumb nail. Take your thin nail art brush dipped into black
acrylic paint and start to outline the top part of Mickey's head. 

7. As soon as you have that part kind of thick. Make to circles on the top of Mickey's head for the ears.   

8. Now on to the smile and nose. With that same thin nail art brush dipped into black
acrylic paint, draw a curved line for the mouth with a curved lines on each side. Then draw a oval above his smile for his nose. 

9. On the middle finger nail for Mickey's pants, we are already half way done. All we need to do is draw two lines for his bottoms. Just take you cleaned thin nail art brush dipped into white acrylic paint and draw two thin lines.   

10. Now for Mickey's glove or hand on the index finger nail. Take your thin nail art brush dipped into white acrylic paint, near the cuticle make a half circle or half moon shape. You may need to go over the circle a few times to get the white paint to be opaque enough.

11. For Mickey's fingers, start on both sides and make a finger shape, then work your way to the middle, making two more fingers in the middle.

12. On the ring finger nail we will make a few small Mickey's. Take your extra large dotting tool dipped into black nail polish, and place the dotting tool lightly on the nail. Then do this two more times on the sides of the first dot you made, to make Mickey. You can make as many Mickey's as you would like, I made just three of them. 

 Final Mickey Mouse design on the left hand

For some final touches we will start off with Mickey on the thumb nail. We still need to add his eyes. First we will make a line over his nose, do this by taking your thin nail art brush with black acrylic paint on it and make a curved line above his nose. Now for his eyes take your clean thin nail art brush with white acrylic paint and make to oval shapes.Then take your black acrylic paint and make two smaller ovals for his pupils

For his gloves just add two lines on the large circle part. If you are like me you made his fingers to close together, so I just took some black paint and outline the center parts of the fingers. 

For the ring finger nail we will just add some yellow dots, by dipping your extra large dotting tool in yellow polish and doting it around the nail.

Lastly on the pinky nail I went to far with Mickey's head on one of the corners, so I just swiped a little of the red base color on the side. 

Once your Mickey nail design has dried apply a top coat to seal in your design. 

        Final Mickey nail design on the right hand 

If you are not ambidextrous, or sometimes fake it like me. Then on your non-dominant hand you can always give the design above a try. The only thing I changed really was the Mickey on the thumb nail, I just made his silhouette instead. Then the dots on the ring finger I made red dots instead of yellow.      

   

Hope all of you enjoyed this Mickey Mouse nail design!

See you next time for more fun nail designs!     

Holo-rific- Harlow & Co review

Hello everyone! If you have been checking out the M.M.M blog for a while now then you know that we all love bight, vibrant nail polish colors! I just recently went on a website called Harlow and Co. and purchased some really cool holographic polishes that I have been very excited to show all of you. 

Harlow and Co. is a Canada based company that sales international and indie brand nail polishes. I have been interested in indie brand nail polish for a while, due to the brands having more unique polishes. The only thing is indie brand polishes can be expensive. If you don't know what indie brand nail polishes are they are hand mixed nail polishes usually sold by the creator and can be found online. Then their are mainstream brands such as OPI, Zoya, and drugstore brands like Revlon that are made by larger companies and can be found in stores and online. 

Here are the four indie brand nail polishes I purchased, I got all holographic polishes.

Just in case you didn't know, their are two types of holographic polish: linear and scattered. Linear has a strong rainbow effect that creates a strong holographic, the way I can tell if it's linear is when you move your nail in the light you will see a rainbow circle in your nails. As for scattered, this holographic has larger particles and is less dense, and the rainbow is less intense.     

From Top left to right KBShimmer- Blue- d Lines and KBShimmer- Up and Cunning.
Bottom left to right- Cupcake Polish- Some Berry to Love and Colors by Llarowe- Arturo.

We will start with a review of the KBShimmer polishes.

KBShimmer- Blue- d Lines

KBShimmer is more of a well know indie brand nail polish company (that I know of), they are based out of Indiana.

Here is a link to KBShimmer's website if you would like more info. https://www.kbshimmer.com/

The first KBShimmer polish I purchased is called Blue- d Lines this is a aquamarine linear holographic polish, with intense holographic that really shows in the bright sunlight. 

I applied two thin coats for the photo above. This formula was great, it was opaque in two coats and went on very smooth. 

On Harlow & Co. website for USD for me this cost $7.23 US, but I think it might have gone up because now the price is listed as $8.36 US.

Here is a link for KBShimmer- Blue- d Lines

 KBShimmer- Up and Cunning

Next we have Up and Cunning this is a deep teal linear holographic polish.

This polish was a little bit more sheer on the first coat, but was easily build-able on the second. This formula once again was really good, went on smooth in two coats.

Unfortunately on Harlow & Co. website this polish is sold out. I payed $7.23US for this polish. If you like this polish you can always be on the look out for it, they do restock.

Here is the link for KBShimmer Up & Cunning 

         

Now for the other two polishes.

 Cupcake Polish- Some Berry to Love

Cupcake polish is a company that is based out of Dallas,Texas. They hand mix all of their polishes in small batches.

Here is a link to Cupcake polishes website if you would like more info.

http://cupcakepolish.bigcartel.com/ 

The Cupcake polish I purchased is Some Berry to Love, this is a bright pink, linear holographic polish that I actually thought was scattered when I saw it in the bottle. Once this is applied to the nail it does have a more noticeable linear holographic.

This polish also went on very smooth, almost a one coat wonder, but it is always best to apply two thin coats. 

On Harlow & Co website this cost $12.16 US

Here is the link for the Cupcake Polish- Some Berry to Love 

  Colors by Llarowe- Arturo with out top coat.

Colors by Llarowe- Arturo with top coat. 

Don't know if you can really tell the differences in the photo, 

actually the one with top coat look more shinny then the one with out.  

Colors by Llarowe is another hand mixed nail polish. This polish is mixed in large batches and the polishes can be slightly different between each batch.

Here is a link to Colors by Llarowe website if you would like more info.

http://www.llarowe.com/ 

Arturo is a light blue, sublet scatter holographic polish, with out top coat this polish kind of has a matte finish to it. It is really hard to describe this polish looks matte with out a top coat, but is still shimmer due to the holographic elements. 

This polish also had a good formal, went on smooth in two coats.   

This polish I actually purchased for the name, Arturo. My brothers name is Arturo and I thought it was kind of cool that their is a polish out that named Arturo. 

On Harlow & Co. website this cost $12.16 US.

Here is the link for the Colors by Llarowe- Arturo

All of these polishes I loved, they had great formula and wore very well, except for one polish the cupcake polish, it started to chip a little on the second day. Also what I love about these polishes is the fact that they are holographic, which mades them awesome. 

As for Harlow & Co. themselves, I was very happy with their service my package arrived in a reasonable time of one week, and arrived in great condition in a envelope with each polish bubble wrapped. Also an added bonus their was a orange lollipop that came with the package, I ate the lollipop right a way, so I didn't get a chance to take a photo of that.    

As a final note if you order from Harlow & Co. as stated above they are a Canadian company, so all of their currency on the website is in the Canadian dollar. On the top right hand corner of their site they do have where you can change the currency to fit where you live from  CAD, USD, GBP, EUR, RUB, and AUD. Once you place a order it will say the Canadian currency, but don't worry it is still sit to your currency. That part did confuse me at first because the amount was higher then it first said. 

For the final cost of all four of these polishes with shipping, it did cost a lot more than I usually pay for polish. But do to the fact that I feel that they are unique enough, I am willing to spend a little more on these polishes, and do to the fact that these are indie brand polishes as well makes them cost more.

In the end with shipping (standard shipping) of $5.77 US, I ended up spending $43.36 US on four polishes, which is a lot, but worth it in the end!  

Hope all of you enjoyed this holographic polish/ Harlow & Co. review!  

See you next time for more nail polish fun!

Top 10 Nail Care Items

Hello Everyone! Today on the M.M.M blog, I kind of have an update for my nail care routine that I want to share with all of you. Last year I did two post called nail care and hand and cuticle care, I wanted to update all of you on that by doing a top 10 post. Some of the items that I have used in my last post have changed and their are some that have not, I just thought this would be a fun way to update all of you. 

Here are my top ten (with 2 extras) favorite nail care items, Let's start off with Moisturizers:

Yes to Carrots Super Rich Body Butter $9.99 at Target  

Yes to Coconut Hand & Cuticle cream $5.99 at Target    

1. Yes to Carrots Body Butter. This is a body butter I have been using for years and have gone through many jars of this. This is a super thick body lotion that I like to us on my hands. It keeps your hands moisturized for a long time, it is a little bit greasy but absorbs in no time. It is a natural lotion with a natural smell.

Another lotion that I have been using lately is another product from the Yes to line (in case you didn't notice, I love the Yes to line), The Yes to Coconut hand & cuticle cream. I actually ran out of my favorite lotion the Yes to Carrots Body Butter, so I thought I would give this a try. So far I do like this lotion, it is also a little bit greasy by absorbs well. It does smell like coconut, but not the fake smelling coconut, this smell like a real or natural coconut.

     Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream $5.99 

2. Is another item to keep your cuticles moisturized, that is the Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. I rub this cuticle cream around my fingers and on the cuticles ever night, a long with my favorite lotion.  This is a nice cuticle cream that keeps your cuticles soft and moisturized and smells just like lemon.

     Julep Mighty nail & cuticle serum $28.00 on Julep.com or $22.00 at Sephora.

3. This cuticle and nail serum is not a must, but I do still really like this. My fingers have the problem of on the sides being dry and then peeling. Since I got this in a Julep mystery box, this serum has helped the dry parts on the sides of my fingers, not 100 percent, but they are much better I just every so often will still get dry parts. The only thing about this product is the price, it costs a lot for the amount of product that you get.

Now on to other nail care items.

      Beauty Secrets Nail Polish Remover in a jar 

from Sally Beauty $4.99 or $1.99 with Sally card.

Up & Up Acetone nail polish remover $0.97 at Target.

4. The Beauty secrets nail polish remover I actually got because I forgot to get my old favorite remover from Meijer. I then stopped by Sally's to get something else and then remembered that I need some remover. Let's just say I am glad I forgot that remover at Meijer, This remover works so much better, it actually will remove all of your polish when you dip your finger in the sponge.    

The Up & Up Acetone polish remover I use to clean my nail art brushes between designs and at the end. I also use this to clean up around my nails when I get polish on the sides of my fingers. This remover is also good for removing stubborn glitter. Do to this remover being acetone based it is very drying and I only use this for those purposes.   

 Way to many nail clippers!

5. Is nail clippers, I cut and file my nails once a month, I first use the big nail cutters and then the regular sized one to cut the sides of the nails. The third and fourth nail cutters in the photo I use if I get the dry peeling skin on the side of my fingers. You really do not need all of these nail clippers, just one or two would be fine. I really don't know why I use so many. 

 Sally Hansen crystal nail file $8.99 at Ulta 

 Kiss four way nail shaper $2.00  

Trim buffing block, $1.87

four sides; 1.even out, 2.smooth nail, 3. buff nail, 4. shine nail

6. Once again I do use a lot of different files when filing my nails, which you don't really need, I just found that using all of these works for me. I first start off with a crystal file which is suppose to be less harsh on your nails. Then I use the Kiss nail shaper the light blue side, then the light or the darker pink (not both), I never use the dark blue side it is a little to harsh. Then filing I use the buffing block on my finger tips, this I think is actually suppose to be used your nail surface. I just use the even out, and smooth part, and some times the buff side. 

Now time for cuticle clean up.

   Sally Hansen Instant cuticle remover $4.99

7. The Sally Hansen cuticle remover, I use once a month usually after I cut and file my nails.

This product is nice for helping to remove your cuticles and making your nails look nice.

    360 beauty metal cuticle pusher from CVS $3.99

8. The metal cuticle pusher I use along with the cuticle remover. Their are many cuticle pushers from wooden ones or the orange sticks, plastic or rubber pushers, and metal ones. I do own all of them, but I found that the small metal one works the best for me.

The Base and top coats.

          Nicole by OPI 3 in 1 base, top and strengthener $7.00

9. For the longest time I never used a base coat, then I decided it would be a good idea to start. I had a lot of trouble finding one I liked, then I found this one. This is a three in one, I only use it as a base coat, I have not noticed any strengthening from this product. One thing I noticed with this base coat is with cream polishes they start to crack after a few days. So maybe after this base coat is done I will try the OPI natural nails base coat.

Revlon Extra life no chip top coat $5.00

10. The Revlon Extra life no chip top coat has been by go to top coat for the longest time, after the Sally Hansen no chip acrylic top coat stop working as well, I tried this one and have liked it and have been using it since. 

Can't believe I almost forgot this one for moisturizers!

 Yes to Coconut Polishing Body scrub $7.99 at target 

11. The Yes to Coconut body scrub is a great way to keep your hands nice and soft. I use this after removing my nail polish or whenever I feel that I need something a little extra.

 Elf concealer brush $1.00

12. The Elf concealer brush I just recently bought and started to use to clean up the polish that gets on the sides of my fingers and on the cuticles. This brush is amazing for clean up, it makes it easy to really get into the sides of your fingers and to make it look like your are almost perfect a painting your nails. I use this brush with the Up &Up acetone remover. 

Hope all of your enjoyed this list and also found it helpful in your nail care routine!

See you next time for more nail fun!