Piano Key Nails

Hello everyone! It has been such a long time since I've been able to create a video, blog post, or even just do a design on my own nails...but alas I am finally figuring out how to make so "me" time amongst all the chaos. So for my first design back I figured this piano key design was the place to start.
Overall the process was simple and all it really comes down to is drawing a lot of straight (or in my case semi-straight lines). I hope you enjoy the photos and video below and would love to hear your thoughts!

Color Block/ Mod 60's Inspired Nails

I’ve really been wanting to use these French manicure guides that I’ve had forever to do something, and I truly couldn’t think of anything until today! (BTW I don’t wear French manicures very much at all so that wasn’t really an option.)

The French manicure (FM) guides that I have actually came from a FM set I bought a few *years* ago from Sally Hansen. At the time I had no idea that Stripe Rites and other nail art polishes existed so I purchased the set solely for the white polish with the thin brush. Included were a sheer polish, top coat, and the white polish along with the aforementioned guides. To this day I’ve kept them around thinking that I may one day use them and today my friends I found their purpose!

I’ve wanted to do a color block design for a while now and I’ve tried creating them several times which were all overly complicated and usually ended in a steaming pile of fail. On my attempt today I decided to keep it simple and *finally* came out with a wearable design. If you are curious as to what I’m blabbering on about, here are a few pictures:

The products I used were:

BASE
Nail Magic Nail Hardener (Review can be found here)
Seche Clear (base coat)
Zoya- Purity (white)

DESIGN
OPI- ‘The “IT” Color’ and ‘You’re a Pisa Work’ (yellow and pink)
China Glaze- ‘Flying Dragon (Neon)’ and ‘Blue Sparrow (Neon)’
Misa- The Grass is Greener on My Side (Neon)
Stripe Rite in White (my line corrector/eraser)

TOP
Seche Vite

All in all I really did enjoy the way this came out. If I was going to do it again I would find something thinner than the FM guides as I think they were a little too thick for the size of my nail.

If you’d like a more in depth description of the process than check out my video below:

New York Fashion Week Inspired Nails: Marc Jacobs

I wanted to shoot out a quick thank you to everyone who has sent me inspiration pictures (they can be of anything from nature or nails, to abstracts and people) . It is incredibly helpful! Also if you have some inspiration photos that you would like to share please feel free to send them my way: Audrey@allnailandcosmetics.com.

Now onto the good stuff:

When I asked on twitter for inspiration I received many suggestions but the one that I chose to work with was “New York Fashion Week”. Truth be told I am not too crazy about fashion/trends. I try my best to think about what works for me and what will be relevant in the years to come. So, for this topic I decided that Google was going to be my bff. I typed in my phrase and went straight to the images section. It only took me until page 2 to find something that jumped out at me.

(Source: Harpers Bazaar)

I chose this Marc Jacobs outfit purely based on the fun colors (neon’s will be big again for spring nails this year) so it was a bit of a no-brainer to choose this one.

The main colors/themes of this look were:
Polka Dots (Black-Zoya Raven; White-Zoya Purity)
Black (see above)
Bright Green (Misa-The Grass is Greener on My Side)
Fuchsia (Essie- Life Guard)

Here is what I’ve come up with:

Now, it has been pointed out to me that the polka-dots on the blouse (inspiration pic) were actually pale yellow but I used white (accidently I should add).



This look like my others is a focus on quick, easy, nail art that nearly anyone can do! I hope that you’ve enjoyed this one! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Easiest Nail Art Ever? Hearts (Valentine's Themed)

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner I decided to share a V-day themed nail tutorial.

Heart shapes, I learned while in culinary school are one of the easiest shapes to freehand. If you can make a dot, you can draw a heart. Now, knowing what I know I decided that I should take the pressure off for this upcoming holiday and share my little secret with all of my readers, viewer, and anyone else who happens to stumble across this article.

How to do it:

Dot and drag, dot and drag!

If you need more explanation watch my video below!

If you have any suggestions for more V-day themed designs I’d love to make them happen here!
P.S. There is a French manicure themed design coming soon!

Sula Paint and Peel Polish

I am very excited to be sharing this review with you as it is a product which holds a place very near and dear to my heart. Paint and peel polish has been a product which I fell in love with at an early age. As a child I would receive Children’s Nail Art Workbooks which had several pages of designs as well as several colors of nail polish to create the designs; the best thing about these books was not necessarily learning the designs (although in hindsight I find my love of nail polish probably sprung out of this) but the polish that came with the books. They were bright colors: red, white, yellow, orange, pink, and green, with maybe a black and brown in there; together they were all the colors any budding child nail artist would ever need. I would use up all the polish that came in the books in about 2 weeks. I would paint anyone’s nails as long as they would let me and my biggest selling point was that if they didn’t like it, they could just peel it off (I was an entrepreneur at a young age). I probably made every design in the book and a few of my own but in painting my own nails (almost on a daily basis) just for thrill of peeling off the paint. Those days were all but forgotten until (dun, dun, dun!) I found Sula Paint and Peel Nail Polish!

This isn’t the first that I have heard of Sula; in fact I used to use their fragrances a few years ago for summer. The fun of the fragrances was layering. At the time, I can remember there being six different fragrances that you could either wear alone or layer to create unique scents. Since then I haven’t thought much about the brand until I stumbled across these polished while walking through the fragrance section of my local ULTA. I thought about how fun peeling the polish would be again but now I also weighed the price and decided against it. It had all but vanished from my thoughts when I saw them again in a larger display just last week. I decided that I HAD to try them. The fates had put them there for a reason and I left the store with two new beauties: Azure and Dove.

From here I decided some testing was in order and so the following happened:
1. I applied two coats of Azure (no base or top coat, just as directed so that I could still peel the polish. Keep in mind that if you apply base and top coat you will have longer wear and the results could be different then what mine were.)
2. Wore it for two days
3. Then wrote this review

Here is the first coat:

As you can see the application was VERY streaky and although you can’t truly see it, the texture was not very even.

Here is the second coat:

Still streaky in appearance and texture.

Here is the applicator:

It is a bit short for my liking but it did the job!

After two days of wear here are the problems that I encountered:
1. Rubbing the nails together caused the polish to dull
2. Small nicks would spread and start the peeling process
3. Overall rubbery feel to the polish

Some things I liked:
1. Dried very quickly
2. Some of the colors are really unique
3. Good overall color selection
4. Fun concept
5. Easy to peel off

My recommendation:
Truthfully I won’t repurchase these or add anymore to my collection. Because of the streaky application it is difficult to apply and looks a little sloppy. Also I really no longer have a need to peel off my polish—fun for kids and for the kid at heart but in reality is quite limiting because of the need to touchup and/or reapply. Perhaps with a base and top coat the wear would be so improved that it would make having a Sula manicure really worth it, but until I try it I can’t say that I truly think these are worth $9 for 11ml/.37 fl. Oz. (for reference OPI [at ULTA] is $8.50 for 15ml/.5 fl. Oz.)

What I Was And Am Currently Wearing 2

If you don't follow me on twitter, or watch my youtube channel then you may have missed out on the Halloween series that I have started. The first design I did was inspired by several "Dark Fairy" looks that I found while searching around youtube--oddly enough my video never made it to youtube because the footage and contrast of colors was too dark to be seen easily. It is however pretty self explanatory!
Dark Fairy/Angel Nails:

If you've seen the videos that I have seen then this generally idea is what most of the "Dark Fairy/Angel" tutorial's have consisted of.

Next, I painted my nails with Zoya Trixie (most amazing silver ever!). After a day of plain nails I moved along in Halloween series to do cobweb/spiderweb nails. Here's what that looked like:

Yet again, an easy to do look that is fitting for the holiday and not too crazy.

What I am currently wearing is what I am calling my "Friendly Frankenstein" nails. This one was inspired by cartoon frankenstein as they are one of my favorites! Here's how this one looks:

He's just so cute!

I hope you've enjoyed this What I'm Wearing....let me know what you think of the above designs, or request something you'd like to see!

Another Animal Print

I really must say that I have never, ever, ever been a fan of animal prints until about 3 months ago and even then it had to be something special for me really like it. I guess the tacky animal prints of the 90's (specifically those worn by women in my family) really scarred me. After the Zebra Nail Tutorial I did I was feeling good about them, at least on my nails. So when leopard was requested I was worried. Well, it only took me two months to do it but I also added a little twist to it by making it pink! Who doesn't like pink?!

I can't say that I really changed any of the design except the color scheme. But, here's what it looks like:

Tie Dye Nails and Water Marbling

Water Marbling with multiple colors can be a big pain to do but, at the same time the results can be fun and unique. Recreating an exact pattern takes a lot of skill but many patterns can be accomplished with practice.

Likewise, the saturation or opacity of the color can vary depending on the brand and finish of the polish. I've also found that shimmers retain their finish but provide very little coverage. As I've mentioned before creme finishes are my favorite, and 4/5 colors used were cremes.

Have you ever tried water marbling? Let me know in the comment section!