3 Different Halloween Nail Art Tutorials

I just thought that it might be a good idea to put all the Halloween Nail Art Tutorials that I did last year on one post. I plan to be making some more costume oriented designs this year so if you need nail art for your costume or just have an idea please leave it in the comments section! Thanks and enjoy!

Friendly Frankenstein:



Easy Spiderwebs:



Bats, Spiders, and Webs:



If you are in need of any nail art supplies please check out my shop: All Nail Shop!

More Swatches...

This is what I am currently wearing on my nails: Zoya 'Sloane'.

This is a deep black cherry color with an amazing shimmer of red and purple. I tried my best to show the shimmer but it is one of those 'hard to capture' effects. Anyways... I hope you like it!

Miu Miu Swallow Print Nails

Ok so this design was requested a lot but I never really wanted to do it. I get into mood where I don't care how much people want to see it; I don't want to do it. I guess I was being a little selfish so I finally sat down last week and banged this one out.

For my base color I used OPI Russian Navy and for the design I used a light pink Art Deco polish and a white stripe rite. The rest, so they say, is history...

Check out the video below to see how I did it!

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!

Splatter Paint Nails!

This is a much requested video whether it be through my formspring.me account or just through regular emails and messages. I finally had the time and had acquired all the tools to pull this off and here is what I came up with!

But...it was a very messy process!

Eyeko ‘Pastel Polish For Nice Nails’ Review

If you’ve read the title then you may be wondering what I am doing reviewing another Eyeko nail polish. Well, this actually a limited edition product which I figure at least deserved a little bit of my time and a few pictures. The color is beautiful, a baby blue with a seafoam green duochrome effect. The color is light enough that one coat would leave you with a sheer light nail but, if you bump it up to three coats, you have a nearly opaque baby blue. This color reminds me very much of spring which I can’t wait for!


My complaint, you may wonder? I absolutely despise the brush and handle and I fear that the polish will dry out very quickly since the mouth of the bottle is very large. Of one thing I’m certain, air+polish in bottle=thick goopey mess.

Onto the Pictures!

The Duochrome-y goodness

The Brush

The wide mouth of the bottle

1 coat

3coats

What do you think of this color?

Ransom Note/Message Nail Art

I’ve been a bit sick for the past few days which I am pretty sure is thanks to my new job—being around a lot of new people usually does this to me—so when I went to make my tutorial today I wanted something that wasn’t all too difficult but was still pretty, fun, and unique. I was recently asked about nail decals and while I don’t have any of those on hand, this design sort of incorporates the techniques that you would need in decal application. Moving along...
This design resembles a ransom note—now, I haven’t personally seen a ransom note (thank goodness) however I’m sure that we’ve all seen the generic cutout letter ransom note that movies and television shows depict.

I first went through and painted my nails a nice dark navy color (Zoya’s Ibiza) and then let them dry completely. Next, I went through and cut out some works and letters that I liked from an older magazine that I had lying around; this was the fun part. I then applied top coat to my nails (Seche Vite) and then went about sticking on my words.

I really think that this design is fun and gives the wearer a bit of freedom to be as creative as you they can be! I hope you all enjoy this one—let me know what you think in the comments!

Products Used:
Nail Magic Nail Hardener
Seche Clear
Zoya—Ibiza
Seche Vite
An old Gourmet magazine!

Pictures:

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!

Nail Trend: The Ombrè Manicure

The next design is something that I had wanted to try for a while. It first graced the runways last autumn (or winter) and was publicized as the next "it" trend by both InStyle and Seventeen Magazines. The Ombrè manicure is an interesting concept and to describe it, without a picture is difficult; my best description is: a gradient manicure which is not confined to one finger but rather, incorporates the entire hand. Don’t worry, I do indeed have plenty of pictures!

This design involves a lot of color frankening (or mixing) to create a new color. There are many techniques for this manicure and I’ve adapted them to make my own. Please be aware that this technique that I have used is best suited for mid-tone cream colors. For bright colors I would recommend All Lacquered Up’s tutorial. For dark, rich colors I would recommend this video by Seventeen. Please keep in mind that what I do isn’t the set in stone and you should be adaptive and use your creativity to help you through!

I’ve actually attempted this manicure a few times but only have pictures of my current, and it’s previous attempts. The main color I used for the purple Ombrè was ‘Spontaneous’ from China Glaze and the main color for the green Ombrè was ‘Dirty, Sexy, Money’ from Misa.

(Above: Swatch of Misa's 'Dirty, Sexy, Money')

To create the design you will need a main color, a black polish, a white polish, something to mix on (I used Post It’s) and something to mix with. You will also need a clean polish brush, I recommend using the brush from a cheap clear coat.

Here are the basic steps:
1. Paint your middle fingers with your main color
2. Mix your main color with 2-3 drops of white (on your scrap paper) and apply that shade to your index      finger. This shade should be 2-3 shades lighter that your middle finger.
3. Mix mainly white with 2-3 drops of your main color and apply to your thumb. This shade should be 2-3 lighter than your index finger.
4. For your ring and pinky fingers you will need to repeat the process using black, instead of white polish.

Here is the finished look:

Check out the video below for more tips and tricks!

Eyeko Vintage Polish Review

I have been craving a mint green nail polish for quite a while now. First, I thought I wanted Essie Mint Candy Apple but unfortunately that polish has long been sold out here. I’d also been wanting to try Eyeko nail polishes in general for a while and since Eyeko had the minty green “Vintage Polish” I decided I should bite the bullet. I also ordered the Eyeko Cream, Eyeko Tinted Cream, and the trio of Fat Balms and Vintage (the polish retails for $5). This is my first experience ever ordering with Eyeko. I actually placed an order about a month ago and received my products in about 2 weeks (regular first class shipping). Back to the polish; Vintage is a mint green nail lacquer which even though it is cool toned looks wonderful on my warm toned skin. I was pleasantly surprised with the color to say the least. It took three coats to get an opaque finish and I should note that this is a cream formula with no shimmer. The polish itself is quite thin when you apply it, almost runny but it still dries fairly quickly. I used my normal base coat combo, then 3 coats of Vintage, followed by a coat of Seche Vite.

In terms of wear:

After wearing this polish for a week I found that my dominant hand (Right hand) chipped significantly on my index finger and middle finger. The wear however, on my left had was nearly perfect with only one minor chip. Here are some pics.

(Above is 3 coats)

(Left: 1 coat     Right: 3 coats)

(Left: 2 coats     Middle: 3 coats     Left: 1 coat)

(Above: Left hand after 1 week)

(Above: Right hand after 1 week)

I hope you enjoyed this review. Unfortunately this specific shade has sold out via the Eyeko website however, there are plenty of other shades that look just as fun like their Lilac polish.

Painting your nails is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

I find that one of the most common questions I receive are something like the following,  “How do I paint my nails so they are neat?” or, “How do you not get polish on the side of your nails?” or, some other variation of this question. While I am flattered that I receive compliments on my nails, I think that everyone should know that I am far from perfect with regards to the subject. If I am in a hurry or just lazy my nails will look horrible; so instead of rushing through the process I try to plan out the time when I do my nails so that nothing will interrupt me and I won’t feel rushed. In addition to taking precautions to ensure that I have the time, and won’t be interrupted a little trick or two couldn’t hurt.

Whenever I paint my nails I try to use the “3 stroke” method. I first heard this phrase coined on the Makeup Alley Nail Board and haven’t looked back since. It does still take time and practice to implement it in your regular nail routine but, after a while you will find yourself naturally leaning towards this method.

The goal is to avoid your cuticles by creating a barrier between where you apply polish and your cuticle. This picture demonstrates exactly what I mean:

I made a video specifically to address this issue. I hope you enjoy!

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.)

Gradient Nails Take 2!

If you've folowed my blog since the beginning then you would know that one of my first nail art designs (if that is what you'd call it) was gradient nails. Meaing the color faded from clear to another color, in my case teal. This was a big moment for me and I made sure to take my time and practice it long before I ever filmed it. Well, today I am sitting here with my nails in that exact same design except this time it didn't take me an hour to do; it only took about 15 minutes from beginning to end. The effect is still very much the same, in fact they are almost identical--I am very excited to share with you the easy way to create a gradient effect!

To refresh your memory, here is the original (my nails were crazy long!):

And my re-creation:

The colors I used were the same in both:
OPI Teal the Cows Come Home
China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway
China Glaze Fairy Dust














The first method involved careful placement and blending and the second a sponge! I hope you enjoy this easy way to create this fun effect!
Here's how I created them:

New Year's Eve Nails

While I am always excited for a new year to begin there is also a slight bit of remorse, sadness even as the past is the past and can't be repeated. Mainly I am thinking of the good times but there are pivotal moments, key decisions which have brought me this far and made me the person I am today. 2010 will be full of wonderful moments too I am sure but like an old familiar friend 2009 will not be easily forgotten.

That being said, and what you are probably most interested in is: What nail design will I ring in the New Year with? Well, here it is! A sparkling, bedazzled, jeweled number with enough glitter to ring in the next few years--let me tell you, I am not looking forward to removing this--but for now, it is a gem to look at.

Please have a safe and Happy New Year!

The whole design was inspired by Katy Perry and one of her amazing rhinestone encrusted designs.

Above: Artificial Light

Above: Sunlight

Above: Sunlight, shown blurry to see some of the sparkle