Monthly Archives: April 2011
Gucci Spring 2011 Inspired
For this look, I was inspired by this pants suit featured in Gucci‘s runway show in Milan for their Spring 2011 line. When I was looking for inspiration for nail art, this look stood out among many of the other spring/summer fashion lines I googled.
This suit in particular covers so many trends in such a fun and classy way: it’s menswear-inspired; the high-waist, tapered leg of the pant is reminiscent of the 70s as are the 70s-glam-inspired clutch/belt; and the colors (which are color-blocked – another spring/summer trend) are both flattering and fashionable for the season. Are there any other trends that I missed? There is a lot going on this this look but I think Gucci pulled it off incredibly well.
This nail design was an intentional optional illusion (unlike the Two Spring Trends In One post). I wanted it to look green/gold from one side, orange/gold from the other, and all 4 colors when viewing it directly from the top. I used Orly Green With Envy and Luxe (for the gold stripes) and China Glaze Orange Knockout and Purple Panic.
I hope you folks enjoy this one. Look out for more gold-accented manicures this week… 😀
P.S. I recently purchased CND’s Stickey base coat and Super Shiney High-Gloss top coat. This is the first blog post where I’ve used a different base and top coat than my traditional Orly Bonder and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat…I’ll have to see how they hold up.
Paisley For Easter
Hi all! This Easter I’m sporting this fun paisley design :-D. The paisley pattern is a classic design and can be found as an accent or at the forefront of fashion pieces year-round. I decided to use bright colors for this mani since it’s actually feeling like spring outside. I used China Glaze White On White for the base color and Orly Pixy Stix (coral pink), Dazzle (chrome silver), and Green With Envy (well…green) for the detailing. Now that I’ve finished this look, I’m ready to get out in the sun and enjoy the weather.
It’s the claw again…
Happy Easter everyone…I hope you enjoy your weekend!!
Blue Seersucker
As promised earlier this week, I brought you another classic spring/summer fabric pattern–seersucker. The seersucker fabric has been a mainstay in men’s fashion, especially in the South, for decades. Commonly used for men’s suits and sportcoats, this fabric has crossed over into women’s and children’s fashion. Its lightweight cotton material makes it a popular choice in the summer as you can be fashionable while staying cool in the sun. The seersucker stripe can be found in green/white, pink/white, and a host of other combinations (I actually own a pink/white seersucker suit…see below). But, the original blue/white stripe is probably the most recognizable–and oldest– variation. For this I used China Glaze Sea Spray (Anchor’s Away collection) and my trusty white Art Deco nail striper.
To show that seersucker is still very much in demand, here’s an example: a men’s sportcoat from the Polo Ralph Lauren Collection priced at a meager $1150. :-O!
This is probably one of the simplest designs I’ve done but I love it…simple is good sometimes, right? Hope you enjoy 😀
Blue seeksucker mani against my pink seersucker suit jacket…this picture came out creepy…like I photoshopped my hand onto a background. But I didn’t. Weird…
Pink Gingham
Easter is less than a week away and other than baby chicks and pastel-colored eggs, the gingham print really puts me in the Easter-Springtimey mood. It seems this pattern never really goes out of style whether it’s on little girls’ Easter dresses, mens’ shirts, picnic table covers or country living interior design magazines. To make it extra cheery, I chose 3 pink colors to create my design: China Glaze’s Oxygen for the base, Art Deco’s Baby Pink nail art striper for the lines, and OPI’s Hot-Hot-Hot for the dots at each line crossing.
This week I plan to do more spring/summer fabric patterns…I hope I can pull off the one I’m planning for Friday. *bites nails….but not really because this Pink Gingham mani is too cute*
Want to add some gingham to your wardrobe for the spring? Who better to help you with that than the classic American clothing store J. Crew? Check out this pink gingham shirt they have online now…
Happy Monday!
P.S. Isn’t gingham a funny word to pronounce?
Snakeskin Nails
The snakeskin print is HOT for Spring/Summer 2011, but this isn’t your grandma’s snakeskin. Designers have updated its look for the warmer months and made it much more youth- (and yet still not PETA) friendly. Just check out this collage pic from The Sche Report’s blog about the popularity of “Predator Prints” at Spring/Summer 2011 fashion shows internationally.
These snakeskin accessory snapshots are from the Spring 2011 runways of Lanvin, Thakoon, Rochas, Mark Fast, Pucci, Burberry and YSL. Well my interest was piqued! I’d encourage you to check out The Sche’s Report’s Predator Print blog post in its entirety AND browse their site if you need some fashion inspiration. http://theschereport.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/springsummer-2011-top-10-trends-9-predator-prints/
The snakeskin trend even crossed over into the nail art realm. In this post from Allure.com, they found a nail salon that is actually offering customers a pedicure that uses real snakeskin…for $300!
http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/blogs/daily-beauty-reporter/2011/03/the-snakeskin-pedicure.html
I don’t know about you guys but I’d like to spend just a little a whole lot less on my manicure/pedicure needs, especially if it’s just to follow a trend. So I came up with a way of mimicking the snakeskin print on nails using 2 different nail colors and a small piece of tulle from Jo Ann Fabrics. I applied my base coat then two coats of China Glaze Oxygen (very pale pink) and let that dry for a bit. I then applied 1 coat of China Glaze Liquid Leather (black) and while it was still wet, I made an imprint with the tulle on my nail then quickly peeled it off. Add 1 coat of top coat and Voila!
Vintage clutch swag…
Disclaimer: For any PETA people out there reading this – I love snakeskin, sorry. That said, to those who are ready to jump on the snakeskin trend bandwagon, I’d recommend checking out your local vintage and thrift stores before buying a brand new snakeskin bag, shoe, or belt. Not only will you save money but it’s a great way to reuse the fashionable pieces already out there. Style is cyclical. Grab some trendy pieces from yesteryear.
Let me know what you think! Don’t be scared, that’s what the comment section is for :-D!
Two Spring Trends In One
This spring I’ve been looking to fashion trends for inspiration for my nail designs. I happened upon a You Tube video for H&M’s Spring 2011 lookbook that had cool-toned spring colors, neutrals, and stripes…classic spring trends. Below is summary shot of some of their looks.
For this mani, I was inspired by the 2 looks on the right: the striped skirt and the long flowing dress. So I painted my entire nail using China Glaze’s For Audrey, quite possibly their most popular shade ever, and used 2 Art Deco Nail Art Stripers in Black and White to create stripes on one half of each nail.
Let me tell you, this mani has gotten a lot of positive feedback because of the (unintentional) optical illusion effect that occurs when people view it from different angles. I can’t wait to play with this effect in the future!
From one side, my nails look like one solid color…from the other, STRIPES. You’ll see my steering wheel in the background, but I wasn’t taking pictures while driving, I promise. 😀
And I’m not a fan of the “claw” hand-pose for displaying a manicure (if you like nail blogs as much as I do, I’m sure you’ve seen it), I had to do one just so that you can see all of the nails at once. I hope you guys enjoy this post as much as I’m enjoying this manicure…
More spring-trend inspired manicures to come!!!
Lavender Dots
Spring is beginning to spring so I think this cheery manicure is right on time! I went crazy with the dotting tool and added lavender, silver and white dots in diagonal lines on top of a dark lavender color. Who doesn’t love a good polka dot pattern?
The colors I used were:
Ulta Tutu Cute for the base (dark lavender)
OPI Rumple’s Wiggin’ (light lavendar dots; Shrek Forever collection)
Orly Shine (silver dots; Foil FX collection)
Sinful Color’s Snow Me White (white dots)
I’ve been waiting for months to break out all of my pastels and brights so April will be a fun month for nail design. 🙂
Purple Leopard
It’s Friday so this will be short and sweet…I’m kinda hooked on this pattern so get sassy for this weekend with this purple leopard print nail design. Ow oww!
The colors I used were China Glaze Purple Panic for the base color, Sinful Colors Dream On for the slightly darker purple details and China Glaze Liquid Leather for the black details.
The song in today’s post really puts me in the mood to go out and paint the town red….or purple leopard print ;-).
Enjoy the weekend folks!
Flannel PJs
I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it’s hot.
I wear my flannel nightie in the winter when it’s not.
And sometimes in the springtime, and sometimes in the fall
I jump beneath the covers with nothing on at all!
Glory, glory, hallelujah…glory, glory what’s it to ya?
Balmy breezy blowin’ through ya, with nothing on at all!
~ tune “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Does anyone else remember this totally-inappropriate-for-kids camp song? Well it popped into my head and to honor the end of winter and the approaching balmy spring weather, I decided to do one last winter-themed manicure. I was going for that blue/green/red plaid flannel pattern that reminded me of flannel pajamas but I jazzed it up with a bit of silver.
For this look I used 3 China Glaze colors: Frostbite for the base color (a frosty, shimmery cobalt blue), stripes of Jolly Holly (a deep rich forest green from the 2010 Holiday collection), and stripes of Phat Santa (a rich red creme also from the 2010 Holiday collection). I used Art Deco’s silver shimmer nail art striper for the silver stripes.
So ready for spring’s pastels and brights!
Leopard Print Fun
So I was watching Dancing With The Stars last night and Chelsea Kane was positively raving about her leopard print manicure. I can identify…a fun manicure can definitely lift your mood. 🙂
It just so happens that I have a bit of experience with the leopard print design…for this I used Orly’s Luxe (gold; Foil FX collection), Barielle’s Gelt Me To The Party (bronze), and China Glaze’s Liquid Leather (black). Try it let me know if it makes you feel a little more fiesty…*rawr*
You don’t have to stick with the traditional colors for your leopard print design…in future posts, I’ll show you more fun color combos while keeping the leopard print design.
The Enamelista 