Cheetah: Stamp VS Hand Painted

Hi all! The nail design that I am currently wearing is a hot pink, hand painted cheetah print! I figured it would be fun to compare my Konad cheetah print stamp to my hand painted cheetah print. This was my first time doing cheetah print, and I am very happy with the results!

So which one is this? Haaaa! Not hard to tell that this is the stamp. I did this nail design a very, very long time ago. I no longer have the yellow nail polish, but I think it was a Sally Hansen polish. The black was the Konad "special polish". 

Pros to stamping:

1. Quick

2. Fairly simple

Cons:

1. Can have a messy clean up

2. If it is a more detailed pattern it is hard to line up

Here are my hand painted nails! 

Pros:

1. Can easily place print where you want it (I placed mine as a border on one side)

2. Also relatively simple

3. Can use more than one color easily (there is a way to do this with the stamp too)

Cons:

1. Time consuming

So...which do you prefer? Should I keep with the hand painted? Or just use a stamp because my hand painted cheetah print is terrible?

Paint on!

Felicia

As Sweet As A Rose

Hi all! Today I bring you my FIRST attempt at roses. These nails were heavily inspired by @just1nail on Instagram. She has some amazing designs, and, I'll be honest, these are a straight up copy! I just changed the colors. Not only are her designs amazing, she's really nice! She's definitely worth following.

Colors Used:

Base coat--Seche Clear

Peach base--China Glaze "Peachy Keen". I LOVE this color!

White base--Essie "Blanc"

Purple polka dots--Essie "Nice is Nice"

Roses--acrylic paint

Top coat--Seche Vite

I created the roses using  one of my dotting tools. 

I definitely plan on revisiting roses at some point!

I'd love to see your rose manicures! Use the #FFProses or share your photo directly to my Facebook by clicking the link in the sidebar.

Thanks for reading!

Paint on!

Felicia

Smells Like School Spirit

Hi everyone! Today I bring you TWO nail designs. One of them is a year old. The other is from August of this year. They are both school spirit themed nails. For those of you that don't know me all that well, I am a sophomore at Indiana University studying human biology. So, if you're a Purdue fan, I'm sorry. These are IU nails!

These are my nails from last year. (Yes, I was watching South Park in the background!)

Colors used:

Base coat--Seche Clear.

Red base color--Sally Hansen complete salon manicure in "Right Said Red". This is probably my most loved red that I own. I must love it a lot since I accidentally bought two! But it does go on smoothly and has a large brush that makes it super easy to apply. LOVE this polish.

White and Silver--It's So Easy stripe rite. This is the polish that has small, thin brushes for painting designs. Recently I have strayed away from using these. They tend to get thick very quickly since they spend a lot of time open. I have moved on to mostly using acrylic paint.

Top Coat--Seche Vite. This isn't the only top coat I own, but it is the only one I use on myself.

These were my "back to school" nails this year. The design was partly inspired by Cute Polish.

Colors used:

Base coat--Seche Clear.

White--Essie "Blanc"

Lines on paper(red and blue), IU symbol, and lines on pencils--It's So Easy Stripe Rite

Black writing, pencils--acrylic paint

Top coat--Seche Vite

I would love to see your school spirit nails! Use the #FFPschoolspirit on Instagram or click the link in the sidebar and share them on my Facebook page. 

Thank you for reading!

Paint on!

Felicia

Happy Halloween!

Wooooo! I'm back to updating my blog. =D And it has a new, giraffe-ier look! YAY!

Today I bring you this year's Halloween nails. Last year I had a sharp candy corn nail (Link to that post). This year I still managed to have candy corn ring fingers, but it looked very different than last year's!

This idea came to me in one of my classes. I started sketching it before class started. I tend to sketch out some of my designs in the margins of my notebooks. Originally I had the middle nail blank, but blank is just too boring! (I recently had my orange extensions fall out and have been doing crazy hairstyles to make up for it! See my Instagram for these hairstyles.) 

I must say, the candy corn is my best gradient ever. See my first, second, and third attempts at gradient nails. They're pretty terrible. Haha. 

I didn't dress up for Halloween this year. I don't really have a reason to. 

Yeah, I'm a crazy college partier. HA.

Paint on.

Felicia

New Years/Simple Design

I did have some awesome nails for New Year's! I just never posted them. (=

I used some new China Glaze polishes that I bought at Sally's with my $50 gift card! The lady at the register asked if I did nails for a living. Haha. I wish!

Then I got back to school yesterday and I decided to quickly paint my nails before bed.

Just something quick and simple!

Paint on.

Felicia

The Late Christmas Post

Hi all! This is the late Christmas post. I'm home in Winamac and working my butt off! I have not had any days off other than Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I've been making good money though and I will be able to pay off this last semester of college!

Here are my Christmas nails!

My parents got me a $50 gift card to Sally's Beauty. I stopped by there today and spent $62 on polish, acetone, and polish thinner!

Hope you had a great holiday!

Paint on!

Felicia

Holly for the Holidays

Hey guys! It's been a while. I went home for break and did my nails, but didn't get any photos. That's why it's been so long! 

Enjoy.

Paint on.

Felicia

Back in my Home Town

Hey everyone! I haven't posted in a while. I'm sorry about that. But I'm back home and my mom is begging me to paint her nails. Hopefully I can get some photos of that even though I left my camera back home in B-town. 

When I get back home, I will be posting where my ideas for nail designs start. Which usually tends to be in my math class. Little doodles in the corner of my math notes. I'll bring you my newest idea then along with the sketch of the simple lace nails I posted last time. I'm still wearing those nails, but they will be changed soon.

Paint on!

Felicia

TUTORIAL: Simple Lace

Woohoo! I'm finally updating the blog today! I've had a busy week. I will be having a busy weekend to because my boyfriend is coming to visit. 

Today's nails are a very simple lace. Step-by-step photo tutorial too!

Enjoy.

Step 1:

Base coat if you choose...

Two coats of your base color.

Step 2: 

Topcoat!

This makes it easier to erase mistakes without taking off the base coat.

Step 3:

Make dots of whatever size you desire going at a slight angle.

Step 4:

Use a smaller dotting tool to put your base color in the center of the white dot.

My dotting tools are double sided. I just flipped it over and used the other end.

Step 5:

Make a line under the dots.

Step 6:

Make lines directly below the circles. 

I made mine at a slight angle also.

Step 7:

Basically you make a V shape now by adding a line going the opposite tilt from the lines you just made.

Step 8:

Now cross over the lines you just made to make an X.

Topcoat!

There are many different things you could do with the bottom half of this nail. It could be just solid white or a fishnet pattern. Pretty much anything will work there.

Paint on.

Felicia

Gradient Nails #3

You guys!!! I finally got it right!!!! (=

I'm finally happy with my results! I had to try a totally different technique. I can't seem to do the popular sponge technique well at all. Instead I painted a dark color on the tip of my nail first and used a sheer polish to go over top. A tutorial might be in the future!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. I spent it in my dorm. I did make a caramel apple at a Halloween bash my dorm put on. But I made my apple and left. It's not very much fun when you don't have anyone to hang out with.

Instead I decided to decorate my door for winter!!

Paint on!

Felicia

Gradient Nails: Attempt #2

Well, gradient nails are truly not my friend!!

I wasn't happy still...so I took it off.

And I'm still not happy with this! I have one more thing to try. If it doesn't work I will be mad!

Paint on!

Felicia

First Attempt: Gradient Nails

Tonight I gave my first attempt at gradient nails now that I have a makeup sponge! I got some for Halloween. My zombie class is dressing up tomorrow as zombies and zombie hunters. I chose hunter because I survived the month long Pod game that was based on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I'm using the sponges to apply bruises. 

Anyways, things with my roommate escalated and we had to have a meeting with the RA and her supervisor. Yucky. She cried. She's been acting all mopey and depressed since yesterday. Things may be better now? I kind of don't think so because she took off as soon as we got back to the room. Oh the joy of having a roommate that was the type of girl you hated in high school!

On to my nails. Now, this is my first attempt. They are definitely not perfect. I'm not even sure if I like them at all! 

As you can see, bits of my sponge seem to have come off on my nail or something. Ugh!

On a happy side note, I got a fish on Friday! His name is Algernon and he is a beautiful purple betta!

I've also started making paper snowflakes to decorate my door with! I'm ready for Halloween to be over! I'm ready to decorate my door for the winter!

Paint on!

Felicia

The None too Earth Shattering Post

Just a small announcement to post here.

I've basically been trying to stay out of my dorm a lot since Thursday because my roommate's horrible boyfriend is here. Not a lot...none...nail painting is getting done this weekend! And it was the perfect weekend to do some nails. No overwhelming history homework. 

My none too earth shattering post is about makeup sponges. I purchased some makeup sponges today. Not only for my Halloween makeup, but also for doing gradient nails! Super excited to take a swing at gradient nails!

Paint on.

Felicia

Golf

I've really been missing my golfing days. If the golf course here weren't soooo far away from my dorm I would bring my clubs and go every once in a while. I really, really miss golfing. It's no longer golf season. I can't go golf over Thanksgiving break. I've been thinking of contacting the coach here and getting involved. I think I could be very convincing, but I'm going to need a ride out to the course. I'm not the best golfer ever. I know I won't be making the team, but with the right coaching I could become great. I take direction so well, but I think the golf season for college girls is over...maybe next year?

So here are some nails I did two years ago for my first golf meet of my junior year of high school.

I've basically ditched the bowling team. My dad never sent me the money for my ball. I haven't been attending practices either. I'm not sure why. I've been stuck to my dorm more than normal lately. Never really leaving it other than to go to class.

I miss golf.

Paint on.

Felicia

Haunted House

More roommate problems. I'm not going to go too deep into explanation, I don't think it needs much explanation. I woke up this morning and the first thing I heard was "I'm fully naked. You're fully naked." I tried to make her know I was awake by rolling over on my side and texting on my phone. It didn't stop. I got up and went to the lounge. I was so mad I was shaking. It was so hard to keep my mouth shut. 2-3 months of dating....

Enough of that. Onto my awesome nails! I'm still on a Halloween kick. I was going to do a tutorial for these, but it was just way too many steps.

Dark and creepy!

Paint on!

Felicia

Spidery Candery Cornery

My hiatus lasted a bit longer than I had planned, but, let's be honest, I needed some relaxation after that visit back home! Very...not fun. Some of you may know that I have an obsession with vintage dresses. A majority of them have been ruined. My dogs took my "needs repair" pile off of a chair and peed on them. Yupp. And my favorites were ruined. Actually, every dress was ruined in some way. The colors bled, they wrinkled beyond repair after the wash..something with every one of them. Needless to say, I was very upset that my parents allowed my dogs to destroy my room like that because that was only part of it. They also peed on my mattress! I slept on the couch all of break. My dogs must have been fuming at the fact that I had left them.

On to my nails from last night. 

I painted my nails last night. (No creepy fake hand this time) I should have posted this photo last night, but I had a headache and went immediately to bed after the presidential debate. There is only one photo. No tutorial this time. It is quite simple. Some people may struggle with spider webs, but I could easily make a step-by-step for those. They really are very simple.

And, once again, this design was straight from the Imagination Bank of Felicia. 

My favorite part?

How I shaped my nail to a point for the candy corn. =D

What would you like to see for Halloween nails?

Paint on.

Felicia

Hiatus

Well, today I was going to do a simple tutorial on spider webs, but tomorrow I am coming home from college for the first time since classes have started in August! I'm super excited to see my dog and eat GOOD food! So I'm taking a slight Hiatus. I should be back on Sunday...unless I need to finish my ridiculous history homework. This may be the most in depth homework assignment yet. She's knows it is fall break! She knows a lot of people are going home. All I can say...RUDE. I do have plans to paint some nails while I am home. I may be able to show pictures of that!

I'll be back on either Sunday or Monday!

Paint on.

Felicia

BRAINS!!!!

Today I bring you my first Halloween nails ever!

This idea of mine proved to be complex.

I knew that I would not perfectly execute it.

So I bring you my Zombies and Brain nails!

Hope you enjoyed! Hope it wasn't too scary.

I'm not so sure I like the brain...

Thoughts?

Paint on.

Felicia

TUTORIAL: Sunflowers with my NEW Practice Hand!

Late tonight I got my practice hand in the mail. (=

As I said previously, this hand will be bringing more tutorials to everyone! I no longer have to wait for my nails to get chipped to do a tutorial. (=

Sunflower Nails

Supplies: OPI--I Brake for Manicures

Stripe Rite--yellow

Pure Ice--Magic

Stripe Rite--white

Essie--Blanc

Kiss Nail Art Paint--black

Step 1:

Apply base coat if you'd like.

Two coats of OPI in I Brake for Manicures.

Step 2:

Using the yellow Stripe Rite, Make the petals in a lower corner of the nail.

These petals are sort of a rounded triangle.

Be sure to leave space for the center of the flower.

Step 3:

Using the Pure Ice in Magic, paint the center of the flower. 

(Sorry for the glare. I took this picture several times. Each time there was a glare!)

Step 4:

Use the white Stripe Rite to make the lines that come out from in between the petals. 

They sort of curve down slightly.

Step 5:

The only reason that I didn't use the white Stripe Rite here is that the bigger bottles of polish drip easier.

Using Essie in Blanc, put a drop on a scrap piece of paper. Dip in your SMALLEST dotting tool and place two white dots below each line.

Also place a few random dots in the center of the flower.

It is okay if the dots in the center overlap a bit. It is completely random.

Step 6:

Using the Kiss Nail Art Paint, I was able to use this instead of a big polish bottle because it is thin and runny, place a drop on the scrap paper and use the SMALLEST dotting tool again.

Place the dots in the center of the flower.

Again, it is okay to overlap.

Step 7:

Top Coat!!

Seche Vite is my favorite.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I was super excited to do this. This design did not take long at all. 

I'll always take requests on what my readers would like to see!

Paint on!

Felicia