Here’s my second Tuesday Tutorial for you, for the mani I did with Zoya – Dove last week.
First up, a collage for anyone in a rush (or with a huge screen!)
Brijit's Digits
The fingertips of a nail polish-aholic – swatches, nail art and rambling !
Category Archives: Tutorials
Tuesday Tutorial – Leopard print (Acrylic)
Hey ladies!
I’m going to try and post tutorials on Tuesdays (just because I like the sound of Tuesday Tutorials). Well, we’re actually 2 hours into Wednesday now, but ho hum !
The first one I have for you is for a leopard print over a French mani. I used acrylic paint because it doesn’t smudge when you topcoat it 
You can follow the collage (click through to zoom) or follow the instructions below…
Guest post from the Polish Alcoholic
I was being totally cheeky when I asked Sabrina to do a guest post for me, but she actually did!! I mean, as far as I’m concerned, she rates up there with (another Sabrina) Sakura Nail Art, Craftynail or Eeek. I mean, that’s like if Dave Grohl dedicated a song to me – though Sabrina is probably not as hairy. So please enjoy and try not to swoon over her pictures 
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Hi polished people!
I’m Sabrina a.k.a Polish Alcoholic with a guest post for the sweet Brijit. I’m so honored that she’s willing to dedicate a little space to me on her lovely blog
I created a neon watercolor manicure for you girls with a little tutorial. For this manicure you don’t need aquarel paint on whatsoever. Just pick four of your favorite (neon) polishes, a tiny cup with nail polish remover or acetone and soft medium nail art brush
I must say I had a hard time with taking proper pictures for the tutorial. I think neon colors are very hard to photograph or they just don’t want to be photographed. So please bear with me. I did the best I can to explain how I created this look. If there’s anything that’s not clear, please let me know
What you’ll need:
- medium nail art brush
- matte top coat
- small cup with nail polish remover
- Zoya Purity
- Nfu Oh FS12
- Nfu Oh FS24
- Nfu Oh FS19
- Nfu Oh FS01
How to:
1. Start with a white base plus a (thick layer of) top coat and let it dry completely.
2. Add one or two splotches of your first color.
3. Dip your nail art brush in the nail polish remover (or acetone) and gently dab it over the splotches of polish so that it spreads to a watercolor look.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 with the second color.
5. Repeat step 2 and 3 with the third color. It’s fun to let the colors blend into each other by placing them slightly on top of the others.
6. Repeat step 2 and 3 with the last color and let the design dry. Add a matte top coat and you’re ready to go.
I hope you enjoyed this mani and I’d love to see your creations!
A big thanks to Brijit for doing this. *mwah mwah*
Guest Post ! Glitter Gradient by Iriel from “Why Only for Parties?”
Hello, guys! I’m Iriel from Why Only for Parties? Brijit had this brilliant idea of swapping guest posts, so I’m here to show you my first successful glitter gradient.
I swear I tried it a lot of times, but it never worked out. But when my A England’s order arrived I just knew that She Walks in Beauty would be perfect for this. I had seen several glitter gradients with this polish, and it looked so gorgeous that I had to try!
These are the polishes I used: Sally Hansen Double Duty as both base coat and top coat, and A England Iseult and She Walks in Beauty. That’s why I like to call this mani: Iseult Walks in Beauty (I know it’s dumb, bear with me!).
I started with base coat and three coats of Iseult. Two are enough if VNL doesn’t bother you. It does bother to me, so I needed three. I’m not really a pink girl, but this shade is a beauty I can’t resist!
Now the fun part! Making a glitter gradient is really easy; you just have to be careful with the amount of polish on the brush. You need to clean the excess of polish out of the brush and leave just a tiny bit. The brush has to be almost dry. First, you start dabbing just below the cuticle and then drag the brush down until you’ve run out of polish. Repeat from the start, dab just below the cuticle and drag down. When you’ve gotten the amount of glitter you want, let it dry a few minutes and finish it with top coat. You will get the hang of it really fast, I promise you. Now let’s see the pretty pictures…
What do you think, guys? I hope you liked it!! Don’t forget to check out Brijit’s amazing One Stroke tutorial on my blog Why Only for Parties?
Thanks for reading!!
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Really gals, not only is Iriel’s blog great, she also has a giveaway on! So check it out
Picture Tutorial – (Dry) Water Marbling
Well, I think it’s about time I did a tutorial ! I’m sorry that this has been so long coming, work has been really crazy, and I wanted to take the time to get this right =o)
I prefer the ‘dry’ water marble technique, as opposed to a ‘wet’ water marble, where you tape around your nail and put your nail (or several nails, if you’re not scared of making a mess) directly into the marbled polish.
A ‘dry’ water marble means that you transfer the pattern onto a sheet of film (I use high quality sandwich bags cut into pieces) and let it dry. I prefer this method as I find it less messy and wasteful, but it does take longer, as you’re allowing for drying time.
This tutorial includes 2 videos, I did the more complex pattern first, but a simpler pattern is also here, to show you the different possibilities.
Both marbles are just with two colours – both Barry M - I used Grey and Red, so that you can see the contrast easily.
Not all polishes will marble, more about that in a dedicated post !
You will need the following :
- Spring Water – this provides more reliable results than tap water, which varies not only from region to region but also from day to day. I recommend you go with room-temperature water
- a Small Dish - I use a dish that is about 12cm/5 inches across. Too small, and you’ll find it fiddly, but a large dish will need more polish. I find that my dish is just the right size because it allows spreading space whilst still containing the polish quite well
- you’re best off keeping your Nail Polishes to hand, too !
- Cotton Pads – I highly recommend the non-fluffy kind that you can get in professional stockists. Failing that, any cotton pads will do
- A Dotting Tool - the finer the tip, the better. A needle could be used, but I guess it is shorter. I have heard of people using toothpicks, but personally I find the rough surface can ‘catch’ and make a mess
- Cotton buds – very handy for clearing up !
I will post the videos separately as I don’t want to overload anyone with bad bandwidth or on a mobile device… But I’m not pretending that I’m any good at videos – especially one-handed!
1. Fill your dish two-thirds with water. Unscrew the polish bottle tops, as you will need to work fast !
2.Pop a drip of your first colour into the water :
3. Then your second colour, right into the centre of the first (which should be spreading across the surface of the water :
4. As I’m only using two colours, I’ve gone back to the first colour. Up to you if you want to keep adding colours or go for a simpler look !
5. … And so on…
In this tutorial you can see that I have added a lot of drops of the colours. This means that the pattern will be more complex, the ‘stripes’ won’t be as wide. It also means that the polish will be slightly thicker on the surface of the water and won’t dry as fast, which is easier for tutorials. My second video is a version with less ‘hoops’ to the bulls-eye pattern. You can see that the effect is a little different, but this can also be really stunning!
6. When you have added enough drops to the water, you can grab your dotting tool/toothpick/needle – quickly, but without knocking everything over! Drag it through the pattern, without touching the first few circles around the edge (which will have dried – you may see them wrinkle slightly as you disturb the surface of the water – that’s how you know which ones not to touch). I like to start in the middle of the pattern and work towards the edge :
7. Wipe clean (that bit is important !) and keep going with the dotting tool/needle/toothpick until you have created something that you like. Don’t get too crazy with it, or you will end up mixing all of the colours, and you could have done that without the bowl of water !
This is where dry water marbling gets a little different. With a classic water marble, you tape up your cuticles and dip your (or your client’s) finger (or several fingers, if you dare !) into the pattern to transfer it onto the nail. As you can imagine, that can be a bit messy! The dry version will also allow you to place the pattern more easily, and to avoid using parts of the pattern that are messier, whereas the classic water marble can be more hit-and-miss (especially at first!)
8. For a dry water marble, take a piece of sandwich bag (or something similar) and gently dip it into the water to pick up the design. Some sandwich bags have a tendency to curl, so you might want to slide a piece of card or plastic in them (or tape them to pieces of laminate, for example), to avoid making a mess).
9. Like me, you may get a few surface bubbles :
10. You can dab these off gently with a cotton bud, but in my experience only the biggest ones will show up when the nail is dried.
11. Leave your pattern to dry. It should be completely dry, not the slightest bit tacky.
You can prepare these sheets and keep them for a few days, but I have found that they can go flaky if kept too long, so you might want to keep them in a Ziploc bag.
Then, when you are ready to transfer it to your nail, you can either paint your nail with your base colour and transfer the paint from the water marble onto the tacky surface, or – I have learned – it can be better to transfer it as if it were a foil. Of course, if you don’t have foil glue to hand, the wet nail polish strategy will probably be fine.
Happy marbling!
