Manicure Monday!

Hello dolls and happy Monday! I hope everyone got a good start to their week! 

So today I'm posting a "How to" on a fairly easy and dirt cheap  French manicure! 

I was helping my son with his school project that involved me using a glue gun. Needless to say my nails were looking like a hot mess afterwards, covered in paint and glue! Yuck! So, since I've been sick, it's hard for me to get out and actually go get my nails done, so I've taken it upon myself to paint them myself! I love DIYs! 

 

Now by no means am I saying my nails look perfect but I am not a professional. This post is for those of you who may have some extra time on your hands or may be beginners with nail painting like I am OR maybe you just want to save your money lol!!!

Everything I used can be found at your local drugstore and isn't more than a few bucks per item! (I'll include photos of everything down below)

What you will need-

Base coat nail polish (optional) 

White nail polish

A glossy top coat

Cotton balls

Q-tips or cotton swabs

A round or flat eyeshadow or paint brush

Polish remover 

Sally Hansen polish- retails for $2.79 at my local walgreens.

Kiss polish came inside of my trio pack from my last post.

Q-tips from Wally World the pack was like 2 bucks and brush is elf cosmetics at target for a dollar

These are the super jumbo cotton balls from Walgreens, I believe they were about 3 dollars

Nail polish remover also from Walgreens for 1 dollar! 

So you will need to start off by cleaning your nails with a cotton ball and some polish remover, this is just to make sure no other polish or anything is left on your nails so you will get a smooth result.

Once your nails are clean you can apply a base coat. Now this is optional- I didn't apply one. 

If you choose to use a base coat make sure you allow it to dry for at least 5-10 mins.

Next step is the white tips. Now there are so many methods of doing a French mani- they make stickers you can use to guide you which is easier but I didn't have any on hand. So basically all I did was start from one corner of my nail and painted in an upward angled motion

Repeat this step on the other side of your nail 

You should be left with an upside down v like in the picture above. 

Once you've done this all you do is just fill in the small area left right in the center of the tip of your nail. 

I find this method was the easiest for me and I didn't make many mistakes. Just take your time and keep a steady hand. 

Now if you do happen to make a mistake or you just want to clean up and shape your tip out to be more rounded you can use q-tips or the brush to clean and shape - make sure it's an old brush you don't need anymore. I got mine at target, it's just a dollar eyeshadow brush from E.L.F cosmetics. 

All you do is pour some polish remover in a small plastic bowl or the cap of the bottle, dip your brush in and then glide it underneath where the polish is. You may need to push up on the polish to round it out also so just take the tip of the brush and gently push upward right beneath the polish until it's as rounded as you want, then glide the brush across very lightly to give it a seamless look. 

Once you've completed all your nails on both hands let the white polish dry. I applied a second coat of the white but you don't have to...it's personal preference loves! Then you can apply your glossy top coat! Make sure you allow your nails to dry first! I can't stress this enough- if you start doing things with wet nails your risking all your hard work! Nobody likes looking at  banged up, smudged nail polish- not cute! 

 

This was so simple and easy! I suck at painting my nails but I think they turned out pretty nice for my first time!

Thanks for taking time and reading loves! I have so many more posts planned about makeup and other beauty things but I really want to start feeling better before I start taking pictures of my face lol. I was so overwhelmed by the response I got from my last post! It's so exciting and humbling for me! I just want to give you all a big hug and thank you! 

P.s- if you have any suggestions or ideas for what you would like to see in the future feel free to let me know! I'm always open for suggestions  :)

Until next time dolls...stay beautified and glamorized <3

Matte Nails!

So I went on small shopping trip to Walgreens for some medicine since I've been sick the past few days. While I was there, I had to stop by the beauty aisle and see what's new for Fall 2013! There are so many hidden treasures in the drug store! One of the most popular trends I'm seeing all over youtube and Instagram are Matte Nails! 

I've heard so many brands of nail polishes are making these special "top coats" that provide your nails with a matte finish. I was looking for the Essie brand but of course my Walgreens doesn't carry it yet. So after about twenty  minutes of hunting through every single brand I finally came across one by Kiss.

One single brand, one single pack left. It was meant to be lol. 

The pack includes three different types of finishes for your nails. 

Gloss, Shimmer and Matte. 

 

Now I must admit I was pretty freaking excited to find this little trio pack because I'm obsessed with nail polish and I love having my own polishes to take with me to my local salon. So even though I was kind of skeptical of the brand name I decided to give it a try and bought it! 

This trio pack of polishes retailed at my Walgreens for 7.79 plus tax but its worth every single red penny! 

As soon as I got home I took my pink polish off and started painting my nails BLACK lol. I've never been a big fan of black nails but after seeing Kim K with her matte black French manicure on Instagram a while back I fell in love! 

Products that I used 

Kiss Matte Effect top coat 

Sally Hanson Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear nail color in "Black Out"

Finished look

As you can see I suck at painting my own nails, hence, why I go get them done at the salon. BUT I was too excited to try this out to wait until next week for my fill in! 

I used one coat of black polish and one coat of the matte polish and- viola! Matte Black Nails! 

I can't wait to have my nails done by a professional using this product!

If you are looking for a matte top coat look no further! I strongly recommend this polish! And for the price and you're  getting three polishes, you really can't go wrong!!!! 

Thanks so much for reading my very first blog and I hope you enjoyed it! I can't wait to start blogging about EVERYTHING! Lol! 

Until next time dolls! Stay Beautified and Glamorized :)