As 2012 comes to a close i look back......

2012 has been a pretty good year all in all.  It started off with family and friends.  I had also just recently opened up my RSD support group RSD United and invited my dear friend and fill in Mom, Diane to help me run it.  After some negativity and drama the group was off to a great start.  We finish off the year with 277 amazing members.  It has completely changed my life.  I have been able to help others get through some pretty rough times. I have taught what I know about RSD to anyone who would listen to me. I've lived with this for 24 years. With that comes tons of life expiriences.  Not only have I helped them These people have HELPED me in ways they could never imagine.  They help give me the strength to keep going, to keep fighting despite the pain.  Im reminded often that I can make it through the flares. Just as I do for others soooo many do for me.  I've formed bonds with some of these girls i could never have imagined. Starting this group has been one of the best choices I've ever made.  We had our 1st big get-together in August. Jim Broatch from the RSDSA even joined us. We followed that with the RSD walk for Pain in Cherry Hill, NJ.  Then we had a girls weekend down in Ocean City NJ a few weeks before the devasting Hurricane Sandy.  It was so much fun getting to meet others who were going through what I was. These girls are now life long friends.

This year was also filled with some changes for my family. My husband started working on some new business opportunities and hopefully our dreams and goals will be attainable in the next few years.  We completed our 1st year of home/cyber school. Both of my kids finishing the year on honor roll. It was truly the best choice i could've made for my kids. My son is actually reading books now!!! My girls have both decided on career paths for the future. Jill who is now almost 17 has decided she wants to continue on the culinary path and become a chef.  If we could just get her priorities and grades in check she will be set for a great future.  DeJah who is 15 has decided to attend Cosmetology school along with becoming a dance teacher. One day she plans to open her own studio and help follow in her dance teachers (Shanika and Mark) footsteps.  They have been great role models for DeJah and have enhanced not only her dancing abilities but her drive and passion.  She has also truly learned that if you really want something you have to work hard to get it.  She had a major upset but she picked her up and continues to keep striving for what she really wants.  My son Raheem jr is 7 now and growing soooo much everyday.  He started the year as a little boy and now is a handsome young man.  He is almost as tall as me.He is such an amazing kid.  He is so well behaved. I could not have asked for a better son. I know the woman who is lucky enough to marry my son will be the most loved and respected woman on Earth (next to me of course)

 I'm so proud of my kids. I'm so honored to be their mother.  My girls are both strong young women with bright futures and worlds of opportunities available to them.  They know they just have to put in the work and go after wjat they want!!
We enjoyed this year as a family as I know those moments are coming to an end as my kids get older.  But we try to make as many lasting memories for our kids as we can.  This past summer we rented a van and took the kids on a road trip to Florida to see their NaNa and Aunt and pick up their cousin for the rest of the summer.  It was interesting and fun. I enjoyed every moment we spent together and hope to do it again next year.  You never know life can change in the blink of an eye so I really want to life it to the fullest. Not only me but teach my children to do the same.

This year I have also joined up with a Nail Pal and started a Nail Facebook page called Mannicured Mommas. It has been an amazing success.  We've hosted several contests and giveaways with great results.  I've also started this blog.  Originally it was just for fun but now its become a passion of mine.  To share my love of nail polish, art, makeup and fashion with all of you.  I also had my 1st company ask me to review their products. How exciting is that for a new blogger? 


So as you see it's been an incredible year.  So many things to look forward to in 2013 though.  My husband and i will be taking several trips hopefully.  April we along with about 8 others will be going to Jamaica.  We rent a place so it's inexpensive.  But it's an experience like no other.  My husband and I are also planning to renew our wedding vows in April 2014. Again in Jamaica but this time surrounded by our children and family and friends.

I look forward to an exciting year on my blog. So many things I want to share with all of you!! So please stay tuned....

I want to end this by saying thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read, like and share my blog.  Without you all I'd be rambling to myself.
I want to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.  Make this the best one yet!!!


Love, Peace and sparkles.
<3Raspberry Shortcake <3

MyWholesaleFashion.com sent me these to review. So here goes!!!

 

Good Evening all and Happy Holidays.
Sorry for the absence these last few weeks.  I was busy playing Mrs. Christmas.  I was baking, cooking, shopping, hosting and wrapping.  But I'm here and ready to show you all some of my latest Nail polishes.

I contacted a company called MyWholesaleFashion.com and asked about reviewing some of their products for all of you.  To my surprise they agreed.  I chose 6 polishes from the 3 brands they sell Santee, Kleancolor and Nabi.  It took about 2 weeks total and I received the polishes i chose.  Let me just tell you this company is AWESOME.  1st off they have soooo many things to choose from and the prices though wholesale are unbelievable.  You can get 6 bottles of polish (the same color) for $3. So basically 50 cents a bottle (its a great deal for those who host giveaways such as I do).  No where else has polish this cheap. Plus the selection is incredible.  I highly recommend trying them out.  Their customer service is top notch so you will never have an issue.  So continue reading and I hope you enjoy my review. I will warn you this post will contain tons of pictures.

 



As you see I chose 1 Santee, 2 Kleancolor and 3 Nabi.  Each of these were swatched by themselves (2 coats) and over the Santee polish (2 coats).

 

 

I will start with my favorite of the 6.  This is Nabi New Black Glitter (119).  This polish is a dark gray glitter with tiny iridescent glitter strips.  It is absolutely Gorgeous!!!!  It has so much glitter and sparkle. It covered well in 2 coats without being "too much."  I Love Love Love this polish.  The only negative is the smell.  It's very strong so i don't recommend using this in closed space.

 

 

Next up is the only non glittery, sparkly polish i chose. This is Santee Ocean Fantasy (28).  This is a turquoise metallic polish that is stunning.  It goes on so smooth and shines beautifully.



 I love this color and can easily see it becoming a regular in my collection.  It covers well in only 2 coats.  It didn't chip for 3 days without a top coat.  Which i highly recommend using. The bottle is square so it could easily fit in a box or on a shelf.  Its also a good base for the rest ofN the polishes that I chose. I definitely recommend Santee polishes.

 

On now to a polish that i love.  This is Nabi Multi Heart.  It is full of different color metallic hearts, flakies and glitter.  It is a clear base somewhat thick but it isn't too hard to get the hearts and flakies out of the bottle like most polishes like this. I do recommend 2 coats so you can get a nice amount of hearts and stuff on your nail.  This polish will work well over any color you choose.  Above you see i swatched it alone and over the Santee polish.  The 1 big negative about this polish is the smell.  It is absolutely Nauseating.  You could easily get light headed if you smelled this polish for too long. I've honestly never had a polish smell this bad.  But since i only use it as a topper I can deal with the smell because it's that pretty.  I would say buy this but if you have a sensitive nose you might want to skip it.



 

This polish is KleanColor Blind Date (195).  As you see it is full of all different color stars.  I adore this polish.  I've never had a star polish give me so many stars in just 1 coat.  I as you can see love all the polishes with stuff in them.  It has a clear base and like i said the stars are in so many different colors.  Another plus is that the stars actually lay flat.  Unlike most brands where no matter how many coats of top coat you use you can still feel the ends of the stars. If you are like me then you NEED this polish in your collection.

 

 

AHHH Nabi Pink Moon Star.  This polish is exactly what the name says.  It is a pink gel base with TONS of sparkle and glitter.  Inside are silver moons and stars (1st polish I've found with both in it).  You could easily wear this polish alone with at least 2 coats. But over say a white it is absolutely STUNNING!!!.  Again the stars and moons come easily out of the bottle and lay flat on your nail. Which is a huge bonus for me. I can't stand sharp points on my nails.  If you like pink and sparkle than you should quickly get over to MyWholesaleFashion.com and order it.

 



 



Last but definitely not least is another KleanColor this one is called Afternoon Picnic (194).  I can't even begin to express how much i adore this polish.  It is a light blue gel base with 3 different sizes of hexes in sooo many different colors.  This polish LOADS your nail with hexes.  I've tried so many polishes and NEVER had one give this many hexes on your nail especially in just 1 coat.  You could wear this alone because of the blue base or you can use it as a topper. This is a MUST for everyone!!!


Well that's it for this post.  As you see I received some of the most gorgeous chunky polishes on the PLANET.  I'm in love with all of them and have so many ideas for mani's.  So stayed tuned you never know what i may Ramble about next.  If you like what you see please check out the Links above. The prices and quality can not be beat!!!!
Love, peace and glitter
Rasperry Shortcake <3

My thoughts on some of the new China Glaze polishes

Hello to all out there. Welcome once again to Raspberry land.  Today I've decided to review a couple new China Glaze polishes.

 



I stopped by my local Sally Beauty Supply last week. I had seen this polish at my hair salon and HAD to have it.  Needless to say I bought 8 bottles.
Let me start with my favorite.



It is China Glaze Glistening Snow.  It is a Gorgeous silver glitter Holo.  Let me just say it is soooo beautiful.  It is silver but changes to all sorts of gorgeous colors.  It is a bit textured so I do recommend 2 coats of a top coat if you don't like that "gritty" feeling.  It is perfect for the Holiday season.  You can wear this alone or on top of another color. I do recommend a silver underneath as it just makes this polish more beautiful.



Next Up is China Glaze's Angel Wings.It is just like the Glistening Snow but in Gold.  It is full of glitter and holos.  It's not a bright gold more of a muted shade.  Again it is gorgeous.  This one i recommed for a top coat as it took 3 coats cover and still it wasn't fully opaque. It is also textured from all the glitter.  It was also quite difficult to get off.

Next up is China Glazes' Glitter All the Way.  It is hard to see in the above picture but this polish is a full glitter polish. It reminds me of Mardi Gras.  It has purple, green, and gold glitters.  I highly recommend this as a top coat.  You can use 2coats but any more than that and it becomes a bit too much in my opinion.  This is part of the Holiday collection but It isn't really a holiday looking polish.

 

This is my 2nd favorite of the four.  This is Part of the Cirque collection.  This one is called Whired Away.  This is definitely a top coat.  It is a clear base with black lace glitter, mini black hexes and big white hexes.  This polish looks stunning over almost any base.  I'm not sure it should be worn alone though.  I guess its a personal preference.  I absolutely loved this over a silver base.  My only complaint was that the larger hexes were harder to get out of the bottle.  This polish is a lot like the Indie polishes on the web. I guess China Glaze listened to us Nailies and decided to try it out.  I for one am glad they did. 

 

 

I highly recommend All of the above polishes. Especially if you are a glitter addict like I am.  I will post some pics of these when i use them in a mani.  Currently my nails are Naked!!!

 

 

 

Thanks all for reading I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure you get out and get some polish!!!!!!

 

 

Ive got a few other new polishes to review so I will be back later.  Thanks again

 

 

Raspberry Shortcake



Came across this great page so i thought id share.

I came across this great page and its FULL of useful Nail Art info.  So i've decided to share some of their info with all of you.  Make sure you check out their blog and let them know how awesome they are.  It is by far my favorite "go to" site for any and everything NAILS.


So for tonights post I'm going to share Nail Art 101's post on essential supplies and tools.  Again i did NOT write this I'm only sharing with all of you because it's super helpful. Especially to a newbie.

To Follow Nail Art 101 please click the link below:

Nail Art 101

Nail Art Supplies

The right nail art supplies are essential Hide your credit card before you read this page! I could have spent a fortune just from researching. It isn't impossible to do nail art designs without tools, but you will certainly save your sanity! You can only attempt to paint cupcakes using a toothpick so many times before you just need to drop $5 on a brush. My own collection is small by some standards but it's enough to get me by!

The Main Tools

The first thing you should buy is brushes. You can get really nice sets of brushes just about anywhere and at any price range. I got mine in the art section at Wal-Mart but there's a great set on Amazon that I wish I'd seen earlier. The most imporant ones are a long thin brush for striping and a shorter thin one for detail painting, but I still find myself using all the brushes in my set so they're pretty good value for money.
Read more about buying & caring for brushes...
If you're into detail work, you should invest in some nail art pens. There's lots of different brands out there of varying quality. There's two basic types: A felt tip type pen that you press down to get the polish flowing or a two-way pen that has a long brush and a pointed nib. I much prefer the two way pens, and they're pretty close in price. The felt tip ones just aren't thin enough for intricate detail work. For a more detailed breakdown of the different brands and prices, visit the Nail Art Pens page.
A Dotting Tool, or ideally a set of different sizes, is so convenient to have, but you can make do without them. Some other things that work are bobby pins (which I used in the Floral Nails Tutorial), pin heads, dried out pens, the ends of brushes or toothpicks. Soon you'll find yourself looking around the house for tiny round things you can stick in nail polish! But all that aside, having a real dotting tool is much better and for less than $5, why not?

Oh, where to begin with nail files!? There are three different basic choices for nail files: Emery Boards, Metal Files and Glass Files. First off...don't buy a metal file. Emery and Metal files are both coated in a fine mineral called Corundum. There should be a "grit number" on the file. The higher the number, the finer the grit. Ideally you want a rough file for the down and dirty work and a finer file for smoothing and simple clean ups. A two sided file with the two grits you need is great. I wouln't recommend anything below 180, it can be too hard on your nails.
Ideally, you should get a glass file but they can be more expensive than emery boards. They're smoother which makes them much easier on your nails. If you have soft or peelng nails, consider this option. Never share your nail art supplies with others! That's how you end up with a fungus!
Check out my guide on how to file your nails properly

Nail Stamps

If you've read the stamping tutorial you know I'm a huge fan of nail stamping. The first stamps, and arguably the best, were made by Konad. Their image plates are always well made with sharp, clear images. There's many other "faux-nad" plates out there, the most well known by Bundle Monster. I've heard different opinions on the quality of their plates, but apparently they're quite good aboutg replacing faulty plates. The biggest tip I can give you if you're buying some image plates is buy them on ebay or amazon!!!. You can get them so much cheaper than what's charged on the "official sites". I just recently discovered this and I'm feeling very ripped off! There's lots of "faux-nad" plates on ebay, but they can sometimes be bad quality, and since they ship from Hong Kong you can be waiting for you parcel for aaaaaages! Aside from the plates all you need is a stamper, a scraper and you're ready to go.

Foils

Nail foils are so cool. Most of them are metallic and highly reflective, giving you a Minx-nails-esque finish. They're easy to apply and best of all...cheap! My favorite place is dollarnailart.com where you can get individual foils (and rhinestones, fimo, gems, studs, tapes and really all kinds of nail art supplies) for just one dollar. You can get them for really good prices so don't overpay! All you do is apply a thin layer of primer, press the foil onto it and voila! Robo-nails! There's also nail foils that are applied with heat, but I've never used them so they scare me. I've just ordered some from ebay, so I'll let you know how it goes!

Japanese 3d Nail Art

Fimo is one option for 3d nails. Fimo is made from polymer clay and is sold in "canes" that look like a log of that Pilsbury cookie dough that has pictures in it. You can buy a whole cane and slice it yourself, but ask yourself if you really need 300 slices of lemons, or buy pre-sliced pieces. If you slice them yourself you need to use a very sharp razor blade (you can get them through nail art supplies stores) and please don't cut your finger off. That's one less nail to paint! Fimo is really popular, so you can find canes all over for decent prices. One of my favorite places to buy fimo pieces is Etsy because people get so creative and I love to support small business owners.
For proper japanese nail art you need lots of cute little plastic or acrylic bits. And rhinestones. Bits and rhinestones, there's your lesson on japanese nail art. ;) Like most of this stuff, you can find them easily on the internet but the price can vary quite dramatically. I've started selling 3D acrylics that you can easily apply to your nails. I'm also happy to take requests if you have a certain shape in mind!

My review of Gals Cosmetics Nail Art Stamping Plates

 



Good evening all those joining me in Raspberry land. Im so glad to see more people stopping by.  Would love for you to share my page. 

 

 

I came across a link for these new stamping plates from Gals Cosmetics.  So i decided to purchase the "fairy" set.  Though they do have several other sets available. Let me just say the designs on these are some of the best i've seen.

 

 

 

 

The images are cut very deep into the plate, making it very easy to "catch" the image on the stamper.  I even tried using polishes that are thinner and did not work on any of my other plates.  They actually worked.  I did have a hard time capturing the images on my camera but i will include the link so you can see exactly which plates you get. 

I got this set of 25 plates filled with all kinds of images including full nail designs, french tips, smaller single images and even some that would go just on the corners of the nails.  They have Christmas designs in this set but no other holiday images.  I am so excited to start using these in my nail art designs.  The price is also one of the best i've seen on the web. I got 25 plates for $15.99 with free shipping over $25.  The link is posted below.

 

Gals Cosmetics Stamping Plates

 

 

I plan on buying a couple of the other sets when the holidays are over especially at this price.  I Very Highly recommend these stamping plates.

If you are interested in sharing any nail art you do with these plates I'd love to see it.  So come share with me either here on my blog or on my other site.

 

Mannicured Mommas



A review from the other Half of Mannicured Mommas (Amy)

Amy's review of Cute-icle Polishes

My Review of Chirality Polishes

Good Evening all
Im going to be reviewing Chirality's Apollonia and CU+2.

I'll start with my favorite of the 2 Apollonia.  It is darker purple Holo with tons of Holo glitters inside.  It is a great formula that covers easily with just one coat.  It is also quite glossy so you don't even have to wear a top coat if you don't want to.  I wore this for about 5 days with no top coat and didn't have any chipping or tip wear.  It is absolutely gorgeous in the natural sunlight.  The holo makes it go from purple-a goldish color. I can't explain how much i Love this polish.

About a week after purchasing Apollonia i had to buy more.  Money is tighter as the holidays are quickly approaching.
So my choice was CU2+  it looked like a teal color on the websites pictures however when it arrived it was much darker than i expected.  Needless to say it is still a beautiful color.  It is a rich forrest green. Reminds me of a Christmas tree.  Its another Holo filled with holo glitters.  Its hard to describe how pretty it really is and pictures again do not do it justice.  It is also quite shiny so a top coat is not needed.  It also covered quite well with only 1 coat. But i do recommend 2 coats for complete
coverage. 

In the photo below i swatched both polishes.  The Largest of each is 2 coats of polish and 1 coat of Beauty Secrets top coat, 2nd nail is 2 coats of polishes and 2 coats of Kleancolors Madly Matte Top coat (it needed 2 coats to achieve a matte look as this polish is quite shiny on its on,) 3rd nail is 2 coats of polish no top coat.  The last nail is 1 coat of polish 1 layer of top coat.  As you will see the colors and holos are beautiful.

All in all I love this line of Indies so far.  I plan on buying more after the holidays.
If you are interested in any of the Chirality polishes please check out their store at the link below
Chirality
Make sure to also follow on Facebook Chirality Facebook

For more contests, reviews and give aways find me on facebook at  Mannicured Mommas

Christmas Nail art Contest at Mannicured Mommas

Come check us out at Mannicured Mommas. We will be giving away Sinful Colors polishes!!!!

This is a repost from A Girl and her Polish. It highlights great NAs

I think I am going to try and make this a somewhat regular feature.  I really like highlighting those ladies that are doing some amazing work!

Today I have some ladies that I have been following since I started blogging.  I like to think that I have made a connection with each one, be it small hellos over time to sharing the same sense of humor.  I don't always comment but I do try to read their posts everyday.  This is a great group of ladies and I am so glad that I have had the chance to get to know them!


Rainbowify Me

When I first started following this lady, she was only doing swatches, and she always showed the most amazing polishes.  Now she is producing some amazing nail art!  I always love seeing what she will come up with next!  She will always hold a special place in my heart because of the 2 swaps we did.  She sent me some of the most stunning polishes that I have ever seen!

Art Evolve

I think Ashesela has become sort of a nail celebrity since we first met!  If you haven't seen her free hand art you really need to check it out!  She has the most amazing free hand skills that I have ever seen!  Ashesela was actually the first person that I ever swapped with.  She introduced me to Joe Fresh polish!








Lacquer Me Silly

Oh, Miss Frosso...what can I say about you???  I think I get along so well with Frosso because we have the same sense of humor. I love that we can pick on each other, yet do it with so much love! :)  She is another one of my swatch girls that has added nail art to her blog.  The real reason that I love her so much is because she is the Indie Queen!  I want to visit her just so I can steal her Indie polishes, but shhhh don't tell her that!

Nails Like Lace

If you are looking for a blog that offers a great combination of swatches and nail art look no further. This lady has the most amazing swatches and her nail...wow!  Whatever you do, do not click on the Sweet Baby Spam tab! You will not be able to resist looking at her beautiful baby girl!! :)

AbbieNail

Abbie is another amazing free hand artist!  Her designs blow my mind!  She is also the one that supplied me with my first Barry Ms, that alone makes her awesome!

Stay tune for the next installment! Other group of up and coming ladies! :)

My 1st Product Review Kelara Lacquers

Im going to do my 1st product review!!

I recently purchased from a new Indie Polish company called Kelara Lacquers.
I ordered 5 minis from the Fantasy Collection.

1. Dragon Scales- it is a light green polish with golden micro glitter and golden mini strips. I love the way this polish goes on. It covers in 2 coats and dries fairly quick.
2. Seaside- it is a bright turquoise blue with turquoise glitters in it. I absolutely adore this color. It is so bright and vibrant! A must have if you love blues! Reminds me of the carribean sea!
3 Daydream- its a sheer white with a hint of purple in it. It has mini white hex glitters and a little bigger baby blue and pink hexes. This would be perfect for an expecting mommy. Its kind of sheer so i recommend using it over a base color. Any would look great.
4. Butterfly Kisses- another polish i love. It has a sheer holo light purple base. Its filled with blue and purple glitter. It also has metallic pink butterflies in it. This is a great top coat. It gets to be too much if you use more than 2 coats.
5. Fairy Farts- this is my absolute favorite of the bunch. It is pure glitter and glam! Its a true glitter polish full of blue and pink micro glitter. It gives full coverage in 2 coats. It does have a slight texture but a clear top coat easily smooths it out.

All in all i LOVE my Kelara Lacquer polishes!!! I highly recommend them.
You can purchase Kelara Lacquers on Etsy. I got the 5 bottle mini set for $20 +shipping. Full size bottles are $9 each minis are $4.50. They have some great colors i look forward to getting more!

 Oxford Circle/ Castor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My 1st Christmas Mani of the season

Good evening my friends.
I wanted to share my 1st Christmas Mani of 2012.
I started with Sinful Colors "This is it" (a gorgeous gold with micro holo glitters in it) as my base. I had to use 3 coats to obtain full coverage. I then cut a makeup sponge and started sponging into a french tip. Sinful Colors "Call You Later"( micro gold and green glitter polish.) I then added a thin layer of Santee "Peacock Green Glitter"( gold and green glitter with larger gold hex glitters.) I then sponged a thin layer of WetnWild Fergie "No Place Like Home" (a gorgeous red glitter that reminds me of Dorothys Ruby Slippers.)
I covered my entire Thumb nail with the glitters. The last thing i did was add a Christmas tree decal to the ring finger and a Santa Claus to my thumb. (decals were purchased on ebay 24 sheets for $1.99.
I added a star rhinestone as the tree topper.
I lastly top coated it with my favorite top coat. Out the Door.
I must say i absolutely love the way this turned out and hope you all do too.
Id love any feedback on it!

Many more manis to come so keep watching.
Im also taking request. If there is something you want to see let me know and Ill try it and post a blog on it.

Happy Holidays
<3, peace and glitter
Raspberry Shortcake

Im also blogging on GFC

My latest blog entry!

Easy Step by Step nail art designs

this was a blog post by http://kookynails.tripod.com/id5.html
shes included everything you need to make some great nail art designs. All you need to add is you creativity!!!!!!!!

First Step

You cant grab the brush, dip it in paint and expect to be the nail artist equivalent to Monet! Nail art takes time and practise, to settle into your own style. Begin with practising simple shapes, like stripes, dots etc. This will allow you to become adjusted to your brush, and youll become comfortable with using it and angling it.

You do not need to pile paint onto the brush. Simply wet the brush at the tip, lightly dip it into the paint, so that the tip is coated with a thin layer of it. Of course, if you want to do a design where it requires heavy hand painting, ie painting large dots, then pile away! Most nail artists tend to use a less amount though.

Try resting your arm on a table if your hand is a little shaky. Take your time, do not rush yourself.

Becoming More Acquainted With Nail Art

Once your comfortable, and confident that you can paint the basics, try notching your creative side up. Flowers, hearts etc are easy to do, and look eye-catching and pretty too!

To do flowers

1. Paint on a base coat colour. Any colour you wish!

2. Carefully dip your brush into acrylic paint, any colour, but if your base colour is light, try a dark colour, ie blue, and if its dark, try a light paint colour, ie white! Take your brush and gently paint a little line, imitating a petal. If you want it to be easier, load your brush a little heavy, then place your tip down, flat on the nail, so the imprint of the brush shape is left. Do this 5 times, for 5 petals.

3. Paint a dot in the centre on the petals, acting as the middle of the flower.

4. Paint more over the nails in the same fashion, or just leave it as one. Remember to seal with topcoat!!

You can always expand on this design! Instead of painting the middle, try using a rhinestone! Sparkly and pretty! Just dab some topcoat or just clear varnish over the flower, wet the end of a cocktail/orange stick. Place the tip of the stick onto a rhinestone so that it is picked up. Carry it over to the flower and place it in the centre. You may want to push it down with the end of the stick, so it sticks into place better! DO NOT FORGET TO SEAL IT!!

Another idea you could do is adding flashes of colour onto the petals. After painting the petals in one colour, take your brush, wet the tip and dip it carefully into a darker or lighter colour. Very slowly and gently, starting from the centre of the flower, slide the brush tip down the side of the petal, stopping about halfway. You should be creating a thin line of colour. Repeat until thin lines have been created across the whole petal, it usually takes about 3-4 lines for me.

To do a heart

1. Apply a base colour.

2. Paint on 2 quite large dots, next to each other.

3. From the outside of each dot, draw a diagonal line, so youre forming a V shape, with the 2 dots at the top.

4. Fill in the space inside the V. Then, with a light amount of paint on your brush, fill in the outsides, forming a more curved and fuller heart shape. Then add topcoat.

Practising with basic shapes like these will build up your ability. Try placing the designs together, having hearts and flowers in one design. Experiment with different colours too. Add rhinestones and glitter And most of all, have fun while youre experimenting.

A Lil Bit Harder

After youve dabbled with the basic forms of nail art, its time to get your fingers doing some more complex artwork. Your imagination is your only limit, so you can do whatever you want on a nail!

Here are instructions for creating a beach scene. Its a more simple version, but after you have mastered this, you can adapt it to your own scene!

1. Paint the bottom half of the nail a darkish blue colour to represent the sea, then paint the rest a lighter blue, for the sky. Take a light blue paint (remember, you can mix your paints! Dab some blue onto a palette and mix in white paint!!), and using paint little stripes across, to show the reflection on the water.

2. Paint an island! It might help to paint it in white acrylic paint first, then paint on yellow once its dry. This acts as a base coat, so none of the blue varnish underneath will show through.

3. Paint the palm tree trunk! Take a brown colour paint, and paint a stripe, but, try to curve it, and make it a bit thick, as in the picture.

4. The leaves. Using curved stripes again, in green paint. You can add an more realistic touch, by adding a lighter green colour on them, using the same technique as I explained with the flower petals.

5. Paint a white circle and fill it in. Once its dried, colour it with yellow. Once that has dried, paint one half orange. Once the design has dried, topcoat it!

Leopard Print

This is more easier, but is very eye-catching!

1. Paint on a gold-ish base colour.

2. Taking a slightly darker gold/brown/yellow colour, paint on large spots, but make them jagged looking.

3. Taking a dark brown colour, paint on an outline for each dot. I usually paint this outline in 3 pieces, so that there are chunks or darkness around the spots. Add random dots of dark colour around the shapes. Finish with topcoat.

You can use many different colours for this design!! Pink and white looks very funky and blue and pink is a nice variation too!! Let your imagination run wild!

The Butterfly design is quite hard to masterbut plenty of practise and youll get it in no time!!

1. Paint on a light base coat colour. In the centre, paint 3 dots, one big, for the head, and 2 smaller ones for the body.

2. Loading a very small amount of black/white paint on the very tip of your brush, carefully and lightly paint a line, starting from the head. Curve it into the shape of a wing and end it back to the body. Repeat for the other side.

3. Do the same for the smaller wings, on both sides.

4. Decorate your butterfly! You can do this anyway you want to, using any colours or patterns. Then finish by adding 2 thin swooping lines for the antennae! Topcoat the design. You could always use rhinestones for the body, instead of paint, or you could put rhinestones on the wings!!

Moving On

Ok, so youve seen how a few harder designs are done. Now lets do some even harder ones!!

The Playboy Bunny.

This is quite hard to do, it took me several attempts to get this right!

1. Paint on a base coat colour. Using a fine amount of black paint, draw a circle with the very tip of your brush. Using curved lines, draw the right ear.

2. For the next ear, draw a slightly curved line, starting from the base of the other ear, and stretching out to the left. Using a more curved line, start at the base again, curve the line and join it to the other line you just painted.

At the bottom of the head, draw a line going down, the another from the end of it, slanting back up. Next to that, draw another going down, then at the back of the shape, where the circle curves, draw another line going down. Join these 2 lines with a curved line. This is the neck and bow-tie of the bunny!

3. Fill in the shape with paint. Adjust the shape of the bunny, so make the front of the head less curved by taking a brush, dipping it in the base colour, and painting over it. Fill in the ears a bit, making them a little thicker, if needed. Basically, just adjust the proportion until it looks ok to you.

4. Then, taking the base coat colour, paint on a dot for the eye, or use a rhinestone! Take the colour of the bunny, and carefully paint the bow-tie, which is basically 2 triangles, on their sides, joined together. Paint a line under the neck for the collar. Topcoat it!

Abstract

The idea with abstract is that the design is made from different shapes to form a pattern. You can do whatever you want when doing abstract! But heres an idea to get you started

1. Start with a natural base, so either use a clear basecoat, or paint the nail in a natural colour, like a manicure pink. Paint 2 curved chunks of colour on each side, leave a space between them.

2. Outline the right one in a darker colour, and inside the chunk, paint 2 lines, then another cutting through them both.

3. On the left chunk, take a light colour and paint a spiral, copying the shape of the chunk.

4. Take a very dark colour, and paint a curved, thick line, swooping from the top to the bottom. Paint on white dots from the bottom of it, crossing over the line to the top. Make sure the spots start off small then get bigger. Do another line of dots at the bottom.

5. In the top right corner, take a colour, then just paint 3 lines. Topcoat the design. Add rhinestones if you wish, or add your own shapes. :*)

Writing On The Nail

This takes a very steady hand and a lot of patience!

1. Paint on a light base colour.

2. Dip ever so lightly into black acrylic paint and write on the nail. Treat it is as if you were holding a pen and writing on paper. You may want to practise using your brush and painting small scale onto a scrap of paper. Use simple lines and curves to create a simple font type.

3. Repeat the text all over the nail, or just leave it as one word etc. Topcoat it.

Techniques

Youre probably getting the hang of this nail art malarkey by now!! So just to end, Ill go through 3 techniques you may wish to introduce into your art.

Water Marbling Technique

You will need:

2-3 different colour polishes - glitters and frosted varnishes will not work. Just use normal.

Cup/jar/glass of cold/room temp water

A few cocktail sticks

Tissue

Newspaper

Cotton Buds / cocktail or orange stick with cotton wool wrapped at one end

Nail Varnish Remover

Base & Topcoat

1. Lay newspaper down on a table or flat surface, and set the glass of water on top.

2. Paint the nails to be marbled WHITE with white nail enamel, don't forget to apply base coat first.

3. Taking your first desired colour, drip a drop of enamel onto the surface of the water in the glass. Wait for it to spread out across the water, then add the 2nd colour onto the middle of the first colour. Wait for the colour to spread out, and drip the 3rd colour in.

4. Taking a cocktail stick, gently swirl the polishes to make patterns. Swirl slowly and gently.

5. Dip your nail/fingertip into the area of polish you desire, take the cocktail stick, swoosh the polish on the water to one side, and remove your finger.

6. Clean off polish from the cocktail stick with the tissue, and remove ALL traces of polish from the water.

7. Repeat steps 3-6 for each nail.

8. Take a cotton bud or cotton wool ended stick, dip in nail varnish remover and remove all traces of polish from the skin.

9. Apply topcoat.

Sponging Technique

You will need:

Sponge cut up into smaller pieces

Nail varnishes

Base & Topcoat

Palette

1. Apply basecoat to all nails.

2. Take a dark colour, i.e. a hot pink colour, and drip some drops onto the palette. Take the sponge, dab it into the paint, and sponge onto the tips of the nails.

3. Take a lighter colour, i.e., baby pink, and again, drip onto the palette. Using a new sponge piece or the other side to the one previously used, sponge on under the hot pink as well as slightly overlapping the 2 colours.

4. Take a white enamel, drip onto the palette. Lightly dab a new sponge into the white and gently sponge right at the bottom of the nail (the cuticle base). Slightly overly the baby pink, and slightly overlap where the hot and baby pink meet.

5. Apply topcoat for the colours to blend more and to make the varnish longer lasting.

Adding rhinestones, bullion, etc

You will need:

Rhinestones, bullion etc

Base & Topcoat

Cocktail stick

DO ONE NAIL AT A TIME

1. Apply base coat, wet the end of a cocktail stick.

2. Place the wet end of the stick onto a rhinestone or whatever you want to place on the nail. Carry it over to where you want it on the nail and place down. Press the end of the stick onto hard.

3. Repeat if you want more rhinestones etc.

4. Apply 2 coats of Topcoat.

Thats basically it!!! I shall be working on another help sheet soon, with more techniques and art to try. Meanwhile, try getting hold of some nail art books, try http://thecreativenailplace.co.uk which sell a large range of nail books. I highly recommend Nail Artistry, by The Untouchables, its full of colour photos, ideas and step-by-steps for beginners and professional nail artists.