MSMD Monday: Ikat

Hey everyone

Today I have a special mani for you. Today we are featuring an Ikat design. Funny enough I discovered I'd been mispronouncing it. I've been saying it eye-cat. It's apparently ee-kaht. Go figure. I was going to look for a Youtube video to feature an Ikat design on Youtube Tutorial Tuesday, however I couldn't find one as good as Kayla's tutorial on her blog. Who am I talking about you ask? Kayla at KaylaShevonne. She did a picture step by step tutorial that's fantastic.

Polishes Used: 

1. Salon Perfect's Bellini
2. Art Deco Long Brush's White
3. Salon Perfect's Black
4. An unnamed blue polish by Sweet T Lacquer (Tara's Nail Polish aka Me!)

I love it! I've seen this design before and never really was that interested in it, but it's a design I haven't tried so I had to at least attempt it. Like I said Kayla's tutorial is fantastic, so I really didn't have a problem attempting this design. Here tutorial is HERE I recommend trying it out if you are at all interested in Ikat. I hope you enjoyed today's mani!

Youtube Tutorial Tuesday: Floral Doodle

Hey everyone

Today I have another design from CutePolish. This design was perfect for 3 different reasons. 

1. I love CutePolish
2. I needed flowers for my Instagram challenge
3. I needed a Youtube video

Perfect right? This was a super cute design that I'm very excited to show you guys. Here's the video:

My colors are a little darker than what CutePolish picked, but I think it's cute nonetheless. My flowers are totally crazy looking too. 

I probably should have used a toothpick or a dotting tool, I think they would have looked better than. But they are still cute. 

Polish Used:

1. OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls
2. NYC's Midtown Mimosa
3. Orly's Snowcone (which seriously smells bad)
4. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Mango Motion
5. Salon Perfect (Long Brush)'s Black

I made sure to have the color picking out past the flower. I gives it a little something extra I think. What do you guys think? I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

MSMD Monday: Palm Tree Gradient

Hey everyone

Today I have a gradient for you. I love doing these. Granted I don't do them like other people apparently. I start by putting on the top color, this is typically the lightest color. Then I start sponging them on starting at the bottom and going up until it's smoothed in with the lightest polish. Then if I mess up I can get the top color and go back over with a sponge. Does that even remotely make sense? I might need to do a video to show you what I mean. 

Anyway, one of my favorite bloggers, Alice from OneNailToRuleThemAll, did this gradient palm tree design. I immediately fell in love with it. There's also a June Nail Art tag on Instagram and day 1 was Summer. (Go follow me there!) I knew this design would be perfect, it just screams summer to me.

I love it! These turned out so great. I haven't done palm trees in almost 2 years, it's like riding a bike. Seriously love these. 

Polish Used:

1. OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls (the base)
2. NYC's Midtown Mimosa 
3. Salon Perfect's Bellini
4. Sinful Colors' Summer Peach
5. Salon Perfect (Long Brush)'s Black

Check out Alice's design HERE. She finished hers with a matte top coat, but I just couldn't leave them matte. I work at a computer all day and matte polish doesn't last long with me. I want these bad boys to last. Love them!

I do want to take a second to talk about Salon Perfect's long brush collection. The bottle is a nightmare. I was shaking it and the balls are obviously way to big and the bottle shattered in my hand. The brush is fantastic though, so I took an hour or so out of my life to try to salvage the black base and move it into an Art Deco bottle. Luckily the brush can screw on to those bottles. This polish is also strange. It dries matte and if you have put on a top coat before you dry, you can literally just wipe it off and start over. This can be both good and bad. Another bad thing about them is that it's a completely pain to get off if it gets on your skin. The brush is completely worth all of the trouble though. It's very firm and shorter than most long brush's. I very much enjoy drawing with it. Keep in mind this is only the long brush collection. The regular bottles are fantastic and they have great colors to chose from. 

I really hope you have enjoyed today's edition of MSMD Monday!