Kristen Streu

haven’t really had the time to write as often, or even do my nails! luckily i still have a set of acrylics on which is prolonging my manicures lives. i haven’t done anything super neat and intricate in a while, so i figured some cool easter nails were needed. i also felt like trying my hand at a tutorial, hopefully it’ll inspire someone!

1. paint a base coat of white.
2. paint whichever finger you want your bunny to be on a light color, such as the pink i used here to fit the easter theme. not so light that the white rabbit blends into the background though!

3. to get the ombre/gradient look, paint the nail polish onto a makeup sponge, close together or with a little bit of a gap between each color but not overlapping as sponging the color on will blend them together.
4. the first coat will be pale and won’t give much coverage as most of the paint will sink into the sponge instead of onto your nail.
5. a second or third coat will give you the effect you’re looking for.

6 through 8. continue coloring your other nails to look like easter eggs, you can use as many colors as you want, i just kept to two per nails except on my thumb for simplicity and time sake.

9. i forgot to take a picture of the start, but to make the bunny start by painting a rounded tip on your nail for the top of his head. then to make the ears, make a parenthesis shaped line leaving the middle open to the pink to show the inner ear, then connect the other side the same way to complete it. if you used a different background color, just fill it in and paint the inside of the ear pink.
10. make two dots directly next to each other using a dotting tool (or a tooth pick if you don’t have a dotting tool!) and drag the bottoms of them together to make a semi triangular shape for the nose.
11. using the corners of the nose as a guide, make two more dots for the eyes.

12. start with the zigzag line in the middle. then draw two lines on either side of your zigzag line. finally add a row of dots on either side of your straight lines. if your nails are longer, you could keep going with zigzags or however you wanted.
13. make a line of dots however large you wish down the center of your nail. then add another line on either side in-between the middle dots, alternating spaces every line after that.
14. make a zigzag line diagonal through the middle of your nail. add dots to the open areas of the zigzags, then another zigzag mirror the one in the middle.
15. start with a row of dots in the middle of your nail, and draw lines on either side.

you could really do any designs you’d like, but this is how i did mine

above is my left hand, done with the hand i write with, but the bunny didn’t turn out quite as well. below is my right, done with my supposedly non-dominant hand. i swear i do everything but write left handed!

polishes used:

blackheart white

thumb:

funky fingers “kiss the girl”
funky fingers “prince charming”

pointer finger:

funky fingers “curacao”
sinful colors “blue by you”

middle finger:

funky fingers “belle”
funky fingers “pink pixels”

ring finger:

princessa “mulberry”
finger paints “hip hip hue-ray!”
kleancolor “charcoal”

pinkie finger:

pure ice “rescue me”
funky fingers “tinsel town”

one of my coworkers was wearing this color, and when she told me that it was a funky fingers color i was very excited. i had to get it!

unfortunately, it goes on very thick and is hard to get smooth. maybe i just got a bad bottle? i’ve never had this problem with this brand. regardless i still think the color is great, it just pops. i wanted to do something different than usual, most of the time i do something more on the ring finger, but this time i’ve done something on every finger but.

after a couple coats of clear top coat they ended up looking pretty good, but there sure is a lot of polish on my nails. i did want a reason to use all the black rhinestones in my pack, and i love the contrast with the bright turquoise.

polishes used:

funky fingers “evanora’s envy”
sinful colors “black on black”

so. bright! and fantastic.

this is by far my brightest polish yet, and in the bottle it looks pink though it looks somewhat orangish in reality. i used three coats of the color in these pictures, and of course had to make it a little fun. The polish goes on smooth and evenly, and is pretty durable. They didn’t chip even through an extremely long work day, which never happens! They turned out semi matte looking, but i used two coats of top coat to make them shine.

i hadn’t done anything with rhinestones for a while so i thought i’d jazz it up even a little more.

my favorite actually turned out to be my index finger, i think i’ll try to do another one like that soon.

polishes used:

funky fingers “kingston”
finger paints “hip hip hue ray”
finger paints “wild for art”

i went on a polish buying spree with this last paycheck, and one of the new additions is revlon’s moon candy collection in “orbit”. it is SO gorgeous. the first coat is a deep plum purple that easy covers and looks great in just one coat, and the second is a clear coat with shards of pearly, pastel shard glitter. all in all it is dark but visibly purple unlike some other dark colors i’ve had that just look black from any distance.

this is two coats of the glitter, because i can never have enough glitter and i thought it was a little sparse looking. i love the end result though. i’m sure i’m going to end up buying most if not all of the other colors in this series.

i haven’t had much spare time lately, which has left my nails looking pretty bad. but, i finally had some time to do them!

one of my coworkers also does all kinds of crazy awesome designs, and she did her nails all white with a turquoise accent nail a couple days ago, and i’ve been wanting to do white for a while so this is what we ended up with. i never really wear my pinks so i figure february is the month to do that.

polishes used:

revlon moon candy (silver)
funky fingers kiss the girl
blackheart white

Found enough time to do my nails tonight while I watched the fellowship of the ring extended edition, and it’s another red themed one. I’m probably gonna do a lot of red and pink designs at least until valentines day, I have a ton of different shades of red.

Polishes used:

Fingers paints “restoration red”
China glaze “icicle”
Sinful colors “rich in heart”

i’ve been looking for a color similar to the one i got on my spa day, and i’ve found it! sinful colors “rich in heart” is an almost exact match. i didn’t feel like spending forever on my nails tonight, so i kept it simple. red on red stripes, and a little glitter heart for an accent. “wild for art” is a silvery/gold that contrasts nicely against the dark sinful colors red.

polishes used:

sinful colors “rich in heart”
finger paints “restoration red”
finger paints “wild for art”

yesterday was my birthday, and it was the first i’ve ever spent working. it wasn’t so bad though, helps having a job you enjoy and don’t dread going to every day. my boss even surprised me with a cake and all my coworkers sang happy birthday to me in back, it was great.  as i believe i’ve said, i’ve been working insane hours and haven’t even had time to do my nails (gasp!) in like two weeks (which believe me was driving me crazy).

i also started playing world of warcraft again, which leaves me with less polish and craft time, but it’s just so fun! i’m not 100% in love with the zebra print, it was my first time trying it and i think i need a little more practice haha. i do like this design, and think it would be nice with color on the sides of the zebra like the picture i based these off that i found online.

polishes used:

sinful colors “black on black”
finger paints “wild for art”
finger paints “vintage masterpiece”
china glaze “icicle”

there have been all kinds of crazy changes going on at my job lately that have left me working all kinds of crazy hours. that being said, i haven’t had much time to craft or even do my nails! i’ve been going through polish withdrawals i think haha. but as soon as i have a little extra time, i’ll have some new stuff up, and in the meantime keep your fingers crossed and send some good luck my way that i’ll have some good news to share with everyone soon!