2013 Year Review!

Hello everyone! 

  First of all, I want to wish you a great new year's eve and I wish you have an even better year than this last one. Happy 2014. 

  Now, as the year is ending, I felt like doing a 2013 review of this blog. 

  April:
1 - Leopard and Zebra Pattern;
2 - Black Nails With Fancy Roses;
3 - Green Nail with White Daisies;
4 - Psychedelic Neon Nails;
5 - Polka Dots And Glittery Nails.

    

  May:

6 - Gradient Nails;

7 - Chocolate And Vanilla Nails;

8 - Rainbow Nails. 

  

  July:

9 - Vintage Nails;

10 - Rainbow Marble Effect With No Water Needed;

11 - Party Nails. 

  

  August:

12 - Greenish Yellow Nautical Nails;

13 - Day 1 - Red Nails;

14 - Day 2 - Orange Nails;

15 - Day 3 - Yellow Nails;

16 - Day 4 - Green Nails;

17 - Day 5 - Blue Nails.

     

  September: 

18 - Day 6 - Violet Nails;

19 - Day 7 - Black and White Nails;

20 - Day 8 - Metallic Nails;

21 - Day 9 - Rainbow Nails;

22 - Day 10 - Gradient Nails. 

    

  November: 

23 - Winter Plaid Nails.

  December:

24 - Day 12 - Stripes;

25 - Snowflakes Nails.

 

  I hope you have enjoyed this year's nail art! 

  Kisses to everyone and I'll see you next year! 

  Patrícia * 

Snowflakes Nails

Hello everyone!

  This week I've decided to make a design inspired by this beautiful winter, this cold weather etc. Winter is a season that I love, but unfortunately, it never snows in here. And that makes me really sad, 'cause I've never seen snow.

  But well, if I can't have snow outside my door, why not having some snowflakes on my nails? :) This is the how they look like:

  So, to make these nails you will need:

a) Base/Top coat;

b) White nail polish;

c) Blue nail polish;

d) Silver nail polish and silver glitter;

e) Striping brush;

f) Toothpick. 

  My blue nails are very simple to do: 

1) Take a good care of your nail and apply a base coat. Paint your nail a few coats of blue nail polish.

2) With silver glitter and a toothpick, apply glitter to your nail, make it tighter in the base of your nail and spread it out. Apply a top coat to make it all even.

  To my white nails: 

1) Take a good care of all of your nails and apply a base coat. Paint your nail white.

2) Make an half-circle with a silver nail polish, and with a toothpick, apply a few silver glitters on top of it.

3) With a striping brush, circle the silver half-circle and make 5 stripes in opposite directions. After that make 3 diagonal little stripes in each side of the main stripes. Apply a top coat to protect your design. 

  And that's it. Super easy to do and perfect for winter. 

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia! *

Day 12 - Stripes

Hello everyone! 

  So, after a long break with tons of work I finally found some time to make a few nail designs and to post them in here. In this particular case I've made no tutorial, 'cause the design is extremly easy to do.

  This is my 31 Days Nails Challenge - 12th day - Stripes! And it's inspired by the beautiful colors of winter, actually my favorite color, purple! 

  They are super easy to do. There's a few things that you must have to do this design:

a) Base/Top nail polish;

b) Purple nail polish;

c) White nail polish;

d) Striping tape.

  All you need to do is:

1) Take a good care of your nail and apply a base coat. Paint all of your nails purple, except for your ring finger, paint it white.

2) With a striping tape, apply a tiny piece diagonally, a little bit above the mid of your nail. Then, apply a few striping tapes vertically, with similar spaces between them.

3) After that, paint the bottom half of your nail with white, and purple in your ring finger. Make them one by one, and after paiting it, remove immediately all the striping tape, this way you won't make any mistake. 

4) Last but not least, apply a fast drying top coat to seal your design.

  And that's it. Hope you enjoyed this nail art that I've made. 

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia! :* 

Winter Plaid Nails

Hello everyone! 

  I'm very sorry I haven't been updating anything lately, but I've been in my University and I've had a lot of work to do, so I ran out of time to come here. Well, with my work on college I've had to cut my nails extremely short, and I wasn't able of doing any art on them, so I kept them plain. As so, I felt that I had no need to upload what color I was wearing, 'cause that's not interesting at all. 

  BUT, thumbs up, I'm BACK again (kind of - 'cause my school hasn't been over, and I still have a lot of work to do). Well, not really into my nail challenge, I'm going to take some time off from that.

  So, here it is, after a long time of waiting, my next nail art - Winter Plaid Nails!

  They're super easy to do, all tou need is:
a) Base and Top coat;
b) Mustard nail polish;
c) Black nail polish;
d) White nail polish;
e) Striping brush.

  Actually, all you need to do is some stripes on your nails, but here's how I've made them:

1) Take a good care of your nail and apply a base coat. Paint your nail with a mustard nail polish. I've chose this color 'cause it's one of winter's fashion colors that's commonly worn these days.
2) With a striping brush, make a little square with your black nail polish. Make as many stripes as you wish, to make it look like a plaid pattern.
3) Again, with a striping brush, make some white stripes to fill empty spaces. Apply a top coat to seal your design.

  That's it! I hope you've enjoyed my return.

  Kiss,
  Patrícia *

Day 10 - Gradient Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  I'm finally back from my challenge time out, actually a bit earlier from what I've expected. As I have no need to wear my University suit again, I can paint my nails as I want now! Ain't that great? And we are back to the challenge! Well, my last post about this challenge was Day 9 - Rainbow Nails, and today's post is all about gradient, my DAY 10 - GRADIENT NAILS! I could've made some simple gradient nails, but you already know me, I like to complicate things. So these gradient nails are inspired by the end of the summer, and a beautiful sunset. They're like a "GOODBYE SUMMER" nails, unfortunately. 

  I've already explained how to make gradient nails on previous post: Gradient Nails. So in this tutorial I won't be explaining how I've made the gradient.

  To make this design you will need:

a) Base coat;

b) Yellow nail polish;

c) Orange Nail polish;

d) Dark pink/Red nail polish;

e) Blue nail polish;

f) Black nail polish;

g) Makeup sponge;

h) Striping brush/Tiny brush for details.

  All you must do is: 

1) Take a good care of your nails and cuticles and apply a base coat. Paint your nails one coat of white nail polish, to make your base color for your gradient.

2) Cover your skin and cuticles with scotch tape so it'll be easier to clean your skin after you've made the gradient.

3) Make a cute gradient using yellow, orange, red and blue nail polish, using the colors on this order (Again, here's the Gradient Nails tutorial).

4) After removing the scotch tape, clean out your skin and cuticles. Now, with a striping brush or a tiny brush for details, draw a banana shape on your nail.

5) To make the dolphin you just need to add some details like a nose, a flipper, a dorsal fin and the flukes. After it all dried, apply a top coat to protect your design. On my thumb nail, I've made a little island with a palm tree, but as they're even easier to make than the dolphin, I decided that there was no need to make a tutorial.

  Super easy, and super cute. Thanks for watching!

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia :)

Daily tip - Why do my nails turn YELLOW?

Hello everyone! :)

  I just can't avoid it, it's a must for me to upload some stuff to my blog, and I bet you appreciate it as well. Well, even though I can't paint my nails, I've decided to update you with some information that I consider to be useful for those who keep coloring nails. On my previous post (Challenge Updates), I've told you that I wasn't liking the looks of my nails, and that they need a time to breathe and get healthier. Well, that has an explanation that most of people doesn't know. And I'll explain it to you right now. So:

Why do my nails turn YELLOW?

  First of all, you must know what are your nails made of... Your nails are planes of hard, tightly packed epidermis cells, the same cells that make up your skin. That's right, these particular cells of your nails are considered dead, and they're filled with a protein called keratin. Only three-fourths of your nail bed (the part where your skin is still attached) is actually exposed above your skin. And it takes about six months for a nail to grow completely, and men's nails grow faster than women's nails.

  All right, so, like skin, nails need exposure to oxygen to stay healthy. The keratin in nails also allows the water to pass through your nails. And when your nails present irregular ridges, peeling, breaking and discoloration, for no reason, it could be a sign of possible health issues. But, in many cases, yellow nails are just a result of staining due to contact with certain chemicals, such as acetone, nail polish and nail polish remover, or even due to smoking. 

  That's why it's necessary to give your nails a polish-free week, every once in a while, and it's extremely important to use a protective base coat. 

  But then you ask yourselves: 

I already have my nails yellow, what can I do? 

  Most of dermatologists say that to eliminate yellow stains, you must lightly buff your natural nails and soak them in lemon juice for about five to ten minutes. Soaking must be done every single day, when you're having your polish-free week. But... Why lemon juice? Lemons have some oxidative properties that are able to remove deeply ingrained impurities and discoloration from nails. It will also strengthen your nails. It is also important to keep your nails and cuticles hydrated.

  And this is what I do every day.

  I hope this was helpful to you. Thanks.

  Kisses,

  Patrícia :)

Challenge Updates

Hello everyone! :)

  I'm here to talk with you about my challenge situation. I'm not happy to announce that until the end of the month I won't be able to come here and post my nails, nor even paint my nails. And it's all due to a reason: I'm starting my University times again and until the end of the month I'll have to use my University suit. I don't know if where you are from have this custom, but here in Portugal we do it a lot! Well, having to use my University suit forbids me of walking around with my nails colored, it's against the rules. So... We all have to wait until the end of the month to begin again my challenge.

  I'm sad to give you these news, but I really can't avoid it, and believe me I would if I could. I will also use this break time from my challenge to "clean" my nails and to let them breathe, 'cause I think it's not healthy to my nails having them in contact with acetone, or nail polish remover, every single day. 

  P.S.: If you have no idea what a portuguese University suit looks like, take a look! 

  

  I have to wear something looked like the left one, and boys wear one like the right one. It's a really amazing thing, 'cause when we dress our university suits we all look the same, there's no racism, no discrimination, anything. It's an incredible feeling. 

  

  Once again, I'm extremely sorry about this issue. Thanks everyone, I love you.

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia. :)

  

Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  First of all, I'm extremely sorry that I couldn't make this post earlier today, but this is the only time I've got to come here. Well, today is Day 9 - Rainbow Nails! I've already made a design inspired by rainbows (Rainbow Nails), so I thought I could make something really different and cool today. So, I've made a fully hand-made gradient rainbow nails. Check it out below:

  Usually, I make gradient nail using a makeup sponge, but, as this rainbow effect is so detailed, I decided to make it only with brushes. And in the end, it was not hard at all. 

  All you need is:

a) Base coat;

b) Rainbows colors nail polishes (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple);

c) Top coat;

d) Striping brush;

e) Something where you can mix up your color without making a mess, like a plastic plate.

  And everything you need to do is: 

1) Take a good care of your nails, and apply a base coat to protect your natural nail. I haven't used a base color before painting these colors, because I had no need to that. Paint a single stripe of each rainbow color, I've used a light green and a light blue to help me mixing up my colors.

2) After letting it all dry, you'll:

  1 - Mix up your red and your orange and paint it between the red and the orange stripes;

  2 - Mix up your orange and your yellow and paint it between the orange and the yellow stripes;

  3 - Mix up your yellow and green (light green in my case) and paint it between the yellow and the green stripes;

  4 - Mix up your green and your blue (light blue in my case) and paint it between the green and the blue stripes;

  5 - Mix up your blue and purple and paint it between the blue and the purple stripes. 

Make it look like a great gradient effect. After drying, apply top coat. 

  It's not hard at all, all you need to do is to mix up some polishes and that's it. Thanks everyone.

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia :)

Day 8 - Metallic Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  As I promised here I am, a couple of days later from my last post, posting you my DAY 8 - METALLIC NAILS! Well, there ain't much things to do about metallic nails. The first thing I've made was a very complicated snake scales nails, and I didn't enjoyed them 'cause they didn't resemble to something metallic, only the base nail polish that I've used. So perhaps I will be using that design, later on, for my "Day 13 - Animal Print Nails". So, the only thing I've done for these nails was to paint them with a "Mirror Effect" nail polish. They have no designs at all, so I had no need to make a tutorial for you. 

  Here's how they look like: 

  It's a really beautiful metallic green, actually one my recent purchases. I've bought that nail polish to try it out and decide if I loved it or not... And I really fell in love with this green and with this shiny effect. Perfect for my skin tone and for summer. I wouldn't recommend using on Winter, but... You do what you want. I'll probably be using this nail polish as a base color of my "Day 13 - Animal Print Nails", because it really resembles me of a green snake scales. Amazing, right? 

  Thanks everyone!

  Kisses,

  Patrícia :)

Day 7 - Black and White Nails

Hello everyone! :)

 Well, as you can tell it's impossible for me to come here everyday, so I've decided that's I'll be posting my nails once each couple of days... So, today's challenge is: DAY 7 - Black and White Nails! And I've loved doing them. Black and white are the colors that have so much to draw about... So many choices, so many design that you can choose, it's amazing. Well, for these nails I've inspired myself in a checkers board, but still, I wanted to make my nails look like a bit different from checkers... This is how they look like: 

  Why not a black and white gradient similar to a checkers pattern? Awesome right?

  To do these nails you will need:

a) Base coat;

b) White nail polish and/or acrylic paint;

c) Black nail polish or acrylic paint;

d) Top coat;

e) Makeup sponge;

f) Striping brush.

  And all you need to do is:

1) Take care of your nail and apply a base coat. Paint your nail with white, as your base color.

2) With your makeup sponge, make a white to black gradient on your nail. Start with painting the bottom half of your nail black, and then the top half white. For these nails I've used acrylic paint 'cause it's easier to work with. But, if you don't want to use acrylic paint, you can add a few drops of nail polish remover or acetone to your nail polish, and it will also become a little thinner.

3) After removing all the polish around your cuticles, get your striping brush and make a few vertical stripes, all evenly spaced.

4) Now, make some horizontal stripes to make some small squares. Apply a top coat to seal your design.

  Impossible to be easier. Thanks everyone! 

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia :)

Day 6 - Violet Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  Yesterday I had no time at all neither to come to my computer, neither to make my Day 6 - Violet Nails... So today, is Day 6 - Violet Nails from our challenge! If you don't remember each day category, check it out on my previous post "I'm BACK!", from August 24th. 

  Well, these nails have nothing compared to what I've made before, it's actually the first time I use this technic, and I'm not really sure if I love it or if I don't. It's all up to you. I've inspired myself in the olympics games symbol, making circles all around my nails, with some different colors. Here's how my Day 6 - Violet Nails look like:

  To make these nails you will need:

a) Base coat;

b) White nail polish;

c) Violet nail polish;

d) Purple nail polish;

e) Pink nail polish;

f) Top coat;

g) 1 straw and a scissor.

  About the straw: 

  You will need to cut three little pieces of your straw, using a scissor. Then, put some nail polish on your paper or anything like it, dip in a side of your little straw piece and then, very gently, apply it on your nail. 

  After cutting all the little pieces, you will need to do: 

1) Take care of your nail and apply a base coat. Paint your nail with two coats of white.

2) After letting your white polish completly dry, you will dip in one piece of your straw on your violet nail polish, and make a few circles on your nail.

3) With another straw piece, dip it in on your purple nail polish, and again, make a few circles.

4) Again, dip in a piece of your straw on your pink polish and make a few more circles. After it all dryed out, apply your top coat. 

  Extremly easy to do. But far from being my favorites. 

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia :)

Day 5 - Blue Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  I've let my nails rest for a day, 'cause I felt that putting then into acetone and nail polish remover every single day, kinda hurted them, so I've taken a day off from this challenge. But now, I'm back again!

  Blue nails are the most common ones to wear, and there's actually tons of designs you can make using the blue color. I've already made a few tutorials with blue nails: Vintage Nails & Rainbow Nails. BUT, these ones are different from what I've made before.. I'm in a mood of stripes and patterns, so I've decided to inspire myself in diamond patterns. This is how my nails turned out to look:

  I've let my index finger, my middle finger and my ring finger with a simple blue, 'cause I've broken them during my vacations and they are extremely small. :(

  Well, to make these nails you will need:

a) Base coat;

b) Light blue polish;

c) Black polish;

d) Dark blue polish;

e) White polish;

f) Top coat;

g) Striping brush;

h) Tiny brush for details.

  And, here's how you make my diamond pattern nails:

1) Take care of your nail and apply base coat. Apply one or two coats of your light blue nail polish.

2) With your striping brush and your black nail polish, make some diamond shapes.

3) Cross your diamond shapes with a black stripe.

4) Make little triangles in each half of your diamond shape. Use your dark blue and your tiny brush.

5) Now with white, fill in the top half of your diamond shape. 

6) Repair all your black stripes to remove some fail from your nail, and also paint the bottom triangle of each diamond half. Apply top coat after drying.

  That's it, not so easy, but looking amazing! 

  See you all tomorrow. 

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia. 

Day 4 - Green Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  So, today is my 4th day at the challenge, and it's Green Nails Day! I've nothing to speak about this color, it's kinda far away from being my favorite... BUT, it didn't stoped me from doing a design that is cute and easy for short nails. 

  I've inspired myself through my Day 3 - Yellow Nails design, still, I wanted to make it look different from what I've made yesterday, so I've decided to make simple angled stripes, using some multiple tonalities of greens and especially neon green. Here's how my Day 4 - Green Nails look like:

  They're really simple to do and they look super bright and neonish, I'm getting kinda obsessed with that. Ahah :)

  To make these nails, you will need:

a) Base coat;

b) White polish;

c) Black polish;

d) Dark green polish;

e) Normal green polish;

f) Neon green polish;

g) Top coat;

h) Striping brush.

  Now, how to make them: (my image looks a bit small, so you're going to need to open it so you can see the steps more detailed) 

1) Take care of your nail and apply base coat. Paint one or two coats of white.

2) With your striping brush and your dark green nail polish, make an angled stripe touching your cuticles, leaving a white space between the stripe and the corners of your nail.

3) Make another stripe bellow the dark one, with a regular green nail polish.

4) With your neon green nail polish, make another stripe bellow the last one.

5) Now, with white, make another stripe bellow the other ones.

6) Keep making stripes bellow the white one, but in the reverse color order.

7) Once you're done with filling out your nail, fill in the remaining white on the corner of your nail with black. After drying, apply a top coat to make your design better looking.

  It is simple to do and you can mix up any color you wish, it will always look amazing.

  Thank you everyone.

  Kisses,

  Patrícia :)

Day 3 - Yellow Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  As I promised, here I am, late in the night, posting my Day 3 - Yellow Nails to you guys, 'cause you all deserve it. But it is my fault anyway, I've spent all day away from home, and when I finally came I still had to edit my pictures, and bla bla bla, so only at 12:30am I was able to come here and post these nails to you.

  I've seen this design before on the internet (I don't remember where), and I've decided to try it out myself, with some different colors, and at the end, I really enjoyed the final result! Here we go: 

  They remind me of this beautiful sunset I've seen the other day, so I'm reallyyyy in love with these nails. 

  So, to make these nails you will need:

a) Base coat;

b) White polish;

c) Red polish;

d) Orange polish;

e) Yellow polish;

f) Top coat;

g) Striping brush.

  And now, the tutorial: 

1) Take care of your nail and apply a base coat. After that, apply one or two coats of white for your base color.

2) With your striping brush, paint two red stripes on your nail, each one on the opposite side.

3) With orange nail polish, make two stripes next to the red ones.

4) Fill in the remaining white with your yellow nail polish.

5) Make a thin white stripe right on the middle on your nail.

6) Apply your top coat. When you apply it, you will notice that your colors will bend together and stay prettier.

  That's it, simple, easy and cute! 

  See you tomorrow.

  Kisses,

  Patrícia :) 

Day 2 - Orange Nails

Hello everyone! :)

  I'm extremely sorry for not updating anything yesterday, but my day was so crazy that when I got home, I was extremely tired to upload my Day 2 - Orange Nails... So today, I'll be posting Day 2 - Orange Nails, and later I'll be posting Day 3 - Yellow Nails. Is that okay with you all? I hope so.

  Now, for my Day 2 - Orange nails I was lacking imagination, but I've ended up with something good for my taste, and I think they're good looking nails, see it for yourself: 

  As I have made a tutorial about flowers before (in Vintage Nails), I felt that I had no need to make one again, but I'll remind you some steps and I'll tell you what you need to make these nails.

  All you need is:

a) Base coat;

b) White polish;

c) Orange polish;

d) Lighter orange polish;

e) Dark and Light green polish;

f) Glitter;

g) Top coat;

h) Brush for details.

 Step by step:

1) Apply a base coat on your nail. Apply one or two coats of white for your base color. 

2) Make some large circles with your orange polish.

3) With a little brush, make some details with a lighter orange and white nail polish to make it look more like a rose.

4) With the same little brush, make a few leaves with your dark and your lighter green polish. 

5) Apply glitter on top of your roses (not the leaves) and on the remaining white. Apply a top coat to seal your design.

  Easy, right? Thanks everyone.

  Kisses, 

  Patrícia :)