3 Easy Christmas Nail Art Designs

I clipped my nails really short recently, and I easily regretted my decision because there's just a ton of cute Christmas nail art designs that I wouldn't be able to try with my super short nails. But, of course, nothing can stop me from painting my nails with some Christmas-inspired patterns. So, girls with short nails who still want their nails to look Christmas party-ready or just Christmas-ready (I'm not a fan of parties myself), this post is especially for you. :)

"Let It Snow"

Freehand + Applique

Colours used: metallic blue, white, silver

1. Start with a metallic blue base coat.

2. With a fine tip brush, paint tiny asterisk-like patterns with six lines.

3. To make the asterisks look more like snowflakes, draw tiny accents like flicks or dots along the lines. I attached tiny rhinestones at the centre of each snowflake for extra shine. :)

4. With a dotting tool or a toothpick, dot tiny white and silver polish on the blue spaces to create a snowy effect.

5. Brush on a clear top coat.

"Deck the Halls"

 Sponged + Freehand + Applique

Colours used: dark metallic green, glittery yellow-green, white, clear/natural

1. Start with a clear base coat to protect your nails.

2. Dip a tiny piece of sponge in white polish. Dab the excess liquid on paper before pressing the sponge onto your nail. This creates the frosty effect. Repeat for each nail.

3. With a fine tip brush, draw dark green holly leaves. 

4. This step is optional, but if you want to achieve the same look of the leaves as mine, brush on some glittery yellow green polish on the half of every holly leaf.

5. With a dotting tool or a toothpick, make three Hidden Mickey-like dots where the two holly leaves intersect, and attach three tiny red rhinestones.

6. Make your design last longer with a clear topcoat.

"O Christmas Tree"

Taped + Freehand + Applique

Colours used: white, black, yellow, red, green, blue, metallic dark green, glittery yellow green, silver

1. Start with a plain white base coat.

2. With a fine tip brush, draw black lines and loopy curls for the wire of the Christmas lights.

3. Use a dotting tool or toothpick to make the tiny colourful Christmas light bulbs. Just dip whatever tool you have with you in the coloured polish, dot on your nail near the "wire", and drag the lacquer a bit.

4. For the Christmas tree, cut two pieces of tape and form an inverted "V" shape. Gently press the pieces of tape on your completely-dried nail.

5. Brush some metallic dark green polish on the triangular space formed by the pieces of tape. Follow with a glittery yellow green colour.

6. Carefully peel off the tape, and leave the design to dry.

7. Decorate your "tree" by attaching some studs and rhinestones. As you can see, I used two gold star-shaped studs and tiny red rhinestones.

8. With a dotting tool or a toothpick, dot tiny silver bits of "snow" around the tree.

9. Finish with a clear top coat.

♥Andz

DIY: 5 Easy Halloween-Themed Nail Art Designs

If you're not dressing up on Halloween, at least, let your tips celebrate for you! Here are five super easy (and super cute/creepy!) Halloween-themed nail art designs you can do on your own:

For these nail art designs, you will need...

-Various shades of nail polish (I will tell you which to use in the how-to)

-A fine tip brush

-Tape

-Tiny studs

xXx

Nail polish colours you will need: white, orange, yellow

1) Apply a white base coat and let it dry completely.

2) Cover the tip and base of your nail with tape.

3) Brush the orange shade.

4) Carefully peel off the pieces of tape.

5) Carefully brush some yellow lacquer at the tips, avoiding the orange part.

6) Apply a clear top coat to protect your design.

xXx

Nail polish colours you will need: white, sky blue, black, red

1) Start with a white base coat.

2) With a fine tip brush, draw a blue circle at the centre of each nail. Let it dry.

3) In the middle of the blue circle, draw a small black circle. Let it dry.

4) Use a dotter to make a tiny white dot at the upper right side in between the blue and black circles.

5) Draw thin red lines in the white area to depict veins. 

6) Finish with a clear top coat.

xXx

Nail polish colours you will need: sea green, white, black, red

1) Apply a white base coat. Let it dry.

2) Brush a layer of sea green nail polish (or any shade of Frankenstein green you have in mind!).

3) Once the green has dried, use a fine tip brush to draw the upper facial features of Frankenstein and his bride and some other details like stitches.

4) Protect your design with a clear top coat.

5. If you wish to add some bolts to the side of Frankenstein's head (a.k.a. your nail), use clear polish to stick on two silver studs.

xXx

Nail polish colours you will need: orange, black

1) Start with an orange base coat.

2) With a fine tip brush, draw some Jack-O-Lantern faces. Trust me, this is waaaaay easier than carving a pumpkin! (Duh.)

3) Finish with a clear top coat.

xXx

Nail polish colours you will need: red, white

1) Apply a white base coat. A clear one will do, too, actually.

2) Brush a slightly layer of  red polish at the tip of your nail.

3) With a fine tip brush dipped in red polish, slowly drag the polish at the tips downwards, as though blood is dripping from your nails.

4) Protect your design with a clear top coat.

***Tip: You can also use a sickly green colour instead of red for a disgusting slime design.

♥Andz

DIY Nail Decals (Manicure Hack!)

Though I enjoy doing free hand nail art, it can get pretty frustrating at times, especially when I applied the base coat perfectly, only to be ruined by a careless mistake, and I have to do everything all over again. 

Shit like that happens a lot, so sometimes, I just resort to nail decals. However, nail decals look generic. Mass-made. And, there's a big chance that somebody else in the world is sporting the same nail art as yours. 

Fortunately, there's a way to skip all the frustration (and un-originality), while keeping the raw and handmade effect that comes with free hand nail art designs, and in this post, I'll show you how. 

Text too tiny? Simply click on the photos to enlarge. :)

1. With a fine tip brush, draw the design on the stamper. Make it thick, but not goopy.

2. Since nail decals are tiny, you can paint more than one designs on the stamper. See how I made three birds fit?

3. Let the design dry and set. You can place the stamper in a bowl of icy water to help the design set quicker.

4. Gently slide the scraper under your design and lift a tiny portion of it.

5. Use tweezers to carefully pick up the decal.

6. Position the decal on your nail.

7. Lightly press the decal onto your nail.

8. Brush on your top coat.

♥Andz

Nail Art Tutorial: Textured Nails

It's been a while since I last painted my nails. I knew that my nails needed to breathe after my months-long nail art challenge, because even though I love how nail polish makes my tips look pretty, I know that applying nail lacquer every few days isn't really a healthy thing to do. 

Anyway, after trimming and treating my nails, I wanted to try something new. Something simple and easy that wouldn't take too much of my time, so I decided to try different textures on my (super short) nails. Although I don't have grainy or sandy polish at the moment, I am really happy with this orange glossy-matte-and-glittery combo.

Textured Nails

What you need:

-Tape

-Various nail lacquers that come in different textures.
(I used plain orange, glittery orange, a glossy top coat, and a matte top coat.)

What to do:

1. Start with a plain base, brush a glossy top coat, and let your nails dry completely.

2. Cut a tiny piece of tape, and position it on your nail according to how you want your design to look.

3. Brush a layer of your textured polish on the exposed part of your nail away from the tape (follow the arrows). I chose to brush the matte top coat first.

5. Carefully peel off the tape.

6. Position another piece of tape on your nail, avoiding the part you just painted over.

7. Brush another layer of textured polish away from the tape, carefully avoiding the previously painted part of your nail.

8. Carefully peel off the tape, and leave your nails to dry.


Pretty easy, right? :)


♥Andz

Nailed It: The Innocent Wild Nail Art Challenge!

I've been a fan of nail polish since high school, and I think that's the only thing that makes me super girly - my love affair with nail polish, because I don't wear makeup, and I don't really like dressing up.  

It was in college when I started doing nail art, and I really enjoyed it. Aside from reading, writing, and crafting, doing nail art has become one of my greatest stress relievers. After a hard day, or whenever I feel a wave of anxiety take me over, I'd just think of a design, grab some lacquers, and paint my time away.

True enough, I'm no nail art pro, but as family and friends have been bugging me to share the designs I do, I decided to document 31 of my "best" works - all of which I did in a span of a little over 7 months. A pretty long time, if you'll think about it, but sometimes, I get lazy, or my designs turn out crappy, or I don't have the time at all! Typical me.

Anyway, I'll leave you now to scroll through this post. If there are some designs you fancied, please let me know in the comments section. I'd really love to hear from you! And, if you've got requests (I've been thinking about making a part 2 of this challenge), feel free to post them, and I'll find a way to do them. 

Cheers! :)

1

"Action-packed" is the first design I made for this challenge, and for a nail art beginner like me (back then), I found it really difficult to achieve the design I had in mind. This one is inspired by vintage comic books and the typical superhero colours. I used The Face Shop's Diamond Pop water nail stickers for the words, Forever 21's studs, and a tape cut-out for the lightning bolt, which I outlined with silver polish. 

2

A friend of mine sent me this circuit board-ish nail art, and I took it as a challenge, so I did"The IT Nails". I wish the gold lines were more defined and visible, though.

3

"Garden Fresh" is inspired by a hand-painted vase my dad and I got at Evolution for my mum years ago. I just love its design so much that I tried to paint similar tiny colourful flowers on a white base coat, and voila! 

4
The day before a beach-themed event, I did "Summer Sunset". I used a white base coat, so the shades of pink, orange and yellow will pop. I used a sponge to create the gradient effect. I then painted coconut trees, birds, and island outlines with black polish for that silhouette effect.

5

I was supposed to use a black base and white text for "L-O-V-E", but I thought it wouldn't look nice, so I switched them, and this is the outcome! Painting the letters proved to be challenging, as they had to have some kind of continuity, so I tried to keep my fingers stuck together until I finished the outline. I used Forever 21's heart stud for the thumb. It was originally gold, but I painted it with glittery pink polish, so it would be more visible.

6

A big fan of John Green's novel The Fault in Our Stars, I just had to incorporate some of its elements into a nail art project I'd do. I mixed various blue polishes to achieve the (almost) perfect TFIOS shade of blue, and used the book's signature blue-black-white scheme for each nail. I was about to use the clouds for the title on my thumbnail, but it would look too common, so I used two overlapping hearts instead, which could be found on the Czech cover of the novel. I also drew stars, puffy speech balloons with the iconic "Okay?", "Okay." lines from the story, and the infinity symbol (lemniscate).

7

The tulip is my favourite flower. With my nails growing longer, I decided to do a tulip nail art inspired by the tulips in Keukenhof (Lisse, Holland - one of my favourite places in the world!), thus "Out in the Tulip Field". I used a pale blue background to depict the gloomy spring sky, and also to make the yellow, pink, and orange tulips look more visible.

8

"Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli is one of my favourite novels. It's a story that my high school friends and I treasure, because it reminds us to be ourselves and embrace the real us (no matter how cliché that sounds). I used a blue base, and brushed some matte top coat over it, so when I draw the star and the stick person figure, they'd look rather glossy. I then sponged a my favourite glittery polish from Claire's for the remaining tips.

9

I super love these black and white lace nail decals I got from Nature Republic! They look so classy... so elegant! I made sure I used every single design, so I alternated the black and white base coats.

10

I was pretty surprised "From Jaipur with Love" turned out this good, because I had so little time to do it. I was rushing for a summer-themed awards show that day, and I just had to have nails that matched this reddish-pink dress I got from Old Navy that I would be wearing. I tried my best Indian detail impressions (dots, lotus flowers, etc.), which I also use when I draw mandalas or rangolis. I then stuck tiny gold studs from Forever 21 at the centre of each design.

11

I see all these Cath Kidston-ish nail art designs everywhere, and I thought I should give it a shot, so I did "Vintage Prints", adding touches of gold to the predominant light blue and, of course, roses. I love how it turned out - so pretty and so dainty! These nails are perfect if you're attending a tea party.

12
I wish I had longer nails when I decided to do "Tie-dyed Tips", so the design would look a lot more psychedelic, but whatever! Every nail still looked like a portion of a tie-dyed shirt (somehow). I used a white base coat, and with a thin brush, flicked the swirly patterns.

13

I rarely use red polish, but when I do, I paint "Li'l Ladybugs". Haha! I used a french tip guide for the white tips, where I drew a tiny head for each ladybug.  

14

"Minty Fresh Nails" is so simple anybody could do it. I used a minty shade, then gave it a white french tip, and brushed some silver polish just below the white line.

15

The Face Shop's Diamond Pop water nail stickers are simply ah-mazing. They're not too thick and not too thin, so tearing them is almost impossible. I previously used them for "Action-packed" (the first design in this post), and now, for its "Shine Bright Like a Diamond". For extra-shine, I used glittery silver polish, except for the ring finger. I used white for it to highlight the tiny silver glints I painted around the top of the diamond.

16

"Aquamarine" is pretty much like "Minty Fresh Nails", the only difference is the colour scheme. For this one, I used an aquamarine base, white tips, and a gold lining. 

17

I've always had issues with the colour purple. A counsellor I used to visit suggested that I expose myself more to the colour, and what better way to do so than painting my nails with the it? Upon applying the purple polish, I was reminded of an image of Merlin and his silly hat in a King Arthur story book I had when I was a kid (although I was pretty sure Merlin didn't really dress like that), so I did this "Wizard's Hat" design. I used tiny star studs from Forever 21 and brushed on some glittery silver polish for the tips.

18

I was slated to interview an author, who writes about really dark topics, so I wanted to capture her books' themes in my nails when I meet her, so I did "Studded". I used a matte top coat against black, so it would look leathery, then attached a square stud from Forever 21 on each nail. 

19

I wanted to try Forever 21's "Perfect Manicure Nail Stickers", so I purchased this pack of cheetah-print stickers, which are super easy to attach! But once I tried filing the excess sticker off, the whole thing started to tear. Ugh, so not the perfect manicure I was expecting!

20

"Newsie Nails" is one of my most-used nail art techniques (I even made a tutorial on how to do it!). It's super easy and super cool! For this, I mixed 3 parts white, 1 part black polish to get the newspaper grey shade, and applied the mixture on my nails. As soon as they dried, I cut tiny rectangles from a newspaper, and pressed a piece against a nail with an alcohol-soaked tissue (you can also use cotton) for a few seconds to transfer the ink. I then brushed a matte top coat so my nails would really look like newsprint.

21

I did my typical french tip-plus-lining combination for "Pink and Pretty", but used one of the metallic nail wraps I got from Claires for my ring finger nail.

22

"Double Happiness" is a design I did for Chinese New Year. And since I was going to attend some festivities at Manila Chinatown that day for a shoot, I decided to get my nails in the mood for the celebration. I painted the double happiness characters, magnolia trees (I was thinking of that scene in Mulan, where she was sitting under a magnolia tree with her father), a lucky coin (?) which didn't turn out so good (LOL!), and sponged some gold polish for the pinkie finger.

23

"He loves me, he loves me not" is actually a result of a mistake. I had something else planned out, but I screwed up, and thought, I should just work with what I already had, so I drew daisies with petals falling off. It turned out simple and clean, don't you think? 

24

You might find this silly, but this design is inspired by an IKEA rug called "Lusy Blom" (but I used our dark-blue Lusy Blom pillow for the photos' background. haha!). The icons I painted were good enough, but when I applied the top coat, the colours bled and stained the white base, which is just sad. The biggest victim was the orange flower on my index finger. Pity.

25

My first nail art challenge wouldn't be complete without a Harry Potter-inspired entry, so I did "House Pride". I know that I'm not that gifted of an artist to flawlessly draw lions, snakes, eagles, and badgers on my awfully tiny and narrow nails (in fact, the H for "Hogwarts" on my thumbnail gave me a lot of trouble already, because I really wanted it to look like the Hogwarts H, but evidently, it didn't. Haha!), so I just experimented with the house colours and patterns, then put tiny rhinestones from Girlstuff at the centre of each nail. I'm happy with what I came up with!

PS. I'm a Ravenclaw (well, Pottermore said so!)

26

"Metallic Monarch" is one of the nail art designs I've been wanting to try. I first saw something similar on Pinterest way, way back, but it was just plain, matte orange. Not hat it was boring, I just wanted mine to be different, so I used 3 glittery-metallic lacquers in pink, orange, and yellow, which I sponged them onto my nail to create a gradient effect. (To make the colours pop even more, I used a white base coat.) Then, instead of dotting plain white polish at the tips, I used tiny rhinestones.

27

I really love the doodles in the opening sequence of Disney Channel's Violetta, so I thought I should try replicating them on my nails. I decided to call this design "En Mi Mundo" (after the show's theme song). For this, I used a plain white base, then did the glittery lavender french tips with a silver lining below. I then painted the flower (used a tittle) from the show's logo on my index finger, a G-clef for my middle finger, eighth notes on my ring finger, a star on my pinkie finger, and a heart on my thumbnail. I also stuck some rhinestones.

28

It's Aztec meets Native American for "Dream On"! I think I will never get over how much I love this design! The patterns, the dream catcher, the colour scheme, everything's just the way I like it! This is a really difficult design to make (a lot of things went wrong while I was painting - if you'll look closely, you'll spot the mistakes), and seeing how beautifully it turned out is very rewarding, indeed!

29

Water-marbling is a technique that can be quite fun and frustrating at the same time. "In a Trance" is actually the result of my third attempt. It's also my first successful one. I tried to experiment with more colours, and posted a step-by-step tutorial in this blog, which you can check out right here.

30

I've never used super thin nail art tape before I did this design, so I was pretty sceptical at first. I thought the colours will mix or bleed, but every nail turned out nicely. I then brushed some matte top coat, just because. Haha!

31

"Roses are red" is a design I did for my grandmum who loves roses and the colour red. She instantly fell in love with my nails when she saw this! All of the decals and wraps I used for this design are from Forever 21.

~ ~ ~

"A woman is helpless only while her nail polish is drying."

♥Andz

Nail Art Tutorial: Water Marble Nails

It took me three attempts before I achieved a decent water-marbled nail art design. I guess there are just so many things that could go wrong when you try this technique - the lacquers you're using are too thick, the polish wouldn't spread, the colours dry too easily - this list goes on and on! But I'm telling you now: no matter how frustrating it could be, it's not impossible. The trick is simple: work fast, and, of course, use good kinds of nail polish.

Here's my step-by-step water-marbling tutorial. My water marbles are not as good as the ones in Google images, but, at least, they're more realistic. Haha! 

Hope you find this tutorial helpful, anyhow! :)

1. Start with a plain white base coat.

2. Cover your finger with masking tape and/or some petroleum jelly, exposing only the nail. This will reduce your trouble in cleaning the spots around your nail later.

3. In a glass of water, add drops of nail polish; one shade dropped inside another, creating a ripple of colours. Work fast, and don’t let the polish dry.

4. With a needle, lightly drag the colours to create the marble-like designs.

5. Let the polish dry a bit.

6. Dip your finger into the glass, nail-down on the design.

7. Let your finger stand in the water for a few seconds.

8. Carefully take your finger out of the water, then remove the tape, and wipe off the excess polish around your fingers.

9. Repeat steps 3-6 for your other nails. Change the water every time.

10. Apply a top coat to protect your design.

♥Andz

Livin' the Beach with Praiaz

This amazing mural was painted by Robby Singh on-the-spot!

Just wanna say that I had a blast covering the launching event of Praiaz shoes in the Philippines for Candy. 

I've been stuck at home writing (even while on my summer break, and, no, it's not for my internship, because I'm still OJT-less) over the past few days, so it was a great escape from my boring summer life.

The event was held last Tuesday (8 April) at the Alphaland City Club, which was just the perfect venue, because it felt like the beach was brought to us!

We were treated with our very own pair of Praiaz shoes, which I really love, because even though they're tagged as beach shoes, they're also ideal to wear for just about any activity! They're lightweight, comfortable, fashionable, and the best part: they smell like vanilla and coconuts, transporting you to somewhere tropical and exotic from wherever you are!

Praiaz (a term derived from the Portuguese word "praias", meaning "beaches") marries the the elements of Rio de Janeiro's laid-back and chill living with Paris' superiority in style.

Follow Praiaz on Facebook for more info: PRAIAZ

Models sporting their Praiaz shoes :)
(Yep, that's Katarina Rodriguez of Asia's Next Top Model
in the far right.)

We got to pick our very own free pair!

The bracelet-making booth that I really enjoyed :D

The pool looked so inviting, I wanted to
take a quick dip!

Ian and I chillin' with our Praiaz shoes

Got to meet my schoolmate Alex at the event

Ian and I teamed up for another event after
going nuts over doughnuts last November
 (geddit? :D)

Look, my nails match! :D

♥Andz