Minnie Mouse Nail Art

Recently I've been getting into doing nail challenges off instagram. I participated in one challenge which involved recreating the nail art of @bedizzle. The concept had to stay the same but colors did not have too. 

Looking through her gallery, I come upon an adorable nail design inspired by Minnie Mouse. As an avid Disney fan, I knew this look would be the one I would recreate. The design features nails of a silhouette of Mickey and Minnie, a depiction of Minnie's bow, a picture of Mickey and Minnie kissing, Minnie Mouse heads, and polka dots.I recreated her design and altered some of the colors. Every nail started with a base of four coats of Essie Pink a Boo while my index nail had a base of two coats of Essie Blanc. The red used in this design is Revlon Red Hot Tamale. The black was Spoiled Visually Slimming and a nail art striper. 

I'm very proud of this freehand design. It took a while but the result was well worth the effort. I sincerely feel my skills are greatly improving as of late.

Close up of thumb silhouette of Mickey and Minnie Mouse

I'm really in love with this design. It was a fun process of recreating someone else's design. Admittedly the thumb and middle nail were quite challenging. It would have been much easier to use acrylic paint though I wanted to achieve the design using purely lacquer. I incorporated pink into the design since it seemed fitting to Minnie Mouse's personality.

What do you think of this design? I think it's fun, cute, and happy. I wish I lived closer to Disneyland or Disneyworld. I feel like this design needs to be worn at a Disney theme park. It's too cheery not too. :)

Have a great Monday!

On To The Next Polish,

Katie

Essie Borrowed and Blue

I think Essie is one of my favorite brands. Yes, most of their colors are reds and pinks but whenever they do blues and greens they make sure to do them right. Most safe brands I usually criticize but for some reason I have a softer point of view for Essie. Maybe it's their bottle shape. I really love the Essie bottle. 

Anyways, Essie Borrowed and Blue is a pale, light blue creme nail polish. It only takes two coats to achieve an opaque color. The formula is great and smooth. It is a very light blue. My love for nail art also created my love for cremes. This polish served as an excellent color for the base of my Instagram nail art. It's great to use to create designs.

All photos are under artificial lighting. I just purchased supplies to create my own lightbox. :)

What's your favorite brand of nail polish? I know my posts have been very brief lately, I'll try to work on that. I have a passion for lacquer and nail art. Unfortunately, I don't have much of a passion for writing. Again, I'll do my best to provide better writing in the future. Is anyone else very tired and looking for the weekend? Here's hoping it comes soon! 

On To The Next Polish,

Katie

Instagram App Logo Nail Art (@ontothenextpolish)

Ok, I might officially be obsessed with instagram. It's quick, easy, and instant. Don't get me wrong I love blogging, most of the time, but I really like how easy updating on instagram is.

Anyways, in the app's honor, I did nail art based off their logo. Each of my nails are adorned with little instagram logos and hashtags. The base is Essie Borrowed and Blue. I meant to post my swatches of that first but I got too excited about this nail design. :) Does that ever happen to you? Ah, my schedule is ruined.

The rest of the colors used were: Sally Hansen Dune, Milani Precision Nail Art Brush in Black, Essie Blanc, Revlon Red Hot Tamale, Essie Mojito Madness, China Glaze Electric Beat, China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, Spoiled Pumping Gas, and Spoiled Visually Slimming. This design is freehand.

All photos are under artificial lighting.

Am I the only one who thinks these are extremely cute?

Posing with my instagram device aka the Iphone 4S. I know I think I'm cool but I'm actually quite lame.

The photo above shows my instagram profile at the time of this manicure. 

You can find me on instagram:

@ontothenextpolish

I think I'll do a few more manicures to advertise the other social media networks you can find me at. Logos are fun and somewhat challenging to copy. I am really happy with the result.

Do you have an instagram? Sorry to those who don't have an app capable device! I'd love to hear about your accounts so I can check them out. Have an great Wednesday! They always seem to be my least favorite day. 

On To The Next Polish,

Katie

Essie Mojito Madness

This past week I had the nail art equivalent of writer's block. Perhaps I should call it nails' block? Anyways, I had tried to plan out nail art ideas and I just couldn't get myself to do any of them. This happens to me sometimes and I absolutely hate the feeling.

While stuck in my "nails' block" I wore Essie Mojito Madness. It's a gorgeous green creme but perhaps a little uninspiring for me. I wore it for about a week left untouched. There isn't anything wrong with that but for me it felt weird. Interesting story: when I don't wear nail art two random strangers compliment my polish. One even said "Huh, I never thought about green nail polish." What? Admittedly, I'm stuck in this Nail World and I have trouble relating to people on the outside.

Essie Mojito Madness is a medium toned green polish. It seems a little dusty in my opinion. It was extremely pigmented. I hardly needed a second coat. Though as of habit I applied three coats. Application was a breeze and the polish applied smoothly. It's a great color especially for summer. Or if you had not thought about green nail polish.

All photos are under artificial lighting. Guess who just figured out how to set the exposure compensation on their camera? Please don't judge me. Though I've got to get/make a lightbox. You can make fun of me for that.

Tomorrow I will be showing a comic book related nail art design that I finally was able to create after my nails' block broke. I'd love to know any stories about your nails' block as I'm calling it or what non-polish people say/do that surprise you. Have a great day!

On To The Next Polish,

Katie

Beyonce Costume Inspired Nail Art

Whenever I see something particularly striking, I try to envision it on my nails. As for my music tastes, I enjoy a wide range of genres. My iTunes library ranges from completely known and unknown. Admittedly, I have a soft spot for the superstar Beyonce. I love her songs, her voice, her energy onstage, etc. With her recent performances at Revel, I was stunned at her costumes while I watched the show online. You'll never see me in one of those skintight sparkly looks but I will continue to lust on the sidelines. I chose one of her looks as inspiration for this nail art.

On a separate note, I really want to know if I should switch fonts from  Courier to Times. Probably looks more professional but maybe I'm over-thinking the significance of font choice. I tend to over think everything.

To create this look I used Essie Ruby Slippers on top of a frankened nude. Using the red sparkly glitter, I created wide french-like tips and freehanded triangles on the lower portion of my nail. Honestly, I could've waited and used tape for clean lines. I didn't. I created that polish by mixing some of my mineral makeup into a clear polish. Thus the polish very closely matches my skin tone. 

All photos taken under artificial lighting.

Costume used as inspiration:

(Photo Credit)

Sort of wish I could pull off that "bejeweled cut-out leotard" look. Oh well, I guess I'll stick to nails.

Fashion and even costumes can be a great source of inspiration. Personally, I like to interpret the lines, print, or colors on my nails. What's your favorite source of nail inspiration? If you don't have one, is there anything you would like to see me try? Suggestions are welcomed. Should I change over to "Times" font?

On To The Next Polish,

Katie

Hunger Games Inspired Nails

For the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games movie, I created a special nail look to honor the series. I used the concept "the girl on fire" and I also attempted to create a suitable mockingjay on one of my nails. I took inspiration from this post here-totally in envy how her's came out. :)

By the way, my nails are much shorter now. I made a tough decision to cut them down in hopes of improving my hand position playing the flute. I hope it works. Honestly I hate having them this short, but sometimes short nails can be a nice change.

To create the look. I first applied yellow nail polish to my nails, China Glaze Happy Go Lucky. Next, I sponged a red jelly polish, Essie Lollipop, intensifying the color at the base of my nails. The flames were created by making flame outlines in black with a black striper from Sinful and filling in the other areas.

For the mockingjay, I started off by applying a coat of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme. I then freehanded the symbol using China Glaze 2030.

Personally, I loved the film. I know some people were hoping for more romance but I liked how they portrayed Katniss and Peeta's relationship. If you have seen the movie, what did you think?

On To The Next Polish,

Katie

Happy Hunger Games....May the odds be ever in your favor!

Essie Braziliant

Hi! Hope all of you are having a great week! I for one am so glad that it is the weekend now.

I apologize for not posting this week. I had photos for posts but didn't get the chance to write something up. 

Anyways on to the polish! It's Essie Braziliant from this year's summer collection!

I picked up Essie Braziliant at a Rite Aid for $4.00 (on sale 50% off! :) ) earlier this summer. So, it is in one of those retail bottles with the sticker on the front. Before I went away I decided to put on this polish.

All photos are inside with natural light. I apologize for the quality. I wanted to get quick photos before I left. 

Essie Braziliant has great pigmentation. I believe this is two coats but I'm not sure I needed the second one.

Essie Braziliant is a great orange with slightly pink shimmer that flashes in the light. Truly fitting for the summer.

Have you tried Essie Braziliant? It is my favorite orange now (I do only have about three though). 

Hope you stop by again! I will have two more posts this weekend (that were suppose to be this weeks posts). 

Thanks for stopping by! What's your favorite orange?

On To The Next Polish,

Katie

Ombre Manicure

Hi! Today I have an ombre manicure to show you. Unfortunately these pictures are not the best quality.

I used Essie Borrowed & Blue and OPI Last Friday Night. Essie Borrowed & Blue is from their 2011 Wedding collection. It is nice to see a company produce a wedding collection that is not just pale sheer colors. OPI Last Friday Night is from the Katy Perry collection released this year.

Essie Borrowed & Blue is a very light blue. It is similar to Hard Candy Sky (from Walmart) except that the Essie is a creme while Sky has slight shimmer. Essie Borrowed & Blue applies great becoming opaque in two coats.

OPI Last Friday Night is very sheer. However, it is a great blue glitter with round glitter prismatic pieces. 

It looks great layered and good own its own. Confetti, available at CVS, has a blue very similar to this called Party Palace Blue. It might even be a dupe and at $1.99 the price is much lower than the OPI. 

I created this manicure by applying Last Friday Night first about halfway on my nails. Then I applied another coat of it further upward on my nail. I continued this process until I had the color I wanted on my tips. It is very easy to do and looks great. All you need is a base color and a sheer glitter. You can use matching colors for the glitter and base or switch it up. I'm going to try it with pink next.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Fourth of July Manicure

Hi! Today I have my Fourth of July Manicure from this year to show you!

This year I didn't really plan a manicure out. It was sort of spur of the moment. I started out with a blue and just added patriotic nail art. I don't feel like this manicure was top quality from me but  I liked the way it turned out though.

I started with a base of Essie Coat Azure. It is a medium dusty blue with shimmer. The formula on this one was top notch! It could have been a one coater but I believe I used two. I usually have no complaints  about Essie's formula and this one was exceptionally great.

Then I used two way nail art pens (bought from ebay) in red and white. With the white pen I tried to make swooping lines across my nails. With the red I tried to put stars on the corner. However, I feel like besides my thumb's star, the others remind me more of tiny flowers.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm going to try to post on a regular schedule this upcoming week. Hopefully, there will be a post on here every other day (maybe even every day)!