Personalized Black and White Freehand Nail Arttutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

I've said it before and I'll say it again: black and white is just the best, most striking combo ever. In November, I was headed to the CND VIP summit and I knew I wanted to do something eye catching. After all -- the Summit was going to be attended by nail professionals that I respect and admire! I had to do something I would be proud of, and feel confident in.



I chose to go with a mix of patterns and iconic images that mean something to me. Among the mix is Chowder (my precious babydog), a bee (my favorite animal), polished hands, a Saguaro cactus (the symbol of Phoenix), and the roman numerals for 2016.

They are all painted freehand over CND Shellac in Cream Puff and Black Pool. I used Akzentz GelPlay in Black and White for the detailing.

Here's some #RealTalk... This manicure took me like four hours to complete. The left hand took about an hour, while the right hand (featuring art by my non-dominant, left hand) took about three! I kept wiping off the art and trying to start again because I wasn't happy with how it was turning out.

Thankfully, I eventually got them to a place where I felt good about each of the nails. I cured them, finished the manicure, and collapsed into bed! 😊

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2ikApiq Personalized Black and White Freehand Nail Arttutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Daydreamer Gel Marbling with a Textured Accent Nailtutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

CND Shellac Startstruck Collection and Creative Play Celebration Collection for Holiday 2016tutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Whether you wear Shellac or regular nail polish, this holiday, CND has you covered with a variety of colors and textures in seasonally festive shades!

Thank you to CND for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own.

The Shellac Starstruck collection is glitzy and glamorous and perfect for the holiday season. We use exclusively Shellac at the spa that I work at, and I am so excited for us to add these shades to our lineup. Inspired by gemstones, there's a shade in this collection for everyone.

CND Shellac - Alluring Amethyst, 2 coats
A pretty purple base with plenty of silver glitters in small and medium sizes.

CND Shellac - Blushing Topaz, 2 coats
Blushing Topaz has rosy pink glitters in a clear base. While this shade will layer well over other Shellac colors, I do like the way it looks at two coats alone! It almost has a hammered metal texture when it catches the light.

CND Shellac - Dark Diamonds, 2 coats
Dark Diamonds is my favorite in this collection! It looks like snow falling at night, or glittering asphalt. I know this one is going to be huge with clients.

CND Shellac - Emerald Lights, 2 coats
Emerald Lights is a stunning rich green with small glitters and a fine shimmer.

CND Shellac - Garnet Glamour, 2 coats
Ok, so just look at this one. Perfect Christmas shade, right? So glowy.

CND Shellac - Starry Sapphire, 2 coats
A blurple with a mix of sparkling glitters. There are beautiful iridescent glitters in there as well, but they hid from my camera a bit!

What do you think of these shades? Are you a Blushing Topaz kinda gal, or more on the Dark Diamonds end of the spectrum?

The Shellac Starstruck Collection will be available for Holiday 2016. Visit cnd.com to locate a Shellac certified pro near you.

Now, let's get ready to check out the Creative Play Celebration Collection nail lacquers...

CND Creative Play - Foiled Again, two coats
This yellow gold foil shade is super eye catching and unique. A bold take on holiday metallics for the gal that wants to do things a little differently!

CND Creative Play - Happy Holly Day, two coats
A beautiful holly green. I've been completely obsessed with this type of green shade lately (especially for pedicures!).

CND Creative Play - Naughty or Vice, two coats
A deep, moody plum.

CND Creative Play - Revelry Red, two coats
A fun and unique play on the traditional holiday red! This one adds a bit of candy apple shimmer and some small glitters.

CND Creative Play - Extravaglint, one coat over Happy Holly Day
Tinsel glitter! So fun for Christmas and New Years!


CND Creative Play - RSVPlum, two coats
A unique pink metallic with an interesting satin-looking shine.

CND Creative Play - Stellarbration, one coat over Naughty or Vice
A fun mix of silver and gold glitters with stars! This one is my favorite from the Creative Play shades. It's so versatile and perfect for the season.

CND Creative Play - Turquoise Tidings, two coats
This shade was definitely a surprise for a holiday collection. It has a blue tinted jelly base with iridescent glitters and mylar flakes. There is a lot going on in here, so try to keep your coats thin and even when applying to avoid a thick finish.

My picks for this collection are Revelry Red, Stellarbration, and Happy Holly Day, though it was fun to see unexpected shades like Turquoise Tidings and Foiled again in a holiday set!

The Creative Play Celebration Collection is available this month in select salons and retail stores for a suggested retail price of $7.50.

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2erFIyo CND Shellac Startstruck Collection and Creative Play Celebration Collection for Holiday 2016tutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Shattered Glass Star Gel Nailstutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2016 Finisher Badgestutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate those of you that finished the 31 Day Challenge this year! It's never easy, and definitely something you should take immense pride in finishing. A big ol' high five from me to you!

The original finisher badges were created by Ling Yeung, and I've been modifying them each year. Grab one and display it on your blog with pride! I've included the HTML code below each badge, or you can save the image to your computer and upload it that way.

FOR INSTAGRAM:
Click on the following links for higher-res versions of the badges that you can post to your feed.
Pink circle | Monochrome | Teal circle

Like last year, if you haven't finished the challenge yet, feel free to bookmark this page and come back to it to grab one when you're done.

Congratulations!

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2dUR9P3 The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2016 Finisher Badgestutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Hand-Placed Glitter Flowerstutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Here's a bit of a throwback look for ya! I did these nails probably about a year ago, and while I posted about them on social media, they never made it to the blog here. Plus, with fall arriving, these neutral tones with a slight twinge of grey are right on schedule.

This look is done with Shellac. It is much easier to do this style with gel, though you could accomplish it with regular polish, too.

1. After prepping your nails properly, apply your base gel and cure.
2. Apply one coat of CND Shellac in Field Fox, and cure. Repeat with a second coat.
3. Use a dotting tool or Crystal Katana to individually place pieces of round glitter to form flowers and falling petals.
   • Since the cured layer of Shellac is so sticky, I was able to pop them right on a cured nail and have them stay. If your gel isn't as tacky, you can also place the glitters into a layer of uncured gel and then cure them together.
4. Topcoat generously and cure. Add a second layer if necessary.

I purchased my round glitters from Presto via Nail Labo. Wildflower's Nails also has a huge selection of glitters that would be fun to build flowers or other shapes from!

No round glitters? No problem! You can use a dotting tool with a large and small side to accomplish this same look. Just go slowly and work carefully -- part of what makes this style so appealing is that the dots are all the same size.

What do you like to wear on your nails when fall comes around? Do you change your polish shades for the season, or keep on rocking brights and pastels?

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2elesCn Hand-Placed Glitter Flowerstutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Disney Tsum Tsum Character Nail Arttutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

In August, Sean and I went with a couple of friends to Disneyland! I hadn't been in a few years, so I obviously had to go all out with the nail art. I picked a few of my favorite characters, and painted them Tsum Tsum style on my nails.

On my left hand, we have Cogsworth, Buzz Lightyear, Donald, Sadness, and Goofy. I chose Pooh, Mike Wazowski, Mickey, Genie, and the White Rabbit for my right hand.

I made sure to put the easier characters on my right hand, since I was going to be doing the nail art with my left! I think my strategy worked out pretty well.

I did this set of nails in gel, which was helpful in that I could adjust things as necessary before curing the nail. Otherwise, my poor left hand would never have stood a chance! It needs all the assistance it can get.

Most of the detailing was done with Akzentz GelPlay gel paints. I truly use them all the time, for everything. If you do any gel art at all, I highly recommend investing in them (or at least a different brand of gel paints!).

Our trip to Disney was amazing. It was really neat to go on Tower of Terror one last time before they change it to the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride! And would you believe that this was the first time I had seen the fireworks show? What an amazing production!

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2dvVTZH Disney Tsum Tsum Character Nail Arttutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Where Are My Challenge Posts? AKA How I'm Participating This Yeartutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Hi everyone! Today is the first day of the 31 Day Challenge 2016, and I'm so excited to see what everyone comes up with! Personally, I've decided to do things a little differently this year. With all the changes in my job, my life, the scope of blogging and social media... It seemed best to try something new. 

So, my plan for this year is to do all of the challenge prompts on sets of plastic nail tips and film insta-tutorials at the same time.

Here's why:

1. I don't make enough video content, and this will force me to do it. I love watching everyone else's videos, and now I will actually be contributing!
2. I get to keep the nail tips after I'm done and add them to my sample board at work for clients!
3. Working on a nail tip is closer to working on a client than if I were to do the nail art on my own hands. I'll get more practice!
4. Everything I wear on my own hands gets thrashed at work.

Between you and me, I am feeling a bit guilty about not sticking to my usual challenge format. But I'm trying not to be too hard on myself about it, and I know this will still be plenty challenging. I hope you will enjoy the tutorials just as much as my old types of challenge posts! 

As for what you can expect here on ye olde blog...

⋗ I added an Instagram widget above the main post area which will take you right to the Insta posts (you can view them all regardless of if you have an Instagram account or not).
⋗ I will also likely do a few summary-style roundup posts throughout the duration of the challenge.

And finally...

Not into Instagram? The posts will also be pushed to my Facebook and Tumblr.

Thank you, and enjoy! 

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2bYfhhK Where Are My Challenge Posts? AKA How I'm Participating This Yeartutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2016tutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

September is almost here, and that means the 31 Day Challenge is almost here, too! I always take on this challenge every year, and, also as always, I invite you to join me! if you're interested in challenging yourself and your nail art, The 31 Day Challenge is perfect for you.

Unfamiliar with the challenge? Stop by the 31 Day Challenge FAQ to learn more!

Want to check out the work that I've done previously? Check out my roundups for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

And one final note: don't forget to use this year's hashtag: #31DC2016!

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Here are the 31 Day Challenge prompts for 2016! Feel free to share, repost, upload to your blog, put on Instagram, etc. Click to enlarge.

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2bii6vA The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2016tutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2015 Roundup (& Only a Year Late, Too!)tutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping

Almost a year ago, in September 2015, I tackled the 31 Day Challenge for the fifth time ever. I shamefully forgot to do a roundup last year, but figured "better late than never" and completed it this morning. You can also check out the roundup of my manicures from 2015 on my 31DC2015 Pinterest board.

Click any photo to be taken to the original post.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

My personal favorites are the crop circles, the lavender blossoms, and the southwest-inspired final manicure.

from Chalkboard Nails | Nail Art Blog http://ift.tt/2bEcSd1 The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2015 Roundup (& Only a Year Late, Too!)tutorials nails and nail art, including freehand designs and stamping