Fancy French Manicure with complementing pedicure

click on photo to enlarge

click on photo to enlarge

Orly "twilight" Fast and Easy (Egyptian brand) "white" Revlon "Sheer Rose"

click here to purchase Revlon's Sheer Rose
This was the manicure I originally planned to wear on my wedding day but I changed my mind. Don't get me wrong I like it but it seemed so everyday (for me) and I wanted something a little more special. But don't worry I will upload pics of my wedding manicure soon I promise! For this manicure I was going for a french manicure with a little bit of an edge. I chose the middle finger as an accent finger because everyone does the ring finger and I wanted to do something a little different. As always everything is handpainted with water based acrylic paints that I purchased at my local craft store. For pictures and how to of the complementing pedicure keep reading!

1) paint your nails two coats of your favorite nude or pink polish. I chose my favorite nude "Sheer Rose" by Revlon since I find it to be the most natural on my skintone.
2) paint a white tip using your favorite white nail polish. I didnt have any white in my collection since the only one I had was used up when I moved so I actually bought this white here in Egypt. My first nail polish purchase since moving! It was quite cheap about $.50 cents and I found it to be pretty impressively pigmented for a white polish, which in my experience tend to be streaky and thin.
3) using a small size dotting tool and black acrylic paint add tiny dots outlining the white tip.
click here to purchase nail art brush set
click here to purchase acrylic paints
4) using the same dotting tool and pink acrylic paint make five almond shape leaves in a star pattern on the center nail.
5) add topcoat to the center of your flower and add a pink 3mm size rhinestone.
6) using green acrylic paint add two tiny almond shaped leaves on the side of your flower.
7) with black acrylic paint carefully outline the edge of your flower and leaves to give it an embroidered look. If paint becomes too thick add a couple of tiny drops of water to thin paint.
8) using the same black color add two tiny tear drop shapes on the side of the nail and a lime of dots coming down from the flower
9) with white acrylic paint add a line of dots next to the black dots
10) seal in and protect your design with a thick coat of topcoat. I use NYC in a New York Minute quick dry topcoat in "grand central station" at just $1.99 a bottle it is the best topcoat for the performance and for the money I have ever found!

click on photo to enlarge

Icing "Gold Dust"

For the pedicure I used the same technique I described in the manicure section to create a red and yellow flower. I applied a red 3MM size rhinestone to the center of the flower and used black acrylic paint to create the tear drop shapes on the sides of the flower and to create the black french tip. The whole design took less then a half hour!
I hope you enjoyed this week's nail art design and maybe even try it out yourself. Remember practice makes perfect!