Window Frame Nails

Hello all! So I know how late in the week it is, but I still wanted to post a tutorial for you all. Here goes!

You will need:
- Four different shades of blue polish
- Tape
- Top Coat

Start off by painting your nails as shown in the previous post.
Next, cut the tape into small strips and  cross them on your nails, like in the picture below.

China Glaze - First Mate

Paint each square a different shade of blue and quickly peel off the tape. 

Nicole by OPI - My Lifesaver, Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away!,
Zoya - Cynthia

After this has dried, use the tape again to cover all of the nail but a line in the center, just like the picture.

Paint this white and quickly remove the tape.

Repeat the last step, this time placing the tape the other way.

Again, paint the open space white and take off the tape. 

This pattern can also be done with a striper, but I chose to use tape because it allows for cleaner lines. 

Cover with a top coat and you're done!

Sally Hansen - Strengthening Top Coat

Thanks for reading! Please give your questions and comments below and follow here/on Facebook!

How-To: Home Manicure

So your nails are terribly in need of a fancy manicure, but you just don't have the time or money to go out and have it done by a professional. Never fear; I've put together some tips and tricks here to give yourself your own manicure at home!

You will need:
- Nail Polish Remover
- Nail File
- Small bowl
- Lemon Juice
- Orange stick
- Vaseline
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Base coat
- Polish of your choice
- Top coat
- Small Brush

STEP ONE: REMOVE OLD NAIL POLISH

You can’t give yourself a manicure while still wearing your old polish, now can you? Use your favorite nail polish remover (acetone works, but I prefer to use a non-acetone one because it’s gentler) and get rid of that old polish on your nails.

STEP TWO: FILE YOUR NAILS

A square shape works best for longer nails because it is less likely to break, but choose whichever shape you most prefer. Cut your nails to a bit longer than the desired length and then file them into the shape you want. Try not to saw at your nails with the nail file because it can damage them; just file in one direction only until your nails are shaped perfectly.  

STEP THREE: SOAK IN WARM WATER

This softens up your cuticles. Take a small bowl, fill it with warm water, and soak your nails for around five minutes. If your nails are yellow from the previous polish, add some lemon juice to the water to help remove that color.

STEP FOUR: PUSH BACK YOUR CUTICLES (OPTIONAL)

I know that this is a big step in beautifying your nails, but I just don’t prefer pushing my cuticles back. I can be a little fidgety and so whenever I push back my cuticles, I end up picking at them until they look disgusting. If you do want to do this step, use an orange stick or even a popsicle stick and gently push back the cuticles.  

STEP FIVE: MOISTURIZE

I always make sure to keep my nails moisturized before covering them with polish. You can use fancy oils or whatever you want but I prefer to use Vaseline. It’s easy to use and almost everyone has it around the house. Just take a small amount and rub it into each nail and the cuticles.

STEP SIX: CLEAN THE NAILS

Put some rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle and spray it onto your nails. Use a towel or cotton ball to rub it around. It gets rid of all the icky oils built up on your nails and allows the polish to stick more easily.

STEP SEVEN: BASE COAT

Use a base coat to protect your nails and form a base for the color. Once you’ve applied it to all of the nails, let it dry for 10-30 minutes to prevent smudges and bubbles.

Beauty Secrets- Ridge Filler

STEP EIGHT: TIME FOR COLOR!

Now you can start with the color. If you want the best color to match your skin, check out this article to help you pick out the right nail polish. Paint your nails with two coats in thin layers. Again, let this dry for 10-30 minutes.

China Glaze - First Mate

STEP NINE: TOP COAT

It’s finally time to seal in the color and finish up your manicure. Grab your favorite top coat and gently paint each nail.

Sally Hansen - Strengthening Top Coat

STEP TEN: NAIL CLEAN UP

After your nails are fully dry, use a brush or cotton swab dipped in polish remover to clean up any stray nail polish that got on your skin.

And now you're done! Head out in confidence with your spiffy nails and prepare for all the compliments you're sure to receive. If you liked this post, please follow my blog and 'like' me on Facebook to see more of my tutorials!

Muffin Nails is now on DeviantArt!

Hey guys, that's right! You can now find my nail designs on DeviantArt at http://muffinnails.deviantart.com/. Stick around here, though, because my tutorials will only be posted on this blog.
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to follow me here, on Facebook, and now on DeviantArt!
-Muffin

Spiffy New Polishes

I happened to have an extremely lucky week in terms of nail polish haul and thought I would share what I found with you. 

First, I took a trip to Sally Beauty Supply to pick up a new top coat and a white striper. Here's what I ended up with! China Glaze's Hunger Games Polishes were all on sale, so I snatched three of them for just $3.29 each.

L-R: China Glaze - Smoke and Ashes,
Electrify, Foie Gras

I also found a gorgeous navy polish by China Glaze, which I had to get because I don't find many blues that I like. It's much lighter than it appears in the picture. I also found my new top coat, along with the striper. I forgot to take a picture of it, but I also got a ridge sealer to help fix up my poor nails.

L-R: China Glaze - First Mate, Northern Lights Hologram
Top Coat Silver,  It's so Easy Stripe Rite - White

I was also finally able to get my hands on some nail glue. I am already in love with this kit, and the once-chipped tips of my nails are now perfectly smooth thanks to this. 

Orly Nail Rescue Kit

And yesterday, you'd never guess what I recieved! More polish! This was all from a family friend who had some extras she didn't need. First are some amazing pale pink-purple colors.

L-R: OPI - Steady as She Rose,
Sparrow Me the Drama

 I also got some new shatter polishes:

L-R: OPI - Silver Shatter, Red Shatter

 This package happened to come with another top coat, so I have a bunch of different ones to use now! The other polish in the picture is a spiffy pearly white that I am DYING to try out.

L-R: Sally Hansen Strengthening Top Coat,
Pure Ice - Platinum

So all in all, I think I've had a pretty good week nail polish-wise. A bunch of these are going to be included in my upcoming tutorials, and I'm excited to try them all out. Are there any of these you'd like to see in my next tutorial? Tell me below! And don't forget to follow!

Piggies!

Hello, guys! Today I thought I’d try out something I’ve wanted to do for a long time on my nails. So without further rambling on my part, please enjoy this tutorial on decorating your nails with cute little piggies!

You will need:

- Base coat

- White polish

- Light pink polish

- A darker pink polish

- A Black striper

- Brown polish

- Top Coat

Paint your nails with a base coat as usual, and then paint all nails with two coats of white polish.

Sally Hansen - Timeless White

Next, use the light pink polish to make semi-circles on your thumbs and ring fingers.

Unforgettable Moments - Twirl

Use the darker pink to outline the nose and ears.

Unforgettable Moments - Ballroom

Using the black striper, draw the eyes and nose.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black

With the brown polish, dab a large amount onto the tips of your first fingers, middle fingers, and pinkies. Make separate dots of varying sizes on the nails and connect them to the main amount of polish at the top to get the dripping mud look (I apologize that the polish looks black in the picture, but it is meant to be brown).

Essie - Little Brown Dress

Now all you need is a top coat and these little critters will be ready for a night on the town!

Northern Lights Hologram Silver Top Coat

I hope you love these cute little piggies as much as I did! Let me know in the comments what you'd like to see in the next tutorial and don't forget to follow!

-Muffin

Pokemon Nails

I recently rediscovered the fun game that is Pokemon, and couldn't help but recreate one of my favorite little critters on my nails. This tutorial will teach you how to design your nails like a Pokemon Master!

You will need: 

- Base coat 

- White polish 

- A plastic bag

- Yellow Polish

- Black Striper / Black nail polish and tooth pick

- White striper / white nail polish and tooth pick

- Red nail polish

- Top coat

As usual, paint a base coat at the beginning to protect your nails.

Paint on two light coats of white polish on all nails.

Sally Hansen - Timeless White

Pikachu Nails:

 I was going to use the plastic bag technique. However, I ran out of time waiting for them to dry and had to quickly freehand them on my nails instead. I forgot to take step-by-step pictures for the freehand ones, though, so I will show the ones I did using the plastic bag technique.

First, paint on little Pikachu shapes roughly the same size as your third fingers and thumbs onto a plastic bag.

Sally Hansen - Lightening

Next, use a black striper to make the eyes and nose.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black 

Fill in the eyes with white.

Sally Hansen - Timeless White

Now use red polish to make the little cheeks.

Kiss Colors - True Red

Let this dry for 1-4 hours, until you can easily peel it off.

Pokeball Nails:

While you are waiting for the Pikachu nails to dry on the plastic bag, finish the pokeball nails.

First, paint the top halves of the pinkies, index, and middle finger nail red. I also did this freehand, but if you don’t have a steady hand or dislike painting with your non-dominant hand, then you can use tape to guide it.

Kiss Colors - True Red

Use a black striper to outline the separation between the white and red.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black

Draw a black dot in the center.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black

Draw a white dot in the center of the black dot.

Sally Hansen - Timeless White

Finishing Up:

Once the Pikachu drawings are dry, carefully peel them off and place them on your thumbs and third fingers.

Cover each nail with a top coat.

L.A. Colors - Base coat / topcoat

And that’s it! I hope you liked having this cute pokemon on your nails!

- Muffin

Color Blocking, Part 2

This is part two of my last post. Here I'll spiff up the color blocking design even more!

You will need:

- your nails, already painted with the color blocking design

- a black striper

- top coat

Use the black striper to outline the different colors.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black

Next, use it to make stripes on the blue section.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black

Use the striper to make lines going a different direction in the yellow section.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black

Finally, draw stripes going a third direction in the green section.

It's So Easy Stripe Rite - Black

Follow up with a top coat and you're done!

L.A. Colors - base coat / topcoat

Thanks for reading!

Color Blocking

Hey all! Happy Monday!

Color blocking is becoming extremely popular, so I thought I'd post a tutorial about it. This is also the base for a second nail design, which I will post after I get this one up. You will get better results using tape in this design, but it's very time consuming so if you're short on time I would suggest attempting it freehand. 

You will need:

- Base coat

- light green polish (yes, I know I've used the same color three weeks in a row... I promise this is the last time!)

- yellow polish

- light blue polish

- topcoat

Paint on a base coat and apply two coats of the green polish.

Essie - Navigate Her

Let this dry completely and place a piece of tape running from the middle of one side of the nail to the bottom corner of the other (such as in the picture).

Paint the part of the nail not covered with tape.

Sally Hansen - Lightening

Quickly remove the tape. Repeat for all nails and let dry completely.

Now take another piece of tape and place it from the middle of one side of the nail to the top corner of the other side.

Paint the nail with the blue polish.

Nicole By OPI - My Lifesaver

Remove the tape quickly.

Cover with a top coat to protect your design.

L.A. Colors - Base coat / topcoat

I hope you enjoyed this design! Read the next blog post if you'd like a way to add even more fun to the design.

Thanks for reading!