Disney Skittles!

Hey guys! Today's mani is so fun and so cute and I love it to death. If you read the title of this post you obviously know it is Disney themed! It's seriously awesome and I can't stop admiring my nails!

Some of you are probably wondering why the title is Disney Skittles. Skittles is a nail term meaning "different on all nails". So this is a skittle mani because all of my nails have a different design on them.
There, now you learned some new nail lingo!

So before we get into the pictures, let me explain why I decided to do Disney nails. I would never have chosen to do something like this on my own, which is strange because I love it so much now that its already on my nails. So as most of you know I am an Instagrammer (@letsbehappy16) as well as a blogger. I came across a Disney nail art contest on Instagram hosted by @everything_nail_me and just thought, what the heck! So I entered and came up with such a cute design which you can all see below!

Oh my gosh so cute. I can't even handle it. I LOVE the ring finger! I'm thinking of trying that same design but with different colors on all of my nails! Although I'm having trouble thinking of good color combos.....

Anyways, I just absolutely adore how it turned out, and I hope the contest hostess loves it as much as I do!

Now for the how-to. I actually tried to take some pictures during the process so you guys can see a step-by-step picture tutorial!

These are the supplies you'll need. Shown above is a red polish (I actually used two because I liked the sparkle that the Sally Hansen one had), a black polish, a white polish, a white striper (a nail art brush dipped in white polish will do just fine), different sized dotting tools, a clean-up brush, a place to pour acetone or nail polish remover into (the cap of the acetone bottle works splendidly), and last but not least, topcoat!

Start off with a base coat. Then paint your index and ring finger black. Paint your middle finger white. Paint your pinky and thumb red. For the base colors I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, and Essie Fishnet Stockings. If you want to add a sparkle to the red, which I did, add any sparkly red polish over the red base. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet, which is a nice shimmery red.

Next, using a large dotting tool, make four dots on the middle finger, like I did above. Also, using the white striper brush or a nail art brush dipped in white, paint a bow outline on the ring finger. This will make the red really pop when you put it over the white, instead of a dull red color that you get when you put it directly on the black.

Using the smaller dotting tool, add Minnie Mouse ears on to the dots you made in the last step.

Sorry for the blurry picture on this one! And also I forgot to take a picture of the white base that I put under the red on my index finger. Just do the same idea as the ring finger bow, with a layer of white underneath the red. Next add red on top of the white bow with a nail art brush. Also make white dots all over your pinky with a small dotting tool.

Almost done! The last few steps are to add two ovular line things on the index finger to make the Mickey belly. Then, use a tiny dotting tool to put white dots on the bow. Add a larger dot in the middle. Finally paint a black bow shape on your pinky, clean up your cuticles with the paintbrush dipped in acetone, add top coat, and you're done! 

P.S. You can think of a design to put on your thumb. Be creative! I ended up putting a Disney "D" on it but didn't get a picture :(

I hope you liked this post, and now you can try this mani at home! Please leave a comment below telling me if you want me to do more picture tutorials. Also I am thinking of doing a video tutorial soon so comment if you would like to see one of those! 

Thanks for reading!

Sea Stripe Sparkle Variation

Hey everyone! This is going to be a really short post but very picture-heavy! So if you remember my previous post called Stripes by the Sea, you will recognize what I am about to show you. If not, you can see that mani here. Basically this mani is just a variation of the other one. All I did was add sparkle, because everyone knows sparkles make everything better!

As I said this post will not be wordy at all, so I will just show you guys all the pics!

I took some sun pictures as well to show you the sparkle better. Also, please excuse the chip in my middle finger nail. I took these pictures long after I painted the nails!

So what do you think? I really like this version of the original manicure, but I am not sure if I like it better or not....? I am still trying to decide. I think it would have looked really cool with silver sparkles instead of purplish blue.

Just in case you are wondering, the sparkle polish I used is from a Kiss Nail Artist paint and stencil kit. I am not sure how else to describe it so here is a picture of it:

I like these stripers, but I don't think I would buy more. However, there is one pack that has a black, a white, and a silver sparkle polish in it, which I think would be worth it to buy. I haven't tried the stencils that come with it so maybe those would make these packs worth it also.

So that's about it, see I told you this post wouldn't be very wordy!

Don't forget to follow my blog! Also if anyone is interested in a video tutorial just comment what you want to see and I would love to try it!

Stripes by the Sea

Hi guys! I'm still in Santa Cruz having a blast at the beach! I've been boogie boarding twice daily and I tried surfing for the first time! I think I had beginner's luck because I caught the first few but then couldn't catch a single one after that. We also went to the Boardwalk! Sadly, this is my last day here, but I do have one more mani inspired by the sea for you.

This mani was created using the colors of the beach- the turquoise ocean, the blue sky, and the white foam of the waves crashing towards the sand.

(Please excuse the redness of my hand in the picture above; I had just

 gotten out of the water and my hands were extremely cold.)

I really like wearing this mani. It's fun, but not too busy. And it was fairly easy with the right tools!

This is how I did it:

1. Paint 3 coats of Essie Turquoise and Caicos.
2. Using a striper brush (I used It's So Easy Stripe Rite in white), paint 6 white stripes horizontally across your nail.
3. Using a dotting tool, paint blue dots (I used Essie Avenue Maintain) between the white lines. There should be 3 rows of dots. 
4. Add a topcoat (I used Seche Vite) and you're done!

P.S. Thank you Seche Vite for letting me go to the beach and not having my mani chip! Best topcoat    ever!

And here is the swatch of Essie's Turquoise and Caicos. It is pretty sheer, I needed 3 coats for full coverage. It is a nice vibrant turquoise, but it looks more blue on the nails than in the bottle. I really liked this polish, except the 3 coats was a hassle. It was probably one of the worse Essies that I got.

I hope you liked this post! Don't forget to follow my blog and leave a comment below!

Nautical Nails

Hey everybody! I am typing this post from a beach house in Santa Cruz. The beautiful ocean and beach scene is only steps away! Being near the sea has inspired me to do a nautical themed mani.

Now what you have all been waiting for... The nautical nail art! The only thing I would change are the colors- a darker blue, red instead of pink, and no sparkles. But hey, I was on vacation and could only bring so many colors!

The polishes I used were:

• Essie Avenue Maintain (blue)
• Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Debut-tint (sparkle)
• Essie Bachelorette Bash (pink)
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite in white

I think this mani is easy enough that I don't need to show you a step by step tutorial, but some of you might want to know how to make a heart like the pink one. So this is how you do it.

First Method:

1. Using a dotting tool, put two dots next to each other, touching in the middle.
2. Connect the two dots and pull them down into a point.
3. Touch up any imperfections.

Second Method:

1. Use a dotting tool and make two lines angling down towards each other.
2. Make sure you have a defined point at the bottom and rounded tops.

So now, as I promised a few posts ago, I have a swatch of another of my new Essies for you, and it's a really really good one!

Sorry about the weird picture, I forgot to take one and remembered only after I painted all my nails except this one!

This is Essie's Avenue Maintain, a beautiful bright blue. Shown is just one coat! I didn't even need a second coat at all. It's an awesome formula, not streaky at all. This is my new favorite blue and I'll definitely be using it a lot in the future!

Hopefully you guys enjoyed my sea-inspired nails! Follow my blog for cool nail ideas every few days. More Essie swatches are coming soon!

Dots Galore!

Hey everyone! Today I have a bit of nail art for you to ogle over. But first I will show you the first of the Essie swatches that I promised in my last post.

These are the beauties I got in the mail. I ordered them over Instagram which I was a little skeptical about, but it turned out awesome. She even gave me an extra polish for free! So I ended up paying $24 for 7 bottles. That's less than $4 per bottle!

So anyways, here is the first swatch. This is Jamaica Me Crazy and it is a vibrant purply-magenta color. It has a very good formula, opaque in only 2 coats! It is actually even brighter in real life than in this picture. So overall this is a great polish and I am really excited about it!!

You know me, I couldn't just settle for one color on my nails, so I turned the swatch into some nail art!
This manicure looks like my dotting tools had a dance party on my nails. In a good way, of course. :)

So here is the dance party's beautiful aftermath!

Pretty cool, huh? The last picture is from my Instagram @letsbehappy16.

So this is how I did it:

1. Paint two coats of Essie Jamaica Me Crazy.
2. Make two lines of dots with your large dotting tool on the outer part of your nail. I used Essie Tart Deco.
3. Using a smaller dotting tool, paint dots of black and white in random places. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On.
4. Finish with a topcoat. I used Seche Vite.

Yet another easy mani for you guys to try!

 More Essie swatches will be coming your way soon and also a few must-have tricks for removing glitter polish! Comment if you want me to do a picture tutorial soon!

Sea Sparkles

Hey guys, today I have yet another sparkle mani for you! I just can't get enough of it, I am in love. So easy, so simple, yet so drop dead gorgeous!! It gives me tingles every time I look at my nails! Like now, for instance....

Anyways, there is only a slight change from this mani to the other one I posted: For this one I decided to use two glitters instead of only one, and a navy background instead of black. I think I might even love this version better than the other one!

So here it is, try not to drool all over your screen! :)

 

Wow!! It's incredible! I love how you can see each little sparkle in the last photo. This totally reminds me of how the sun sparkles off the waves of the sea! I love it so much.

This is how I did it:

1. One coat of OPI Russian Navy 
2. One coat of Sinful Colors Frenzy (purple sparkles)
3. One coat of Sinful Colors Nail Junkie (blue sparkles)
4. One coat of my new Seche Vite topcoat (which I am totally excited about!!!!) to smooth it out.

Yet another super easy mani for you guys to try! 

Stay tuned for 6 swatches of my new Essies! 

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to comment!

Behold the Bubbles!

Hey there, I'm excited to show you what I like to think of as a bubble manicure. It's fun and easy and everyone has the tools needed to recreate it. My favorite part about this manicure is that people think you have enough skill to paint tiny, perfect rings on your nails, but it's only an illusion. You'll find out how after the photos!

If you are on a mobile device, click on the pictures to make them appear more clearly.

See? Don't they look like bubbles? This can be done with any color combination you want, which is why I like it. One of my friends did a black base with different colored rings, and it looked awesome! 

These are the polishes I used:

• Essie Sunday Funday (pink)
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
• Icing The Do It All base and top coat

Now for the big secret of how I did it:

1. Apply base coat.
2. Choose a color for the background of your nails.
3. Using a dotting tool (if you don't have one you can use a bobby pin or toothpick), create dots of a different color.
4. With a slightly smaller dotting tool, put dots of the background color on top of the other dots.
5. Don't forget top coat!

As you can see, it's a very easy technique that looks more complicated than it actually is. Below is a picture from my Instagram, @letsbehappy16 

So now you can all rock a bubble mani of your own! I hope you enjoyed this post, and feel free to leave a comment below! 

Sunset Sensations

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in forever- I've been really busy with soccer lately. But don't worry, I will be on a break soon! Except then we dive right into high school season once school starts and I will be even busier. But don't worry- I won't forget about you guys! :)

So today's manicure was inspired by a sunset manicure that I saw on Instagram...or maybe it was We Heart It, I'm not sure which one. Anyways, it's really awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed wearing it because I got so many compliments!

So let's get right to it, shall we?

Awesome, right? It reminds me exactly of a summer sunset here in California. 

The polished I used were:

• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed (orange)
• Migi Nail Art pens in yellow
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (white underneath)
• Icing The Do It All top and base coat
• Icing It's A Matte Matte World top coat

So if you are new to nail art and don't know how to do an ombre on your nails, here is a brief explanation. Soon I will post a tutorial on it for more of an in-depth explanation.

1. You will need a makeup sponge and 2-3 colors of nail polish that look good together. The smoother the makeup sponge, the better your results will be (try to find one without holes or gaps in it).
2. If your polish is super opaque (not see-through) you don't need to put white underneath, but for more sheer polish or lightly colored polish, you'll want to put a coat of white beforehand. This will make the ombre much brighter and it will make it pop.
3. Once the white dries, paint horizontal stripes of each color onto the makeup sponge. If you are doing a two color ombre, you will paint one stripe of each color. With a three color ombre, your stripes will have to be thinner to fit all three colors on your nail. Try to make it around the same size as your nail. 
4. Gently press the sponge on your nail, using a side to side motion. Start the sponge on one side of your nail and rotate it across to the other side. Repeat this for each nail, applying new stripes of nail polish each time. 
5. If your ombre is too sheer for your liking, you can do another coat. Just repeat step 4 a second time.
6. Finally, finish with a top coat. This step is SUPER important, as it further blends the colors together and gives it a smooth finish. 

I decided to give it a matte finish because I thought it would look a lot better and more sunset-like, and boy was I right! The above two pictures are how the mani ended up. The next two pictures are what it looked like before I decided to put the matte top coat on. 

Yuck, huh? Matte top coat = best decision ever :)

Giving your nails the ombre effect seems more complicated in writing than it is in real life. It literally took me like 15 minutes to do this sunset manicure. I'm sure you could figure it out easily if you're a beginner. You should definitely learn how to do this because it is an awesome way to paint your nails and everyone will be so impressed!

I have one more picture to share with you.... 

The day after I did these, I went to a party and picked up this drink. One of my friends noticed that my nails matched the soda bottle perfectly!

...so naturally I had to take a picture! Sort of bad quality, but oh well! It was super cute.

So I hope this post was entertaining and helpful to you guys, and I'll be sure to get that ombre tutorial on the blog soon. If there are any other tutorials you guys want to see, just leave a comment below and I will get right on it!

Glitter On Black

Hey guys! What I am about to show you is one of my favorite manicures of all time. It's so simple, so easy, and looks fabulous!

I got the idea from the nail blogger Rebecca Likes Nails from one of her posts. You should definitely check her blog out; it is what inspired me to make a blog!

So here are my pretties:

(Remember to click on the pictures to make them appear more clearly if you are on a mobile device.)

These are just so sparkly! The contrast between the blue-green glitter and the black background is amazing, especially in real life!

I'm sure this would work with any color of glitter over a dark background. I have been wanting to try some other colors; I'll probably post them later. Feel free to experiment with whatever colors you have! 

The polishes I used were:

• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out

• Sinful Colors Nail Junkie 

All it was is one coat of black and two coats of sparkle, or however many it takes to make it look how you want. 

One last thing: The other day I was at Marshall's and I noticed that they have a rack of OPI, Orly, and Nicole by OPI nail polish for at least half the price of what they are normally! I got two Nicoles for only $5.99! I'm so stoked!! Just FYI if any of you live near a Marshall's :)

So I think that's it, I hope you found this post helpful. Bye for now! <3

Mini Mosaic

Good morning everyone! Today's post is going to be crazy, colorful, and fun. My little cousin (11 years old) and I were looking around the app We Heart It and found this design. It reminded me of a tiny mosaic on your nails!

It's actually easier than it looks, and you will see why after the photo!

If you are on a mobile device, click on the picture to make it appear more clearly.

Sorry for the blurry picture on this one, but I think you can get the idea. The cool thing about this mani is you can do it with whatever colors you want. I think maybe a color theme would look nice, like blues, greys, and turquoises. 

So here is how I did it:

1. Start with a base coat.
2. Paint little blobs of each color all different shapes. I just used the brush from the bottle. 
3. When the blobs are dry, use a white striper to trace at the edges of the blobs. I have found that it looks best when you use straight lines whenever possible.
4. Dip a small paintbrush in nail polish remover or acetone and clean up around the nail.
5. Finish with top coat and you're done!

See? Piece of cake! Now here are the polishes I used:

• Nicole be OPI Back In My Gloria Days (dark purple on ring finger)
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet (mint green)
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away! (blue)
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Hot Magenta (lighter pink)
• Nicole be OPI Stolen Kisses (darker pink/magenta)
• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed (orange)
• Yellow is an unnamed polish.
• It's So Easy Stripe Rite in white
• Icing The Do It All base and top coat

So if you guys want a bold, crazy fun pattern to try on your nails, try this! 

I would love to hear what you think about this mani in the comments below! :) 

Oh My Sparkles!!

Hi guys! So I bet you can guess what I'm about to show you by the title of this post. Yep, that's right- a sparkle mani! I absolutely adore this, even though it's much simpler than most of the things I do. In fact, I am wearing it as I type this post, and I can't stop admiring my nails!

The pictures don't do this manicure justice- they are so so so much more sparkly in real life.

If you are on a mobile device, click on the pictures to make them appear more clearly.

If you are on a mobile device, click on the picture to make it appear more clearly.

I just love the way they look when the sunlight sparkles off of them, like in the first picture. They look good in the shade too! As I said, they are about 10 times more sparkly in real life. 

You guys definitely need to try this! It's so easy my mom could do it (and she's no Picasso when it comes to nails)! This is exactly what I did:

• Paint nails white (I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On)
• Paint three coats of ULTA brand nail lacquer in XOXO.
• Finish with top coat.  

See? It's as easy as 1-2-3!

And the best part: ULTA brand nail polish is on sale RIGHT NOW for only $2.00 (It's normally $6.00)!! So of course I bought some and I am so happy with this one! Here is a picture so you know what to look for.

I hope you guys liked this simpler post. Also feel free to comment; I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on any of my posts!