Marimekko Nail Art Tutorial

Posted on April 29, 2013 by phoenixbeautylounge

Hi everyone! Today we have another nail art tutorial for you. This nail art manicure is perfect for Spring and Summer, featuring this years Spring shades by OPI and China Glaze. This time the skill level is for intermediate nail painters, but beginners can leave out a few of the more intricate steps and still have a great result. Let’s take a look!

Doesn’t it look beautiful? We love Marimekko fashion prints. They are so inspiring and simply perfect for a Spring-themed manicure. The image below shows our inspiration for this manicure. These are four prints by Finnish design company, Marimekko. Their signature style is bold graphic prints with bright colours. They are distinctive and very recognizable.

Now let’s take a look at our step-by-step tutorial shall we?

springmarimekkonails

Start with a base colour. We’re using two coats of a plain white, OPI Alpine Snow.
With a detailer nail art brush create five-petal flowers in random places. We’re using a lovely periwinkle blue from the China Glaze Spring collection, China Glaze Fade Into Hue. Make sure to leave open some spaces since we’ll be adding more flowers in another shade! If you wish, you can stop here and add top coat. Or you can add some of the finishing details in the next few steps. It’s entirely up to you!
Fill in the gaps with more five-petal flowers. We’re using another shade from the China Glaze Avant Garden collection, China Glaze Fancy Pants. You can add “half” flowers that fall off the edge of your nail so it looks like the pattern is continuous.
With a lighter color blue, add a dot in the center of each flower. We’re using China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On which is a lovely pale mint green. For easy dots use a dotting tool!
Using a dark blue shade, add tiny dots in the middle of the dots we just placed. We’re using OPI I Saw… U Saw… We Saw… Warsaw. This is the finishing touch to the flowers! Aren’t they looking great?
With the same dark blue and a liner nail art brush, add stems in between the flowers. This is a little tricky, as you have to make sure the lines are very thin. This will give you the best result! Try to barely touch the nail and just let the brush flow across to form a line.

Add top coat and you’re done! We recommend Seche Vite for ultra-fast drying results and a dazzling shiny finish.

And here we have it, the final result! Looks great, right?! It’s such a bold design and it looks really effective on the nails too. People will be amazed that you painted it by hand!

If you try out this design after seeing our tutorial, make sure to let us know by leaving a comment or posting your picture to our Facebook page. We’d love to see what you make of this Marimekko print. Thanks for checking out our tutorial and happy painting!

China Glaze Texture Swatches

Posted on April 24, 2013 by phoenixbeautylounge

Hi everyone! Today we’re finally sharing swatches of the China Glaze Texture collection for Summer 2013. This collection features (you guessed it!) six texture finish polishes that are bright, bright and BRIGHT! These shades scream summer at the beach, in so many different ways. Let’s take a look!

These are the six China Glaze Texture collection shades. Aren’t they stunning? There’s a bright pink, corals, orange, green and blue. From left to right the shades are called: Unrefined, Bump & Grind, Itty Bitty & Gritty, Toe-Tally Textured, In The Rough, Of Coarse!. Now, shall we take a look at the nail swatches?

ChinaGlaze_Texture_Unrefined

China Glaze Unrefined: First up, this lovely pale (yet bright!) bubblegum pink. This is two coats of texture polish. As you can see the texture finish is very visible, and the polish dries to a matte soft finish. Even though it looks very gritty, it feels surprisingly soft to the touch!

China Glaze Bump & Grind: This is a cute magenta red, not quite pink though not quite red either. Imagine pink and red having a lovechild, this would be the colour that came out! Here you can still see some shine to the polish, as it takes a while before the full matte finish shows. You definitely have to be patient with these texture polishes. They require some tender love and patience!

China Glaze Itty, Bitty & Gritty: This is a lovely coral pink. We love coral shades! And this is such a pretty one. It won’t fail to cheer you up and brighten your day. P.s. this looks stunning as a pedicure too!

China Glaze Toe-Tally Textured: This is a super bright orange! Wow! It just jumps out at you, doesn’t it? It’s even brighter in person too! We know orange polishes aren’t for everyone, but you definitely need to try this one out.

China Glaze In The Rough: This is a fun pale green. We think China Glaze couldn’t decide on whether to include yellow or green in this collection and simply went for a mix of both. This is such a quirky shade! By the way, didn’t they do an awesome job at naming these polishes? We simply love the cute names!

China Glaze Of Coarse!: And of course, the final shade! This is a lovely cobalt blue polish. All swatches were made with two coats but if you layer it slightly thicker you can easily get away with just one coat. They are so opaque! You’ll be very surprised!

And lastly, a pretty pinnable collage and overview of all six shades. Which one do you prefer? We love the coral shade Itty, Bitty & Gritty, but the pale pink Unrefined is definitely worth checking out too. It’s surprisingly wearable and you’ll find yourself falling in love with the texture finish.

The China Glaze Textures are slightly different to the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. These are matte cremes that carry a big punch and a bright pop of color, whereas most OPI Liquid Sands lean more towards the jelly finish and feature shimmery glitters for an entirely different effect. We’re undecided which texture finish effect we love more, but these China Glaze Textures are definitely worth checking out!

You can find the entire China Glaze Texture collection with us for sale at Phoenix Beauty Lounge.

Nail Art Tutorial: Polka Dots

Posted on April 10, 2013 by phoenixbeautylounge

Today we’re sharing another special Phoenix Beauty Lounge how-to with you! Last time we showed you how to create Ikat Print Nails, today we’re sharing another great beginner tutorial. This time we’ll be teaching you how to create the perfect polka dot!

Polka dots are a cute and simple design, perfect for all ages. If you’ve never tried this design before, there’s a few simple tricks that can help you to achieve the perfect pattern. After all, polka dots aren’t random! They form a uniform pattern which is easy to achieve with a few tips.

Here’s a fun black and nude polka dot we created! We used a new OPI shade from the Mariah Carey collection, this is OPI A Butterfly Moment. A pretty pink frosty nude, paired up with a black polka dot.

The first thing you will need to make a polka dot is a dotting tool. This is a fun tool that is used for a lot of nail art designs, but don’t worry if you don’t own one (yet). You can easily replace a dotting tool by using a bobby pin, a toothpick or even a pencil! Once you’ve tried polka dots several times, I can promise you that you’ll find yourself wanting a dotting tool. They’re cheap and they make creating dots on your nails all the more fun! 🙂

Start by applying your base color. We’re using OPI A Butterfly Moment.
The easiest way to start is by adding a dot in the middle of your nails. Use your dotting tool to place a black dot in the center of your nail.
The next step is to paint several dots in a vertical row. Space them out evenly, not too close and not too far apart. Practice on a piece of paper if you are unsure at first!
Now we need to add the second row. Place the dots a little to the right of the first row, and in the middle of the previous dots.
Try to draw an invisible horizontal line in your head, following the dots on the third row (left) so they will be parallel to the second row we painted in step 4.
Final step is to fill in the rest of the nails, we added two more final rows on either side.

Finish with some glossy top coat and you’re all done! Make sure to wait until all the dots are completely dry so you don’t smear your design. Quick tip: if you find that you smear your design easily with your top coat, try holding your brush parallel to the base of your nail. Use a very light touch and try not to touch your actual nail with the brush, only letting the top coat glide over your nails. You’ll notice that your design won’t smear as easily, or at all! Good luck!

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to achieve the perfect polka dot nails! If you try them out make sure to send us pictures so we can admire your work. Who knows, we might even feature your nails on our blog!

Happy painting! – Phoenix Beauty Lounge.