NAIL ART HOW TO INSPIRED BY COLORFUL URBAN CITY ART

I was lucky enough to have Sally Hansen send me over a few of its amazing products to create a nail look inspired by city scenes. I’ve always considered myself lucky to live in California. I consider myself even luckier to live in the Los Angeles area, where you can drive a few miles and go from a suburban town to Little Tokyo.

One of LA’s gems is the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles. Located near Little Tokyo, the Arts District offers your eyes amazing street art on almost every wall. They have everything from graffiti, to murals, to statues and sculptures.

My favorite piece of art is a mural covering three sides of the Art Share LA building located on 801 E. 4th Place. When asked to create a look inspired by urban city scenes, this was the first thing I thought of. The creator of this amazing masterpiece is INSA, a UK based artist.

WWW.INSALAND.COM l INSTAGRAM @INSA_GRAM

His mural has all of my favorite colors in gradients with black geometric lines contrasting the pop of the vibrant pinks, purples, greens, reds and blues. Looking at this building, I was inspired to do a nail art look with the sharp vector points and the oval pink shape on top of the "ARTSHARE" words.

Below is what Sally Hansen sent me to create this edgy urban city scene chic look.

• "I Heart Nail Art" Tools Kit
• "I Heart Nail Art" Embellishment/Studs Kit which I LOVE. You know I love them studs.
• Purple is Triple Shine Nail Color in "Vanity Flare" 290
• Teal is Triple Shine Nail Color in "Dive In" 280
• "I Heart Nail Art" Striper in "White " 210
• "I Heart Nail Art" NEON in "Pretty In Hot Pink" 120
• "I Heart Nail Art" Pen in Noir

All of the colors were perfect for this look. The teal polish matched the wall completely and the pink gave this mani that pop of vibrant color that the mural has. All three polishes were so easy to apply with the wide brush. Colors were opaque in two coats! I used the black nail art pen to create the lines over the colors once the polish completely dried. And the pink nail with the black rhinestones was inspired by the V shape of the pink colors in the picture below.

I fell in love with this building. I wish I lived in front of it so I could stare at it every day, is that weird? I was honored to be able to use INSA's mural as inspiration for my nail art look. I love Los Angeles, it's the perfect city to live in whether you want to play in an urban jungle or start a family in a suburban neighborhood.

Need more inspiration, check out Sally Hansen’s #iHeartNailArt Contest! Don't forget to enter for a chance to win $500 and a trip to New York City to compete in the grand finale* Grand prize is $2,000!!

This month's theme: Liquid Mani-a

*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Contest ends 7/31/14. Open to legal residents of the U.S. and D.C., 13 or older. Void where prohibited. See Official Rules at www.sallyhansen.com for full details including entry/voting periods & requirements, judging criteria and limitations.

Mural by INSA Instagram @insa_gram; Hair by Nancy Olmos; Photos by Daniel Seman Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/danielseman

Sponsored by Sally Hansen

ROSE NAIL ART TUTORIAL

When I'm in a rush my go to nail art is roses. As complicated as it looks it's actually quite simple once you get the hang of it! My roses used to suck then I realized I was making the base of the rose too thick.

15 Second Instagram Tutorial:

Steps:

1. Using a dotting tool or boby pin use a darker for the base of the rose
2. Once it's dry draw thin, white curved lines. I use acrylic paint which is easier to manage in my opinion.
3. Using the same pink as your nail color draw more curved lines once your white lines have dried.
4. Go back and forth with the white and light pink to add dimension. I did white lines first, then light pink, then white lines again.
5. Add leaves
6. Add top coat
7. Finished!

Products Used:

• Pink is OPI's "Mod About You"
• Dark pink is OPI's "hey Baby" from hb Beauty Bar (use my code "modnails" for 15% off!
• Swarovski Crystals
• White acrylic paint
• Seche Vite Top Coat

Products in this post were provided for review

MATTE BLUE GRADIENT SUMMER NAILS

Living in Southern California we only get two seasons, spring and summer. What's a winter? This past week it got up to 95 degrees and with no A/C it can get pretty miserable. /end rant. But! With hot weather I decided to do a summer mani using blue shades.

Products Used:

• Cobalt Blue is Essie's "Butler Please"
• Neon teal is China Glaze's "Highlight Of My Summer" from HB Beauty Bar
• Green is China Glaze's "Def Defying"
• White is OPI's "Alpine Snow"
• Chevron vinyls from Stick Me Nails
• Studs from Dollar Nail Art
• Charm from Daily Charme
• OPI's Matte Top Coat from HB Beauty Bar

Don't forget to use my code "MODNAILS" at checkout for 15% off at HB Beauty Bar!

Products in this post were provided for review

HOW TO RECORD INSTAGRAM NAIL ART VIDEOS

Nail art has taken over Instagram and I love it. When you go to the explore page (before Instagram decided to change it) you see nail art and nail art how to videos. If you're not already following me on instagram my username is @modnails 

One of my most frequently asked questions is what apps I use to make my videos and what I use to record it.

I also get asked how I take my pictures and if you're curious read my previous post on how I take pictures for my instagram and blog.

Here is my set up to record:

I bought the two separate pieces for the tripod. The base can also be used for regular cameras and then the attachable piece which adjusts to fit any phone. Since I had the base already it was cheaper to buy the attachable piece for my phone.

Here are the amazon links I bought them from:

• Gorillapod base:http://www.amazon.com/Joby-GP1-A1EN-Gorillapod-Flexible-Tripod/dp/B000EVSLRO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1398127724&sr=1-1&keywords=gorilla+pod
• Attachable phone piece:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009GHYLKS/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• A cheaper option for those who don't have any of the pieces already is to buy both pieces together, Here is the link for the two in one:
  http://www.amazon.com/Joby-JM3-01WW-GripTight-GorillaPod-Stand/dp/B009GHYMB6/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1398127508&sr=1-3&keywords=gorilla+pod

Before I got this base I would just place my phone on top of a Bath & Body works candle haha. It did the job but would sometimes fall over :( The really cool thing about the gorilla pod is you can place it anywhere since the legs are super bendable and adjustable. You can wrap it around a tree branch, and even place it on your car since the bottom legs are magnetic! It's amazing.

What apps I use to make my videos on my iPhone 5S:

• iMovie to record, edit transitions, add music, and add photos 
• Splice to speed up the video, then I save it, upload it on splice again to make it faster, and once I have it down to under 15 seconds, I save it and import it on iMovie

Remember, if you ever have any questions feel free to ask me! 

MIX N MATCH MANI WITH CHEVRONS, STRIPES, ROSES, & A CROSS

Here's a fun mix n' match mani I created. I've been obsessed with the chevron strips from Stick Me Nails, so easy to use!

Products Used:

• Chevron Strips from Stick Me Nails
• OPI's "All Sparkly and Gold" from HB Beauty Bar
• OPI's "Glints of Glinda" 
• Black striper nail art pen from Simply Spoiled Beauty
• OPI's "Black Onyx"
• Roses were done using light and dark pink
• Black rhinestones from a beauty store, you can also find them on amazon
• Seche Vite Top Coat

I love how these turned out, especially the roses. Make sure to use the coupon codes I have for my followers!

Get 15% off at HB Beauty Bar by using my code "MODNAILS" at checkout

Get 35% off at Simply Spoiled Beauty using my code "MODNAIL"

Products in this post were provided for review

EASTER GRADIENT NAILS TUTOIAL

Here is a quick 15 second tutorial on an Easter mani! I decided to recreate this look I did last year so I can show you all how I did it!

Products Used:

• Pink is Essie's "Cascade Cool"
• Purple is OPI's "Do You Lilac It"
• Teal is China Glaze's "For Audrey"
• White is OPI's "Alpine Snow"
• and dark pink is OPI's "Hey Baby" from HB Beauty Bar (use my code "MODNAILS" for 15% off!

Hope everyone had a happy Sunday :)

For more quick tutorials visit my instagram @modnails

GRADIENT SPLATTER NAILS

I've been looking at old designs and now that over a year has gone by I wanted to recreate a few of my old designs since I'm a lot better. Here's a gradient for the base with a splatter design I did using a coffee straw from the gas station. The things you can use for nail art are endless.

I'm posting both the matte and shiny looks because I couldn't decide which is best, which is your favorite?

With Matte Top Coat:

With regular Seche Vite top coat:

Products Used:

• OPI's "Alpine Snow"
• OPI's "Black Onyx"
• OPI's "Hey Baby" from HB Beauty Bar
• OPI Matte Top Coat in the first picture
• Seche Vite Top Coat in the second picture

I did the gradient with a makeup sponge. Don't forget to use my code "MODNAILS" to get 15% off at checkout from HB Beauty Bar!

Products in this post were provided for review