Mmm, watermelon!

Here's a tasty manicure perfect for summer! I was inspired to try these after seeing a lot of different versions on Pinterest. My version came out a little messier than I would've liked, but it gave me a few ideas on how to clean it up for next time! This is going to be kind of a tutorial version since I remembered to take pictures at each step!

Step one: base coat! This would make a nice Christmas manicure, too. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet and Zoya Holly, one coat each. 

Baa, baa, black sheep...

...have you any wool? (Long post and lots of pictures below!) By the way, like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepolishedbean :)

Pinky finger was my favorite but hard to see in this pic! But there's a better one below!

Okay, so I should've posted this last week but my roomies and I have been in this I DON'T WANNA [do work or anything really] mood for a while, so productivity has been very low recently. Hopefully this is a change towards more productivity! Haha...

Totoro Inspired Nail Art

Have you heard of Totoro? Or Hayao Miyazaki? If you haven't, go look them up, because you're missing out! Just some quick pictures today.

Totoro and the little soot gremlins! The base color for this manicure is Zoya: Rocky. (Such a nice summery blue!) The black and white are both from YH Beja Nail Design. I got a set last Christmas with twelve different colored polishes with fine striping brushes as well as a fine tube that you can use to squeeze polish out of the bottle. It's really cool! I haven't worked with it much yet, but I've been practicing. 

So I finished this manicure at the beginning of summer and then i went to Macy's and saw this bag...

...and couldn't help snapping a picture because the colors were so similar! Too bad it's way out of my price range...

Thanks for reading, and see you next time! 

Iron Man Inspired Water Marble and Art

I'm back with a water marble today! 

Okay, so I admit it, the water marble is the same one from here. But I also improved on execution! Look at my pointer and middle fingers! So pretty :) (If you can't tell, I really liked how this turned out.) The polishes I used for the water marble on my pointer, middle, and pinky fingers are all the same as the ones used in my Hunger Games water marble, so check that out if you haven't already! I'll just go over the Iron Man designs on my ring and thumb.

I made this manicure in early May for the Iron Man 3 Premier. I based the thumb design on the 2nd core that Tony Stark makes (as opposed to the original circle shape) and the ring finger design on the iron man helmet. I don't have brushes (sadface!) but I do have nail striping tape which I used to block off thin lines on the face and the triangle outline. For the triangle, I started with the inner triangle and then added a white border afterwards.

Polishes used for the triangle: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: White On, NYC: Cashmere Creme, and Zoya: Maisie. Polishes used for Iron Man face: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: White On and Black Out.

Below I'm holding this adorable Iron Man mini clay figure that my good friend made. Isn't it cute? If you look closely you can also see I have a bit of tip wear on the edges of my nail because this photo was taken several days after the first. The whole manicure held up for a long time. I usually take off my polish before it has a chance to chip (so I can try out a new manicure) but from what I remember, this one stayed near perfect for at least 8 days. 

Thanks for reading! Has anyone else seen any good movies recently? I've seen a whole bunch this summer so far...I'm actually going to a movie tonight, too! Next time:

Mind Your Own Beeswax!

Busy bees...(oh look I came up with a decent title!)

This picture was taken with flash, and I'm sad to say it's the only picture I have of this manicure. But I've been taking better pictures recently! I promise.

This manicure was made using striping tape. I started with a base of NYC: Taxi Yellow Creme, added tape, painted over with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Black Out, then removed the tape. Finished with a top coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Invisible.

On different screens, the yellow may appear closer to white. On my phone it's a very bright yellow, whereas on my computer it's more pale in comparison. In person, this manicure also appeared as black and white stripes from far away...I have a brighter yellow now, so the next time I try this manicure, it'll hopefully be a little bit more obvious. I also have a cool bee design on my new stamping plates which would also go well with this manicure! Looking forward to trying it sometime in the future.

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Tiger Stripes

Tiger stripes, version three! See more tiger-inspired designs here and here.

So this is definitely my favorite tiger stripes design so far. I used nail striping tape with a base of Zoya: Penny and painted over with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Black Out. Finished with a top coat for extra shiny. 

Though I am fond of the hand painted stripes, this look is so clean and sleek. Which look do you prefer?

Also, if you haven't noticed, check out the follow and subscribe buttons on the sidebar! 

Work in progress

Thanks for reading! Next time, Valentine's Day art (from 5 months ago, hahahahahaha).

Stained Glass Inspired

Whoops, think I was supposed to post this yesterday! Bean is back with more nail striping designs!

This is another manicure using nail striping tape. If you want to read a little more about the tape, see my previous post here. I started with a base of Sinful Colors: Black on Black. I then placed some nail striping tape over my nails (where the black lines are now) and painted over them with Sinful Colors: Love Nails (blue), Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Ivy League, and Sinful Colors: Frenzy (purple and blue glitter). The thumb reminds me of a beetle. Adding a coat of clear smudged the lines a little, but I really like the design! (And there is glitter! Who doesn't love glitter?)

(Pictured is me holding Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear: Disco Ball, if you were wondering.)

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

School Pride

I've got two manicures to show you today!

So my school's mascot is the tiger (which means I have an extremely bright set of orange clothes now). What better way to show off some school spirit than with nail art?

This manicure was my first attempt at a french manicure. I have to admit, french manicures had never really interested me, but I decided to give it a try. I freehanded the orange using Sinful Colors: Cloud 9 and used a paint brush to freehand the wave designs with black acrylic paint. Pretty nice, for a first attempt!

I used Cloud 9 again as a base color for this manicure. Again with black acrylic, I freehanded the tiger stripes and Chinese character on my thumb. I used a bobby pin to do the paw prints. And if I remember correctly, the character is for harmony (someone correct me if I'm wrong!). I'm not really sure since I was just looking for something to fill up my thumbnail. ;)

Tiger stripes are kind of a staple for me. After a year of experimenting, I have four or five different ways to do them now...let me know if you have any ideas for tiger-related manicures! 

Thanks for reading! Next time, glitter!