nails by chele bee

My best friend stayed with me this weekend and ended up coming into my work to get a mani/pedi and a haircut/color.  She recently adopted a cat, so I gave her a cat-themed manicure for the occasion! 

Base is OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, details in acrylic paint.

One of my favorite nail art clients came in the other day and requested a white tiger/zebra print manicure.  As we were getting ready to add the stripes, she asked to put one red stripe on each ring finger - it added just the right touch of uniqueness!

Colors are all Gelish - Sleek White, Stand Out, and Black Shadow.

One of the massage therapists at work recently revealed to me that she’s interested in nail art, so we now have a standing appointment to have all sorts of no-chip fun on her nails.  She wanted to match her nails to a bright teal dress, but she also wanted nails that were going to go relatively well with her clothes for the next two weeks.  We ended up with green flames over black!

Colors are Gelish Black Shadow and Shellac Hotski to Tchotchke.  I’ve been having a lot of luck using Shellac colors for details on top of Gelish (with Gelish base and topcoat) - has anyone else done this?

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?  I’ve been really busy since becoming a full-time nail tech at one salon instead of part-time at two salons, but I’ve been saving nail art photos throughout.  I have a little downtime this week, so expect to see more of me while I clear out my backlog!

This is my most recent Gelish manicure using Bella’s Vampire, Allure, and It’s a Lily.  It’s a little simple, but I love how the colors work together.

I wanted to try challenging myself because I’ve been in a bit of a nail art rut lately, so I pulled out my Japanese nail magazines and picked a design to modify for my tastes.  I love the cut-out elements!

Colors are all Gelish - Emerald Dust, You’re So Sweet You’re Giving Me a Toothache, and Inner Vixen.

I put in a request at work to start stocking Gelish Vitagel, but since we already carry both Shellac and OPI Gel Color, I’m testing out how Shellac wears encapsulated in a Vitagel base coat and top coat.  The nail art isn’t anything special, but this is a test set, so I didn’t want to do something too complicated.  Most of my clients like a basic nail, anyway.

Colors are Shellac Rubble and Tinsel Toast.

Leopard and plaid nails for my non-festive Thanksgiving manicure.  I chose the colors originally to paint changing leaves on my fingers, but somehow this came out instead!  

Colors are all Gelish - Light Elegant, Just in Case Tomorrow Never Comes, and Black Shadow.

We have a breast cancer fundraiser at work on Friday, so I took this opportunity to try out one of the new Gelish breast cancer awareness colors.  There’s also a layer of Top It Off with Spectraflair mixed in, though as usual, it doesn’t show up in the photo very well.

Base is Gelish Make a Difference, details are in Just in Case Tomorrow Never Comes and You’re So Sweet You’re Giving Me a Toothache.

First off, excuse the dry cuticles.  I was so excited to post that I took my photo pre-cuticle oil.  Whoops!

Just one nail today because the main point of this post is to draw attention to this Nail Nerd post on making your own nail decals.  Most tutorials I’ve seen suggest saran wrap or a sandwich baggie as the base to draw the nail decals on, but this is the first one I’ve seen that suggests parchment paper!

And it worked beautifully!  I’m currently letting some of my smaller designs dry, but my marble design was thin enough to peel off and apply already.  The edges aren’t perfect, but it’s definitely better than my attempts using other tutorials.  Has anyone else tried this technique?

I recently bought a few Gelish Magneto polishes, so of course I had to try out a manicure with them.  I wasn’t really pleased with how the polishes work on their own, so I layered Don’t Be So Particular over two layers of Black Shadow to create a deeper contrast.  

Has anyone else tried playing around with layering the Magneto collection?  I’d love to hear ideas for making different effects!