Looping effect over iridescent teal

Found this one in my unpublished folder, looks like I did it in May. In any case, I'd bought KB Shimmer 'Teal Another Tale' because, well, it's teal, and it's sparkly, and even shifty. So pretty that I didn't want to interfere with its magical colour properties so all I did was add a simple white looping effect freehand design, some dots, and swarovski flatback studs for extra bling (picked them up at my local craft store).

Purple magic simple looping effect

So the 'looping effect' mani is one of the very first designs I did when I first started doing something other than just one colour plus a stripe of another colour down the middle of nails. The earliest looping effect mani I have on record courtesy of photo date stamps is sometime in 2010. This was all way way before I was doing anything fancy, and before I'd discovered that an online world of nail art existed. The first time I spoke of the looping effect on this blog was right around when I launched this blog, so February of 2014.

The base polish and the two striper polishes I used to create this look are all products included in my 10k followers on Instagram celebatory giveaway, which you can enter to win if you have an Instagram account, see giveaway rules etc. here.

 

VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

Work appropriate mani Monday: Buttercream looping effect

For this week's work appropriate mani Monday, I went with a straight-forward looping effect design over a warm and cozy buttery colour. I am of the strong opinion that nail art can be very much appropriate for the office, and in my case, in a professional government office where casual business dress is expected. I don't think I could ever show my face with one single colour of polish, so if you're like me, and you need to so SOMETHING interesting on your nails, then this look could satisfy your addiction to nail art but still be office friendly.

I chose a pale yellow buttercream colour by Deborah Lippmann to use as the base - and oh, does it ever go on like butter! This was barely a two-coater pastel wonder. Flakies on top, of course (I... can't... help it).

Throwback thursday re-create

In 2010 I slapped some purple and white on my nails with a sponge and added some random lines and it turned out like this:

Not too shabby (obviously I had to smooth out some things with magic editing software), but it was really just a lucky mani that happened to look pretty cool relative to some other questionable manis I had been experimenting with in my studying/nail polish lair. I originally posted this mani in January.

So in honour of throwback Thursday I decided to re-create this mani because I really do love the colour scheme and general design (if you hadn't noticed yet I'm obsessed with the looping effect), and because my fugly nails from 2010 don't do it justice. 

Using the exact same polish (I think) as I did four years ago, here's my updated mani:

Spring fever nail art collab

Woohoo I'm actually now part of the mani community! Well, this one anyway. I participated in in a spring-themed nail art collaboration on Instagram hosted by the lovely Amber from Nails Like Lace and Heather from Peace, Love, and Polish. The theme was spring fever because, well, elsewhere in the world outside of Canada it's spring (i.e., there's birds chirping, the grass is green, and sun exists).

Here's the final product with 47 manis total!

Where's mine, you ask?! Time to play eye-spy... now here's my close up :)

Looping effect springtime gradient floral

Hi ladies! It's mid-March and by now you'd think you'd be all like bring out the colourful trench coats... but no. There was a mini snow storm last night. What else is new, Oh Canada.

On that note here's a springtime-themed mani! These were actually painted last spring... May of 2013, which explains the wee nubbins. But the style is all the same as many of my other designs... the looping effect. I know it's so old by now you're all like WHO CARES they're not even actually loops, right?

Work appropriate mani Monday: Neutral looping effect

This is a version of what I call the looping effect mani (see original post here), but made for the office! I have not made a tutorial for it since I have basically no one except my cats checking out this blog on a daily basis, but if there were ever some interest I'm sure I'd do it for the millions of fans I might have one day. This is about as probable as my cats replicating my manis.

The looping effect mani is a very simple concept on its own but in this one I've embossed the loops by adding both light and dark accents. And some random dots cause even though my mind was telling me to quit.... my paintbrush just kept going. Story of our lives.

I actually did this mani in February of 2014 so you can breathe a sigh of relief since you don't have to look through some crappy older manis/photography that I clearly just post to make it look like I do my nails every day (I don't.... yet).

Looping effect burgundy and gold

Another one from my stash pile - December of 2012 to be exact. This looping effect mani demonstrates the technique in its simplest form, with only single loops are opposed to loops-within-loops or 'shadow loops' where a second colour is used to accent the inner/outer edges of the loops.

My apologies, though, for I only have TWO PHOTOS that are decent enough to share. I know, I know, how on earth are 2 photos enough to display the amazingness of the loops and the magnificient sparklies used on the tips?!?!? The photography here also sucks as it does not demonstrate the true magic of two polishes that I just love for their sparkliness. I will be using them in future work now that I actually seem to magically have nails that extend past my finger tips.

Looping effect has gone pink - from the archives

Here's a second look at what I've termed the looping effect mani. So far this blog hasn't seen recent looping effect nail art, rather, I've been posting looping manis from the archives, and the same is the case for this post. BUT it's pink, and tomorrow is valentine's day sooooo... deal with it.

The looping effect is quite simple to do especially if you're using an opaque polish that comes with a skinny brush so you don't actually need to source a skinny paint brush and dip it into endless polishes trying to figure out which ones will swipe on opaque in one coat. Brands like Kiss nail art, Quo by Orly, Art Deco, Jordana, and many others have caught on to this trend and have begun selling skinny nail polish bottles that are essentially a sign that there is a skinny brush inside intended for detailing/striping.

I apologize though, for the terrible photo quality (hence only two photos of the nails). I promise at some point in the future I will give you all a more recent reincarnation of the looping effect!

Now, on to being nostalgic....

The 'looping effect' mani

Here is one look at a mani design I've found myself frequently doing over the years in part for its easily accomplishable look and in part for its effortless yet visually interesting end result. In some ways its execution and lasting impression reminds me of the nailasaurus' waterfall mani, but the design is distinctly different. The base design is the same as the lotus flower, but the latter has an extra few loop swipes here and there. Essentially either look is founded with three 'loops' on each finger (or four on the thumb).

This marks the inaugural post of the 'looping effect' mani! This particular one was originally done and photographed in October of 2012. 

Gradient Lotus Flower (archives again)

Because I've been hoarding my collection of nail art in the form of poor quality photos dated from the last 4-5 years, you're going to get some sub-par photographs of past nail art escapades. Here is another one, which for whatever reason I put in a folder called 'lotus flower', so let's pretend that name makes sense.

p.s. You'll see a lot of archived nail art from potentially years ago for a while in between more recent nail art posts in effort to put it all out there. I'm working on another valentine's-day-themed mani at the moment and it is a two phased (two day) approach! You'll see it up on the blog soon time.

ALL HAIL THE ANCIENT LOTUS FLOWER DESIGN has come.