The Celine Mani

Today marks the start of another fashion week--the SPRING shows--and I have not even processed the fall runways!  Yikes, I'm behind.

Despite the impending onslaught of spring fashions, and despite the persistently hot weather, I am setting my sights on fall fashion.  Per the usual, Phoebe Philo's showing at Celine has been on my mind, specifically the bold cerulean/red-orange/tan colorblocking that appeared on oversized coats, pants, and sweatshirts.  The color story of this collection had an athletic appeal, perhaps a nod to this summer's Olympics.  I translated the De Stijl-ish colorblocking* to my nails, for a little jump on fall fashion.  It's way too hot to be wearing leather-panel sweatshirts, anyways.

 

 

*Note:  I did not take the perfectionist route and mask off my stripes with tape, hence the ahem "painterly" look to the manicure.  My patience has its limits.

The Floral Mani

Who says florals are only for spring?  This season, I have been captivated by winterized floral patterns--colorful, but juxtaposed against an inky background for more of an edge.

Winterized florals:  Jil Sander F/W 2011, Miu Miu F/W 2011, Celine Resort 2012, Balenciaga F/W 2011

Unless you have a few months of rent to drop on a Miu Miu dress, I've found that these unique florals are hard to come by (although Zara does have an on-point Celine knockoff).  So, I decided to recreate the print on my nails.  It sounds tricky, but it's not!  You need black nail polish for the base, and as many bright colors as you want for the flowers.  I chose green, red, blue, and yellow.  The critical item is a box of toothpicks, for a precise application.  I applied 2 coats of black, and then applied green in sweeping motions with a toothpick to form stems and leaves.  After this dried, I proceeded nail by nail, dotting on each petal with toothpicks.  This technique is pretty foolproof--there's no brushing or blending involved, just dabbing.  The final step is a good topcoat (I like Seche Vite)--I don't want these babies chipping!

The Goldfinger Mani

Sometimes 10 fingers of the same color, no matter how brilliant the hue, gets boring.  I've been really into doing an accent nail this summer--just a random pop of a contrasting color. For this mani, I chose a metallic gold polish topped with gold glitter polish as my accent nail.  I painted the other nails orange, but any other bright would work just as well.  To tie in the accent nail to the rest of my fingers, I finished each hand off with a topcoat of gold glitter polish.

The result: a vibrant summer manicure!

The Colorblock Mani

An easy way to wear Spring's colorblocking is on the nails, a more subtle interpretation of the trend than wearing head-to-toe brights.  If you're like me and have a nail polish collection rivaling a jumbo crayon box, you can create this look without dropping a cent, and your options are limitless.

I chose only 3 colors in order for the manicure to read more "colorblock" than "rainbow".  For added panache, I picked a few nails to go half and half with colors.

The Applique Mani

When I stumbled accross the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips at the grocery, it was love at first sight. Do-it-yourself patterned manicures with no drying time that last up to 10 days? Brilliant! This is as close as I will ever get to the legendary Minx manicure (the Holy Grail of manicures). I tried out "Frock Star", a multi-colored sparkley mani that gives the effect of about 20 layers of glitter nail polish (and bears a strong resemblance to Deborah Lippman Happy Birthday).

FYI, unless you have exceptionally long nails, you should be able to cut each strip in half, which gives you more than enough for three manicures.

Next up, the butterfly pattern...

The Ombre Mani

Ombre gradation has been in vogue for several seasons now, applied to nearly every clothing and accessory item imaginable, and even emerging as a hair color trend.  Even though it's frequented runways and stores for a solid two years, the gradation trend lives on, as evidenced by the ombre fabrics at Dries van Noten and Alexander McQueen's latest shows.

Dries van Noten Spring 2011

Alexander McQueen Spring 2011

I love a good gradient, but had never considered how chic it could look on nails until I spotted this ombre manicure in Marie Claire magazine.

I tried to duplicate this look using similar magenta and black polishes, but the sky's the limit when it comes to selecting colors.  Creating this effect was a little tricky.  I began by applying one coat of magenta polish to all my nails and allowing it them to dry.  Next, I applied black polish to the upper third of my nail.  While the black was still wet, I then switched back to the magenta polish brush and swept the black down the nail, allowing it to mix with the magenta polish on the brush.  I alternated between blending with the black brush and magenta brush until a smooth gradient was achieved.

 

The Moon Mani

I am getting way too into nail art.  My latest inspiration was the manicure at Vena Cava's spring 2011 show, as well as Ruffian's "moon manicure" from the past two seasons, which has become their trademark. 

  

Vena Cava Spring 2011


 

Ruffian Spring 2011



Ruffian Fall 2010



For my manicure, I used a deep purple polish for the base and a metallic gold nail art pen to create the moon shape.  The nail pen was much easier to use than a traditional nail polish brush; I highly recommend it for this technique.

 

The Sparkle Mani

I have a feeling I am going to be wearing this Nubar 2010 nail polish all fall and winter.  You would never guess from its pearly white appearance in the bottle that this polish has such transformative powers.  Layering it on over black polish results in a sparkling amber-flecked galaxy.  I can't wait to see what it looks like over navy, chocolate, and deep purple.

The New French Mani

I now interrupt my fashion week posts to bring you this very important nail polish report.  Upon seeing this photo of Marie Claire accessories editor Taylor Tomasi Hill at London Fashion Week, I immediately zoned in on her fabulous manicure.  Of course, this was something I would have to try for myself immediately.  I love how clean and modern this looks, plus it reminds me of Chanel patent cap toe shoes.

 

The inspiration

 

The results