Shelbella: Half Mooned

Hello everyone! I hope you guys aren't as stressed out as I am on this Sunday night! I've got a final that pretty much can make or break me at this point but I'm fighting and cramming my way through it! I'm super excited for this summer to start already! I'll be doing way more tutorials, diy projects, recipe bloggin and much much more cause I'll have more time and no hw! So keep your eyes peeled for that! In the meantime, I know I should be reading up on the atmospheric circulation and wind belts of the world but I got distracted and totally wanted to do my first nail tutorial for you guys! I was in dire need of some good ol' nail therapy. Now, all of my friends can easily say that I'm in love and infatuated with nail art. Whether it's nail stickers to the more impressive nail pens to even the simplest of nail dotting tools, I love everything nail art! When I went to study abroad in England, I had made a list of the things that I wanted and needed in my life. First thing on that list, get a tattoo. Second thing, go to WAH nails and get my nails did. I didn't care how much it cost, I followed WAH nails religiously. I followed them through twitter, facebook, Youtube and any other form of social networking and drooled over their pure talent and love for nails. They did everything from simple french manicures to Minx and everything in between. So while everyone was in Amsterdam, I put my money together and went to London's Topshop and made my reservation. I was insanely excited and wanted the most extreme manicure of my life because I felt that I waited my entire life for this moment. I sat in that chair for 2 hours getting my nails worked on. I felt sorry for that poor girl that worked so vigorously to get it done. After everything was completed, I nearly wanted to weep at how beautiful my nails came out. At that very moment, I felt victorious over everyone that even attempted nail art. I felt like I walked into Topshop as Serena and left as Sailormoon. Fuck, I was on top of the world. As you can tell, it doesn't take much to make me happy. I'm a really simple girl that loves killer manicures. Anyways! I kept this nail tutorial super simple and super easy. I wanted this to be easy because I wanted everyone to try it out! I've seen half moon nails done before and you could do them using pretty much any color under the sun, it doesn't matter. The most important part of it all in my eyes, is the precision of the lines. That goes for any nail art piece. Lines are super crucial because it shows the art of a steady hand. Personally, my favorite colors together are, without a doubt, black and white. I love how clean they go together and they also show the lines of your manicure really well. So without further adieu, please enjoy this nail art tutorial!

Start off with clean nails. Trim, file, shape, buff and wash.

Here are the things that I used for my nails. First things first, the base coat. Some people don't believe in base coats but I certainly do. They provide a nice gloss to the nail and most importantly they keep your nails from getting damaged from the actual nail lacquer. I used Finger Paints base coat. Next I love white nail polish, I think it looks super clean and nice so in this case, I used Essie's Blanc. I know that Essie is kind of expensive (around 8 bucks) but I go to my local nail supply store and they sell it there for about 3-4 bucks. So I recommend seeing if there are any close nail supply stores in your area but if not, any white would do! Then I used the Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in Black out (28). Another important aspect of any manicure is a good top coat. Again, it leaves a nice gloss and protects your nails from scratches or any other mishaps. In order to get the half moon effect, I used a french manicure set. I didn't use the polishes in there but I did use the strips that they provide. It's the perfect shape and size for this type of manicure but I know a lot of bloggers and vloggers that use plain ol' hole punch reinforcements. That works really well too if you can't find a french manicure set. Just cut them in half and use the same way.

After cleaning up my nails, I applied two coats of the Finger Paints Base Coat and I let dry completely.

Next, I used Essie's Blanc and applied three coats and let dry completely. (I'm a huge fan of Essie's but their white is really hard to work with. It doesn't glide on nicely, it's actually super streaky and it takes a million coats. So I highly recommend using another brand in white.)

I placed the stickers over the bottom of my nail to get that half moon affect. I peeled off the back of the sticker and painted over my nail using Sally Hansen's Black Out (28).