Category Archives: Tutorials & Tips

Nail Art Tutorial: The Grapes of Wrath Nails

The Grapes of Wrath Manicure & Tutorial Nail art is so much fun, especially when it’s food-related! Am I hungry? Probably! I’m hungry for fun(ny) nail art!

Today I wanted to do grape nail art, but decided to put a little quirky twist on it. Here are my The Grapes of Wrath Nails!

Haha, as you can see, the middle finger has a bunch of very upset red grapes. Maybe it’s because the other clusters of purple grapes are staring at him and smiling. Who knows? (I wanted to make the red grapes look angrier, but I goofed up on the eyebrows. Should’ve made the angle more acute.)

What do you think is the background story here? Is Mr. Red Grapes upset because he’s being judged?

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. And when life hands you sour grapes, make quirky nail art! Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Fried Egg Nails

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Egg Nails Tutorial, Pictures & Swatches If you follow Swatch And Learn on Twitter, you’ll know that a few days ago, I woke up in the morning with a strong craving for chili. Very unusual considering I like having eggs for breakfast.

Today, I decided to pay tribute to one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast…because sometimes I’m a bit of a goofball. Normally I like scrambled eggs, but I thought that a fried, sunny-side-up egg would look cuter and less like polish poo-poo. (Yes, I am also apparently very mature, which is why I said poo-poo. And which is why I also said it a second time.)

Hope you have fun looking at my silly Fried Egg Nails! It was really simple to do, and I’ve explained it all step-by-step alongside visual aids in case you’d like to try it, too.

If you try your hand at it, maybe you could also add some bacon! (With all the scented polishes out there, it’s too bad there isn’t a bacon-scented one…although I’m not sure if I would want to smell like bacon all the time. The neighborhood dogs might chase after me…) Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Strawberry Nails

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Easy Strawberry Nail Tutorial For a long time, I’ve been wanting to create Strawberry Nails. Not only am I a huge fan of the fruit, but I am a child of the 80s and was in love with Strawberry Shortcake!

Then on Tuesday, I came across an absolutely adorable strawberry manicure on one of my favorite nail blogs ever – Steph’s Closet! (Steph is a real sweetheart & I’ve followed her blog for years.)

She makes everything look easy, and she is the Queen of Polka Dots…hehe! (Check out the link to her strawberry nail post at the bottom of mine. If you stop by, tell her that Mary sent ya!)

For these strawberry nails, I wasn’t sure which pink polish to use. But then the Nail Polish God spoke: China Glaze Strawberry Fields! (I love it when lacquer makes the choice obvious for me…hehe!)

Then, for the dots and leaves, I used a mixture of OPI, Zoya, and Konad polishes.

Further along in this post, I’ve included a tutorial with step-by-step instructions and photos in case you want to put your own spin on this.

I’m having a lot of fun doing fruit nail art. What do you think of my strawberry nails? Would you like to see me attempt other fruit-inspired manicures? I’d love to try more! Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Neon Rainbow Argyle Konadicure Using Konad Image Plate m60

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Rainbow Neon Argyle Nail Tutorial Konadicure Swatches Especially in the summer, I love to crack out my neon nail polish. It’s so bright that even in the shade, it looks like it’s glowing! And that makes me really happy.

But this time, I couldn’t decide which neon polish to paint my nails with, so I decided to use four…plus Konad Image Plate m60 to give it a different flavor.

For this Neon Rainbow Argyle Konadicure, I used Essie Funky Limelight, China Glaze Sun Worshiper, China Glaze Pool Party, and China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada! Put those together and you’re ready for a manicure mambo!

It was much brighter in real life than in my photos. I think it was a fun look that I may try again with different colors.

What do you think? Will you be sporting any neons this summer? Continue reading →

Nail Art: Patriotic American Flag Nail Art & Tutorial

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Image of Patriotic American Flag Nail Art ** This post was written by Fiona. She no longer blogs for Swatch And Learn. However, Mary still continues to blog and will be happy to reply to your comment. **

Howdy! Happy 4th of July to all our friends on the south side of the border! Hope you have a great long weekend with friends, family, loved ones and some BBQ’d meats. At least that’s what I did on Canada Day!

Anyway, I want to celebrate this special day with my very first real nail-art attempt. I’m actually surprised with it since it’s my first ever design, although of course there is room for improvement. I made soooo many mistakes doing this, but that’s how we learn, right?

I had a lot of fun creating this Patriotic American Flag Nail Art… so much so that I’m thinking of doing an entire series on national flags! I’m hoping to take a vacation overseas soon and was just thinking (and getting excited) about traveling to a foreign land with its flag on my nails. OoOOo. Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Rainbow Crackle Konadicure (Using Bundle Monster Image Plate BM-208, Konad Special Nail Polishes & OPI Alpine Snow)

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Rainbow Crackle Nail Art Tutorial A lot of people are over crackle polishes because every company is putting out the same colors. It’s becoming a game of copycat.

But I’m still on the Crackle Caboose! Although, I did feel the need to do something different by creating this Rainbow Crackle Konadicure.

I made use of Konad Special Nail Polishes, Bundle Monster Image Plate BM-208, and OPI Alpine Snow.

This is the first time that I’ve used more than one stamping color on the same image. And I’m pleased with how it turned out, even though it’s not perfect. Reminds me a bit of a painting because of the way some of the colors bled.

What do you think of this rainbow crackle manicure? Still sick of the crackle trend? Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Watermelon Nails (Using Nubar Fire Sparkle, China Glaze Watermelon Rind, OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Black Onyx & Orly Nail Guides)

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Summer Watermelon Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches My past 5 consecutive blog posts have all been about nail polish, and this lacquer train isn’t stopping yet!

Whenever nail polish is concerned, I find it incredibly fun and creative. Hope you do, too. Have you done any nail art?

Since we’re entering summer soon and since I wanted to bust out several colors I bought a long time ago, I thought it was a good time to share my Watermelon Nail Art with you.

I almost didn’t post it because it turned out verrrry sloppy. But, y’know what? It’s not about having the perfect manicure. It’s about having fun and realizing that as long as you enjoy wearing it, that’s all that matters. 🙂

Sure, it’s definitely not the neatest. And I had to use a dotting tool instead of a proper striping brush or nail-art pen (hence the shaky white lines and crappy black seeds). But the results still brought a smile to my face and made me want to eat some watermelon.

If you try this, please share your photos of it with me. I love seeing other people getting creative!

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the tutorial section where I show you step-by-step how I created this look. And let me know if you have some tips and tricks to share. I’m always trying to improve. Continue reading →