Category Archives: Tutorials & Tips

Hallowe’en Nail Art Ideas

Halloween Nail Art Ideas Can you believe that Hallowe’en is almost here? Since this year I haven’t had time to do as much Hallowe’en nail art as I would’ve liked, I decided to do a ’round-up’ type of post with Hallowe’en Nail Art Ideas in case you’re looking for some ideas.

You can click on the links or photos for each to be taken to the original blog post with the tutorial where I showed you how to recreate the look with step-by-step written instructions and visual aids.

As usual, if you try out any of the looks, I would love to see how yours turned out (and I’m sure that other readers would enjoy seeing it, too)! Please feel free to share photos of your nail art on my Facebook wall. 🙂

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Nail Art Tutorial: Pirate Nails

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Pirate-Nails-Nail-Art-Tutorial Arr, swashbucklers and ye landlubbers alike may get a kick out of these Pirate Nails! (No bottle o’ rum is necessary, which makes them suitable for all ages.) 😉

Last year I created many different Hallowe’en nail-art tutorials (soon I’ll do a ’round-up’ type of post in case you find it helpful to see all the ideas in one place).

This year, my schedule has been so packed, I wasn’t able to do Hallowe’en nail art, which seriously bums me out!

But I wasn’t going to let October 31st roll by without at least one new festive design!

Hehe, it’s been a little while since I had ‘eyeballs’ on my nails…and y’know what? I sorely missed them. (I like looking at nails and having them look back. We can…see eye to eye! *Groans*)

Hope that you’ll try out this design. I purposely tried to do a design that didn’t use too many colours so that it’s a look that more people will be able to attempt, regardless if you have a huge lacquer collection or not.

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Nail Art Tutorial: Pink & Blue Leopard Nails

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Pink-Blue-Leopard-Nails-Nail-Art-Swatches When you don’t have the patience to do intricate nail art that requires a lot of concentration and supplies, these Pink & Blue Leopard Nails are a great choice!

The messier the spots and outlines are, the better it looks, in my opinion. Also, you don’t need many polishes or tools to achieve this look. (That’s always a plus!)

And for those of you who don’t have any Konad or other nail stamping image plates with the leopard design, this post is to show you that you can still get the look by doing it freehand. 🙂 Try to be resourceful, and you may surprise yourself with the designs you can come up with. (I actually like the imperfections that freehand designs often have. They’re almost like your signature on each manicure in a way.)

Since I couldn’t decide whether to use blue or pink as the base colour, I thought…heck, why not just use them both? There aren’t any hard and fast rules when it comes to nail art. Just do what works for you and what pleases you.

For this look, you can see that I alternated between pink and blue. You might want to do something else…maybe a different base colour on each nail? (That would be cool to have a rainbow leopard design!)

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Nail Art Tutorial: Heartbeat Nails

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Heartbeat-Nails-Nail-Art-Swatches-Tutorial I’ve seen lots of Heartbeat Nail Art all over the internet for months and always thought how fun it would be to wear and how wonderfully simple it is.

Finally I took a stab at it. It helped that I had already been wearing Zoya Rekha as a manicure for a few days.

Although it’s a very easy design, I still did a nail-art tutorial with some tips and tricks because the Neon Skulls design was the most recent freehand design, and that was some time ago!

If you try this or any of the other nail designs that I’ve shown on Swatch And Learn, please feel free to post them on my Facebook wall so that everyone can see it and be inspired!

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Nail Art Tutorial: Fishtail Braid Nails

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Fishtail Braid Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Swatches Fishtail Braid Nails are not only really easy to do, but you don’t need any special nail-art tools, either!

The only thing you’ll need is some patience because you have to layer the polishes. But, if you have patience, you’ll be well-rewarded. 🙂

I was already wearing China Glaze Man Hunt as a manicure, so I decided to choose colours that complemented it. (The theme I was going for was Egyptian.)

Come see my step-by-step fishtail braid nail-art tutorial complete with photos so that you can see just how simple it is to do.

This was my first time doing this design, and now I want to try so many other colour combinations with the same technique – it’s addictive!

I think fishtail braid nails are one of the hottest trends right now. Will you be participating?

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Nail Art Tutorial: British Union Jack Nails

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British Union Jack Nails Nail Art Tutorial & Pictures British Union Jack Nails are everywhere, I watched this cycle of America’s Next Top Model (“British Invasion”), and it’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. What better time than this to challenge myself with a new freehand nail-art design? 🙂

Indeed, it has been far too long since my last nail-art tutorial. I’m feeling rusty, but I’ll try my best to stop making excuses and to bring you another fun tutorial.

Now, just want to put it out there – these British flag nails aren’t completely accurate. If you want to stay true to the flag, make your horizontal and vertical red lines thicker than the diagonal ones. Also, don’t connect the red diagonal lines to the center like I did.

Despite the inaccuracy, I was very happy with it because it’s very bold and eye-catching. 😉 In fact, the first day I wore this design to work, everyone I spoke with noticed. Plus I didn’t have to explain that it was the British flag – they got it right away. (And it reminds me a bit of Captain America…haha!)

Even if you’re not a Brit (Hey, I’m not! Canadian here!), I urge you to give this a go. It’s fast to paint, you don’t need many colours, and the main design just consists of straight lines.

Come…let me show you how to do it. With written instructions and step-by-step photos, you’ll be recreating Union Jack nail art in no time! 🙂

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Smorgasbord Sundays: How to Make My Favourite Vegetarian Lasagne

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How to Make Lasagna Recipe Lasagne is one of my favourite things to eat. Not only is it loaded with cheese, but there are tons of vegetables.

I used to be a vegetarian for about 4 years, and this was my favourite dish to make. Even when my meat-eating friends tried this, they actually said it was the best lasagne they ever ate! I always get compliments on it, so it’s a winner.

Originally I got the recipe from a book, but over the years, I’ve changed the recipe so much that it truly has become my own and doesn’t resemble the original very much!

For today’s Smorgasbord Sundays post, I’ll share my recipe with you as well as a step-by-step tutorial including photos in case you want to try making this. (If you do, please let me know how yours turns out!)

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