No-Tools Valentine's Day Mani | 3 Easy Manicures for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day guys! Have you ever had a big date and gotten every little detail planned for a perfect night, only to realize last minute you didn't get your nails done? Don't fret! I have three super easy manicures for V-Day, whether you had just forgotten about your nails for your big date, or you're just a last minute person like I am. Each one is super simple and literally takes just a few moments and the best part? No tools! No complex designs! Literally any one with any type of nail painting skill level (if that's such a thing) can do these. The only "tools" you need are your polishes (obviously), a bobby pin, and a cosmetic sponge. Keep reading to see how to create these cute nails!

 

 

1. Dot Manicure

For this first one you need several polishes. I used white, light pink, dark pink and red. You will need a bobby pin for this one. 

Start off with clean nails, painted with just a clear base coat. With your bobby pin, dip it in the white polish and start dotting the polish on to your nail. It doesn't have to be precise and there's no pattern here we're aiming for. 

 

Repeat this with the other three nail polish colors, filling in the blank areas with different colors as you go. 

 

Seal with a top coat and you're done! I concentrated my dots more towards the tip of the nail, but you can do the whole nail, or just an accent nail like this if you want. 

 

2. Ombré Accent Manicure

For this one you need the same polishes as the first manicure and a disposable cosmetic sponge. Start by painting a nail or two with the white polish. This is our base for the ombré. I painted the other nails the same colors I am using for my ombré. 

 

Now paint stripes of polish, going from dark to light on to the cosmetic sponge. 

 

Dab the sponge on to the white base, allowing a few seconds between coats for the polish to set some. If you do it while it's too wet, the colors get mixed and messy. 

 

Clean up the edges with a q-tip dipped in remover and add a top coat to finish off this mani. 

 

3. Gold and Red Heart Manicure

For the third manicure I wanted something a little more sultry and not so bright as pink, so I went for gold and red. Paint one or two nails gold and the rest red. 

 

For the gold nail(s), grab your trusty bobby pin and dip it into some red polish.

Dab two dots of polish on to the upper corner of the nail. This will be the top of our heart.

 

With a little more red polish, connect the dots to finish the heart. 

 

Add a couple of red dots by the point of the heart. 

 

On the red nails, I wanted something so they weren't so basic, so I pulled out some nail studs. You can get these anywhere for just a few bucks. I put a tiny dot of clear polish near the cuticle and then placed a gold circle stud right on the polish. 

 

Again, seal everything with a coat or two of clear polish and you're done!

See? Super simple and each one literally took me about five minutes (not counting drying time between coats). These are perfect for a last minute mani and so cute too!

I hope you guys liked this post! Which one was your favorite?

xoxo

LivforLashes

Polishes Used:

Nina Ultra Pro "French White"

Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro "Posh Pink"

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails "Heart of Stone"

Wet n Wild Megalast "I Red a Good Book"

Nicole by O.P.I "Carried Away" 

China Glaze Clear Base/Top Coat

Follow me on Twitter! @LivforLashes

Find me on Instagram @livforlashes

Email: liv_2008@icloud.com

 

 

 

Valentine's Day Look | Naked 3 Palette

Happy February everyone! Valentine's Day is coming up quick so I thought I'd post a pictorial for you guys! The other night I dusted off my Naked 3 palette and decided to play around with it and this is the look I came up with. 

As I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of the Naked palettes, although I have them all, but this palette has the prettiest pink shades, perfect for Valentine's Day. Keep reading for a how-to!

After priming my lids, I started by blending out Limit above the crease for my transition shade. 

To deepen it a tiny bit, I then blended Nooner right on top of that. 

I really wanted the next shadows to pop and UD shadows have a ton of fallout, so to prevent this I blended my NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk onto the lid. The pencil is tacky so this will really make the shadows stick to the eye lid. I also blended a tiny bit of this into the inner corner. 

Now for the lid, I loaded up the flat side of the brush that comes with the palette with the shades Buzz and Trick, and packed that into the lid. Buzz is more pink while Trick is more rosy, and together they make the prettiest combination.

I again took a bit of Nooner and used that to just soften the edges of those two shades. 

To brighten up the inner corner, I again took the flat side of the brush and patted on the shade Dust. 

To start deepening up the eyes, I blended Darkside onto the outer third or so of the eyelid, blending it slightly into the crease. I didn't want a wing shape so I blended it in a rounder shape, curving down toward the lower lash line. 

To deepen it up even more, I next took Blackheart on my brush and lightly blended it in the outer part of the lid, focusing the shadow on the lash line and bringing it into the crease. 

Next I grabbed a black eye liner pencil and lined both my lower water line and the lash line. 

To soften the liner, I took Nooner and Buzz on my brush and just buffed that straight into the eyeliner. 

Next I tight lined my upper lashes with the pencil and lightly darkened the upper lash line as well. 

I wanted to soften the line on top, so I just took a blending brush and lightly feathered it over the liner. 

I finished the eyes off with a coat of mascara and some feathery falsies from Kiss that were $3 at Walmart. 

And voila! Valentine's Day eyes! I'm pretty pleased with how this one came out. It's smokey yet still kind of soft at the same time. And it can be paired with really any lip color which is a bonus. 

What did you guys think of this pictorial? Let me know in the comments! 

Thanks for reading guys and have an amazing day!

xoxo

LivforLashes

The Urban Decay Naked 3 palette can be purchased here, here, here and here. 

Follow me on Twitter! @LivforLashes

Find me on Instagram @livforlashes

Email: liv_2008@icloud.com

 

Smoked Out Winged Liner | Pictorial

Happy Tuesday! So last night the hubby and I were going to see a friend perform at a bar with his band. I knew I wanted to do something kind of dark and smokey but I didn't really have a clear idea in my head. This is what I came up with. 

I think it turned out pretty nice and I got a few compliments on it so I figured I'd do a pictorial for you guys. 

Keep reading to see how I did this :)

So predictable, but first prime your eyes. This time around I used my Benefit Stay! Don't Stray! concealer primer. This isn't technically an eyeshadow primer, but it masks the pigmentation of my eyelids and really helps shadow stick. P.s... Excuse the mascara, I already had some makeup on from earlier in the day. 

First I took "Truth" from my Vice 3 palette and ran that over the entire lid for my base color. 

Next I took "DTF" and buffed that into the upper crease for my transition shade. This will help my other shadows blend a little smoother later on. 

For the next part, I took a piece of scotch tape, and after removing some of the tackiness, I placed it from my lower lash line up towards the tail of my brows. This will give me a clean, sharp line for my liner and the other shadows I want to use. 

Now I used my gel liner and drew in a wing, using the tape as a guide. 

Going back to the crease, I mixed "Alchemy" and "Sonic" and blended that into the crease. I didn't bring it towards the inner part of the crease though. I focused on the outer two thirds or so and whatever was left on the brush was used in the inner portion. 

I wasn't quite pleased with this so far, so I decided to smoke out the outer part of the wing by blending in "Revolver" with a pencil brush. Make sure your gel liner is completely set before you do this, or it'll smudge and look patchy. I also used whatever was left on the brush to blend into the outer crease slightly. 

Now remove the tape and fix any patches in the foundation from the tape. Usually I do foundation and concealer after my eyes when I'm going darker or dramatic but like I said before, I already had makeup on. 

With any black pencil, line your water line. I didn't want super dark so I used this Victorias Secret pencil I had lying around. 

Take "Alchemy" and "Sonic" again and blend that into the lower lash line, smudging the black a bit. 

To smooth things out, I then took "Alien" and lightly buffed that into the lower lash line as well. 

I wanted a bit of sparkle but I didn't want to use glitter, so I dabbed my finger in my Stila "Rose Quartz" Magnificent Metals shadow and patted that in the inner corner the tiniest bit. 

To polish the look off, I applied some of my favorite falsies, these Abyssinian Mink lashes from Nubounsom (you guys know I love Nu). These were perfect since they're full and glamorous, but still very soft and fluffy. 

And this is the finished look!

What do you guys think? It's smokey and a little more dramatic, but I think it has enough balance to it to not be overwhelming. 

Well that does it for this post! I hope you liked it and I would love to see some of your recreations of this or any of the pictorials I've posted on here! Just tag #livforlashes on Twitter (trying to get more active on there...oops lol) and Instagram. 

Thanks for reading guys and feel free to leave suggestions for my next makeup look below!

xoxo

LivforLashes

Follow me on Twitter! @LivforLashes

Find me on Instagram @livforlashes

Email: liv_2008@icloud.com