Valentines Day Nails

Well of course I'm going to get in on the holiday that represents my namesake (yes, my last name is actually Valentine, lol).  

For Valentine designs, I like a lot of pink, white and red.   So I searched YouYube and google for some cute designs.    "Cutepolish" on YouTube did this adorable pink plaid and hearts design, so I decided to try it out.   It wasn't all that great because my nails were soooooooo short.  But still, it was ok.  

This was around January 8th, 2016, right after I removed my acrylics and trimmed away all the damaged stuff, pretty much bringing my nails down to the quick.  

I had been using glue on nails and acrylic nails all through the holidays, to give me a bigger canvas to paint all those lovely holiday designs on.   But at this point, I had made the decision to forget glue-on fake nails and acrylic nails, and start growing out my real nails.  I began taking "skin, hair and nails" vitamins, keeping my nails moisturized with cuticle oils and lotions, and developing a good nail care routine, using a brush on treatment.   More about that later...

But this was how I started, using cuteness to cover up the lack of length, until they grew out.   I knew Valentine's Day would be the next holiday, so I wanted to have my own nails grown out enough for decent nail art by then.  

The next design was "kiss lips".  I simply painted a light pink base color, then used a tiny dotting tool to draw darker pink and red lips.   Building up a little bit of length, here...

Next I tried a different variation of "hearts and plaid".  I thought this one was adorable too, inspired by google images.  

  

Now this design, I saw online while searching for "conversation heart candy nail art".   I just thought conversation hearts would make cute nail designs, for some reason.   I found a really cute design, but the problem was, the original artist used a "stamping plate" with a conversation heart theme, which I did not have...   I also knew it would be a real pain in the neck painting all those hearts directly onto my nails (left and right hands), then going over them again to put the letters on.  So I figured a way around that....   

 

So I went to work painting little hearts in pink. purple, light green and yellow, on a plastic document protector.   Then I allowed them to dry overnight, and used a thumb tack needle dipped in polish to write cute little phrases on them.    

I was then able to peel them all up and to keep them from sticking again, I laid them over a cushion.  

 

I painted all my nails a hot pink color.  Then went to work placing the hearts on my nails in a similar pattern to the one I saw online.  I trimmed away any excess parts and pressed them down to secure them.    

Then I added a top coat and there I had it!   A cute design that got me a lot of compliments at work. 

My final Valentine design was this one-- red and white hearts.  Inspired by a YouTube video, of course.   Alternating red and white sections, with countering hearts.   Kind of reminds me of playing cards, lol.   But adorable, still.