Nail Art 101, It’s So Easy!

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It’s So Easy Stripe Rite, Glitter Powder and Cracked Ice review

A hand with nail artphotos: we heart this

I must apologize to anyone who has been trying to get a hold of me the past couple of months. You see, a box of It’s So Easy nail art products landed on my doorstep, and well, I’ve been a little preoccupied. With the neon tribal look shown above….

A gold glitter French manicureA gold glitter French manicure…

Diagonal Dots manicureDiagonal Dots…

A blue nail polish with gold glitters nail artAnd the glitter…

A blue nail polish with gold glitters nail artOh…the GLITTER!

To say I’ve spent a bit of time on my nails lately would be putting it mildly. I’m spending every free moment (and I don’t have many) dreaming about combos. The good part? I’m able to make them all come to life with products from It’s So Easy. And true to name, they are indeed rather easy!

To achieve the neon tribal, gold French and diagonal dots manicure I used Stripe Rite ($3.99), which is available in close to 100 shades and textures (paints, glitters and metallics). That’s right 100 variations!

Stripe Rite nail art with multiple shadesYellow, Hot Green, Black, Hot Orange, Hot Pink, White, Hot Purple

Stripe rite with a bevy of glitters and metallicsA bevy of glitters and metallics

A purple, long and skinny brush

The long and skinny brush allows for precise application. The $3.99 price tag allows for lots and lots of experimenting!

Here are the Stripe Rites I used with the looks above:
• Neon tribal is OCC’s Wasabi base with Yellow, White and Hot Orange
• Gold French Sally Hansen Orange you Cute? base with Gold Holographic glitter
• Diagonal Dots is Organic Glam Aqua base with Hot Purple, White and Yellow

I also used the dotting side of the Double Up Detailing/Dotting Nail Brush ($5.49). This little unassuming tool makes polka dots so easy. If you at all enjoy nail art, this will be the best 5 bucks you’ve ever spent!

Multicolor glitters

And then there’s the glitter

Silver Holographic Cracked Ice glittersSilver Holographic Cracked Ice

Gold Holographic Cracked Ice glittersGold Holographic Cracked Ice

Fuchsia Green Cracked Ice glittersFuchsia Green Cracked Ice

Mother of Pearl Cracked Ice glittersMother of Pearl Cracked Ice

Gold Holographic and White Glitter Powder glitters Gold Holographic and White Glitter Powder

I’ve got a lot of to learn with the loose powders. Luckily it’s fun to practice! With the Glitter Powder, I apply a top coat and dip my metal file tip into the powder and lightly flicking it on while it’s still wet (make sure you’re doing it over paper, it’s a sparkly mess.)

The Cracked Ice is more difficult to apply. Shaking it on can lead to the shards standing straight up, and wow, are they sharp! Dipping your whole wet nail in the tub leads to the Liberace nail shown above. Polishistas – I’d love to know the best way to work with these, so if you have any suggestions, do tell.

we heartsters, are you feeling any nail inspiration? And if you have any tips for this budding nail artist – let me hear them!

It’s So Easy products can be found at Sally Hansen Beauty (in store and online).

Disclosure: This review includes products that were provided by the manufacturer/PR firm for our consideration. For more info, or any questions, please see our disclosure policy.

Author

  • Stef Andrews

    Stef is a plethora of things. Amongst them: co-founder of we heart this, photographer, condiment connoisseur, Philly girl in the California desert, borderline hoarder and a hardcore beauty junkie. She also has a touch of wanderlust and, arguably, the cutest dog in the whole world... skin tone: NC 25/30 skin type: oily with a fear of rosacea favorite beauty product: high end skincare and lip products

21 Comments

  1. I’ve seen these at Sally Beauty and may have even purchased a black and a white but haven’t gotten around to actually using them! I haven’t taken the time to do my nails in quite awhile. That Cracked Ice glitter looks pretty and not too time consuming, so maybe I’ll pick up some of that.

  2. Wow, I’m impressed @stef! I like them all but really love your Diagonal Dots…Sounds like a fun party idea.. Let’s do NAILS!

  3. I can tell you had a blast with this post @Stef :) Your looks and color combos are simply awesome!!! Cracked Ice looks very cool. I bet the removal part was not as fun though :( I usually hate doing the foil method for removing glitter for some reason. I don’t have any tips since you seem to be really talented already but I DO recommend these nail polish remover pads: Hands Down Ultra Nail and Cosmetic Pads. You can find them at Sally Beauty. Before I moved from my old neighborhood, I picked up the 240 pack because I loved them so much. They make removing nail polish in general a breeze!!! Glitter will always be a pain though haha.

    1. I hate the foil glitter removal method too. It’s the equivalent to nails on a chalkboard for me. Something about pulling the foil off, filled with glitter – it makes me cringe! I just soak a cotton ball and let it sit on the nail for a couple of minutes, no foil.

  4. That gorgeous Liberace nail would be worth the pain of the removal process! I need Cracked Ice pronto. Off to Sally Beauty to see what’s in stock!

  5. I’m incredibly nail art challenged, but I think the Double up Detailing/Dotting Nail Brush is just what I need to make all my fancy nail dreams come true! With less polish on the bristles I imagine it being easier to use without making a big blotchy mess. (I ALWAYS get too much or too little polish on my nail art brushes, either making a mess or getting streaky results.) And only $5? I’m all over it.

    1. Apparently, it’s great for creating marbling effect too. That’s my next attempt.

  6. Ohh I love this! The glitter gold French Manicure will be perfect for the holidays. Bookmarking this post!

  7. I have a lot of nail art on my Tumblr blog, and one thing I’ve learned is I like to keep an inspiration folder on my computer. I go through art block with every type of art I do, and I find every folders for inspiration is great. Whether it’s other types of nail art, or a piece of actual art with a type of detail that I love that I’d love to try out, I put it all in that folder. When I feel nail arty, I print out the one that inspires me most!

    ~Another thing is having brushes! I use basic art brushes from my art store. My favorite one is actually a new Leow Cornell (my favorite company for brushes!) one I bought that has a very tiny, eyeliner thin brush that’s nice for when I want to try out something tiny. I’m still trying to figure out something Hunger Game-ish, but that brush has become heaven. I find that nail art polish brushes just are too clumsy for me, so brushes are great.

    ~Dotting tools….heaven for dots. I have to get my hands on my sizes, but they’ve made my life 10,299% easier, especially when I want to do a full polka dotted mani!

    ~I’ve found that basic office supplies like hole punch reinforcers, scotch tape or masking tape and sponges help for making stripes, half moon manis, tuxedo nails, peter pan collars, french manis and gradients.

    ~Q-tips are a woman’s best friend for big nail polish messes like when you do gradients. A brush is a woman’s best friend for cleanup for close to cuticle work.

    ~Whatever you do, go to the bathroom BEFORE you do nail art. It always seems whenever you work on your nails, you don’t have to go before you do your nails, but you have to when they’re wet….and then you ruin everything!

    1. Well, I do actually have a Hunger Games nail art (in fact, it made it to the Top Five in a recent ModCloth manicure contest. I was in fourth!)…but it isn’t as obvious as say mockingjays. Still trying to figure out a mockingjay mani on my short nails!

    2. Awesome tips! And I’m glad you share the dotting tool love. It’s a game changer.

    3. @Stef – It was pretty neat. I didn’t win the overall winner, but I shared the blues with a fellow MC ModSquad friend (Mary) who came in third with fan votes. Of course, we didn’t get consolation prizes which kind of sucked, but that’s okay. I’ll do better next time! Maybe I’ll figure out the Mockingjay one in time. >.<

  8. I am in awe of your sassy nails, @stef —I am “nail painting challenged”. It looks like I gave a monkey or gorilla some methamphetamine and a bottle of polish and let him have at it when I paint my nails. It’s just plain sad :(

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