Monday, December 12, 2011

Step by Step: Pink & Black Half Moon Manicure

I always wanted to try half moon manicure but I never made it perfect to show you the final result. I thought that I could make it free hand just like ruffians I tried before but I'm not that good at it at all. xD

I made almost perfect half moons with reinforcement rings, I just wish my nails were longer for this look. Next time I'll try to make half moons smaller. :) You can use reinforcement rings, you can try to freehand it or use a small nail art brush... As you wish. :)

I used a lovely purple holographic Catherine Arley with number 677, which I got in a swap recently from lovely Nina from Women's Temptations and classic black creme. :) I'll show you swatches of the holographic one next time, first I wanted to share my first half moon try and a quick tutorial. :P

All pictures below were taken under daylight bulb and black background. 



Catherine Arley - #677 / 2 coats
Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I decided to make a step by step tutorial with smaller half moons as I did them on the pictures above. :)

All you need is a base and top color, reinforcment rings and top coat. I used these polishes:

Catherine Arley - #677
Reinforcement rings
Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer


Step 1: Start with a base color you want. It can be bright or dark, anything you like. I suggest that you try to do a half moon manicure on a day or more old manicure, because you don't have to wait base color to dry. That's how you can also hide a tip wear or any chips that happen in days and get new manicure with an upgrade.
Step 2: Place reinforcement ring where you want your half moon to be when the base color is 100% dry. If you want smaller half moons, place it more towards cuticle and reverse. I always use just half of the ring, because I can have 1 ring for 2 nails. Just make sure you rub the ring a little hard, to make sure that ring is completely down.
Step 3: Add a layer of top color all over your nail and a little over reinforcement ring to make a half moon line. 
Step 4: Remove the reinforcement ring right after you apply your second color when it's still wet. You can make some tiny correction with the brush after you remove it if the line isn't perfect but if you're satisfied with the half moon, finish the whole manicure with a layer of top coat and you're done.

I'm not the first one who made this manicure like this but I still wanted to do a tutorial if you didn't know about it. :) What do you think about Half Moon manicures? What's your favorite color combination? How do you make your half moons look perfect? :)

I just broke my daylight bulb and I almost throw down my lap top. Thankfully my lappie is in one piece but I need to get another daylight bulb soon. :) I'm also seeing the anesthesiologist in the morning so he can tell me when I'm having a tiny surgery on my wrist to remove ganglyon cyst. I have a big lump on my wrist now and it started hurting me when I'm using my right hand so I had to do something. Wish me luck! But a great news is that I won a giveaway at Cristina's blog Pee Before Polish (awesome name 8) and it's so true!).Thank you Cristina for making my week! :h

Thank you for reading and stopping by! I hope I'll be back to blogging soon. :)

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

33 Comment(s):

  1. I love half moon manis and yours is so cute and perfect!

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  2. So pretty! I love the half moon look on your nails... maybe I will get the nerve to try it.

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  3. Good job, your half moon mani looks great. Weird coincidence for me, though. Just yesterday I was searching tutorials for how to do this kind of mani, and today I am sporting a pink mani, which is super unusual for me!

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  4. I'm loving this mani so much, I definetly have to try it asap :)
    Good luck with your surgery btw!

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  5. Ehi Ivana, where do you get Catherine Arley nail polishes? I was looking for a few of them but can't seem to find any.

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    1. Hello! Sorry for the late reply, this one I got in a swap with Nina (Women's temptation), but once we ordered them on one bulgarian site but I don't know if they're still selling them there. :/

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  6. Gorgeous !
    you give me excellent idea <3
    I will trying this manicure next time but with silver and black :L

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  7. cool i love this color combi

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  8. I love this manicure! black and pink are a perfect combo!

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  9. Izgleda super! Ampak mene predvsem zanima kdo ti dobavlja nadlak? =P Lahko mi pošlješ tudi na mail kako najlažje pridem do njega haha! =D

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    1. ale nadlak sem pa slučajno dobila v swapu s Carolino (Colores de Carol) in ga od tedaj skoraj vedno uporabljam. :) Verjetno je še najlažje najti nekoga, ki bi ti ga poslal iz Amerike ali pa če pogledaš na e-bay, nimam pojma, če se tam tudi prodaja. :)

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  10. That pink is very pretty. It goes really well with the black!

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  11. super je tutorial, al ja half moonove i ruffiane bas ne volim, nekako mi cudno izgledaju :/

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  12. e ovo ja zovem savršenom manikurom :L

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  13. I'm attempting my first half moon mani as we speak! Congrats on the win! Love the name of that blog! And good luck with your surgery!

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  14. great color combination! I have recently 2 half moon manis and I love them! :)

    itsnotmylifeanymore.blogspot.com

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  15. Super izpade, hvala za tutorial! :)

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  16. you are so talented and i absolutely love this color combo! (:

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  17. I didn't know there were stickers (haha) for this kind of mani! That's a lot easir than doing it with free hand style, like I did few days ago.
    I love the mani...

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    1. You're even more talented then, because my free hand half moons were more like eggs or something. :$

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  18. Thank you for the tutorial Ivana! I tried to do this mani with french guides but usually end up with a "step" between base and top color. I'll try removing guides when polish is still wet, I actually love this mani style (and color combo you chose).
    Hope you are feeling better now :k

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  19. Hi Ivana,

    This is my 2nd comment here, can't stop watching this beautiful manicure :) Have to try it out myself. I have 2 boxes of reinforcement stickers, but I've never tried them...

    BTW: I passed the Nail Art Friendly Blog badge to you in my latest post. :) Thanks for supporting my blog!

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  20. waw kera kombinacijaaaa!! joj samo ni šans, da si jaz tak nalekiram (en lak čez drugega) ker se mi ne bi nikoli posušilo, mam namreč ful probleme že, če dva sloja istega laka namažem.. imam od essenci sprej kao za hitro sušenje, ampak stvar vse še dodatno poslabša in se še dlje suši. lak se itak v celem dnevu ne posuši takda mam pol not odtise itd :\

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    1. Najprej lahko poskusiš tako manikuro že na dan ali več stari manikuri, ko je osnovna barva že 100% suha. :) Jaz ponavadi za hitro sušenje uporabim hitrosušeči nadlak, kot je Essie Good To Go, pa tudi ta na sliki ni slab, vendar se ga ne dobi pri nas. Zelo veliko pohval sem prebrala o Essence Nadlaku iz Better Than Gel Nails serije, ki naj bi tudi hitro posušil lak, koliko je pa to res, pa ne vem, ker ga še nisem kupila. :)

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  21. Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. :) It means a lot to me when I read so many comments. <3 Stickers are really easy to use, so you just must try this manicure, just be sure your base color is totally dry! :)

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  22. This looks awesome!! I've never tried the half moon yet..soon. But I'm wondering, what do you do for the thumb..which is too large for the reinforcement sticker?

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    1. They fit my thumb too, I just put the ring a bit higher so my half moon is a bit bigger as on the other nails. :) I think it would work for you too! Thanks for stopping by. :h

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Ivana*