Inspired by the Lucca Couture Feeling Fine Ivory Print Dress, this trendy black and white mani is ultra-versatile and goes with just about any outfit. Try it with different hues for a bright pop of color.

The Look:

What you’ll need:

- Your favorite black and white nail polish
- Striping Tape
- Detail nail art brush

Before you begin, cut segments of your striping tape into 1/2 inch segments. Stick them to the lid of a nail polish you’re not using or the edge of a table for easy access.

Step 1 – Base Color

Paint your nails with the white polish you’ve chosen. Wait until your nails are completely dry before you begin taping. I like to use a fast dry top coat to help speed things up.

Step 2 – Taping

Place two segments of tape near the tip of your nail, leaving a slight gap between them. Add another strip of tape near your cuticle. When we remove this tape later it will create the empty white space between the black shapes.

 Step 3 – Triangles 

Using your black polish and detail brush, paint tiny triangles along the edge of the tape near the tip of your nail.

Step 4 – Arrows

Add arrows between the middle and top piece of tape. Keep them going the same direction on all your nails, or change direction on each nail to add some extra interest.

Step 5 – Lines

Finally, paint thick vertical lines above the tape near your cuticle. Match the lines up with the edge of the arrows your created in Step 4. Carefully remove the striping tape to reveal the final look.

Wait several minutes before adding a top coat to avoid smearing your polish. And that’s it! You’ll have a funky and fun look that will keep you staring.

The post Manicure Monday: Black and White Nail Tutorial appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.

This simple tutorial was inspired by these Laundry Room Aztec Cutoffs. I matched these cheeky colors with the colors on the shorts, but any variation on bright colors would work well too. Dig through your collection to find some complimentary colors, then go nuts! This is one of the easiest designs to recreate yourself.

More tutorials and nail art are available on my blog, Nailed It. You can also follow my posts on Twitter and Facebook!

xoxo, Katy @ Nailed It

The post Manicure Monday: Ikat Nails with Katy of Nailed It appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.

This manicure was inspired by this bright Billabong Tribal Print Purse! I chose a more coral/hot pink for my mani, but the yellow, teal and indigo stitching was pulled almost directly from the look of the bag.

While this tribal nail tutorial may be a bit more advanced and requires more patience, tools, and clean-up, the end result is so striking that everyone needs to give it a try!

More tutorials and nail art are available on my blog, Nailed It. You can also follow my posts on Twitter and Facebook!

xoxo, Katy @ Nailed It

The post Manicure Monday: Tribal Nails with Katy of Nailed It appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.

Big Hair Don’t Care: Voluminous locks were all over the place from Kate Spade to DVF, and of course Marc Jacobs brought the trend to a new level with teased curls and a major pouf.

Statement Eyes: Eyeliner is usually a NYFW fave but eyes were taken to a new level with dark wings at Monique Lhuillier, Edie Sedgwick inspired eyes at Rag & Bone and a luscious lavender pop at Jason Wu.

Pink Punchy Pout: Shades of pink and magenta were spotted all over the runways and made all of us swoon for a hot pink lip.

Nailed It: Nude and neutral nails were a major hit for many designers but Prabal Gurung chose a skinny triangle in the midst of olive hued nails for his show and Kate Spade went edgy with almond shaped nails and an accent stud to boot!

(images courtesy of WWD.com, EOnline.com, Celebuzz.com, HarpersBazaar.com, StyleCaster.com)

The post NYFW Fall 2013 Beauty Trends appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.

We’ve been noticing a lot of outlined manicures lately and despite not initially digging the look, we decided to try it out anyway! Turns out, I kinda liked how it really made every nail “pop” and it actually got a ton of compliments too!

Here’s the look we’re going for:

What you’ll need:
- taupe nail polish
- black nail art pen
- fast dry top coat
- gold microbeads
- a toothpick

Start with a few coats of your base color. Let your nails dry completely.

Then simply take your nail art pen and outline your entire nail bed. It might be hard to get close to the cuticle without making a mess, but if you do smudge the black, simply use a cotton swab and nail polish remover to clean off the excess!

For the accent nail, we did a simple studding technique with microbeads. You simply take your toothpick and dip the tip into your clear nail polish. Then touch the tip of the toothpick to a single microbead to pick it up. and then touch it to a wet nail to stick it in place. For a more detailed instructional on this technique, check out our Studded Nails Tutorial

Top coat and you’re done!

The post Manicure Monday: Outlined Nails with Syl and Sam appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.

The When in Dot Polka Dot Trench Coat, the Dot Tamale Polka Dot Skinny Jeans and the THML On the Dotted Line Polka Dot Sweater.

Here’s the look we’re going for:

What you’ll need:

- black nail polish
- white nail polish
- fast dry top coat
- a dull pencil

We chose to use a dull pencil as a dotting tool for our polka dots but you can also use a bunch of other household objects for this nail art technique. You can make tiny dots with the end of a toothpick or a pin and the head of a pin can make large dots!

Start with a few coats of your base color. Allow the coats to dry completely before continuing.


Then take your white nail polish (any contrasting color will work!) and put a few drops onto a scrap piece of paper or on some foil. 
Then use your "dotting tool" and dip it into the paint.

Simply touch the tip of the pencil to your nail and you'll have a perfect dot! 

Continue dotting over all of your nails while trying to keep the dots evenly spaced out.

 
and then add a top coat and you're done-- your nails will be cute as a button!

The post Manicure Monday: Polka Dot Nails with Syl and Sam appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.

This week I’m going to combine the hottest colour with a classic manicure look– the half moon manicure. It looks glamourous, doesn’t require long nails and is SO easy to do with this one special trick! Check it out:

Here’s the look we’re going for:

What you’ll need:

-oxblood colour nail polish
-fast dry top coat
-paper reinforcement stickers

Start with some paper reinforcements– yes, those little stickers in your stationary kit that you use to fix ripped out punched holes!

Now stick a single sticker on each of your nails, carefully positioning them to how you want your half moons to appear. I went a bit higher than where my natural moons are.

Then using your nails (on your other hand) carefully press the stickers in at your cuticles so that they are sitting nice and flat on your nails.

Now that all your stickers are firmly in place, just paint your nails as usual with very thin coats of polish.

Allow each coat to dry completely in between, keeping the stickers in place the whole time.

Let your nails dry briefly and carefully peel off each sticker to reveal your perfect half moons!

Top coat and you’re done! You can also do the same but with a coat of colour as a base so that you have contrast colour moons, but I love the look of the oxblood contrasting my natural nails.

The post Manicure Monday: Half Moon Manicure with Syl & Sam appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.

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Here’s our inspiration:

runway photos from Style.com

What you’ll need:
- white base coat
- konad nail stamping kit: an image plate (m71), stamper and scraper
- blue konad special polish
- nail polish remover
- quick dry top coat

Start with a few coats of your base colour and don’t worry if the coverage isn’t the greatest, it mostly gets covered anyway. My white polish is pretty chunky, so it looks ridgy but it doesn’t matter too much.

We’ve covered the whole nail stamping thing in our Lace Nails Tutorial, but I’ll try to explain the steps again if this is your first time seeing stamps! Start with your tools all within close reach. Take the special nail polish and cover the etched design that you want to use with a single coat. Then grab your scraper, apply even pressure while scraping off the excess polish.

As quickly as you can, grab the rubber stamper tool and stamp down onto the design on the plate. You need to move fast just because the thin layer of polish remaining on the plate can dry up in a second!

Once the image is transfered onto the rubber stamp, you just need to roll the stamp onto your nail, pressing down hard so that the entire image transfers to your nail.

Then use some nail polish remover to clean off the excess from the image plate, stamp and scraper and repeat the above steps to cover each of your nails. There will probably be some stamped polish on the sides of your nails but you can just clean it up with some polish remover on a cotton swab.

Top coat and you’re done! This Toile de Jouy look can also pass as a porcelain china effect! Either way, this fresh and dainty look is so eye catching you’ll be sure to get a ton of compliments!

The post Manicure Monday: Toile de Jouy Nails with Sam and Syl! appeared first on Lulus.com Fashion Blog.