Teen Create Space Beginner Nail Art Workshop (Plus Giveaway!)

Recently, a friend of mine reached out and asked if I would be interested in teaching an hour-long nail art workshop for teens ages 12-18 at one of the local libraries here in Arizona. I jumped at the chance; I think the program is SO great. It gives teens in the area something creative to do after school at absolutely no cost to them! I thought a gradient + leopard print design would appeal to the teens, and would be doable in the workshop time frame, too.

Since the attendees were so young, I knew I needed some bright, fun colors! Salon Perfect was a natural choice for the polish and generously sponsored the event. The kids could not have been more excited!

We used Salon Perfect Tickled Pink, Pure Azure, Lavender Fields, and Oil Slick, as well as the Crystal Clear topcoat and nail art tool duos.

The workshop ended up having 15 attendees. I began by showing them how to use a makeup wedge to create a gradient, and then showed them a simple leopard print using a dotting tool.

At the end, the teens told me they were surprised to see how easy it was to create the gradient leopard look. A few of them opted to focus on doing one hand so they could really perfect the technique, and one girl decided she wanted to stop after doing a beautiful gradient!

I loved the experience and hope to have the opportunity to do it again soon! It was a blast.

And there's good news for you, too! You can enter to win the exact polishes we used in this workshop! Five winners will be selected. US residents only, ends November 26th, 2014.

Salon Perfect Giveaway

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Rubik's Cube Nail Art

I'll admit it, I kind of hate Rubik's Cubes. I'm nowhere near smart enough or patient enough to be able to solve them on my own, and usually give up after 30 seconds of twisting the thing around. But! They are cool looking, and an icon of the 80's. So when I saw that Salon Perfect had come out with a glitter topper inspired by the infamous Cube, I had to do some nail art to match.

The first polish I grabbed for this nail art was Salon Perfect Ruby's Cubes from the new Top of the Class collection (available at Wal-Mart). It was the inspiration, after all! I layered one coat of it over black on my pinky, pointer, and thumb.

For the Cube nails, I started with a base of Essie Blanc (white). Then, I painted squares in the Rubik's colors with the following shades, leaving some spaces unpainted for the white squares:
Zoya Arizona (orange)
American Apparel Downtown LA (red)
Lakur Paddington Blue (blue)
Essie Mojito Madness (green)
Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights (yellow)

Next, I painted black lines between the cubes to mimic the black blocks behind the colored stickers. The final step was to round the corners of the blocks. (PS, did anyone peel off the stickers and then re-stick them to pretend like you had solved it? Fess up!)

I think Rubik's Cube nail art is the only way I can enjoy this classic 80's toy. What about you? Did you ever solve one?

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Star Spangled Topcoats from Salon Perfect (with Bonus Swatches)

Salon Perfect has a really fun (and comprehensive) Fourth of July collection out now called Paint the Town Red, White and Blue, and it includes a bunch of glitter toppers plus base colors designed to match. Two of the glitters in the collection feature star shapes, and they're perfect for a patriotic mani in a flash. Keep reading for the details as well as a quick preview of some of the other shades in the collection!

Star Spangled is a clear glitter topper with silver holographic glitters, plus red, blue, and satin silver stars. I layered it over black to show off the holographic glitters. Doesn't this combo look like fireworks in the night sky? One coat shown. Only a little bit of fishing was required to get the stars out of the bottle.

Starred & Striped features matte red and white bar glitters and matte blue stars. It's like a deconstructed American flag! Lots of fun. I had a little more trouble getting stars out on this one, but overall still not too bad!

Here's a bonus peek at some of the other polishes from this collection:
POINTER: Gold Leaf, Save Me a Spot
MIDDLE: Paint the Town Red, Speck-Tacular
RING: Sugar Cube, Grand Finale
PINKY: Blue Ribbon, Boom Boom Boom

Star Spangled, Grand Finale, Blue Ribbon, and Boom Boom Boom are the standout shades, in my opinion.

The Salon Perfect Paint the Town Red, White & Blue collection is available now as part of a limited edition promotional display at select Walmart stores nationwide. Polish, pens and tools retail for $3.98 each and Nail Art Liners, Decals and Striping Tape retail for $1.98 each.

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