National Doughnut Day: Rainbow Sprinkles Nail Art Treats For Your Tips

Photos by Jackie Donut

Mmmmmm... Welcome to rainbow sprinkles heaven. National Doughnut Day has arrived!

The appeal of doughnuts goes far beyond a childhood obsession. Kids at heart enjoy them too. In fact, Americans consume approximately 10 billion doughnuts each year, according to estimates. Glazed, powdered or frosted, who can resist these ring-shaped, whimsical wonders?

Rainbow sprinkles turn doughnuts into a festive funhouse of flavor. The colorful confections provide a feast for your eyes, as well as your tummy. They kick up sweet doughy goodness to a whole new level.

In honor of this decadent day for doughnut lovers, we present a sweet treat for your tips--two beautiful rainbow sprinkles manis. These tasty tutorials have been created exclusively for SHINE Beauty Beacon by Jackie Donut, a gifted nail artist and designer. Please feel free to check out her amazing line of handmade accessories on Etsy and Tumblr.

Enjoy these delicious digits. Just make sure you get 'em while they're hot!

WHITE ICING DOUGHNUT WITH RAINBOW SPRINKLES & COFFEE MANI

STEP 1: Begin the mani with a base coat. Next, apply two coats of white lacquer on each nail except your ring finger to mimic the icing on the doughnut. Then layer two coats of pink polish on your accent nail.

STEP 2: Paint rainbow sprinkles over your white nails with shades of red, green, orange and pink. Before you begin, wipe the polish brush along the rim of the bottle to rid yourself of any excess lacquer. Then hold it at an angle by tilting it upward, so only a quarter of the bristles come into contact with your nail, and use short, quick strokes to create bold slivers of color. TIPS: Apply the lightest shades first and then work your way toward the darker ones. In addition, space out the colors to give them enough room to stand on their own.

STEP 3: Position your fingers in a claw pose with the nails pointing downward to begin creating the coffee cup on your ring finger. Paint a small white square with rounded corners using tiny circular motions. Then, for the handle, draw a thin half circle starting from the top and sweeping downward. Using the same technique as you did for the sprinkles, hold the polish brush at an angle by tilting it upward so only a quarter of the bristles come into contact with your nail. Barely touch the surface as you motion across, down and around to connect the handle back to the cup. TIP: You can also use a striper brush for this step.

STEP 4: Use black polish to design the look of coffee inside the cup. Lightly stroke the nail brush in a straight motion and then apply a small amount of pressure in the middle of the coffee line to create an oval shape. This gives the image more dimension.

STEP 5: To create the steam, paint three super thin lines with zig zag strokes using white lacquer. Just as you did when drawing the sprinkles and coffee cup handle, angle the polish brush upward so only a quarter of the bristles come into contact with your nail. Finish the mani with a top coat. 

Voila... the grand finale!

SHINE: Dazzle Dry Nail Lacquer. BEAUTY (top to bottom): Midnight Express (black cream), Oasis (light green shimmer), Citrus Streak (tangerine cream), Linen Lace (white with a yellow undertone cream), Feed m’ Fantasy (bright pink-red cream) and Watermelon Slice (dark pink cream). BEACON: Vegan, and contains no formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate, camphor or nitrocellulose. 

WHITE CAKE DOUGHNUT WITH CHOCOLATE ICING & RAINBOW SPRINKLES MANI

STEP 1: Begin the mani with a base coat. Then apply two coats of gold polish to each nail to create the effect of a white cake doughnut.

STEP 2: For the rainbow sprinkles, layer two coats of pink lacquer over the tips of each nail. Stroke the polish brush in a rounded “M” motion to create a puffy cloud look.

STEP 3: Continue the design of the rainbow sprinkles by using white and hot pink polishes. Before you begin, wipe the polish brush along the rim of the bottle to rid yourself of any excess lacquer. Then hold it at an angle by tilting it upward, so only a quarter of the bristles come into contact with your nail, and use short, quick strokes to create bold slivers of color. TIPS: Apply the white lacquer first on each nail before finishing with the hot pink shade. In addition, space out the colors to give them enough room to stand on their own. 

 

STEP 4: To mimic the chocolate icing, outline the rainbow sprinkles area with a wide black ribbon in the same rounded “M” motion. Finish the mani with a top coat. 

Voila... the grand finale!

SHINE: Zoya Nail Polish. BEAUTY (top to bottom): Sweet (bubblegum pink cream), Purity (pure white with a glossy cream finish), Brooklyn (white-gold shimmer metallic), Ali (neon pink cream) and Raven (satiny black with a subtle silver shimmer). BEACON: Vegan and no animal testing. Free of toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate.

Halloween Nail Art: To-Die-For Day of the Dead Digits

Photo by Cody Garcia

Make no bones about it! Gravity star Sandra Bullock recently got into the Halloween spirit with an otherworldy outfit. She and her 3-year-old son Louis wore matching macabre skeleton costumes to his school party. Bullock also completely covered her face with Day of the Dead makeup using white paint accented by black eyes, nose, lips and cheek stitches, and a red flower chin and petal socket eyes. 

Sandra Bullock: Superstar sugar skull look.

This type of face paint honors a holiday celebration in Central and South America called Day of the Dead. Dia de los Muertos, as it's known, takes place on November 1 and 2, and actually brings about joyful rather scary feelings. The tradition remembers deceased friends and family members with special altars that have been lovingly adorned with edible sugar skulls, flowers and other gifts that the departed enjoyed during their lifetime.

Sugar skulls inspire festive nail art designs in a scary good way. Whimsical elements that can be applied with polish include petal socket eyes, cobwebs, stitches and flowers. So, in honor of Halloween and Day of the Dead, my niece, Natalie J. Wilson, and I created several easy patterns using glue-on thumb nails as our canvas. They're drop-dead gorgeous!

Please feel free to share your own Halloween or Day of the Dead nail art ideas. We'd love to hear about them!  

SIMPLIFIED SUGAR SKULL

Nail art by Natalie J. Wilson

SHINE: Karma Organic Nail Polish San Gennaro in September (red), Velvet Night (purple) and Cobblestone Matte (gray). BEAUTY: Start with two coats of gray polish. Then, using purple lacquer, paint two large eye sockets, a triangle nose and a mouth with a long, straight line and several small vertical stitches. Use the tip of your brush or a nail art dotting tool to finish the skull with red flower-like petals around the eyes. BEACON: No animal testing. Free of toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate. 

STYLISH STITCHES

Nail art by Natalie J. Wilson

SHINE: Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish Green Peace (bright to dark green), Summer Love (bright to burnt orange) and Horizon (bright to deep red). BEAUTY: Sugar skull art often features flowers, stitches and geometric shapes. To create a sophisticated stitch-'em-up look, apply two coats of orange polish. Next, paint two layers of green lacquer over the upper half of your nail bed. Where the two colors meet, draw a red line across the entire nail. After it dries, paint small uneven vertical stitches to complete the look. BEACON: Vegan and no animal testing. Supports GLAAD, Autism Speaks and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

CLASSIC COBWEB

Nail art by Rhonda J. Wilson

SHINE: Dazzle Dry Nail Lacquer Portia's Wit (white), Midnight Express (black) and Oh My! (bright orange). BEAUTY: A spider web design playfully presents a gothic graphic look on a sugar skull--and your nails. Start with two coats of white polish, and then paint fan-shaped straight black lines from the bottom of the nail to the top. To complete the cobweb-like effect, draw arches in between the lines to connect them. Finish by painting orange polish over some of the black lines to create more depth. BEACON: Vegan, and contains no formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate, camphor or nitrocellulose. 

FESTIVE FLOWER

Nail art by Natalie J. Wilson

SHINE: Dazzle Dry Nail Lacquer Morning Dew (bright green), Oh My! (bright orange), Rapid Red (crimson), Midnight Express (black) and Strawberry Macaron (pink). BEAUTY: Sugar skulls often get crowned with paper or fresh flowers, such as gladiolas. To recreate one, layer two coats of pink polish over the entire nail. Next, use a nail art brush or the edge of the polish brush to draw a large star-like outline with four pointed corners in black lacquer. Then, begin coloring in the look with green leaves and orange petal polish. Complete the flower by placing a large red dot in the center. BEACON: Vegan, and contains no formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate, camphor or nitrocellulose. 

Photo by Shabnam Mogharabi

My Halloween version of Day of the Dead.