Nail Art Tutorial: Beach Sunset Tony Montana style

Al Pacino's character Tony Montana from the movie Scarface has one epic wall mural! I remember watching this movie for the first time about five years ago and I fell in love with the wall paper but realistically no one would do all four walls including the door like that ... unless you're ballin' and mad like Tony Montana. Perhaps just an accent wall but even then it is not cheap. Yes, I did Google and try to look it up back in the day. A 3m by 4m sheet is almost $1,000.00. 

But here is my less permanent and less expensive version on my nails! 

 What you will need:

- small make up sponge
- fine nail art brush or fine paint brush
- piece of paper towel
- cotton swabs and nail polish remover (for clean up)

Nail Polish I used:
Orange - O.P.I - Hot & Spicy
Yellow - Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
Red - Chanel - Dragon
Black - China Glaze - Liquid Leather

**** optional pre step one **** 

Many nail artists put tape or vaseline on the skin around their finger nails to lessen clean up, I personally choose not to because I find it to be more work fighting with tape over a cotton swab.

Step One: Ombre time!

Cut the make up sponge to the average width of your finger nail and paint it with the nail polish in this order. 

Then dab it lightly onto the paper towel to remove excess nail polish and to prevent it from glopping and hard core smudging on your nail.

Step Two: Sponging time!

In a dabbing rolling from left to right motion sponge on the color. Do it a few times until you have the desired hue you want. Clean up the finger nail edges with a cotton swab dipped in nail polish remover.

Step Three: Beach and Palm tree painting!

Now using the nail art brush or paint brush dip it into the black nail polish and paint the beach and palm trees as shown below.

Top coat it then you're done like dinner! 

DIY Bird Nest Charm

Happy July! Time goes by so fast and my friend Shelley has asked me a while back to create this charm. It only took me a few months to get around it but here it is!

What you will need:

- 4 feet of thin gauge wire
- 3 beads/ pearls
- 2 jump rings
- a charm (optional)
- wire cutter, flat nose and needle nose pliers (all 3 shown below) 

Step One:

String all 3 beads into the center of the 4 feet wire. Create a triangle shape with the 3 beads then twist the wires together a couple of times to secure the beads in place. 

Step Two:

Bend then unbend the remaining 4 feet of wire. This will help make the nest a little less perfect giving it a rugged natural look.  

Step Three: Nest building

Wrap the wire 4 times around the circle of beads, remember to hold things firmly! Then wrap a few smaller circles on the underside to create the bottom of the nest - this can be messy because nests are supposed to be somewhat messy and it is the underside after all!

Step Four: Securing everything into place

Using the wire from the bottom of the nest, thread it into the center of the nest from the top. Wrap it 3 times, repeat this between the 3 gaps of the eggs.

Step Five: Finishing off

Trim off the excess wire leaving about an inch. Using the needle nose and flat head pliers bend the sharp ends of the wires in to prevent harm. Then wrap and tuck the excess into the nest.Then attach a jump ring to the nest.

Viola!