My nails are still stained. It's been almost two months, and they're mostly grown out, but the hideous yellow stain is still there.
What the heck, Zoya.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Shades of Grey
Uh. I may have made an error today. AN AMAZING GREYSCALE ERROR.
Last week I ordered a handful of colors from Zoya. Today while waiting for my car to get its oil changed (bleh @ being a grown-up), I bought a set of Ulta polishes. I got home, Zoya polishes were in my mailbox, I unloaded everything, and realized...
I think I have overdosed on the grey polishes. On the awesome side, I overdosed on grey polishes! And now I have TONS of options for neutral gradients and similar. Whee!
And of course, I had to try one of these on immediately, and I chose Ulta's Rock-a-Billy, which is a medium grey with a tinge of purple (the polish off-center to the right, front row, in the pic above).
It strikes me as very elegant, more 'winter' than 'fall', but I've never been picky about seasons. I was surprised when I applied it; I only needed one coat to be fully opaque, and it dried very quickly. Ulta has found themselves a new polish fan if the trend continues with the other polishes in the set.
Last week I ordered a handful of colors from Zoya. Today while waiting for my car to get its oil changed (bleh @ being a grown-up), I bought a set of Ulta polishes. I got home, Zoya polishes were in my mailbox, I unloaded everything, and realized...
I'VE GONE COLORBLIND
I think I have overdosed on the grey polishes. On the awesome side, I overdosed on grey polishes! And now I have TONS of options for neutral gradients and similar. Whee!
And of course, I had to try one of these on immediately, and I chose Ulta's Rock-a-Billy, which is a medium grey with a tinge of purple (the polish off-center to the right, front row, in the pic above).
Google says this is the only actual picture of Ulta Rock-a-Billy out there right now. Go figure. Also, Ulta Rock-a-Billy.
It strikes me as very elegant, more 'winter' than 'fall', but I've never been picky about seasons. I was surprised when I applied it; I only needed one coat to be fully opaque, and it dried very quickly. Ulta has found themselves a new polish fan if the trend continues with the other polishes in the set.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Blue on Blue
I wish I'd gotten a photo of a nail design I did a few months ago. Dark brown background, dark red and medium brown flower. It was subtle, and I just adored it.
Since I couldn't get that one back, I decided to try a totally different design along the same tack: Dark blue background with medium blue swirls. I wasn't sure how much I liked it at first, but it grew on me.
Creating the design took me way too long! Turns out, being right-handed and trying to use my left hand to create those delicate swirls is NOT EASY. The process itself is straightforward - Sinful Colors' Aqua for the base, Heaven's Honolulu Orchid for the design.
There is a little bit of glitter too, since I elected to throw on a layer of Zoya Snowsicle. Honestly, it was that decision that made me hesitant to like this design; it was almost overpowering, even though the glitter in Snowsicle is tiny.
In any case, I got lots and lots of positive comments for this (including one who was completely amazed that I'd done them myself), so I'm happy!
Since I couldn't get that one back, I decided to try a totally different design along the same tack: Dark blue background with medium blue swirls. I wasn't sure how much I liked it at first, but it grew on me.
I didn't realize until this very moment how similar the ring and pinky finger designs are. Whoops.
Creating the design took me way too long! Turns out, being right-handed and trying to use my left hand to create those delicate swirls is NOT EASY. The process itself is straightforward - Sinful Colors' Aqua for the base, Heaven's Honolulu Orchid for the design.
There is a little bit of glitter too, since I elected to throw on a layer of Zoya Snowsicle. Honestly, it was that decision that made me hesitant to like this design; it was almost overpowering, even though the glitter in Snowsicle is tiny.
In any case, I got lots and lots of positive comments for this (including one who was completely amazed that I'd done them myself), so I'm happy!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Pink Marble
I think it's been established that I'm a fan of swirly nail art. I just adore abstract, and the swirlier it is, the happier I am. So when I was browsing YouTube yesterday looking for nail design inspiration and found a technique for mixing two colors for a marble swirl effect, I was ON IT. I've always loved pink and black together, so I didn't even have to spend much time considering what colors to try.
The process for making this design sounds harder than it actually was. I started out by doing two coats of pink to get a solidly opaque base. When that was dry, I painted black polish starting at about the 1/3 mark, then used a long, narrow nail brush to paint a smooth line between the transition from black to pink for a more professional look. Using a tiny brush typically reserved for eyeliner, I put little dabs of pink and black together on the black section of nail, then quickly swirled them together before they dried. Topcoat.
I was really worried after the first nail was finished, because it looked kind of weird. But I was resolute - I was going to finish this! The instant all the nails had the same swirls on them the effect became much stronger, and man, if it doesn't look awesome!
The biggest downside to this design is that the marble section of nail ends up with a thick slab of polish that takes a while to dry and is susceptible to smudging - and, surprisingly, chipping. I created this design last night, and by morning the polish on one nail had already chipped. I indignantly slapped a bit of black on there to keep it looking good, but it's been troubling me all day. I fear that, despite how much I like the look of this design, I'll have to remove it sooner rather than later. Phooey.
LOL UR NAIL SHAPING
The process for making this design sounds harder than it actually was. I started out by doing two coats of pink to get a solidly opaque base. When that was dry, I painted black polish starting at about the 1/3 mark, then used a long, narrow nail brush to paint a smooth line between the transition from black to pink for a more professional look. Using a tiny brush typically reserved for eyeliner, I put little dabs of pink and black together on the black section of nail, then quickly swirled them together before they dried. Topcoat.
I was really worried after the first nail was finished, because it looked kind of weird. But I was resolute - I was going to finish this! The instant all the nails had the same swirls on them the effect became much stronger, and man, if it doesn't look awesome!
The biggest downside to this design is that the marble section of nail ends up with a thick slab of polish that takes a while to dry and is susceptible to smudging - and, surprisingly, chipping. I created this design last night, and by morning the polish on one nail had already chipped. I indignantly slapped a bit of black on there to keep it looking good, but it's been troubling me all day. I fear that, despite how much I like the look of this design, I'll have to remove it sooner rather than later. Phooey.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Hmm.
I'm beginning to wonder if minor nail damage is just part of the deal with using nail polish more frequently than once every few months. I have a nice nail oil and cuticle cream that I use, but between polish coats, little bits of nail surface still peel away. It really doesn't help that my nails are STILL stained that awful yellow-green, so I can't just go bare to give my nails a break.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Polish Review: Zoya Envy
I'm just going to say straight out, Zoya Envy is a beautiful color. It's like distilled swamp, without the smell and a whole lot more class; a deep, fluid green with just a touch of brown. So dark it's almost black, unless you're in the right light.
I wore this for three or four days, and was disappointed to have to take it off. But when it was gone, I was horrified - it left behind this sickly yellow-green stain that has now lasted well over a week, though multiple applications of new color and cleanings. There is clearly visible definition between the stain and the pink of new nail.
It's completely maddening, because I can't use any transparent polish, or even go natural. It looks terrible. I'm so disappointed in this color, because it's so pretty and I would love to wear it frequently, but the stain means that it's relegated to accents on top of other colors. Either that or I get a steel-strength base coat, and even then, I can't be sure.
:(
Just two coats! Goes with most of my clothes! LOVE!
I wore this for three or four days, and was disappointed to have to take it off. But when it was gone, I was horrified - it left behind this sickly yellow-green stain that has now lasted well over a week, though multiple applications of new color and cleanings. There is clearly visible definition between the stain and the pink of new nail.
It's completely maddening, because I can't use any transparent polish, or even go natural. It looks terrible. I'm so disappointed in this color, because it's so pretty and I would love to wear it frequently, but the stain means that it's relegated to accents on top of other colors. Either that or I get a steel-strength base coat, and even then, I can't be sure.
:(
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Mondrian Abstract
Artwork by Piet Mondrian is oddly divisive; his work is the type that most people refer to when they say they don't get modern art. This kind of stuff:
Bold lines, sharp angles, seemingly random colors and placement. It's aesthetic, to some. Personally, I'd never hang this kind of artwork in my home, simply because it's not my thing. I can appreciate it (kinda?), but overall, meh.
This kind of artwork on nails?
Works a whole lot better!
It was surprisingly easy to do. I painted Zoya Jolie in a wide swath down the right side of the nails, ensuring I didn't cover the left third at all, and that the line between then was relatively straight. When that dried, I painted Zoya Goldie starting at about the third mark away from the cuticle, maintaining the side line. There was room for minor error since the black would be covering it, but not too much room. The dots are there because dots are awesome, obviously. Not that Mondrian ever actually included them.
Layer of top coat, and it's done. Obviously, any two colors would work great instead of the Jolie and Goldie, so long as the second color is opaque enough to cover the first - and maybe not even then. Lines can be rearranged, colors added. This is super versatile.
And probably one of my favorite designs yet.
Maybe it's so utilitarian because it was the Great Depression? Imagination is expensive.
Bold lines, sharp angles, seemingly random colors and placement. It's aesthetic, to some. Personally, I'd never hang this kind of artwork in my home, simply because it's not my thing. I can appreciate it (kinda?), but overall, meh.
This kind of artwork on nails?
Works a whole lot better!
The lines are... mostly straight.
It was surprisingly easy to do. I painted Zoya Jolie in a wide swath down the right side of the nails, ensuring I didn't cover the left third at all, and that the line between then was relatively straight. When that dried, I painted Zoya Goldie starting at about the third mark away from the cuticle, maintaining the side line. There was room for minor error since the black would be covering it, but not too much room. The dots are there because dots are awesome, obviously. Not that Mondrian ever actually included them.
Layer of top coat, and it's done. Obviously, any two colors would work great instead of the Jolie and Goldie, so long as the second color is opaque enough to cover the first - and maybe not even then. Lines can be rearranged, colors added. This is super versatile.
And probably one of my favorite designs yet.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Polish Review: Zoya Kamilah
I really, really like Zoya polishes. I'm still new to the world of nail polish, but of the few brands I've tried, Zoya is probably my favorite. It applies smoothly, it looks great, and it lasts.
One of the staples of any polish collection is RED. I'm not talking subtle red, here, but #ff0000 RED. Zoya had a big sale a few months ago, so I bought six polishes primarily to fill out the basic needs of my collection. So, obviously, I needed a RED.
The first individual polish review I'm doing on my blog is precisely this RED, both because it is beautiful and because the name, Zoya Kamilah, is pleasantly close to my own name (Cami).
Just look at this color!
RED. SRSLY RED.
Zoya describes this color as: "Fiery orange-toned red base with cool toned red metallic shimmer. A smoking hot metallic for a flirty nail look."
I'll be honest, I don't see the orange tone at all. This polish is red base with red tone with lots of little red bits in it. I'm a huge fan of metallics, so I love this one even more for it.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
A Tale of Two Gradients
I love nail gradients.
But I had very little idea of how to do them, so I experimented. Here are the results.
In the first, I simply painted a base color (Zoya Dea), then painted on top of it from the cuticle and tip using Zoya Cheryl and Goldie.
Advantages:
The second design... well, it wasn't very photogenic:
I used four colors: black, Cheryl, Merlot and Zoya Kamilah. For this design, instead of painting directly on the nails, I painted onto a makeup sponge, and then pressed the sponge to the nails. I learned quickly that for decent coverage, I needed to reload the sponge between each use. In the picture, you can see that the pinky nail has very deep, solid color, but the pointer and middle fingernails are thin enough to see the light nail tip. Whoops.
Advantages:
Despite the weird image quality, I actually liked this design better than the first, because it's a true gradient, and unless you're inspecting it closely you can't really see how thin the polish is.
It also looks like actual fire, which is awesome.
But I had very little idea of how to do them, so I experimented. Here are the results.
That middle brown looks a lot like milk chocolate. Yum.
In the first, I simply painted a base color (Zoya Dea), then painted on top of it from the cuticle and tip using Zoya Cheryl and Goldie.
Advantages:
- Thick, vibrant colors.
- The gold had a really cool fire effect.
- No additional tools required.
- No wasted polish.
- Time-consuming.
- Technical.
- To get that really cool fire effect of the gold, I had to start with just enough polish on the brush to get a solid color on the tip, and then have it taper 1/4" in. It was complicated to get right.
- It's not really a gradient, but more of a neapolitan ice cream look.
- Thick paint means a loooooong time to dry, and higher chance of getting air bubbles.
The second design... well, it wasn't very photogenic:
I wore this with a purple-and-white print shirt.
I used four colors: black, Cheryl, Merlot and Zoya Kamilah. For this design, instead of painting directly on the nails, I painted onto a makeup sponge, and then pressed the sponge to the nails. I learned quickly that for decent coverage, I needed to reload the sponge between each use. In the picture, you can see that the pinky nail has very deep, solid color, but the pointer and middle fingernails are thin enough to see the light nail tip. Whoops.
Advantages:
- Quick and easy.
- It's a real gradient.
- Therefore, it looks very cool (despite the inexplicable failure of the camera to make it look that way).
- Easy to forget to reload the sponge, so it's easy to end up with thin paint on a few nails.
- Requires use of a makeup sponge.
- Wasted a lot of paint due to deep soaking into the sponge.
- Messy - required a lot of cleanup.
Despite the weird image quality, I actually liked this design better than the first, because it's a true gradient, and unless you're inspecting it closely you can't really see how thin the polish is.
It also looks like actual fire, which is awesome.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Belated Easter French Nail Design
A nail broke on my left hand. Right at the quick. So now, all my nails are short and slo-o-o-owly growing back out. Good thing French tips make the whole nail look longer, eh? (Compare the length in the photo below to this one. Yes, they're shorter. >.>)
This design... just kind of happened. I wasn't expecting anything Easter-like. I just picked up my purple, painted one nail, decided to do a different color - all nails ended up different colors, and then SILVER TIPS! The pinkie wasn't originally yellow though, it was a teal, but I changed it for better warm/cool balance.
There isn't anything special to how I created this, either. Just, one color for each nail, freehand silver tip, topcoat. Ta da!
Colors used: China Glaze Grape Juice, Sinful Colors Aqua, Wet 'n' Wild Lavender Pearlescent, Kiss Neon Yellow (sidenote: that stuff REEKS), Wet 'n' Wild Sage in the City, Zoya Trixie.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
I'm in space!
[Note: This was supposed to be posted ages ago. It did not post when I told it to. So it's being posted now. Sigh.]
This will be the last of the backlog of stuff I did before I started the blog. Which means the last of the poor-quality, non-clean nail photos! Yay!
After the success of my flowers, which I left on for almost a week, I got ambitious. I'd found another video on YouTube that I desperately wanted to try, and even though I didn't have all the colors they called for, I did it anyway.
The colors I used were black, dark blue, white, green, dark neon pink, translucent light pink and glitter. I didn't yet have yellow, which I think sadly means my nails were just that much less cool. I used the green instead, which worked pretty well, and dabbed a bit of the light pink on top since the overall result was very dark.
I'll be honest, I kind of struggled with this design, and I wasn't especially happy with how it turned out. The first struggle was that the nebulae came out incredibly opaque, even though I made a point to try to follow the video's instructions to keep it light and transparent. The second struggle was symmetry. I LOVE asymmetry and employ it a lot in my photography, but drawing asymmetrically is much harder to get used to. As a result, the nebulae on my nails were mostly symmetrical and solid, instead of cloudy and natural-looking.
The third struggle was the stars. I didn't own any toothpicks, or really anything that had such a narrow point at the end, so I had to use my tiny eyeliner brush. The problem with this is that brushes bend when pressure is applied to them. Even using the lightest of dabs, many of the stars ended up much too large and oblong.
I've gotta admit too, the narrator's voice for that video is a bit... spacey? (Yuk, yuk.) Sorry. The voice was kind of irritating, though.
BUT! That doesn't mean that this design wasn't a lot of fun, and didn't still look pretty dang cool when I was done. I may very well give this another try at some point, especially since I now have the tools to do it properly.
This will be the last of the backlog of stuff I did before I started the blog. Which means the last of the poor-quality, non-clean nail photos! Yay!
After the success of my flowers, which I left on for almost a week, I got ambitious. I'd found another video on YouTube that I desperately wanted to try, and even though I didn't have all the colors they called for, I did it anyway.
Space. Trial. Puttin' the system on trial. In space. Space system. On trial. Guilty. Of being in space! Going to space jail!
The colors I used were black, dark blue, white, green, dark neon pink, translucent light pink and glitter. I didn't yet have yellow, which I think sadly means my nails were just that much less cool. I used the green instead, which worked pretty well, and dabbed a bit of the light pink on top since the overall result was very dark.
I'll be honest, I kind of struggled with this design, and I wasn't especially happy with how it turned out. The first struggle was that the nebulae came out incredibly opaque, even though I made a point to try to follow the video's instructions to keep it light and transparent. The second struggle was symmetry. I LOVE asymmetry and employ it a lot in my photography, but drawing asymmetrically is much harder to get used to. As a result, the nebulae on my nails were mostly symmetrical and solid, instead of cloudy and natural-looking.
The third struggle was the stars. I didn't own any toothpicks, or really anything that had such a narrow point at the end, so I had to use my tiny eyeliner brush. The problem with this is that brushes bend when pressure is applied to them. Even using the lightest of dabs, many of the stars ended up much too large and oblong.
I've gotta admit too, the narrator's voice for that video is a bit... spacey? (Yuk, yuk.) Sorry. The voice was kind of irritating, though.
BUT! That doesn't mean that this design wasn't a lot of fun, and didn't still look pretty dang cool when I was done. I may very well give this another try at some point, especially since I now have the tools to do it properly.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Just throwing this out there
My nails are clean, oiled, creamed, bare and BEGGING for a pretty nail design.
But I can't repaint them yet.
My nail brush set arrived today - 15 brushes that I CAN'T USE.
The day I noticed my nails were getting damaged, I got 6 new Zoya polishes in the mail. THAT I CAN'T USE.
This is terrible. TERRIBLE.
But I can't repaint them yet.
My nail brush set arrived today - 15 brushes that I CAN'T USE.
The day I noticed my nails were getting damaged, I got 6 new Zoya polishes in the mail. THAT I CAN'T USE.
This is terrible. TERRIBLE.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Pink and Blue Flowers
Do you have a personal flower style? As in, if someone asks you to draw a flower, or if you were just doodling around, you kind of do the same thing over and over?
Well, I do. And when fiddling around with my nails after removing the abstract art that was just SO COOL, I ended up with those same flowers that I've muddled with since probably elementary school.
My flower style is very simple. Five petals, no stigma (the middle part where pollen and nectar are found), no stem, with little shoot-things between each petal.
I used Sinful Colors' Merlot for the petals of all but the ring finger, and Wet 'n' Wild's Lavender Pearlescent for the shoots (if anyone has a better name for these, I'm all ears!). For the ring finger, I used Sinful Colors' Aqua for the petals and Wet 'n' Wild's Blue Moon for the shoots.
That tiny paintbrush (the only actual tool I owned at the time) did a great job. I created the petals by starting at the center and gently flicking the brush outward in a V shape, then filling it in. Once the petals were dry, I added the shoots, which were a simple, single-motion line. I painted two flowers on each nail except the pinkie because it's so small, waited for it to dry, then added a topcoat.
At this point, my ambidexterity was already improving - my right hand was almost as pretty as the left! Though, it did take a lot more time and effort. I think this is the first design I created that got questions about whether I'd had them done professionally, too.
This is also a very versatile design. It can be done with any combination of colors, and any size flower.
I think I'm going to have to do this design again, at the very least so that I can take high quality photos instead of that sadface cameraphone picture!
Well, I do. And when fiddling around with my nails after removing the abstract art that was just SO COOL, I ended up with those same flowers that I've muddled with since probably elementary school.
My flower style is very simple. Five petals, no stigma (the middle part where pollen and nectar are found), no stem, with little shoot-things between each petal.
The quality of this image makes Ansel Adams cry.
I used Sinful Colors' Merlot for the petals of all but the ring finger, and Wet 'n' Wild's Lavender Pearlescent for the shoots (if anyone has a better name for these, I'm all ears!). For the ring finger, I used Sinful Colors' Aqua for the petals and Wet 'n' Wild's Blue Moon for the shoots.
That tiny paintbrush (the only actual tool I owned at the time) did a great job. I created the petals by starting at the center and gently flicking the brush outward in a V shape, then filling it in. Once the petals were dry, I added the shoots, which were a simple, single-motion line. I painted two flowers on each nail except the pinkie because it's so small, waited for it to dry, then added a topcoat.
At this point, my ambidexterity was already improving - my right hand was almost as pretty as the left! Though, it did take a lot more time and effort. I think this is the first design I created that got questions about whether I'd had them done professionally, too.
This is also a very versatile design. It can be done with any combination of colors, and any size flower.
I think I'm going to have to do this design again, at the very least so that I can take high quality photos instead of that sadface cameraphone picture!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Nail noob makes nail noob mistake
I lied. My first real, successful, actually-pretty-and-even-elegant nail design post is not this post, but will be the next post. Why? Because NAIL PROBLEMS.
I'd noticed a bit of flaking off the top of a couple of nails recently, but didn't think anything of it beyond buffing the flakes off.
Then, to my consternation, the flaking got worse. Off to google I went, and lo and behold: Acetone can damage nails! I'd thought it could only damage skin, but that's because I'm a nail noob. Google further provided me with information on how to fix this problem, so cuticle cream and olive oil soaks are the order of the day.
I do have on a very pretty purple polish by China Glaze at the moment, and I'm thinking I'll wear that for a few days, remove it with non-acetone, then go natural for a while.
On the bright side, this Grape Juice color is very pretty!
I'd noticed a bit of flaking off the top of a couple of nails recently, but didn't think anything of it beyond buffing the flakes off.
Then, to my consternation, the flaking got worse. Off to google I went, and lo and behold: Acetone can damage nails! I'd thought it could only damage skin, but that's because I'm a nail noob. Google further provided me with information on how to fix this problem, so cuticle cream and olive oil soaks are the order of the day.
I do have on a very pretty purple polish by China Glaze at the moment, and I'm thinking I'll wear that for a few days, remove it with non-acetone, then go natural for a while.
On the bright side, this Grape Juice color is very pretty!
This is what happens when I use my real camera instead of my cell phone.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
First Successful Nail Art
So much mediocrity! I'd painted a few pretty things, but nothing really unique and fun. Then, a few days into March, I found this video. Me: "I MUST TRY THIS." I've always loved abstract everything, and really, really enjoy taking abstract photography, so abstract work on my nails is just the logical next step.
Obviously, being painfully limited in color choice, I didn't have the colors called for in that video. But Sinful Colors' Merlot and Aqua are quite pretty together, so that's what I used, along with Sally Hansen's white and Sinful Colors' Black on Black.
In the future, when my creations and this blog actually start overlapping in time, I'll have pictures for each step of the process. For now, the video linked above has the steps, and this is my result:
It's a bit busier than I would've liked, but for a first try at anything fancier than a swoosh with dots, I was pretty happy with it. I got a number of compliments from strangers on it, too!
EGO BOOST.
Next up: My first real, successful, actually-pretty-and-even-elegant nail design.
Obviously, being painfully limited in color choice, I didn't have the colors called for in that video. But Sinful Colors' Merlot and Aqua are quite pretty together, so that's what I used, along with Sally Hansen's white and Sinful Colors' Black on Black.
In the future, when my creations and this blog actually start overlapping in time, I'll have pictures for each step of the process. For now, the video linked above has the steps, and this is my result:
SWIRLY
It's a bit busier than I would've liked, but for a first try at anything fancier than a swoosh with dots, I was pretty happy with it. I got a number of compliments from strangers on it, too!
EGO BOOST.
Next up: My first real, successful, actually-pretty-and-even-elegant nail design.
Taking a step back
The first attempt at being all fancy turned out kind of mediocre, so I backed off and started simplifying. For pretty much all of January, I wore only the UV topcoat that came with the French manicure kit.
There is something strange happening with the polish on my middle finger.
This let me practice painting, which went from clumsy to, well, not-quite-as-clumsy. It also strengthened and protected my already ridiculously strong, tough nails, and gave me something to admire until I felt comfortable trying something new again.
Meanwhile, I found YouTube nail art tutorials.
NAIL ART TUTORIALS!
And so many of these tutorials were just breathtaking. Simple to create, but so pretty.
I started slow, in large part because I had a grand total of five colors (including black and white) available to me, and the only tools I had were the brushes that came with the bottles and a tiny art brush that doubles for eyeliner. For the following images, the polishes used were: Sally Hansen French White, Sinful Colors Black on Black, Sinful Colors Aqua, and Wet 'n Wild Lavender Pearlescent (which is actually a dark pink, so the name makes no sense at all).
Also, I was obsessed with French tips. Color was irrelevant, so long as there were distinguishable tips. I've found that solid nails give the illusion that the nail is shorter than it is.
In order of experiment, three designs:
This takes us up through the end of February. March begins going deeper into polish fascination with more (and better... ahem) designs.
There is something strange happening with the polish on my middle finger.This let me practice painting, which went from clumsy to, well, not-quite-as-clumsy. It also strengthened and protected my already ridiculously strong, tough nails, and gave me something to admire until I felt comfortable trying something new again.
Meanwhile, I found YouTube nail art tutorials.
NAIL ART TUTORIALS!
And so many of these tutorials were just breathtaking. Simple to create, but so pretty.
I started slow, in large part because I had a grand total of five colors (including black and white) available to me, and the only tools I had were the brushes that came with the bottles and a tiny art brush that doubles for eyeliner. For the following images, the polishes used were: Sally Hansen French White, Sinful Colors Black on Black, Sinful Colors Aqua, and Wet 'n Wild Lavender Pearlescent (which is actually a dark pink, so the name makes no sense at all).
Also, I was obsessed with French tips. Color was irrelevant, so long as there were distinguishable tips. I've found that solid nails give the illusion that the nail is shorter than it is.
In order of experiment, three designs:
Credit for this design idea here.
Cleanest French tip done to date. One nail only? Art nouveau.
Cleaning up edges is optional.
This takes us up through the end of February. March begins going deeper into polish fascination with more (and better... ahem) designs.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Getting Started
So, the first 26 years of my life I had little to no interest in nail polish.
And then suddenly, friends that I spent lots of time with were ALL ABOUT NAIL POLISH. Talking about it almost daily, buying pretty polishes and sharing pictures of nail conquests. At the time, I owned precisely zero nail polishes.
Welp, turns out nail polish enthusiasm is contagious.
It also turns out that eBay has ridiculously cheap nail brush sets.
It also also turns out that Zoya 3 for 3 sales are hard to turn down.
Going to the store every Monday to buy my lunches for the week means walking down the cosmetics aisle... which means that I'm slowly stocking up on polish. My first polish purchase was when their fanciest polish was on sale, so I got four really pretty colors for about $10. I figured I also needed a topcoat, but the only option was a French manicure set of three.
Oh well! I can totally use the white and sheer pink too. And bonus sticky guides!
So, y'know what I did? I went home and made the most obnoxious nail art EVER.
I started with two coats of Merlot and then one coat of Pearl Harbor by Sinful Colors, which resulted in a sleek, classy red peppered with bumpy, greenish spots (not the fault of the polish - this was me being TERRIBLE at applying the stuff). Yet, this wasn't enough for the ambitious me of December 2011; there needed to be an actual design.
The Sally Hansen French manicure kit had come with something like 40 curved and 40 straight guides. Inspiration struck - I would make an elegant white swoosh with an elegance that elegance itself would bow down to. One swoosh per nail. Genius.
The number of guides was limited, so I figured that they must be used sparingly and repeatedly. So, for all the swooshes, on both hands, I used four guides. To create the swoosh I simply put the two guides at an angle to each other, and then painted within the gap, starting with the thumb and moving towards the pinkie.
Now, the thing about reusing guides is, nail polish dries and globs with each use, filling in the narrow end of the gap between them and generally making them much more likely to leak.
By the time I finished the pinkie nail, the swoosh was looking pretty ragged.
So I had gaudy red sparkly nails with a white swoosh on them.
Clearly not enough.
I NEEDED DOTS.
Three dots, diminishing in size, along the top of the swoosh. This was going to be epic.
And y'know, the dots didn't turn out too badly. A bit lopsided, but generally circular and smooth-ish.
Topcoat, and then wait for three hours for the thick slop of polish to dry and harden!
And, naturally, I didn't know how to/didn't want to bother with cleanup before snapping a cameraphone image of my creation to show off.
I didn't figure out the importance of cleanup until just a few weeks ago.
Here's the masterpiece:
I am amazing. Clearly.
And then suddenly, friends that I spent lots of time with were ALL ABOUT NAIL POLISH. Talking about it almost daily, buying pretty polishes and sharing pictures of nail conquests. At the time, I owned precisely zero nail polishes.
Welp, turns out nail polish enthusiasm is contagious.
It also turns out that eBay has ridiculously cheap nail brush sets.
It also also turns out that Zoya 3 for 3 sales are hard to turn down.
Going to the store every Monday to buy my lunches for the week means walking down the cosmetics aisle... which means that I'm slowly stocking up on polish. My first polish purchase was when their fanciest polish was on sale, so I got four really pretty colors for about $10. I figured I also needed a topcoat, but the only option was a French manicure set of three.
Oh well! I can totally use the white and sheer pink too. And bonus sticky guides!
So, y'know what I did? I went home and made the most obnoxious nail art EVER.
I started with two coats of Merlot and then one coat of Pearl Harbor by Sinful Colors, which resulted in a sleek, classy red peppered with bumpy, greenish spots (not the fault of the polish - this was me being TERRIBLE at applying the stuff). Yet, this wasn't enough for the ambitious me of December 2011; there needed to be an actual design.
The Sally Hansen French manicure kit had come with something like 40 curved and 40 straight guides. Inspiration struck - I would make an elegant white swoosh with an elegance that elegance itself would bow down to. One swoosh per nail. Genius.
The number of guides was limited, so I figured that they must be used sparingly and repeatedly. So, for all the swooshes, on both hands, I used four guides. To create the swoosh I simply put the two guides at an angle to each other, and then painted within the gap, starting with the thumb and moving towards the pinkie.
Now, the thing about reusing guides is, nail polish dries and globs with each use, filling in the narrow end of the gap between them and generally making them much more likely to leak.
By the time I finished the pinkie nail, the swoosh was looking pretty ragged.
So I had gaudy red sparkly nails with a white swoosh on them.
Clearly not enough.
I NEEDED DOTS.
Three dots, diminishing in size, along the top of the swoosh. This was going to be epic.
And y'know, the dots didn't turn out too badly. A bit lopsided, but generally circular and smooth-ish.
Topcoat, and then wait for three hours for the thick slop of polish to dry and harden!
And, naturally, I didn't know how to/didn't want to bother with cleanup before snapping a cameraphone image of my creation to show off.
I didn't figure out the importance of cleanup until just a few weeks ago.
Here's the masterpiece:
I am amazing. Clearly.
Welcome! New blog!
It's four in the morning and I've been working on getting my shiny new nail design blog up and running for the last two hours. Whee!
I've just gotten into nail design over the last few months, and I'm really loving it, and am improving day by day. I've been into art for years, so it's not too big of a change switching to nail art, except having to actually use my off hand for more than merely holding things in place. Thus the blog's title; l've become much closer to ambidextrous recently, and I'll only get better!
If you're interested in seeing my other art, here's where you can find me:
Storm-Artists.net
deviantART
Facebook
My first few posts will be of the designs I've done over the last few weeks; I wasn't intending on a blog before today, so the pictures are low quality, but now that I'll be doing more than linking a few online friends, I'll be taking more time and care for good, high quality photos of my work.
So, welcome! Please feel free to comment, and I hope you enjoy your stay!
I've just gotten into nail design over the last few months, and I'm really loving it, and am improving day by day. I've been into art for years, so it's not too big of a change switching to nail art, except having to actually use my off hand for more than merely holding things in place. Thus the blog's title; l've become much closer to ambidextrous recently, and I'll only get better!
If you're interested in seeing my other art, here's where you can find me:
Storm-Artists.net
deviantART
My first few posts will be of the designs I've done over the last few weeks; I wasn't intending on a blog before today, so the pictures are low quality, but now that I'll be doing more than linking a few online friends, I'll be taking more time and care for good, high quality photos of my work.
So, welcome! Please feel free to comment, and I hope you enjoy your stay!
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