Graffiti Gashin

Press Sample

Hello lovelies!

Today's post features a water decal, something new to me! Let's jump right in, I'll explain as I go.

This look is loosely based on a baseball cap I have, which a long-ago ex-coworker of mine painted with 'gashin' in neon pink in a (much better realized) graffiti style. I will never wear that cap, COULD never wear that cap, but I nonetheless love it to bits.

So when David at Moon Sugar Decals, a newer water decal company, contacted me to do a review for them, I hopped on the opportunity to use these spray can decals. I started with two coats of Moody Blues, one of the new piCture pOlish collaboration shades, and then used a cotton bud to daub on white acrylic paint on the pinkie before applying the water decal. Like all water decals, you trim the decal from the page to the size you want it (I cut off the bottom bit so that I could put it on the bottom half of my nail like this), plop it in some warm water, wait about 30 seconds, then fish it out, slide the decal off the backing, and place it on the nail. 

Now, I don't have a ton of experience with water decals, so I'm not sure how most of them are. I found the Moon Sugar decal to have the thickness of a regular sticker, minus the stickiness (obviously). It was therefore a touch rigid, which meant that I had to hold down the edges for a while to make sure they stuck flush to my (rather curved) nail. It took two coats of top coat to smooth it out, but nothing extreme in that regard. The upside to the thickness is that there's no chance of ripping or distorting, which I hear is a thing that can happen with water decals. And removal was pretty easy, but you'll probably want an orange stick to scrape off the plastic film if you're using full-nail decals. 

One of the really neat things about Moon Sugar Decals is that they do custom work! So if you've always wanted, say, your logo, or a particular lace pattern, or miniatures of your favourite (non-copyrighted) artwork, or anything like that -- the sky's the limit!

Here is a macro of Moody Blues to show you that, while extremely subtle, there are in fact tiny pink sparks in the blue glass fleck base:

Polishes used:

piCture pOlish - Moody Blues (the pink bits are way more apparent in the bottle than on the nail)

Nina Ultra Pro - Punki Pink (on top of white, for the lettering)

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

white acrylic paint

cotton bud

Moon Sugar Decals in spray can (they do ship worldwide, and shipping in free/cheap!)

tweezers for manipulating the decal

This was a fun mani to do! Even if I learned that I'm crap at graffiti lettering. I actually enjoy how the G and the A came out, though they aren't very graffiti-esque...

I have a cold, I'm all stuffed up!! It's the worst! Anybody else sharing a similar affliction? I hope you get better soon~

xo,

J.