NAIL FAIL: Quilted Nails

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies! Today's post is a rant post: I hate quilted nails.

I had to do quilted nails for the Follow the Devil ABC Challenge, for the Q prompt. They're soooo messy looking! It seriously challenges my perfectionist streak! But I can't skip the prompt, so up they go...

I started with 4 coats of Mirth-- a number that surprised me (I was hoping for fewer), but works in this case because it meant the polish on the nail was thicker. I applied a coat of HK Girl, and waited about 5 minutes. When the polish was dry to the touch but still indentable, I used one of those individual flossers to make the quilting indentations, which was the frustrating part -- not perfect enough! I then painted on the stitching with Passport Blue and dotted on Shirin.

Polishes used:

Mentality - Mirth, Shirin

American Apparel - Passport Blue

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

individual flosser

dotting tool

liner brush

I've got some important news stuff to let you know: I'm going on hiatus until January. This is because I'm moving to the new house tomorrow and we won't have Internet there until early January. I will still have cellular (on my phone and iPad), so I'm sure to get little snapshots up for you here and there on my Instagram. (If you don't have an Instagram account but would like to follow along anyway, try my Facebook page-- I will be trying to cross-post everything.) But posting to the blog will be essentially impossible without Internet at home, so I'm taking a holiday break from all of my yammering! (You're welcome. ;) )

xo and happy holidays,

J.

Purple One-Stroke Flowers

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

My title today is sort of unimaginative, but I'm running down to the wire on getting this out today (well, MY today), which is when I said I would! Also I'm suspiciously and mysteriously tired. I think I overslept. There are worse things in life.

I still can't one stroke to save my bloody bloomin' life. Truly cannot. But I keep trying! Maybe I should borrow a book from the library or something. I watch YouTube videos with eagle eyes and I still think it's pure unadulterated magic.

The base of this is three coats of Still Waters, followed by one coat of Happy Anniversary. The rest are all acrylic paints, done with a flat and an angled one-stroke brush.

There is a winter storm warning in effect for this weekend, with additional snow dumps of up to 30cm (1ft) and gusting winds and temperatures down to -30˚C (-22˚F) by the middle of next week and why yes I am in fact distracting myself with flowers, how astute of you to notice.

Polishes used:

Liquid Sky Lacquers - Still Waters

OPI - Happy Anniversary

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paints

flat one-stroke brush

angled one-stroke brush

complete ineptitude

I'm thinking that, nonetheless, my next design will be more wintry. It's hard not to be influenced by my surroundings. How's the weather where you are??

xo,

J.

Beachy Watermarble (Learning Curve Ahoy!)

Hello lovelies!

Today I tried my hand at watermarbling. I did exactly four fingers and then threw in the towel. People who can watermarble with ease are astounding and awe-inspiring and I am definitely not among them. I'd prefer to paint little Yodas and go cross-eyed. Doing this made me want to build a time machine just so I could go a couple of hours into the past and tell myself not to do this.

For this, I used a combination of Godiva and an acrylic wash of Van Dyke brown to get sort of a sparkly wet sand look. I then covered up all that work with my ineffectual watermarbling.

So it goes! This technique takes a lot of practice (the YouTube gurus make it look so eeeaaasssyyy ;___;) so I'm trying not to lose hope altogether.

And a detail shot to show you the abysmal little bubbles I had everywhere, the terrible clean-up job I did, and the delightful sparkly sand!

Polishes used:

Zoya - Godiva

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On, Pacific Blue, Mellow Yellow

INM - Out the Door (= the clear stripes)

Dior - Gel Coat (top coat)

acrylic paint in Van Dyke brown + wash brush (#4)

usual watermarbling accoutrements

Going for something simpler for my next look, and I have a Swatch Saturday for you tomorrow (and it's GORGEOUS, you'll see)!

J.

FOIL MANI OF DOOM: What Happens When You Use Craft Supplies For Nail Art

Were I Taylor Swift, I'd be furiously scribbling away right now. This manicure and I are never, ever, EVER EVER getting back together. It's awful and I hate it.

I also took these photos outside in -10˚ weather, because I love you, you know.

I'm trying something with these subtler watermarks. I initially thought huge, tacky watermarks would deter stealing, but then came to the conclusion that nobody is likely jonesing to steal these, so I may as well play it classy.

Oh, foil mani, I so wanted to love you.

I found this awesome variegated foil at the neighbourhood art store and thought to myself, "Hey, Ciaté has some fancy set out with stuff like this, I bet this works just as well!" If it does in fact work just as well as this, I'm not clear on why anybody would ever buy/use it.

This is as close to a macro as I'm willing to go, and it makes me cringe.

I started with a coat of Poshé base coat (I tried nail glue over base coat first and it was a hot mess), then waited for it to be semi-dry and swiftly pressed a little square of foil into my nail, smoothing it as best I could with a couple of fingers, trying to get into the corners, etc. Didn't work. Jagged edges, breaks, holes, the whole shabang. Once I got it to a state that was at least half-decent, I gave it a light coat of CND Super Shiney top coat to seal it. Then, once dry, to cover up the awful edges, I did a box frame with black polish (should have used acrylics, my GOSH Nero is in full thickening rebellion) and my one-stroke brush. Because of the crinkly texture of the foil, it was impossible to get a smooth line, so you ain't getting a true macro of this one, sorry bub.

All in all, this took forever, I only did one hand, and I spent most of my time going cross-eyed. I think it looks pretty neat for what it is, but will leave this to more talented folks than I.

I like that my watermark is basically invisible. I think that's called defeating the purpose.

Polishes/supplies used:
Poshé quick-dry top coat
Speedball Simple Leaf metal foil in Variegated
CND Super Shiney top coat
GOSH Nero
One-stroke brush (squared-off)
Buttload of patience

Think I'm going to go for something simple next, and will be ambitious again nearing the end of the week...

J.