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.

Water Droplets

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

Today's manicure took its inspiration from the base polish.

Not terribly colour-accurate; below photos are better. :)

I was moved to use my custom Tryst Lacquer, Aqueous, again. It does take four coats to opacity, but I love it so much. :) Just look at it!! And then I decided to do some one-stroke water droplets. These are deceptively difficult.

In fact, I did them over about three times. Yikes. And they're still not perfect! If you want to see perfect one-stroke water droplets, visit Lucy -- she's got it down pat. And she filmed a tutorial! :)

In the end, the method that was fastest was the one I was most comfortable with. It really was, for me, a question of getting the white down pat. I think I achieved it best on my middle finger.

BONUS: CAT ATOP LIGHT BOX
seriously what are you even doing up there

Polishes used:

Tryst Lacquers - Aqueous (custom)

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

black and white acrylic paint

one-stroke brush

detailing brush

Can you believe it's October tomorrow (read: for me, 40 minutes from now)? Yikes. It's already freezing where I am, I wake up to 0˚C mornings, winter is going to own me.

xo regardless,

J.

Magnolia Blossoms Nail Art

I've been seeing a lot of cherry blossoms in nail art nowadays-- a very classic springtime motif!-- and I wanted to take a shot at one-stroke flower painting. So I put two and two together and opted for magnolias, which are among my favourite flowers (the list is very short; it also includes chrysanthemums and tulips).

I am, incidentally, TERRIBLE at one-stroke flowers. I will need very much more practice. So I ended up going over my flowers with my detail brush rather heavily, and they don't resemble the technique at all anymore. One-stroke is haaaaard.

That being said, the overall effect of these isn't terrible. For my first time doing florals, I suppose I should be happy. :P I will keep working on it until I get to where I want to be. Unless I give up first, which is a distinct possibility. So many shiny things to try!

ZOOM

I started with a base of Fiver, which is a strange polish, not like most of the butter LONDON's I've used before. It didn't self-level very well (or, well, at all). So, it's one of those polishes with which you either have to do two very thick coats, and hope for the best, or else do three very thin coats with plenty of waiting time in-between. It is a lovely colour, though, and I shouldn't complain about the formula too much, pastels like this can be such a chalky nightmare.

EXTRA ZOOM

Polishes / supplies used:

butter LONDON - Fiver

Poshé (top coat)

PVA glue (peel-off base coat)

acrylic paints

one-stroke nail art brush

detail nail art brush

I received nail mail today! Some of the Jelly Syrups I've been waiting for finally arrived (almost 3 weeks later), and I already know what I'll first be doing with them. Probably for my next post. :)

J.