Tip: Glue On Nails

I used to love getting acrylic nails. I always would wait for special occasions like Prom because its so expensive. Not to mention that acrylics completely destroy your real nails. However, now that I am out of college those occasions don’t come up and I have other things to spend money on besides getting acrylics… So I started using glue ons! If you get a good brand they can look very nice and natural. So here are some tips for making them look the best and last the longest.

TIPS

1.  Pick a nail brand that looks like it will mimic your nail bed shape. Really concentrate on the space of your nail (excluding the white tip) and compare it to the clear part of the fake nails. My nails beds are pretty long so I usually like elegantTouch or Kiss everlasting French.

Good Brand for Glue On nails



Brand I used for this post

 

2.  Size all 10 nails and lay them down a steady surface in the order of your nails.

3.  Cut all your nails as short as you can. This way you wont be able to see your real nail on the other side of the fake nail.

4.  Use a wooden cuticle stick to push down your cuticles as much as you can. Most glue on nail kits come with a cuticle stick, but if not you can get them at Target/Walgreens/etc.

5.  The most important thing to do to make fake nails stay on the longest is to use LOTS of glue. The below picture is how much I usually apply, a very thick line of glue, straight down the middle. In the pic on the right, you can see that applying glue this thick usually causes it to bubble out. So quickly swipe a paper towel straight down so the access glue goes on your finger and not the nail (it’s easy to peel of the skin and doesn’t come off the nail)

6.  After quickly swiping away access glue, hold down firmly in the center of the nail for 10 seconds. This avoids any bubbles forming under the nail in the glue.

7. After all the nails have been on for at least a minute, you can file them to get the shape and length you want. I have an iPhone that makes it impossible to text on with long nails so I usually use a clippers to cut down the thumb nails a little.

So there you go! Simple, cute, and usually lasts for about 2 weeks. Try not to pry them off to much before they're time if you can because that can tend to ruin your nail with all that glue you used!



Technique: Summer Stripes

These fancy stripes are such a fun summer look! They take a little bit of time, but they are worth it. I’ve gotten tons of complements since I did these nails.

These fancy stripes are such a fun summer look! They take a little bit of time, but they are worth it. I’ve gotten tons of complements since I did these nails.

The way I usually do taping is to tape one whole hand first. I suggest taping your least dominant hand first because your second hand will have to be done with wet nails. 

After your taping is done on your one hand, start with the painting. Before you start, Set up your bottles on a paper towel opened and in the order you want to use them. This way you can paint and remove tape quickly. 

Colors I used (left to right): Fly by OPI, Fiercely Fiona by OPI, and Orange, It's Obvious! by Essie

Paint one nail at a time, and remove the tape immediately after taping. Below is the first painted nail before the tape is removed. Try to not run the paint into each other so your brush colors don’t mix.

Don’t forget to finish with a good topcoat! Don’t want all your hard work to chip right away. Make sure your nails are dry before you apply topcoat.

Good luck and happy summer times ;)

Technique: Feathers

It makes me sooo sad that I only posted once in May and this is my first June post! Must be the wonderful Chicagoland weather now. It's too nice to stay inside and blog!

Well here is a pretty fabulous and fairly easy technique. Try it on one nail each hand if you don't have that much confidence in your nail art skills. I did all 10, but that's because I have this great nail art polish (STRIPE RITE by So Easy) and it was a piece of cake!

Here's the color I used for the base. Pink Friday by OPI:

And here is the steps I used to make the feather. First was the stem, one simple swoop. Then branches on each side of the stem (step 2 and 3). Then the last step I lightly filled in the branges with more feathers. Real thin wispy lines. Just blend them together a little. Ta da! feathers.  

And as you can see in the finished photo on top that I alternated where the feather was on the nail. It made it more fun and interesting.

Happy Polishing!

<3 La

Technique: Matte + Sparkle Tips

I've been MIA for a while on this blog. I had a rough couple of weeks and then was out of the country so no posts for about a month....
But now I'm back :)
I am just obsessed with greens lately. Chartreuse, avocado, pistachio, and most of all MINT. I found this glitter that I just had to have and when I took it home I realized it would look gorgeous with a mint polish.
I was bored of the plain old sparkle tips so I added some Matte in the mix. Tip: do NOT put the Matte top coat over a glitter polish. It looks icky... trust me. 

So the order goes... 2 coats of color polish (I used Mint Candy Apply by Essie). 1 coat of matte top coat (I used Matte About You by Essie)... This isn't a great pic but you get the idea.

Then sparkle tips. This really only works with highly concentrated glitter polish. This one is Ray-Diant by China Glaze. The key to the sparkle tips is to do very thin strokes of the glitter. then when you have the tip done dab a few straggler glitter pieces more towards the bottom of the nail. 

If your like me and hate the feel of these kinds of glitter polish you can cover the glitter part with a clear top coat. Just be careful not to cover the matte portion!

Viola! a great contrast of Matte and Sparkle :)

Critique: Matte About You

Haven't posted in a while... There's been a lot goin on in my life lately. Nevertheless I am back! Above is my new favorite find: Matte About You by Essie. If you are looking to try matte polish, I would say this is your very best option. Why buy a Matte color polish when you can transform ANY of your polishes to a matte finish with this one top coat? I got it for $10 at Ulta.

In my opinion, the matte top coat looks best over a shiny/shimmery color. The matte finish makes this cheap outdated color of polish look chiq again! This Sinful Colors polish in Gorgeous took 3 coats to be opaque, and I still didn't love the color. It doesn't look at all how it did in the bottle (Shoulda tryed it on in the store!). 

BUT no worries, one coat of Matte About You and it transformed this outdated color into a whole new look! I loooove it!

And here is a before and after comparison:

I also tried the matte finish on a solid (non glittery or shiny) color. This one is a great new pistachio color called Navigate Her by Essie. I think this still looks cool, but I almost like bold colors better shiny I think. Matte def looks better over a shimmer polish in my opinion. 

Still pretty cool though! I love experimenting with this matte top coat. Such a great purchase :)

Critique: Nail Art Tools

This critique was made for all you nail art lovers that haven’t been having any luck with it. I am providing my knowledge on the 4 nail art tools that I have tried so far. I have them listed from best to worst (also left to right in the above picture).

1. Double up Detailing/Dotting Nail Brush by So Easy- $5.50

I got this double-ended nail brush from Sally Beauty online. One side is for making perfect dots and the other end is the nail brush. This seems like a deal to me for $5. The best part about buying a brush is that you can use it with annnnny polish you want. All you do is drop a few dots of nail polish on a napkin or paper and dip the brush in. You do have to re-dip pretty often though to get a good line. When you’re done all you do is swish it around in some nail polish remover and wipe with a paper towel.  Only draw back is that it isn’t as is of a line as I’d like. But you could always buy thinner nail art brushes! I am even thinking of cutting a few bristles from this brush to make it thinner.

SUMMARY: Unlimited polish color possibilities, double ended, only have to pay $5 once.

2. Stripe Rite Polish by So Easy (.25oz) - $4

This guy really almost ties for first with the nail brush. This polish is super easy to use, draws very thin lines, and gives you a lot of polish for the price it is. Only reason it falls under the above brush is because you have to buy a new Stripe Rite polish every time you need a different color. What I would do is buy this polish in the staple colors that you know your going to use more than once (i.e. white, black, silver, gold). Then for any other color use the nail brush above. These can also be bought at Sally Beauty.

SUMMARY: great control, great value, 30+ colors

3. Nail Art Pen by Salley Hansen (.067oz)- $7

Obviously this pen is the worst value (least amount of polish, highest price). However, It does have some things going for it. First of all is convenience. I am sure you all have seen these pens at Walgreens or Target etc... So this is probably the most popular for nail art right now. Normally, I would definitely tell you to only go with the first two choices for nail art, however this pen is very easy to use/control. If your not the most artistic person in the world, then this would be a good choice for you. Especially if you only want to do a couple nail art dots or stripes every once and a while.

SUMMARY: worst value, easiest control, very convienent, only 11 colors

4. Nail Art Pen by Cina (.16oz)- $6

This pen pretty much stinks. The whole point of a nail art pen is that it can draw thin lines. This pen drew just about as thick as a regular nail polish brush... Sooo no point. Just as expensive as a polish and not useful as a nail art tool. Waste of $6! Oh well, learned my lesson.

SUMMARY: Too thick of lines, horrible value, just don’t buy it haha.

Technique: Argyle Tips

 This technique is a modern take on a classic pattern. The best part is... it’s pretty easy and doesn’t take long to do. Argyle is a cute preppy pattern, but also very detailed and usually needs to be perfect to look good. These tips only use a tiny portion of the pattern so it isn’t difficult at all!

The first step was obvi the base coat. I used a very sheer pink. I needed 4 coats of this pale pink Essie polish to get the color I wanted. I let this dry a loooong time before I did the next step.

Next was the taping! Since this is a look for your tips I had to be careful not to do a half and half diagonal. To do this I made sure that the tapes did not go corner to corner, but a little but higher than that. To the left is the diagonal tips in Mod Square by Essie (my favvvv pink right now).

Lastly was the dots in the opposite direction. The polish I used was Essie in Mint Candy Apple. I used a dotting tool for these diagonal dots so it was pretty easy. If you don't have a dotting tool you can use a pin head or bobby pin. Seche Vite top coat then I was done!

Below is the final look! I just looooove this look and I will most definitely wear it again!

|La