Combo: Fall Flecks

So the whole point of this blog is that the nails *should* be easy enough for you to try yourself. I'm all about struggling through a manicure and then posting my tips/techniques/critiques so my readers don't have to suffer with what doesn't work like I did. However, sometimes I just find a nice combination of polishes that look good together that I want to share and then I think "wait a minute, that isn't a tip, technique or critique....so I can't post it"

Therefore, I decided to add a new type of post... From now on, "combo"s will be posts that are simple and to the point with what polish colors I found look good together. Or maybe it will be an old technique I've already posted about with a new combo of colors. So here is the first COMBO post!!
  
I did this combo because I thought it looked very Halloweeny! I love Halloween and October in general so why not start with the Halloween nails a little early. Besides it's not like I'm painting a pumpkin on my thumb nail. Pretty fall flecks:
  

I have used this glitter polish before in this technique. It's funny how flakie polishes look completely different depending on what sort of base coat you use. On the technique linked above, the flakie glitter I used (Luxe and Lush) looks more diamondy and blueish silver. On the black I used in this combo it looks orange and green... Almost like copper metal flakes embedded in clear polish. Perfect for pumpkins! And on top of the black polish I think the glitter stands out more. Very Halloweeny/Fall like.

I hardly ever wear black polish so the base coat I used is just the solid black I've had for years. It's Beguiling Black by Maybelline Express Finish. Still worked pretty good though!

This is another polish that looks like orange glitter flecks when you paint it on a dark color. I know the polish looks pink but the glitter looks orange and green.

week 1= TAPING

WEEK 1 of the 52 WEEK CHALLENGE!!

So the first week started this Monday (10/1) and the theme is TAPING! I have done this technique here and here on this blog before. I liked my splatter nails from the weekend SO much that I couldn't part with them just yet. Sooooo I just used them as the base :)

First I taped up my nails. I didnt really use any sort of pattern. Just did one strip of tape on each nail. Made the strips pretty thick so you could see the splatter design. Sorry the tape is kind of hard to see...

Then I painted on the gold color(Go for the Gold by Essie) that I used for the splatter.

Here is the final pic:

So here is a quick list of TIPS FOR TAPING that I have learned along the way:

1. Your base coat must be COMPLETELY dry. Otherwise it will be picked up by the tape when it is removed.

2. If you are worried about the base coat coming off with the tape, stick the tape once on your skin before applying it to the nail. This will make it less sticky, but hopefully still sticky enough to stay on your nail.

3. Remove the tape as soon as you paint on top of it. I usually tape one whole hand, paint one nail, remove tape, paint one nail, remove tape... etc. Then repeat with the other hand.

4. Make the lighter color the base color and the darker color the top coat. If you want the top color a light color you have to make sure it is opaque. You can't really wait for 3 coats to dry to take off the tape.

5. If you are using thin strips of tape, try to pre-cut them before applying. It is quite difficult to use a scissors with taped nails :) Below is how I had the stripes laid out for this one. I cut more than 10 just in case I didn't like some of the sizes.

So there you have it. Quick tips to taping and the start of a year of fun nails weekly!!

52 week challenge... 1 new style every week!

I am super super excited because I found r/RedditLaqueristas at the perfect time. They are just starting a new 52 week challenge!!!

Basically, for 1 year, there will be a different theme to every week (i.e. a color, a technique, or "inspired by...") and a new chance to share the nails you created. It sounds like a lot of work, but I am going to try my best to keep up! I am super excited about it. I will probably not blog every nail design I do from the challenge, but I think it is great for inspiration! If anything I may just post a single pic with a "week #=..." title. Feel free to join along with me in the 52 week challenge.

Wahoo! Yay for having ambitious nail goals :)

Week 1 theme is taping. I'll post my nails in a little bit.

Technique: Splatter Nails

So this was my first try at splatter nails. I used this tutorial, so I am just going to do a quick summary of what I learned while trying this technique.

I started with a dark purple base coat (2 coats). This one is No More Film by Essie. (I just love Essie polishes so much!) It looks almost black, but I wanted a good contrast with the splatter so this was perfect.

Below is a pic of my set up. (The gold is Good as Gold by Essie). Basically I just used a plastic straw cut in half (you have more control over the straw if it is short) and a dime/nickel size amount of polish on a plastic plate. You really need a good amount of polish to dip the straw in for this to work. I had to keep replenishing my pile of polish throughout the splattering process.

So instead of going into detail about the process (tutorial is linked at the top) I will just point out some things I learned from doing this the first time…

The below order of operations worked best for me:

1.  Paint all nails with base color. 
2.  Tape around nails of one hand. One tape on bottom, 2 on sides.

3. Splatter with other color. (Good as Gold by Essie)

4.  Splatter lightly with base color. (No More Film by Essie)
5.  Carefully take off tape.
6.  While waiting for first hand to dry, clean up polish on skin with brush/Q-tip and nail polish remover.
7.  Repeat steps 2-6 on other hand.

Some Tips:

- TAPE AROUND YOUR NAILS FIRST. Below, pic A shows how bad the splatter gets all over your hands without tape. Pic B shows how much nicer it was pre-cleanup.

pic A: after splatter (no tape)

 pic B: after tape, pre-cleanup

- You need a layer of polish at the bottom of the straw for the splatter to work. If you are blowing through the straw and no polish is coming out, then you probably need more polish in your dipping pile. The polish will only splatter out of the straw if the hole of the straw is completely covered in polish. The below pics show what will and will not work.

- Don’t blow to close to the nail. The end of your straw should be about 5 or 6 inches from your nail. If the straw is too close you will just get a big blob of polish.

- Use contrasting colors. You can even use multiple colors instead of just 2, but I think a really dark and fairly light combo looks best!

So there you have it. I am just in LOVE with this look! Definitely will do this technique again!

Technique: Missoni Gradient

This Technique was inspired by the Missoni Print. Below is a swatch of Missoni pattern for reference. My rendition almost looks a little easter egg-ish, but oh well!

For my base, I started out with thisa yummy yellow-green color (Fiercely Fiona by OPI).

then I did my first zig-zagged line as close to the top as a could. Almost like a zig-zag french! For all the lined detail I used a Nail Art Polish called "Magical Nail" by max Makeup Cherimoya. You can get like 12 of them for $15 on amazon. This one is Lavender.

Next color I used was Miss Sergeant. This one I tried to draw as close to the first line as I could, bit still leaving some space between.

Next, I used Blood Diamond. This one is much more spread out.

And lastly, to make it look more like a gradient, I filled in the yellow triangles on my nail tips with this blue color, Neon Aqua.

Tada! My try at a Missoni Gradient. I think if I do this again, I will try using tan as the base color and try to make the zig-zag more vertical. Then maybe it would look less easter eggy haha.

Technique: lace + mint

So a couple months ago, I kind of just gave up on blogging. I was being way too much of a perfectionist about it and wouldn’t post nails/pics unless they were flawless. It started to get really frustrating and time consuming; not at all what I started the blog for in the first place. However, I recently came across reddit.com/r/RedditLaqueristas and instantly became inspired. The positivity and enthusiasm on the site has motivated me to keep polishing and keep blogging- sans perfection. So who cares if I couldn’t perfect this next technique. At least I gave it a shot :)

So this technique is supposed to look like a corner of lace.. but I did it quite fast so it didn’t turn out the best. I actually think I should have stopped after the first set of dotting but it still looks pretty, even if you can’t tell its lace.

I started with 2 coats of this pretty mint polish (Re-Fresh Mint by China Glaze). I’ve noticed that for mint polishes they always look a little darker on your nails than in the bottle. So when picking out a mint, pick a little lighter shade than you want. This one almost looks pastel blue in the bottle, but is a perfect mint on my nails.

For the start of my accents (only did 3 nails each hand) I made a little cloud looking shape in the corner of my nails. I used a French manicure pen for this because I felt it gave me more control for the half circles than a brush would. I had to color the clouds in twice because the French manicure polish in the pen is pretty thin.

Next, to give it more of a frayed lace look, I dotted around the edges of these little humps. I’m thinking this step could be skipped if you use a color other than blue for your base coat. I did this to make it look less like clouds and more like lace.

For the next step of the lace look, I used a dotting tool. I’ve heard of some people also using pins stuck in erasers, works the same I would assume. Basically, I started by putting 3 small dots under each “hump”.  I think this is enough to make it look like lace, but I was feelin’ fancy so I added some more dots and hearts.

Here is the final look with a coat of Seche Vite. I planned on adding a matte coat, but I did a top coat of Seche Vite first to level out the dots/designs. At the top is the final look with the matte coat. I think the matte made it look more like lace, but the shinny coat looks nice too!

Yay for polishing and posting again!! I’m excited :)

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!