Recent nail art - an imagefest!

So, I'm making up for lost time here..... a spam-a-thon of nail art images and their product descriptions....
(I'm hoping this begins to generate some new nail art followers through the blog directly and via my twitter feed, @gissy_manda.)

For the record, most of my nail colours are OPI, essie, Maybelline, butter LONDON, orly, ibd and China Glaze lacquers, and ibd Just Gel or CND Shellac.

 

I was given a set of Manicare GlamNails nail art pens for Christmas and thought they'd make a lovely squiggle feature on these nails. Unfortunately the pens didn't set. I didn't apply a top coat either, but I suspect a wet pen mark would just smudge under a top coat.

ibd lacquers "She's Blushing" and "Black Lava" with OPI Matte Top Coat and Manicare GlamNails art pens

 

Hand painted fluoro leopard prints. Easy to do even with an unsteady hand.

Fluoro leopard spots using a variety of ibd lacquers

 

ibd Just Gel colours are easy to layer and create art. No colour bleeding and opaque enough to create a strong contrast.

idb Just Gel nailart using a dotting tool

 

I've found ibd Just Gel to be one of the easiest LED set gel colours available. The brush is plastic, which isn't always preferable, but with the consistency of this gel, the application is always smooth and flawless.

ibd Just Gel "Luck of the Draw" with sticker art

 

Like most nail art addicts, I've become a Born Pretty Store convert for my water decals! These are style G130

ibd lacquer "Smokey Plum" with water decals

 

I'm still trying to master sponged gradient. Perhaps my colour choices are wrong, or my application to the sponge is incorrect, but, this is one of the best attempts I've had.

OPI lacquers "Teal the Cows Come Home", "Blue my Mind", "Purple with a Purpose" and Essie lacquer "Secret Stash"

 

I don't have the details to hand about the lacquer colours here, but a single base coat was applied with random orange sponging over top. The stripes were achieved using thick black acrylic paint.

Tiger Stripes lacquer nail art

 

I first learned of Dollar Nail Art when I was looking for a reliable foil supplier. I'm always happy with the result of foil. They adhere well to tacky CND Shellac, or the provided adhesive, and they seal well with either CND Shellac Top Coat or ibd Just Gel Top Coat.

foil nail art

 

I love this effect - it looks so much like Azurite with Chalcopyrite veins (that's my inner geologist talking there!) This effect was achieved by painting a blue base coat ("Keks" is an awesome not-quite-matte colour, with a rubber look - you have to try it to see what I'm talking about!) and dropping black lacquer in to a cup of water, as if for marbling. Then spray the black surface with hairspray and watch the black spread and break. Dip the nail. Highlight with gold glitter lacquer.

butter LONDON "Keks" with idb "All that Glitters" and "Black Lava"

Nail art updates

After yet another hiatus in posts, I thought I'd present a compilation of my recent nail art attempts so you get to see them all in one go.

Christmas water marbling. As with the previous water marbling post a three colour marble was achieved using China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover", China Glaze "White on White" and OPI "MINNIE RANGE RED." I make note of a very important point here - the China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover" causes significant yellow staining on my acrylic nails, despite the nails being sealed with CND's Shellac UV Top Coat.

China Glaze "Mrs Claus"
This is a beautiful colour - one coat is a sheer pinky glitter, two coats and it turns a deep salmon red colour. I've not attempted a third coat to see just how red it can turn, probably because even at two coats it's near impossible to remove (since I don't want to use an acetone polish remover because of the acrylics.)

This is one of the few acrylic enhancements I've received from the salon I go to in Sydney. I was eligible for two free nail arts because of the client reward system, so I extended the 2 nails to all ten. This is CND's latest release called "Additives". The fine gold powder is gently pressed on to Shellac UV Top Coated nails as they come out from under the lamp. The thicker the powder, the more solid the colour. Another top coat was applied over the Additive.

Base acrylics - CND Warm Opaque Pink.
I found some old Revlon decals in my nail art stash, so I tipped each nail with them, and then lightened up my ring fingers with some lacquer dots.

China Glaze "White on White" with an OPI "Black Shatter" overlay. I loved this effect - stark, bright and bold. And matched pretty much any outfit.

OPI "A Roll In The Hague" with OPI "Black Shatter" overlay. This combination didn't turn out as bright as I'd hoped, but it would  make an excellent pattern for Halloween.

Because of the wide stiletto tips I have my nails filed too, I thought about adding some art to highlight the shape. And what better feature than little strawberries on the tips! This shot is from the first attempt and I have tried a few times since with neater results. But you get the idea! Just note, this used that horrid China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover" green, so when I removed the lacquer I had yellow stain marks on the acrylic. I cannot emphasise enough how disappointed I am with this colour.

I think my inner child guided me to this nailart - it was Easter long weekend and upon reflection, these seem to look like something which would have appeared in the Cadbury Joyville advert! Base colour is OPI "Purple With A Purpose", white dots are achieved using a dotting tool and China Glaze "White on White."

If you know anything about me, you'll know I have thing for leopard print. So, I couldn't resist attempting painting my own leopard pattern. This was achieved using China Glaze Magnetix "You Move Me" as the base, and just a cheap black lacquer I found in my stash!

Nail Art Trials

Since the TieDye Surprise nail art discovery, my fascination with different nail art products and techniques has taken over. The delivery of Dollar Nail Art products kept staring at me, asking to be played with! So, I obliged. In the week leading up to my monthly nail infill appointment, a couple of my acrylics snapped off, so I used the natural nail beneath to practice the application of some foils and new lacquers. The results are below:

OPI "Ate Berries in the Canaries" lacquer covered with Rose Frost foil applied in random patches. I learned that when applying a top coat over foil, it's best to quickly apply the first coat, and not drag the brush too slowly along the foil. It causes some colour transfer to the top coat brush. The second top coat doesn't experience this issue. Also, using a UV top coat doesn't seem to cause the foil colour transfer.

OPI "Purple with a Purpose" lacquer covered with Laser Optics foil attempted to be applied in one straight sheet (didn't quite work out that way!)

OPI "Purple with a Purpose" lacquer topped with OPI Gold Shatter. Learning the right application for the Shatter isn't as easy as it looks. I'm still working out the best thickness and coverage to use, for both the Gold Shatter and the Black which I have. But I can say for certain that Shatter must be applied over freshly dried lacquer for the effect to take. I had tried applying Shatter directly on top of an old UV set top coat and it simply painted on like a thick, gluggy lacquer without any crackling occurring.

OPI "Purple with a Purpse" lacquer with White AB Ice Chips applied over the top.

I also had play with Sparitual "Bon Appetit" lacquer with some copper nugget on Mum's nails. The effect is great, but I still have to work out the best way to apply and build the nuggeting for either a total coverage or a pattern,




And the piece de resistance ... my latest set of acrylics:

These are CND Shellac in "Black Pool" with Dollar Nail Art Roman Marble foil over the top, and CND Shellac Top Coat. Most nails were foil covered in one piece, except my thumbs which required an application in two halves (top and bottom).

Nail Art & Pretty Bits

Those of you who are associated with my twitter or Facebook accounts, or even me in person, would know that for years now my nails have been like my signature. The sheer length and size of them seems to attract comments such as "how do you do anything with those?" Well, after having acrylic nails for eight years I can tell you that I don't notice them - they are part of me and I've adapted to doing every daily chore without issue (well, except for opening the laundry trough cupboard, but I blame the magnet for that since I'm not the only person in the house who has troubles with it!)

Most recently my nail technician moved from doing french tip style nails on me to doing some full nail cover art. My first full cover was a CND Shellac "Rock Royalty" covered with a TieDye Surprise foil. The foil was applied in random patches as opposed to the full sheet effect. The nail was sealed with the CND Shellac Top Coat.

I became totally fascinated with the foil so I did a little internet searching. Having seen the vial my nail tech had containing the foil it was quite easy to identify the real product when I found the online supplier Dollar Nail Art. This is one of the greatest sites containing nail pretties and it's fair to say I became blinded by all the sparkly bits!

So, a friend of mine (also consumed by nail pretties) and I split an order of products from Dollar Nail Art. The haul cost $39, inclusive of postage and was delivered (from the US) within a week of placing the order. I was mightily impressed! We picked up stock of laser lace, nuggets, foil, glitter, ice chips and flats.

So here's the breakdown of the products above:

Purple and Gold Butterfly Flats, and Metallic Pink and Gold Heart Flats

Laser Lace in lime, raspberry, gold and sky blue.

Nuggets - Gold, Silver and Copper

Ice Chips in White AB, Fuchsia and Sky Blue

Foils: Gold Dots, Laced Gold, Roman Marble, Elven Gold, Gold Crush

Foils: Ocean Mist, Rainbow Swirls, TieDye Surprise, Silver Dots

Foils: Majestic Tides, Aegean Tides

Foils: Peach Burst, Rose Frost

Foils: Firelight, Laser Optics

Pastel Glitter: Green Pearl

There are some more blog posts coming up showing how these products have been used. Until then, enjoy the sparkly bits here!!

My stance

So I'm feeling a tad bit lost lately. Perhaps I'm now more lonely than ever. The last couple of days have had a strange impact on me - I've wanted to get out and about; I need to talk, to interact, to socialise in a real sense. All this online chat just doesn't have the scope for experience and sensation anymore. But I wont drop to another level to fulfill the feelings I need.

I like my luxury. I like my name brands which supposedly represent luxury. It's comfort to me... and in no way intimidating. There's nothing wrong with a little (or lot of) class or style or quality. I wont apologise for that.

Don't get me wrong, I don't flaunt the brand thing, and declare ownership of such things in an extroverted and promotional nature. But you can't even pretend to compare what it's like under a damask cover when you don't even have a valence on your own bed!

I was recently advised to put on a front, to polish up the facade in being nice to people and pretending all is well (which I actually take as an insult suggesting that I'm not nice to people in the first instance - but that's a whole other story). I can't do that - at least not for the sake of fitting in. It's just like being back in school - fake it to make it. No, that's not how life is meant to be. I wont lie to myself, and henceforth I wont lie to other people.

It just seems that now I've put the walls up higher and deeper. I really am tired of just doing as per others, for their convenience and my acceptance. If I have to hang about in my own solitude for a little longer, so be it. What comes in the end will be worth it, and more than anyone has ever shown before. And in the meantime, all the more goose down quilt for me to snuggle under!

Classic!

What do you think of when you hear the word 'classic'? Does it conjure up images of shiny metal car bonnets with big glistening headlights?

How about an orchestral symphony with the finest instruments?

Or do you just get a visual transformation of all things to black and white?

To me, classic reflects style - something which hasn't dated, and wont date. I found myself engrossed in many things which I would consider to be classic and stylish today whilst reading The Australian's WISH magazine. This month's magazine is based in New York, the 'city that never sleeps' and a location which is promoted as the epitome of fashion, class and making/breaking dreams. Having never been to NY I cannot pass comment, however I will grant the city on being one of great imagery, enthusiasm and encouragement for the grand and divine. It appears to be a world of growth and change, diversity and tradition. I know nothing of the streets, buildings or facilities, but if you mention the name to me, I will always see the black dress of Hepburn and the little blue box of Tiffany. Now that's style which is classic!