Water marbling - nail art

Since moving away from Queensland, my nails just haven't been the same. My new salon in Sydney charges a fortune for any art (even if I provide the materials) or coloured acrylic. Consequently, I've had to resort to maintaining a simple French manicure style. I have changed the nail shape - from a big chunky square edge to a more refined point/oval - but the essence of my daggers remains!

I've been in search of a way to use my large collection of nail lacquers and art materials to brighten up my precious talons. After discovering the water marbling technique via various nail blogs and YouTube videos, I decided to give it a shot for myself. I had seen several examples with similar colours and shades with a melding effect but I wanted something more bold and bright.

First attempt: Groovy Swirls
OPI The "It" Colour (yellow)
OPI A Roll In The Hague (orange)
OPI Purple With A Purpose (purple)

I'm quite fond of this colour combination, but the opacity of the yellow started to bother me, being able to see the white French tip underneath.














Second attempt: Pelagic Patterns
China Glaze Four Leaf Clover
OPI Teal The Cows Come Home
OPI Blue My Mind
China Glaze White on White

I thought the blue green hues would add a nice blended effect. Using white in a marble can be quite hit and miss - dark colours (such as black) can bleed in to the white and create a grey tone, or, the white can be so thin and translucent you simply lose the effect altogether. Again, the white French tip is visible with this combination which detracts from the effect. Oh, and it's been commented that these colours make it look like I've smooshed toothpaste on my nails!


Third attempt: Pink Candy
OPI Cha-Ching Cherry
OPI Ate Berries In The Canaries
China Glaze White on White

I really am a girly girl when it comes to pinks lately. The slight variation in pink and red hues here blend very well, and the white adds that crisp pattern. You may notice too that my acrylic infils have been done entirely in CND's Warm Pink (Opaque). I figured there was no point paying that $10 extra per month for French tips when I'm only going to be covering over them. Plus, they look fine on their own without any other colour.










HINTS AND TIPS:

• always use filtered water in your marbling, just to ensure it's as clean as possible
• vaseline around the finger seems to be the most effective way of preventing all the excess lacquer from sticking to the skin. Also, a very thin layer is sufficient (as opposed to the massive slick I applied when first testing out the method).
• don't topcoat the nail too soon after marble application - it will cause the lacquers to melt and bleed
• metallic lacquers do work but not as well as a solid colour. I'm yet to try any glitter lacquers but I can't see they would work well at all

The cheat's Tiramisu

Last week I reinvigorated my cake decorating skills to make a three layer (single tier) birthday cake for two colleagues. There was plenty of left over sponge, and that sponge which had been trimmed to level off each layer. So, rather than waste it, I froze it, figuring I'd find something to make with it at a later day. Well that day came today.

I've always been a fan of a rich, strong Tiramisu, but I rarely have the time or inclination to make a full dish from scratch. So if you're like me and want to find the quick and easy way to make things, here's the recipe (minus quantities as I do!) for you!

Brew some good quality coffee and allow it go cold. Mix in some Frangelico and Kahlua to taste.

Tear off a chunk of the sponge and place in the bottom of the bowl/glass. Pour over some of the coffee mixture to allow the sponge to go nice and soggy. Add some crumbled bits of Milk Coffee biscuits on top (I was hoping this would add some crunch to the Tiramisu but it just added to the sponge density with the absorption of the coffee - oh well).

Using Philadelphia Cream for Desserts, spread a nice even layer over the top of the sponge/biscuit. Pour a little coffee mixutre on top to ensure the flavour is strong.

Repeat the process starting with another layer of sponge, and finally finish with Cream and some crumbled biscuit and sponge bits.

Dig in and enjoy!

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!!