Starburst flowers on Essie Sable Collar

Hi girls! I had intended to do a last gel mani for the whole week but that did not want to do what I wanted. I need to tweak that polish and try again and then I will write about that experience. Do want to give the colour a second chance before I call up the relationship doctor! So, I decided to do an acrylic mani on a hardly used beautiful brown.

Now, I am also totally behind in posting this (waaaay too much jewellery to make this week - but I guess that's a good thing) and I had heaps of film marketing to do as well. I am right now on my fourth day with this and it still looks totally fab - NO chips! I just gave it a new top coat to be shiny for tomorrow and there are zero chippos. I wonder...... I decided to use my old tried and true China Glaze Strong Adhesive base coat this time. Over the past months I have been using Seche Clear, mainly because I bought a jumbo refill size. It never as felt as good as the CG. And here is the proof as this mani is still rockin'! That usually doesn't happen with SC.

I started with two coats of Essie Sable Collar, a warm rich chocolate brown with a shimmer. A velvety brown. I think this is a beautiful winter tone and it covers very well in two coats. Then I got out the acrylics and a small flat brush. I wanted to create overlapping starbursts.

First, I mixed yellow and white (and water) and applied all the yellow flowers. Such a simple design, just dip the end of the flat brush in the colour and then apply in a wheel spoke type pattern. I keep cleaning off the brush by wiping and squeezing it together with my fingers to keep the tip thin and tight. Then, using orange and white and water, I did the same with the next colour. And again with a very very peachy light. I added some white dots in the middle of the flower and wherever else I thought they should be!

right hand

Top coat really brought it all together and smoothed out the acrylics. I waited a bit before applying so that I wouldn't smear any of the paint. Acrylics dry fairly quickly, though. and if you hover over the nail with the top coat (vs really applying it with force) you usually don't touch the art.

So.... like I said, have been a busy bee. I thought of this new pendant design, called Cosmic Dandelion. I haven't put it on etsy or anything. Well, I just finished it and tomorrow is the market. Maybe I'll sell it. And if not, we are away soon on holiday so why bother with etsy for the time being. I really like it (duh...) and think it would be a great larger painting.

cosmic dandelion

I don't know how everyone artsy is out there but not everything I make I like super duper 100%. I like everything, but see room for improvement, or not even - just didn't jell. Then there are objects I really really like, it all came together and just pops. I usually price these higher so that I can stare at them longer. And if someone buys it, then at least I got a good price for it. Then there is all the bread-and-butter stuff that always sells and I keep making. My wee bracelets for instance. I don't even put those on etsy; just little hand drawn hearts in a delicate charm. Wish me luck for tomorrow - last market for a bit. Really going to miss it!

Fourth of July stripes and flowers

Happy 4th!! It is that red-white-and-blue time of year again. Last year I did a skittlette mani. After a year of practice and learning I feel a bit more creative and ambitious so did stripes and blue flower "stars". The mani definitely looks better from a far. The macro settings just makes the stripes look all wobbly!

The base is the gelicious French White gel polish that I wrote about in the last post. Since this is basically dry and finished after curing I started with the tape mani for the stripes. Two pieces of tape on each nail. The tips were then painted in Color Club Ruby Slippers, tape removed immediately. The great thing about the gel base is that I could go in with non-acetoner remover and clean up the stripes if a smudge went over the tape, or the tape line was not super clean. They still look wobbly, though. Ruby Slippers is a glitter based red, so the flecks of glitter get in the way sometimes.

Using acrylics and the one-stroke method I painted dark-light-blue flowers randomly on the lower part of my nails. I added some random Ruby Slipper dots in the middle of the flowers. I applied OPI Which is Witch? in the white stripe and also dabbed some glitter in the flowers.

Out the Door sealed the deal. Any acrylic work really pops after top coating. I did wait awhile, though, as didn't want to smear the stripes. So this is what I will be wearing at the market this Saturday and into next week. This afternoon I have a Glammy Mani birthday party for seven wee seven year old girls - how fun! They have asked for a rainbow colour selection, the birthday girl's fav colour is "magenta". How cool is that? Probably can't even spell it, but she knows what she likes!

right hand

Now that this is totally dry I have added a cured gelicious top coat to the mani. I did not file or scuff up the surface. I just totally cleaned my nails with alcohol - another tip: when you do this also press back the cuticle so that your cuticle line is freed up with a smidgen of space. That gives the gel some place to grip.
My reasons for this is that at the bday party I will be using polish remover on the wee girls and if I go to the market tomorrow (giant rain forecast, boo!), the same applies. This way I can use non acetone remover and have no worries that my nails will still look great!

Gelicious French White

White is a very unforgiving colour, at least on me. But I needed this base for my July 4th nail art and I decided to try out the gelicious French White for this. So this is just a quick photo op with the colour before I continued with the art.

Same procedure as always. This is two coats, then top coated. Coverage was very good in the second coat and the white is a good clear creamy one. Like I mentioned in another post, I would have a top coat reserved for whites and nudes. In fact, probably one each. If you notice on my pinkie, there is an ever so slight red taint to the white. That comes from the top coat residual red on the brush. Another option would be to wipe the brush off on a towel after use with a coloured polish (dunce, just thought of that). This is no fault of gelicious as it happens with other top coats, too. But here I am curing the polish on so feel like it should be perfect!

This is a great base for the art to come. Especially the acrylics just glide on the surface. And from a studio standpoint, this will be a great French tip white for gelled manis – and that would be another good base option for nail art or normal polish on top.

right hand

Gelicious mani breakdown

Following my last post I thought I would elaborate a bit more on the gelicious mani. I am in no way an expert. I did have a lot of questions when deciding on whether to do gel or not, and how it all works. So I thought I would document how I did my new gel mani today.

after non-acetone removal

after rubbing alcohol - 8 days old

Just to see how well my old mani was holding up - eight days (8) – I removed my nail art using non-acetone remover. This left the nails a bit cloudy or matte. So I soaked a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and swiped off my nails. This brought back the shine. I am really impressed at the mani after over a week. My middle finger is starting to split and there is some tip wear, otherwise great.

The next step was to remove all of the gel polish (alu foil method) and wash my hands. After all these weeks of gelling around, my naked nails still look pretty good. No peeling or chipping, no ridges, smooth, and pretty strong. Except for my middle fingers which seem to peel always. Must be in my genes.

Then I totally cleaned the surface of my nails on my left hand with rubbing alcohol. I tried to take a pic while they were still wet. The alcohol evaporates really quickly. I go over heaps. Don't be fooled by the tiny bottle. I buy the stuff by litre at the pharmacy and refill small bottles (much cheaper).

top before with polish on skin next to top left, bottom after clean up

Using thin thin strokes, I paint my nails - one nail at a time. It really isn't painting like normal polish, more squishing. I start towards the bottom of the nail and squish the brush downwards toward the cuticle and move it back and forth a wee bit (kind of like the one stroke flower method). I am trying to get a neat cuticle line. I pull the brush out towards the tip. You can keep going over this until it looks right. When done, clean up with the alcohol where you might have hit the skin and draw a better line if you are not happy with the cuticle line. If you take out too much, no worries. Just go back over with some polish. Anything goes until you cure.

< before, >after clean up

I seal the sides and tip by holding the brush vertical to the horizontal nail and push it against the nail. This will inevitably result in globs of polish under your nail. I don't want these I am prone to pick at them, causing the seal to break and the gel to loosen. Using the alcohol and the brush, I blend in the gel with the back of the nail. Smooth it around a bit.

When all four of my nails are done, I cure them for 30 seconds. I use a digital timer and their simple LED light. I have two for clients but only use the one for me. My method is to turn on the light, push the timer, put my hand in and when the 30 seconds beep I leave them in for another 5 seconds or so.

after curing the first coat

The first coat is the most important, I think, as that is when you set your cuticle lines. It also takes the longest to apply. Neat freak! The second coat is easier as you are just going over where you painted before. The second coat still takes take, though, as you need to seal the sides and tip and make sure you fully cover the first layer. Also to blend in the back of your nails to get rid of the blobs.

three fingers with second layer, index still with one

This layer is cured again and then the top coat is applied. With the top coat I go further down towards the cuticle to make sure the gel top coat can grab some natural nail. This helps the gel grip. I empty the brush as much as I can of top coat and then apply a very thin layer to the backs of my nails. This seals in the tips fully.
**** If you can afford it, my tip would be to have one bottle of top coat for whites and nudes, another for colours. I haven't done this yet and can see that the top coat is slightly tainted from the last mani of red. Hardly noticeable, but still.

After the topcoat is cured clean all the nails with rubbing alcohol. That seals it all, brings the shine and cleans the nail of residue. Done! This is gelicious French White and I will talk about that more in one of my next posts!

PANZ Challenge: Dressed Up Nudes

So exciting - a challenge. I like the idea of a challenge as it makes me think outside my usual pattern. I have been a bit lax on the ol' Crumpet challenges (bad llama) and want to get back into that. But, the super fun NZ polish group PANZ (polish addicts new zealand) are starting challenges off their cool new blog (new panz blog).

As you can see (and read) this challenge had to do with nudes and jazzing them up a bit. You could also bling them, but I'm not that into bling. You had to use your own designs, your own nails, have done it yourself, no archive manis allowed, one polish manis not allowed (love this one! no non-art manis!). I decided to do a tape mani with hand drawn flowers. I was on the fence a bit in doing a skittlette, so incorporated a bit of skittlette in the mani.

I started with a sheer nude base. Only one coat and you can see VNL shimmering through the stripes. That part is intentional! Then I taped and applied OPI Barefoot in Barcelona, a fab nude for me. Very close to my skin tone, or put it this way: warm like my skin tone. Just one coat as the polish is rather thick and the sheer base gave it something to latch on to. I let that dry, but no top coat. I did four fingers on my left hand and the thumb of my right. I manicured the rest of my nails in two coats of Barcelona.

Using a mix of brown and white acrylics I one stroked flowers on to the striped nails and to the tips of the "plain" nails. The first level of flowers was more white, the second level more brown. Then I added some light gold glitter in the middle of the flowers (OPI Spark de Triomphe). Top coat sealed the deal.

The whole mani looks very subtle, easy on the eye, but not boring. Thx PANZ for the idea, think it's great. I am looking forward to more challenge ideas in the future!

right hand

right thumb