Graduation nail (art) school

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I am proud to announce I have finished my training and am now a certified Hand Painted Nail Art and Manicure technician! I did my graduation mani on my teacher, Severine. I was nervous or anxious, don't know. I thought about the design all night it seemed. You know, you have an idea but are unsure if it will turn out. And on a real person it is really important!

When I got to the studio it was very busy so I decided to make a display set with my idea while I waited for Severine. I knew I could use the "good polish"! So looked through blues and decided on a skittlette base of thumb (one coat OPI Keeping Suzi at Bay, topped with a China Glaze dark blue jelly glitter), index-middle (two coats Suzi) and ring-pinkie (two coats OPI Dining al Frisco). I canned the thumb idea for the real mani as the CG glitter was too old and basically useless. That is why I have forgotten the name! So the thumb in the real mani is Suzi.

Then I drew vertical lines in light blue, grey and white. The flowers are in two shades of pink with grey stamen/pistil and a white dot. As a signature accent I chose pink hearts with two darker hearts to represent her children. Seche Vite sealed the deal. I could not do any cuticle clean up as there was no non-acetone remover and the acetone would have ruined her acrylic tips (I did not do those!). But the lines were pretty neat. The mani turned out exactly how I envisioned it, so am very happy about that!

Since I had to wait quite a while I also did a quick snowflake type "inexpensive" nail design, and a silver fern. I couldn't really finish the silver fern as in the middle of it 1) Severine was ready to start and 2) her son knocked over the lamp and caused me to blur some leaves. But I kept it, but will probably do another for display. At home I would add some black holo polish to give the frond depth.

So that was my intensive course! Usually the course lasts a month with less hours a day and time off. But I didn't have that much time, and am pretty dedicated and disciplined when I set my mind to something. Of course, continual practice and mani experience is key but I feel I have a solid base of technique to get me going. This is a very affordable course in a country known for nail art. So..... If you are ever in Thailand, I highly recommend Severine!! The Nail Studio Pai (http://www.painailstudio.com).

Big hugs from me!! And ciao girls for now!

Eighth day nail art school

Hi girls! This is my second try at writing this. There is no internet so am writing offline but lost the first draft into some black hole of who-knows-where. Today, it seems, all I did was vertical lines. Practicing lines. Once you get the hang of it, it flows. It was my last display set today and I used lines.

I started with a base of Revlon Flirt, a candy type purple. Did the pinkie first and this would be a fab mani on its own: vertical stripes with flowers on top. (BTW notice how the Seche Vite caused shrinkage? Interesting...) I like this the best. In fact, from pinkie to middle I like and would make great accent nails or full manis. Am on the fence regarding the index finger, probably because of the white line. Might look better without. And the thumb started as a side French but got boring and now looks like I came too late to the World Cup Brazil party!

I did two pedi toe nail sets as well. The first used my own newbie Manshong turquoise blue! I also added a diagonal gradient green using a tiny piece of car sponge!

This looks a lot better in natural light. The turquoise-coral combo looks good and the yellow in mid flower is definitely noticeable. Didn't add any leaves this time. Really is very pretty. My second set was done directly on the white nail as it was getting really late and I wanted a French type display.

Each tip is in a different candy shop colour going diagonally in alternating directions. These were covered in navy blue and red "sparks" from the alternating sides. Cute and pop-py. So, another super big day. Tomorrow is my last "graduation" day and I will recap as well then.

Seventh day nail art school

Today was another long day, and a solo day. Was on my own. After warm up I finished my French bridal set. Added some light green leaves and rhinestones. I also added another light nude base on the under side of the clear display tip. Normally on a client I would have applied a soft nude to start and even out the nail bed.

The top coat evened out the white tip and roses. I am very happy with these. And, as usual, everything looks better from a distance. The studio LED lighting is harsh. Then I was to do another set with some flowers. I decided, since I had basically all day, to do a different floral idea on each nail. That could give clients some ideas.

I started with a base of Revlon Marmalade (ah! Finally a name!). A bright summery orange. Starting with the thumb, I kept updating my colours in different levels of depth to work on each nail. I think they all look like Hawai'ian shirts! Must admit, by the time I got to the pinkie nail I was a bit over it! Some have glitter specks, I kept one more monotone. Again, look great at normal arm's distance! Below are some detail pics of the nails. So girls, tomorrow is another day. Eyes are tired tonight.

Sixth day nail art school

Hi girls! Another full on day, and I didn't finish completely. After warm up I started in on new designs. Practiced on my pad before starting the first set. On the to-do list was a gradient with dolphins and palm tree. Neither are on my personal hit list but, hey, you'll never know what clients want.

The gradient is acrylic paint instead of polish, using a car sponge! Made for a very uneven surface, a polish base would have been helpful. And a smaller sponge. But who am I to question the schooling?! I added a glitter and top coat before continuing. Then the base of the dolphins and tree were drawn in black. The tree is a multipart endeavor for the feathering. It's a tad large, too.

White was added to the dolphins and then top coat. When dry the set goes on my board and I start a new set. Next on the list was freehand French as a bridal set using roses and rhinestones.

I ended up using white acrylic for the tips as the white polish was well beyond its use-by date, way too thick. Also, I would have applied a nude base before but, again, what do I know?! You can't top the white tip too much otherwise the tip is no longer white. Duh. So my design in the end will suffer but I think people will get it. My tips are nice, though, even and clean with simple strokes.

They were topped with a pale pink (I secretly topped up the white again, even though they thought it looked good). Then I started my roses. One each in white, then a fill in with different levels of pink. Then a second pink. Then time was up so I will finish tomorrow with leaves, pale background flowers and rhinestones (though I did place a couple of stones). Bye for now! x

Fifth day nail art school

Today was a very productive day! Altogether I now have five finished sets on my super deluxe display board. I plan on whipping up something snazzier for the future but for now this is pretty cool. Five different looks. I am bound in background colours by the box behind the desk, mainly Revlons. And mainly beige shimmers or reds. In my mind I want periwinkle blue, but alas, not possible.

First I finished the hearts from yesterday. Was brain dead on that one so practiced dotting with my brush and added some glitter. The hearts are pretty cute and I added depth with red on the pink, but not the best combo.

For my next set my homework was diamond flowers and the dragonfly (or whatever we will call it). I started with a diagonal duo of a lilac nude and purple. While that dried I mixed my colours. I was going for a tone-in-tone purple look. I wanted a different look on the board away from the yellows and greens.

I painted the diamond flowers in dark then added lighter inner petals. The leaves are two toned in green with green bits in the middle. I added the dragonfly on two fingers. This looks better live as the lighting in the studio is poor. Dabbed some silver glitter on, too. On to my last set for the day. Severine was dead set on me doing strawberries. I suggested apples as well (Otago being the apple capital). So we agreed on that one.

I wanted a light bright blue background but nothing was there. Didn't want yet another light green or white or nude. So tried a metallic blue from Revlon. By the way, none of the polishes have names, only numbers! Then I drew the apples and accent nail strawberries in deep red, added accents in dark brown and yellow. I really like my leaves! And the blue is not too bad, though could be lighter. Again, this looks better live. So that was day five! No idea that is on tomorrow - we will see! Ciao x

Fourth day nail art school

Today was a shorter day, and it went by quickly. I arrived later in the afternoon to homework prepared for me to do. I was sans teacher today. But I had my job to do: she wanted two full sets of nails and for me to practice dragonflies, hearts, lines and diamond shapes. And French tips. Well, that was not accomplished! By the time I had cleaned my station and done my warm up and some practice thirty minutes had zipped by.

My first full set was to be cherries - a totally fab for me to do with Central Otago cherry season and all that jazz. I used a lime green two toned background (first coat a full tone lime, second coat a light green shimmer). I mixed a deep red and drew cherries. Then, mixing black and brown, drew stems. 

The leaves were drawn in two-tone greens. I added highlights to the cherries and leaves and added random dots. Lastly, I dabbed on gold glitter. They look better in person (!), I am very happy with them and think they will be a real eye-catcher at the market and in the studio. I had zero concept for time so after drawing some practice dragonflies and flowers started my second set choosing an Orly (double yuck) MINI bottle of what turned out to be too old (= thick) yellow shimmer. Took forever to dry enough to work.

Severine wanted hearts so I did hearts. I draw hearts all the time so this was super fun using my new brilliant thin brush. I mixed dark pink and purple for the baby hearts. Then, all of a sudden, the Mr was there to pick me up. So I stopped and will continue tomorrow with lines and dots and don't know yets. Bye girls!