The Nail it Good: 2014

So this is a new thing I'd like to do.. There are some things I'd love to mention, but I'm worried it would make my nail art posts too long. So instead, I've made a new section to talk about trends and things that's happening in the nail art scene. Before I sound too legit for my liking, bear in mind that I'm writing this as a fellow nail art enthusiast, and I don't claim to be an expert in any way - I just like sharing my favourite things with you.

And as the title suggests, today's trend watch is about the watercolour effect. Not as over-done as the galaxy nails, but it's one of those techniques that people claim "You can't screw up!" but I'm pretty sure it could go very wrong. As I've still got gelish on my nails and not enough free time to remove them and have them done immediately after (I can't go out with naked nails!), I'll post this before I attempt to try the technique out for myself.

Main inspiration picture is this one here:

Source: Will Paint Nails for Food

My sister sent it to me on whatsapp and I was like I NEED TO SHOW THIS TO PEOPLE. Most usually use the watercolour technique to fill the whole nail and give it a splotchy canvasy type of look (you know what I'm talking about), but Meghan draws adorable daisies instead. Plus the little blue highlights at the edges of the nail make the white space less harsh, making it really look like she stuck someone's watercolour painting on her nails. Overall I was like NEEEEEEED THIS. Gorg gorg gorg.

And then there's this beauty:

Source: Nail Common

This time it's on gelish, and I'm also guessing that they put layers of top coat between patches to make it look like they're on top of each other. Gives it more depth that way, instead of the layers looking ultra flat like Meghan's. Somehow I'd imagine this as a good wedding manicure - it's got that great mix of delicate and timeless. Plus the little patches of glitter which you almost miss makes it look so ethereal. Crazy pretty. Can't even.

And of course, there's this:

Source: Chalkboard Nails

Smoke. Seriously. It's smoke. Super timely since it's Halloween soon, and even if it wasn't I'd want this on my nails. She's got a tutorial going as well, which takes you through the whole process. If you ain't got time to watch it, here's a light breakdown:

Get your base coat and black colour done, then seal it with good top coat
Draw horizontal streaks of white across your nail (one nail at a time, please!)
Dip a brush in 100% acetone and rub lightly on the white polish, making the colour thin and spread out
Apply till you're happy

Amazingly simple for something that looks so complex. It's the same method if you want a manicure like Nail Common's, only you drop the coloured polish in dots and use the brush with acetone to thin it out.

Also, you can do the same with acrylic paint and water, in place of polish and acetone. That way there's lesser chances of you screwing up your base colour if you put too much acetone.

Hopefully I've got time to spare during the weekend, and then I'll try it out for myself.

Till then, toodles!

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Adventures in gelish

8:48 PM

Man, I've missed you guys. Since I don't understand the concept of free time any more, I'm going to challenge myself to blog once a week again (crazy, I know!). If I don't have time to do my nails, I'll be talking about manicures out there that I'm crazy about. The list is exhaustive, so I figured it wouldn't be hard to start.. I'm a huge fangirl when it comes to other professional and casual manicurists out there *giggles.

But for now, I want to show you the first nail art I've ever done using gelish! Went over to Alicia's house to attack her dogs (and get attacked back) and also try my hand at this gelish thingy. I've been pretty resistant to learning gelish mostly because of the money it would involve in building a collection of colours as wide as my normal polishes. But of course, gelish is the international standard of manicures now. Personally, I have no need for gelish because I get tired of my own nail art pretty quickly, so I enjoy something easily removable. I can't claim to offer gelish manicures yet, but perhaps before the year is out, I'll have a good enough collection to do so!

But in the meantime, here's Alicia's manicure:

More than a year ago, I did her nails with normal polish. Click here to view it. Whenever I look at old manicures I did, I cringe a little. I mean, that brushwork is terrible and I apologise ): But what I really want to point out is how gelish helped her nails to grow out without breakage. I laughed for a good whole minute when she said "MY LEAVES CAN HAVE DETAIL?!". I mean, check out how long it is now:

Unfortunately, I assumed painting with acrylic paint over the gelish base would work fine, but it peeled off easily. On hindsight, it makes sense since the acrylic doesn't actually cure and stick to the gelish proper.. I was just silly hahahaha.

Thoughts on using gelish for the first time: It didn't take as long as I thought it would! Especially good for people who tend to mess their manicure midway. The curing of each layer of gelish takes 1.5mins, and I did the entire manicure in about half an hour. Of course, the next time I paint, I'll be using proper gelish colours...

As a side note, I did my own nails before I did Alicia's and I was not used to how quickly it dried. I was picking up brushes very slowly and she'd be yelling at me about how it's already completely dried. My brain was like NO NOT DRY HOW CAN. But yeah, it was pretty awesome...

Not proud of this, but then again I did everything under 15mins. The heart's all off centered, but then again so are our real hearts. Much deep.

And that's all I wanted to show you! Gonna head off to class now.. I was supposed to be using this break to study but I thought hey, I miss this blog.

Toodles.

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Alpine Snow

2:43 AM

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Happy National Day!

12:26 AM

I almost refuse to say Happy Birthday Singapore because of reasons, so therefore I wish you a Happy National Day! I'm really only mildly patriotic; I love my country but I'm not one to go all out. Although, I'm in the bus to work right now wearing red and white (it's the work attire today, alright?!).

Since I'm on an iPhone 5 right now, I thought I'd check to see how good the pictures look on my blog. Since this manicure is a real simple one, I wanted to put up just a few pictures.

I think it's the first time that all my nails have mismatched designs... It's also the first time I've used nail polish for my entire design in a long time (I usually use poster colour for the design part). The white is OPI's Alpine Snow, the international standard for white that's actually white. The red was a gift from my colleague who bought one of those huge Ciaté sets from Sephora after Christmas, and it made me fall in love with Ciaté all over again.

Don't think I've mentioned this before, but Ciaté has a tendency to create semi-transparent jelly colours. Just like how Essie is synonymous with pastel shades, Ciaté does the jelly polish really well. To get the true colour of a jelly polish, most will run a white base colour under it. My shade of red is Boudoir, and even with 2 coats, you can see the white of the tips of my nails on my ring finger. Also, their brush is to die for. I didn't need cuticle cleanup on my ring and pinky finger.

I have to admit, you'll only see pictures of my right hand because my left isn't painted yet (I didn't have enough time to do them both...hehe..?)

I've wanted to try drawing those peppermint swirl candy patterns on my nails since 2 Christmases ago, and I think I did a good job with my thumb. Then my middle finger screwed up... It's off centre, but I figured I'd leave it there. Somehow I like the way it turned out.

Like I said, I really am wearing red and white today. I've also been on the lookout for new brushes to use for cleanup. I am currently using a concealer brush from Sasa, and it's bristles are getting a little too soft to clean the excess polish around my cuticles. Been hearing good things about Elf's counterpart, so I'll prolly get one of those and tell you guys what I think. It's bristles are slightly stiffer so it makes for a more accurate clean up.

And that's it for now! I've got 2 exams next week, so I don't even know if I'll finish painting my other hand properly or leave it bare. The week after that is the semester break, so I'll have more time to talk polish. Till then!

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Mind Your Mittens

6:24 AM

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Back for a little while

9:58 AM

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Assortedness

3:11 AM

I couldn't find my camera for the past 3 days, and I was getting ready for the worst when I realized my sis is on a project which requires her to take pictures - so the camera was with her this whole time. Silly me. I thought I'd lost it in the mountain of mess that is my work table. Seriously, it's embarrassing how messy it is.

If you saw my instagram, you would've seen my picture of the NCLA wraps that I got (Reflect Yourself). Here's a shot of how they look on me:

Bear in mind that I've had these on for a week now, and I am EXTREMELY IMPRESSED. I mean, I work 5 days a week at Lush, which includes numerous product demos, washing of hands, handling of the cashier, and look at the state of the nail wraps. And did I meantion, I'm not even wearing any top coat on them? The only tears are really small ones at the tip of my nails, and a slight fade as well.. But I'm really impressed.

To me, NCLA beats Nail Rock, Sally Hansen, and Loreal's nail wraps by a league. Nail Rock and Sally Hansen only lasted a week on my nails -- although Sally Hansen's wraps are the easiest to apply because they're the thinnest (you don't even need to file off the excess sticker, just a tug and it tears off). I really, really didn't like Loreal's. They were crazy thick, and I couldn't file them off at all. They're also extremely sticky, so readjusting them was near impossible. Just a huge no no for me. But NCLA, well done man.

My only issue with NCLA was that the patterns on the wraps aren't that sharp. It just irked me that it looks low-rez from up close -- however, it's something only the wearer will notice, most of my friends tell me they look really good, which they do. Other than that, I'm definitely making a second purchase. Maybe I'll put on the Madeline Poole selection next. I adore her. When I grow up, I want to be Madeline Poole. Yes.

And I owe you guys pictures of the manicures I did in the week before CNY! This isn't everyone though.. I missed out Felicia and Rayna's nails. Forgot to take pictures of them )':

The first set is Janice's -- you may remember her as the lady behind these nails (the lace ones, not the egg ones). We went mismatch this time, there's literally no one look we went for. She showed me a few pictures for inspiration, we picked the colours, and off we went. Truly unique.

Mel wanted pineapples on her nails, and I thought that'd be the cutest thing ever. Simple white base with cute little pineapples - reminded me of a pineapple skirt she got from H&M. I'm want them on my nails now.

Yes, we literally stood against a wall to take these pictures hahaha. These are Cheryl's nails, and she wanted the same design as the one I had previously with the stripes and roses. Super elegant, and I was pretty surprised to find that I did them in about an hour - quicker than when I did them on my own nails.

Both Felicia and Yi Jun wanted the daisy manicure, and these are Yi Jun's hands. Seriously they never go wrong no matter how short you keep your nails.

These are Astrid's adorbz manicure. I completely forgot what the characters stand for, but they go along the lines of 'Whatever it is in your heart, may it come true' -- correct me if I'm wrong, sorry if I messed it up! I thought it was the loveliest phrase and tried my best to not screw up the characters, and I think they turned out pretty neatly. We added cherry blossoms, gold coins, oranges, and even a horse to the mix (it's on her thumb).

And these were for my good friend Jeremy's sister, Valerie. She wanted something that wasn't too eyecathing as she works in the healthcare sector, so they were florals on a nude base. For some reason my camera made the white look beige and I have no idea how to edit it so it looks like it does in real life. Noob me.

And that's all the pictures I have for now! I bought a new Essie colour lately, and I'll prolly do my nails with them tonight.. But for now I'm going to get off my com because Wrath of the Titans is on TV.

Ttyl <3