The Nail it Good

Back in business

9:23 PM

It's been more than just a while. I think it's been about 4 months since my last post actually. Plus, my last post was just about bloglovin. I've got some explaining to do..

Since starting my part time job, I've been busier than I had anticipated. School + CCA was already enough, but I needed an income - however small it may be. Long story short, I didn't have enough me time.

There was once when I tried painting my nails again, but I didn't feel entirely in the mood for it. Looking back, I think you could say I was uninspired.

But now I'm back to blogging, this I promise. I've even returned to my old habits of uploading photos to a post, saving as draft, and writing the rest of it while I'm on public transport. I'm usually writing these posts while I'm on my way to school, but this time, I'm on my way to work.

While I'm on a more personal note, I also want to say that I was elated when I checked out my blog stats yesterday. I had posted a short Instagram video on my latest nail art, and I think that made quite a large number of people check my blog too - perhaps expecting a post. To be honest, I had not checked in to blogger for almost as long as I hadn't posted anything, so to find that people are still checking on my blog every once in a while was a pretty good feeling. More than just pretty actually - it was a very good feeling.

And now on to my nail design! They didn't turn out the way I had imagined them to, but they look pretty nonetheless.

I got up in the morning yesterday to buy a set of acrylic paint, because I knew that it was something I should've done a long time ago. Painting with polish is a little tougher, because you have to constantly refill your palette because the polishes keep drying of course. Plus, with acrylics, I can finally try my hand at one-stroke nail art, which you'll see more of once I've gotten the hang of it!

A few days ago I was checking NCLA's website for new arrivals. I'm a huge fan of their nail wraps (even though I've never tried them on myself), because they look AMAZING. I saw a design I hasn't noticed before: Flash Fete. It's a beautiful abalone shell design, and it looks exactly like the real deal. Needless to say, I wanted to try painting them on my nails.

And here's the result:

I initially planned to use the sparkly nail foil that I had purchased earlier in the year, but they were a complete let down. So much so that I don't even want to show you a picture of the product hahaha. I wanted to add a sheen or iridescence to the design, to make it resemble a real abalone shell, but it didn't turn out as planned.

So I just went ahead and painted it to look as natural as possible.

Steps:

1. Base coat, followed by a thin layer of white polish

2. 2 coats of Butter London's Fishwife

3. Draw black lines to resemble the abalone shell. At this stage, it doesn't have to be neat.

4. Paint greens and blues in different shades along the black lines, making sure to dilute the acrylic so that it looks translucent.

5. Redraw the black lines thicker

6. Seal with a top coat.

Kinda looks mother-earthy now. Hmm. I can prolly improve on this design. Maybe I'll try it again in the near future. But that's it from me now, but you can expect weekly posts every Saturday from now on. Adios!

Trying something new

7:46 AM

nail art

Spring all year

11:32 PM

nail art

It's been too long

7:45 AM

nail art

Astral enough

5:50 AM

I towly meant to have this uploaded over the weekend, but had to put in significant hours into other awesome stuff, so here's my weekly blog post! Before I want to start talking about the design, I just really want to express how much I can't wait for this semester to be over. Having to fast on top of other commitments is taking a toll on my mind! Can't wait for Hari Raya (:So here's what I have on my nails right now:

As you can tell, I messed up the design on my ring finger on my left hand, and I decided to just remove the whole thing and leave that one empty.. hehheh. The method I used to do this design is taken from this post, but read on and I'll tell you how I painted this design. First I started with a white base colour, and added top coat so it would dry faster. But then I was in a rush to get to work, so I left it just bare overnight. This really allowed the paint to dry completely of course. If you're doing this at home, you might want to watch TV for about half an hour while waiting for your base colour to dry. To make sure it's dry, try making dents with your nail on the polish. If it's completely dry, it should be rock hard.

Then comes the nail tape. You can get it at any nail art stores, I got mine at Deco Den at Bugis Junction, but I've also seen it sold at those little kiosks in malls that sell nail art stuff. Alternatively, you could use scotch tape (just pat the tape on your hand a few times to make it less sticky first). I stuck on two strips of tape horizontally, and four to five tapes that criss cross my nail. After that, it gets even simpler. I simply dab on colours using a sponge. Here, I used MAC's Girl About Town and a turquoise blue from Faceshop. While the paint is still wet, I remove the tapes. Then I seal it with a top coat. It's a relatively quick mani once you get the hang of sticking the tapes on right. It took me less than half an hour to get it done (excluding the time it takes for the base colour to dry, that is).And here are some more pretty pictures: