Hello 2017! Sorry I didn't see you in January, but I literally slept through most of it. I tend to hibernate in Winter. First thing you'll notice is my nails are shorter and squarer. After a couple of breakage incidents coupled with my sheer frustration with my nails at the length they grew to last year, I've decided to try and keep them at a sensible length. My right thumbnail has only just come out of recovery and has shown me that I do prefer the tip to extend my fingertips slightly, but not so much that I end up typing with my nails. I'll still play around with shapes - I'm curious if I could achieve a shorter coffin/ballet nail, as I love the shape but not the length they usually are. I'm currently rocking a rounded square for my latest nail art.
I came across this post on Pinterest which said it was a "Back to School nail art for kids," which annoyed me because I hate being told when I can or can't do something. ðŸ˜
Also I doubt many schools would allow students to have their nails painted like this in school.
I decided to give it a try, even though I'm not good at freehanding. I pretty pleased with the results for my first time trying something like this. The hardest challenges were picking out the colours and drawing the little squiggles.
As you can see from the second photo, even though it's a relatively simple design, I had to use a whole lot of polishes. In the photo I was inspired by, it looked as though they just finished with a plain glossy topcoat, but I wanted to make them more realistic by making the "paper" part matte. At a glance they look a little too realistic, as I've been freaking out every time I catch a glimpse of them.
I've been having a bit of a dilemma over matte topcoats lately. I've been trying make sure all my recent cosmetic purchases have not been made my companies that test on animals. So as my OPI matte topcoat was waning thin, I went on the hunt for a new one. I wanted one just as good, but that also adhered to my changing moral standards.After researching as thoroughly as I could, I decided upon Zoya's "Matte Velvet Topcoat". After using it several times, I can honestly say for the price, I'm rather disappointed.
As you can see in the photos, although there is a clear distinction between what's matte and glossy, the matte still has some shine to it. While the effect actually worked well for this nail art, I'm looking for the "chalky" matte that OPI's creates rather than the waxy matte this creates. I've been repeatedly told that Essie's "Matte About You" is brilliant, however that would mean compromising my No Animal Testing stance. Next on my list to try is Picture Polish - G'Day Matte, but as they're an indie brand, getting hold of it might be problematic.
Anyway, enough ranting for today, I look forward to showing you more nail art soon.
=:x
