Crayon Nails and Matte Topcoat Dilemma

Dear Nail Diary,

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. 😠
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

Christmas Nails

Merry Christmas!
I thought I'd show you some of the nail designs I've been doing in the run up to Christmas.

 This is the Gift Wrapped design I did for my mom.
I started out with two coats of China Glaze's Tip Your Hat from the Twinkle Collection.  Using gold sticker stripes and a gold bow, I created the gift design on the middle finger.  On the index and ring fingers I added glitter stars.

Recently I did this Christmas design, inspired by various designs I saw over the internet.

On the thumb, index and baby fingers, I painted two coats of Rimmel's Block Your Green.  Then on the middle and ring fingers I painted a two coat base of China Glaze's White On White.

 On the middle fingers I applied striping tape in a diagonal pattern, painted London Girl's 149 on top and carefully removed the tape to create this candy cane effect.

For the ring fingers, I applied tape in an inverted "V" and began dotting various sizes with the London Girl and the Rimmel to make a tree and placed a star sticker on the top before sealing it with a top coat of Seche Vite.

My own mani was inspired by a candle created by my friend Maryann over at One Stop Pamper. I'm not sure if she still makes it, but it smelt like peppermint.  It had these glitter particles in it, so it not only looked, but smelt like fresh snow.

Two coats of China Glaze's White On White and then a coat of Butter London's Frilly Knickers to create the snow effect.  On my thumb and baby fingers I did a glitter gradient with China Glaze's De-Light from the Twinkle Collection.  On the rest, I painted on Nails Inc's Diamond Arcade and sealed it with Seche Vite.

I may do another mani for Christmas Day, if I do, it will probably posted after the day itself.  It I don't, have an awesome December 25th, whatever you may be doing that day!

=:x

Happy Halloween!

Dear Nail Diary,

Happy Halloween!

I love this time of year - and not just because of all the sweet treats!  The weather (which has been unseasonably warm round here), the food and the nails.
First up, Candy Corn nails.  Maybe because I'm not American, but I don't get the hate that these get.  I always make sure I have a bag for Halloween.

Tutorial Tuesday - Inspirations (Part 1)

Dear Nail Diary,

Inspiration 1 - Cat Food Packet

My middle cat, Jake has been very unwell lately and has been put on a special diet with special brand of cat food.  The design of it inspired me to do this mani.

Things You'll Need:

• Base Coat
• White Nail Polish
• Teal Green Nail Polish
• Green Nail Polish
• Nail Tape
• Acetone/Nail Polish Remover
• Angled/Makeup Brush
• Top Coat

Inspirations Mani

Dear Nail Diary,

I was going to post this yesterday for Mani Monday, however I've been feeling especially tired lately and it took a lot longer than I was expecting. I've been inspired a lot by things in my environment recently, I even made up crude design swatches on Paint for me to follow.

So as I took step-by-step photos, it can be Tutorial Tuesday instead!  I told you I'd get around to making more tutorials eventually. ;)
Part 1 will be posted shortly, you'll have to wait until next week for the next tutorial!

Neon Criss-Cross

Dear Nail Diary,

I haven't been feeling up to doing my nails for a while, but I'm finally getting back.  Not sure where the idea for this came from, it certainly wasn't what I was intending, but I like it nonetheless.

After applying my base coat I painted two coats of Barry M - White.  Once dry, I sponged on some neons (Manic Panic - Electric Banana, Nails Inc - Kensington Park Road & Sloane Street, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard and Essie - Action) in random gradients.  I sealed them with SV and waited for it to dry.  I then applied nail tape in a criss-cross pattern across each nail and painted on a think coat of Barry M - Black over the top.  I immediately removed the tape and allowed it to set a little before I applied a final coat of SV.

It's quite pretty, however I think I'll take the plunge next time and use the neons as a base over the entire nail.

=:x

Cool Art Deco - TbT

Dear Nail Diary,

I'm not feeling so good, so I thought I'd take advantage of Throwback Thursday and post an old design.

It's using my favourite design medium - tape.
The design itself is one I adapted to my own tastes from this article.  There are some cool tutorials including the one I used for this, which is the 3rd one down about Chevrons.  I made the lines thinner and changed the colour palette so it had an Art Deco feel to it.
Hopefully I'll feel up to posting something new soon.  My nails are in treatment right now, so they might be in better condition for the next post.

P.S. I think my squovals will be back.

=:x