Acetone Files: Halloween - Bone House
Acetone Files
October 21, 2012
Nabi Black + Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen White
My first time using a nail art pen was a lot of fun and produced a kick-ass manicure I wish I didn't have to take off! However, I'd do it again with a different nail art pen.
I named this manicure after a Dead Weather song. There were a lot of skeleton/bone themed songs to choose from ... but this one is not only awesome, but fit nicely into my image. ;) Hanging out on my thumb is my friend Chillin' Fred; I discovered him in MS Word clipart when I was making Halloween-themed signs at work, and I kinda love him. He's just so chill.
Nabi review: Anyway, let me tell you about my black, first of all. I bought this black polish called Nabi from a random store in college and never ended up using it because I had discovered griege by then. Once I tried it, I realized this is a killer polish - Sally Hansen, my go-to black, is great, but this one is India-Ink solid black - no show-through AT ALL. It's like freakin squid ink. It dries pretty quick too, but that's soft-set, like any polish. The only issue I found was when I removed it, there was a bit more staining/leave-behind than other blacks I've used. But you really get that with any black, and it just takes some elbow grease with a cutip to get most of it off for your next coat. I've never seen Nabi in any stores and it's not too plentiful online, but it's a great brand with a cute bottle. A-
Shnap review: (Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen) Oh shnap - this pen sucks. The problem is not the application - it's easy to use, it's like writing with a sharpie, and it's SO easy I could actually do my right hand (slowly and shakily)! Plus i was doing white over black, so the coverage was good (my X-treme Longwear white is okay but a little patchy). The problem is it doesn't fucking stay on. It dries quick and kind of chalky, which is good for transparency, but it fooled me into thinking it was solid because patting it with my finger didn't budge it. I went to this thing before putting on a top coat and i washed my hands - the stuff rubbed off and streaked everywhere. I realized I could just take my finger and rub, and it would flake off. So I redid the messed up bits (this is why my skulls look a little cloudy around the edges), and put on Seche Vite this time. Now I know you have to be careful putting a topcoat over nail art, so I basically took every precaution, dabbed more than spread - and it STILL streaked a LOT. And if that's not enough, it also cracks!
So you can't put a topcoat over it or it will streak, but you can't NOT put a topcoat or it will just rub off. Not cool man. Granted, perhaps a weaker topcoat might not streak quite so much, but I'm not willing to wait two hours for it to hard-set, are you? The problem is clearly in the formula - if it were actual nail polish, it would take a little while to dry, but it would set up well and harden so that any topcoat won't hurt it (like regular nail art with a brush). I'm clearly going to have to find a better quality nail art pen. I love the easiness of the pen format, which allows me enough control to work with my non-dominent hand, but this formula sucks ass. D
See? I got it done after all. Cue applause. It is currently H-minus-5-days, so my next and probably last Halloween manicure will be part of my halloween costume. Another hint? Okay fine, it's a vampire. But it's not what you're thinking. Neener neener. Ciao til the big day!
October 21, 2012
Nabi Black + Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen White
My first time using a nail art pen was a lot of fun and produced a kick-ass manicure I wish I didn't have to take off! However, I'd do it again with a different nail art pen.
I named this manicure after a Dead Weather song. There were a lot of skeleton/bone themed songs to choose from ... but this one is not only awesome, but fit nicely into my image. ;) Hanging out on my thumb is my friend Chillin' Fred; I discovered him in MS Word clipart when I was making Halloween-themed signs at work, and I kinda love him. He's just so chill.
Nabi review: Anyway, let me tell you about my black, first of all. I bought this black polish called Nabi from a random store in college and never ended up using it because I had discovered griege by then. Once I tried it, I realized this is a killer polish - Sally Hansen, my go-to black, is great, but this one is India-Ink solid black - no show-through AT ALL. It's like freakin squid ink. It dries pretty quick too, but that's soft-set, like any polish. The only issue I found was when I removed it, there was a bit more staining/leave-behind than other blacks I've used. But you really get that with any black, and it just takes some elbow grease with a cutip to get most of it off for your next coat. I've never seen Nabi in any stores and it's not too plentiful online, but it's a great brand with a cute bottle. A-
Shnap review: (Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen) Oh shnap - this pen sucks. The problem is not the application - it's easy to use, it's like writing with a sharpie, and it's SO easy I could actually do my right hand (slowly and shakily)! Plus i was doing white over black, so the coverage was good (my X-treme Longwear white is okay but a little patchy). The problem is it doesn't fucking stay on. It dries quick and kind of chalky, which is good for transparency, but it fooled me into thinking it was solid because patting it with my finger didn't budge it. I went to this thing before putting on a top coat and i washed my hands - the stuff rubbed off and streaked everywhere. I realized I could just take my finger and rub, and it would flake off. So I redid the messed up bits (this is why my skulls look a little cloudy around the edges), and put on Seche Vite this time. Now I know you have to be careful putting a topcoat over nail art, so I basically took every precaution, dabbed more than spread - and it STILL streaked a LOT. And if that's not enough, it also cracks!
So you can't put a topcoat over it or it will streak, but you can't NOT put a topcoat or it will just rub off. Not cool man. Granted, perhaps a weaker topcoat might not streak quite so much, but I'm not willing to wait two hours for it to hard-set, are you? The problem is clearly in the formula - if it were actual nail polish, it would take a little while to dry, but it would set up well and harden so that any topcoat won't hurt it (like regular nail art with a brush). I'm clearly going to have to find a better quality nail art pen. I love the easiness of the pen format, which allows me enough control to work with my non-dominent hand, but this formula sucks ass. D
See? I got it done after all. Cue applause. It is currently H-minus-5-days, so my next and probably last Halloween manicure will be part of my halloween costume. Another hint? Okay fine, it's a vampire. But it's not what you're thinking. Neener neener. Ciao til the big day!