Leopard Print Nail Art
I've been completely obsessed with my nails/manicure recently, sparked off by poisontaster and embroiderama's forays into the realm of nail art. I'm nowhere near as good at it as they are (especially poisontaster, omg), nor do I have nice, shapely nails to show off - but I don't care. Pritty, shiny colours!! On my nails, just for me!!
So, last night, I followed the video tutorial for leopard-print nails at Chalkboard Nails, and what I got was this:
Wheeeee! It actually looks better than that in real life... the flash changed the colours, and picked up every last little imperfection. The base coat is pale gold, not silver. Also, the polish is ancient and was really gloopy, hence the blobbiness (so gloopy in fact that I think it should go in the litter bin; but I didn't have any newer polish in "proper" leopard colours, so). I don't have a set of dotting tools yet - they're on the slow boat from China, literally - so I used an unbent hairgrip for the outlines. It's really easy, great nail art and I'm definitely gonna do it again - I have some new, pretty creme polishes in violet, lilac and grey so next week will be purple leopard nails!
And, because I didn't get around to posting this when I did it, here's my first (technically failed) attempt at a sort-of water marble manicure; the alternative less-messy version where you dip plastic into the water rather than your nail, let it dry and then cut it up and use it like a foil:
I couldn't get the colours to "bullseye" properly, much less draw the lines in it, and I ended up just swirling all the polish around in the cup in a fit of peevishness, and then dunked the plastic into it just to get the surface clear again. And it looked so pretty once it was on the plastic that I kept it and put it on my nails! I think it looks like pricey art-enamel jewellery! For all that it's nothing like a "proper" water marble effect, I really liked it, and kept it on my nails a full week.
So, last night, I followed the video tutorial for leopard-print nails at Chalkboard Nails, and what I got was this:
Wheeeee! It actually looks better than that in real life... the flash changed the colours, and picked up every last little imperfection. The base coat is pale gold, not silver. Also, the polish is ancient and was really gloopy, hence the blobbiness (so gloopy in fact that I think it should go in the litter bin; but I didn't have any newer polish in "proper" leopard colours, so). I don't have a set of dotting tools yet - they're on the slow boat from China, literally - so I used an unbent hairgrip for the outlines. It's really easy, great nail art and I'm definitely gonna do it again - I have some new, pretty creme polishes in violet, lilac and grey so next week will be purple leopard nails!
And, because I didn't get around to posting this when I did it, here's my first (technically failed) attempt at a sort-of water marble manicure; the alternative less-messy version where you dip plastic into the water rather than your nail, let it dry and then cut it up and use it like a foil:
I couldn't get the colours to "bullseye" properly, much less draw the lines in it, and I ended up just swirling all the polish around in the cup in a fit of peevishness, and then dunked the plastic into it just to get the surface clear again. And it looked so pretty once it was on the plastic that I kept it and put it on my nails! I think it looks like pricey art-enamel jewellery! For all that it's nothing like a "proper" water marble effect, I really liked it, and kept it on my nails a full week.