New Fun in Nail Art!

I’ve wanted some Konad stamping tools for quite some time. The idea of being able to put intricate designs on my nails in my choice of color is super fun!  I like to do nail art by hand, but I rarely have the time, so the speed of this method is very appealing! Plus, I have two little girlies, one of whom begs for “pretty nails” at least a few times a week, so I knew that this kind of thing would get quite the workout around here.

I finally got a stamper, some special polish, and a couple of image plates for a late Christmas present! Woohoo! I’ll write more about it later, but thought I’d show a couple of quick shots of my first manicure with the Konad stamper and image plates. 

I first painted my nails in a sparkly ice blue, then stamped a single white snowflake with the Konad special polish. I can see that there’s a bit of a learning curve, and they weren’t quite as perfect as I’d hoped, but I still liked them. Still, I thought they might look better with a tad more dimension, so I added some darker blue snowflakes on top with a random polish that I had lying around. Definite improvement!

My stamping got better as I got used to handling the tools and more familiar with the steps in the process. I didn’t get a very good photo of this one. I found it hard to balance getting enough light for the detail to show up without it shining too brightly off of the glittery polish. And I think it is quite clear that I have no future as a hand model!

Overall, I was very impressed with the level of detail available in the plates, and I’m looking forward to trying more designs with these fun products!

And I think snowflakes are so pretty, don’t you?

Valentine’s Nails – Half Slant Hearts

This is one of my favorite designs ever, and it was so simple! Just two colors, some tape and a dotting tool.

I haven’t typically kept track of exactly which polishes I use. I’ve always felt that the point is the design, and that it can often be accomplished with similar shades. I’m not usually interested in exactly duplicating most designs, nor in having mine exactly duplicated. Not that I have a problem with it – if you love one, go right ahead, and I hope you enjoy it! (If you blog it, I’d appreciate a link to the post here.) But I love the creativity that I see when someone is inspired by something they see rather than copying it. And I hate that someone might feel that a certain design was impossible if they couldn’t get the exact products.

But I’m starting to see the other side of things. I’ll try to list the products that I use from this point on, though I doubt I’ll be 100% faithful to do so. Since this one was done, photographed and replaced before I blogged it, I can’t give you the products, but I’ll give you a quick rundown of the process.

I started with two coats of silver on the whole nail. Then I applied tape in a slant to cover the bottom section that I wanted to remain silver. I painted a deep red on the section that was left uncovered, and removed the tape. I was surprised at how nice the red looked over the silver. It seemed to really help give it some dimension and while it did brighten the color some, I loved the final result! Finally, I used a dotting tool to add three silver dots in the red section and a red heart in the silver section. I saw it in my head before I started, but it looked even better than I imagined! Since it’s easy to make your own dotting tool out of household items, this is a great introduction to nail art that uses very little in the way of specialized supplies or techniques.

I’d love to try this with other themes and colors. I think it would look fabulous in green with shamrocks for St. Patrick’s day, or in purple with a Konad stamp in the corner.

Cow Print Nails

It’s time for the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo! One of my favorite events of each year. Just for fun, I thought I’d dress up my nails in a fitting theme. This is a very easy style, and you wouldn’t need any special tools to do something similar. Just paint them white and add black splotches with a brush, dotting tool, toothpick or whatever you like! Since the splotches don’t have to be any particular shape or size, you don’t have to be too perfect. Random is good! Mine streaked a bit when I applied the top coat. My sweet baby boy was crying, and even though my husband had him, I was in a hurry and didn’t let it dry enough before adding the clear. Still, I’m pleased with it, and I’ve gotten several compliments.

Cow Print Nails

I did Bunny’s nails, too. She loves “pretty nails” and begs for me to paint hers at least every other day. I often limit her to polishes that I know are free of some of the yuckiest ingredients, but I’ll let loose from time to time. I even painted little cow faces on her thumbs. I have to say, they were ADORABLE for the 10 seconds until she raked her fingers through her hair and smudged them beyond recognition.

I thought about adding a clear coat with some glitter. After all, I’ve seen show cows there with glitter spray on their tails! But I liked it so well after the clear top coat that I decided not to gamble with that. I’m afraid it would look gaudy and over-the-top, but give it a shot and let me know what you think. I may try it just before I take it off to see if I like it.