Why so crabby?…

So I was originally meant to post these nails on Monday, but I just wasn’t impressed with them therefore I spent today re-visiting the design and trying to make them better. To be honest, I’m still not impressed with them but I like them more than my first try.

So where did it all go wrong?
Firstly I went wrong with using silver on holo – it just disappeared in to nothingness. Secondly the stamping plate itself is pretty pants (the crab image one). It’s images are shallowly etched and it’s a nightmare trying to pick them up, it also means there’s barely any polish which is why the crabs turned out to be so transparent.

So for the second try, I stamped the ‘waves’ in white which shows them up way better. Secondly I chose a different crab image from the same plate and double stamped it; black base, red on top. This does make the image stronger but does it make it a little too dark?…

The real question though is – which do you attempt do you prefer?

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Noodles or silly string?…

So we went to Wagamama’s at the weekend and I painted my nails for the occasion. Their noodles are awesome, I mean Udons are just one of the best foods ever, so I decided to use that as my inspiration. However! Instead of looking like tasty noodles mines turned out to be more like a bunch of silly string…

I seriously questioned about posting them, but everyone loves a nail fail every now and then!

Gilded Vomit?…

So here’s another for the fail folder. I was trying to go for a sort of mother of pearl look, but instead hit upon a golden edged puddle of vomit. And not just any old puke, I’m visualizing the ‘I’ve just been to a party where I ate and drank everything of unnatural colouration’. Anyone else getting that?

I think I went too brown, I should have stayed light and blue and gilded it in silver like a proper mother of pearl shell. Never mind, onwards!

5 steps of how not to stamp…

So I had a really bad nail day at the weekend. I was going round to a friends house for drinks and dinner, and was really excited to paint my nails. I was wearing an orange dress and some black and white dog-tooth leggings – I wear the leggings quite a lot so had specifically bought a stamping plate that included the pattern. I was going for a mix and match design for my nails – orange from my dress, pattern from the leggings and it was going to look awesome. Maybe I wanted it to work too much, maybe I rushing, maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but for whatever reason it just didn’t work out.

So here’s a handy guide on how not to stamp;

Step 1: After applying your base colour, remain patient. Do not be so heavy handed whilst conducting a ‘test touch’ that it actually results in accidental polish removal.

Step 2: Pay attention to your picked up image. If it doesn’t work or doesn’t look whole – do not continue regardless. Stop and try again, this will ensure the images are bold and beautiful on all nails.

Step 3: I reiterate step 2 of paying attention to the image on the stamper. If the image has not transferred well do not try to re-stamp on top to strengthen the image as it will just result in a mess.

Step 4: PAY ATTENTION TO THE IMAGE ON THE STAMPER! (This appears to be the main lesson for today.) I mean really, it’s not that hard to place an image on straight. Have a look at the image and then adjust your angle of the stamper accordingly – this should result in your image being stamped with the correct orientation.

Step 5: Apply topcoat and be more careful upon cleaning up. Do not be hasty or clumsy with the acetone soaked cotton-bud as this could (and did) result in partial design removal. Make sure you’re only cleaning up the unwanted stuff.

I hope this step-by-step guide on how not to stamp has been helpful. Fortunately my night was much better than my nail art!

Lily Pond Flop…

So this is another one from the ‘fail’ folder. The photography is horrendous and my design just didn’t work out. I’d love to do this one again, as I think it had potential – I reckon I just got it wrong with the lily colour combination and the fact I’ve manage to smudge my top coat.  Yuck.

Splodgey Mess…

So I tried to do one of those cool needle drag designs, but unfortunately it turned in to this hard on the eyes, horrible splodge. The colour combination looked so right when the polishes were in the bottles, but look so wrong on the nail. Sorry guys!

MiniManiMonth ‘Candy Floss’…

So all I can see are udders. I’m sorry, but once I stopped painting and looked at my nails, I did find it quite funny but ultimately was like ‘eeww, no’. The base is smoothed out foil from the little pots of ‘nail jewels’ I purchased from Wilkos. I’ve used it before as flakes but wondered what look it would give over the whole nail, and I think it looks pretty cool! (Check out my instagram for how the foil looked by itself)  ‘Candy Floss’ is actually quite a nice pink and applied quite thickly.

‘Candy Floss’ with Silver Foil

Fingerprint fail?…

So I’ve never tried the fingerprint method before, and it looks cool and an easy non-messy technique to try. But mines turned out weird I think for two reasons – I used a yucky colour combination and I don’t think my prints came out as well as they could have. I’ll tr it again at some point, but I’ve had one of those days that no matter what I’ve painted it still looks terrible. I tried some flowers, they looked like they should have belonged in my first ever nail art collection, and I tried some squidged, clingfilm nails and they looked like baby vomit. Tomorrow is another day!

Nail Fail – Dragon Puke…

So this is a nail fail. In my head this design looked great. On my nails, absolutely not – it looks like dragon puke or something. Very icky. I couldn’t even be bothered doing my pinky because it was so terrible. I thought I’d post it anyway because everyone likes to be disgusted at a failed design every now and then. I do however like the base colour, so I’ll be using that again!

Snow Fall Fail…

So I really don’t like this. I’ve never done a silhouette design and thought a winter scene would be cool to try. But it just didn’t turn out nice, I think this is really ugly. The colour combination is horrible, the trees look silly and the snowman is all out of proportion – the whole thing is just yuck. And honestly, I’m not one of those people who are like “Awww it’s nasty” trying to fish for people to say “It’s nice” – I really don’t like this design, and I’ll probably think you’re lying if you try to tell me that it’s okay. Why post it then? Well, this is the ugly reality – sometimes the ideas you see in your head just don’t work out! Back to the drawing board.