Vinyls

I wanted to show you what I've been working on!

Last week I got a Silhouette Cameo, a digital cutting tool. I wanted one to make custom stickers and decorations, but realized as it was on it's way to me that I would actually be able to make nail vinyls on it as well.  And I can.  I can take just about any design ever and put it on my nail!!

 This is my first attempt.  It's a free file I downloaded and then shrunk and then sat and 'fixed' making sure all the lines, now smaller, would cut correctly.  I really love how it came out!

A sheet of two of these will be included in my Naughty or Nice giveaway, which starts this weekend!

I'm also currently working on creating a whole bunch of other things, from laces to stripes to little motifs. I can't wait to share more of them with you.

If you have any requests, please let me know!

Duo-Duochrome: A Tutorial

• Apply two duochrome polishes with similar tones (but different accents!) each to opposite sides of a square stamper pad.

•  Using a long and thin striping brush, flick it back and forth, from one side to the other, using soft strokes.  You can chose to only flick part of the stamper, or the entire length.  The amount of your flick with vary the amount of blending the two polishes achieve.

• Set it aside and let it dry about 15 to twenty minutes.  You don't want it to be wet, but you don't want it to be completely dry to the point it flakes.

• Carefully peel it off from the stamper and apply it to your nail like you would the decals in my previous tutorials.

• Tidy up, if required!

This is a fairly complicated look although it's very simple to make.  The effect is completely depended on the duochrome aspect of the polishes you picked and even more intense in varied lighting!

Born Pretty: A Review

My long awaited Born Pretty stamping plates arrived yesterday.  I ordered set 02-10 and it cost $14.39, shipping was free and I applied a discount code.

Sadly, they are nothing like I expected.  They are so disappointing in so many ways!

The designs are not as pictured.

Not only are the discs arranged differently, some motifs are missing all together!  You can see that best in the plates shown below.

The designs are tiny compared to the picture!

Some of them wouldn't even fill the shortest of nubs!  It seems like they shrunk the designs so to fit as many on a plate as they could with no regard to quality or ease of use at all. 

Many of the designs are missing all together!

Most of the designs I had most looked forward to ended up not looking anything like pictured on the site!

The designs are poorly etched.

Many of the designs are wobbly when stamped because some parts are deeper than others.  The fine motifs are very hard to print, the details hard to catch because they're uneven.

I am so disappointed in not only the excessive time it took to arrive to the fact it's not what I had hoped for.  I cannot recommend these plates at all.

 

Faux-ter Marbeling: A Tutorial

This tutorial this going to start just as if you were going to do a traditional watermarble.

• With some filtered room temperature water, fill a small ceramic/glass/plastic glass.  I learned the hard way that disposable cups don't work!
• Using your polishes, drop them one by one into the center of your water, letting them spread in concentric circles.  I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, Fingerpaints in Art You Wondering, China Glaze in Turned Up Turquoise, And Kiko Lacquers in 381, 819, and 527.
• Using a fine tipped something (pin, dotter, toothpick) create your design.

• Now... Let it sit for about 45 minutes until it's completely dry.  If you  have cats, put it someplace that they cannot get it because I also learned the hard way that it's a pain to get watermarbled cat toes clean. 
• Once it's dry and set you can remove it from the glass in one piece, sort of like a piece of thin plastic.  Be gentle.  If it wants to cling or fold, leave it set and dry some more.  Depending on your designs, it might take a bit longer.

• Carefully pat it to dry.
• Using a pair of small sharp scissors, trim the polish into nail sized pieces using the design areas you like best or that turned out the most interesting.
• Apply a sticky top coat to your nails or a white base.
• When the topcoat is still tacky, place the dried polish to your nail and gently press it into the nail until it's clinging.

• Carefully trim the excess using a cuticle pusher and a file.
• Coat with a quick dry topcoat.
• Tidy up, if required! 

This colour palette and design was inspired by Alex Minksy.

If you're inspired to try any of my tutorials, please tag them with #00Inspired on Instagram!

 

Squishy Face Polish: A Review

I've been sitting here the last ten minutes trying to remember where I first saw Squishy Face Polish.  I'm sure it was on Instagram, but for the life of me I can't figure out who's page I saw them on!

I do know that as soon as I clicked over to the shop I ordered two of their three polishes, Where's My Tiara and Princess Polish.  I had to, you see.  I love holos and GITDs and hence, had to.

One of my main complaints with ordering anything from a Big Cartel shop is that you have no idea when things ship.  There is no notice, no transaction history to check.  My order came quickly enough, although without any invoice or anything inside.  The polishes were carefully wrapped and undamaged, so that's really all that counts.

Princess Polish is a glow in the dark pastel pink crelly with gold and lavender shimmer, also packed with micro glitters and iridescent glitters. 

The formula is wonderful.  A lot of times light crellies like this are gloopy and apply very patchy.  Princess Polish is very smooth.  The above swatch is two thin coats and a top coat!  The glow is very lovely and the flecks of iridescent glitters makes it more dimensional.  It would be a great everyday, there but not there, not-so-nude shade.

Where's My Tiara is a bright pink linear holo with lavender shimmer.

I wouldn't say it's the strongest linear holo, but it's such a gorgeous colour!  The formula is also outstanding, it's opaque in two light coats, which I love.  It's also great to stamp with, which I love!

 I used Mo You London Princess plate 11 for the hearts in the mani below.  It's so subtle and so dainty.

Over all I'm very impressed with the two polishes I bought!  I'm really hoping they will release more, I'd love to see what else they come up with!

To Infinity and Beyond!

I discovered Infinity Nail plates while surfing nail blogs about a month ago on a site here in Europe called Dashica Beauty Shop.  I was excited to discover that they had a HUGE variety of plates in stock and that they were all very unique.

Each plate is listed as €4.99 however I did manage to order during a special.  With 105 different Infinity Plates to chose from, it was hard to narrow it down, but I wanted to place a small order first, just to test the waters. They do ship worldwide and there are instructions in English in how to order!

I ended up picking 78, a mendhi like design with skulls, and 11, an aquatic/mermaid themed plate that will be perfect for an upcoming polish collection I'm really looking forward to.

 The plates are the exact size as the plates from Mo You London, with the same plastic safety backing, although they do not come in cardboard sleeves.  Those metal sheets are freaking dangerous so I was pleased these had the edging.  The designs are deeply etched and stamp amazingly clean and crisp, so they would be great for beginners.  You can see some samples below, using the a variety of stamping polishes from Just Rica.

Something I also appreciate about the Infinity plates is that several feature popular cartoon characters, although I'm sure there is some legal nonsense about copyright I don't know enough about to mention.  Another nifty feature is that most plates feature matching left facing and right facing designs so that you can customize your manicure and have a mirror image on both hands.  You can click on the images below to see more detail.

 

The larger designs on the plates are big enough to fit onto long nails, but easily work with a more manageable nail shape.  The small designs are easily placed and even the fine details stamp well.  I would have to admit that if you have very short nails, though, the designs might be too big all together.

Cleaning deeply etched plates is tricky.  It's best to use a lint free wipe or an actual cloth soaked in acetone.  Anything with any oil in it leaves a residue that will effect the crispness of the next stamp and anything like a cotton round or puff will leave about a million little fuzzies stuck in the designs loops and edges.  Since these plates are both well etched and detailed, you should take care between stamps to make sure you don't get smudgey fuzz in your polish!

I used plate 78 along with Gold Foil from Barry M to stamp on top of this polish from Black Sheep Lacquer which I just got in my latest mystery box.

Sheer Delight: A Tutorial

 

• On a plastic baggie, paint three stripes of coordinating sheer polish, blending the edges just into each other.  I put a white piece of cardboard inside the baggie for stability and so I can better see the colours.

• With a pin or any fine tipped something, drag a design into the sheer polishes, careful to drag only the polish on the top.  If you go all the way through to the baggie, it may leave a completely sheer streak in the design.  For these nails I pulled the red into the other colours to create flames.

• Let the polishes dry.  This takes some time.  The strip must not be tacky, but must not OVER dry to the point it's flakey.

• Once it's dry, carefully pull it off the baggie and set aside.
•  Prep your nails with base, you don't need to use white, but knowing my design would feature yellow, I used the white to ensure it was vibrant.

• Once your base is dry, apply the glitter bomb.

• Before the glitter coat is dry, while it's still a bit tacky, trim the polish strip in pieces to fit your nail and apply them just as instructed in my previous tutorial, Stained Glass Nails.

• Tidy up, if required!

If you're inspired to try any of my tutorials, please tag them with #00Inspired on Instagram!

Stained Glass Nails: A Tutorial

Although this is titled a Stained Glass tutorial, this technique is actually also called Reverse Stamping.  You can follow these directions using any opaque polishes to make a wide variety of designs and decals.

• Chose your design.  For these nails I used the Mo-You London Gothic plate 09.  When starting out it's best to look for designs that are less detailed.
• Using a good black polish, I used Black Out from Just Rica (my HG, go to stamping polishes), stamp the design in black, leaving it on the pad of your stamper instead of applying it to your nail.

• Let it sit a moment so it doesn't smear and seal it with a fast dry top coat, keeping the layer thin and even.  Carefully remove the pad from the stamper so you can lay it flat on your work space.

• While it's drying, set yourself up a palette of the sheer jellies you'll be using.  I prefer Just Rica's Squishies, they are the same as OPI's Tints (although a lot nicer) as well as the sheers from companies like Polish Pusher, etc.

• When the top coat is dry you can fill in/paint the design using the Squishies, mixing colours as needed. 

• Apply another thin layer of top coat to seal it all and create a decal.

• While that dries, prep your nails by applying a white polish to them and let dry until just a very bit tacky.

• Very carefully peel the design off the stamp pad, making sure you keep it in one piece.  It shouldn't be too thick or impliable.  I think I just made up that word.

• Carefully place it over your nail as desired, centering the design, good side up!  Since the base is still tacky, you can't really play with it too much, but the tack will hold the design in place once you're settled.  Using the pad of your thumb press it into place without rubbing it, the heat will help it mold into the curves of your nail.

• Trim the edges off using a cuticle pusher, folding the top over and pressing them clean.  Some people file the tops off, but I find that leaves a small gap of the design.
• Once it's trimmed, apply a quick dry top coat.
• Tidy up, if required!

If you're inspired to try any of my tutorials, please tag them with #00Inspired on Instagram!

PS - I'm so buggered that it smeared!