HANDS, NAILS, ETC.

o

m

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AAAAHHHHH@@@!!!!

how do you even do that? <--- nail-art challenged

Right?? RIGHT??

VG they sell tools that you can use to make tiny lines.. I've also seen suggestions you could use a mechanical pencil or toothpick.. pour some black polish onto tin foil, dip nib in, pretend you are old timey person with quill and ink? I'm not great at it.. this girl must've had someone else do it IMO.. or is just amazing

dayum

Yeah looking at it I think it's free-hand! I thought stencils, because the hard part is getting the ends of the narrow lines squared off, but the letter shapes are SLIGHTLY too irregular to be stencils. Like the A. Being freehand painting makes it even cooler!

It's pretty masterful! A stencil is not a bad idea though - an exacto knife and masking or painter's tape could get that job done, I bet!

Pre-made stencil and nail pen, I'll bet.

The image was from the top of an article about nail salons in Toronto, but they didn't say if it had been done by one of them. I found this - not a bad idea tbh: http://manicures-pedicures.wonderhowto.com/how-to/make-nail-art-stencils-0132784/

Those nails...so badass!

xpost wow that's a cool technique! That'd be harder to do with letters though - less 'real estate' to pick up with the toothpick

http://www.xojane.com/files/morticianails.jpeg

This was done with gel pens. !!!

holy shit

okay I have had ZERO interest in my nails until like two days ago and now I want to make them look amazing like THAT

damn!

and if you can do it with freaking GEL PENS I am all in

I doodle on anything I can get my hands on, why not my NAILS ffs

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Blueleop.jpg

Second-ever attempt at leopard, already getting better!

Man, flat white nail polish is a disaster, it goes on HORRIBLY. The only thing you can do w it is use it as a background and put other stuff on top because it's really streaky even after 3 coats.

Some fingers turned out better than others, I will re-do some maybe tonight or tmrw.

Nice!

I'm rocking some nail stickers at work (an OPI Sephora set that is a black lace pattern over a peach/Caucasian nude background) and nobody has said anything so I guess I'm cool. Well, not cool like cool, just cool like not getting the side eye for ostentatious nails.

Ooooh, you did it! Can you get a photo? I've seen black lace on a red background but I think I like the sound of peach better.

I took a picture but I can't remember my shitting Yahoo ID/password to sign into Flickr to post it. I'll email it to you.

nice bow!!

artfully done, orbit. they look gr8!

hey do you want to hear something freaky?
I noticed around February this year that one of my big toenails had just stopped growing. It was actually a little worrying. The polish would start to grow out on all my other toes except that one. About a month ago it started growing back again, like a new nail under the old one. It takes ages though. My mate who had a baby noticed that the pedicure she got about the time she found out she was pregnant still hadn't completely grown out after she'd had the baby :/

Heh the bow is the scarf from a 1940s persian lamb ladies' coat that died a long time ago, but this grey silk with orange pagodas on it was the lining fabric and I kept the neck tie. It's the perfect shape to make those Victorian heiress-style draping bows.

Mission totally accomplished: my boss grabbed my wrist yesterday and pulled it closer to her eyes and then pushed it back at me vehemently and said "WHAT DID YOU DO to your nails?" She hates them.

That's like yr parents noticing and hating your music as a teenager. WIN

Pulled myself together long enough for this:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Polka.jpg

Not showing you the mani in between because I didn't really like it. I used a dusty orange that looked great on me a month ago and I thought would be fall-ish but without a tan on my hands it didn't look as good. Save it til next summer.

OMG I LOVE THAT

Huh. I didn't think it was that great, and it photographs even worse. I don't have any spring or apple greens, which I think this combo needed. Not happy w my color choices. Light pink base coat btw, that's not bare nail.

I mean, thanks! I'm just filing it away for "could be improved."

it's cute, I like it!

i like it and feel you should develop this concept

^^^ agreed

Did you use the dotting tool or whatever its called?

I'm in the midst of attempting that black matte/shiny French manicure. It's going about as expected.

I did use a dotting tool set!! But none of them are big enough for big dots, so I tried using a q-tip but it makes them too uneven because the cotton gets heavy with polish and distorts out of round. I need to think of something about the size of a pencil eraser that applies perfectly evenly.

carl, may I absolutely strongly suggest using scotch tape before you paint the gloss tips? I've tried that thing twice and removed and given up both times because freehanding the gloss part, even with a flat-tip brush from my new set, did not work at all.

IO - what about actually whittling a pencil eraser slightly to make it a bit smaller? Might be hard to make a smooth circle, but maybe not!

I have seen mechanical pencils as a suggestion for extremely small dots as well.

Maybe smaller than an eraser, but at least a 10pt dot.

The dotting tool set comes with LOTS OF REALLY SMALL TIPS but not much selection of big ones! It's annoying tbh.

I think the reason the tools don't come larger is that the polish doesn't go on flat, it goes on in a...dome. The middle of the drop is always higher. And the bigger the dot, the bigger the height of the middle. So at some size you get domes that just don't make sense on a nail.

An eraser is the right idea, but not...spongy enough? Needs to make contact evenly over the curve of the nail.

orbit, what about those eyeliners that comes with a sponge smudger on one end? -- those can be pretty spongy, you might find one that would work as a tool. Maybelline has one that's p cheap

also if you do find a pencil eraser soft enough, you can make it smaller by putting that end in a pencil sharpener. I used to do it all the time in high school when my erasers got pen ink on them.

Yeah but can I get the polish off the end of an eraser with acetone? It has to be cleanable, too. Actually the make-up applicator is a good idea.

My nail art brushes, I tried them. My hands are NOT steady enough for this shit, I have to say. Such sad and terrible results. BUT ALSO of course acetone takes the paint right off the handles, which means no sticking them INTO the bottles, I have to pour out the polish onto a bit of paper or something! Seems wasteful. Have not quite worked this all out yet.

you might need a paint pallette, the hardened plastic kind with the little dips for paint

and maybe an art supply store would have small spongetip brushes of diff sizes that are relatively inexpenive.

but you're right, def test the polish/acetone on the sponge first. the latex might break down, I'm not sure tho.

a pallette like this
http://superbeautyguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Nail-Polish-Palette.jpg

maybe an eyedropper would help get the polish in and out of the pallette too?

sorry this is making it sound way crazier, I'm just addicted to "tools" lol

I love having the right tool for the job, too! The problem is that polishes are made to dry pretty quickly, which is an asset when they're in the bottle but not when you take them out in the air.

hmm

another though, re the shaky hand: have you thought about using a magnifier? one of the things I remember from a long long ago art class was that the best way to make small detail work easier and less shaky was to make it bigger.

also take a deep breath before make the stroke/mark/whatever, like when you take a photo, shoot a gun etc. it can help steady yr hand.

I will ponder this pallette thing some more though. there's gotta be a way to do it.

*thought

I think I just have to accept that I'm going to use them up and have to buy more. In my life, to date, nail polish has been something that I buy ONCE and never use up or buy again, because I've never been this into it before. It's a little silly tbh.

Depending on the remover you have, could you pour a little pool into the overturned lid then dump the liquid back in the bottle? xp

maybe have a cheap set of polish for detail work, and use the good stuff for base/proper colors?

that might save you going through tons in general.