The new year is barely a few days old and I'm back with another installment of the Polish Days challenge.
Year after year January is about new year's resolutions and new-to-us things that we want to pick up. The Polish Days challenge is no different. The theme this time is to "Try something new". Here's what Hannah says about it:
"January is all about new starts, resolutions and starting over for most people. Personally I've never made a resolution for the new year - I won't stick to it so why bother!When it comes to polish though I'm always keen to try something new, so the theme for January is to try something you've never done before, pull out an untried polish you just haven't gotten around to trying, or a technique you've been too scared to give a go. It's not about having the most perfect finish (but props to you if you nail it first time!) maybe it's just a technique you've never blogged about but have been perfecting in secret. Whatever you chose, challenge yourself a little or even try something out of your comfort zone (for me this would be nudes!)."
So, I'm going to dive right in. I've never tried any 3D-ish nail art. I did mean to but I chickened out as soon as buying the materials. Well, no more! For this challenge I went to the arts&crafts store and bought several things - micro pearls, feathers, crushed flitter and rhinestones. Since I had already painted my nails earlier that day I took a closer look at my haul and decided to try the beautiful emerald green rhinestones.
The base is essence Ballerina's Charm, a lovely pale lilac with very fine silver shimmer. So fine that Ballerina's Charm looks like a creme polish most of the time. Low light also makes this look like a pale taupe. The formula was thin and I had some trouble with flooded cuticles and sides. 2 coats.
Since my base color was already dry I dotted on some clear top coat (essence studio nails better than gel nails top sealer), placed the emerald green rhinestones on top and sealed every nail with the aforementioned top coat (did you think I'd write out that longer-than-a-snake's-tail name again?)
The rhinestones are from Rayher and 3mm in size. It looks like they are a decent size for my nails yet I found them to be too big. They didn't lay flat on my nails and I had to "cushion" them with an extra blob of top coat. They felt a bit alien, I was feeling up my nails all the time and I noticed that they touched any flat surface before my nails did (dooh!) which was interesting. To my surprise they didn't distract me too much though and they didn't catch on anything. Showering, fingering through my hair and tying my shoes was no problem at all. They also held up very well while sleeping. I can happily report that I didn't loose any rhinestones :)
Chester :)
Pretty!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteLovely mani x
ReplyDeleteThank you Hannah! :D
DeleteBeautiful! I love the use of gems!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I see more gem-ified manis in my future :)
DeleteI love those emerald green rhinestones you added!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's a beautiful color, isn't it? :D
DeleteExcellent use of a new technique, I gotta say. I know what you mean about thinking they were a good size until you got them on the nail, though! Especially when you, like me, like to find stuff at the hobby store that isn't marketed toward nails - you'll look at something and think it looks gorgeous, and then hold it up against your nail and realize that even though it looks tiny on its own, that cute "little" design is waaaay too big to look pretty on a fingernail! :) Gorgeous color choice. I don't know that I've ever mixed purple and green on a design (other than, for instance, drawing flowers!) and I need to keep it in mind as they go so well together. Yay, more inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad you like the combo!
DeleteYes, I know the feeling. It's what has kept me away from trying any crystalized or beadified manis in the past. It doesn't help that I don't have access to cheap nail art supply shops.
:)