Gelish Mani Sunday | Fashion-Inspired Watercolor Nails

So, a couple weeks ago, my nail broke. And not the chip-on-the-corner or rip-that-you-can-mend broke. I'm talking full-on ripped-off-nearly-to-the-quick broke.
I couldn't get over how... different my finger looked with the short, stubby nail. My nails have been relatively long for maybe a good six months, so it was like looking at a stranger's hand. I honestly can't remember what my nails looked like or what condition they were in before I started doing Gelish.

It was also frustrating as HELL because my nails are so long! There was no way I was gonna cut them all off just because one nail broke! So, I decided it was time to visit Sallys and I picked up an IBD Hard Gel kit. *gasp!* Not Gelish, I know! But it was an emergency situation! I couldn't wait for Gelish hard gel to be shipped to me - I had to deal with this weird alien finger that was now attached to my hand! I also picked up nail forms - idek, building a nail seems so much more elegant than gluing on a tip. Plus the tips seem to require so much more prep! Fitting the tip, filing the tip down, gluing it on, blending it to the nail bed... nah.

I went with the white builder gel because I figured it'd make it easier to differentiate between nail pate, gel overlay, and gel polish when I go to file off my gel polish. I was actually surprised at how easy the white builder gel was to apply. It's much thicker than the structure... the consistency kinda reminded me of tacky craft glue. I don't think I built the apex well, but all and all I was happy with how the nail turned out!
Upon doing my research and deciding on this gel, I had decided it was okay that it wasn't a soak-off gel; my plan was to build the fake nail and let the hard gel grow out while doing my fills with Structure, that way I woudn't have to worry about filing off the hard gel and potentially damaging my nail plate like the noob I am. Well, I'm writing this after 2 weeks of wear and... I have lifting near the cuticle. I'm just gonna go in there nail files a-blazin' and see if I can salvage the gel overlay.

For my actual mani this week, I went with fashion inspiration! I tried on a dress (that I didn't end up buying, cuz money) that I really loved, and it kinda got in my head that it'd serve as great nailspiration.
I actually took a picture of the top in the store - the online image really washed out the colors. Here's what I came up with:
I went with a dark grey rather than black just because I thought it'd look nicer. Creating the "watercolor" flowers was super easy with gel polish. Since the polish isn't too opaque it was easy to get the look! I definitely need more practice painting, but I think I'm getting somewhere!

For the above manicure I did the following:

Thumb, Index, and Pinky Nails:

1. • 2 coats Jet Set, cure all coats
2. • 1 coat Matte TIO, cure
3. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint half moons using 1 coat of regular TIO, cure

Middle Nail:

1. • 3 coats Arctic Freeze, cure all coats
2. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint flowers using Go Girl and 'Lily' in ENP Gella, flash curing as needed. Add leaf and branch accents with Jet Set. Cure for full time when complete.
3. • Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cure

Ring Nail:

1. • 3 coats Arctic Freeze, allowing for negative space half moon. cure all coats
2. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint flowers using Go Girl and 'Lily' in ENP Gella, flash curing as needed. Add leaf, branch, and half moon border accents with Jet Set. Cure for full time when complete.
3. • Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cure

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Prep School Chic Nails

A couple weeks ago I had a 15% off coupon for Sallys that doubled to 30% off on the 22nd only, so you can bet I was at a Sallys store bright and early on Saturday, the 22nd. I did as I always do and went straight to the red tagged Gelish bin and, much to my HUGE surprise, The Snow Escape collection was sitting there, discounted down to $5.95 a bottle!!
I only had one color from Snow Escape, so I bought what they had, then went to another Sallys to find the last color I needed, I Heart My Instructor. I LUCKED OUT and the second Sallys I went to had one left. I completed my Snow Escape collection for under $23!!

We went home and decided that we definitely had to use two of the colors from that collection on my financée's next mani.
I'm in love with this mani. She's had it on for a week and a half and I still keep grabbing her hands to look at it. It kinda reminds us of a British school uniform.

I used I Heart My Instructor, Let's Hit The Bunny Slopes, and 'Lily' by ENP Gella. I hand-painted the dandelion-type flower with some yellow Folk Art acrylic paint and covered that nail with two coats of Gelish Matte Top It Off. On the index finger I used my new Nail Vinyls. I stuck the vinyls on, flash cured 1 coat of I Heart My Instructor, then took the vinyls off. I did it this way to try to avoid having fully cured polish peel up when removing the vinyls, like I've experienced with nail tape. It worked well! I used a small brush to paint on an extra coat of Instructor - super easy since the "guidelines" were essentially already there. :) That nail got Matte TIO , too. Everything else was hand painted - still practicing hand-painting straight lines!

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Gelish Mani Sunday | Hello Kitty

My roommate loves Hello Kitty.

I think she has a Hello Kitty doll for every season of the year, we have a Hello Kitty shopping bag, I believe her wallet is Hello Kitty... about 11 years ago, back in our college days, she got me OBSESSED with a Hello Kitty game for Gameboy Color. So when she said she wanted black and red nails for her upcoming Vegas trip, I decided to give Hello Kitty a try.
Not too shabby, if I do say so myself! I hand-painted the Hello Kitty - first time I've ever hand-painted something quite like that before. I made some mistakes and learned some lessons - for example, that middle finger? With the cute bow and polka dots? I layed down 2 coats of Black Shadow first, then when it came time to add the red, I realized too late that Hot Rod Red is WAY too sheer and would've needed a gazillion coats to achieve opacity over the black. I ended up putting down 2 coats of Arctic Freeze THEN 3 coats of Hot Rod Red on top of that. Below, I'm going to write out the steps as they SHOULD have been, not as I actually did them. -_-

Seven. Coats. Of polish.
I have to say, painting that black outline around the Hello Kitty was the hardest part. I'm sure it gets easier with practice, but MAN that takes a steady hand. All in all the mani took 3 freaking hours, but it was worth it when my roommate told me one of her coworkers thought the painted Hello Kitty was a sticker! ;) It was reeeeally important for me to get the Hello Kitty right. I wanted to make sure she looked like Hello Kitty and not, like, Hellow Catty.
All in all I'm really enjoying hand-painting designs. Hopefully I'll get better with practice!

For the above manicure I did the following:

Thumb Nail:

1. • 2 coats Black Shadow, cure all coats
2. • 1 coat Matte TIO, cure
3. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint bow using 1 coat of regular TIO, cure

Index Nail:

1. • 2 coats Hot Rod Red, cure all coats
2. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint stripes using 2 coats of Black Shadow, cure all coats
3. • Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cure

Middle Nail:

1. • 3 coats Hot Rod Red, cure all coats
2. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint black half moon with Black Shadow and flash cure. Continue painting the bow and polka dots with Black Shadow, flash curing as needed. Cure for full time when complete.
3. • Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cure

Ring Nail:

1. • 3 coats Hot Rod Red, cure all coats
2. • Wipe tacky layer. Using a nail art brush, paint Hello Kitty using Sheek White and Go Girl, flash curing as needed. Cure for full time when complete. Then using black Folk Art acrylic paint, paint the outline and black details. Let fully dry.
3. • Finished with 2 coats of TIO, cure all coats

Pinky Nail:

1. • 2 coats Hot Rod Red, cure all coats
2. • 2 coats Life of the Party, cure all coats
3. • Finished with 1 coat of TIO, cure

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