Catchin' Up

Apologies for disappearing in December - the holidays sort of got away from me. So today I have a couple finished manicures from Christmas and the first week in January to show you, and then next week I'll have a new tutorial to post.

For Christmas this year, I used these cute decals from Born Pretty. Speaking of which, Born Pretty has offered Nail Art Tuesday shoppers 10% off your order when you use code: SQUOVAL15 at checkout.

The fun part about the Christmas mani (aside from those lovely water decals) was that my silver polish was way too thick. It was hard to work with, but it also made a 3-D, almost "fuzzy" line at the tips.

Last week I got some fun new Finger Paints polishes that I can't recall the names of just now (don't worry, you'll see them again). I decided to do a gradient with China Glaze "Tinsel" between the white and purple. I love how it turned out, very "winter whimsical", I think.

So that's what I've been up to polish-wise - next week, China Glaze "Dorthy Who?" and full nail stickers.

Until then - happy polishing!

Yummy Hot Air

It's hot out! So I decided to break out the water decals this week, and do hot air balloons on a cool blue background. They turned out pretty well, I think. Water decals were the first type of nail art I played with back when I was a kid, and to this day, they're still my favorite. They're easy to use, and they're perfectly flat on the nail, just as though the design was airbrushed.

Before I started, I got a bowl of water (cold, room temp, whatever works), my decals - which are nearly impossible to find anymore, but I ordered these from Nail Art Delights - and Zoya "Yummy" blue, along with China Glaze "Glacier".

Very important - I cut the decals apart *before* starting the manicure. It's really easy to ruin a polish job trying to use scissors with wet nails.

Then I started the manicure with two coats of Zoya's "Yummy". A brilliant blue that I love, but it's just a tad bit *too* bright for my taste. So I topped it with one coat of China Glaze "Glacier", a translucent blue & pink glitter polish.

Time to start the decals once the polish is set. What I do is dip the pad of one finger into the water (just the pad). I use that to pick up the decal I want, and then use the same method to put another drop of water on the back. It takes 10 - 20 seconds for the decal to release from the backing paper.

I rub it gently with damp fingers until it starts moving around on the sheet. Then I slide it off the paper about half-way, so it will be easy to lay on the nail.

Then just like a sticker, I lay the free edge on the nail, and pull the backing paper off. To move the decal around, I use a damp finger until I have it in place, then blog off the extra water with a paper towel.

Don't rinse, and repeat on all the other nails. Another lovely thing about water decals - you can pile 'em up, and they still won't sit up off the nail.

All that's left is two coats of top coat to seal, and the clean up! 

Excuse the over-bright flash...

I love the way these turned out - summery yet cool. And it was so fun to work with water decals again...I really need to use these more often! Have you used water decals recently?

I've got no idea what I'll be in the mood for next week, but until then, Happy Polishing!