Saw it, tried it, learned it. - Space nails

Hei,

This time I want to share how I saw something while searching for nail art ideas, fell in love with the idea, tried it and succeeded!!

I had seen these awesome space themed nails online and I noticed that the methods seemed quite simple. I had just recently learned how useful a sponge can be in nail art and so I decided to take this as a challenge.

Firstly I chose colors which I wanted to use: Black, blue and white and again I took a make-up sponge. The make-up sponge was to be the main tool for applying the nail polish.

Firstly I applied the base color which was this time blue. Then once dry, I started with the black nail polish and applied it to a corner of the sponge. When applying the nail polish to the corner of the sponge it is important to first dab the sponge onto paper to get some of the excess nail polish off.
Then I gently dabbed the corner of the sponge to the areas where I wanted black. I wanted black on both sides of my nails.

After letting that dry I moved onto the white nail polish and started the same way. I dabbed some of the white nail polish to the other corner, dabbed the excess nail polish off and then applied it to my nail. I wanted the white onto the middle.

Like what happened to me, I noticed that a lot of the blue started disappearing which wasn't the point, so then with a third corner of the sponge I also dabbed some more blue onto the nail. (You really want all three colors to show)

The last step involves adding glitter ("stars"). For this step I used nail glitter (though I bet some others may have used glittery see-through nail polish.)
I first covered my nail with just a shiny see-through nail polish to work sort of like glue for the glitter, then with the brush I sprinkled some glitter onto my nail.

Then as a little extra I added a pink and green dot to couple nails to represent planets.

The last step of course was covering the nail with a protecting gloss once dry.

To be honest once I was done I didn't know if I had really succeeded cause my  fingers were so full of nail polish but once I got all the excess nail polish off from the sides, I was really happy with the results. :)

Make-up sponge for nail art?

I have seen many nails with multiple colors and the colors fading from one to the other but only recently did I learn how it's done! I noticed from nail art videos that people were using sponges to dab different colors to their nails. There are still many techniques with the sponge that I need to try out but I started with the easy one, using two colors and getting the colors to nicely swap to the other on the nail.

This is what I accomplished: Bright Spring colors!

I tried this technique using a make-up sponge...even though I bet the sponges seen on the videos were not. 😀

I started by applying a base color which was this time white. Then the next step was as simple as this; I took the sponge and took the two nail polishes I wanted to use and spread them half and half on it. 

Then once I had spread the nail polishes on the sponge I pressed it onto my nail like a seesaw (one side to the other.) 

As you can see in the picture below the color if very light the first time, so the process needs to be done atleast three times to get a nice bright color.

Again as this technique gets nail polish all over your skin, I used the liquid latex to protect the skin around my nails. It really helps in the end when you need to get the excess nail polish off!😉

 I then finished off the nails with some sparkling nail polish!

Nail decorations can be anyhing

Nail decorations CAN be anything, so if you want to make your nails look extra nice there are plenty of accessories you can buy!

The most typical decorations are like the decorations seen below; sparkles of different kinds, colored sand/powder and different foil like papers. These are sold on nail art webshops and you can find them from normal stores too.

Then of course there are the nail stickers which are really fun to add after applying nail polish as they too bring something extra. I love adding some nail stickers to my nails if I just paint my nails one simple color. These can be found in many shops (at least here in Finland.)
They can look super cute. :)

I've now also started buying other decorations like the ones below. I bought these decorations from a normal crafts store and they are actually meant for decorating stuff like books, screens, boxes, etc. But they work really well as nail art!

*With any nail art decorations its important to add a top coat of see-through nail polish. ( I usually add 2 layers  so it will properly protect the nails)

These were my tests this week: White contrasts really well with black and so does silver and gold so I really got my nails to stand out.

First I wanted to test the different decoration stickers and so I mixed them up, as seen on the left. Then I got really excited about the gold and silver strip stickers and decided to mix them.

Midnight quick nails

Yesterday I realized I had to redo my nails since my old nail polish had started to look worn out, however I only had time to do them late in the evening. Still I did it, but kept it simple!

I had just bought a new blue nail polish and I had to try it out but I couldn't JUST paint my nails blue so I decided to add some extra to my nails.
I started with just the blue nail polish which looked pretty awesome as its this electric blue color and it would stand out just like that as well. But then I decided to add some contrast to make them stand out even more.

I used this white nail polish I have which has a different kind of brush as it is meant for making nail designs. You can see the difference in the brush below. With a thin brush like this it is easy to make line like patterns onto nails. Like in this case, I started drawing white lines from the tips of my nails. By making each other line longer than the other it gave this "dripping effect".

After getting the nails done, I ofcourse covered them with the protecting see-through nail polish. This also added some more shine. 

Candy nails- another example of the swirl paint technique

Hei,

I thought it would be good to show another example of the swirl technique since it's not the easiest at first. I also tried it out with red and white and got these candy like nails. They reminded me of candy cains! :)

First I would suggest painting your nails with a base color, for example I chose white. 

Then the colors I used to make the design were red, white, and the silver color. The silver nail polish I put into the water first to create a base and then I added the red and white one by one again. 

Then I moved the colors aroud creating a design as seen below. 

This time before dipping my finger into the pattern I used the liquid latex to cover the sides of my fingers.  Apply it around your nail so that when you dip your finger into the water for the design you won't have so much trouble cleaning off all the excess nail polish.

The liquid latex creates a protection as such: you can simply pull off the excess nail polish from the sides of your fingers. This saves you time as you won't have to carefully clean your fingers with nail polish remover. 

I kept changing the pattern in the water as I did each finger so I got different patterns on each finger. 

:)

Swirl Paint Technique

Next I wanna show how to make nails like the ones above. I had seen the technique many times online in videos but the videos were made in fast speed and it was hard to figure out how to do it. However after watching the videos many times and then testing it out myself, I finally learned it.

I'm not sure what this process is called but I have seen it called "swirl paint" which you can understand after checking this out. It is fun and you get awesome nails. :)

Firstly add a light base color for your nails, for example this light pink that i used.

Then you need a plastic cup of water and a pen like tool that you can mix with.
Then in order for this to work you need to test which nail polish work well with the water. You need nail polish which doesn't fade in water (like below.) It is also important to test different colors to see which work well together.

I started by adding this silver nailpolish into the water kinda like a "base color" and then I started adding drops of pink and yellow one by one. The colors spread into what you see above. 

Then you need to start testing the kind of pattern you want onto your nail by dragging/moving the nail polish as seen below.

 If you start dragging the colors from the center to the corners it will look like what you see on the LEFT but if you start dragging it from the sides towards the centre it will look like what you see on the RIGHT.  Once you have the image on the surfact which you like the next part comes.
--> Dip your finger onto the section that you want painted onto your nail. Then with the same "stick" that you made the pattern with, move all the excess nail polish from around your finger.  and pull your finger out but pull it towards yourself.

However before doing this you probably want to protect your skin from all the excess nail polish. (cause it'll other wise be annoying getting it off afterwards)

The first time I protected my skin from the nail polish by covering my finger with colored tape (as seen) but then I baught this liquid latex which perfectly protects your skin so that once you get nail polish on the skin,  it goes on the latex which can be pulled off later once your nails are dry.  ( Baught from a pharmacy )

You can apply it with a brush or even a cotton swab. Spread the liquid latex to the parts of your finger which will get excess nail polish.  Then later you just pull it off. It's really awesome! :)  ( I will have an image of it in the next post)

Anyhow afterwards you should have something like this: I added some flower stickers as finishing touches. ;)

Silver and shine

Silver & Shiny

For my first post I chose to share how to make these extra shiny nails! Using silver nail polish always looks nice but I'm going to show how to make the silver stand out even more. After applying shiny silver nail polish you can add extra shine by using nail glitter (as seen below) or other nail decorations. All you need is the glitter, some see-through nail polish, and a brush like in the picture. The glitter and brush I have came with a nail polish set however, even a mini make up brush and normal glitter would probably work.

So after applying the silver nail polish and letting it dry, I added small amounts of see-through nail polish on the tips of my nails (one by one) and then dabed the brush into the glitter and started gently brushing it onto the end of my nail.

Then you should let your nails dry a bit because you want the glitter to stick.
I also wanted to add a bit of color to my nails so I applied these other shiny nail decorations and I added one little star on both middle fingers ( I'll admit I got a bit excited with the decorations). The tool seen in the left picture is what I used to add the colorful decorations and the stars. All you need to do is add some more see-through nail polish and then get some of the see-through nail polish onto the decorations and push them on with the "stick" (the see-through nail polish acts like a glue).

After getting everything on and letting your nails dry, its important to add several layers of see-through nail polish (preferably nail polish meant as a topcoat) as this will then protect the decorations added onto the nail. I use a topcoat nail polish called Dr.Rescue as it is this gell like nail polish which creates a thick and fast drying cover on the nail.
The final result is seen below ( and at the very top).