Here’s a little sampling of nails I’ve made in the past month or so- everything from Pegasus to spooky poison apple nails to happy pressed flower nails!
I do post nail art regularly on Facebook. You should be able to see the page even if you are not a Facebooker, since it’s a public fan page, but no guarantees as Facebook does wonky stuff regularly.
Coming up next, I have some new stamping plates from Cheeky Beauty to show you!
Textured polishes are all the rage right now, but I’m kind of on the fence about them. I personally don’t like texture on my nails since it makes me want to pick at them. I do see potential to do some fun nail art with them, though I haven’t tried anything yet.
I do like the kind of “sandy” matte look, though definitely not enough to invest in a bunch of polishes that I probably won’t use frequently. So, you guys know what happens next, right? 
Yup, I whipped out the franken-polish making materials! My goal was to create a nail polish with a matte finish, a teeny bit of texture that had a kind of sandy look, but without being too lumpy on the nail surface.
Taa Daa!
My secret weapon in this case was China Glaze Ray-Diant, a silver based multi-glitter.
I basically just tinted it with different shades- the pink nail at the top was the result of adding red polish. The silver in the base will lighten red to pink. I just poured a bit of the Ray-Diant into my trusty silicone baking cup, then added color nail polish drop by drop to get the colors I wanted. I recommend using the sheerest colors you can find to let the opacity of the glitter show through a bit- that’s the key to the “sandy” surface. This dried matte-ish all on its own. You could add a matte topcoat if you want a really matte finish. They are the tiniest bit gritty and will probably be a pain to remove, but I like the look.
I’m testing out a few shades on my toes at the moment, but they seem to be wearing pretty well. For me, mixing up my own slightly textured shades is a good alternative to purchasing a lot of textured polishes which are fun but a bit gimmicky. I may experiment with making these more textured for the folks out there who really love their gritty nails! Maybe some teeny glass beads or something could be in order for that. But for me, this is as textured as I’ll probably go on a daily basis.
What do you guys think of textured polish? Love it or hate it?
For many of you, this post will hit on May 3, but it’s May 4 here in the Far East. That means….it’s Star Wars Day! May the 4th Be With You!
I’ve been meaning to show this for a while, but as usual, the time has gotten away from me! I’ve become more of a nail artist than a color-mixer, but I really enjoy both equally. Mixing the perfect shade of nail polish is very satisfying, but can be frustrating at times! I’ll always be a color junkie first and foremost, though.
I’ve frankened with a lot of pigments and nail polish and eyeshadows in my nail career, and here’s the latest mix-up! I used the LA Girl eyeshadow pallete in “Colorsurge” to make some nail polishes. This palette is focused on metallic pastels with a couple bright pops of color and silver, white and black.
This palette was quite chalky and hard and the colors were a bit streaky. I have used LA Girl palettes to make nail polish before and they were a bit more silky, but this was was much more difficult to mix with. There was a lot of inconsistency in the eyeshadow textures between the two palettes.
Here’s what I got:
As always, click to see the enlarged version.
You can see how much I had to gouge the polish- it was hard and chalky at the same time. The black mixed like a dream, but the rest were a struggle. I had high hopes for that gentian blue/periwinkle kind of shade, but it was not cooperative.
I mixed these with clear polish in a tiny silicone baking cup, as usual. Pictured is two coats of each polish and one coat of clear topcoat (Seche Vite.)
I think the lesson I learned from this was that textures and consistencies can vary widely across a brand, even in the same line of products! I probably would not recommend mixing nail polish from this palette unless you are experienced with color mixing and frankening, due to the tricky texture of this eyeshadow.
Other than that, I gave this a try as eyeshadow (shock!) It does fade fast, but the colors are pretty bright and they do stain. It’s a fun palette for a party look or costume, and it’s pretty cheap. If you’ll only use these shades once in a blue moon, it’s not a bad choice. Just pile on the eyeshadow primer so you don’t have chartruese lids the next day!
I’ll be at the What The Flea indoor market event today at Orchard Scape from 2-8PM today (Saturday, 13 April) with my nail goodies front and center!
Stop by and say hi if you have some spare time!
For those of you who are not exactly in the neighborhood to check my work out in person, I should be back to updating the blog and Etsy shop more regularly. I’ve finished the preliminiaries for an upcoming book on nail art, have submitted work for a few contests/shows and I’m knee deep in bridal orders at the moment! It’s been an amazing start to the year, but phew, I will be relieved when I have a bit more breathing room to relax, mix up colors, and blog a bit more.
Whoa! This product has really impressed me, so I thought I’d do a review and share it with you guys.
It’s Butter London Melt Away Cuticle Eliminator.
My absolute least favorite part of nail work is any skin around the nails/cuticles. I hate scraping them, nipping/cutting them and pushing them back gives me the major heebie jeebies. Nail prep was definitely not my favorite class in nail school! By the way, in most US jurisdictions, it’s illegal for a nailist to cut away any live skin, since you need medical training. If your salon professional is cutting off anything that bleeds, that is not a good sign. Just FYI.
Point is, I hate the cuticle torture. I got to the point where I can enjoy it on other people, after getting a lot of reassurance that what I was doing was not painful, but I absolutely cannot stand to let others work on me. Just gives me the plain ol’ willes. o_O
That’s why this stuff is great! I’ve tried a lot of different cuticle removers, including strong professional grade ones, but this is easily the best. It applies with a brush, and doesn’t sting or burn (at least when the Mr. and I tested it).
The proof is in Mr. NTMG’s toes. Warning: hairy man-feed ahead!
Hairy man-toes aside, look at those lovely and clean nails! I’m sorry for the stars and funky lighting, but the toes in all their stark, unedited glory were leaving the Mr. a little over-exposed, so he got a little jazzy editing.
I do use a metal cuticle pusher on the nails since I’ve been to nail school and got confident using it. These work really well but have the potential to do a LOT of damage if used incorrectly. If the thought leaves you a little apprehensive, you can use an orangewood stick or plastic cuticle pusher (the end looks like a little upturned horse hoof). Be gentle!
As with all chemical cuticle remover, it’s a good idea to wash your hands after use, since it can dry out the skin if left on. And don’t forget a nice squeeze of hand cream at night to keep your hands looking their best.
Is this a product everyone needs? Not really. Some people have more overgrown skin around their nails than others, so your need for a cuticle remover may vary. Cleaning up the edges does make for neater looking nails, whether or not you polish them. For me, I find applying hand cream faithfully at night does a lot to keep the raggedy edges and hangnails at bay. But if you want a really clean cuticle line with minimal nipping and pushing, this is a painless way to do it.
Well, not entirely painless to the wallet. I paid around $24USD for this here in Singapore. I’m not sure if it’s just marked up crazily, as many cosmetic products here are, but it’s probably never cheap. But it’s cruelty-free and works really well, so I don’t regret the splurge. Highly recommended!
Howdy all! I have been busy recently getting my nail art ready for a book to be published later this year. I’ve been re-making and re-shooting some nails, plus a lot of photo editing and it’s been pretty intense. Almost everything has been submitted to the publisher now, though. Phew! The book is not just featuring my work- it’s a bunch of contemporary nail artists. It’s due out in the fall and I’ll update on the details when I can!
For now, since St. Patty’s Day is coming up, here’s some easy DIY nail art to show. If you can’t do green nails for work, how about a pedicure or one accent nail?
From top to bottom:
1) Jeweled Shamrock: I used China Glaze’s Keep Calm, Paint On as the base for this- it’s a light seafoam green with a bit of shimmer. Three heart jewels make an easy clover. Then just add a little stem on the bottom.
2) Painted 4-Leaf Clover. Paint a 4-leaf clover out of 4 hearts, add a little black line in the center of each leaf, then add a stem.
3) Simple Green- green shimmer (Zoya Ivanka) with gold leaf topcoat for a touch of green and some real gold!
4) Classic Buckle- paint a black stripe,then a little gold square! I didn’t think this design up, just wanted to include it as a fun and easy design.
5) Field O’Clover- just paint a green half-moon at the bottom of the nail, and add some cute mini clover.
6) Royal Shamrock- Use a dark green shimmer (this is China Glaze Winter Holly), then paint on some cute gold shamrocks. I added a few dots around the shamrocks and a gold border.
7) Classic Buckle French- Just move the black stripe up to the nail tip, and add a gold buckle. I added some green sparkle to the base with Zoya Rina.
8) Irish Flag. Paint the white base first, then the green/orange stripes.
9) Big Clover- Use large heart jewels and center them on the nail. I did a crackle background to add a bit of interest.
Those are a few easy DIY ideas- hope they’re useful to anyone who wants an easy manicure for St. Patty’s Day.
Here’s another set I did recently. My favorite part of these is that the teeny coins are 24K gold plated Swarovski crystals. I’m guessing St. Patrick’s Day is not big here in Singapore, but I’m still going to rock some crazy nails! 
|
NTMG Nail Art on Tumblr
