Black Foil Flames

Well, I’ve been having a dodgy couple of days, including an on-line nail incident and staying up late to have to call people in the US- darn time difference. Tired, cranky and I’m feeling even more stubborn than usual.

So, to reflect my somewhat dark mood, here are some Black Foil Flames:

Sometimes the full foil can be a little much, even for me, so I thought some little flames would be the way to go.  Burn baby burn!

While I had my foil out, I tried it on an orange base but I prefer the black.

So I’m trying to get my polish love back on, but I’ve been aggravated and it’s hard to be creative when I’m in that mood. But like excersizing, I feel better afterwards, it’s just gettting motivated to do it that’s the problem. At least being creative takes my mind off other stuff, even if just for a little while.

ETA: Brilliant legal minds have advised me not to say too much online until the nail Incident is settled.  It’s best I don’t discuss it at the moment, but I do have good reason to believe that things will work out.

Clumsy Day

Yikes, it’s been a week since I opened a bottle of polish voluntarily. I had several bottles of polish open involuntarily a couple days ago. I keep my bottles in plastic storage boxes, sorted by color.  A couple days ago, the Greens box somehow fell off the shelf and several bottles shattered, leaving bright green polish gloobers all over my wood floor. Yikes. I got most of it up but it dried really fast. I can’t use acetone or remover on the floor because it will strip the wood.  I also stepped on 3 pairs of design nails I made when being clumsy. I can’t sell them anymore, but I did take a couple photos:

Wearing nails with giant 3-D bits on them drove me a little crazy, but that rose stayed on pretty well!

I used a new kind of glitter that’s superfine and very sparkly- reminds me of candy for some reason. But it’s impossible to get off natural nails!

So, I’ve had two nail-related accidents…not sure what’s coming next, but I know I need to at least buy another piece of storage furniture to hold all my nail stuff. It’s piled up everywhere and is slowly taking over my house.  I’m off to look at furniture this weekend!

I’ve Been in Japan Too Long

Because, instead of giving long super-decorated nails that are covered in 3-D bits the side eye, I’m now MAKING them! I admit I bought a kit to make fake whipped cream puffs- basically white caulk and a frosting nozzle. There! I admitted it! I also bought fake clay pies and rhinestones shaped like cherries. I’m turning Japanese (cue up the song that every Japanese major grew to hate). The proof:

I made these for my shop, but for a moment I considered keeping them for myself.  This was the first time I ever had an urge to wear gyaru-type Lolita nails. It felt..ruffly. However, I came to my senses, realized I couldn’t work  if I wore these and I’m happy to say they found a lovely new home with an Etsy customer.

These nails below failed my quality control because the decals curled up too much, so I thought I’d try them on and take a photo. Rawr! I might not be able to do anything, but at least I’ll look like a sexy beast! (Just kidding, Mom.)

Below are a set of short design nails. I make a lot more of these than the long ones. A lot of people like the longs but would never wear them. The longer are more fun to design since there’s some more space to work with, but a lot harder to sell.  But these have a giant purple rhinestone heart on them- getting ready for Valentine’s Day!

I think because I’ve been designing nails lately, looking at Japanese nail magazines, etc. I’m slowly becoming de-sensitized to how weird Japanese nail art is.  Very few nails actually surprise me anymore and even nails covered in fake whipped cream and tiny bogus donuts are run-of-the-mill.  Even the pointy claws aren’t even that unusual. When you see something every day, it doesn’t seem weird….so please tell me if I’m getting overly wacky. I can’t tell anymore! One clear  line that divides the Japanese and Everyone Else: poo. The Japanese love poo. You can buy ice cream in a plastic toilet instead of a cone, golden poo figurines, keychains, poo paperweights…the list goes on.  No poo manicures- sorry Japan. Not going to happen.

But it’s odd, because I’m not really cutesy at all, but I’ve been making cute nails lately. Tons of them. And I enjoy seeing exactly how many pearls and baubles I can physically fit on one nail. I wonder if there’s some kind of subverted psychological issue that is luring me inevitably towards all things adorable. I tend to think it’s more Hello Kitty’s subliminal mind warfare.  She has no mouth, so she’s had plenty of time to develop ESP. I’m sure she has hypnotic powers of some sort.  That would explain her enduring popularity, while her twin sister Mimi has always had to play second fiddle. I betcha most of you didn’t know that HK had a twin sister, right?

The above statement may indeed confirm I’ve been in Japan too long. At the very least, I’ve been up too long. Goodnight all!

Finally Sold All Them Nails

I have some good news! I  finally sold all the nails I made for the rather ill-fated Design Festa back in October in my Etsy shop.  I was painting, mixing, decorating and glittering for months beforehand, but my sales were rather disappointing, to put it mildly, so that inspired me to put more time and effort into Etsy.  It was either that or change my nails every hour for the rest of my life.

But the really good news is, the sales are going for a good cause! (And no, it’s not more nail polish for me!) As you guys probably know, I’m an animal lover, but I can’t have a pet because I live overseas, I’m too busy and I travel often.  So I decided to donate 10% of my Etsy profits to various animal-related causes.  This month, I was lucky enough to have a little extra, so I was able to give some more. 

(Just so no-one accuses me of being a people-hater and ignoring human suffering, I did organize charitable contributions for Haiti at my office and will make a substantial donation in several months, after the basic rebuilding begins.  I think the donations will drop off by then, but people will need assistance just as much, albeit in different ways.)

But Etsy profits are targeted for our furry friends. I’ve unilaterally decided that January is Weiner Dog Month. I’m a crazed Dachshund lover, so I donated to three rescue organizations for the breed: Coast to Coast Dachshund  Rescue and Dachsund Rescue of North America and Almost Home. I also support local animal rescue organizations here in Japan.

Oh, and check out this NY Times article about  Rescue Ink, a bunch of rather dangerous-looking motorcycle enthusiasts who also happen to be animal-lovers who specialize in stopping urban animal abuse, especially dogfighting.

I feel very lucky to have enough money left over to donate to causes that mean a lot to me personally.  I know that is not the case with many people right now. But there are a few things I’d like to ask people to do that don’t cost money:

1. If you see an abused animal (including  human beings, for that matter!)  alert your local authorities, Humane Society. Never assume anyone else will.  I’m reminded of a favorite quote, “The only thing required for evil to flourish  is for good men to do nothing.”- Edmund Burke (?)

2.  If you’re thinking of getting a pet, go to your local shelter, breed rescue or Humane Society. Anywhere but a pet store- don’t shop, adopt! You’ll be saving a life for sure.

3. Perhaps this is the most relevant for my fellow varnish-heads: Buy cruelty-free products. There are plenty of wonderful polish brands out there that don’t conduct animal testing. It’s just not necessary in this day and age.  Cruelty is not part of being fabulous! Check out my Cruelty-Free page here. I use PeTA’s Caring Consumer website to help me determine which products are cruelty-free.  Some people disagree with this list, but it is regularly updated and provides at least a starting point to make decisions about what to buy and what not to buy.  I know it’s hard to navigate the miles of products and companies, but every little bit we can do to elimate cruelty helps.

Phew! This post was a bonanza of clicky-links, but I hope you will find some of the information useful.  I’m also open to animal-related charities to donate to, if any of my readers have an organization that they are a part of.  Thanks for reading and I’ll be back with the usual polish-related posts soon!

ETA: Sorry I forgot to say a big “thank you” to everyone who stopped by my store! I got so into the animal stuff that I forgot to offer my sincere thanks for everyone who has offered feedback, purchased nails or even just bookmarked my blog or store. So here’s a great big THANK YOU!

Pigment Tutorial Part 2

This time, I’m going to show you how to fix an overly sheer polish, the power of fuschia pigment, how clumsy I am, and the ugliest baby-poop green polish ever. Yes, we have much to learn in this pigment tutorial.

I’ll start by showing  you how to fix a sheer polish. I used Sally Hansen Hi-Definition color in Blu, which is a lovely color, but required three to four coats to be opaque.  So the trick is to use a pigment or eyeshadow that is as close to the color as possible. You’re aiming to add pigment and make the color more dense. You will need a tiny spoon to get the pigment in your silicone baking cup, or if you’re using pressed eyeshadow, you need an eyeshadow brush. I’ll be using pressed eyeshadow for the first couple parts of this tutorial.

I have a giant set of 120 eyeshadows that I bought and will probably never wear. I’m worried that they’re chock full of lead (I bought them from a Chinese website) but so far, so good. I chose a color that was close to the original polish- a frosty medium blue.

Use your eyeshadow brush to loosen the eyeshadow and direct it into your baking cup. Don’t forget to clean off your brush afterwards for next time, otherwise enough color may remain in the bristles to give you a surprise the next time you use it! At the very least it will make your colors muddy over time.

Make sure you have a bottle of clear polish handy. You will use the brush from this bottle to mix up the pigment and polish. You can use it over and over again and replace it when the clear polish gets really dirty.  Also make sure your nails have base coat if you use and they’re ready for polish. The pigment-mixed polishes tend to dry quickly and can be a little hard to handle, so make sure you’re ready to polish quickly.

Drop the polish in the pigment or pour it in, but don’t get the original polish brush in the pigment. It will permanently contaminate your polish. That’s what the brush from the bottle of clear polish is for- mix with that!

A dusting of pigment and the polish puddle. Note how similar the colors look- I just wanted to make the polish less sheer, not change the color.

Mix ‘em together and then paint your nails!

The pigment polish is slightly too dark to be a perfect match, but it was opaque in two coats (upper). The original Blu is on the bottom and is a lovely color but took 4 coats to be opaque. If I was really deranged, I could add further pigment (white pearl and a touch of green shimmer)  to the pigmented polish to get the color closer. But I’m happy with the way it turned out.

Let’s see what happens when we add a tiny touch of fuschia pigment to the original Blu. This eyeshadow is really opaque, so it won’t take much to drastically alter the color.

I used this bright fuschia- I am sure this is a color  I’ll never  be wearing on my eyes!

So, you can see there’s just a tiny dusting of fuschia in the baking cup- it’s just barely sprinkled in there.  I added the same amount of Blu as I did before. But check out what color the pigment changed the Blu to..

A nice royal purple!

Finally, I decided to give the yellow pigment from TKB Trading a try, hoping for a nice springy green. This one was doomed from the start- the dang bag split when I opened it and I got bright yellow pigment all over my pants.  Lesson:  Don’t wear good clothes when working with pigment.

So here’s what I mixed:

…and I got lumpy baby poo green.

That’s not to say it’s the fault of the pigment. Some pigments are lumpier than others. It has more to do with the color and chemical composition of the pigment, not the brand or price. This TKB pigment was lumpy, but I’ve worked with other TKB products that are not lumpy. Fyrinnae has pigments that are smooth as silk while others make a nail that looks worse than Funky Chunky. MAC is pretty good all across the board and I’ve never experienced lumpiness with it but it’s expensive and the price is set to double soon, if not already.

I have a couple more pointers in mind for another tutorial as well, maybe involving glitter! I do have some fun nail art coming up, but let me know if there’s other things you want to know about pigment!

Pigment Tutorial Part 1

Here it is, finally! The Pigment Tutorial!

For our purposes, pigment is a dry coloring material that can change the color or texture or a nail polish. Some pigment is loose, and some is pressed (think loose eyeshadow vs. the kind in the compact.) Pigment can make a drastic change in the color of a nail polish.

First, some pigments:

TKB Trading Yellow 5, MAC, Fyrinnae. Pigments come in jars, tubes, and plastic bags. I really recommend putting them in screw-top jars or shakers like spices come in. Mineral makeup is not the same as pigment but sometimes produces good results but generally doesn’t pack enough color opacity to be really fantastic. More on that later.

Pressed eyeshadows can also be a good source of pigment. Creams are out- only powder. They don’t have to be expensive, but do watch out for the Chinese ones. Shown above is the “Manly 120 Colour Palette” that I bought online from a seller in Hong Kong.  Many Chinese cosmetics have not been tested or approved for use outside China and there can be some nasty stuff lurking in them- buyer beware.

However, there is one type of pigment that you should NEVER be putting on your body.

Artists pigment. This is intended to be mixed with paint and never for use on human skin, nails, etc. Let me say it again: DO NOT PUT ARTIST PIGMENTS ON YOUR BODY OR MIX THEM WITH MAKEUP.  While artists pigments have an amazing color payoff, are incredibly vivid, and dirt cheap compared to cosmetic pigments, they are generally very poisonous. Many contain lead, cadmium, arsenic and other unpleasant stuff. If you have any doubt about whether a pigment is safe for cosmetic use, don’t use it.  Pigments will usually say “Approved for cosmetic use” or something along those lines. Pigments sold by cosmetic companies, eyeshadows, etc. or pigments intended to be used on the face should be OK for nails.

So, if you’ve got your non-toxic pigment, what else do you need?

A little teeny spoon (I got this at a Japanese coffee shop) and silicone baking tins. These are great for mixing polishes. After the polish dries, just flip the cup inside out and it will all pop out in one big piece- no need to clean with acetone or remover. Silicone doesn’t react with polish either, but certain kinds of plastic cups will often melt or turn gooey in contact with nail polish. If you can’t find silicone baking cups, try an artist’s palette. But the silicone baking cups are worth getting if at all possible.

Last, you need a spare bottle of clear nail polish. It can be cheap- you just need the brush and maybe a few drops of polish now and again.

The most basic pigment mixing is with clear polish. But it’s good to check the pigment opacity before mixing away. Some pigments will produce a polish that’s clear in one coat and some will only tint the polish.  I recommend swatching a little bit on the skin first to get an idea of the opacity. The more opaque on the skin, the more opaque the polish will be.

Left to right: MAC Teal, Fyrinnae Aztec Gold, Fyrinnae Boytoy, MAC Green Brown. It’s difficult to tell the opacity or finish in the jar, so take a moment to swatch them. Some will also be more matte than others.

Next, get ready to mix! For the first part of this tutorial, we’ll start with clear polish. I get the best results from mixing sheers with pigment, but this can be a little more tricky, so let’s start with clear. I’m going to make a dirty khaki nail polish with Fyrinnae Aztec Gold.

1. Put in one spoonful of pigment (about the size of a pea) in your silicone baking cup. Use a tiny measuring spoon or a plastic stirrer spoon.  Don’t forget to wipe your spoon off with a tissue.

2. Drip in some clear polish. Just hold the brush over and let it drip, about 20 drops, swirling the pigment and the polish together. Your clear polish will get muddy with pigment over time, so use a cheap clear polish. If you’re a seasoned pro, you can just pour the polish in.

3. Keep swirling away until the polish is mixed with the pigment. It will generally be a little thicker than regular polish. Add more clear polish if you want a thinner mixture.

Voila! It dries fast, so paint it on your nails ASAP.  I’ll talk about how to make a bottle of pigment polish later, but in truth, I rarely make a whole bottle. I usually just make enough for one manicure. I get bored with color easily, so a whole bottle of one color is a waste for me. Also, pigments tend to sink the bottom of the bottle and can get glunky. But onward to the finished mani (that I just smudged, whoops).

Here’s one coat (over the bright yellow I had on before!) It comes out in a satin finish, not matte but not shiny.

With a coat of Seche.

Well, there’s Part 1 for you…next time I’m going to talk about eyeshadows and adding pigment to color polish. Have fun!

This Makes Me Sad

Well, ladies, if you’re over 115 pounds in Japan, you better hustle to the weight loss spa.

I know it’s hard to tell from the tiny ad I scanned in, but this ad is promoting  a Japanese weight-loss ’spa.’  It’s the same woman in all the photos. She’s just under 5′5″ (166cm) tall and starts out at 114 pounds (left photos).  After 25 weight-loss “treatments” and probably hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, she’s 98.5 (44kg) pounds and she’s crowned the “Champion Weight Loser!”  You can’t really tell from the scanned photo, but she looks absolutely skeletal in her “champion” outfit.  I mean, at 114 lbs, obviously she was dangerously obese. Thank goodness she got to be under 100 pounds with the help of “treatments”  and is branded a “winner”…after all, she may finally be a medal contender in the Anorexia Olympics. The spa should have refused her service and sent her to a therapist if she thought she was fat at 114 lbs. How sad.

In other related news, I’m working on the Pigment Tutorial and it’s taking longer than I thought, but check back in a day or two. And ignore the forces that say you’re a champion if you look like a famine victim.

Working on a Pigment Tutorial

Hello all! I’m working on a pigment tutorial- what to use, what not to, how to mix, etc. Anything specific anyone wants to learn? Let me know in the comments- otherwise I’ll just cover the basics for now!

Lavender Rose

I’ve been using that bottle of China Glaze Mr. and Mrs, but I’ve had enought of the lavender for a while after this one. This is the very sheer Mr. and Mrs. with white pearl pigment and metallic purple eyeshadow. (What was I thinking? Metallic purple eyeshadow? Am I going to join an ’80s hard rock band? But it was from the dollar store, so that’s not so bad. ) The result was a nice dusty lavender shimmer.  I’m not a huge fan of shimmers unless they’re really outrageous, so I decided to top this one with some chunky crystal glitter and jazz it up with some clay 3-D nail art bits.

I’m not entirely sure this color works with my ghostly white hands, but at least it’s a little springy. It’s around 40-45 degrees in Tokyo, which is much warmer than where I grew up, but I’m still ready for spring.  If I never had to scrape ice off a car again like I did back home, it would be OK with me!

Romantic Rust

I wanted a smooth, sparkly red for the base color on this one. Of course, there are tons of delightful reds on the market, but being the franken-troll I am, I decided to make one. Here’s MAC Reflects Rust glitter (which is more of a russet red than a rusty brown) mixed in with clear polish. It’s smooth, no clumping and really opaque. The downside is the high price of the MAC glitter and the fact that you will never be able to use up a pot of it in your lifetime. I’m close to finishing one, but a little of this stuff goes a looong way. By the way, MAC is reducing the size of their glitter pots from 7.5 grams to either 3.5 or 4 grams…and charging the same outrageous price ($19.50 if I remember correctly). So if you want some, now might be a good time to buy the remaining larger stock. I won’t be purchasing any more glitter because I thought $20 for 7.5 grams was nuts…I will hardly be paying the same amount for half the product. I think reducing the price when the size was reduced would have been nicer. I doubt a lot of people are going to respond well to this.

Anyway, all that aside, here’s the color:

I make a little pile of glitter the size of two peas and added a teaspoon or so of clear polish to it to get this color. Too much glitter will make it too dense, but this very fine microglitter is more forgiving than larger ones.

This red was a little too Christmassy and I wanted to make something a little more romantic, so I added some tiny ceramic roses and did a quick marbling job:

I doubt these tiny roses are going to stay on all day, but they’re fun while they last.