Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Patchwork Madness!


I did this one a while back but for a first attempt, I wouldn't say it's too bad! I used this lovely patchwork tutorial at Chloe's Nails and while it was time consuming, it was super easy! One tip, don't use the matte finish tape...use the "invisible" tape and stick it to your hand a few times like she advises in the tutorial. The matte finish tape bubbled up on me a lot when I tried it since my nails are so curved. If you do this, you're gonna have a bad time. (Read that in Thumper the Ski Instructor's voice from South Park.)

Mr. K picked the colors. I had him pick because prior to this, I was wearing a SUPER BORING (his words) pastel tape french mani. He did a good job though, because he picked two Kleancolor metallics, Red and Blue (which are red and blue, incidentally.) The Kleancolor metallic series is mostly comprised of vibrant, one coater polishes; this is good, because the last thing I wanted to be doing on my first patchwork was multiple coats of each layer. (Most of the Kleancolor metallic series can be seen here: The Edge of Sanity: Kleancolor Metallics.) Long story short, these are a good choice for a lot of things, including stamping.

I started with the red since the other two colors were more opaque. The blue came next and then the black, with a coat of Seche Vite and 10 minutes in between each tape layer. Like the tutorial says, pull the tape off while the polish is still wet. The lines are much cleaner this way. Patchwork manis are the perfect way to only spend an hour on your nails but still get loads of compliments and disbelieving gasps that "you did that yourself?!" I want to try a braid next.

K x

Monday, July 23, 2012

Once Upon A Polish & Icebound Proto :)


Every so often I'm so inspired by something I see that I'll go hunt the right colors down to recreate that particular look. But other times, something perfect just falls into my lap! I originally went to Once Upon A Polish's Etsy shop looking for Scuttle, but I saw Grumpy and immediately thought of my WoW priest's mount of choice, the Icebound proto drake from ICC. Mr. K thought I should do a comparison shot so I put them side by side in a collage. My hands are looking a little beat up in the pictures, oops. My dog likes to use my fingers as a chew toy.

I really enjoy her polishes. They've got adorable fantasy, fairy tale and Disney inspired names, she ships super fast and they all come in cute little bags. Grumpy was pretty thick, which was nice because I wanted that "armored" look. It was smooth after a few coats of topcoat, and I wore this for over a week (see above, busy with finger-chewing dog :p) and just had some tipwear.

Recently I picked up Princess and the Pea as well as aforementioned Scuttle so I'll be back with a trip report soon.
K x