Friday, July 25, 2014

DIY nail art (french + glitter letters)

I am possibly addicted to self nail art ever since ever.
So I decided it may be time I blog about it, though I may not be professional at it. I do have about 10 years' experience of painting them, never missing a week without painting them new. Plus, I've been collecting some ideas of lovely nail designs for a while.
 
 
 
So like most other DIYs, what you do with self nail art is recycle what you've already got at home.
I found this nice Uncle Tobys Oat Slice box, so I decided to use this as the nail polish palette.
 
Imma tear it 'cause all I need is that little part at the bottom.
 
 
 
I painted my nails french sytle earlier in the morning, not knowing I'll be doing something on top of it for blogging.
French nails are really easy - they just take time to do it neatly.
 
 
Forgive my ignorance towards my cuticles.
I skipped trimming the cuticles part before I painted my nails this morning and again before doing this.
 
Soften your cuticles by putting them in lukewarm water for about 5 mintues (or 10 seconds); then trim them using the trimming tool. Rinse hands briefly and apply hand cream before actually paiting your nails.
 
Cuticle Trimmer. Image source
 
 
 
This has nicely-sized glitters. I got this nail polish at Topshop when it was on sail.
Goldish sparkles... Not quite enough to paint all over your nails, but good for adding sparkles on top of black polish (makes it look like nightsky ♥) or using the glitters individually like I did here.
 
 
 
 
Lid off.
I'm gonna take pictures of all the basic steps because
that's how I like it when I learn DIYS from other bloggers. ^______^
 
 
 
 
 Pour them glitters good amount onto the "palette".
 
  
 
Like this.
 
 
 
Grab the pen that ran out of ink.
 
 
 
Lid off.
 
 
 
Okay, it's really hard to see in this picture, but I actually picked up a glitter from the palette with the tip of this pen and the one glitter is hanging on the tip.
If you have a microscope at home, it'll be useful to see that glitter on this picture.
 
It's really easy. Just kinda spread out the glitter polish over the "palette" just enough to be able to pick each individual glitter.
Touch one very, very gently with the tip of the pen and the transparent nail polish will do the function of a glue - the glitter will stick to the pen's tip.
 
 
 
Again, very gently let that one glitter kinda perch on your wanted spot on the nail.
 
 
 
See, this is supposed to become the letter "S" when it's all finished.
It sounds like tedious work, and yeah I guess it is, but if you're into DIY, you'll enjoy it.
Making up a letter on each nail with individual glitters lets you off all the worries of the world. :)
 
You can't think of anything else while doing this.
Nor sneeze.
Nor eat.
Nor talk.
Nor laugh.
Just gotta concentrate on this 100%.
 
 
 
 
This is what it looks like when you skip to trim your cuticles.
 
Trimming cuticles and shaping the tips - which are the easiest part of nail art - make your nails look like they were done at a salon, not at home.
 
 
 
I did "SUPER" on my left hand and "SUZY▽" on my right hand.
At first I thought of doing SUPER-WOMAN, but then I decided that triangles are something of a symbol of swagger or something these days,  what with all the triangle earrings and tattoos...
So I went with my name and an upside-down triangle on my thumbnail.
Hmm... Thumb-nail. Literally. Not the one on PC.
 
 
 
 
FINSIHED!!!
 
 
 
 
 
Just kidding.
 
I don't know what the heck happened to this nail polish, but it used to say OPI Top Coat.
It is OPI. For real...
 
Anyway, I took care of the messy cuticles and put top coat over the finished nail design.
 
 
 
Tada.
Yeah, actually Sally Hansen's Diamond or Megashine top coats work better to look  professionally done. I really recommend Sally Hansen top coats because they give the really thick, gel-like shine even when it's dried.
 
 
 
So that was it.
 
A hobby of mine, on my blog, as a DIY tutorial.
Just a way to save money on beauty because... you want to use that money for other pretty things!!! Haha. Just kidding. Inner beauty is the best.