Valentine's!

I don't like wearing reds, and typical Valentine's Day designs kind of bore me. There are so many! So I went for another approach; feathers! Because I'm free as a bird! 
In blue. Because.. I just love blue. And it seemed like a good accent color for my base colors.

I just love these polishes! I bought this skin colored, shimmery polish, it looks very romantic. I added this as my base color, and faded up a shimmery pink color using the nail polish brush.

 I never apply thin polishes carefully, I've found that putting the 

brush down on the cuticle actually makes it smoother.

You can see it on my index and middle finger, and the ring and pinky are still to be painted. I added a quick white french to my nails before applying the polish but it ended up looking yellow anyway.
Then I started adding light blue feathers, using acrylic paint, on all my nails, except my ring finger. When they were dry, I went over them again but with white paint this time. I added a light blue heart to my ring fingers, and added depth using a darker blue and a white. Then I went over the feathers one last time with white, but only the middle stripe to make it stand out more. My acrylic paints are very thin.

I took a white glitter and added it lightly over the feathers and the heart. I contemplated added lace around the heart, but I wanted some bling and added microbeads instead. They are silver, but my microbeads are bad and go seethrough then you add the top coat. I'll need to buy new ones.
I love this as a Valentine's design, it's very elegant and romantic. I'm glad I managed to avoid the cliché trap! 
Much love,
Tialiq.

Abstract Peacock!

I bought this green polish called Peacock Green at a sale. Again I was in the misc-leftover-polishes-that-no-one-wants- box, and holy moley is this gorgeous. Why hasn't anyone bought these! I saw loads! So I went crazy and had to save as many polishes as possible from their horrible fate. But I'm getting off topic. 
Polishes inspire, and this one inspired a peacock design that's kind of abstract. 

But look at that color. YUM!
I applied the pearl white polish I mentioned in my previous post, and then I used a fan brush to create feathery strokes. It was my first time however, and I kinda forgot to practice, so it didn't turn out too well. I used a shimmery blue, a glittery grape purple, and the same green to swipe from the top of the nail, towards the sides. Then I applied glitters in the same colors, and rhinestones. Lots of rhinestones. The simpler the nails are, the more amazing the accent nails have to be!
I'm very happy, both with the color and the design. It feels elegant, even though my fan-brush strokes are a bit messy. 
Tialiq

Blue Bow!

I watched a nail art tutorial, where a girl made this ridiculously cute bow design, and I just had to! She deserves more views for sure, even though me linking it wont make a huge diffrence.
I also attempted painting with watercolors for this design, while using the plastic bag method (Though I use a plastic lid, but.. Details!). It worked out fine for the bows where I was patient and applied two thick coats as bottom layers. I made two more bows for my thumbs where I didn't wait long enough, and when I tried peel them off they ripped. 
Watercolors also dry thicker than acrylic paint, which doesn't seem logical to me, but it was hell trying to remove the design with nailpolish remover. It was fun, it turned out great, but I doubt I'll use watercolors a lot in the future.

This was my first time trying out this new, shimmery pearl color, and to my huge surprise it was a matte polish! It's absolutely gorgeous. I applied two coats, and then dotted out a curved line at my lunar, for the rhinestones. I cleaned a striper brush from a polish, and made stripes with a black polish with blue microglitter, a light blue and a white. I went over the light blue with a darker, but very thin polish, to get the right color. Then I took a light blue glitter and went over the blue lines, and a dark blue glitter mixed with the leftovers of the first glitter, and went over the black lines. 
I made the bow in many steps, since watercolors applies very thin. I started with two medium blue squares, and added darker and lighter blue colors for definition, outlining with black.
I finished by applying all my rhinestones, and voilá!


But, I've found the reason my designs turn yellow, and it's because of Seche Vite! When I was about to remove these nails, I peeled a bit off where it had loosened, and only the top coat disappeared, and you can see the color change!

The triangle, coming out from where you can see my horrible natural nail, is a lot whiter. That's the original color. I'm very displeased with this, since Seche Vite is the only top coat I've tried that applies a rock solid, thick layer. I'm now hunting for a new one.
Oh well. The design is adorable none-the-less.
Tialiq

Ryuk!

Yes! My favorite Death Note character, I finally made him a tribute. Ryuk, the Shinigami, who loves nothing but himself and apples. 

At first I wanted to make a minimalistic design, white nails, Ryuk's smile on ring finger and an apple on the thumb. When I started making the smile, however, I realised it looked weird without the nose. So I added the nose. And then it looked weird withouth the eyes. And suddenly his face is there all wonky and it all just looks wrong. 

Yeah. See? It looks fine at first glance but it's actually tilted. Being a perfectionist I had to remove it. But I figured I'd show it anyway since I actually completed the face.

The second time I went for another approach. 

I added a small silver gradient from the tip, and made Ryuk's silhouette on my thumb. I thinned down black acrylic paint and looked at an image for reference. On my ringfinger I made a chain holding an apple. The chain was made with the same silver polish as the gradient, and then I outlined it with the thinned black acrylic paint. I made the apple with acrylic paint, and added white for the shiny bit.
And yet again, my right hand ends up looking better! 

Except the chain being a bit rough. Those thin bits are still difficult for me. I also thought it was funny how Ryuk ended up being smaller on my right hand, it's usually the opposite.
Tialiq

SNSD - I Got a Boy!

This is not like one of my usual posts. I went a bit crazy mode gathering inspiration and figured I'd share. 
I just watched the new music video for SNSD's new song; I Got a Boy. It's very fast paced so I ended up taking about 30 minutes to watch it in slow motion. It's full of inspiration, but what I was looking at was their nails. I'm usually not one to copy nails, but for some reason I love wearing K/J-pop nails, the ones they wear in their videos. It's all about actually getting a chance to see them.. So here is my loot!

They wore a lot of simple things, which is why I'm starting with this solid grey.

Pinks.

 Metallic.

 Red.

My guess is metallic but I couldn't for the life of me get this picture focused!

Brown.





Believe if or not, these two are from the same girl! She moves around so much I couldn't get more pictures though. Damn those jumpy Koreans. 

Nails that spell out I GOT A BOY. Funky colors too!

Two similar designs, if they're not the same. Pink and black and studded. Though the lower picture looks like a deep purple rather than black.. Might just be the lighting..

A pink French! Not sure if it's studded but I don't think so. It's probably just the light. 

Finally, another I GOT A BOY manicure. So colorful!

So there's my inner fangirl going insane again. I really want to do that black/pink design with the studs, but at the same time I really want to wear Death Note nails. I would wear the green tinted ones with the black flowers as well, but.. When it's single colors and studs I get easily bored. I love exciting nails.

Tialiq

Mello!

It's no secret that one of my favorite series is Death Note, and this is my tribute to one of my favorite characters; Mello! He's a side character, but I love him. 

I just cut my nails too, which is sad, but I guess it proves you don't need long nails for nail art!

Mello almost exclusively wears leather, chains and studs. He also wears a rosary. His hair is golden. So, I made leather black nails, with chains, a golden M and a rosary. 
This time I was actually more satisfied with my right hand. I liked the ways I put the chains more, and I didn't have as many which made it look better.

Making these is simple. Start with black, and then use silver and gold polishes to make the chains. I made some small chains, which is just dots in a line, and some bigger ones. the trick to making them is not making circles. Made wide C shapes, kind of like a (. And then connect them at the top and bottom, where you'll start the next set.
I marked where I was going to put the M and the rosary first with watered down acrylic, so I knew where the chains should be. I made them both with gold polish, and then went over it with my golden acrylic paint, because the paint had a more yellow gold. Then I added a thin line of thick red glitter that I mixed myself (clear polish and glitter), and I made a blob in one of the chain nails as well. I decided on random. My favorite nail is the right hand index finger, which only has two chains. Simple and random is key. 
I'm pretty sure at least my next, if not the next two, design will be Death Note as well. I'm slightly obsessed. 
Tialiq