I wanted to share a big old nail fail with y'all.

So... I wanted to share a big old nail fail with y'all. I normally don't just rip off another person's nail art, but after seeing this quick Instagram tutorial I really wanted to try it. It looked pretty simple, but, well... It wasn't. Or either smooshy nails just aren't my jam. 🙁

Biggest upset is that I wasted a bunch of polish trying this. Nothing expensive or irreplaceable, though. I was probably just having a bad night. When I started (I was being super lazy, which is never the best way to start a project) I had my mat on a binder in my lap. 😳 Let's just say that an unstable surface with 4 - 5 bottles of open polish is not the best idea.

I knocked them all over several times. Thankfully none spilled, but they did roll through the wet decals I'd already made (a couple of which actually looked ok to me). 🙁 After finally deciding that lazy wasn't working for me I set up my nail table and kept going. I think by then I was already frustrated. Not the best way to continue trying to learn a new thing.

By the end of the night I had polish all over me from the elbows down - EXCEPT for on my nails. I cleaned myself and my polish bottles off with acetone, then picked one of the prettiest polishes I had and just put it on. Plain. In utter defeat. 😂😂😂

I may or may not try to do nail art to it tonight. We'll see. But if I do, it probably won't be this smooshy mess right now.

Apparently I am JUST NOW comprehending why I'd want to use Pinterest. 😂

Apparently I am JUST NOW comprehending why I'd want to use Pinterest.  😂  I put my jewelry up on it a million years ago and never really messed with it again aside from the occasional update.  WELL, that has changed!  I've been pinning and uploading most of the evening and apparently I've hit the daily limit.  😝

For a while now when I wanted to look at my stash of nail art photos that inspire me I just went [painstakingly] through my bookmarks.  I think I was bookmarking nail art on blogs before Pinterest was really a thing.  Needless to say - that was FRUSTRATING.  So is trying to organize a bunch of screen caps on my phone.  😳😒😒😒

I don't know why it took me up until a few days ago to realize that there was a better way to manage my pics because this has frustrated me for a while.  But now that I know what's up I'm excited to clean out my bookmarks and phone storage.  I've been working on it for a couple of days now so that's awesome.  I just kind of wish they hadn't stopped me today, though, because I was on a roll!  😛

It's late so probably no one will see these...

It's late so probably no one will see these, but that is kind of ok.  🤣🤣🤣  I like them because I like puke colors and nature, but I know that is not everyone's cup of tea.  😜  Anyway, I've decided that these are leaf cells.  If you look closely you can see some mitosis happening.  Yay for biology!  And spring!  😄😄😄  (This totally counts as a spring mani, right?  😆)

Gradients look SO NICE, but I've never been that great at them.  The sponge method doesn't work well for me because my C-curve is so strong that the edges of my nails usually don't get coated in polish.  🙁  There is a new stamping plate out - Make Your Mark 03 by Lina Nail Art Supplies - that has a blank rectangle in it.  The first time I saw the plate was on Instagram and a girl was putting stripes of polish in it and then swiping a couple of times to mix them to create a gradient.  It turned out GREAT.  Needless to say I had to have it.

So my left hand (my practice hand) doesn't look quite as nice as this one, but I gotta say that this method is pretty effective for gradients.  The polish that gets picked up on the stamper is super thin so doing a few layers builds it nicely.

Weirdly, the only thing I ended up painting on these was topcoat.  I did three thin layers of white, and then 2 - 3 of my yellow / green mix, and then the pattern, ALL WITH THE STAMPER.  😳  If you don't like the feel of thick polish then maybe you would like this, but you'd need liquid latex or tape or something to keep from having to drench your skin / nails in acetone trying to clean up the mess (which is what I did - woohoo for not planning!)

I tend to like thicker layers on my nails because they are thin and I clean a lot because of all of my ani-pals, so thicker coats protect my nails and stay on longer.  My nails feel almost naked right now and I'm not down with it.  I keep also feeling like this whole mani is gonna flake right off so I decided to get a pic and post it before I destroyed them.

Anyway, what do you guys think?  Too fugly for spring?  😜😆🤣

Research polishes;
Lina Nail Art Supplies plate Make Your Mark 03 and MagnoNails plate D;
Gradient and Stamping techniques

I took off my nail polish last night...

I took off my nail polish last night because it was peeling and I was gonna wreck my nails if I didn't.  Now I'm torn - polish or sleep?  I want both.  🙃

Nail pic time! 😃😃😃

Nail pic time!  😃😃😃

I have been waiting all semester to do something fun with my nails.  Then I had to decompress enough to feel creative.  Blegh, finally!

I feel like over the last year or two I've become more of a polish hoarder / collector than someone who does nail art.  It's really sad.  But on the bright side there are some beautiful polishes out there that I am more than happy to have come and live with me so I guess it's not all bad.  🙂

Since this is an indie polish I feel like I just need to say that Poetry Cowgirl Nail Polish did a great job on this one.  It's called "Faerie Wishes She Could Be Here."  It's an Indie Shop Limited Edition so I'm not sure if it's still available, but if you like it go and find out.

I love muted colors so this was a win by being grayish / lavender to begin with, but then it has these things (what I tend to call "opals" because they are not quite the same as glitter) that flash red.  THEN, ON TOP OF THAT AWESOMENESS it also has this crazy shimmer.  You can see the teal on my pinky and the lavender on my pointer finger.  I will also upload a blurry thumb pic of the pink.  It's SO PRETTY.

Anyway, I stamped with holographic polish because WHY NOT?  Then, I picked up a unicorn on my stamper and filled him in with a tiny paintbrush because that was obviously what needed to happen here.  😁🦄🦄🦄  I thought about adding stones and doing more stuff, but then I didn't.  The week began and I'm working and blegh.  Life force officially zapped.

So... I feel happy with this as a comeback.  I was planning to do something quite a bit easier, but then I went all out.  What do you think?

Faerie Wishes She Could Be Here by Poetry Cowgirl Nail Polish;
Sugar Bubbles plate SB 033;
Stamping, Layered Stamping, Reverse Stamping techniques

When you want to do your nails, but you have nothing to wear...

When you want to do your nails, but you have nothing to wear...