Paisley Print DIY Decals

Hello Lovelies!  I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday weekend (or a nice weekend for those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving)!  I finally got around to finishing the final prompt of the Weekly Nail Art Challenge (#WNAC) from Instagram.  The last prompt was Paisley print, which I have always wanted to try but wasn't sure I could make it look good.  I think I did pretty well, what do you think?

Materials I used:
Basecoat - SuperChic Lacquer 'Bring it On!'
Base polish - Milani 'Gold Glitz' (Dollar Store find)
Calligraphy pen and black ink
UberChic Beauty Uber Mat
Topcoat - SuperChic Lacquer 'Marvel'

I started off with two coats of my sparkly gold glitter polish.  I wanted this design to be blingy yet mature and I thought this made the perfect base.

After practicing with both polish and acryclic paints and a small brush to try and create a paisley design, I got frustrated and switched to my calligraphy pen.  Lately, this has been my go-to drawing tool because the ink is much like acrylic paint and I have much better control.  Using my Uber Mat,  I started with a generous layer of topcoat, which I let dry completely.  I drew a couple of paisleys for each finger and filled in the voids with swirls and little things that look almost like commas.

For those of you who would like to see a brief video of me drawing this pattern, checkout my Instagram account.

Once, I was satisfied with my decals.  I removed them from the mat using a pair of tweezers.  I applied a layer of topcoat to my nail and placed the decal carefully on my nail.  If you've made your decal too thin it will most likely tear and give you problems during placement, that is why I recommend using a generous layer or two thin layers of topcoat for your decal base.  After carefully pressing the decal down, trim some of the excess decal away with cuticle scissors or nail clippers.  Dissolve the remaining decal away using gentle acetone and a brush,  don't forget to do this around the free end of your nail as well.

I topped this all off with a final layer of quick drying glossy topcoat.  This is important to ensure that the decal is sealed down onto the nail, and it helps smooth out wrinkles that my occur during the application process.

For those of you who haven't tried calligraphy nail art, I highly recommend it.  For those of you who have tried it and found its not your thing, but you also don't like using a paint brush, I recommend trying a gel pen to create this and similar nail art designs.  I personally haven't tried gel pens yet but it is on my nail art bucket list.  I have heard from many other nail artist that gel pens are really easy to work with.  I'm curious, have any of you tried calligraphy or gel pens in your nail art yet?  What did you think?

When I first started creating this nail art design, I didn't think I would be pleased with the final results.  However, I love the way they turned out and I hope you do too.  Thank you for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

Watercolour Fall Foliage

Hello Lovelies!  Today, I have a very easy, yet very pretty DIY watercolour mani for you.  I created these for this week's WNAC, this month's theme is elegant and this week's prompt is watercolour.  I think some of the most elegant nail art designs are simple and subdued, that is why I went with this design...

Materials I used:
Basecoat - SuperChic Lacquer "Bring it On!"
Base polish - China Glaze "Don't Honk Your Thorn!"
Sharpies in red, brown, orange, and yellow
91% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol
Small plastic or glass container, such as a shot glass or paint pallet
Small brushes
Brown polish - Color Club "Fondue for Two"
Topcoat - New York Color matte topcoat

I started with my favorite nude polish for a base color, China Glaze "Don't Honk Your Thorn!"  I opted for a nude base because I wanted my colors to be subdued, not too bright.  If you want your watercolour to turn out brighter, I would recommend a white base color.

I had to make my own watercolour because I don't own any.  I've seen many nail artist use Sharpies to make their own waercolours and I've used Sharpies to create watercolour nail art before but with a different technique (Sharpie Gradientish Stripes). For this nail art, I used the more conventional method.  Using a glass or plastic container, color the bottom with a Sharpie (I started using a shot glass, but switched to a plastic paint palette by the second color).  Then pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol into the container.  Use a brush to mix the Sharpie ink and the alcohol together.  For more opaque colors use as little rubbing alcohol as possible for less opaque colors add more rubbing alcohol.

I blobbed on my watercolours in random areas of my nail.  Continuing the process with various fall colors until I was satisfied with the layers and coverage.

Then using a thin brush and dark brown polish I painted thin trees and tree limbs to give the appearance of Autumn trees.

I cleaned my cuticles with rubbing alcohol and a brush, and applied a matte topcoat.

It has been a while since I have fallen madly in love with one of my nail art design, but this is a keeper.  I love the fall colors, I love matte texture, and I love the subtle, yet eye catching colors.  I feel this nail art design has a simplistic elegant feel to it.  How about you?  Do you think this is elegant?  If not what qualities do you feel a nail art design needs to be deemed elegant?

Whether or not you think this is elegant, I hope you enjoyed this nail art design.  I highly recommend you try creating your own watercolours using Sharpies.  It's easy to do and a great way to add some interesting color and texture to your nail art.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

DIY Mani Fizz

Hello Lovelies!  Today, I have a different kind of post for you.  For those of you who don't know me personally, I am a bit of a DIY fanatic.  I love to make things for my friends and family (and occasionally myself).  I regularly make my own candles, fragrance sprays, lotions, and lip balms.  I'm sure many of you, my fellow nail fanatics, are aware of the current mani craze: mani bombs or mani fizzes.  After doing a bit of research and a testing a bunch of different recipes, I managed to come up with two DIY recipes for creating your own fizzes at home.

The recipes I came up with are adaptations of a recipe I discovered on You Tube, by WhatsUpMoms.  I started off with their recipe and then modified it, modified it, and modified it again until I came up with recipes that I felt were more mani friendly and easier to work with.  Before I continue on to the recipes, let me just say, please excuse the pictures.  Because of the nature of this project, I was working on my (ugly) kitchen counter and didn't set up extra lighting for fear of ruining my lamps during the process.

Both recipes are mostly the same, except one is made using primarily items you will find in your kitchen or can be purchased at your local grocery or specialty food stores.  The second recipe is a bit more advanced and may require you order some materials.  However the process is same for both recipes.

Kitchen Goods Recipe                                                             Advanced Recipe

1/4 cup Baking Soda                                                                1/4 cup Baking Soda
2 tablespoons Cornstarch                                                         2 tablespoons Cornstarch
2 tablespoons Epsom Salts                                                      2 tablespoons Epsom Salt
2 tablespoons Citric Acid                                                         2 tablespoons Citric Acid
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil or Vitamin E Oil                         1 teaspoon Jojoba Oil
                                                                                                 1 teaspoon Vitamin E
                                                                                                 1/4 teaspoon Sweet Almond Oil
                                                                                                 1/4 teaspoon Avocado Oil

Optional items for both recipes

1 teaspoon Essential Oil or Skin Safe Fragrance Oil

Food coloring or soap coloring

Both recipes have the same dry goods, the only dry good I had a difficult time finding locally was the citric acid.  I read that you could find citric acid in specialty food stores or in pharmacies, however I had no luck with any of my local stores and ended up ordering it from Amazon.  Citric acid is an essential ingredient in this recipe, because it is what gives the fizz its fizz.  I accidentally made a test batch without the citric acid, and the bomb wouldn't fully dissolve and of course without the fizz it was quite depressing.

Also, for the kitchen recipe you can use either vegetable oil or vitamin E oil.  I tried both and found I personally didn't like the vegetable oil version because it left my hands feeling slimy.  The vitamin E version was just as moisturizing but without the sliminess.  The oils in the advanced recipe might be found at a specialty goods store, but again I had no luck and instead ordered them through a company I have been ordering candle making supplies from for years Nature's Garden Candles.  In addition, to candle making supplies they also offer a large variety of cosmetic and soap making ingredients too.

Let's get on to the process, shall we.  After testing out a few different methods this is the one that I found worked best...

Begin by whisking together the baking soda, cornstarch and Epsom salts.  Other recipes, say to incorporate all dry ingredients, which would include the citric acid.  However, I had several issues when adding the citric acid in at this stage.  I recommend adding the citric acid last, I'll get into why a bit later.  Once, the dry goods are well blended set them aside momentarily.

Next mix your oils, fragrances, and coloring in a cup.  I decided to use a disposable cup so I wouldn't have to worry about staining a good cup.  If you opt not to use an essential or fragrance oil be sure to make up the difference in your moisturizing oils otherwise there will not be enough liquid in the final mixture.  If you opt to use a fragrance oil instead of an essential oil, please make sure that it is skin safe.  There are fragrance oils out there that can be very harmful to your skin.  Likewise, with the coloring that you use, make sure it is skin safe otherwise you may end up staining your skin.  Soap making dyes and fragrance oils would be best to use for this and can often be found in local craft stores.  I did use food safe dye and I did not have an issue but I only used one drop.

With the oil mixture combined as well as you can get it to combine, slowly and I mean SLOWLY whisk it into your dry mixture.  What you see in the picture is almost too much to add at once.  While whisking try to mash out any significant lumps that occur.  If the mixture is looking kind of pasty, you are probably adding your oil mixture too quickly.  Blend it thoroughly before adding any more liquid.



                                                                                                
You should have a slightly but mostly dry crumbly looking substance when it is all combined.  I found incorporating a dye made it easier to see when it was completely combined versus a batch I made without dye.

Now it is time to add the essential ingredient, the citric acid.  Combine this by adding one tablespoon at a time.  Sprinkle each tablespoon in and whisk it thoroughly.  If you see it fizzing your mixture is way to moist, stop adding the citric acid and add in some more cornstarch (I would recommend starting with a tablespoon of cornstarch).  If you hear fizzing but don't see any fizzing just add a little cornstarch.  If premature fizzing occurs it is because the citric acid is being activated by the oils in the mixture.  This doesn't mean that they won't fizz later, but I noticed they won't fizz as greatly or for as long as the one that were not prematurely activated.

Once all ingredients are combined you should have a slightly moist but mostly dry crumbly substance.  I tested the moisture by pressing some within my hand.  If it sticks together, it is should work find.  If you find it too dry and it won't stick at all (and if you are daring enough) you could add a little bit of water.  I had nothing but problems when I added water.  No matter how little water or how slowly I added it, it would activate the citric acid.  If you don't want to add water and your mixture is too dry, I would recommend you leave it loose and just use it as a powder fizz.

If your consistency is sticky enough, you can press it into molds.  I used a wax tart mold I have from my candle making supplies.  You can also use candy molds, or soap molds, or even ice cube tray.

Let your bombs sit for about 6-12 hours before removing them from the molds.  If you are in a rush about an hour in the refrigerate helps them to set quicker.  I found the longer I let them set the more solid they were and less likely to fall apart when I took them out of the mold.  In the picture above, the top row of bombs, is what you can expect when the citric acid prematurely activates.  The bad bombs still worked but had hardly any fizz at all when dropped in water and the fizz last only seconds.

Using the bombs are quite simple, fill a bowl big enough for your hands with warm water.  Drop in a bomb or if you are using a loose fizz add a tablespoon or two.  Submerge your hands in the fizzing tub and soak for about 10-15 minutes.  Some people like to wash their hands with a moisturizing soap afterwards, I personally like to just let my hands air dry and rub in any remaining oils.  If you would like to see a quick video of a mani fizz in action checkout my Instagram feed.

Mani bombs are all the rage right now and are a great way to pamper yourself.  These also make a great gift idea, I particularly like the idea of making loose fizzes and packaging them in mason jars for gifts.  If you like these bomb recipes and you really want to self indulge, double the recipe and use a larger mold to make a bath bomb.  I hope you'll give this DIY project a try, if you do please let me know how they turn out and if you have any extra pointers on making the process easier.  Thank you for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,



Water Marble Decals

Water marble nail art designs are one of the most beautiful and most frustrating forms of nail art design there is. Even those with a great deal of experience can have trouble with perfecting this technique. To say the least there is a lot of experimenting that takes place when creating a water marble design. Determining what water temperature works best, what polishes spread right, and what design looks best all takes a great deal of time and patience. Then there is the actual application or finger dipping to pick up that perfect design.

I can't tell you how many times I have attempted a water marble design and got everything right, made the perfect pattern but when I tried to pick it up…FAIL! It is soooooo aggravating. Either I've missed the mark and didn't pick up the design I was aiming for or inadvertently shook when I hit the surface (I drink a lot of coffee and my nerves aren't great, it’s a wonder any of my nail art designs come out nice). Then of course there are those pesky bubbles from dipping to fast.

Well, after doing my DIY Nail Art Decals last week a thought occurred to me, why couldn't I make a water marble decal. Yes, I've seen tutorials on people making swirled pattern decals on plastic wrap but I wanted to make a true water marble design decal. So, after surfing You Tube I found a video by Sonal Sagaraya on making water marble decals. It seemed so incredibly easy that I had to give it a try.

Materials
Water
Cup/bowl
Base and top coat
Polishes of your choice
Toothpick (orange stick or dotting tool also works)
Wax or parchment paper (recommended but not required)

Make your water marble design like you normally would. Drop polishes into room temperature water, and use a toothpick to create your pattern.  I used three polishes from China Glaze's All Aboard collection, 'Well Trained', 'Conduct Yourself', and 'Stop That Train' (stay tuned, swatches and reviews of All Aboard are coming soon).

But instead of dipping your finger in the desired design. Leave the water marble design and allow it to dry. This will take longer than normal because it is in water.  When the design has dried enough to pick it up, carefully remove the design from the water. Use a toothpick or dotting tool and make sure that it is not attached to the side of your cup/bowl. Removing the decal is probably the most difficult part of this process, if you're not careful it will fold and wrinkle. I found that the longer it sat in the water to dry the easier it was to pick up and didn't fold or wrinkle as much.  Lay the water marble design flat on a piece of wax or parchment paper. This is recommend because it allows the decal to dry out more without sticking to the paper.  If you use a paper towel it may stick to it.

After giving the decal some more time to dry. Apply it just like you would any DIY polish decal. Start with applying a base coat, and while it is still wet place the decal on your nail.  I recommend using a polish that you used in your water marble design as your base, this way if you accidentally tear the decal you have a color underneath that will mask the tear.  Adjust the decal until it is in the desired location. Then use a cuticle pusher or orange stick to smooth the design. Then use a cuticle pusher and apply pressure around the cuticle to cut away the excess decal.  Then buff the tip to get rid of any overhang. Apply a top coat to seal it all in place and perform a little clean up with acetone and a brush.

I think this decal method is so much easier and cleaner. Not to mention it takes all the guess work out of placement. You don't have to mess around with taping or covering your fingers. Though it takes sometime to wait for the decals to dry I think it is worth the wait. So, a super big thanks to Sonal Sagaraya for posting the video, I recommend you all check it out. I hope this little trick will help you all with your water marbling endeavors. Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,

DIY Nail Art Decals

For many nail artist particularly newbies and those that don't have time to practice it is especially difficult to paint with your non-dominant hand. How many times have you painted your nails and loved the design but can't execute it well enough to show off both of your hands. Well, here is a trick you can use to create interesting and consistent beautiful nail art designs.

Materials
A flat rigid surface
Base and top coat
Polishes or acrylic paint

In order to create a decal you need a flat impermeable surface that is smooth. Some people like to use a paint palette, or a piece of plastic wrap stretched out on a counter. I like to use plastic sleeve meant for protect documents. You can tell I use this a lot.

Start by painting a square or rectangle of top coat on your surface.

For your next layer start your artwork. I decided to do a random floral pattern to complete this weeks Blogger Bragger challenge. I used black acrylic paint and a small brush to draw my flowers.

I then used various polishes to fill in the flowers.

After you are satisfied with your design cover with a coat of your background color. I recommend two or three coats , you want it to be opaque as well as thick enough so that it peels from your surface without tearing.

I really like using this document protector because I can easily flip it over and see how my design is going to look.

Give your decal ample time to dry and then peel them from the surface. If the decal stretches or is to sticky let dry a little longer. I started this project late in the evening so I left it over night to dry. Very carefully peel your decal from your surface, slower is better for this step.

Applying the decal is pretty simple. Start by applying base coat to your nail, while it is wet place your decal. As long as your base is wet you can slide the decal around until it is where you want it.

Use your finger to apply pressure to get it to stay in place.

Then with an orange stick or cuticle pusher rub out any wrinkles.

Remove the excess decal by applying pressure with a finger nail or cuticle pusher to cut the extra decal. This may create a jagged line but no worries you can easily clean the line with acetone.

To finish up use a buffer or file to remove the excess from the tip. Use acetone and a brush to clean around your cuticle and apply of top coat to help smooth out any imperfections and help keep the decal in place.

And that is how you can create your very own nail art decals. I completed this look by painting my other nails with one of my new favorite polishes China Glazes 'Release' from "The Giver" collection and studs from bornprettystore.com.  If you make a purchase from bornprettystore.com use coupon code CREATEX31 for 10% off your purchase.  I hope you'll try this technique to create your own awesome designs. Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

Your Fellow Plebe,