Thursday, March 27, 2014

Stamping Decal Method Tutorial

Hi lovelies! Heck, I’ve just had one of THOSE past few days. My days in general weren’t bad! Not at all! It’s just like some people were born with a talent to completely ruin it for you with their negativity and crap attitudes. People like that, you suck! Seriously! Buuuuut I decided to not let it get to me because I had an amazing weekend! Not only did I get to hang out with 2 of my closest friends the whole long weekend but I met the most amazing ladies at the Johannesburg Bloggers Who Bless meet-up on Saturday! I truly felt blessed in every sense when I left there and I can’t wait for the next meet-up! Ladies, you ROCK!

Now, on to some nail art. Today is truly a first for my little blog because it’s going to be my very first pictorial/tutorial on Madness!! I’ve done a few for Heather at Femme Lifestyle but I decided it’s high time I do a tutorial for my own little space. I decided to go with the decal stamping method because I got quite a few requests for it after I did it in THIS post. Before we go on though, I unfortunately do not know who was the first person who came up with this technique but first my exposure to it was through Nailz Craze. I will also put up a link to her tutorial at the end of this post, just in case you could do with someone else’s perspective on this technique.


You’ll need:
 
- Stamping Plate
- Stamper with rubber end
- Thin nail art brush
- Clear nail polish
- Few colors of nail polish of your choice
- Tweezer
- Top Coat
- Cleanup brush  
- Acetone


Click on Pictorial to make it larger.


Step 1 – 2: Start by picking up the image of your choice from a stamping plate and wait for it to dry. I used Bundle Monster plate BM-319.
 
Step 3:
Using nail polish colors of your choice, fill in the negative spaces with the thin nail art brush and wait for it to dry. The colors I used was China Glaze Make An Entrance and Tip Top Nail Addict Aliminium.


Step 4:
Lay down a generous layer of top coat over your filled in image and wait for it to dry properly! I like to use Essence Gel-Look Top Coat because it’s a bit thicker than your normal topcoat. I also leave it for about 2hours so I know the decal is properly set but I'm sure 30mins would be enough.


Step 5:
Using your tweezer, lift the decal slowly off of the stamper’s base.

 
Step 6:
Lay down a thin coat of top coat down over the nail you want to add the decal to. Leave it until it’s feeling slightly tacky and then lay down the decal over the nail. Using a light touch, smooth the decal down onto the nail and give it proper time to dry.


Step 7:
Using your clean up brush and some acetone, clean away the excess of the decal and lay down a coat of your favourite top coat to smooth it all out. Le viola, you are done! Side Tip: Pre-cutting your decal to the shape of your nail is an awesome idea, which is only something that dawned on me now *facepalm*. Or use small nail scissors to cut off most of the excess before you start the acetone clean up.
 






Phew, long post! I do apologize for that but I hope you found this useful! This is one of my favorite techniques and it’s a great way to spice up conventional stamping. Like I said, Nail Craze is the first place where I saw this done so for her tutorial, click HERE.

Lots of mad love...



Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Soft Skittlette

Hi there lovelies! Heck, you know you are tired when you start a blog post with “To whom it may concern”! I don’t know if I should laugh or face palm myself. Laugh I think is the best option at the moment...I might just miss myself with the facepalm! That being said, we have a public holiday on Friday so hopefully I will catch up on the Zzzz’s that I missed out on this past weekend. But while we’re in the week, let’s enjoy the days that we have. 

Today’s mani isn’t something I do often because I’m not really the soft girly type but man, did I love the results!




I started by laying down 2 coats of Tip Top Nail Chic Meringue Surprise on my index finger and my pinky, 1 coat of Tip Top Nail Addict Aluminium  on my middle finger and 3 coats of Tip Top Nail Chic Cream Puff on my ring finger. I then stamped on my index finger and pinky with Nubar Silver Mist and Bundle Monster plate BM-423. To finish off the look, I added 1 coat of Avon Color Trend Silver Plated on my ring finger.






Can I love my own mani, even if it’s a super simple one? Because I love this! Don’t ask me why because it is completely not something I would wear every day! TOO DAMN SOFT...or pink...I'll get back to you on that one! It also made me fall in love with Tip Top Nail Addict Aluminium, which I never thought would happen since I have an immense dislike for foil finish nail polishes but heck, she took my breath away! I love it when my hobby can still surprise me!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colors you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige! 

Lots of mad love...  


 

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Minty Marble

Hi there lovelies! We’re halfway through this lovely, wet, rainy week and man, am I looking forward to the weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job but I need sleep so bad! I’m yawning as I’m typing this post out! It’s ridiculous! And it’s been miserable and rainy here since last week Friday. Weather like this should not be spent in an office, people! I need to be in bed with a book!

But anyhoo, mid-week medium rant (or moan fest) over. Let’s get on to "Le good stuff" shall we? 

As you guys know, I have an unashamedly big love for water marbling. I am constantly looking for ways to bring it into my mani’s and what better way is there than with a skittlelette mani?






I started by laying down a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White on my middle finger and water marbled using Sinful Colors Island Coral and China Glaze Re-fresh Mint. On my ring finger I layed down 2 coats of Sinful Colors Island Coral and simply took 2 gold heart shaped studs and colored them using China Glaze Re-fresh Mint. To finish off the look, I added 2 coats of L.A. Girl Green Sand on my thumb, index finger and pinky.






I really loved how this came out! It’s the type of mani I could easily wear for 2 days AND I got to scratch my water marbling itch, even if it was only slighty. Hmmm...now to ponder on my next water marble mani without making you guys sick of them!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colors you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige! 

Lots of mad love...  


 

Monday, March 3, 2014

Rainbow Jelly Sandwich

Hi lovelies! Heck, last week was crazy! Usually with a crazy week you would think time would absolutely fly by but NOOOOO! As Dean and I would say, its dragged ass! But good things come to those who wait and I must say, I had a really great weekend! I spent most of it going shopping, watching Supernatural, painting my toenails and sleeping! Bliss!


Source I Can Haz A Lazy


Today I have another immensely simple mani for you guys but when I say simple, I mean 2 minute-noodles simple...or top ramen as my overseas readers know it as.

A while ago I was having a chat with a group of fellow blogger friends when Michelle from Ordinary Misfit showed us some amazing glitters she was swatching at the time over white. Immediately I moaned about how I wish we had access to a white jelly polish in South Africa because I just knew the glitters would look amazing sammiched up! And low and behold, Michelle layed some of her infinite polish wisdom down on me! We have Tip Top Nail Chic Cream Puff! And here I was thinking all this time that I don’t need it because its “just another white polish”. Wrong! So the next day I popped over to my nearest Clicks and picked up this beautiful squishy white bottle of joy. Hmmm...I was, and still am, a very happy Thea...




 

This is the first combo I tried with this awesome polish. I simply layed down 2 coats of Tip Top Nail Chic Cream Puff. I then layed down a coat of Nicole by OPI Rainbow In The S-Kylie. To finish off the jelly sandwich, I layed a thin coat of Tip Top Nail Chic Cream Puff over the glitter.

 




I loved this look! The crazy mixed glitter that is Nicole by OPI Rainbow In The S-Kylie looked awesome squished up in a jelly sandwich. And I had stacks of compliments on this look! Most people said it reminded them of old school Jawbreakers and I couldn’t agree more. Needless to say, I love Tip Top Nail Chic Cream Puff and am probably going to buy 2 back up bottles of this polish soon!

If you would like me to swatch any of the colors you saw in today’s post, please let me know via email or drop me a comment below. More than willing to oblige! 

Lots of mad love...