I do post nail art regularly on Facebook. You should be able to see the page even if you are not a Facebooker, since it’s a public fan page, but no guarantees as Facebook does wonky stuff regularly.

Coming up next, I have some new stamping plates from Cheeky Beauty to show you!

I do like the kind of “sandy” matte look, though definitely not enough to invest in a bunch of polishes that I probably won’t use frequently. So, you guys know what happens next, right?

Yup, I whipped out the franken-polish making materials! My goal was to create a nail polish with a matte finish, a teeny bit of texture that had a kind of sandy look, but without being too lumpy on the nail surface.

Taa Daa!

My secret weapon in this case was China Glaze Ray-Diant, a silver based multi-glitter.

I basically just tinted it with different shades- the pink nail at the top was the result of adding red polish. The silver in the base will lighten red to pink. I just poured a bit of the Ray-Diant into my trusty silicone baking cup, then added color nail polish drop by drop to get the colors I wanted. I recommend using the sheerest colors you can find to let the opacity of the glitter show through a bit- that’s the key to the “sandy” surface. This dried matte-ish all on its own. You could add a matte topcoat if you want a really matte finish. They are the tiniest bit gritty and will probably be a pain to remove, but I like the look.

I’m testing out a few shades on my toes at the moment, but they seem to be wearing pretty well. For me, mixing up my own slightly textured shades is a good alternative to purchasing a lot of textured polishes which are fun but a bit gimmicky. I may experiment with making these more textured for the folks out there who really love their gritty nails! Maybe some teeny glass beads or something could be in order for that. But for me, this is as textured as I’ll probably go on a daily basis.

What do you guys think of textured polish? Love it or hate it?

I’ve frankened with a lot of pigments and nail polish and eyeshadows in my nail career, and here’s the latest mix-up! I used the LA Girl eyeshadow pallete in “Colorsurge” to make some nail polishes. This palette is focused on metallic pastels with a couple bright pops of color and silver, white and black.

This palette was quite chalky and hard and the colors were a bit streaky. I have used LA Girl palettes to make nail polish before and they were a bit more silky, but this was was much more difficult to mix with. There was a lot of inconsistency in the eyeshadow textures between the two palettes.

Here’s what I got:

As always, click to see the enlarged version.

You can see how much I had to gouge the polish- it was hard and chalky at the same time. The black mixed like a dream, but the rest were a struggle. I had high hopes for that gentian blue/periwinkle kind of shade, but it was not cooperative.

I mixed these with clear polish in a tiny silicone baking cup, as usual. Pictured is two coats of each polish and one coat of clear topcoat (Seche Vite.)

I think the lesson I learned from this was that textures and consistencies can vary widely across a brand, even in the same line of products! I probably would not recommend mixing nail polish from this palette unless you are experienced with color mixing and frankening, due to the tricky texture of this eyeshadow.

Other than that, I gave this a try as eyeshadow (shock!) It does fade fast, but the colors are pretty bright and they do stain. It’s a fun palette for a party look or costume, and it’s pretty cheap. If you’ll only use these shades once in a blue moon, it’s not a bad choice. Just pile on the eyeshadow primer so you don’t have chartruese lids the next day!

Stop by and say hi if you have some spare time!

For those of you who are not exactly in the neighborhood to check my work out in person, I should be back to updating the blog and Etsy shop more regularly. I’ve finished the preliminiaries for an upcoming book on nail art, have submitted work for a few contests/shows and I’m knee deep in bridal orders at the moment! It’s been an amazing start to the year, but phew, I will be relieved when I have a bit more breathing room to relax, mix up colors, and blog a bit more.

It’s Butter London Melt Away Cuticle Eliminator.

My absolute least favorite part of nail work is any skin around the nails/cuticles. I hate scraping them, nipping/cutting them and pushing them back gives me the major heebie jeebies. Nail prep was definitely not my favorite class in nail school! By the way, in most US jurisdictions, it’s illegal for a nailist to cut away any live skin, since you need medical training. If your salon professional is cutting off anything that bleeds, that is not a good sign. Just FYI.

Point is, I hate the cuticle torture. I got to the point where I can enjoy it on other people, after getting a lot of reassurance that what I was doing was not painful, but I absolutely cannot stand to let others work on me. Just gives me the plain ol’ willes. o_O

That’s why this stuff is great! I’ve tried a lot of different cuticle removers, including strong professional grade ones, but this is easily the best. It applies with a brush, and doesn’t sting or burn (at least when the Mr. and I tested it).

The proof is in Mr. NTMG’s toes.  Warning: hairy man-feed ahead!

Hairy man-toes aside, look at those lovely and clean nails! I’m sorry for the stars and funky lighting, but the toes in all their stark, unedited glory were leaving the Mr. a little over-exposed, so he got a little jazzy editing.

I do use a metal cuticle pusher on the nails since I’ve been to nail school and got confident using it. These work really well but have the potential to do a LOT of damage if used incorrectly. If the thought leaves you a little apprehensive, you can use an orangewood stick or plastic cuticle pusher (the end looks like a little upturned horse hoof).  Be gentle!

As with all chemical cuticle remover, it’s a good idea to wash your hands after use, since it can dry out the skin if left on. And don’t forget a nice squeeze of hand cream at night to keep your hands looking their best.

Is this a product everyone needs? Not really. Some people have more overgrown skin around their nails than others, so your need for a cuticle remover may vary. Cleaning up the edges does make for neater looking nails, whether or not you polish them. For me, I find applying hand cream faithfully at night does a lot to keep the raggedy edges and hangnails at bay. But if you want a really clean cuticle line with minimal nipping and pushing, this is a painless way to do it.

Well, not entirely painless to the wallet. I paid around $24USD for this here in Singapore. I’m not sure if it’s just marked up crazily, as many cosmetic products here are, but it’s probably never cheap. But it’s cruelty-free and works really well, so I don’t regret the splurge. Highly recommended!

For now, since St. Patty’s Day is coming up, here’s some easy DIY nail art to show. If you can’t do green nails for work, how about a pedicure or one accent nail?

From top to bottom:

1) Jeweled Shamrock: I used China Glaze’s Keep Calm, Paint On as the base for this- it’s a light seafoam green with a bit of shimmer. Three heart jewels make an easy clover. Then just add a little stem on the bottom.

2) Painted 4-Leaf Clover.  Paint a 4-leaf clover out of 4 hearts, add a little black line in the center of each leaf, then add a stem.

3) Simple Green- green shimmer (Zoya Ivanka) with gold leaf topcoat for a touch of green and some real gold!

4) Classic Buckle- paint a black stripe,then a little gold square! I didn’t think this design up, just wanted to include it as a fun and easy design.

5) Field O’Clover- just paint a green half-moon at the bottom of the nail, and add some cute mini clover.

6) Royal Shamrock- Use a dark green shimmer (this is China Glaze Winter Holly), then paint on some cute gold shamrocks. I added a few dots around the shamrocks and a gold border.

7) Classic Buckle French- Just move the black stripe up to the nail tip, and add a gold buckle. I added some green sparkle to the base with Zoya Rina.

8) Irish Flag. Paint the white base first, then the green/orange stripes.

9) Big Clover- Use large heart jewels and center them on the nail. I did a crackle background to add a bit of interest.

Those are a few easy DIY ideas- hope they’re useful to anyone who wants an easy manicure for St. Patty’s Day.

Here’s another set I did recently. My favorite part of these is that the teeny coins are 24K gold plated Swarovski crystals. I’m guessing St. Patrick’s Day is not big here in Singapore, but I’m still going to rock some crazy nails!

I did find a brand of nail polish which I haven’t seen elsewhere, called Beauty Buffet. It’s supposed to be cruelty-free and “natural” but I’m not sure if I was just getting the old hokey-dokey from the staff. I wanted to buy the whole store but I just got a few colors that I’ll swatch for you later:

Some other goodies I got:

Scrapbook albums, a denim purse with bling (shock!), some loofah soaps, nail polish, incense, scarves, an elephant change purse, a teeny glass dragon, and a tiny poreclain dish. The sparkly nail polish is pretty super-stinky so I just may have to bin it.

Besides hunting for nail goodies, we went to the weekend market, Wat Pho/Grand Palace, and did plenty of eating. I got a couple lovely massages and a root beer float at A&W. Not at all Thai, but delicious and I don’t know of any actual A&Ws still left in the US, or at least none in New England. I never turn down a root beer float, even if it’s not particularly ‘authentic’ to wherever I am.

Here’s a few of the snapshots I took, mostly of Wat Pho. It is a temple next to the Grand Palace and is blingy beyond belief! Loads of shiny tiles, gold, and porcelain tile work.

And since no post is really complete without some nail art, here it is:

L-R: Thai palace guardian statue, tile work, orchid, gold leaf, and the Thai flag.

These are  more inspired by Thai textiles and art, rather than any specific item. One of my favorite parts of Thai art is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Crumbly statues, peeling paint, etc. is all part of the charm. I’m not sure if it’s accidental or on purpose, but I like it!

I’ve been working on some gothic looks too, and on my acrylic sculpture in particular. It’s not my strong point. I hate the smell of it, and being a very nearsighted perfectionist, I always have the nail about an inch from my nose and get a snootful of stinky acrylic fumes. I do have a good mask with filters that makes me look like a Hazmat technician, but it’s very uncomfortable and makes me sweat like crazy. So I’m not always eager to practice the sculpting, but I’d like to improve.

This set was inspired by Victorian tapestries and jewelry, but with a bit of a gothic influence:

I really like black and gold together! I might do the roses in a different color next time, though.

I also love black and red, especially when there’s glitter involved! I could not resist adding red rhinestone eyes to the skull. The roses are aluminium so they are very vibrant and light-weight, but boy, the get snagged on hair and clothes.

These are not gothic, but I had fun doing them recently. They’re inspired by Turkish tiles and of course, the Turkish Evil Eye!  I haven’t been to Turkey yet, but it’s high on the list of places I’d like to go.

And since Feb. 20 was National Cherry Pie Day in America, I made these up just for fun. I generally post new nails daily on my Facebook fan page, so be sure to check it out if you like a steady supply of off-the-wall nail art. It’s available to public view even if you don’t have Facebook.

That’s pretty much what I’ve been up to lately. I’m headed off to Bangkok later this week- it’s one of my favorite cities and the art always inspires me, plus the food is just plain fabulous. The Thais like shiny things almost as much as I do (Wat  Phra Kaew is a must-see for anyone who likes sparkles).  I also have a new nail art hero who is Thai, Pisut Masanong. No, I’m not going there to stalk him or anything. But maybe if I practice painting about 12 hours a day for the rest of my life, I’d be that good. In addition to his insane painting skills, he is a fantastic sculptor as well. It’s rare to excel at both. I’ll just settle for painting skills like his- I’m not greedy!

LA Girl is a drugstore brand aimed at teens, but it’s vegan and cruelty-free. This is great, especially for affordable mass-market cosmetics.  I can’t speak to its qualities as an eyeshadow, because I haven’t found an occasion to wear metallic gentian purple eyeshadow anywhere yet. Plus, in 90 degree weather with 95% humidity, I’m sure no cosmetics will perform terribly well. The texture is very, very dry and powdery with very little binder, which might not be great for eyeshadow but makes a lovely polish. In fact, it is so powdery that I’d recommend wearing a dust mask when working with this, unless you want your lungs to be very colorful. This is the 10 C0lor Palette called “Nightlife.”

To make eyeshadow into nail polish, you’ll need some clear nail polish, a little mixing dish (I always use a silicone baking cup for easy cleanup) and an brush or applicator to get the polish out.

The short version of how to do it: Use a brush to loosed the eyeshadow into your mixing dish, then add clear nail polish drop by drop. Swirl it around, and test the opacity and thickness as you go. When you’re satisfied, start painting your nails! There’s more in-depth tutorials here and here.

Since the finish on these eyeshadows was metallic, the resulting polish was also metallic. The metallic shine on the eyeshadow does go all the way through, it is not just a dusting on the surface. I hate that! Due to the metallic finish, the polish was a bit brush-strokey, but not too awful. I found the paler colors lacked a bit of oomph, but  this palette yielded some pretty nail polish shades.

This is two coats of each shade with a coat of Seche Vite. You will need a topcoat with these, since it lacks shine on its own. If you like a satin finish, you could leave them as-is, but they don’t wear as well. I did a pedicure with the warm gold polish- we’ll see how the polish performs and I’ll report back.  I will spare all my lovely readers the view of my toes. Usually these eyeshadow frankens wear pretty solidly on me, at least as well as regular polish.

The subliminal power of David Bowie also made me buy two more of these palettes in different rainbow shades, which I will show in the next few posts. Thank goodness LA Girl isn’t too expensive, or he’d be really dangerous to my wallet. In Singapore, where cosmetics prices seem double or triple the US price, these cost me around $12USD each. Scandalous, I know, but it seems like a deal when a single MAC eyeshadow is around $25-30US.