Sunday, February 3, 2013

Before & After: Simple Superbowl nails

Hello!!

Today I have a quick post, to show you the nails I wore to the superbowl party I attended. I'm going to keep it short because my team lost, so I'm pouting a bit...but I'm still proud I represented and I'm sure they'll go all the way next year!!

I started with a base of Maya For Michelle (Indie Alert!). You know I love red, and you know my name is Michelle, so how could I possibly NOT buy this polish? I didn't disappoint--it's a very earthy red, just different enough from anything else I have to make it worth it. Plus...there is a pretty pink shimmer to the finish when the light hits it:




In inside light, the pink doesn't show as much, and the first time I wore this polish, it struck me what a perfect polish it would be for a San Francisco 49ers manicure. I used some french-tip guides to add cool gold tips, using Barry M Gold Foil. Finally, I stamped a little helmet on the accent nail using Konad Black and Cheeky plate CH35:


Go Niners!

Don't worry, there's always next year!
I am so proud of those crisp lines, all due to some awesome tips from my readers! I did a tape mani a short time ago, and got some lines that were not straight. I asked if anyone had any tips for doing better, and I got two great ones that worked really well here:

1) Citygirl907 told me that I should try to make sure the edges of the tape/guides are pressed down really well so I don't get leakage. I pressed down very, very hard on this mani, lol.

2) Vwolf suggested I do a coat of topcoat before painting the tips. So I did. :)

3) Snookie Wegner told me to start with my brush on the tape/guide, and brush away from the tape/guide, down off of it across the nail. So I tried it that way.

I don't know if it was only one of these tricks that worked, or the combination of all three, but something definitely worked and I'll be doing all three of these from now on! So for any of you who struggle with this type of manicure, give these tricks a shot. If they can get zig-zags this nice, they can work for any sort of taped-off mani. :)

Thanks everyone for your help with the tips, and thanks for reading!

Xoxox,
M.


2 comments:

  1. Cute. You are good with stamping, I have so much trouble envisioning/lining mine up. I think I have it and then when I stamp it it's off center or upside down. I love the little football helmet.

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    1. Thanks so much! Honestly, it's just practice. When I first started stamping, it was not a pretty sight, lol! And the french tip plates nearly killed me. One thing I did was pull out some old fake nails I had and practiced placement on them, then went back and tried it again on my nails, to help me get a sense of how to hold the stamper and stuff. Gina Soguesswhat practices on those flat glass marbles that people put into vases, and those work well too (if I'm making any sense about what I mean, lol!). :)

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