All of those out of my comfort zone kind of things - I still keep on trying, because practice makes perfect. In my mind, if I keep on doing them, I will eventually get more comfortable doing them, and with that, I may improve with time. I remember that not so long ago, doing anything freehand was so out of my mind, that I was even afraid to try... now - I do not say that I am perfect (far from it), but I do not hesitate to take my brushes and at least give it a try. That is all that needs.
Except for this one. I suck royally when it comes to glitter placement.
Sure I do here and there some odd glitter placement, and that is not that bad - center of the flower or such, but doing a glitter placement over whole nail, well, that is something completely different. I did try over and over again, with results that leave lots to be desired... Trying to do any type of pattern and I am lost.
Curving of the nail, lack of patience, unsteady hand and less than stellar eyesight are major factor in not being able to do it the way I would like...
I decided that today is the day to tackle that monster...
Just be kind, and overlook the fact that I picked biggest loose glitter I own - I would grow bananas on my head by the time I would place enough smaller glitter to cover up one of my nails, never mind two and a half I somehow managed to do here. I purchased glitter in local craft store, and I have enough to last me for another decade...
Sooo... leave it to me to do hack for that...
I knew that there is the way I can cheat on this madness, and have half decent results... and guess what - I did it!
As you can see on this photo in insert, I made a little cut or two here. I put my mat to use here, and even then I managed to suck at it... but on the bright side, maybe one of you will have a patience and courage I so sorely lacking, and actually do a decent job at it.
I applied regular, slow drying top coat for this. That is actually good top coat to use for any type of decals. In my case, I always have a bottle of inexpensive top coat on hands, and I used Wet'n'Wild - clear top coat. Fast drying top coat tend to curl and/or to be brittle and non flexible.
I would do line at the time, and would apply smaller sections of the polish, and when I would finish placement, I would apply more top coat until I had enough for couple of nails or so...
I added another thin layer of top coat to keep everything in place, and I let it dry.
As you can see from my photo, there were still some gaps in between those glitters... what to tell you - patience is not my virtue, but you get idea what and how to do it.
I polished my nails with black polish, and for this I used Sinful Colors - Black on black.
I used scissors to cut my glitter patch to the approximate size of the nail, and then I applied it to somewhat tacky base. You have to be careful there, as there is really fine line between slightly tacky (almost dry) and one that is not as dry. What you will achieve over the surface of latter one is that everything will 'slide' around and base will most likely ooze out on the sides... not the look you want to go for...
After application, I trimmed what ever was over with small scissors, and added additional layer of top coat to reactivate the one below and help with sticking to the nail, and to make it all smooth.
Results were not perfect, but were leaps and bounds better than anything I managed to do before. This encouraged me to give it another try in the future using this glitter decal technique... I have no idea if anyone before done something similar...
On the side note, check my cuticles.. I am using Probelle - Botanical Cuticle Complex I reviewed couple of posts back, and am still super with it. My cuticle never looked this moisturized.
As I said before, I was not unhappy with results - this is the best glitter placement I ever done!
While taking those photos, I kept on thinking how this looks like a mermaid... and decided to stamp scales over... Well, I really did not buy into it... glitter took main stage, and overshined any stamping attempt. You see, lots of times, I just try things, and some days they work, some they don't. Did not work out for me this time, but that will not stop me to show you a photo of that disaster...
I will also show you macro of my thumb - that is that half of the nail that I mentioned earlier in the text...
Until tomorrow my dear readers, I wish you all a fantastic day!
Cheers!