First Striping Tape Designs

I don't know why it took me so long to order striping tape, but I finally did about 3 weeks ago, and I finally got around to using it today. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it, but if not it's just a teeny tiny roll of tape. You can put it on top of your designs and paint over it or you can peel it off to reveal a colour or design underneath. I don't personally like the look of striping tape on the nail so I opt to peel it off. 

I had no specific design in mind, I just wanted to experiment with the striping tape as much as possible to see what I could create. Some of these designs I saw online but some of them I just went with the flow and tried to create something cool. 

I don't really like the look of random lines, but I love geometric and symmetrical designs so I tried to do that as I was experimenting. My favourite nails on my left hand are my pointer finger, middle finger, pinky, and on my right hand my thumb and pointer finger. 

I didn't find placement too hard. Maybe that's because I'm very OCD with straight lines and placement of things on my nails. The only thing I found annoying was cutting the tape. For my right hand I cut it straight off the roll, but for my left hand that was more of a hassle since I'm right handed, so I just cut a long strand and stuck it to my desk and cut from that. Too bad there's no dispenser for striping tape because that would be perfect! 

Do you guys like working with striping tape? Do you plan out your designs ahead of time or just design whatever comes to mind when you have your tape out? 

XO Natasha 

Grown Up Floral

Hey guys! So today I want to share with you this absolutely gorgeous design that is definitely one of my favourite designs yet! I saw a tutorial for this on YouTube. Click here to watch the video by MrCandiipants. I apologize for the staining around my pinky! 

This design is all freehand, something I need a little more practice with. I'm great with dotting tools but I find brushes a little more difficult to work with. That's what practice is for! The polishes I used are: Zoya - Jacqueline, L'Oreal - Devil Wears Red. 

The parts of this design I found most difficult were creating the centre of the flower and getting the little branches smooth. (They're not branches but I don't know what else to call them.) I couldn't get smooth dots with the brush, and I thought it was a little too thick but I couldn't be bothered to look at my other brushes to see if I had a thinner one. I think I do so I'll try that brush next time I do this design. 

I'd love to try this design with more contrasting colours! What are some of your favourite floral designs? 

XO Natasha 

Gradient + Watermarble

This is my billionth attempt with watermarble and I'm finally pleased with how it turned out! Minus the bubbles on my middle finger :( I also took the opportunity to try out my acrylic paint and do a gradient. It's very subtle, I wanted the main focus to be the watermarble. I'm really pleased with how this mani turned out! 

I really like how easy the acrylic paint was to work with, but nail polish definitely lasts longer. I used seche vite on top and the paint started crackling underneath, but then it settled down. It's still slightly textured with two top coats. Clean up was a little weird as well. Acetone does remove the paint but it sort of peels, as opposed to nail polish just dissolving. Also, as I was doing dishes today the tips got some wear so my two pointer fingers are now chipped. 

I'd like to try a watermarble over a gradient, or a gradient watermarble next. I'm still a little undecided with whether I like wearing watermarble or not. It's pretty but it's a lot of work and it's hard to control the design sometimes. 

What are your favourite gradient or watermarble designs? Do you like combining them? 

XO Natasha 

NUBS

OKAY. So two weeks ago I finally broke down and cut myself some lovely nubs. Only I hate them and my patience is being tested as I wait for them to grow out. Why did I cut them you ask? If you recall I had beautiful almond/stiletto/witch nails. They're a strong shape and I never had trouble with breaking. However, at the end of April/beginning of May I moved, and as a result of extensively using my hands, 6 of my 10 nails were ripped, most on both sides. I could have patched them all, but they would have been really weak and it would have just been a major pain in the ass. So, I figured I'd chop my nails off and start all over. 

Here's a vine of my before/after/filing process: https://vine.co/v/b2eDiD1rQAA 

I started by using my nail scissors to cut off the majority of the length, leaving about a 1mm free edge. Then I filed down and shaped that using a 180 grit file. Then I filed off the curtains (frilly things underneath your nails LOL - I call them curtains) with my 280 grit file and smoothed out the top edge with a 320 grit file. I left no free edge. 

When doing any major shaping I like to use a 180 grit first, and finish with a 280 grit. Smoothing with the 320 grit file isn't necessary, you can just use the 280 but I like the 320 because it's a tiny bit more fine. Also, my file is reversible with 280/320 so it's just easy. 

One of my rips was fairly deep but it's grown out nicely. Also I had quite a few splits, just from the nails ripping. Those I just buffed out as much as possible and kept them protected with my strengthener, polish, and top coat. 

I'm only using OPI - Nail Envy as my base coat. As an experiment to see how well it works, but also because I always use a strengthener for my base coat. I've heard Nail Envy doesn't work for everyone (nothing will) but it works amazing for me! 

The hardest part about cutting my nails was seeing next to no growth during the first week. I must have changed my polish 3 times and each time I saw no new growth. During the second week however, I started noticing a bit of a free edge. Then during the weekend I had the same mani for about 5 days and I noticed a significant growth between my polish and cuticle, and when I took my polish off yesterday I was quite pleased with my nail length. Well, as pleased as someone with a love for long nails can be with nubs! 

Have you ever done a major chop or given yourself nubs in order to give your nails a fresh start? 

XO Natasha 

NOTD: OPI - Can't Let Go (Liquid Sand)

Hey guys! So this is my first liquid sand polish. If you're not familiar with liquid sand, it's a matte textured polish made by OPI. They're still extremely glittery and sparkly even though they're matte!

Here it is with one coat of top coat on my first and ring fingers.

Two coats of top coat. Still a tad bit textured so if you want it completely smooth I would suggest either three top coats, or buff after the first top coat so your second top coat makes it smooth.

Here are all nails with two top coats.

Application for this polish was great, I had no troubles whatsoever. I've heard that the newer liquid sands are a much smoother application than the Mariah Carey liquid sands. If you have long nails like me you may need to use 3 coats. For my nails however I did one full coat, a tip coat, and a second full coat. I thought the textured effect would bother me but I really like it because it's so different! I'm going to be purchasing more liquid sands as soon as I get some money! 

XO Natasha