Hi guys! A while ago I was asked to write a little post for Grazia Daily. Lauren posts a lot of cool nail news this section called Grazia Daily Nail, including her own manicures. I'm extremely honored they have asked me! I made two manicures for them, which you can see in this post. If you want to know more about these please check out the blogpost over at Grazia Daily
Hi everyone! For today I've got another how-to that has been requested a lot! I'm not saying this is the way to do it, because I'm sure everyone has their own preferences, but this is my take on it! The end result in the last picture is really awful, please forgive me, but I was working (too) fast because it's still subtropical in The Netherlands and I almost succumbed to the heat!
Before you start anything, you want to make sure you got the right stuff right in front of you. This will minimize little problems like knocking over very expensive nail polish remover or nail polish and the likes. (At the end of making these pictures I had nail polish on my cheeks and an almost empty bottle of Zoya Remove +).
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This is a step that you really don't want to skip. Just grab a medium file and file lightly over the stamp. If you don't do this, it most likely won't pick up nail polish at all.
Before you start prepare a cotton pad (or more) with nail polish remover and lay it next to the plate. You'll have to clean the stamp (and sometimes the plate) after every go. By using something like tweezers to pick up the cotton pad you won't mess up your manicure.
The polish you use can really influence the end result. Konad sells special polish for stamping, but if you got some really nice pigmented (one coaters and such) nail polishes, you can use these too!
You don't have to fill the entire design on the plate, just apply a bit at one side of the pattern. (I accidentally kinda went overboard while I was taking pictures so you can use less than pictured).
Most Konad kits come with a scraper. I don't like it. It's sturdy and damages your image plates like no other. Using a plastic card is easier on the plate and it's easier to move around anyway.
Scrape your polish from one side to the other, making sure the nail polish fills every gap in the design. Don't press too hard, because you don't want to scoop nail polish out of the grooves.
Speed is a really huge thing when you're Konad-ing. You really have to work fast or the polish will turn too dry to pick up with the stamp.
After you applied nail polish, scraped around, immediately place the stamp on the design. You don't have to press hard, it will only mess up the design.
Now you're good to go. Depending on your nail shape, there are several ways to stamp on the nail. My nails are a wee bit curvaceous, so I don't place the stamp flat, from the center. If you have really flat nails, I think this might work for you though.
I align the stamp to the side of my nails, making a circular movement while placing it on the nail. You want a steady, quick hand with this, or you'll end up with a design looking like mine :-P.
When your done, it's time to get out the top coat. This can be a little bit tricky because it's very easy to smudge your fresh design. Konad has a top coat especially made for this. You can also use other top coats, just make sure it's not thick and apply it in a floating manner, like you're not really touching the nail with the brush.
Well, this is how I go around doing Konad. It's not something I really fancy doing, it can get very messy!
The nail polishes I used in this how-top are Color Club's Worth the Risque and Revvvoluton. Review coming soon!
Hi everyone! The weather is not playing along today, it's sooo dark that swatching is utterly useless. So that's why I came up with this little blogpost. Maybe you remember the above picture? I'm not a big nail art fan, but I'm a sucker for subtle stuff. I used a Konad image plate (M57) and stamped a top coat on a matte base, and I really liked the look of this combination.
You don't necessarily need Konad to combine matte and glossy, you'll only need a matte nail polish (or matte top coat) and a shiny top coat or clear polish.
I came up with some examples, that might be boring for many, but I'm eager to try out myself. If you've got some nice suggestions, please do share!
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Of course the options are endless! And you can choose any color you wish!
Well dear readers, this was it for today, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the last day of the weekend!
- Michele
Hi guys! How is everyone doing? I'm enjoying my last night of the weekend: it's almost monday again! Since my last post was about animals I felt like creating this beastly look ;-). You all know I'm no Konad girl, but I do think subtle Konadicures are something I could get used to, they're cool.
I started of with H&M's Moonless Night, a black shimmery two-coater, I promise I'll show it to you some other time!
After that I applied one coat of Matte Magic by China Glaze. I don't own many different matte top coats to compare it with, but I think it's pretty good. I love how it transforms your polish into real matte hotness, instead of a cowardly satin finish.
For stamping I used plate M57 and plain old, nothing out of the extraordinary, top coat. It's probably due to the fact I'm boring, but I love how simple and subtle it looks. Leopard prints often border on tacky, but a little goes a long way, I'd say!
Thanks for reading and I wish you a great week!
Psst, yes this photo is mirrored, my fingers always pointing in the same direction bore me, lol.
Hi everyone! You must be thinking: Konad? What's that? Is this Lacquerized? She must be sick or something.. Ha well not exactly. Everyone that knows me, knows that normally I really don't care for Konad or any other nail art. Well, on me that is! I see lovely designs that I absolutely adore on others, and when I try it myself, it just doesn't feel right. Most of the times this is also caused by the fact I have to double stamp, I'm just no good at it!
But today, Michelle from The Lacquer Files talked me into it! On the Dutch boards we have a theme going on and it's spring! So it was time to dig up my flower again and do some stamping :-D. Luckily my mom is really into nail art so I confiscated some of her Konad stuff ;-). I picked out this leaf design, it's on one of those FauxNad plates (a20). I like these a lot because the patterns are a bit bigger, yay!
The base color I used is Green Tea by Models Own, and no matter what I tried, the real color won't show up on photos. It's a true green, with hardly any blue to it. The application was the best of all the Model Own polishes I've tried so far! Funnily enough, I thought this was going to dry like a jelly, but it dries matte. I've read several reviews on this color but I've never seen this mentioned, so imagine my surprise! I will make a blog post some other time showing you how pretty it is on its own, today the lighting just didn't feel like cooperating.
For stamping I used a mint green by Konad's special polish, unfortunately I can't find a number or name.
This was it for today, thanks you all so much for reading and I wish you a great day :-).
