Hi! Today’s post is a bit of a two-for-one. I’ve got a fun design for a Birthday nail art party that also happens to include all about my very first adventures with Soak Off Gel polish.
Introduction
Please allow me a short preface. So, as everyone knows, life can be unpredictable and cruel. I’m bringing this up because the duration of time that is shown in this post, from beginning of the nail painting to the removal of the color, is much longer than was planned.
My family has just lost someone way too young after a long and fierce battle with cancer. And, I’ve needed to step back and wallow in grief and worry for my family members who lost their son, brother, cousin, nephew, grandson.
Alternately, I have much gratitude in knowing there is peace now for my cousin, Nick. And, there is a LOT of love, support and caring in my family and our many friends too. We will always celebrate his life and we will find a way forward as best we can.
OK. That’s plenty of non-nail related words from me today — but I do like to share just enough that you know there is a “real” person behind this blog and these finger photos. And, thanks for letting me. It feels good to connect in this small way.
A New Technology – Gel Polish
(Well, not literally “new”… but new to Kimett Kolor.)
After the way of it all, it seems the best approach to describe both this nail art and my new experience with soak-off gel polishes is to combine them into one story. Here goes –
Shown above:
- LED curing lamp: Melody Susie 48W LED Nail Dryer (I found this review post and video helpful in choosing this lamp, but you can google and find lots more.)
- Cleanser & Remover: part of this Onyx Professional Nail Polish Remover Kit
- Soak-off tools: ASP Soak Off Gel Polish Caps and Foam Pads
- Soak-off base & top coat: Melody Susie
- Peel-off base coat, no-wipe top coat, white & black polishes: Madam Glam
Gel Application
While going through the motions of applying the gel polish (base coat, color coats, top coat) in this newbie adventure, I did NOT think I would be blogging/sharing the photos. I thought I’d just do this one and then share the next after I learned a thing or two. Yup, we know what happens when we plan.So above is an informal cell-phone picture of my fledgling application of an very appropriately named white gel polish — Perfect White by Madam Glam. I know it might sound funny to be excited about a white polish – but Oh My Glam! I love this one! It really is the perfect white.
As everyone says, there are three things to practice (and they’re right!): THIN coats, tip application (aka capping the tips), and top-coat application (aka making sure you only have it on the nail surface before curing it). All of which I need to practice, practice, practice. LOL.
However, it can not go without mentioning — how incredible it is to have perfectly DRY nails in such a short time. I could go right on with my day – do dishes, apply nail-vinyls without worry, whatever! I can only imagine the time savings to come – Yippee!!
It was then FIVE days later that I quickly put together this nail art look to join a surprise Nail-Gram Birthday for Anja. You’ll see that my nails grow very fast by the difference in size of my gap between polish and my cuticle line. Also, I had used the soak-off base coat (again, not planning to leave these on as long as I did) — so there was the start of pulling up along the sides. But, at the time, it was more important to me to participate in the collaboration than worry about quality of the outcome.
Important to note though: If I had painted with regular white polish, it would not have been suitable at all for nail art five days later — so I have already experienced the benefit of the gels’ lasting longer for sure!
Design Inspiration
If you’re on Instagram, you can check out the fun Birthday collage put together by host Doris (@dorisnailsdiary) and see all of the fabulous re-creations of the Birthday gal’s nail designs, Anja (@nailart_by_anja) using the hashtag #happybdayanjasmit.
Anja is no stranger to life’s challenges, yet she’s an up-beat and very kind lady living in Holland, whom I’m glad to have come across in the nailstagram world. I was very grateful for the opportunity to celebrate life during this tough week and was inspired by Anja’s fighter’s spirit. She paints her nails as a hobby, and therapeutic escape like many of us, subsequently posting her nail art on Instagram
I really, really wish I had a stamping plate that had a heart pattern closer to the one that she used. I am in love with the whimsical and randomness of those hearts. The stamp plate I had is cute too — but just not the same. It was interesting though — I have both the first generation and the, later issued, larger version of the same Bundle Monster image.
One of the reasons I liked this design of hers, was the incorporation of blue and silver – making it not just a feminine or romantic heart motif. I also like the color hues that Anja used better than mine…but the dark pink that I used ended up getting trimmed off the edges. Small oops. And, I added gold – because it is the color of the Childhood Cancer Awareness campaign…for Nick. Yellow is also the Sarcoma Awareness color (Nick’s type of cancer). All in all, my design had a similar, but yet different look. And, well, that’s that.
Design Details
On my index and ring finger, I used the image from the BMXL-10 plate. And, on the ring and pinky nails, I used the BM-317 plate. First, I stamped using black stamping polish from Konad. Then, for the reverse stamping, I painted in the hearts with acrylic paints while the image was still on the stampers (5 in total).
After they were all colored in, I applied a layer of regular top coat over the images on the stampers and then used the decal method to apply the designs.
Oh – and applying stamping decals over a gel nail base — it’s way, way easier! Another bonus because you can press and apply the decal without worrying about squishing the base. I still got some wrinkles and other flaws in my application, and my matte top coat smeared the design a little (I was rushing) — but it was done!! Yay!!
Polish Palette
So to recap, for this design, I combined gel polish and regular polish, and acrylic paints! Here’s the list:
- Peel-off base coat: Madam Glam (can be used with regular or gel polish)
- White gel polish: 3 coats (two will be fine once I’m more practiced) of Perfect White by Madam Glam
- No-wipe gel top coat: Madam Glam
- Stamping polish: black by Konad
- Stamp plates: BM-XL10 and BM-317 by Bundle Monster
- Acrylic paints: assorted brands from craft store
- Glossy top coat for decals: Shine B-right by B² Lacquer
- Matte top coat: B Matte also by B² Lacquer
Gel Removal
Parting Thoughts
