Nail Art Drama

So I've been on this nail art kick lately.   I don't know why, maybe it makes me feel feminine and allows me to express the little artist in me.

Regardless of the reason, I submerged myself in it.   How far will it go?   I have no idea.   I might make a little extra money with it by making youtube tutorials.   Or more, who can say?

Anyway, I've had some triumphs and pitfalls, learning how to do certain designs.    Most designs I can do pretty well, if I take my time.   I have seen some youtube videos for fancy designs too, namely this one:

I wanted to try this design, so I did.   Everyone has been saying that I have been doing a pretty good job learning to do nail art.   Some have even asked me to do their nails.    I was feeling so encouraged!  The video looked so simple, so I figured it would be a piece of cake.   I sat down to give it a try.  

How did everything go with the design in the video, you ask?   Well...    I usually practice on a sheet of scrap paper before I try it on my nails.   Like I will paint a base coat on the paper, then try a design.

This particular design, I just could not get the dots of paint to melt together, no matter how close or far I placed the dots, or how much / how little polish I used in the dots.  Or how I spread them out.   I tried adding more or less base coat.   Letting it dry more.   Leaving it wet...  Nothing worked.   All I ended up with was a ton of scratch paper that looked like a mess:

So then I tried the butterfly wing design from this model photo:

 Everything went well, except...   When I put the top coat on, all the black SMEARED!   It looked crooked and horrible.   Even smudged up the white dots.   I was so upset!

 I started to think perhaps I wasn't really all that good at nail art, if I couldn't even pull off designs like these...  

But then I found out 2 facts that made me change my mind:

1.   The marbling technique in the video was done using a special kind of nail polish, which was designed specifically for marbling.   Its next to impossible to get those results with regular nail polish, unless you use the "water marble" technique.  So...   Eureka!   It wasn't actually my fault.

2.   In the case of the butterfly wing design...   I had also noticed with certain other designs that "streaking" and "smearing" happened after applying a clear top coat.   But you NEED a top coat for that smooth, glossy finish and to prevent visible layer lines.

So I googled the issue, and I found this video which teaches you how to avoid smudging your nail art with your top coat:

 I was VERY happy to know that perhaps there was a glimmer of hope to solve my problem.   But if you know me, then you know I am a die-hard skeptic.   So...   As suggested in the video, I went out and bought a "fast drying" top coat, the package literally said "end smudges and streaks" so I figured that would be the best one:

Then, instead of risking smudging a time-consuming nail job, I did a test run.   I simply applied a basic coat of colored nail polish.   And drew some scribble designs in black.   A design I really didn't care about.   And just to test everything, I used the 3 "drawing tools" I tend to make use of:

1.  A black sharpie fine tip marker (yeah I know, but hey it works).
2.  My black Stylo "I Love Nail Art" pen
3.  My "Kiss Nail Art" black polish with its fine, pointy-tip brush.

I tested one of each on 3 different nails, to see if any of them would smudge with this new fast-drying top coat.   I went ahead and applied the top coat, while using all the techniques in the video.   Especially the one about letting them dry for 30 minutes before applying the top coat, not using too much and not pressing the brush onto the nail. 

SUCCESS!   They did not smudge or streak.   None of them.   They looked exactly the same AFTER the top coat as they did before.   So at this point, I felt comfortable enough to attempt a more cute, time-consuming design:

  
Again, success.  No smudging or streaking!

I guess the moral of the story is-- if you run into a problem, don't give up.   Find out what the solution is and apply it.

Although...   I probably will NOT be running out to purchase whatever expensive nail polish allows me to do the marbling technique in the video.  I have tons of bottles of regular polish and I think that is enough, lol.  

Strange Dreams

The other night, I had a very strange dream.  Don't judge...  It was extremely clear and vivid, it had the most graphic detail.  

In the dream, I saw my father (who passed away in 2013).   We were standing outside in his backyard.  It was night time and he was telling me to look up at the sky.  

I looked up and I saw a row of HUGE planets slowly moving into alignment, in order from smallest to largest.   Our moon was about halfway across the sky from them.  

As soon as they aligned, the smallest one exploded!   Followed by the next.  And the next, all the way to the biggest one.  Then finally, our moon.    The moon was less explosive though, it merely burst into 4 large chunks, that slowly spun apart and drifted about near the earth.  

I knew from a science show that the moon was much more than something pretty to look at...   It stabilized our gravity pull, and our weather.  It kept Earth calm and tame enough to live on.   Without it, there would be severe weather and temperatures everywhere.   Massive title waves.   Lightening strikes all over.   Earth quakes that split the ground open..  You name it.

Instantly (not realistic, I know) everything around me began to form a layer of frost.  Strong winds came and a snow blizzard began.   

My Dad told me that life will always throw us big, scary changes that we don't think we can handle,  or recover from.   Those events are out of our control.   They make us feel small and powerless.   But the way we handle them is within our control-- and we should choose to keep it together.   That's the only way through.  

I woke up feeling really strange, like it wasn't just a dream, but a real message.  I think the planets aligning and exploding and the planet changing were extreme examples of the big, scary changes Dad was talking about, designed to make one feel small and helpless. 

Amazing how your own mind can paint such realistic pictures and teach you lessons.

Introduction

So I noticed that I have different blogs for various interests of mine:  Dreams, travel, cooking, my MBTI personality type, my parents-- even turtles!  Yes turtles.  I have a few and know a lot about them so I made an information page.

But I don't just have...  a blog.   As in a regular blog for whatever the heck I feel like talking about, at any given time.  

Well I thought that would be a fun idea, so I decided to make THIS my personal blog.  For you know, whatever.  I suppose I could share it with family, friends, or (naturally) other bloggers.   Or use it as a journal?  But one of those journals you don't care if anyone reads of course, lol.  

So yeah anyway, this is my introduction post.  I hope it will lead to fun reads and a deeper understanding of me, if anyone is so inclined. :)