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.
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.
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