FAQ: Nail Art Brushes

Hey guys! I finally have time to create a FAQ post about nail art brushes! I was asked to create a tutorial on how to use nail art brushes from KKCenterHK.com and thought I should just go all the way and explain everything you'll need to know about brushes for some nail art. ;) Let's get started guys!

 

Brushes from KKCenterHK

15 Brush Set Review {From KKCenterHK.com}

Hey everyone! I decided that Swatch Sunday will probably be put on hold for a while -- I liked the whole Swatch Sunday idea when I didn't have anything to post during the summer but since I'm so busy at the moment, the only time I have to post is on the weekends so I don't want to waste all my days just posting swatches. xD Anyway! Let's get on with today's post!

 

Today I have for you some more awesome products from KKCenterHK.com to review, specifically one of their brush sets. So here is a quick photo of what all 15 brushes look like! Keep reading to find out my 100% honest thoughts on these brushes along with a quick pic on how they look when you use them.

 

Glitter Check?

First of all -- I'M BACK!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am SO SORRY girls for not posting in like... forever. I just got extremely busy and when I want to do an awesome tutorial (can anyone say LOOSE GLITTER NAILS?!), I'm not going to give up! Yes it's going to be like one of those step-by-step nail tutorials like my Newspaper Nails because I can't show you how to do it the "right" way in just a few measly picture steps! So I have literally a 15-picture "show" to present to you TOMORROW! ;) (I really should start making videos, but I just don't have a decent video taping camera at the moment. Perhaps in a few years? ;)) But anyway, I just also wanted to go over an overview of tomorrow's nails and the frequently asked questions and answers, mainly about the glitter. So if you have a question, hopefully I'll be able to answer it here.

Q: Loose glitter nails... what?
A: Yes. You heard me right. We are going to have loose glitter on our nails. What's the point? (Hey, I'm asking myself a question!) Umm, because it's really pretty and you might not have enough glitter nail polish. ;)

Q: Doesn't the glitter get EVERYWHERE?!?!
A: Very important question! If you do it the right way, no. The glitter will stay only on your nails. The process of getting it on there.. that's another story. But hopefully when you do create these beautiful nails, you have newspaper around your area so clean up will be easy! And I'm just going to start predicting your next question on HOW DO YOU GET THE GLITTER TO STAY?!! (That's what you were going to ask next, don't deny it. ;)) Well, with a little bit of white Elmer's glue and a little bit of clear nail polish, it'll stay on perfectly. I'll get into the details tomorrow!

Q: How in the heck do you take it off?!
A: Check out the easiest way to remove glitter here. This is going to be your very base before you put ANY polish on. Just trust me. Once again, I'll explain the details tomorrow. :)

Q: How long exactly will it stay on?
A: I had mine on for about 4 days but got bored with them so I peeled them off (it's so fun... ;) I love the glue method :)), but I'm sure it'll stay on longer if you really wanted them to.

Q: Where did you buy the glitter?
A: This glitter is the "Recollections" brand which I just bought at Michael's. I think I got 16 bottles (not sure exactly how many ounces, but it's A LOT of glitter) for like $14. I'm sure though most any store will have glitter and you can use virtually anything. Well... we'll get to that. ;) That's actually the MAIN point of this post is to show which glitters work and which ones don't.

So speaking of which glitters work and don't work... Let's get talking about that subject! It's hard to explain in words to find a glitter that doesn't have the dyes "bleed" by checking with clear nail polish. Making sure your glitters won't bleed is crucial for this tutorial because on the nails, you're going to have to put multiple and I mean like 8+ coats of clear nail polish on your nails. And THAT is what keeps the glitters in and makes it really shiny and pretty. So what glitters should I use?

If you already have some glitter in mind that you'd just LOVE to put on your nails, let's make sure first that it's a "good" glitter. First place just a little bit of your glitter onto a scrap piece of paper. (Make sure the paper is kinda thick or fold it in half to make it thick so just in case it's a BAD glitter, the colors won't leak everywhere). And by a good glitter, I mean one that doesn't bleed out the colors and get all messy! This will be the 2nd time I've tried out the loose glitter nails, and the first time I wanted this gorgeous purple. But let's watch at my fail... 

Now with a clear nail polish (I used just a clear by Color Club, but ANY clear polish will work), just place a drop onto your glitter. Watch for it, watch for it! 

And see as I swirl this gorgeous purple around, it bleeds this yucky magenta! Perhaps under other circumstances, I would actually enjoy this color. But remember, when I first did this, this glitter was ON my nails and the clear nail polish brush turned this color too... Yuck. That was a heart breaker. I hope you can see this color is a BAD GLITTER to use for this technique. So let's try some more glitters. And by the way, this is Muse by Recollections, so it's not only the brand, it's the also the color. 

And here I have in the middle is a pretty medium pink called Raspberry and the gorgeous dark blue is Marine, also by Recollections. I don't have glitter from other brands, so if you do try the tutorial I'm going to post tomorrow, so let me know what brand of glitter you used! And if it was chunky or fine! I really want some chunky gold glitter nails, maybe for Christmas! :D Anyway. Here are 2 other glitters we're going to try and see if they're good or bad. 

Drop of clear nail polish 

Swirl around with a pencil (toothpick, cotton swap, or whatever you have) and lookie here! Neither the pink NOR the blue bleed! Yay!! We have some winners!

 

So the whole point of testing the glitters were to make sure when you put them on your nail, it won't get really gross and messy like what the purple did. I wish I did this before when I first tried this out! Be sure to test your glitters!! :D And last question you're going to ask is..... What are we going to learn tomorrow?!?

Does this look appealing enough to you? Yeah, I have better pictures of the end project, but just look at that glitter!! This is PERFECT for one of those dances or parties you'll be chilling out at or just want to play with glitter because... Glitter makes everything better. Everything. Okay. Maybe not everything... Meh. MOSTLY everything. ;) So! Until TOMORROW, Your Polish Pal, Jenna

 

And let me know if you have anymore questions by emailing me at yaypolishparty@gmail.com, KIK @PolishPals, or Instagram @PolishPals. :) I'd be happy to add to this post! So just let me know! <3

Best Way to Clean Up Your Cuticles

Hey everyone! I do not have a nail art tutorial for you today, but instead I have written how I personally clean up my cuticles each time I paint my nails (without that special cuticle remover because not many of us have it). Hehe, I make mistakes too and especially if you're first learning how to paint your nails, learning how to remove the excess polish is important too. ;) So let's get started!

So let's first paint our nails! Okay, when I do paint my nails, they usually don't turn out like this... (or at least anymore ;)) They probably did look like this when I first started painting my nails, but the best tip on avoiding this is to obviously paint slowly and take your time. But don't worry, I still mess up a LOT.

To clean up, you will need some nail polish remover (acetone) and an acrylic brush or a q-tip. I actually prefer the q-tip!

Now poor some acetone into the cap. It just makes it easier to dip your tool into.

Go ahead and dip your brush or q-tip into the acetone and let it soak some up. Then go ahead and just scrub off the nail polish! Don't be gentle -- Scrub away!

And now I'm just showing it with a q-tip. I do prefer the q-tip because it's easier to control and can be obtained easier than a brush.. You know?

And ta daaaah! Scrub around all your nails and now they are clean! I do think that having pretty nails is nice, but making sure that they are clean are really important too!

Here is a before and after photo. ;)

 

I hope that you found this tutorial helpful! So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

How To Take Glitter Nail Polish Off With Ease (Tutorial)

And here is my promised tutorial on how to take glitter off with ease! No more worries about using the tin foil method or wasting A LOT of time to scrub your manicure off with a cotton ball and acetone. All you need is a little white glue. ;) Sounds weird huh? But it totally makes sense! Think about the times in kindergarten when you made a mess with all that white glue just because you didn’t have a glue stick. And then you just rubbed your hands together to peel off that glue! Well, it’s essentially the same with your nails ;) So just trust me on this and try it yourself! Let's get started! I can't really explain much else. xD

1. Start with your naked nail. ;) Don't have anything on it!
2. Add a drop of glue. Just enough to cover your nail.
3. I just used my other finger to help spread the glue across my entire nail - cover everywhere. :)
4. Wait until the glue dries completely! It'll turn clear and no longer sticky.
5. Paint your design. I just have some chunky glitter that without this method, would take FOREVER to take off. ;) So I dare you, get your hardest glitter nail polish and wear it for once without worrying about the clean up! :D
6. When you are done with your design and want to finally take it off, just scrape off your nail polish. It works. ;) I just used my thumb on my other hand and it came off.
7. Continue to scrap it all off.
8. AND YOUR GLITTER MANI JUST CAME OFF IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. WOAH.
9. Here is the excess nail polish off of my thumb! :D

Here is the glue that I used. :) Just plain old Elmer's glue :)

Before ;) 

After! :D Okay, as you can see, this method doesn't take off EVERYTHING, but it takes off most of the nail polish as you can see. ;) Just use a cotton ball with nail polish remover (acetone) or a q-tip to get rid of everything. ;)

 

I hope that you try this method ASAP because it makes life so much easier! :) Let me know if it works for you! I wouldn't suggest doing a lot of washing or using water with this underneath your nails because the the design may get washed off. :) (NOTE: This problem did NOT happen to me! I had my loose glitter nails on for FOUR days and I used this glue base method and obviously I had to shower, wash dishes, etc. Basically, my hands went through a lot. AND THE LOOSE GLITTER STILL STAYED ON. The tutorial is a different story.. but yes, loose GLITTER stayed on my nails for FOUR days until I decided to take them off. It may have been because I added a topcoat to the glue and THEN did my design or just painted my nails, but for me, even when I get my nails wet or go through wear and tear, my nail polish stayed on perfectly. I've just heard this problem with others but wanted to let you guys know that FOR ME, this glue base stays on until I decided to peel it off. And also, I learned that you have to apply a generous amount of glue, but not TOO much in order to have the entire nail polish come off in one peel! It's pretty awesome! It just takes a lot of practice, so that's why I'd suggest just doing ONE nail first to practice! I should probably create a YouTube tutorial on this.. What do you think? And P.S. My nails look A LOT cleaner than that now.. that was in the beginning when I didn't know a lot about how to take care of my nails. I'll show you all my "care" tips soon! But anyway, do try this method in order to take of that pesky glitter nail polish super fast and easy! Note added: 12/19/2012).

 

Well, this is the best way to remove glitter nail polish for me and this is defiantly what I'll be using from now on. So until next time, Your Polish Pal, Jenna :)

The Tools I Use

Hello again! I attempted to prepare an awesome ombré tutorial and I epically failed. I'm so used to just doing nails, taking a picture of them, and posting to facebook and instagram. :( I forgot to take important pictures and just decided that I will post a picture of them and then use them for something else. (Can you say rawr? ;)) Yes, I am so disappointed in myself. Ah, oh well. You learn with mistakes, huh? They turned out pretty though!

Okay, enough with my fail. I decided instead that it would be better to just review the tools that I use in all of my nail art. A more about ME section! ;) A lot of people do ask what I use so I thought this would be better just to get that question answered! So let's get started! The tools that I use for ALL of my nail art (as of July 21, 2012 and prior to) are things that I believe most of you have around your house. Nah, I'm not the toothpick kind of gal generally. I use more "sophisticated" tools! What do I use you ask? Dotting tools? Striping tape? Stamping?!? PSHHHHHH. I wish! I use a combination of a few things:

• A: These are "sophisticated" dotting tools. :) Yup. They're pencils. Just regular, plain old pencils. Okay, I lied. One is a mechanical pencil with .5 lead and the other is a wooden one. I'll show you how I use these later in the post.
• B: Scratch paper! This is just for dropping nail polish on that you will use. You do NOT need some cool plastic palette. Just use some random piece of garbage that you're going to throw away anyway!
• C: Oh, toothpicks. Also for dots or designs that need just a little more fine detail.
• D: A sponge. :) Used for gradients, galaxy nails, and any other designs that needs a little texture. You can use a makeup sponge but this is just one off of those cheapo sponge brushes that you use for crafting. (Yes, I did cut it off, tehehe!)
• E: Clean up! Cotton balls, nail polish remover, and Q-Tips. Hopefully self-explanatory but just in case you make a big mess (*cough cough* MARBLE NAILS, SPLATTER NAILS, etc. *cough cough*).
• And Z (unpictured): Aww, somehow I forgot my little scotch tape. :'( Sad! I use the scotch tape for lines of course and other tape manicures. Sometimes I need scissors to cut the tape into thinner stripes (since I do not have stripping tape) too, so add scissors to the list of forgotten and unpictured.

Ta daaah! My tools. :) Now... how to use them. A whole other story! Just a quick summary on how I use a mechanical pencil as a dotting tool.

You can make dot, dot, dots :)
Just plop a drop of nail polish
onto a piece of paper and take
the pencil and dip it in.

Oooops! Your pencil has a huge
chunk of dried nail polish. :( No worries!
WATCH THIS!

*break lead off*
Wow. That was fantastic.

 I like using mechanical pencils for my dotting tools because, like you can see, they clean up relatively well and they are easily found. Plus it's a pencil, you feel more comfortable using it than a tiny toothpick. ;) 

And finally, push for more
lead and you have a fresh,
clean dotting tool again. :)

Thank you for reading! I will try to have a REAL tutorial available later this week! Until then, your Polish Pal, Jenna :]