Nail Art Challenge - Day 5 Blue

Day 5 Blue

I don't know why but something about blue nails make them POP.  The top damask nails and the bottom top right are one of my all time favorite blues to use INM Blueberry Blast from the Tutti Fruiti Collection, so of course, I spilled the hole container and have to order a new one, but I got these two lovely sets out of it before my clumsiness set in.

Damask Nails

Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon, is a mixture of LCN blue thermo gel, pearlex pigment from Michaels and holo dots, with stamping on top... the pic just doesn't do them justice... I'm still working on getting the perfect lighting for pics.

Blue Ombre

Because nothin' says blue like an acrylic glitter fade!

Feeling Blues

And just a few others added in because I couldn't bare leaving them out. Got a favorite blue that you like?  I'm always looking to try out new colors, leave a comment below!

Day 3 & 4 - Nail Art Challenge

I have been seriously lacking in my nail art challenge, mostly because I have been waiting to do another yellow set, so I decided to include yellow and green together, as neither are top on my list of popular colors.

Day 3 - Yellow

Sunny Days

Neon Cheveron

 Day 4 - Green 

I think that this Vintage Mint set is one of my all time favorites.  Proof that simple can make a HUGE statement!

Vintage mint

A little bit of Everything

Got to try out my new Blazin' Nails mixes on this set, and couldn't decide what to do on myself so I settled on a little bit of everthything... thus the name.  I have Glowgasm and Mardi gras mixes over top of white acrylic and favorite teal from magnetic Baliwood collection.  I wanted to make them truly Kawaii inspired so I opted for a rounded shape instead of almond, not gonna lye I miss my Almonds completely and am dying for my fill!  I'm going to keep the art and just reshape and most likely add another color onto them... maybe an other blazin' mix?!  hrm.... brain is wizzing now!

ENJOY!

Galaxy, Chevron and Studs .... Oh my!

Nail Art Trend

Galaxy Nails

I love playing with different elements when it comes to nails, and I was so excited when I got to do my first set of Galaxy Nails.  This design is done using a navy blue gel with green pearl ex powder dry brushed on in random spots (but you can use any mica or mineral powder).  I added majestic  purple pixie glitter to highlight the green pigment and then added some iridescent small hex glitters.  (If you are a gel technician and don't own any of the Amore Pixies, you really need to try some out, they are fabulous!)  After shaping and filing I used my dotting tool to add some white dots to complete the look.  I couldn't have asked for this design to turn out any better!

Galaxy Nails

Chevron & Studs

I'd have to say that one of the hottest items right now are studs... they are everywhere...on clothing, purses and of most importantly, on nails!  It's personally one of my favorite nail decorations, and of course nothing completes a studded nail like a Chevron stamp. :)  Love love love, both of these sets!
I just got a package of smaller studs with random shapes and can't wait to play some more!  Hopefully I'll have some more pics for you soon!

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Chevron Studded Nails

Nail Art Challange

Day 2

I was so excited last night when my client through out the colour Orange and as option for her nails!  Yay, only took 2 month but I am finally done Day 2 of the nail art challenge.   Should be a breeze from here on out, right?  Calling this set Orange Crush.  They are done with pigment powder dry brushed onto the the gel.  I added Atomic Orange Pixie glitters and some orange holo hexes to really make these POP!

Orange Crush

This set isn't really orange, but I love them just the same.  They are a sparkling peach set that I did on  myself last summer.  They were my first set of almonds that I sported and now my favorite nail shape to wear. 

Sparkling Peach

Cover Pinks

I have been on the search for the perfect cover pink!  I did swatches of all the brands I had on hand in one coat and 2.  It still amazes me how different gel nails are then acrylic (switched about 6 months ago), and I'm still looking for the perfect pink and white in one brand... which I'm starting to think is just not going to happen.

Here is one coat done on clear tips  (sorry pics did not come out the best, no idea what was up is up with that!)  Here they are from left to right.  Light Elegance Pink (think the new name is 1step Pink or vise versa), Light Elegance Pink Builder, Amore Cache Pink Cool, Amore Cache Pink Warm, Akzentz WarmPink, Young Nails Concealer Peach, Crystal Nails Crystal Cover Pink, Crystal Nails Cover Pink Diamond.

Here they are with 2 coats going from the most opaque to the sheer (Top to bottom)

Another view for better comparison.

Now I'm going to break down what I liked and didn't like about them.

AMORE

I'm going to start with Amore, as that is my main gel line.  I'm going to review both Amore Cache Pink Cool &  Amore Cache Pink Warm together because the only difference between these two is the color.  The consistency is very thin and I find it a bit runny and doesn't give me the coverage that I am looking for.  What I love about it, NO HEAT SPIKE.  Not only that you can blend all Amore gels together to create the perfect color.  Lots of the Amore girls do that, add a little primary white for some better coverage, but mixing just isn't my thang.   

LIGHT ELEGANCE

Light Elegance 1 step pink is the most comparable to Amore than any of the others.  It's the same type of thin runny consistency and as you can see from the pic, is a nice shade that looks like it's a blend of the Amore cool & warm.  Other than that there's not much to say about it.

Light Elegance Builder Pink definitely has better coverage, and I found it really easy to work with when doing a reverse sculpt.  The colour is a beautiful bright pink that looks almost acrylic, which I love, and makes a gorgeous color for pink and whites.  I can't say I love it when it's just brushed on, like I did on the tips, but for sculpting, I really liked the look of my final nails.   I really miss the look of acrylics sometimes and so far this pink has been the closest I've come.  

However!  What I've found from the Light Elegance brand is that it's HOT.  Like I said, I have the Builder Pink on my own hands right now and I thought I was going to cry like a little baby when  did my hands.  A little tip... flash cure with your hands just outside of the light.  But if you are like me, it wont make much of a difference. 

AKZENTZ

I have been using Akzentz Coverage Warm Pink for about 6 months now.  It has a beautiful creamy consistency and a medium/thin viscosity.  And while I love working with it, I find that it's so close to being the perfect gel, and yet it's so far away.  The coverage though pretty good, goes a little too milky for my liking when it's cured.  Sometimes I really love that look and other times it just doesn't do it for me, which is what originally got me set out on finding another cover colour that I love.    Another Pro... NO HEAT SPIKE!  Can you see the trend?

But out all the brands that I'd repurchase... this is definitely one of them!  Please Please Please Akzentz make another cover thats more pigmented and I will love you forever.

YOUNG NAILS

This is the one that I was by far the most excited to order.  I have been reading all about Young Nails on a fellow bloggers site ... ( Little Lady Luxury, if you haven't seen her blog, please check it out.  She was one of my main inspirations to start blogging). I have heard some great things about Young Nails gel from some of my fellow techs online, and one of them (sorry can't remember who) told me that the cover peach was her favorite, so of course that's what I ordered!  ;)  The nail community is everything Ladies!   Anywho.... I have to say I don't love it.  I think I'm kinda on the fence with this one, and it makes me really sad to say because I had such high expectations.  Its viscosity is a thick builder gel, but I find it really sticky and hard to work with.  Mind you I haven't used it for a reverse sculpt, which is what young nails is famous for, so I cannot critique it on that.  I'm sure that if you're looking for a gel to extend the nail bed or do a reverse application, then this one is winner winner chicken dinner.  What I can say is this stuff is the BOMB for staying where you put it!  But the work-ability for me... just too sticky and if you are trying to clean up an area... good luck.  I don't like the color either, and comes out yellowish in pics.  (sad face).

Positives!!!!  Cause I kinda feel like I've been slamming this one... dun dun dun...  NO HEAT SPIKE!  And as much as I don't like how sticky it is, it really does stay where you put it, so I also kinda love that about it.    I know, make up your mind, right?  Like I said I'm on the fence.  Really what I need to do is order the cover pink, because that might be the make it or break it for me.  (Side note... I am loving Snow for doing french.  I will be doing a blog on whites in the future)

CRYSTAL NAILS

Ok, I have to say that when I got these, I took one look at the color and just put them in a drawer and decided that was pretty much were they were going to stay.  In the container they were very beige with almost a grey hue to them.  And I am so happily surprised with them.  I haven't used them on myself of a client yet... I'll be doing my fill either this weekend or next but I'm actually so excited to see it on!  This was by far the best coverage, and here it is...... CREAMY.  And the colour.... in the container... icky... on the sample stick, the pink really shows through... I mean just scroll up and look for yourself!  So Meegan, thank you so much for sending me these samples from your own stash, and I am SO sorry for doubting you!  Now, I have heard that this brand is HOT, but haven't tried it so can't actually give you my personal opinion on that.
Between the two, I really love the Crystal Nails Cover Pink, over the Crystal Nails Cover Pink Diamond, as it's a bit more on the pink side.  Having said that, The Diamond has a beautiful silver shimmer, that reminds me of the Magentic Sparkling Nude (one of my all time favorite acrylic cover collections).
Out of all of them this one was the best, best coverage, nice colour, creamy texture.... and all those things just might be enough for me to look past the dreaded heat spike. ;)  Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted!

Hope you all enjoyed my review and swatches.  Let me know what your think or if you have a cover color that you love and think I should try, go ahead and leave a comment below!

Cheers!

Hey, I know that Photo!

So you're browsing through Facebook or online for nail inspiration and you come across a picture that you recognize, and you think to yourself "Hey I know that photo.  It's So and So's work!"  You go back to your favorite techs website, and sure enough the photo was Stolen!  You can't imagine how often this happens in the nail industry, especially on facebook!  So what can you do about it?

CONTACT THE OWNER OF THE PHOTO
They are the  only one that can report the photo as stolen property.  Commenting on the photo will just get you banned and wont necessarily get the person to remove the photo and they will probably just steal someone elses work.

It's all good and great to be inspired by another techs work, but give a little credit where it is due people!  As professionals we work hard at what we do, we invest money into training, and nail art is just that ART. Stealing them is just rude!  You wouldn't put a photo of the Mona Lisa on your page and claim that you are the artist, so why do it with other peoples nails?

I remember when I started doing nails a year ago, I choose design ideas that I wanted to try, styles of nails that I wanted in my portfolio.  I offered a couple of free sets of nails, with the stipulation that I got to choose the design and they got to choose the color.  I gave everyone a questionaire to see what type of nails they wanted and picked models out from there.  I was so overwhelmed by the responses that I got, and took my add down within an hour! I got a ton of images for my portfolio, and some of those sets became regular clients.  Not only that, I got practice, and became a better nail tech from it!   I look back at those photos now, and my work was far from perfect, but it was mine!

Want to check to see if your photo's have been stolen?
Here is a great link to see if your photos have been used by others.  You upload your image and google searches for similar photos.  I found that adding text can help, as you will see from my results below.  http://www.google.ca/insidesearch/features/images/searchbyimage.html

I can tell you it honestly works because I found some of my work on here (see link below) by using the google picture search.  My first search only came up with my own images, but I added the text neon nails, and found this result.
http://nailsimage.net/62086/retro-neon-nails-image/retro-neon-nails-62086/

WATERMARK, WATERMARK, WATERMARK
It won't stop photo theifs, but it helps.  I make my watermarks large and in charge.  It isn't always the prettiest thing to do, but just last night a fellow nail tech found one of her photos on someone elses facebook page where her watermark had been cropped out, and the impostor had watermarked her own name over the nails.  A few months ago a friend and mentor had someone claim they owned her salon, and actually linked their profile to my her facebook page.  She had to contact the theif, who had 3 different stories as to why it was an accident.  My friend then had to remove all of her photo's from facebook, watermark them and then upload them again.  She lost every like and every comment.  It's not only sad, It's just ridiculous!

I use PicMonkey.  It's a free online tool, that allows you to make facebook covers,  pinterest tutorials, watermark your photos and it's a great photo editor!  http://www.picmonkey.com
If you have watermark site that you love, feel free to post it in the comments below.

A WORD OF CAUTION
If your nail tech doesn't have a certification hanging on her wall and wont show you one, walk away.  There are so many DIY'ers out there posing as nail techs, hurting clients and they have no inclination of the sanitation procedures that we professional nail techs take!

If you are browsing someone's faceboook page, and the images are shockingly different, some nails look like they are off a magazine cover... others are lumpy and bumpy... some are on a marble desk other on a black one.... or the photo's look like they have been cropped from computer screen shots.  Is this really someone YOU would trust to work on your nails?  If they are stealing photos and claiming the work is theirs, they are stealing YOUR money.

Valentines Nail Art

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!  Today I am going to feature some of the designs that I've done leading up to today.  Hope you all enjoy!

A Dozen Roses - Thermo Gel (Cold)

Coloured French in the same Thermo Gel (warm)

Wild Thang, I think I love you

Gel Polish with Leopard hearts done with Mica