Flutterbyes (OMD2)

Day 16’s theme of glitter placement in the Oh Mon Dieu nail art challenge was a particularly inspired one (past tense, because of course I’m three off the pace) with all participants submitting amazing entries, particularly challenge hostess Craftynail, who blew me away with her monarch butterfly glitter nails (really, go check them out; they’re spectacular.)

I suppose “glitter placement” could mean all sorts of different things to different nail artists, from glitter polish gradients to individually hand-placed sequins. I chose the latter, topping a couple of coats of Nails Inc.’s Royal Botanical Gardens (which itself was topped with Essence’s rainbow holo glitter, Space Queen) with a sprinkling of neon hexes and dancing butterflies. It was nit-picky, painstaking work wrangling all that tiny glitter, but not unduly difficult. Just remember that patience is a virtue when dealing with tiny piles of microscopic glitter that want to creep into everything you own. Seriously, glitter gets in your everything.

A quick note on glitter for use in nail polish-based projects. Whether you’re making your own (I can’t recommend it enough when you’ve got a polish in mind that just doesn’t exist) or using it as a nail art enhancement, you’ll want to use solvent-resistant glitter. I got my polish crafting glitter from a couple of different Etsy retailers, although you may be able to find a small selection at your local beauty supply. Standard craft glitter (like that in the 35-shade kit I have never, ever used but needed very badly, because apparently I was going to glitterize the WORLD) can be used, but be prepared for some pretty epic colour-bleeding and, in extreme cases, glitter melt. And no one wants to experience the terror that is glitter melt, let me tell you.

Snow Cones

I debated whether to enter these in Nail Polish Canada’s Holiday Nail Art Challenge for this week’s theme of snow, but then I got a little tied up in the branding aspect of shaved ice in a cup – the spelling is S-N-O, no? Which doesn’t exactly qualify as “snow.” But people still call them snow cones, probably because “rainbow shaved ice in a cup” is a little unwieldy.

The rainbow “granule” accent nails were dead easy; once again, a nice, simple technique for the beginner nail artist, and an effective one at that. If you’d like to try it for yourself:

1. Brush on two coats of a base polish. I used white because it makes vibrant and pastel colours pop.

2. Round up a selection of rainbow-hued polishes, if you’re going for the snow cone look, or whatever colours you please if you’d like to be contrary about it. 😉

3. Taking a small detail brush and starting at the tip of your nail, dot on polish in whichever end of the rainbow spectrum you’d like to start with in a horizontal line. There’s no need to be perfect here; a bit of the base colour peeking through keeps the design from looking too muddled and “done.”

4. Repeat the horizontal dotting with all of the colours you chose, one colour per line, until you reach your cuticles.

5. Top off with a glitter polish, if you wish. Here I used a clear holographic glitter, Essence’s Space Queen, to get that icy, snow cone-look, but you can use whichever glitter topper you’d like. See how accommodating I am?

6. Finish with the top coat of your choice, and then stand back and wait for the compliments!