Saturday, January 11, 2014

Zebropard.

Here's a new Jungle Jan-y mani!


I got this Konad plate a while ago, but this is the first time I've used it.  It has a lot of great images, but this one is the reason I bought the plate.

For this mani, I started out with Color Club Silver Lake, a pale blue-grey.  After two coats, I took Zoya Harley (a lavender-grey) and brushed just a bit, from the cuticle toward the tip, with an almost dry brush in a random pattern.  Then I topped the color off with a coat of INM Out the Door Northern Lights quick dry top coat.

I did all of that last night, and then let the color cure over night.  I've found that stamping works better on a well-cured base.  This morning I got out my stamp, plate and Wet n' Wild Black Creme - my favorite black polish for stamping - and went to town.

After stamping and cleaning up around the edges, I topped it off with another coat of INM Out the Door Northern Lights.  I started with my right hand and didn't put enough top coat on the brush for the first few nails.  You can see below how it smudged the design, especially on the middle finger.


But using plenty of top coat on the remaining nails solved that problem.  One thing I love about the INM top coat is that even if I use so much that it pools around my cuticles, once it's dry it all settles nicely into place and doesn't look like it's pooled.  I also love that it doesn't cause shrinkage like Seche Vite, and doesn't dry out when the bottle's half gone.  And of course, the speed:  with this top coat, I can literally paint my nails and be knitting 10 minutes later! 

I didn't do a whole lot of nail stamping or nail posts last year, and I'm hoping to do more this year.  Jungle January is giving me a good start, because a lot of my favorite stamps are animal print!








8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the top coat tip! I had never even heard of INM. I do love my Insta-Dry, but only the first half of the bottle... Your nails look great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love that stuff! I have a bunch if different brands of quick dry top coats, but this one is by far my favorite. Absolutely the fastest dry time. I get it at Sally Beauty Supply - not sure if you guys have it over there?

      Delete
  2. Does the plate work like a stencil?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it's more like a rubber stamp. I put my "Nail Stamping Info" page back up if you want more information. It has links to videos on YouTube (not mine). I'm also thinking about taking some video next time I stamp, because I get so many questions about it when I post stamped nails!

      Delete
  3. I love this look! Soooo cute! You are KILLIN' it this Jungle January! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm trying to make up for missing last year!

      Delete
  4. You had not posted mani shots in a while (other than your jungle themed roundup of a few days ago). These are great!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.