Tuesday, January 8, 2013

january polished days challenge - something new

'Something New' is this months Polish Days challenge theme.  Something New here means a paint job that you have seen before that you have been wanting to try.  I am that dork that bookmarks different paint jobs that I eventually want to try so this was a great theme to help me try something new.  I wanted to try a water marble paint job, or maybe a real feather paint job.  The bookmarked ideas quickly add up, faster than I can paint my nails.
**update 1/9 - this paint job is awful, it lasted 12 hours on my nails until I picked it off.  Don't worry, I won't be posting feathers and/or ombre again until it actually looks semi decent.  If it is this bad, why did I post it?  Because I feel honesty is important in the nail/nail art community.  If you have any tips/tricks for these styles, please please please leave them in the comments.  If you think I failed miserably, please let me know (it's okay because I already know I did).  I will be using the 'something new' theme this entire month, so there will be better 'something new' paint jobs coming.**
Yes, it is a totally crazy paint job.  Studs, feathers, fade/ombre, and stamping.  All on one hand.

What is the 'something new'?  Two things actually...
The gradient/ombre/fade and the real feathers.  The gradient went a lot better than the feathers.  But they are both awful.  I got some great cheap sponges from the dollar store so it was super easy to do the sponging for the gradient.  The feathers on the other hand will require a bit of practice until they look okay.
They do look really funny in progress.  In the photo above, it could almost work like a felt finish paint job.  Maybe feather nails.  Totally impractical but very costume-y.  In the bottom photo you can see the one feather nail that was a total pain (the pointer finger).  It needed a lot of touch ups and just a stripe of feathers looks sort of odd.  Feathers are more like the one on the thumb below.
Out of the three feather nails, only one looks okay.  And even that one has issues.  Feathers just don't want to curve to the nail.  On the other hand, the one feather nail over the teal would be great for a sea motif, it looks a lot like seaweed.
I also added stamping and studs because why not.  The end effect on the stamping nails is giving me a strong 80's vibe.  No idea why.  Maybe because I love purple and teal as a kid.

Will this paint job last long?  I am guessing it will only be on about 1 day.  The feathers are going to get picked off soon.  Same goes for the studs.  I think I will definitly try the sponge ombre again.  Feathers? Nope, but maybe if I get some new feathers.

OPI - A Grape Fit
Sally Hansen - Celeb City
elf - Teal Blue
plate - Cheeky CH48

Check out these other great 'something new' paint jobs:


3 comments:

  1. wow you went all out for this one! x

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  2. I haven't tried the feather mani yet, but it is good to know that it is a little finnicky. Way to go doing two new techniques! For sponged nails, it looks like you just needed to go over your nail with another sponged on coat and kind of vibrate the sponge a little from cuticle to tip to better blend the colors. It is definitely a great start though.

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  3. what a fun mani!! love the feather technique!

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