valentines nail set (nail tutorial)

 

I just finished my new set!!

With removal yesterday it took me in total approx. 6 hours now.

But I am in LOVE.

Here some "instructions" how I do them:

Encapsulated Art

I applied base gel underneath the tip, I use full cover tips.

I then put on some of these charms.

I put it under the UV lamp and afterwards painted the nail with a red jelly glitter underneath again.

After I was done I remembered I actually wanted a transparent nail...I have no idea why I did that.

It still looked good regardless.

For glitter particles I pretty much do the same.

I paint base gel and then pour it over the nail.

After curing it under the uv lamp I painted with the same glitter gel polish on top to cover any remaining holes.

This is how the nails are prepped now for the next day:

please remember that when applying the nails on your fingers the uv rays have to be able to get through the tips!!!

The glittery polish is see-through, so the rays will catch it but the glitter particles are opaque, that's why I can only do it on the tips.

I planned a baby boomer thing going on for them.

Prepping

I carefully file the surface of my nails, cut the skin around the cuticle and then clean them with a wipe and cleaner.

I apply a dehydrator (which is technically the same as a cleaner but lets double the power haha) and then primer. I then apply a thin coat of base gel.

The base gel will leave a wet sticky surface after curing so I cleaned them off, since I will continue the next day.

Normally you can just continue because gel and gel sticks together but because I continued the other day I cleaned it off to make sure I have a clean surface and apply another coat of primer.

Applying Tips

I use solid gel for applying my full cover tips.

This one is literally the only one that worked for me so far!!

I had some other from born pretty but they leave a clean surface somehow and my tips fell off sometime.

This solid leaves a sticky surface and I think that's why they hold better.

Solid is amazing because you have absolutely no pressure, you could literally just stop in the middle of applying the nail it will stick there just like that!

You can move it the way you want it to be as long you need to.

It will only stay in place after you put your hand in the uv lamp.

I also love it because one finger on my right hand is...diagonal(?) and I have to apply the nail against the direction it grows so it looks straight with the others...this might take a while to figure out how much I have to tilt the nail.

Again: solid is the best gel for this technique.

I apply it a little bit away from the cuticle like pictured here...maybe you can see it too.

The gel stops right were my own nail is, which means I used the right amount.

It takes practice to figure out how much you need from the solid per nail.

I like to put the nail into the solid jar and make sure about 0,5cm is covered..but again, every finger is different and depending on how big your nail bed is you need to try it out quite some time.

I use my drill machine to file off a bit from the tip in the cuticle area so it's easier to blend.

I use a teeny tiny brush to pick up some transparent rubber gel and fill out the cuticle part.

I go nail by nail und put it a few seconds under the uv light each time to make sure it doesn't flow into the skin. After that I apply a thin coat of rubber gel over the whole nail to finish it.

I use my top coat to cover my nail underneath to seal it.

Like I said solid leaves a sticky surface where germs etc. could stick to, it is important to seal it.

If I catch some skin I can just rub it off.

Acrylic Colors

I used to make acrylic nails but I hate how much time it takes to sculpt the nail, that's why I switched to full cover gel nails. They even stay on wayyy better and I have almost never any lifting!

However, I like the variety of the colors and I think they are even better in covering the nail than gel polishes. Here is how I use acrylic colors for my gel nails:

First you apply a thin coat of any gel...you can use base gel for example but here I used the milky gel polish that I want to use for the design later. 

While it is still wet you then pour the acrylic powder over the whole nail.

Make sure you catch the sides as well.

Tap a bit on your finger to get rid of some excess and put your nails exactly like that in the uv lamp.

After it's cured it looks like this!

You can now brush off excess and use a top coat etc. to seal it.

I used a matte first because there will be another design.

Quilted Design

I first wanted to use a gold sticker line for underneath the quilted look but it just did not want to stick AT ALL!!!!

So I had to freestyle with a gel polish again..

I suck at drawing lines on the nail.

the pinky is before I started the quilted design.

I used the milky polish and a tiny brush to fill in inbetween the lines.

The polish was a bit too thin to make it work properly so I had to use a couple layers for the quilted design to work. I think on my right hand it worked a bit better, I used more layers there.

Here on the left hand the quilted design almost completely disappeared after applying the top coat.

Let's deco and finish it!!

I use solid again for applying big charms like those.

I used a normal rhinestone gel for the little balls covered everything except the charms with top coat.

I filled in the cuticle part with the same red glitter polish on my middle finger and did a nude baby boomer on the other two remaining fingers.

I did not spent too much time on those because it will be mostly covered with the clusters anyway.

For the cluster I use a BIG CHUNK of solid on my nail and then stick the big gems on them.

After I am done I use a thin brush to apply top coat inbetween the gems and on my cuticle area.

I apply top coat on the rest of my nails as well.

Again: I do not apply top coat on my gems, I only do this on tiny rhinestones or these little balls.

Muahahahaha.

I did a slightly different version on my right hand.

If you look closely you can see my tilted middle finger hahahahaha.