Wow-ie! Almost there...
The second-to-last design of the #31DC2013 challenge is to follow someone else's nail art tutorial. I have yet to become comfortable with different nail art brushes and need LOTS of practice with them, especially drawing lines. For this reason, I chose to go with a waterfall design tutorial. This is a common design that has been particularly made famous by the talented Nailasaurus (aka, Sammy). Now, hers look especially splendid, made with skill and precision. Since she's been at this for over 4 years, I was in no way expecting mine to resemble hers. And, I just love her video tutorial style. She is one of the nail community's "Great Ones" for sure! I've included links to her waterfall picture and video tutorials, a link to her tutorial library, AND links to see ALL of her waterfall designs in this post - make sure to check them out! 
Now...onto my very first waterfall...
[General Note: Lots of learning in this post folks...bear with me. It was also "one of those days". I wasn't overly coordinated (you should have seen the mess I made with dinner), I had struggled with filing my nails after recently tearing my middle nail, and my clean-up brush decided it just didn't want to obey any longer. And, I'm sorry to say I didn't have my usual energy left when it came time to photograph these. Please, be kind.]
OK, now, with the negative stuff outta the way...here we go!
Tutorials abound the internet these days, many bloggers and you-tubers offer some helpful guidance. There is a lot of effort and time that goes into making them and we students soak up their information and wisdom to the last drop. Sammy has a whole page on her blog offering many tutorials - found here. You can learn some of her secrets to making great galaxy nails, awesome gradients, and loads of designs using striping tape. She has also created a couple unique techniques using household items: her Nimbus design using Qtips and a colorful method using a toothbrush!
Sammy's Waterfall Picture Tutorial: (click picture to view tutorial)
Sammy's You Tube Video Waterfall Tutorial:
Isn't she talented? Even on her blog, she is unassuming and down to earth. Her posts are always inspiring and informative. If you are into nail art and don't already follow her - you should! She's on all of the social media outlets for those that prefer staying in touch that way too.
OK - so after deciding on trying out the waterfall nail art design, I scoped out several others' photos too. That's just how I roll - gotta find a bunch, take it all in, and then make my choice. I've added a board to my Pinterest account where you can see a nice variety of Waterfall Nail Art:
Go ahead, go look. I'll wait. :)
There are so many color combinations possible with these; so I picked the theme of April Showers. I love blue and grey together - although it's not the best for my skin color...I still enjoyed them! And, for Valentine's Day - I received some polishes that included two of the pretties I used from SinfulShine (the bottles in the photos). Yay!!
What do you think? Do these colors make you think of springtime rain showers?
Yes, I need lots and lots more practice making lines. The hardest thing for me is figuring out how much polish should be on the brush for each stroke. If I find some good answers, I'll let you know.
These were fun to wear - quite a unique pop of color and shine. They definitely looked better at arm's length! This will be one look I'll be doing over again to improve my skills.
Polish Palette:
- Base Color: CND Colour Miss Wu
- Sally Hansen InstaDri Brisk Blue
- OPI I Have a Herring Problem
- SinfulSHINE Alfresco
- SinfulSHINE Blue Suede Shoes
- Essie Blue Rhapsody
- Milani Bolting Blue
As mentioned above, the design prompt was to follow A Tutorial - and I chose the Nailasaurus' Waterfall Nail Art. Follow this link to see all of her Waterfall designs.
And, the "31 Design Challenge" (more info in my previous post here)
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| Image courtesy of Chalkboard Nails |
Thanks for visiting!!
Till next time,
Kimett