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| Swirls of scrumptious colors... |
I can't take full credit for the awesomeness here though. This design is a recreation that I did as part of a surprise Birthday collaboration on Instagram for a delightful lady named Bonny (@bonny_nails). Happy Birthday, belated, and again, Bonny!
Now, of course, you're going to keep scrolling so that you can drool over these amazing polishes from In The Name of Polish; and, because I took more pictures...naturally!
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| Look at those colors! (No top-coat here) |
Even though these are not on my nails as I'm typing this, every time that I look at these pictures I am just blown away by the richness and vibrancy of these polishes! They were created with water marble designs in mind; and even though I did a drag marble instead, I can attest they are smooth operators!!
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| BAM! In your face beautiful color! |
I had never done this technique before, but with these polishes it wasn't hard at all to make a pretty close recreation to one done by the talented and experienced marble-master, Bonny. Even without a steady hand, the colors blended just right - they mixed ever so slightly when I would overlap, but otherwise they swirled perfectly.
Unabashed confession: I fell in love with Bonny's design at first sight 3 months ago when she posted it. I'm so excited to have been able to recreate it.
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| Screenshot of her original post |
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| Look - twins!! |
Bonny's design starts with a layer of white shimmery polish. While it is wet, you apply lines of the color each starting from the center and radiating outward. The shape looks like an asterisk at this point. Then you take your water marble tool (or dotting tool) and beginning in the center start circling around larger and larger rings until you've finished the whole area.
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| Ingenious idea to incorporate white in this design giving it extra dimension! |
Bonny has great video tutorials on Instagram - even a hashtag to find them: #bonnymat.
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| If whirlpools were only this beautiful!! (No top-coat here) |
Bonny makes quite a lot of designs on a flat mat and then applies them as a decal to the nail. As she says - the polish design is easier to control on a flat surface rather than creating it on curved nails. She is so right!!
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| Here are my finished drag marble swirl decals...just layin' around drying... |
You don't need a brand-name mat to do this. For years I have used a silicone baby's place-mat that I got from Amazon. Pictured above is a section of one I recently got from Bliss Kiss. It has fancy sections and parts for different uses which are quite handy. I find having the two mats works well for me.
I haven't done full coverage decals before - they are a bit trickier than accent or stamping decals to apply. Also, these were a bit too dry by the time I used them, I think they would have been a little more pliable if I had used them sooner. And, because there was a decent amount of polish, they were a bit thick.
So, with these challenges (which I became aware of when doing a test nail on my other hand), I hit the internet to refresh my knowledge. A very crafty and giving lady started a Facebook group to share her experiences and help others with making nail decals (usually using stamping). Definitely worth joining if you're interested! Besides watching her videos, the most helpful trick I learned is to use a sticky base coat to help stretch and bond the flat decal to the curved nail.
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| A close-up of my two favorites |
Here's what I did:
I started with a regular ole' foundation of base coat, 2 coats of white polish, and top-coat. That was all very dry when I was ready to apply these (important to be dry so that as you press and smooth the decal you have a solid surface to work on). Just as I was ready for nail #1, I would apply a coat of a sticky base coat. By the time I trimmed the decal with scissors that layer was barely tacky-wet but would help anchor the decal. Without it, the decal would just keep slipping right off.
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| Taken outside, cloudy light gave a great glow to the neons! |
Once I had the decal all flat to the nail (with some tucked around the free edge - as best I could), I took a few pictures because they looked so good - I didn't want to take a chance that top coat would smudge anything. But, luckily it didn't and everything worked out just fine. Phew!
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| Another outdoor shot, but the sun was peeking back out from the clouds. |
All said and done, I was quite pleased with myself after getting five of these homemade decals onto my nails without too much mishap!! And they don't look half-bad!! Hooray!
Design Details
The Fun Days and Neon Craze collection has 7 colors - I used only 5 of them in this design. Can you imagine how mind-blowing it would be with all of them!?!
**The names of these polishes include some adult rated humor - I think I'm safe with my reader base here, but if you're squirm-ish - skip the next paragraph. ;)
Left to right in picture above: Lazy Days & Orange Haze (neon orange), Blue Balls & Beach Balls (neon blue), Shoot Tequilla & Lime & Blow a Line (neon green), Sex Tapes & Grape Vapes (neon purple), and Two in the Pink... (neon pink). The other two in the collection that I didn't use are Too Turnt Got You Sunburnt (neon red) and Sun's Out Buns Out (neon yellow).
Also shown in the picture is the awesome shimmery white polish - White Linen by Polish My Life and the sticky base coat I used from Supernatural Lacquer. Missing from the photo is the Pure Color No.7 water marble tool from What's Up Nails.
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| One more for good measure!! |
This was my first experience with polishes from this brand - and I am totally blown away. This collection is a limited edition (to my knowledge) and available in pre-orders through their Etsy store. The dates of the shipping are disclosed right up front and were followed through at the time they said they would. I had occasion to email (through Etsy) a little bit with the owner regarding one of the polishes and Kristen was instantly responding back and forth with me. Customer service is superb, in a nutshell. You already know the quality of these has me very impressed. So here's an unsolicited plug for her business:
In The Name of Polish
Handmade Nail Polish 5-Free. Cruelty-free & Vegan. All ingredients sourced within the US, and polish is made in small batches in South Florida.
I know I'll be using these again and again, but if you have access to Instagram, you should check out their page - it's full of amazing designs using these polishes!!
Well, it's that time to wrap this up...What did you think of these nails???? Are you as excited about the colors as I was?
Till next time,
Kimett