DIY Shellac Sundays

I used to do nail art quite frequently, but stopped when I got fed up with my designs chipping after just a few days.  My recent discovery of shellac inspired me to take up this hobby again, so I bought all the necessary items and set out on a diy adventure.  My first try was a french manicure, which I admit was pretty ambitious for never having worked with shellac and being super out of practice in nail painting in general.  There's no photographic evidence of this mani because it looked pretty awful, but I did learn a few things:  

• Thin layers are key.  Thick layers will pool around the edges of the nail making it thick and gross.
•  Remove any mess ups on the skin around your nails before you put your nails under the LED lamp.  If you don't, it'll be really difficult to remove afterwards.

Armed with this information, I arranged a Sunday mani party with some lady friends.  For my second attempt at shellac, I did a white base coat covered in a "normal" glitter polish from Avon.  It looked kind of neat from far away, but not very good up close.  It also drove me crazy that it wasn't smooth because of the chunky glitter.  Needless to say, it chipped a week in.  Never again will I mix normal polish with shellac... it's just a bad idea.

Today I hosted our second mani day and the results have definitely improved.  I recently bought some fine glitter, so I attempted a pink manicure with pink glitter and I think it came out pretty well.  My friend, SC, brought over some striping tape and put together the black and purple design.  We're both pretty obsessed with Simply Nailogical's channel on Youtube, so of course this video was her inspiration.  I am beyond impressed with how awesome her nails turned out.

Special mentions go out to RN for joining us and having crafty time (see her beaded earrings here) instead of doing nails and also to HK who was feeling under the weather... we missed you!

Next up on our adventures in nail art:  stamping with shellac!  I'll be digging out my Konad plates and testing them with a new stamper from Bundle Monster and shellac in place of the special polish.  My initial trial shows shellac is easier for me to work with than the special polish that the plates and stampers are meant to be used with (special polish on the left and shellac on the right in below picture).

I'm beyond excited to declare that there is much more nail art to come!