Nov 28, 2012

Aussie Nails Monday - Weather

So Monday was Aussie Nails Monday with the theme WEATHER.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do, even ordered some special supplies from The Nail Shop which they sent nice and quick, but nothing went to plan.  I wanted to do rain nails.  On the weekend I mixed up a nice grey glitter polish I called Rains of Grey which I thought would be perfect as the base colour for my nail art but then Monday morning I decided to step it up a notch and do a gradient for my base.  A blue to grey gradient.  So I mixed up a lighter, slightly blue tinted, version of my grey glitter polish (called Lighter Shade of Rain) to use as the middle colour with the darker grey on the tips and I wanted a light sky blue for the starting colour.  I chose Revlon Blue Lagoon for the blue.  It's a lovely soft colour with glass flecks.  I thought it would be perfect for the clear sky above the rain and was the right tone to blend into my greys.  The problem was it didn't dry.  I couldn't get beyond the first coat and it was streaky, it needed more.  It bubbled like crazy and stayed pressure soft until bedtime (in the early hours).  Unbelievable for one thin streaky coat to behave like that and it's not like it's a cheap brand either.  We pay a lot for Revlon here.  I can only think it was the humidity effecting it.  The weather has been a bit weird and very sticky lately.  I know my nails were clean.  I always use isopropyl alcohol to wipe them clean of any handcream etc before I start painting so there shouldn't have been anything on my nails to affect drying time.  I was torn between taking it all off and starting again or leaving it over night and risking sheet nails.  I went with the overnight option and the next morning most of the polish had slid sideways across my nails.  Much worse than sheet nails.  So I started again, this time with Sinful colours Cinderella.  Similar to the Revlon in colour but with a pink shimmer.  It had the same problem, not drying and bubbling.  So last night I took it all off and tried again.  This time with Ulta3 Soft Hydrangea.  I love the Ulta3 pastels and this colour would have been my first choice except the brushes in the pastel collection suck, I just can't get an even finish with them.  The brushes seem too hard, like they wipe off as much polish as they put on unless I just flood it on and I much prefer to do thin coats.  I still had some bubbling with the Ulta3 but at least it dried.  I did 2 coats.  At some point I got so fed up with it I went outside and stuck my hand in the rain and took photos of my wet nails.  That's weather right?  Nah I couldn't give up on my plan, it looked so good in my head.

So I sponged over my 2 shades of grey.  My carefully planned 'rain' glitters were kind of lost in the sponging so I'll have to do a Rains of Grey manicure later so I can try the full effect.  For the rain I cut up some nail foils, the full nail stick on sort, then I sealed it all with topcoat.
For the clouds I dotted on some Ulta3 Lily White then sprinkled on some white flocking powder.  The flocking powder was in little balls in the jar, I don't know if it's supposed to do that or if it was suffering from the humidity too.  It was my first time flocking :)  I pressed the powder into the white polish then brushed off the excess.

Finally I grabbed a piece of large round silver holo glitter, painted it yellow for a sun, and stuck it on with a bit of topcoat and took photos.  It was late last night by the time I was done so I had to use flash for the photos but I do like the way my rain drops lit up.

Not sure how long this will last.  I'm itching to take it off and wear something new but I'm also curious as to how long the flocking powder and nail foils will stay.  Last night I removed my 'sun' before bed and today the clouds look a bit grubby and have lost most of their fluff.  I also lost a chunk of grey from my index finger on my left hand while peeling veggies for dinner and chopped my thumb nail with a knife.  I must remember to book another eye test :(
Here's the other girls who are participating in Aussie Nails Monday.  Now mine are finally done I can go and check out theirs.  I try not to look before I do mine because I don't want to be influenced or intimidated by their mad skillz :)

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