Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Nail fail(?): monochrome stamping decals

Good morning! Today I have what I consider to be a nail fail. I wanted to have another go at making stamping decals. Previously I had tried the method where you let the decal dry on the stamper, the disadvantage of course being that you can only make one at a time (unless you have multiple stampers, I guess). This time I made them on a plastic baggie, starting by putting down some splotches of topcoat and letting them dry, then stamping on top of that.

Here you can see the decals in progress (and one where I screwed up the stamping):



I used a stamp from Winstonia W111, which is a cool sort of art-deco pattern. I stamped with my go-to silver, Julep Harley. Then I decided to fill in the little arches with various shades of sparkly teal: Sally Hansen Jet Set Jade, Julep Valerie, Zoya Zuza and Scofflaw Wraith Pinned to the Mist (I really must swatch this one alone sometime).

So far, so good. The problem came when I went to put the decals on my nails. I just cannot figure out how to prevent them from getting all bubbly and lumpy! The result:




I put on a matte topcoat to try to obscure some of the imperfections, but they are still glaringly obvious to me. I can't help being a perfectionist, I guess.

If someone out there has mastered the art of stamping decals, please share your secrets!!

4 comments:

  1. Hi Allison, I can't even tell there is a problem here! They look amazing to me and way beyond my own skill level.

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  2. Great color combination! I think the overall print helps masks any imperfections! It looks great :)

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  3. I think they turned out pretty good. I haven't tried making full nail decals before but hopefully someone else can help you out how to get them to apply better.

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  4. I was using HK girl topcoat to make my decals, and discovered that it was too thick and they wouldn't flex. Other nail artists suggested that I use a cheap and thinner topcoat, and it worked much better. I found also that if you lay down a base of that same top coat on top of your base color, it will stick better, and then I hit it with Hk girl. The thinner the actual top coat, the better the result.

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