Nails and nail polish fetish - showcase your nails!

[Like Ra]

the nails and lapis lazuli bracelets.

I love the colour, but the chipping began on the 3d day...

   

[Culmor]

Is that Afghan lapis?

[Like Ra]

Is that Afghan lapis?

Yep, Badakhshan. Haven't seen any other places to get good lapis from. Still very difficult to find a good quality (as always). No visible calcite and pyrite here, and almost no orange fluorescence. Not that I do not like haüyne, sodalite or afghanite (I love them), but in these bracelets I tried to get as close to lazurite as possible.

[Like Ra]

Haven't seen any other places to get good lapis from.

Actually, Mogok. But I haven't seen lapis from there, only sodalite.

[Like Ra]

Deep blue nail polish with sugilite and rainbow obsidian bracelets:

       
       
       

[Like Ra]

For the first time in my life, I tried to paint my nails by myself (usually my wife does it). Failed miserably 😆 All three attempts looked terrible. 🤪 No wonder, though, girls learn it from their early childhood 💅 I'm not giving up yet! I'm a Good Gi! 😊

* Like Ra is off watching Youtube tutorials

PS: must admit, the lacquer I used is far from perfect - it's a bit dried out light coloured nail repair base. I added some polish remover to make it thinner, but poured too much 😆

Anyway, this is how we learn!

PPS: I'm afraid of thinking about even trying any make up 😂 I don't think I'm suitable for anything even remotely art-related...

[Highinheels66]

I am sloppy— but the stockings help buffer that!

[Lancer]

For the first time in my life, I tried to paint my nails by myself (usually my wife does it). Failed miserably 😆 All three attempts looked terrible. 🤪 No wonder, though, girls learn it from their early childhood 💅 I'm not giving up yet! I'm a Good Gi! 😊

* Like Ra is off watching Youtube tutorials

PS: must admit, the lacquer I used is far from perfect - it's a bit dried out light coloured nail repair base. I added some polish remover to make it thinner, but poured too much 😆

Anyway, this is how we learn!

PPS: I'm afraid of thinking about even trying any make up 😂 I don't think I'm suitable for anything even remotely art-related...

Nails are quite a difficult thing to paint by yourself and especially on the non dominant hand but a few tricks make it better. First is that nails look far better if they follow the contour of your finger rather then a uniform shape, this makes them look a lot nicer in general. Second is that with nails you usually want a very thin coat, thickness is not desirable at all, depending on the type used it should be almost liquid. 

Art is really a trial and error game. There is little you can do otherwise although working out your hand and upper arm muscles helps to fine tune muscle control and reduce jittering which can be annoying. A key thing is also that in art less is often more, don't go absolutely overboard or any imperfection or lack of skill gets magnified, it also attracts attention which is never a good thing in make up as good make up is supposed to support you rather then just an art piece. From what I know which is fairly limited most make up is basically trying to delete skin texture/irregularities or is shading/lighting. Deleting skin texture is an easy job but often way overdone which becomes chronically easy to notice, people often try to darken eyelashes and eyebrows as well as using shading tricks to make the sides of the face and the nose seem smaller.

[Like Ra]

This is what I find difficult:

o- take the right amount of polish
o- leave a 0.1mm gap between the polish and the skin
o- keep the hands anchored and stable
o- apply in quick strokes

Obviously, more practice is the answer 😊

Some more issues:

o- Need the proper glasses - I use the 3.5x ones with a spotlight, but it's quite difficult to focus and refocus when you constantly move between the nails and the lacquer bottle
o- Good fresh lacquer - today I used Essie - what a difference!
o- Keep the area free from any hair, cat fur, fibre, and dust.

In a short: a lot to learn!

[Highinheels66]

Maybe best to have it done ? I’m
Too old to take the time to learn!! Have fun!