Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Party

More summer comebacks equals more summer kpop designs!
This time around I'm focusing on SNSD's new pre-release single Party and the music video for that song!





Both the song and the video are super, super summery so I decided to recreate the beach the girls are dancing on. I also decided to freehand-copy the font used for the title of the song since I'm a sucker for calligraphy and love trying out different typefaces.

I used a makeup sponge with just random dots of orange, yellow, and pink to make the background for the thumb and then a white polish for the lettering. I was originally planning on putting a neon blue over the lettering to match the mv, but it was almost 3am by the time I got to the thumb and I was honestly too tired to do anything but leave it white haha! 




I decided to use acrylic paint for the majority of this design instead of nail polish since I thought it'd be easier to make all of the colours, but let me tell you, it was really hard to make a tropical-looking blue when the only tubes of blue paint you have are Lake Blue and Phthalo Blue. I was having such a hard time with it that I literally had to Google how to mix Aqua and Cyan using acrylic paints. Apparently my problem with mixing cyan was that I didn't already have a pre-mixed aquamarine or a zinc white. Basically what I have learned from this experience is that I should probably go out and buy some new paints that aren't gifts from childhood birthdays lol.

But hey, as long as you don't put the nails right up against the inspiration photo you can't really tell that I had such a hard time capturing the correct colours! One of the tricks I used to make the blue of the mountains look a bit more tropical was to add a neon blue polish (Essie's I'm Addicted) over top. The neon polish was sheer enough that you could still see the paint under it while making it look warmer.

I also had a little bit of a mishap while I was finishing up these nails. I was about to start working on the thumb after finishing the rest of the design and figured that I should put topcoat on the rest of the nails so that they'd have time to dry and not get wrecked while I was sponging. I grabbed my HK Girl topcoat and put it on the index finger, not thinking anything of it, when it started to turn the paint a YELLOWY GREEN. 



Now I've used acrylic paint for my nails before and I've never encountered this problem, so I don't know if there's something in this topcoat specifically that is reacting with the paint or what, but I was extremely disappointed and was pretty peeved at the thought of having to redo this nail when it was already 2:30am. Thankfully I managed to salvage it by using my cleanup brush dipped in acetone to gently wipe and dab the topcoat off of the acrylic paint, but I'm definitely not keen to have this happen again.
Have any of you ever had this problem with acrylic paint and topcoats? What topcoat do you use when you work with acrylics? I ended up throwing on a Gel topcoat from Ciaté (something I'm going to be reviewing in a few weeks after an experiment I'm planning) before going to work and thankfully it didn't change the colour of the paint underneath.





Anyways, I think I've grumbled about topcoats enough.
Despite the mishaps I had with this design I still enjoyed the final result and it was fun to paint a picture that continued over the 4 nails; it's something I don't think I've done before!

Even if you're not into Girls' Generation this is still a cute, versatile summer design that anyone could wear! ^^

Finally, because I have  too much time on my hands and loved the outfits in this mv, I tried to recreate the look myself and finally made use of that flower crown I have from a Greek Gods project in 9th grade haha!



I was going to take full pics outside in the forest so it looked a little bit more outdoorsy but my aunt came over early and I wasn't feeling up to explaining why I needed to go outside and take pictures of myself. Thus I just took selcas inside instead and this is the result. It's so much easier taking pictures of your nails than it is of your face lol; this is why I'm a nail blogger and not a beauty guru.

Anyways, I hope you guys liked the design!
I'll have a new design up in the next few days! ^^

Products Used:
Ciaté - Gel Topcoat
Ciaté - Loop The Loop
Coco + Lulu - Macaron
Essie - Coctails & Coconuts
Essie - Find Me An Oasis
Essie - Grow Stronger Base Coat
Essie - I'm Addicted
Essie - Serial Shopper
Sally Hansen - White On
Reeves Acrylic Paints

xo,
Becca.

2 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed reading this, thanks for describing how you created this design. I'm still finding my way with acrylics so I can identify with the mixing puzzles! You did well to rescue that nail from the topcoat disaster, I think I'd have nearly cried at that point if it had been me! Anyway ... I love all the detail you've achieved ... you definitely nailed that picture! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed reading! ^^
      I know, I was so upset about the topcoat; if the acetone hadn't have worked I probably would have been in tears!

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