Thursday, November 19, 2009

A MULTITUDE of things!!!

Good Morning Ladies!

There is so much I need to cover today, so bear with me!

Ok, First, I just want to thank everyone for the comments that you take the time to leave!  I LOVE reading them!  And I really strive to reply to them, each of them.  This past week has been ridiculously busy, to say the least, so sadly I have not been able to take the time to respond.  I'm very sorry!  But please know that I absolutely cherish them!  Hopefully things will get better soon and I can get back to responding as well as commenting on all of your blogs!!!

Next...
Lori posted many questions for me yesterday, so I figured I would respond to them here on the chance maybe they may help someone else!  so here goes:

L:  I am trying to figure out how I can use my konad stuff for nail art on my clients. Can you comment on your thoughts about that?

C: I think this is a great idea!  Being able to offer Konad designs along with all your other talents is fantastic!  I would recommend maybe taking a weekend and sitting down with all your Konad plates and TONS of fake nails and stamping away to create design ideas to show your clients!  Also consider using multi-media nail art, like combining air brushing with Konad, or hand painted designs on top of a Konad full nail stamp!  I also think a color chart is a good idea as well.  you can even do this with a larger size fake nail.  Paint the top half white and the bottom half black.  Paint 1 nail this way for each of the polishes you can use to stamp with.  then stamp a full plate image over the nail using that polish.  Did that make sense?  For instance...if you have 25 polishes that work for stamping, paint 25 nails (black at the top, white at the bottom), then stamp an image over the whole nail with 1 of those polishes.  That way your clients can see what each stamping color will look like over a dark polish as well as over a light polish!

L: Is there an easier way to "fix" a mess up other than starting over and removing all polish?  Do you stamp over top coat?
C: I am gonna answer these at the same time.  The order I use is as follows:
Polish
Top coat
Konad stamp
Top coat
The reason I do it this way is actually two reasons.  First, I am WAY too impatient to wait for my nails to dry so I can Konad them.  Applying top coat helps them dry WAY quicker.  The second reason is this...If you have a nice thick layer of top coat, and then stamp an image that messes up or comes out wrong it can be fixed!  Simply grab a cotton ball or pad (do NOT use felt or cotton swabs for this, they take too much off) wet with Acetone, then quickly and with very little pressure swipe over the nail.  This should take just the Konad image off!  I have done this up to 4 times on a nail before I started taking off the base polish!  the key is to have a wet, but not soaked ball or pad, and to move quickly yet lightly!
Keep in mind though...doing this may cause the nail to appear cloudy, BUT the cloudiness will go away once you apply the top coat again at the end!

L:  Why does konad special polish in black bleed so badly? Any solutions?
C:  I think this can happen for multiple reasons.  I am going to assume that by "bleeding" you mean that the image drags when you apply top coat.  I hope I'm right, if not let me know!  If that's what your talking about I maybe can help!  First of all, all top coats react differently to Konad Special Polish.  I used to use Poshe top coat and found that more often than not, it smeared my images.  I have heard that China Glaze's Top coat does this as well.  I have heard on the Nailphile that she only ever got good results from Konad's top coat.  Nubar Diamont also drags for me.  It's quite frustrating!  I have found that the only thing that works MOST of the time for me is Seche Vite, BUT, brand new bottles of Seche seem to drag the image as well!  GRRR this is so confusing!
So, use an older, thicker bottle of Seche Vite, Apply ALOT of polish over the stamp using a very light touch, try to NOT go over the same place twice (when in doubt, let it dry a bit and apply a second coat if it needs to be evened out!),  and most importantly give the Konad polish plenty of time to dry before you apply the top coat, 5 minutes should be more than enough.
You can also try Wet and Wild "Black Creme" instead of Special Polish!  I find it can dry a bit quick for me, but alot of people swear by it!

I really hope this helps girl!

1 more thing then off to todays mani!
I will be adding my email address in my profile, so if anyone has a question you can contact me that way if you prefer!

Ok!  today's mani is a vault pic!  I have LOTS of new fun stuff to show you guys, BUT, I haven't had time to do anything with my pics, soon, I promise!
I started this look with Pure Ice "French Kiss", a dark blue creme.
Then I went at it with M64 and White Special Polish.
This is a look I wanted to do in the Summer time that I never got around to.  Sad, cause it is definitely bandanna-ish! 

I just LOVE this!
It will definitely be brought back this summer!
Sad thing is, this stayed on my nails for exactly 5 minutes, just long enough to take pics, and get started on the next mani so I had vault pics for ya!

Next week will be FALL WEEK!  All fall inspired mani's!

Well, that's it for today!
I hope you all have a wonderful day!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

13 comments:

Lori said...

Christy,
THANK YOU for such a quick reply! Good advice, I appreciate it. We swear by Seche Vite in the salon(usually for natural nails, Out the Door for Acrylics)Anyway, hopefully I can offer my clients some cool holiday designs this season. Love your blog! I send my clients here all the time to check you out. Lori

L said...

OOoh I cant wait for next week!!!
Thats such a pretty combo, btw. I love blues.

Stiletto said...

Lori!
AWWW thanks hun! So glad you like it! and the fact you send clients my way, WOW, I'm overwhelmed! Thank you so much!

L,
Thanks girl!
Next weeks manis are some of my favs so far! :)
oh and blues are one of my favs too!

Paige said...

I love the mani, it is so cute! Your ideas on using Konad on clients was great too, I might do that for when my friends want to come and get their nails done!

booksnchocolate said...

Oh that's so pretty! Too bad it lasted so little time.
I can't wait for fall week.

nihrida said...

I also love this mani. Very good color combination and nice stamping! :)

Jodes said...

OMG I absolutely love this. It is so defined and sharp. You've done a fantastic job
x

ainos2 said...

Love the color and love the stamp image...it reminds me of a bandanna!

Mary Ann said...

that totally reminds me of a Bandana ... (did I spell that right ) Very cute design , I can't wait to see your fall nails !! I just did some check out mine on my blog http://marysnails.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

I really like the "bandana" style of this, so cute!

Lucy said...

Beautiful manicure. Love the color and design. This would look wonderful in deep red.

Brooke said...

Great tips !!

Love the bandanna look! I think I did this one once before with green and white and all i could think about was a bandanna too!

ThRiSzHa said...

ohhh.. i also do this way on my konading...a base coat, base polish quick top coat and stamping then top coat again... im using sallyhansen quick top coat..after i apply my base polish.. and ur right putting a top coat after a polish helps to damage the whole polished nails and can easily erase the mistake stamp design... i love ur designs plus the color...