How to clean up your manicure to make it look fantastic

Hiya! Today I've got a tutorial that I've had lots of questions about- how I make my nails look like they're "perfectly polished." Friends have told me that I must have incredibly steady hands to polish  my nails so neatly, and yet nothing could be farther from the truth!

Instead, I've got a pretty noticeable tremor. My hands shake most of the time, and there's not really anything I can do about it. This means when I paint my nails, I get polish on the skin surrounding my nails as well. This makes it look like my nails were painted by a distracted toddler!

Thankfully, I learned how to fix it from several blogs, and I'm going to share the technique with you. It's fast and easy, and gives me that fresh-from-the-salon look. Have a look:



See? You can do this too, and with a bit of practice it won't take you long at all! Here are the details you'll need:

Supplies:
Acetone or nail polish remover
A paintbrush of your choice

I use a brush that came with a cream eyeliner from Black Radiance. It's almost the same brush that came with my Wet n Wild cream eyeliner, which isn't surprising the same parent company owns both Black Radiance and Wet n Wild! My brush looks weird because I taped it to a length of wooden dowel to make it longer.

I like this brush because it's nice and firm, and the angled tip lets me get into spaces I can't quite reach with a square brush. Still, brush preference is a very personal thing, and you might not like this brush. Try out several to see what you prefer!

You don't need a special nail art brush for this, either. You can use any brush you like. I've gotten brushes from art supplies and from WalMart, and they all work equally well for this.

Unfortunately, brushes don't last forever. As you can see, the fibers of the older (silver) Wet n Wild brush are kind of splayed out and going every-which-way. This doesn't work well when I'm trying to clean up my nails. The newer Black Radiance (gold) brush is also thinner, but that hasn't made much difference in my cleanup.

Unfortunately, the fibers in the newer brush are starting to get a bit wonky as well. I think it's time for a new one. Still, I think the eyeliner cost a whopping $3, so I'm not breaking the bank whenever I need a new one!

I hope this helps you, and that you can get neat nails too! Leave me a comment if you find this helpful.

Have a great day!

Polishes were provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

My New Manicure CleanUp Brush!

OMG, y'all, I have the BEST news.

Some of you may think I have super-amazing nail painting skills and never ever make a mess. You couldn't be further from the truth. I have shaky hands, and I end up with quite a mess around my cuticles. It's ok, though, because once I learned how to clean up with a brush and some acetone (or regular polish remover, whatever) my nails looked great!

I went through a lot of brushes, trying to find one that would be perfect. Big enough without being too big, nice angles, the right shape. Finally, I found one that I fell in love with. Wet n Wild makes a creme eyeliner that is freakin' amazing, and the brush that comes with it is perfect for cleaning up your nails. (It sucks for lining your eyes, though- get a new brush for that!) Best of all, the eyeliner costs a whopping $4, so I don't feel like I'm breaking the bank when I need to replace my brush.

Unfortunately, that brush is almost a year old and it's pretty much died. Acetone isn't the nicest to brushes, and these poor bristles have lost their oomph. When I went to replace it, I couldn't find the Wet n Wild liner ANYWHERE!!! This was QUITE a problem!

Well, on the ride home from dropping the kiddo off at summer camp, we stopped every few hours to stretch our legs and walk a bit. Lucky for me, I checked the cosmetics section in one of these tiny little towns and found a new brand of makeup called Black Radiance. It's a lovely cosmetics collection for darker-skinned women, and they had my brush!!

At that point, I didn't care if the cream liner worked or not, or if it was even in the package. I just wanted that brush! The good news is that it cost even less than my original Wet n Wild liner! This lovely package cost a grand total of $3.88- a price I was more than willing to pay.

Well... ok. I won't lie here. I actually picked it up and carried it in the buggy with me for a good 15 minutes while I decided whether I was going to buy it or not. Cheap or not, we're broke and we still have to go pick up the kid in 3 weeks! But eventually, I decided to go wild and bring it home with me, and I'm SO glad I did! The brush is utterly gorgeous and even works for putting on eyeliner, if you don't have any other brushes. I'd still recommend using a nicer one, though.

As if this wasn't enough good news, the liner is actually amazing! I have a feeling it's the same liner as the Wet n Wild, since it comes in the same colors and is made by the same parent company as Wet n Wild. Since I already have black liner, I went with the chocolate brown and couldn't be happier. I applied a test line onto my hand just to see how well it lasts, and after countless times washing my hands, sleeping with it, etc, it was still looking exactly the way it did when I put it on. This stuff STAYS!

I also love it on my eyes... the brown is dark enough to really make my lashline look thick without screaming "Look At My Eyeliner!" I'm loving this stuff!

So if you're looking for a new cleanup brush, head to your local cosmetics department and look for some cream eyeliner. If you can find the Wet n Wild, grab it, but the Black Radiance is just as good!

Til next time!

I bought this one with my own money, and I'll buy another when I find it!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Cleaning Up My Manicure- A Look At My Nail Brushes

A few posts back (or maybe more than a few, I'm not so good with time) someone asked in the comments what sort of brushes I use to clean up my manicure. In a totally separate conversation, a friend of mine mentioned that she thought I was just super-talented at painting my nails and managed not to make a total mess at it. That's so not true... so much so that I had to laugh!

See, I've had a tremor since I was in my teens. I could never be a neurosurgeon, else my patients would end up blinded, paralyzed, or missing chunks of their anatomy! As it is, I've managed to cut off part of my finger using a craft knife. (Don't worry, it was a tiny part and I barely miss it. But if you ever look closely at my left hand index finger, you'll notice it's got a slanted edge on one side. That's because I lost that part in a nasty art school incident. But I digress...)

So how do I end up with nails that look neat and skillfully-painted? Easy. I cheat. I use a technique that I first read about on Lacquerized: I use a paint brush and pure acetone to remove the polish from everywhere that should be polish-free! For the actual how-to, I really suggest you go read her description of the process. I simply cannot explain the process any better than she does, or even add anything new or fun to it. But finish reading my entry before you go, if you don't mind. :D

The question is, what sort of brush do I use? I still haven't completely decided what sort of brush to use. Mostly, I flip-flop between two main brushes. Thankfully, since I'm a painter I have an absolute ton of paintbrushes on hand. Let's look at what I've been using...

I started out using this tiny little brush. It came from a multi-pack of brushes from WalMart's craft department. (I think it was $3 or $4 for a pack of five brushes, maybe?) Although this was a very inexpensive brush, it works really well. It would also be a good brush to use for cream or gel eyeliners. What I love about this brush is that it's got such a sharp, chiseled edge. This means I can get right into the crevices on the sides of my nails where polish tends to pool, or I can turn the brush sideways to sweep off larger blobs of polish from other parts of my finger.

 The synthetic bristles hold their shape well and so far haven't seemed to be degrading from the acetone. The biggest drawback of this brush is that it simply doesn't hold much acetone, so I end up dipping back into the liquid over and over and over and over again. It gets tedious. So for preliminary cleanup (or when I'm feeling particularly lazy) I switch over to my larger cleanup brush.

 

You can see that this brush is much larger than the first one. I can sweep off much more polish with this one before needing to redip it. Unfortunately, since it holds more acetone it also tends to flood my nail with it if I'm not careful. (It's always something, isn't it? Sheesh, my diamond shoes are too tight and all this money in my purse makes my bag too heavy!) To avoid the acetone flooding into my nail creases, I simply tap the tip of the brush onto my towel before I touch it to my finger. Problem solved!

One thing to be careful with: acetone is a really potent solvent. It removes nail polish, right? Well, it will also remove the paint from your paintbrushes, so be very careful not to dip your brush too far into your acetone. If you aren't careful, you'll end up with paintbrush paint all over your fingers. It's not a pretty look, trust me!

I have one more brush that I use for nail art, and it's one I customized myself. I may have mentioned this before, but I am VERY frugal. (Frugal sounds so much nicer than cheap or poor.) I wanted to have a fine brush that was long enough to make straight lines easier to paint and fine enough to make those lines thin. I had several liner brushes, but they were all entirely too large. So, one day I pulled out my scissors and gave my brush a haircut.

Now the brush does exactly what I wanted it to do, even if it is ugly as can be. One day I may end up with actual nail art brushes, but until then these do the job nicely. I'm even getting faster with cleaning up my polish... when I first started this technique, I'd spend a good hour going over the various parts of my nails and still not have a very good result. Now I get a pretty nice result after around half an hour (unless I'm wearing red- red is EVIL to clean up!), and I know people who manage to do their cleanup in around 10 minutes!

So, do you think you'll try this method? I honestly cannot say enough good things about it. How do you currently clean up your edges?

I always wanted to go to the Caribbean...

I have a problem. It's a great one, but it's a problem, regardless. I'm indecisive, and now I have a box full of untried polishes that is just almost impossible to choose from. Seriously, I'm sitting here looking and just totally overwhelmed. For this mani, I decided to ask a friend to choose my color.

"Pick a color. Any color, I'm bound to be able to come close to it..."

She laughed at me, then said, "Well, I'm wearing this sort of teal-blue-green color on my toes... how about that?"

And that's how I decided on today's color, Wet n Wild's Caribbean Frost.  I like it, I think, but I don't think it likes me. I can't quite decide if I like it on me or not...it's so green! But it's an absolutely lovely color, with just enough shimmer to make me smile.

Unfortunately, I had the same problem with this one as I did with Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost. I'm going to have to try it over a bare nail, maybe it's my base coat causing the problems? Whatever, these two polishes were horrible to work with. The polish didn't want to go where I wanted it! I'll try it without a base coat first, and then maybe try thinning it out a bit with my polish thinner. It's frustrating, because these are absolutely beautiful polishes!!

I finally managed to get the polish mostly where I wanted it, though, with only a few curse words. (I have a bit of a potty mouth when I'm frustrated... or, well, when I'm breathing. :D) A coat of Seche Vite made things look even nicer, and I managed to get this cleaned up better than ever before, I think. I'm finally getting the hang of using acetone and a brush to clean up. It only took me what... 3 months?

One good thing about how Caribbean Frost is how well it stamps. I've gotten a bit OCD lately, so whenever I get a new polish, I put it into my spreadsheet, then I do a sample stamp with it onto a small sticker. That way, I have a reference of how well it stamps without having to remember details on all of my polishes! I've managed to go back and do sample stickers on about 1/3 of my polishes... the ones I think would stamp well. It's so much easier than having to dig through the spreadsheet!

Clearly, this one stamps like a dream. I want to see what it looks like over black. Ooooh, that's an interesting idea for the future! *rushes over to make a note in her spreadsheet* Sure, that might be geeky, but it helps me remember what I wanna do!

So yea, this is what I've worn for the past day or two. I have to admit, it's growing on me. I think I'm going to have to stamp on it to see what it looks like then...

Then again, knowing me, I'll destroy it totally. I'm good at that! Oh well... stay tuned for tomorrow's exciting conclusion to Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost! Will it be stamped on? Will it be a masterpiece, or will it be ugly! Wait and see!!

NAIL ART TUTORIAL:How to Do a Sponged Gradient

So you want to do a gradient on your nails, but you're not quite sure how to go about it. I've heard people say it's intimidating, they're worried the polish will dry or they'll mess it up. They're afraid they won't have the skills required to do it correctly, or that something bad will happen. Well, let me tell you this- it won't.

There's a very important fact to keep in mind- it's only nail polish. As long as you make a few preparations, the worst you'll have to deal with is cleaning the polish off your fingers. It comes off. It's really ok! The next time you try, it'll go a little better, and before you know it you'll be doing gradients with the best of them!

Supplies needed:

• base coat
• polishes (2 minimum)
• top coat
• a makeup sponge or two
• nail polish remover or acetone
• cotton buds or a brush
• cotton balls or rounds

Optional Supplies:

• newspaper (to protect surfaces)
• petroleum jelly (for easier cleanup)
• scissors (to cut sponge)
• a pantyliner (for sponge cleaning)

When you choose your polishes for a gradient, it helps to pick colors that are analogous, or next to each other on the color wheel. If you try to blend colors that are too far apart, they tend to look muddy. This is an entire lesson on its own, and I can go into that later if you're interested. For now, just remember to look for colors that blend into each other. I'm using red, orange, and yellow. You can see they're next to each other on the color wheel.

If you were to try to make gradient from colors across from each other on the color wheel, like blue and orange, they would make a muddy grey/brown in the center where they meet. It's not terribly pretty, although understanding the color wheel can come in very handy when you're mixing your own colors! But for now, back to gradients!

The first thing I would suggest is to put down a layer of newspaper on the surface you're going to be working on. You're working with lots of polishes and sponges and things, and if you're anything like me it's safest to put something down between you and your antique coffee table. Nail polish on furniture can be bad, but nail polish remover on furniture is even worse! Then make sure you've got everything you'll need for a while, because this can take a bit of time. Grab a soda or a bottle of water, the phone, the TV remote- whatever you need so that you don't have to go digging for it with wet nails. Also, visit the restroom- wet nails are not compatible with potty breaks!

Now, you need to prep your nails. I've been experimenting with using petroleum jelly on my cuticles and the skin around my nails, just to make cleanup a bit easier. I'm not sure if it helps, but it can't hurt, right?

You'll also want to wipe your nails down with nail polish remover on a cotton ball or round. This helps remove oils and things that can make your polish come off, and helps dry out your nail so that your base coat can really adhere. Then you need to apply 2-3 coats of your base color, depending on how much coverage you want.

Before you start stamping, it helps to decide where you want your polishes to be on your nail.
I'm basically using yellow, orange and red for this gradient, but I also have two pinks I want to use for sparkle and easing the gradient. (Pink + yellow = orange too!) So, looking at my nail, I decided I wanted to put the pale pink down over most of my nail, then put the orange polish over about half of my nail, and put the red just on the tip of my nail.

You can draw it out if it helps you, or you can just eyeball it and estimate in your mind. Either way, it does help to get an idea of just where you want each color to start and end. If you use fewer colors, you'll have larger sections, and vice versa. Remember- it's all up to you, and you really can do whatever you want. There are no hard and fast rules!

Before I started sponging, I decided to cut my sponges down so I'd have more control. You can make them as large or small as you like- mine ended up around the size of a pencil eraser. It would cover a little over half my nail.

Loading the sponge is easy. You simply paint on the polish, just like painting your nail! However, I found that for the yellow and orange, it helped to paint them both onto the sponge like in the photo to the right. This helped the colors blend a bit more, and made a much smoother gradient. You don't have to do this, but it's an option.

To sponge the color on, you simply put the sponge over where you want the color to be, then pat it onto the nail. You don't need a lot of pressure... just pat pat pat the color onto the nail. It will build up fast enough, and you'll still have a bit of control over it. Yes, this will get all over your fingers. That's why we have the polish remover, so we can clean up afterwards.

Then it's simply a process of patting the color where you want it. You can see how it progressed for me. The camera really struggled to pick up the contrast between the red and the orange. I probably should have chosen different colors, but hey... you live and learn, right? I still think it turned out cute!

If you find that your red has gone up too far, just put some orange back onto the sponge and pat it over the red. You can really make a smooth gradient if you take your time with this. Just try to be patient, and work with it. Small pats of color really give you more control over the gradient.

You may end up feeling like you've got too much polish in the sponge. I know I did! This is when that pantyliner comes in handy. Just firmly press the sponge into the pantyliner a couple of times and it'll be clean enough to use with another color. It will be discolored, but it won't affect your polish as long as you're working from light to dark. I even used it with yellow after this and it was fine!

And finally, after patpatpating your nails until you're probably ready to beatbeatbeat your head into the wall, you'll end up with nails that look like this. If you're like me, you'll be too tired to consider cleanup, throw some quickdry on top and call it a night. But the better thing to do would be to grab those cotton buds and wipe away the stray polish on your fingers with some nail polish remover. That shouldn't take too long, and then you'll have an adorable gradient manicure. It looks great on its own, or you can do nail art on top of it! You could mask off part of the nail and do a partial gradient. Flower stickers would look good on this, as would stripes or dots or... well, lots of things! It's all up to you...

I hope this helps. It's less tutorial and more of high points, but I couldn't really figure out how to write "pat pat pat the orange down. Then pat pat pat some red on top of the orange. If it's too much red, pat pat pat some orange on top." I think you guys can figure that part out on your own! :D

I hope this gives you the courage to try it. Remember, it's just nail polish, and you can always fix it if it's awful. If you do decide to do it, take a picture, I'd love to see it!

Til next time!
     <3 Laynie