Nail Art

[karmacow]

I must know, where do you guys buy your nail art pens? I found some nice looking ones on amazon, but they either don't ship to Denmark, or shipping cost as much as the products.

[complicatedwishes]

I spent quite a lot of time looking on ebay before I purchased any. I found a decent deal (UK-wise anyway). If you look around like I did then hopefully you'll have similar luck? :)

[karmacow]

I was afraid of that. The trouble (for me) with ebay is that you have to use paypal, which I don't like doing.

I've come across some "pens" that aren't really pens but small bottles of nail polish with an ultra thin brush, but I haven't been able to find any proper pens.

 

EDIT: I've found a shop that has pens AND something even more exciting! A stamping tool! http://www.naildelights.com/konad-accessories-c-178_182.html

Sadly the stamping tool is sold out at the moment and I don't want to buy the entire kit. But now I know where I'm gonna get some cool nail art supplies :)

[Emily]

Stamping is super fun. I don't do it as often as I like when I'm home, but do it tons at school. The konad plates and stuff are kind of expensive. I got set of 21 bundlemonster plates from amazon for about 20$. They work great. I do buy the Konad polish though, because I still feel it works the best.

[karmacow]

£6 for one plate is okay, I think. Since there are, what, like 6 different designs in one. Of course if you want several, it gets a little more critical. I'll probably get two. But now that I know that there are other (cheaper) brands, I'll definitely take that into consideration too. No reason to spend more if you can get them for less.

[Emily]

You got me wanting to do some stamping now xD Maybe I'll do some later if I feel motivated to take off what I just put on tuesday night xD

[karmacow]

If you do, I will expect pictures! :D

[cherryv]

those stamp things are sold in chinatown from here (buenos aires, argentina) and cost about 11 argentinian pesos (about 2 dollars I guess) and it comes with a plate and all the stuff to do the stamping. each individual plate costs less than one dollar. But the designs are pretty awful. It has one beautiful desing per plate and the other four or five are awful flowers and all look pretty much the same u.u

[karmacow]

That description fits pretty well with the plates I've seen. I found 3 (I think) plates where I liked several of the designs at http://www.beautiesfactory.co.uk/ as well as a stamper. All the things cost around £2 a piece. Not bad. Looking forward to trying this stuff out :D

[passiflora]

I was afraid of that. The trouble (for me) with ebay is that you have to use paypal, which I don't like doing.

I've come across some "pens" that aren't really pens but small bottles of nail polish with an ultra thin brush, but I haven't been able to find any proper pens.

I've actually used toothpicks for designs, including small dots and fine lines! It can be a little difficult to control at first, but it's a good alternative if you don't want to spend too much money on pens. :)

[karmacow]

That's impressive. I wouldn't know how to start. Pretty sure I'd mess it up beyond reason :D

[Emily]

Practice practice! Especially when using your wrong hand to do designs. That takes A LOT of time to master >.<

[Zombiiesque]

Have you guys seen the Born Pretty store? They've got a lot of neat stuff for nail art - just thought I'd throw that out there. I've gotten a bunch of stuff through them and they have reasonable prices, and free shipping worldwide!

[karmacow]

So many pretty things ^_^ I'll definitely keep that site in mind the next time I feel the need for pretty girly things.

[Zombiiesque]

I figured it might be helpful for anyone who's interested in nail art stuffs! :D I really like those double ended dotting tools. Some really cute stuff like iridescent stars (etc!) for your manis, also.

[Emily]

I get a lot of stuff from Dollar Nail Art. Great prices and you can get a lot of different colours.

 

Also, Beauty Joint is great for polish (and NYX cosmetics </fangirl>). They don't have a huge selection, but I love China Glaze and, in Canada at least, it usually retails for at least $8 a bottle in stores. The shipping from them is also decent. Shipping polish to Canada usually costs WAY too much (think 35$+ to ship 6 bottles >.<). Also, Nail Polish Canada always has the newest collections (usually before they're available in stores) and has decent shipping within Canada. I believe all these sites also ship internationally for decent prices too.

[karmacow]

They have some really cool foils at dollar nail art. A real shame that the minimum order is $25. About twice as much as I can spend without getting hassled by customs :(

[Emily]

Awh, ya. Customs drives me crazy. I've had custom charges before that were twice the amount of the value of what I bought.

[karmacow]

Yep, me too. Most of the time, it's just not a viable solution for me to purchase things from a non-EU country. Frustrating when you're looking for something special that isn't commonly found in the EU.

[complicatedwishes]

I'm going to have a go at something else this week, maybe some hearts? It's so hard thinking of different designs :( even whilst trying to use photos on instagram as inspiration.

[Emily]

Finally got around to do some stamping :D Added rhinestones too, cause sparkles=fun.

 

The flower pattern is the Bundle Monster 220 plate if you're interested :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

ew. The flash made me notice I got topcoat all over my cuticles. Bleck. *goes to clean*

[Zombiiesque]

Oh, wicked cute Emily! What's the purple you used as a base? I really like the rhinestones, that's fun. :)

[karmacow]

That's so pretty! I can't wait to try stamping. I still haven't received my kit :(

[Emily]

It was Revlon quick-dry in Violet I believe.

 

It's super easy, just make sure your doing it on a hard surface for best results. Not really something you should do in your lap while watching TV xD

 

Also there are a TON of tutorials on youtube that help alleviate some of the easy mistakes. There are a couple things they talk about NOT doing that I would have likely done for sure had I not watched any videos.

[Zombiiesque]

I totally agree! Once I get my nails in shape - they're getting pretty good, all but two are growing out and the cuticles are much better now - I want to try some Halloween colored splatters and water marbles. That'll be fun! For water marbling YT has a ton of good videos.