Mexican Crystals + tutorial

MAGYAR verzió                                                                                                                                    Nothing to disclose

Today's nail art was inspired by a japanese nail tech, Mananails. If nail tech crush exists, than this sure is, I just adore everything she makes. I usually go through her Instagram page every now and then and just in a matter of minutes I feel overwhelmed, and I want to recreate EVERYTHING!

I follow quite a lot of japanese nail artists, and I was always wondering how could I make that white crystal look that they do a lot (like THESE), but without building it with gel. I wanted to achieve the same depth and dimension, but using only nail polish. And now I figured out a quite easy way.

 But before I show you the technique, I will talk about the other 2 nails. Those are also inspired by Mananails, THIS is the original art. I really liked that mexican inspired cacti/"window"-looking/tribal design, so I grabbed a terracotta nail polish as a base (Golden Rose Rich Color 109 - available at nailland.hu), and then I handpainted the design with acrylic paint. That moon-triangle stud combo totally looks like a sombrero, and it wasn't even intentional :D

Yeah, crystals and mexican/tribal patterns can look totally awesome together <3

I wasn't going to make a tutorial for the crystals, but then I figured a lot of people would appreciate it, since I see how popular my crystal related nails on Instagram. And these are actually easy to do, so people with little art skills can pull these off too.

You can watch my 15sec Instagram video HERE. Sorry for not making an actual long, Youtube version, but I just don't have time to do that.

All you will need is a silicone "workstation" like Bundle Monster Lotus Mat, Übermat (or you can use a silicone baking mat), clear nail polish, white nail polish, acetone and diluted white polish (I mixed clear polish, couple drops of white polish and some nail polish thinner in an empty polish bottle to create my diluted white polish).

Use the clear polish first, then apply some diluted white and normal white polish and wash it together with acetone. Create at least 2-3 "decals" per nails, because that's how it's gonna have that depth. Use a thin coat of clear polish to stick the decals onto your nails one by one. 2-3 decals should be enough, but be careful and don't create thick decals, believe me, a thin coat of polish will come off of your silicone thing just as easily! Also, don't wait too long, don't dry out your decals, they should be dry but still flexible when you pull them off, so they will lay and stick onto your nails a lot easier!

I didn't filmed this, but I cut the excess decal off every time, and at the end I use some acetone to "melt" together the edges (and also clean up).

You can create more white or more transparent crystals on your nails, it's totally up to you. I haven't tried it out yet, but I bet this will work with colored nail polishes too, so amethyst nails here I come!

I kinda like it better as an accent nail (like in my mexican inspired nails above), but maybe I'm just missing some studs or pattern from these.

Anyway, I hope this easy technique will be beneficial for some of you, I'm sure I'm gonna be using a lot :))