Talking With My Nails

Every two weeks or so, I have me time. I wear acrylic nails. I sculpt, shape and design these artificial beauties for my pleasure. I like to craft all sorts of things in my down time. From waist beads to dresses I don’t think will come to fruition but, I love doing nail art the most.

For example, I love Japanese animation and Japanese fashion sects like Lolita and Decora. I love the frilly lace and fun mix of textures and patterns. I have always wanted a pretty Lolita jump skirt or some of the Kawaii lines for fairy kei and Decora but, I don’t feel I have a shape that can fully showcase the aesthetic. Yet, my fingers can. I am also shy about my shape but, my hands are expressive. When I’m animated, they move and flail. A lot of times, I feel it is easier to express my creativity or play with the same textures and patterns using my hands.

My inspiration is a conundrum. It is not something that I see that is inspired by one thing, but it will be something that has crossed my mind and warped into a shape. It won’t be that one thing in particular but sometimes, it may start with a simple ombre nail or a French tip variation. Then I see the pretty jewels and shiny bobbles and stones I have, or the reflective plastic and I want…No, need to see how I can incorporate it into a design. I needed to do a fill-in to repair the outgrown talons I was adorned with so let me provide some insight.

This process can be soothing but I sit down with paper towel on the table to collect the dust that I knew was soon to come. From there, I take out my electric hand file (or drill depending on who you ask.) and get ready to remove a lot of the nail product. If I have metal jewels on them, I clip them off using a pair of half or full jaw nippers. Then, I file. I file until I get the colored acrylic off and begin my prep work. I switch to a regular hand file to get more of the delicate and hard to clean up areas like the sides of my fingers.

I grab an orange wood stick to gently push back my overgrown and stubborn cuticles from my nail plate. Next, I grab my small, cuticle scissors to remove the excess from the nail and examine my fingers for my shape. Now, when I mention shape, this is where I start my creation processes. The shape of the nail should compliment you. In past times, I have kept my nails in a square edge because that is all I knew and was what was popular. I find that I like the taper of ballerina and coffin nails to elongate my little, short fingers. It makes my hands seem dainty and delicate.

At this step, I am ready to pull out the acrylic systems and let my mind wander down this path of open thought. I have dehydrated and primed my nails for product adhesion and have my Kolinsky brush limbering up in the monomer liquid. Normally, I select colors that appeal to me for a season or because of my moods. I have a large tote of different, colored powders waiting for me to choose from. Sometimes, I don’t have a shade that is speaking to me so, I mix it! I select colors and start adding small amounts to an open dappen dish to mix and adjust the color till I am pleased.

This part can be so time consuming for me because I am right-handed and not completely even handed. Making sure that I am placing my acrylic in even, flowing beads is difficult. My end goal is to lay the product evenly and neatly as possible to avoid massive clean up work with hand and electric files but, that does not always happen.

My latest nail design turned into a Sailor Moon themed set of coffin-ish nails. Remember how I said that I will mix a color until I am pleased? I had a pink that I made for my mom’s set of nails. It was a light baby pink almost carnation pink with a translucent glow powder in it with a shimmery clear added to catch light. The blue too is shimmery but leans more to a dark periwinkle/ royal blue blend.

As I was laying my acrylic, I remembered I had these holographic butterfly confetti shapes. I really hadn’t done embedded nail art before, so I played with them on my thumb. Gently pressing them into the damp acrylic blend before it set and hardened, it took shape. The longer I looked at the nail, the more I realized how the nail looked like the background art for Sailor Moon’s Crisis Moon transformation and her attack: Rainbow Moon Heartache! And yes, I have chanted that many times throughout the years, lol. I squealed. Like a flash, I remembered that I bought nail stickers, water slide decals and 3D nail art gems too!

So, I sat. My focus then became working on my color blends for the ombre nails. Determining which nails would look best with certain nail art came second and what other art could I do to not distract and clash ensuring a beautiful set of nails. Most of my close friends know this: I love glitter and rhinestones! I love the way the lights reflect and how they twinkle like stars.

Once I had my base acrylic laid, filed and buffed, I put on a gel base coat of polish and began the deeper detailing. This is the part that I feel my inspiration chimes in like the tinkering of a bell in the distance. My inner thoughts find the correlation and send other thoughts that compliment the original idea. Here, I will take out a small pair of utility scissors to cut out water decals and extremely pointy tweezers to pick up tiny gems. I even use them when holding gems and 3D art pieces steady when curing under the UV/LED lamp. I pull out a few acrylic paints in complementary colors for fun stripes, abstract shapes and dots with thin lining brushes and a metal dotting tool.

By this point, I am almost vibrating with excitement because the nails are taking shape and I am surprised this level of quality and art came from me. Then I take my time placing my shiny, rhinestones to emphasize my French tips and think of where I want the transformation broach stone. Also, this is where I get ready to seal all this fun under clear shiny gel topcoat. But there is a surprise waiting. Both acrylic powders have glow-in-the-dark and UV powders mixed in, so the nails look like a light show after curing in the lamp.

Before the topcoat though is one last finish…glitter. I take a gel glitter polish and add stripes to accent and soft cure it only for a few seconds. That is so it does not move when I put the topcoat on and cure for the full time. After all this pain staking work, I apply a couple drops of oil to my cuticles to help nourish them and I sit back in awe.

Even though I have been there for the whole process, it humbles me that something so pretty was created by me. Me?! The person that can’t draw a straight line with a ruler and can’t draw my way out of a wet paper bag with a sharp knife? It surprises me.

And I’m human. If I did a nail design that I am not fond of, I have completely filed it down and re did it or just painted it with a solid color. I have had nails that I only was moderately happy with. I have done some that took a turn that completely caught me off guard. There is so much that I can do and create just by playing around. Sometimes, open thought hits a brick wall and I get stuck. I’ll be sitting in the same spot with just enough clear acrylic laid to protect them from the colors. No inspiration and no thoughts at all. Just a blank slate of nails. But that is with anything we do. We get stuck but we go back to the drawing board or scrap the whole project.

I’ll let you in on a little secret; my birthday is July 7th and I have a set of nails in mind. I do not know how I am going to execute these, but it goes back to Decora. I love the pretty, junk nails with rhinestones, glitter, and 3D nail candies. I bought acrylic Minnie mouse shaped heads, Hello Kitty heads, gummy bears, candy and mermaid/ sea friend 3D nail art. I already have a bunch of rhinestones and holographic nail foils to use as the backdrop. These may be a press on set that are temporary so I can take them off for work but, I am not sure yet. Still working out the kinks in those plans.

Short story made shorter: I love crafting nails.