This is a new technique I’ve never tried before, and it turned out a lot easier than I expected! All you need to do is let your background colour dry thoroughly, then dip your nails in alcohol (vodka, rubbing alcohol, methylated spirits etc.) so there’s a thin alcohol layer on top. Then you quickly press a rectangle of newspaper onto …
I was feeling uninspired with my Autumn manis (but with a million ideas for Spring manis… argh reverse seasons) so I was really excited when I came across this look: It’s the mani the models rocked for the Michael Lo Sordo SS 12/13 show, done using essie Sew Psyched and Case Study. Instant love! Gorgeously sophisticated and so, so …
This Wednesday the theme is Candy/Sweets. I had a bunch of ideas, but I ended up back in my comfort zone – freehand colour blocking with cremes. Sorry if you’re sick of these! I’ll be more adventurous next time. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I hate liquorice. Hate it. But when I was a kid, these …
Shellac and other hybrid gel nails give long-lasting nail colour that can be soaked off with acetone. You simply paint your nails using special gel polishes, then “cure” each layer under UV light. What’s in those special polishes, and how does the UV light change that? Plastic – it’s fantastic To understand gel nails, first we need to understand plastic! …
Firstly: I have my own domain now, yay! Update your links to labmuffin.com… or not, since everything redirects there anyway 😛 Now, all you Northern Hemisphere girls are posting your pretty pastel spring manis, but it’s autumn here! To me, autumn means vampy shades, jewel colours and duochromes, so in that spirit, I just ordered $50 of duochromes which I …
I’m not going to lie – I got lazy this week 😛 I was going to have something different on each nail, but my ideas just didn’t come together. This is ulta3 Lily White sponged over ulta3 Metal using clingwrap (saran wrap, clingfilm, etc.). It’s a new technique for me, so there’s something! It’s very easy, and the result was …
Q: Can Shellac (and other soak-off hybrid gels) damage your nails? A: Yes. Hybrid soak-off gels (e.g. Shellac, Gelish, Axxium) are less damaging than the old style long-lasting treatments which needed to be filed off for removal (often taking a chunk of your natural nail with it), but a recent study found that they still caused significant weakness, thinning and …
For Easter, I decided to freehand some chicks peeping out of their shells… I’m not sure if it looks right! I was going to do some silver and gold dots and stripes over the shells but I somehow forgot. I’m getting old 🙁 Base: w7 Neon YellowShells: Maybelline Keep Mauvin’, ulta3 Lagoon, Little Boy Blue (old) and Sweet VioletChick faces: …