My first post and second attempt at Konading

Hello everyone! I've decided that I want to start a separate blog for something that has been resurrected in my life--my passion for beautiful nails. 

I've always loved to do my nails and make them pretty, but since I'm not much of an artist, I never really could do my own nail art. If I could buy tips that had a pre-done design, I certainly would. But in terms of doing my own designs...no ma'am.

But then I accidentally stumbled on something that changed my world...Nail stamping. 

Basically, nail stamping consists of etched metal plates which you put polish on, pick up the design on a rubber stamper, and stamp on to your nails. You can put intricately detailed designs on your nails, and get the same design perfectly copied on every nail. You can use whatever colors you like, as many times as you like, combine designs, and on and on...Very exciting for someone who can't even draw stick people.

I saw this done for the first time on a nail tutorial on Youtube, using Konad stamping materials. I flew to the site they recommended, wowsocool.com, and fell in love with about half of the stamping plates they had for sale. I quickly ordered several plates, a stamper, a scraper, a plate holder and waited eagerly for my stuff so I could play.

When I got it, I pulled out my nail polish and discovered that it's pretty much just as easy as it looks. You have to work moderately fast, but not super-speedily. The design placement takes a little practice, but not very much--a few tries and I was in good shape. However, I did discover that not just any nail polish will do...for optimal results, you need to use either a special polish from Konad, or another thickly pigmented polish. I didn't have any of either, so I quickly ordered some from wowsocool.

Once my special black and white polish came, I quickly made my first manicure. Tan polish with red tips, and stamped white flowers on the bottom edge of the french tip. It was fun, and pretty, and looked like I'd gotten it in a salon. I'd show you a picture here, but I didn't think to take one. You're welcome.

Once it was time to take the manicure off, I set about my second one, which I did decide to take a picture of (yay!) It's shown here:

This manicure uses Rimmel Rags to Riches polish as the base color, and Konad black to stamp the designs. I used Konad plate m75 for the flourishes, and Bundle Monster plate BM20 for the accent nail. Simple, elegant, and not too shabby for a second attempt, I don't think. 

Since discovering the Konad plates, I've discovered that there are other plate sets by other companies, and I've identified some of the regular polishes that work for stamping (depending on the effect you are going for). I will talk more about this in a future blog entry, but I wanted to get this one out there for a start!  

Much love,

M.