Back in 2012, my Bear & I took a trip (2nd honeymoon of sorts) to New Zealand. I loved everything about that trip (it was even better than our actual honeymoon to Russia but that’s another story) & one of the things I picked up there that I still treasure to this day was a Pāua (abalone) shell locket.
Everytime I wore it, I would always think about the beautiful colours & how wonderful it would be to be able to replicate it on my nails. I was hesitant of course, I had only been doing nail art on a tiny scale (no pro brushes, limited collection of colours, no documentation at that point) for about a year & I didn’t think that I could do it justice. So I waited. And waited. For months.
One day, I came across a tutorial on YouTube by this girl called My Simple Little Pleasures (check it out, she’s awesome) & it was for a technique called water marbling. I’ve heard of this before (to me it was a paint technique called hydrography) but not on nails & it was the push I needed to try it out despite my inexperience. I had, up to that point, only documented FIVE nail art pieces & I was nervous.
It took me almost 2 hours, about a gallon of nail polish remover, made a ghastly mess all over my worktable, skin & clothes but the results were undeniably… Well… I’ll let you folks decide. 😀
Lacquers used:
Sephora By OPI Mermaid To Order (teal)
China Glaze Unpredictable (pine)
OPI Here Today… Aragon Tomorrow (dark green)
This experience taught me a few very important things:
1. Inexperience is the most insignificant of blocks – research, perseverance, the willingness to make mistakes & learn blows it out of the water. You can do anything you put your mind to.
2. Never let negativity from others discourage you or bring your self confidence down. I was told by several pro nail techs that it was too ‘difficult’ & ‘advanced’ for a noob like me to try. Screw them. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent – Eleanor Roosevelt.
3. When trying new things, preparation is key. Get all your ducks in a row (in this case it was the tutorial on YouTube, all the colours, tools & clean up equipment, & a big, healthy dose of ‘take no prisoners’ attitude) before you start.
4. Don’t get discouraged, even when you screw up. Keep at it (see point #1 about perseverance). Take no prisoners (see point #3 about a healthy attitude)!
I know this was longer than what I usually write, but this piece of nail art was a huge step on a very personal journey to me & I wanted to share it.
Thanks for reading! Hope you lovely people have a wonderful week!
Which got me thinking that I could definitely use a similar-ish colour combo to spin a shimmery tale. Or tail. Whichever you prefer.
This was another multi layer piece – started with the blue base & then sponged on the pine, teal & teal shimmer gradient. Followed that up with the holo flake topcoat for that extra sheen & finally stamped the scale pattern on with black. Phew.
JaszHands 