Rainbow Sparkle Barf!

With UNICORNS!

So I bought a second set of stamping plates online, these from Winstonia, and I bought them because one of the full nail plates is wood grain and that is awesome. Didn’t even look at the other plates, I was sold on that one on its own. However, it turns out the collection is fantastic! One of the plates involved a unicorn, and I knew it would feature in my next manicure. They also have a few of the coolest holiday-themed plates I have ever seen, so I’m extremely excited to use those.

I also knew I would entitle this manicure, “Rainbow Sparkle Barf” even before I had any idea what it would look like. This title ran through my head in a sing-song manner until I finally painted my nails yesterday. (I think the idea of graduating is making me feel a bit jittery and crazy; Every single day I feel like I’ve had like 3 cups of coffee. Especially when I am trying to fall asleep. It’s the worst.)

Of course it was raining today when I go to take the photos of them, but I’ll just have to take a picture using my desk lamp later.

I also used a new glitter-removal technique I stumbled across in the nail blogs I have been perusing. Instead of suffering though the misery of removing glitter, you use a peel-off base coat before you even start! Brilliant! They sell peel-off base coats for this purpose, but you can also make one yourself by mixing regular liquid school glue with water until it becomes the consistency of a thicker nail polish. I think I made mine too thin, but I used three coats to make up for that.

This is also the first time I’ve used the loose glitters I bought at the Born Pretty Store like, last summer. I never knew what to do with them, but all my “research” has taught me that the nail polish community calls them “glequins,” and that they place them on one-by-one, like I was formerly only doing with rhinestones. And if you’re going to name a manicure “Rainbow Sparkle Barf,” you should probably add some extra glitters to the mix.

I’m pretty pleased with this stamped unicorn, particularly because I added extra sparkles to his mane with one of my new detailing brushes! (Bought from the same place as the stamping plates, Winstonia.)

So the idea of this glue, base coat idea is that they will peel off in one piece. This has some downsides to it. First, your manicure will not last as long and be prone to some serious chipping. Knowing this, and knowing that my nail polish was primarily held on with washable school glue made me really neurotic about doing anything that involved immersing my hands in water. I also have a habit of picking my polish, so I have already picked the polish off one of my thumbnails. I was worse than usual about picking at my nails today, because I was also worried that it would not peel off. However, it seems to work just fine.

Overall, I am happy with the use of a peel-off base coat, as I don’t usually want to wear glitter on my nails for more than a day anyway. I think with a top coat, a manicure with the elmer’s glue base coat would last at least a day, and probably even two (if you can avoid picking at them, which most people can). Other bloggers I have been reading felt that the waiting to dry time of this base coat completely cancelled out the time saved in removal, however, it also saves on the MESS of glitter removal and that’s the part that makes me happy. Glitter gets everywhere and no amount of acetone can fix that. The peel-off base coat is also probably better for my skin and my cuticles, as I am not soaking them in acetone while I try to remove the glitter!

Here is me trying to take a shot in the direct lighting of my desk lamp. They looked just as good under the watery sun that was out this morning, but this is also my proof that the glue base works really well–these were taken after a day of wear and then a shower. No damage!

I guess you can kind of see the glitter more!

Why am I such a sucker for this new angle?

I will continue to use this peel-off base coat technique. Let me know if you’ve used it and how you liked it in the comments, I’d love to hear!