Sunday, March 8, 2015

Gel polish as a base for nail art.

Hello,

I started working with IDB gel to add strength to my natural nails a number of months ago. It has made all the difference in the world. Since I needed a UV nail lamp to do that, I also started buying some gel polishes. Most of the time I just use a clear gel topcoat to protect my nails. It has the advantage of allowing me to not have to use a base coat before applying color. That is a real time saver. I use a black gel polish sometimes. It gives me a number of options. First, it is nice buy itself because it is  a jet black and very shiny. Secondly, it is a wonderful base for so many other glitter and holo polishes. Lastly, I can do nail art and not worry about messing up. If I make a mistake, I can just wipe it away with a little acetone and the base color is still as good as new. You have no idea how many times that saves my ass. I have very poor aim with my stamper. Trying to center things is a challenge.

"Black on Black" ASP gel polish

The mani below was done for a black and white challenge in a nail art group. The base is the black mani above. I used a makeup sponge to apply the white to look like spray paint. I then stamped the dragons and skulls with black polish. I then used a matte topcoat. My goal was a stenciled graffiti look. The matte look good for guys wearing polish as well as women.

Same polish with nail art and a matte topcoat.

3 comments:

  1. Awesome idea!! I've been avoiding gel polish (I have enough regular as it is), but I hadn't thought about re-doing stamps. ^_^

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    1. You can do so many stamping manis over a white base. A quick wipe and you can immediately restamp. Also a whit base is great for a base for neon's.

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  2. I've been doing the same. Most of the time I just use a base and top coat, then use regular polish over the top. I started because I wanted strength too, but I'm also waiting to see if it will mean my nails aren't stained any more (too early to tell at the moment).

    But every now and then I do a plain colour - I only have a few, so it's often black, pink or blue - and will do some stamping over the top, or some dots, and I will change it up every few days.

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