PHD's "Just Tips" Challenge

ORIGINAL POST DATE: August 16, 2010

Polish Hoarder Disorder just had a Design Challenge called "Just Tips" which means that you have to create a nail design using just the tips of your nails. So basically, it's supposed to be a funky French manicure. Which was really convenient because the day before the Nail Challenge theme was announced, I had just painted my nails a French manicure. How ironic! Here's the link to the page with all the entries for the challenge. Check them out! They're amazing! Mine are about half way down.
http://polishhoarderdisorder.blogspot.com/2010/08/challenge-gallery-just-tips.html

Here are the photos that I submitted:

Okay, so let me explain how I did these.

The first photo is just a simple French manicure. I used "Sweet Blush" by Orly for the base color, and I used China Glaze's "White on White" for the tips. Then in the center of the line for the tip, I put on a large white (silver) rhinestone. I wanted to create a rainbow effect, so on the left of the center rhinestone I went in the order of a red, pink, yellow rhinestone. I didn't have any orange ones. And on the right side I used green, blue, and purple, in that order. The colored rhinestones are quite a bit smaller than the silver center one. I really love this look. It's so elegant and simple. And the line of rhinestones looks like a ring on your finger. :D
~
The second design was really quite complicated. And I hope I can put it into words. So, first off, I used the same base color as the first photo; "Sweet Blush" by Orly.

Now, there's a little background story to the design on the tips. This is what happened. I bought a purse from Lucky Brand and in the purse there was stuffing made of what can really only be described as paper mâché. And on the paper, there were pretty designs on it. And I thought, "how cool would this look on my nails?" SO. I cut little pieces of the paper and then cut a side of those pieces into a nice curve, to fit along the curve of my nail's tip, so it's good to have the "Sweet Blush" still wet so you can just apply the paper, but you can also just add a clear coat, but just on the tips of your nails. So I put on the paper, aligned the pre-cut curve, to my nail's curve, and then I press it on using a wooden stick tool. Then I folded back the extraneous paper under my nail and applied a clear coat over the entire nail. When it was semi-dry, I cut off the extraneous paper, and for the places that were too hard to cut with scissors, I used a nail clipper, as if I was trimming my nails. Then I just added a silver rhinestone and DONE. It was messy, and I had little pieces of paper everywhere. So I don't know if I'll ever do it again.

~LinZ