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Showing posts with label Queen Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queen Series. Show all posts
Thursday, May 1, 2014

Ashley, Queen of Water Marbling

The Queen Series is a weekly feature happening on Wednesdays (or Thursday when we forget - oops!). Each week one of us from The Easy-Nail Art will introduce you to our blog, tell you about how we got started, and talk a little about how we ended up being the Queen of something. We all have unique talents when it comes to nail art, and our Queen titles reflect that. Check out past posts in this series.

Name: Ashley, Queen of Water Marbling



Hi Easy-Nail Art fans!! As you read in the title, I'm Ashley, of Smashley Sparkles. I have been blogging and officially obsessing over nail polish for about 2 and 1/2 years now. In the past I had always been interested in nail polish, and anything beauty related really, which is part of the reason I chose my profession. During the day I work as a hair stylist, and I also do some freelance work as a makeup artist for MAC here in Stockholm, Sweden. Though I am originally from the US (New Jersey to be exact), the Mr. and I, along with our two cats, moved here in 2012 so he could begin studying for his PhD in Physics. That's right, my husband is a rocket scientist! (Now you know why I had so much fun with the DD Geek Week prompt, which happened to be my favorite ever!)

Mr. Sparkles on the balcony of our apartment with a view of Stockholm.

Anyway, back to my history. My blog came about after my husband and I got engaged. It may sound a little silly, but seeing my grandmother's beautiful engagement ring on my hand and then seeing my naked, uneven, hair color stained nails made me shudder. And so my interest in nail art was born!


I started finding out more about the nail art community via the Makeup Alley nail boards. I was already a member there due to my makeup obsession, so I just started reading and reading. I think the first nail art I ever attempted was a simple gradient, which actually turned out quite decent for a first attempt. Then, after discovering Let Them Have Polish and Chloe's Nails, I stuck my toe into the stamping waters. I really loved what Cris from LTHP did with stamping, and that she had short nails like me. Chloe's Nails also inspired me to give scotch tape manis a go. After I started experimenting with nail art, some of my colleagues at the salon I worked at encouraged me to share my art online. That was the point when Smashley Sparkles was founded.


When I thought about what to name my blog, I knew I wanted it to be easy to remember, as most people do. I thought about something short and sweet, that was descriptive of my personality. Smashley is a nickname I've had for a long time, and Sparkles is because of my love of all things glittery.


Speaking of glittery, my favorite types of polishes are definitely glitters... the more holo glitter the better. At the moment I'm obsessed with holographic micro glitters, I just can't get enough of them.


So what goes into blogging? Well, lately I have been on a bit of a blogging break, so to be perfectly honest I haven't spent much time at all. We all tend to go through these phases I think, and I'm hoping to get my mojo back soon! When I was blogging more I probably spent about 20-30 hours a week doing nail art, editing photos, and writing posts. As far as social media outlets go, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but lately I've been most active on Instagram. I love Instagram since I can share a little of my personal life along with my nail stuff, and I can also cut out the writing part of a post, which is my least favorite part of blogging. I love doing nail art, and I even enjoy taking and editing photos, but the writing just seems like such a chore sometimes!

 My teensy stash when I first started blogging.

Since I started blogging my polish collection has grown quite a bit, of course. When I started out I had a small cardboard box that I kept my polish in... I think I had about 20, which seemed like a lot. Little did I know that one day I would have around 500 in my collection. When I was living in the US I had some of those clear acrylic wall mounted polish racks which I used for storage. Since it was too expensive to have most of our stuff shipped over here, I changed up my storage here in Sweden. Now I use a Helmer from IKEA, and a bookshelf with some small basket organizers to hold my nail art stuff. I'm super lucky that our new apartment has an extra bedroom, so I've set up my new work space in there.

My desk, light tent, and Helmer, which I have decorated with scrap booking paper.

My bookshelf storage area.

My collection of Lynnderella polishes, which I keep displayed in the living room so I can admire them!

At the beginning of my nail obsession I had no idea where my nail art niche would be. I played around with stamping and other techniques. I tried out things I saw on my favorite blogs. Then, one day, I discovered water marbling.


I wasn't good at water marbling the first time I tried it, so don't give up if it doesn't work for you! It took me a few tries before I found polishes that spread well in the water, and I also had to do some of my own trouble shooting for other issues. Once I figured out some important things, it became much easier for me.


So, tips and tricks... I'll start off by walking you through my set up for marbling. I do my marbling in a plastic jar that was from a hair mask I finished. I've found that the circumference of this is good, it's large enough that I can dip two fingers at a time if I want, but not so large that I feel like I'm wasting tons of polish. I also like that it has a lid, because what I do to ensure that my water is indeed room temperature is leave it filled up all the time. I just put the lid on it and keep it on my shelf. Then its ready to go whenever I want to reach for it.

 My marbling tools

I like to use a small orange wood stick with a pointed end for making my designs. I think I bought a package of these at Target ages ago, but I just reuse the same one over and over now. I use a regular orange wood stick to clean up the extra polish from the water after dunking my fingers. I use Scotch tape to protect my fingers when marbling. Most of the time I use OPI Funny Bunny, a white jelly polish, as a base color for my marbles, but this sometimes changes depending on the colors I'm using.


When I'm choosing polishes for a marble, I tend to focus on the colors I want, rather than getting hung up on using a specific polish. This way I won't be disappointed if that polish doesn't marble well. I usually do a test run in order to choose the polishes. It's important that they not only spread nicely in the water, but that they play nicely together. Ideally your polishes will spread well and make fairly consistent rings in the water. If one spreads a lot and another gets squished into a tiny ring, you may not have the best results.


After I've made my pattern and dipped my fingers, I clean the rest of the polish out of the water and try to remove my fingers at the same angle I put them in. I usually give my hand a bit of a shake when it's out of the water, to get some of the drops off that might cause bubbles on the nail. Clean up isn't the easiest with water marbling, since you get polish all in your cuticles, so it's important to have a good clean up brush. I love my ELF Concealer Brush for this.


A few more tips:
  • If you live somewhere with any type of chemically treated water, use a bottle of distilled water for marbling. I've found that distilled water worked much better than filtered or bottle drinking water for me. I used to keep a gallon jug of it hanging around just for marbling purposes. This also helped with the room temperature thing since I would keep it in my laundry room. Now that I'm in Sweden, the tap water is so clean that I don't need to worry about filtered or bottled water, but most people probably will.
  • If there is any sort of breeze in the room your polishes will probably dry on the surface of the water faster than you can work. It's best to turn off any fans in the room, and try not to sit somewhere drafty.
  • Don't try to use the rings all the way on the outside of your bull's-eye for your design. I tend to start maybe 3 rings in, because the outer rings are always too dry to work with.
  • Anchor your bull's-eye by taking your orange wood stick or toothpick and attaching the outside ring to the container you're using. Just touch the polish to the container and it will stick. This will help keep your bull's-eye from spinning or moving around while you're trying to make your design.
  • Use a very light hand when you're making your design. Lighter than you think is necessary.
  • If you see bubbles in the bull's-eye before you've dipped your finger, pop them by dipping your toothpick point first straight down on top of them and then pulling it straight back up.
I hope these tips and tricks help some of you, and please feel free to ask any other questions I may not have answered in the comments. I'll check back to answer them!


Also, I love to see people trying water marbling and if you are inspired by me please please tag me or shoot me a message so I can check it out!! :)





Dj Donk Queen Series, water marbling
Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Meet Lindsey - The Queen of Floral

The Queen Series is a weekly feature happening on Wednesdays. Each week one of us from The Easy-Nail Art will introduce you to our blog, tell you about how we got started, and talk a little about how we ended up being the Queen of something. We all have unique talents when it comes to nail art, and our Queen titles reflect that. Check out past posts in this series.
Name: Lindsey, Queen of Floral

Hello, all! I'm Lindsey and I write and create over at Wondrously Polished. If you can get through this big rambling mess that is my introduction, you deserve to go buy yourself a new bottle of polish! 
The Boyfriend, Fonzi and I
So! A little about me. I have a pretty fantastic support system comprised of my boyfriend of 8+ years, my parents and sister, and my amazing friends. My dog Fonzi is pretty cool as well :) By day, I work as a Civil Engineer - we design roads, utilities and the infrastructure of communities - and while it's interesting most days, the deadlines, clients and calculations that come with the job can get quite stressful. I started blogging a year and a half ago as a means to escape the stresses I was feeling during the day. Nail art really is a great creative outlet and has become a way for me to relax and express myself in a fun and unique way.  
My very first floral mani - Poppies
I've been dubbed the Queen of Floral by my fellow Digital Art members as my favorite type of manis are florals! Lately, it seems I can't go a week without doing a floral mani and I'm okay with that. So, here is a progression of my floral nail looks while I also explain a bit more about myself :) 
Water Lilies
I first settled on the name Wondrously Polished for a few reasons, namely that it was different and not yet taken ;) At face value, the name means exactly what it seems - wondrously polished nail art!

The second reason is a bit more personal in that it represents things that are inherent to me as a person. I'm a fairly analytical and logical person, but I also love art and value being creative and passionate. It can be very difficult to combine these two parts of myself, so my blog name represents the combining of this. Wondrously is the artistic, creative side of me, and Polished is the analytical perfectionist side. My whole blog is about me learning to combine these sides of myself. I know, who'd have thought a nail art blog could be so deep ;) 
Retro Floral
I like to think that I have a pretty unique style of nail art, and perhaps that's why people choose to stick around and read my blog. I like to paint a lot of prints and patterns that have a retro and vintage feel to them. I'm definitely most active on my Instagram account as I'm able to post not only nail photos, but also little snippets of my daily life. The nail community on Instagram is so wonderfully supportive and it's just a great place to share. It's also incredibly easy to catch up on my favorite bloggers in place.
Hodge Podge Floral
While I love Instagram, blogging is still where my heart lies - I can ramble so much more in my blog posts! :D Realistically, I probably spend about 20-30 hours a week working on blog related things. Whether I'm brainstorming, painting my nails, editing photos, or writing a post, it is a very time consuming hobby and a single post usually takes around 3-5 hours. That may sound crazy to some people, but I love it! My most popular nail art post is this galaxy nail look done for the 31 Day Challenge and it took me several hours to complete. I'm still so proud of it! 
Spring Floral
I should probably have better system in place for planning blog posts, but I typically fly by the seat of my pants and very rarely have a scheduled blog post (I'm sure the thought of that gives some of my fellow DD ladies heart palpitations!). I'm a procrastinator and can't find my creativity unless there's a little bit of pressure from a deadline ;)

I did buy a planner at the beginning of the year and put hard deadlines (like this post!) in there so I know when I'm getting close to a post being due. For the most part though, I typically post when I'm feeling creative and inspired. 
Mother's Day Carnations
While I love my free hand nail art, I do wish I was better at stamping. I can't do it. I seriously fail every single time and it ends up being a huge waste of polish for me. It's so frustrating! I see all these fantastic stamp manis and I'm so jealous of them! Teach me your ways!!
Funky Floral
I'm honestly not sure what my earliest polish memory was. There was always polish in my house growing up as my mom would often give herself manicures and I would join in on occasion. During high school I played sports and bit my nails so I didn't paint them that often, but when I started college I would buy a new red or pink polish every month or so. I was slowly starting my polish hoarding problem and didn't even know it!

When I stumbled upon an online nail art forum, I was amazed by what could be done and I also realized just how many polish colors there were. I bought my first green polish and my passion was ignited! Soon after, I started my blog and the rest is history! Now-a-days, I'm really not sure how large my collection is (I try not to think about how much money I've spent on nail polish haha), but it's probably close to 700 bottles. If, heaven forbid, I ever had to narrow my absurd collection down to just 5 bottles, it'd have to be OPI's My Vampire is Buff, Zoya's Arizona, Zoya's Natty, OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and China Glaze's Re-Fresh Mint. 
Planner inspired floral
If you've ever read my blog, you might have noticed that I love cremes. A LOT. It's a little bit absurd how much. They are just so lovely and you can do so much nail art with them and they're just so classy and perfect! While I own more China Glaze than anything else, I absolutely love Zoya as a brand. I love their unique bottles, their variety of shades and they almost always have a fantastic formula.
Daisy Daze
My top polish tip would have to be to push yourself out of your comfort zone! If you really want to improve your nail art, don't be afraid to fail. Try new challenges that force you to paint something you never would on your own. That's how I found my love of floral prints!

Additionally, I'd say use a top coat over your base polish when doing nail art. If you mess up up in anyway, you can use a brush dipped in acetone to remove/fix the error (to an extent, obviously). This has saved me many times and I really recommend it! If you're really serious about nail art, I'd consider using acrylic paint for your nail art instead of nail polish. It's super cheap in comparison and much easier to manipulate. 
Monochrome Floral
Honestly, I'd say my biggest blogging achievement so far was being asked to join the Digital Art. I remember watching them post for their first year and just being in awe of their creativity and talent and I can distinctly remember thinking that I would feel like I had "made it" if I ever got to be apart of a group like that. I was in complete awe of the group when I joined and wanted to put my best art forward when I first joined, so I'd have to say that my first month with the Digital Art (black and white week) was my favorite. I'm so proud of each mani I did that week! 
Funky Orange and Grey Floral
One of the most rewarding experiences to come from blogging is seeing how I've inspired others in their art. I never in a million years thought that I'd be able to create something people would want to look at, let alone recreate and it is the best feeling in the world knowing that I've somehow inspired others to be creative. I'm constantly inspired by my fellow DD members as well as all the other nail artists in this community (big and small bloggers alike!). I'm always drooling over anything done by Paola over at just1nail or the stunning swatches from Kelli at The Nail Polish Challenge. I'd happily switch nails with them any day ;) 
Vintage floral
Oddly enough, my work station helps me get creative. I have 3 Helmers that sit under a desktop I purchased from IKEA and it allows me to have a clean and fairly clutter free station that lets my creative juices to flow! My desk is in my living room so I'm able to interact with my boyfriend or watch tv and not feel like I'm isolated when I'm painting my nails. I'm usually inspired by patterns and prints that I'll see online, in catalogues or in stores, but it can be tough to continually create original things. I try my best to constantly push myself out of my comfort zone and paint things that I think I can't. It has helped me tremendously and has really helped me grow as an artist. 
Yes, another floral!
If you made it all the way to the end, go treat yourself to that new bottle of polish ;) Thanks so much for reading and if you ever have any floral mani related questions (or questions in general), don't hesitate to get in contact through your favorite social media site.  
Most recent floral mani - Textured Sunflower
Thanks and Happy Polishing! 

Dj Donk Queen Series
Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Meet Meghan, the Queen of Intricate Nail Art

The Queen Series is a weekly feature happening on Wednesdays. Each week one of us from The Easy-Nail Art will introduce you to our blog, tell you about how we got started, and talk a little about how we ended up being the Queen of something. We all have unique talents when it comes to nail art, and our Queen titles reflect that. Check out past posts in this series.

Name: Meghan, Queen of Intricate Nail Art
Blog: Will Paint Nails for Food
Twitter: @WillPaintNails_
Facebook: facebook.com/willpaintnailsforfood
Instagram: @willpaintnailsforfood

Me with one of my drawings - filtered for effect

Hi everyone! One thing that may come as a surprise is that my interest in nail polish only goes back about two years. For much of my life up until that point, I was pretty happy with my natural nails and a clear coat of polish. I maybe owned three nail polishes (all Nicole by OPI), and I had no inkling to buy any more.

September 2013: Early nail art - saran wrap manicure

November 2012: Simple swatch

But that all changed around March or April of 2012. I worked with a girl who liked to do nail art, it was probably the first time I met someone who was interested in nail polish as a hobby. She also blogged about nail polish and had started the 31 Day Challenge. I remember when she invited me to like her page on Facebook, and I thought, “People blog about nail polish, what next!?” Lol! 

December 2012: Advent Nail Art Challenge - Pine

From that initial spark of inspiration I started reading blogs and buying nail polish, slowly at first, then with increasing momentum. By the summer it was full-fledged obsession. I’m kind of a nerd, and I wanted to document and create an archive of my collection, so I started my Tumblr in August of that year. FYI, blogging is also a good way to justify the amount of money spent feeding a nail polish addiction. 

December 2012: Advent Nail Art Challenge - Stained glass nails, inspired by Silent Night

But the truth was that I needed a hobby. My apartment is a testament to all the things I’ve started then dropped - watercolours, printmaking supplies, cameras and film, baking pans and equipment. Nail polish was the one thing I picked up that stuck. By fall of 2012 I was going through a really rough time. I had just been through a bad breakup, and I wasn’t feeling very fulfilled with my work - looking back I was experiencing an episode of major depression. Blogging became a form of productive distraction, and it also helped build up my strength and confidence. I started my blog on Blogger in December of 2012, and the rest is history!

January 2013: Charles Rennie Mackintosh-inspired nail art

I came up with the name Will Paint Nails for Food because I wanted something catchy that would stand out. By the time I started blogging there was so many nail polish blogs, and I didn’t know where this would take me, but I wanted people to be able to remember my blog name. Plus I’m not good at serious titles or names. It’s also a nod to the fact that I often pick hobbies and career paths that are not very financially lucrative - like art, or crafts, or writing poetry… or painting nails! Oh, why couldn’t my hobby be hedge funds?! But I’ve always believed that pursuing your passions is more important than pursuing money. So I pictured myself on the street corner with my little sign “Will Paint Nails for Food.” Maybe someday…

January 2013: Egyptian nails for Glaucoma Awareness

In my day-to-day life, I’m a PhD student and I work as a Teaching Assistant and sometimes Instructor at the university level. If all goes well I should have my dissertation completed in a few months. I have a pretty flexible schedule that works well for blogging - I work mostly from home with the exception of 2-3 days where I have class. The hardest part is trying to stay disciplined about writing my dissertation, there’s always the temptation to just watch Netflix and paint my nails when I should be writing.

February 2013: Freehand Celtic knots

I’ve gotten into a groove where I keep my blogging to the evenings, when I write my posts, and the weekends, when I do my swatching and/or nail art. Every now and then I’ll sneak in a lunch break with a manicure. ;) But still it’s a lot of work. I’d say I spend about 20-30 hours a week on my blog - about 10 hours for writing and editing posts, and 10-20 hours swatching, doing nail art, and updating social media.

March 2013: Lumina Lacquer Mint Chocolate Chip

One thing that I get asked a lot is if I have an arts background. And the answer to that is yes! I’ve been drawing and painting since I was a kid, with lots of encouragement from my parents and family. At 17, a week or two into my first semester at college, I decided that I was going to be an artist when I grew up. I wanted to be like Frida Kahlo, minus the bus accident and the cheating husband. I studied drawing and painting for four years after that, then transferred to art school and finished my BFA in 2004. While at art school I got really interested in art history, and afterwards decided to go to grad school to study it further, and that’s what I’m doing my PhD in. Sometimes I miss drawing and painting, but for now my nails are my tiny canvases, and that makes me happy.

May 2013: Guest Post at Peace, Love & Polish

Because of my art background, I get a fair amount of ideas from art history like Art Nouveau, or Medieval stained glass. But I also get a lot of ideas from design work I find online, and other nail artists.

July 2013: Guest post at the Nailasaurus
 
Around here, I’m called the Queen of Intricate Nail Art, and I’ve been known to spend up to four or five hours on a design, not including the photographing or writing the blog post! I’m happiest when I’m working on something that’s challenging and pushes my skills. I sometimes use dotting tools or striping tape, but most of my designs are done freehand.

August 2013: 31 Day Challenge - Black & White

If you’re interested in doing more intricate nail art, the one thing you need is practice. Many people say, “oh, I’m not good at nail art,” but it just takes patience and practice. Maybe bloggers like myself make it look easy, but keep in mind, we paint our nails A LOT! And in my case, I’ve been drawing and painting for years before I started doing my nails. If you’re keen to try freehand nail art, here’s my advice and tips:

1) Keep a sketchbook. First, it’s good to jot ideas for future use. The intricate nail artist can never accomplish everything he/she wants to do, but it’s good to write down those nail art ideas for later when you’ll have the time. Also, when starting a project it’s a good idea to sketch it out, maybe work out some colour schemes. The worst thing is spending several hours on a design, only to wish you had gone with different colours.

2) After painting your base coat, seal it with a layer of topcoat. I learned this from my friend Lindsey at Wondrously Polished, and it’s the best advice. That way if you mess up your design, you can remove some of it with acetone and not damage the base coat (within limits of course).

October 2013: 31 Day Challenge - Inspired by a Pattern

3) I generally start a design with nail polish thinned with a lot of nail polish thinner. I’ll then draw my design on my nails with a very, very light line. At this point I’m just plotting where I want things to go.

4) When doing lines, I work very slow and change the position of my hand frequently. Sometimes the line is easier to paint if your hand is facing a different direction.

5) I tend to work slow and picture stuff in my mind before I actually paint it.

December 2013: Snowy Country Landscape

6) I find when doing freehand nail art with nail polish, adding nail polish thinner makes the polish easier to work with - both for doing lines and filling in areas.

7) Touch ups are your friend. If my line is looking too thick or I don’t like how I painted the petals on a flower, I’ll go in and do touchups. It’s amazing how adding a coat of topcoat will hide those touchups!

January 2014: Easy-Nail Art Monochrome challenge - Sepia Stripes
 
All of my nail art is done with nail polish, although I recently bought some acrylic paints and I’m excited to use them. I’ve heard that they are easier to work with, so I’m hoping to do some really intricate nail art with lots and lots of tiny detail! Oh the joy!

March 2014: Easy-Nail Art Brands challenge - Kodachrome

I feel like I could go on talking about nail polish forever. But dear readers, for fear of putting you to sleep, I’m going to end it there. I hope you got something into this little peek into the background behind my blog. If ever one of my designs inspires you enough to recreate it or do your own take on it, let me know! I always love hearing from readers, especially if you’ve recreated one of my designs, it definitely is something that I find very touching.

Thanks for reading! And if there’s anything else you want to know about my blog - leave a question in the comments!




Dj Donk Queen Series
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