Hello again! I have a new favorite to share with you today . . . it seems like I say that a lot, but look at this. If you can apply a temporary tattoo, you can apply water decals to your nails. The water decals I have came in packs of 12, so you can make a big mistake on one or two nails and still be able to do the manicure. I bought these from lightinthebox.com and unfortunately the instructions on the website were wrong. I had to do some experimenting to figure out how to use the water decals.
You need a bowl of lukewarm water. You cut each nail decal out and I found that I could place the second decal in the water as I began applying the decal for the first nail. The decals are on a paper backing and will not come off the backing unless they are really wet. I peeled them off with my fingernails and tweezers. I then lightly dried the decal, centered it on my nail and smoothed it on. Once removed from the paper backing, the decals can handle a little bit of abuse, so if it didn't place perfectly, I could move it around a bit. I use a rubberized basecoat and that helped the decals to adhere to my nails. I cut most of the excess decal from the tip of each fingernail. Right after application, the decals didn't look completely smooth.
After all the decals were in place, I coated each nail with a layer of Gelous and wrapped around the tip, tucking the excess decal under the nail's free edge with the brush (I didn't use my fast drying topcoat for fear that it would bubble the decals like it did the stickers last week). The Gelous topcoat kind of melted the decals a little bit into the nail. This was a good thing. It made the decals look more like they were painted on than stuck on. It smoothed out the decals completely. Since the Gelous painted parts were a bit melty, it made removal of excess decal from the sides near the cuticles a little easier and it just peeled off with gentle scraping of a cuticle stick. After the Gelous had dried for a couple of minutes, I added the fast drying topcoat and there was no bubbling, just pretty flowers. I had to shoo little hoverflies away from my fingers all week because they thought my nails were really covered in flowers . . . silly little bugs.
Look at that! Six days and only tip wear. That never happens for me. I am usually a chippy mess by day six. This made me so happy and this mani was so much fun, that I decided to revitalize it with french tips in Revlon Orchid. It gave me three more days with the manicure. Nine days for a manicure. Not bad. I will definitely be purchasing more of these water decals in the future. If you like these, take a look at my giveaway and perhaps you could win a set of these wonderful water decals.
1. Ladybugs: Ladybugs are spectacular killers of aphids and they are adorable. My daughter and I have been watching the development of ladybugs on our Japanese meadowood bush over the past couple of weeks. She saw and would talk to the larvae that look very little like lady bugs and I took a picture of one of the larvae that was changing into a ladybug. The other day, during a lunch picnic, a ladybug decided that it just wanted to hang out and take a little rest on my girl's hand. She was thrilled!
2. Finally finishing a project: I had only the tiniest amount of sewing to do on my dress and I procrastinated, but it is finally finished. I really love it!
3. Sea Monster: I gave my husband this knitted dice bag as a Father's Day present. He had been asking me to make it for a long time, but I knit it in secret. He loves it and tells me that it fits the perfect amount of dice.
4. Strawberry Shortcake: I need it just once a year and it is perfection, just that taste of strawberry with lightly sweetened whipped cream on a tender biscuit . . . It is a good think that I really only crave it about once a year or I would not fit out my front door. My daughter insisted that we eat strawberry shortcake while watching Strawberry Shortcake . . . Goofball.
5. Shabby Apple: I just received the dress I ordered using the gift certificate that I won a few weeks back. It fits me perfectly and looks just wonderful. I love it!
