Golden Oldie Thursday - White Base

Hi all!

Earlier today I showed you my Simples splodging mani. All the polishes I used (okay, except my white, because I can't stand my older whites, too many coats needed) are older than a year, most of them probably even older than that. It shows too, fading print on bottles, icky stickers and lower fill lines. Anyway, today is about using a white base... I might have hidden most of it though.

The polishes:

• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Essence - 106 free hugs!
• Etos - Effect Nails - 001
• Catrice - 790 The Pinky And The Brain
• Boulevard - Silver base coat

I wanted to do some zigzags (I blame Kerruticles, she does some gorgeous manis with zigzags!) and don't own any handy nail vinyls (yet) to use. I'm always cursing when I try to cut tape with my zigzag scissors... either they break or the scissors won't cut cleanly... which is why I haven't used them in a while. So this time I did it differently. I painted two coats of silver on the backing of sticker paper (this is the remnant of a sheet of sticker stamps). I also added a top coat and let it all dry. Next I cut strips of zig zags with my scissors... this is the hard part as you have to try to align the zig zags correctly. Next I could simply lift one strip with some tweezers off the backing paper!

To apply my zigzag decals I top coated my nail and placed them with my tweezers. Aligning them is the tricky bit and I never get that completely straight. I added the zigzags to my thumb and ring fingers of both my hands. I cut the excess off with some nail scissors, added a layer of top coat and then removed the rest during clean up. The other nails got a triangle stud (bought on eBay). With these larger studs I do try to bend them around a dotting tool or something to prevent the corners sticking out. The studs were also placed in top coat and sealed in with another layer as well.

Yay, nasty fluff thread is covered up! And you can still see the white base, right?

I am absolutely loving this mani, I know it's simple, but I really like it. Even if it's pink. I think I'll try this technique more often, much easier than cutting tape with my fancy scissors (cheapos from Action)! Have you tried this technique?

More white base mani's down here!