It’s been a while since I do these nail art posts. I was on a hiatus, taking a break from painting my nails due to the yellow tinge on them. Because, honestly, no matter what I do, excessive use of nail polish will make my nails turn yellow. They look unattractive, which resulted in me keep covering them. It’s an evil circle.

So, I decided to stop for a bit. Getting used to seeing my good ol’ plain nails. Not even applying OPI Nail Envy although I have to say that after a while, my nails became the way they were, brittle. That means, OPI Nail Envy is doing its work, strengthen my nails. I’m back using it again, but stayed off from the actual color.

Long story short, I was under stress and had a lot on my mind lately and one of the best ways to relieve that is to paint some talons. I bought quite a few a while back and it’s time to put them to good use.

Ingredients:
– Essie Topless & Barefoot (base)
– China Glaze All A Flutter
– colored metal studs
– a pair of tweezers

There’s no certain directional idea in this particular ‘piece’. It’s quite the slap and dash. I knew what I wanted to use, which is the feathery polish and worked around it.

Apply the base coat first, as usual. Then apply Essie Topless & Barefoot, two thin coats. It doesn’t have to be that neat because it’s going to get covered anyway. After it’s dry, swipe China Glaze All A Flutter over it. It wasn’t as easy as I had thought originally. Picking up the feathery bits can be quite a challenge. I ended up with about 2-3 coats depending on how even they are. If some of the bits sticking out of the edge of the nails, I usually just push them back with the brush. Or, I can file them down. Let it dry.

Now for the fun part. Dot a bit of the topcoat (I use Seche Vite) on top of the nail, then take the tweezers, grab a colored metal stud and place on top of that clear dot. One nail at a time works best for me, otherwise I’d be running like a cat chased by a dog trying to place the studs as fast as I can before the top coat dries.

After it’s all done, run everything with the top coat. I like to layer a bit extra on top of the studs to keep them pristine.

Studio lighting:

Outdoor lighting:

I chose neon blue and neon orange (they don’t look neon but they do in real life!) studs because I feel the two colors go well together with the cornflower blue, light salmon and pale pink feathery bits in the polish. They pick each other up, to say. If you’re wondering where to get these studs, go to Ebay, the place where you can find almost anything. I got these for cheeeeaaaap, like USD 1.20-ish from a seller in China. And, free shipping!

I specifically used a light-colored base polish so I don’t have to pack China Glaze All A Flutter as much. Because, this turns out to be quite the diva in removal process. I had to treat this like glitters and use the same soaked-cotton-with-foil-technique to get it off my nails. I can use whatever base color I suppose, but Essie Topless & Barefoot seems to be a perfect match for it.

As far as removal process, it is possible to save those studs and reuse them again for future projects. I usually peel the top coat off of the studs, then pop the studs off from the bottom using tweezers, or nails *HA* However, I can’t salvage them all, some of them might have the color scraped off a bit from general wear time. But that’s alright, because I still have a LOT and they’re dirt cheap.

‘Til next time!