Day 171) Back to the roots

When I was younger I always wanted to be a little different from the crowd.
Very soon after applying my first nail polish I tried to experiment with it.
My first different nails were nails devided by half (vertical) with 2 different colors.

At this time I had never heard about basecoats, topcoats or nail art.
I didn't know about brushes, so I used the regular nail polish brushes.

It took quite some time to get a straight line in the middle, especially because I couldn't apply them on top of each other because then one half would be a lot thicker. If I had only known about tape and topcoats (...why didn't I think of that!).

I was so focused on getting that straight line in the middle that my cuticles were a mess. With a cotton tip and remover I had to clean it and of course it would only take a little time before my cotton tip had touched the nail and it was all ruined again (aaaarggggghhhh).

Then, a few years later I went to some kind of "Black Market". Chinese and Korean people were doing nails there. I was fascinated by the nail art they were doing. I wanted to be able to do that!

On this market I found a set of stripers with a tutorial video tape.
I had to spend all my saved pocket-money (and some more) to buy this set.

I think I saw this video tape like a billion times; instructions went too fast and it all looked so easy...
I already had trouble painting a stripe with these stripers!

After a lot of attempts to paint the designs shown on the video tape I realised that it all starts with these stripes.
If you are able to make straight stripes, starting thicker and ending thinner, you're already coming a long way.

So this is what I practised and today's nail art I will show you what kind of design I made back then.
It looked less pretty at that time and took ages to make, now it takes seconds and looks so much better.

Now, to the nail art.
After the basecoat I painted my nails with a nail polish I got from Ici Paris (beautyshop where you can buy perfume, cosmetics and skin care products):

*Only You - 526 Shooting Star

Then paint the stripes by using a striper. Start at one side of the nail (from the middle) and almost use the entire surface of your nail for your stripes. Let them start thick and endig thinner.
This is what it looks like:

Of course I remember my first times. Here are some tips for the beginners:
-don't try to make it too perfect (people never look so closely that they will see one stripe not ending so thin)
-don't trouble yourself with the possible mess at your starting point. Use this point for a nice rhinestone...and nobody will see!
-Don't pull your hair out when it is not going well, keep trying and you will soon get better.

For all the beginners out there:
I've started like this and I am now able to make all my other designs...without workshops, without trainings, without schooling/education, just by doing it again and again and again...
GOOD LUCK!!!