Day 242) Nail art brick wall

When I bought my Artdeco sparkling sand nail lacquer (gold) I had trouble deciding which one to take.
There was also a beautiful black one but after a lot of thinking I chose the gold because I saw some more ways to use this one (read Christmas time).
I regretted that I couldn't take them both but today my eye catched Essence Colour & Go Sparkle Sand Effect nail polish.
The color in the bottle showed some similarities with the Artdeco black one that I couldn't afford.
Obviously this ended up in my shopping basket.

Want to know what I'm talking about...
Here is a swatch of this polish:

 

Essence Colour & Go Sparkle Sand Effect - 165 Here's my number

 

 

I'm loving the color! It's not really black but more of an anthracite which makes it more appealing for a wider public.

The sparkling effect is brought by multicolor micro glitter.

Two coats gives an opaque coverage and it goes on very smoothly.

As I was applying this polish I asked myself if this was really a sand nail lacquer. Most of the sand lacquers I know are matte. This one was so shiny I couldn't believe that there was any texture in it.

The picture above reveals some of the shinyness that was still there.

But after some time I saw this polish drying and it turned into a really (beautiful) sand nail lacquer (this look can be found in the next picture).

 

 

Anthracite...stones...tiles...floors...walls...brick...BRICK WALL

Logic thinking right ;-P

Well, here is my brick wall nail art:





 



 

Day 212) Liquid sands nail art

I worked my but off today and I'm really tired.
Today is a very simple nail art again.
As compensation I'll show you my new purchase ;-D

Artdeco - 53 Sparkling Sand Nail Lacquer

(Douglas)

I decided to paint 4 of my nails with this beautiful golden liquid sand version and make a nail art on the ring finger nail as an accent.

For the nail art I used some stencils:

Wynie Accessories - Ref. 570601

I already did a Chevron nail art. So, for today's nail art I used the left ones.
After the basecoat I applied two of the stencils on my nail.
Then I applied the golden liquid sand on the free parts:

I removed the stencils and I filled the open spaces with another liquid sand that I own: OPI Couture de Minnie - Magazine Cover Mouse.

Here are today's nails:

Day 168) Nail art with colored sand

Nails with texture are hot.
There are nail polishes that contain texture within themselves, for example Liquid Sand by OPI

But there are also brands like PUPA which have a nail art kit for texture; Pupa - Crazy Crystals.
This kit contains:
- Lasting color nail polish
- Crazy Crystals
- Mini brush
- Tray

Both the textured nail polish and the texture kit are rather expensive.
At least too expensive for me...for I only use it ones or twice.
I like to think outside the box and look for cheaper alternatives.
And...I think I've found it!

At the local drug store, but I think you have better luck at a craft or toy store, I found this kit:

Grafix - Sand Bracelets







 

This kit contains:

- Plastic bracelets which can be filled

- Colored sand

- Mini funnel

 

Of course I'm not interested in the bracelets, but I do have interest in the colored sand. Especially for the price of €1,49 (1,99 USD).

For today's nail art I've used the colored sand from this bracelet kit.
I only did two nails, for I don't like the removing of this textured nails (and my middle finger nail broke aaarggggghhhhh).
The other nails I painted purple; Essence Colour & Go - Oh my glitter!

The sand nail art is pretty simple too.
I used a striper brush and basecoat to make stripes on the nails (one by one and alternately starting from different sides of the nail, like a tigerprint).
Then I applied the sand, shaked some excess off and gave it a blow.
...Next stripe, sand, shake it off, blow...
...Next...and so on

The colors are bright and you can see the sand texture very well. Of course this is easily damaged because of the texture. So, if you want it to last, you'll have to apply a topcoat:

The sand texture is less visible and the colors are less bright, but it does look more like the liquid sand nail polishes.
To give it a little extra, I added some tiger stripes to the sand nails. I used a black striper for this:

I'm very pleased with this sand. I think it's a great, cheap alternative to the more expensive liquid sand and textured kits!