Wednesday, May 16, 2012

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 31 - Fan Favorite Floam Stripes Tutorial


 WOOHOO!! I'm so excited I finished the 31 day challenge hosted by Painting Outside the Lines. It was not easy, and I want to give a huge shout out and congrats to my fellow contest completers!!


OK, so I asked you... my lovely followers... to like your favorites in my Facebook album of all of my creations. There were a number of contenders, but the ultimate winner was Day 17, Glitter! As promised, I did a tutorial on how I created the look (the first of many coming from my 31 days of nail art!)

Couple of notes: please excuse the crappy photos during the tutorial. I hate the way the flash photos look, but I don't have good direct light pretty much anywhere in my house! Also, my hubby took the pictures for me when I was doing the actual striping... so big thanks to him for the help! <3

Here we go!


Floam is a bit of a pain to take off... the more layers the harder it is. So, I start with two coats of OPI Fly as a base.


Next, a nice even coat of Floam. At this point, I do top coat it. To free-hand stripe, a smooth surface is best and as we all know, glitter is not smooth!

Now for the stripes!! I always rest BOTH hands on the table when I'm striping. It helps stabilize the shakes (and I do have shaky hands some days... my husband can attest to how bad I was shaking while I was trying to do this tutorial! lol). I do plan on doing a video tutorial on my striping technique, but I have not done a video yet... so I have to work out the kinks! Quick overview, and hopefully this makes sense, I do not move the brush; I move the finger being striped. I pivot the finger away from the brush. I find holding the brush in one place simplifies it and makes for a cleaner line (I will do a video! Promise!)


Start with the bottom stripe... and work your way up!! (Again, thanks to my wonderful hubby James for his help with this part!)


Repeat on all except your two ring fingers!


Now grab your striping tape (or cut thin strips if you are like me and are still waiting on it from China... or wherever lol). Be sure you have allowed adequate time for your polish to dry before taping.


If you have striping tape, you can probably get all 4 stripes to perfectly mirror the other fingers and my OCD is totally jealous of you and your evenness... But, if you are like me, you will likely only be able to get three stripes!


Paint it black and carefully remove the tape. Now allow at least 15 minutes of drying (or be impatient and smudge it like I did... of course lol). Top coat it and do your clean-up.... and....


TA-DA!! Easy as that ladies! I expect to see your re-creations of this posted on my wall... or else!! You don't have to have Floam to create this! Use any polish you have!

Please go show some love to the other amazing ladies who completed the incredible feat! Because I can tell you, it wasn't easy!! And be sure to vote for me on Painting Outside the Lines page by liking this picture in the Day 31 album!! It would be greatly appreciated! :D

I am looking forward to having time to get some reviews up in the coming weeks. I also will be doing tutorials on all of the nail art requested in the comments on my giveaway (yes... every mani requested will get a tutorial)! I am going to TRY for every week... but will at least get them up every other week. If I can get into the habit of doing them in the morning on the weekend, I would actually have good light to photograph the steps! So we'll see!!

I guess what I am saying is... I'm not going anywhere! It may not be a post every day, but I will aim to get at least 3-4 up a week. Plus... You can always come hang out with me on Facebook ;)

Love you ladies! Thanks for all the amazing support and love over the last 31 days... it really kept me going when I got busy and it was tough to keep up!! <3


4 comments:

  1. I like what you did on the accent nail.
    Thanks for the tutorial.

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  2. TY for the info on painting a straight line. Mine has been (as I like to tell my class at times with their lines) looking like a snake all wiggly in the middle. I'm going to have to give it a try. I have been moving the brush not my finger.

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome!! Some movement of the brush is required depending on the direction of the stripe, but the majority of the movement while I stripe is in the finger. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it makes a much prettier line!! :D

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