22k Gold Leaf Manicure

When my friend Edward asked me if I'd like to try gold leafing my nails, I said oh hell yes. Edward is an unusual guy, an artist, artisan, innovator and mentor, a renaissance man with a big heart, an intuitive ear and an adventurous spirit.

He brought over the supplies we'd be using: real gold leaf, brushes, a little dish of clay and glue adhesive mixture made especially for this purpose and a burnisher. Edward is a frame maker and the method he taught me is one that he uses to gold leaf his frames. He had gold leafed a couple of his own nails to show me how it could turn out and showed me the technique on one of my nails, leaving the supplies for me to experiment with. 

The photos show my first gold leaf manicure turned out. You'll notice that the only nail with complete coverage is my pinky -- that's the one Edward did! The red that you see peeking out through the breaks in the leaf is the clay and glue mixture. This creates a distressed look that you often see on gold leaf frames. I would have preferred not to have any breaks in the leaf, but I'm still pretty stoked with how it turned out. I'll tell you how I did it after the pics.

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

22k gold leaf manicure

I started with polish-free, clean dry nails. Using a shallow bowl of hot water double boiler style, I warmed the dish with the clay and glue adhesive mixture to a nice liquid state and with a small artist's brush applied three coats of it to my nails, waiting for it to dry in between coats. Gold leaf is incredibly fragile. I applied it one nail at a time. First I wet the clay mixture generously with an artist's brush dipped in water. Then, ever so carefully, I picked up a piece of gold leaf with a pointed cotton swab tip moistened with water and floated it over the nail. In the best of all possible worlds, it would be sucked down to the surface by static electricity in a smooth even sheet. But gold leaf wrangling is no simple matter and I ended up needing to use several pieces on each nail to get full coverage. Using cotton and the lightest touch possible, I gently pressed the gold leaf onto the nail to seat it.

Then there was a long period of waiting for the gold leaf and the clay mixture to set up properly. This is kind of excruciating, because you can't touch the gold leaf or allow anything else to touch it. Edward said that he likes to give gold leaf three hours to set up on frames. What! I waited as long as I could, about two and a half hours. 

The gold leaf now affixed to my nails, I cleaned up the extra pieces adhering to the surrounding skin with my cleanup brush dampened with water. Then using Edward's burnisher, an artisan's tool used to smooth, polish and even out surfaces, I burnished the gold leaf using light pressure in small circular patterns over the nail. This gave it some shine. After that I topped it with a coat of HK Girl topcoat to protect it, and I was done.  

Edward said that the clay and glue mixture could be sanded when dry to get a smoother surface, and that's something I'd like to try in the future. Still, my himalayan nail ridges did provide an interesting texture to the look. 

love,
Liz 

ps The clay and glue mixture isn't waterproof and even though I used a topcoat, this manicure only lasted as long as I didn't immerse my hands in water. Once I'd done that, I started losing it in pieces. But it sure was fun and looked great while it lasted!

Zoya Darcy and Fall Nail Art Fail Y'all!

This entry is kind of excruciating to post. Why am I doing it then? I don't know. But I post with this caveat: if fails (and I mean, REAL fails) give you that queasy feeling that attaches itself like Pavlov's dog to events, persons or objects, please do not view this.

First thing's first! Darcy was released this past summer as part of Zoya's Stunning collection for summer 2013. It is a bright creamy buttercup yellow creme with a bit of secret yellow shimmer to it. This is the color that you would make the sun in your early crayon landscapes, and maybe add a smiley face to it because it is a happy sun.

Yellow isn't the best color for me as you will see but I really like this forthright honest beamer. I would have liked it even better had taken less than three coats to even out the coverage, but most all yellow polishes are reknowned for their streakiness so it isn't a question of being subpar. Streaks aside, the formula was light and liquid and I got it everywhere. Turns out I didn't do as thorough a clean up as I thought I did. Please try to overlook the winning way I included my cuticles in the paint job. 

Photos show three coats of Darcy over treatment and basecoast with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Zoya Darcy

Using the Darcy manicure as a base, I created a gradient using the sponging technique. Fuzzy had picked up a leaf yesterday that was shed by the red maple in the front yard and I used that as my inspiration. The colors I used were OPI Nicole Shoot for the Maroon, Misa Bourbon on the Rocks, Zoya Livingston and Zoya Darcy. I sponged each color one at a time starting at the cuticle with Shoot for the Maroon. I made a little pool of color on a piece of tinfoil and dipping the tip of a small latex-type make-up sponge into the pool, sponged the color across all my nails before beginning with the next color. Once I had finished sponging, I did my clean up (such as it is) and applied a topcoat of Seche Vite to each nail.

Once that had dried, I added a tiny reverse glitter gradient beginning at the cuticle with Shimmer Polish Wendy. Another coat of Seche Vite and I was done. 

It didn't turn out like I'd hoped at all but of course I learned a lot and realize that I must try more of these sponging manicures before I can even begin to know what to expect when I do it. There's more to getting it right than just dabbing color. Here are the pics....

polishes I used, l to r: Nicole by OPI Shoot for the Maroon, Misa Bourbon on the Rocks, Zoya Livingston, Zoya Darcy...

...and Shimmer Polish Wendy

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

fall gradient nail art fail

*lol* Actually this manicure reminds me most of those reverse candy corns, you know the ones? 

What I learned was: use a smaller bit of make-up sponge and dab more lightly and carefully (or I think I might try painting the polish on the sponge with the colors in stripes and do the whole nail at once that way), be more patient with the process, pick colors that have a similar finish. I also found it difficult to figure out how much of each color to sponge before quitting and moving to the next color. The clean up was tedious and I was kinda worn out afterwards! I think I may need a new and different clean up brush too.

This was my third go at sponging a gradient and while I know it's no beauty and doesn't compare to the wonderful creative manicures I've seen online using this technique, it was fun. At least, until I got to the photos. Ha! And Fuzzy liked it a lot. It was inspired by her leaf, so that makes me happy.

love,
Aunt Liz

Addendum: Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream Nail Art

Amateur Nail Art Alert!

So while I had Mermaid's Dream on my nails it occurred to me that I should try some nail art, just to see how it would go. I knew I wanted to try a starfish design on top of Mermaid's Dream, inspired by some beautiful designs of this type I'd seen online. I've collected some photos on a Starfish Nail Art Pinterest board, you can see that here, but the manicure that planted this particular seed in my brain was by a nail art enthusiast and blogger named Debbie. Her blog is called The Crumpet and you can see her starfish design post here.

I created the starfish with Sinful Colors Island Coral and a dotting tool, then added dots to the starfish with Zoya Darcy. I also added a few random dots on each nail with Island Coral. It was slow and ssshaky going, let me tell you, and the nails I tried to do with my non-dominant left hand are a hot mess. The nails I did with my dominant right hand are better, the starfish are smaller and the dots a little more precise. Still, it's a very very messy nail art mani. At least I got some more dotting practice in. 

My pictures turned out ok considering the subject, but I must warn you about one nail in particular. It's the pinky nail on my right hand. Somehow, from somewhere, a random CHI HAIR snuck in and got trapped under the starfish with the ends of the hair sticking out from either side. ARGH! At first I thought it was a John Fortys hair (it would be just like him to shed a hair into my nail art) but closer inspection revealed the reddish brown coloring of a certain dog we both know. 

So anyway, it's grotesque and quite visible and I thought about omitting all the photos of my right hand because of it but then you'd never get the chance to laugh at how funky the starfish turned out on that hand, and far be it from me to deprive you of the considerable benefits of laughter. 

Photos show my starfish rendering, such as it is, over Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Oh man, I can't help but laugh. Why am I posting this? I don't know. Next time I'm going to try doing the star fish with a toothpick. And I'm going to try it on a day when my hands aren't so shaky. I'll say this about Mermaid's Dream, though -- it looks great with topcoat.

When your mom and I were little, our family used to go down to Tangerine FL for three weeks every summer, to Exeter Farms where Fuzzy's mother lived. We called her Mimi B. Mimi B had a beautiful little in ground pool and my cousin Shaunn, who's the same age as me, and I would play mermaids in that pool for hours and hours. Sometimes I got to go to Shaunn's house in Mt. Dora to sleep over and I had a little pink plastic suitcase that I would pack my clothes and stuff in to take with me. One time I was waiting to get picked up by Shaunn and her father, my Uncle Bob.  I was all dressed and ready to go and was walking around the edge of the pool with my little pink suitcase, daydreaming and looking into the water...  and the next thing I knew I was in the pool! I don't know how it happened but there I was in the water with the suitcase. Grownups came running from everywhere to hoist me out in my soaking wet clothes and shoes. I was so embarrassed I thought I would die. Everyone was asking me did I fall in and I guess they decided I did but to tell you the truth, I don't remember falling. I think I was imagining playing mermaids with Shaunn and just got so into it that I forgot I wasn't really a mermaid and jumped into the water.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

love, 
Aunt Liz