Saturday, December 22, 2012

Stud Armor Accent Nail

The manicure in today's post happened mostly on a whim! I was having trouble deciding which polish I wanted to wear, so I chose three and then took them to Instagram for help deciding. The polish they ended up picking was Contrary Polish Desert Fruit, but then I wanted to embellish it a bit!

Well, "a bit" turned into "a lot"...


I used 1.5mm round golden studs from BornPrettyStore for the accent nail. They are a very cool-toned gold shade and almost look silvery in certain lightings.

When I'm using studs, I work column-by-column. I begin by applying a thin strip of topcoat where I want to apply the studs so they will stick to the nail. Then I use a dotting tool to pick up the studs -- it will pick them up well if it is wet (I've dipped it in water or licked it in the past). You will have to continually wet it as you work. Then, once you're done, you can finish the nail with topcoat to seal the studs in.

I really wanted the nail to be completely covered, so I tried cutting studs in half for the empty spaces that were at the end of my nail. Surprisingly, they cut easily with safety scissors. I think they are mostly made of plastic and then topped with thin bits of metal? Anyway, they cut well and I was able to finish off the edge of the nail evenly.


The base color, Contrary Polish Desert Fruit, was rather difficult to photograph. It came out of my camera looking pure brown, which is strange as it is a reddish purple and my camera is not usually THAT inaccurate. I spent some time working with the color in Photoshop and was able to get it much closer to what this shade looks like in person.


Here is the polish in direct light -- the shimmer in it is much more visible in these conditions.


Isn't it funny how the stud nail looks so much shorter and fatter than the others?

I really enjoyed wearing this look, and even a few of the men at my work were interested in the stud accent. Most people wanted to touch it, and I can't say I blame them -- it felt very cool and I couldn't resist feeling it the whole day I wore it.
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35 comments

  1. Every swatch of Contrary Polish I've seen looks gorgeous, and Desert Fruit is no exception! And your armored nail looks pretty hardcore. lol good news, btw, your photos show up not as brown on my monitor but rather a dark plum or aubergine, very pretty.

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  2. This is absolutely amazing! I need some armored nails!

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  3. Very impressive. That takes patience.

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  4. I never knew you could cut studs. Very nice sarah.

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  5. I love the nail art, it's amazing! :)

    Kiss

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  6. Oh, I remember having my nails covered with glequins...I couldn't stop touching them, so I can imagine how cool the studded armour felt! Looks awesome :)

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  7. Such a great look. The colour of studs goes really well with the colour of polish.

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  8. Love it! The embellishment is very cute!

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  9. Beautiful! This would be great for a new years mani!

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  10. OMG.
    This is GORGEOUS!
    love love love.

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  11. Looove the studded accent! The polish is also beautiful. They complement eachother perfectly.

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  12. The studs are fantastic! Do they catch on things? I imagine it wouldn't be so bad if it's a whole nail of raised bits.

    That purple is stunning too. Wonderful mani.

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  13. loooooooooove!! what meticulous work you did!

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  14. I love how tightly packed these are! They look awesome. And argh I know about cameras not picking up colours correctly... mine refuses to see purples as purples, no matter what light I take them in! I end up editing them in photoshop afterwards but then I'm worried my fingers look unnatural! Yours look great though :)

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  15. I like this a lot. Adding solid objects to the nail always looks so good... It's just hard to remove. Maybe do a post on that?

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  16. Nice job packing those babies on your nail! Also, I'd say your color editing worked out. Looks good all around!

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  17. I am in love with this! So stunning. I'd love to try an entire mani with the studs, although I imagine that would take forever.

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  18. This is one of the coolest nail designs I've seen in a while!! Can't wait to try it out myself, but I really loved how it turned out, and the colour combination is beautiful! Great job! =]

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  19. HOLY. You studded your nails so perfectly! Everything's aligned well and in place! I dont have the skill!

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  20. This is absolutely stunning. You always do such an awesome job with your accent nails. Those gold studs are perfect and go so beautifully with the deep purple tone.

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  21. At risk of sounding like Paris Hilton, this manicure is HOT! So badass and cool looking. Reminds me of something Rihanna would wear. I wanna try it too! Add it to my massive to-do mani list LOL

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  22. Omg im IN LOVE! Its perfect.
    Xo
    http://missycosmeticos.blogspot.com.br

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  23. oh my god that must have taken so long to do! Beautiful! I wish I had the patience for that :D I actually love the color the way it photographed and was kind of disappointed it wasn't like that IRL ;D huh.

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  24. I did something like that too and I really loved the look! I like the color base you used!

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  25. Oh my god! This is amaaaaazing Sarah! x

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  26. That looks so awesome!! I have to try that myself sometime. How was the removal?

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    Replies
    1. Not bad, really, it just took a little bit of extra effort to get it off, really not much at all. You could even try the foil method for removing it like many people use for removing glitter.

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