Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Wasabi and Caviar - An Exercise In Linework and Patience

Wasabi and Caviar by @chalkboardnails

Today is my birthday, and if you can believe it, my nails are actually naked right now! THE HORROR! I'm hoping to put something fun on them after I get home from work, but for now, I wanted to share a manicure I spent a lot of time on recently.

I am calling it wasabi and caviar for reasons that I hope are obvious! This entire design is handpainted with regular nail polish. It's some of my best linework to date, I think. Hooray for improvement there!

Wasabi and Caviar by @chalkboardnails

Nail polishes and products used:
LVX Midori
Formula X Dark Matter
Sally Hansen Stud Kit

If you want to attempt a design like this, I've got some tips!
  1. Get a small brush. I can't tell you how long I used a thicker nail art brush, cursing my lack of talent rather than the tool I was using. Once I got a thinner brush, it helped me immensely. I still had to keep practicing, but my old brush was definitely part of the problem. Trim down an old brush with cuticle nippers if you don't have a super thin one.
  2. Keep it clean. If you're using polish (instead of acrylic paint or gel), clean your brush frequently with 100% acetone and regularly put down more polish onto your palette. Polish dries quickly and can wreck your fine lines if it isn't the right consistency.
  3. Small mistakes aren't the end of the world. You can use a clean nail art brush dipped in acetone to gently "erase" small mistakes from your work; just be careful not to go too crazy or it will eat through your base color. In this case, I put a layer of topcoat between the wasabi shade and my black linework for extra protection.
  4. Be patient. This shit isn't fast. When you factor in my previous tips and the detail of the work, you just gotta know it's not going to be easy to bust it out in 45 minutes. I like to put on Netflix and take breaks every so often to stretch out.

Wasabi and Caviar by @chalkboardnails

I just love this kind of strange green color, and the thick blingy stud nail is just the right amount of "odd" to go with it.
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24 comments

  1. You should feel proud of these because they look awesome! Wow, those lines are so detailed and thin.

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  2. Amazing line work! I thought it was stamping until I started reading. I hope you enjoy your birthday!

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  3. These are gorgeous! Happy Birthday! It's my birthday too!

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  4. Happy Birthday ! I wish you the best! Your nail Art is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing the Tipps 😊

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  5. Happy Birthday! What a fantastic manicure! I too had to go bare nails today because of work, oh well I'll call tomorrow's nails my birthday manicure! :)

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  6. Cathy - More Nail PolishDecember 4, 2014 at 12:38 AM

    Happy Birthday Sarah, my fellow December the 3rd birthday girl, I hope you have a wonderful day! Amazing line work on this mani, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you put on your nails for your birthday.

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  7. Happy Birthday!
    What a wonderful manicure!! Love it. Amazing yellow colour. I will try it. Thank you so much for sharing.
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  8. Happy Birthday :) Love the manicure...

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  9. Your line work is amazing and I'm loving that bling nail!

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  10. Happy birthday!! I hope you can find the time to put on a nice birthday polish. I lovey our nail art, the lines are so perfect! Thanks for the tips :)

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  11. Happy Birthday! That is some amazing line work!

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  12. This is amazing! Happy belated birthday! It took me a long time to to realize I needed a thinner brush for detailed work - it was amazing how quickly the quality of my nail art improved once I got one. I still need a few more that I can thin down to teeny tiny though.

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  13. Happy birthday!! AMAZING line work and i love the colors!

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  14. Happy birthday!!!! Great job i love your design!

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  15. HANDPAINTED?!

    Oh Lordy. Amazing!

    Also, nekkid nails?! The horror.
    : )

    Happy birthday!

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  16. Patrycja CzerwińskaDecember 5, 2014 at 4:13 AM

    Very pretty!

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  17. Sarah, Happy Birthday and thank you for the beautiful and unique manicure you're showing us today!

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  18. The colour looks like mustard but the manicure is gorgeous anyway :)

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  19. I'm sorry it's super late, but Woohoo! Happy Birthday Sarah!!! I hope you had enough time to design your B'day nails :) This design is crazy awesome! I can not believe it's nail polish :O Thank you for the tips too!!! v

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