#31DC2015 Day 15- Delicate Print

For this topic I decided to recreate the nails I did for my brother's wedding about a month and a half ago. I was a little busy at the time, so I only snapped one or two photos of it, and nothing really good enough to put on my blog. So here it is again, properly photographed!

Polishes Used:

Color Club- French Tip

The rest is magic marker! I can't imagine that I'm the first person to figure this out, but I didn't follow any kind of tutorial or inspo to come up with this, I did think of it on my own. Here's how to do what I did:

1. Paint your nail with a light colored base (I used white)
2. Add a matte topcoat (the marker needs something to grip)
3. Scribble all over your nails with magic marker- try to cover as much of the surface as possible
4. Dip a q-tip in alcohol and gently dab it onto the nail. The marker will immediately begin to dissolve and marbelize. Be careful not to use too much alcohol, because then the marker will just come off completely
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as necessary to achieve the desired effect
6. Once the marker is dry, add a glossy top coat

I used a range of teal to purple magic markers (the ones pictured plus one dark indigo and one dark green) to achieve this exact look. The gold squares are from the DecoPopShop on Etsy

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC2014 Day 30- Inspired by a tutorial

Today I did stamp decals, inspired by a tutorial from NailzCraze. I know that a bunch of people have made tutorials for this, but Natalie's post was the first I'd ever heard of it, so this is dedicated to her :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Hair talk: Henna

I have had long hair for most of my life. I briefly cut it short in high school to donate, but by the time I graduated it was nearly back to it's original length. I've always kept it somewhere between waist length and tailbone length- I don't think it actually gets much longer than that on me.

A bit over two years ago, I started dyeing my hair regularly with Henna. I do it roughly every six weeks- really for the roots, but most of the time I go ahead and do all of my hair each time. I've actually been meaning to document my henna routine for several months, but I kept forgetting on henna day, or remembering when I had already done part of the process. This time I remembered!

Some general notes about henna:

• Henna is extremely healthy for your hair and your scalp. It is entirely natural and non-toxic, meaning if some gets into your mouth you don't have to worry. It is also totally safe to leave on for however long you want. It may be possible that some are allergic to henna (although I've never heard of that) but other than that it is fine.
• Henna is not a typical hair dye, in that it does not change your hair to a specific color. It adds a red tint to whatever your hair color already is, meaning if you have naturally dark hair you will see very little difference. Your hair will light up beautifully in the sun though, since it shows up best in sunlight.
• Henna has a very distinct earthy smell, like freshly turned dirt in a garden. Some people dislike this smell and find it to be a downside, but personally I really love it. Either way, the scent lingers in your hair even after several washes, (usually about a week in my experience). 
• Henna has been used as a hair dye for hundreds of years in many parts of the world, although it originated in the Middle East (I'm pretty sure.) A number of cultures also use henna to draw semi-permanent designs on their skin in various sacred ceremonies, although you need to use a higher quality of henna for that than for hair. In India this is called Mehndi. Yemenite and Morrocan Jewish women often have Henna ceremonies shortly before their weddings. I've been to a fair few of them as my classmates started getting married, they're beautiful events.

Here are my ingredients:

• Henna (middle): In Israel and probably most of the Middle East and India, you can buy this most anywhere that sells spices by weight. I usually use ~120 grams. I have waist length wavy hair, not very thin but not very thick either.
• Cinnamon and Ground Cloves (left): These don't really do much to the color or nutrition, but they add a nice autumn-y smell to the mixture, and if you don't like the smell of Henna, they go a long way towards making it bearable. The cloves have some tannins that are supposed to be good for hair, but I don't think I use enough for that effect.
• Chamomile Tea: I actually cut the tea bag open and pour the loose contents right into the mixture. Chamomile has a very mild lightening effect, which helps the red to show up better against my medium-dark hair. It's also a very soothing for the scalp and supposedly reduces dandruff. Also it smells wonderful, adding complexity to the scent.
• Lemon Juice: This one is a must. The lemon juice helps release the dyes from the henna and seals them into the hair. There are science-y reasons for this, but I'm only science-y enough to mostly understand them, not really explain them. Lemon juice also has lightening properties. I usually use a roughly 1:1 combination of lemon juice and water in mine, but beware: lemon juice is also very drying. If your hair tends towards being dry and brittle, I would suggest using a lower proportion of lemon juice.

The rest of this post is less wordy but fairly picture-heavy, so I'm putting it under a cut.

NOTD: Acid wash

So I've seen the Acid Wash technique around the internet a bit lately and I decided to give it a try:

ראיתי את הטכניקה הזה בהרבה מקומות באינטרנט אז החלטתי לנסות אותו

Colors used:
Ga-De Denim Dream (dark base)
Ga-De Pool Party (light topper)

I'll be honest, I'm not really fond of these. I got a lot of compliments on the design so I decided to post it anyway but to me the colors just look ugly together. It would definitely look better in another color scheme though!

בכנות, אני לא מתה על איך זה יצא. קיבלתי הרבה מחמאות אז בכל זאת עשיתי פוסט, אבל לטעמי הצבעים נראים מכוערים ביחד. בצבעים אחרים בטח זה יכול להיות ממש יפה אבל כאן פשוט לא.

The technique is really easy and there are tutorials all over the internet, but I'll explain it quickly:

1. Paint two coats of your base color, let dry completely.
2. Paint a coat of your top color (or enough coats to reach opacity), let dry completely.
3. Once your nails are COMPLETELY dry, dip a q-tip in acetone and gently wear away at the top color until the base color shows through a bit.
4. Take off as much or as little as you want until it looks right to you.
5. Apply a protective topcoat and enjoy!

An optional step would be to add a layer of sheer jelly in a complementary color before you add topcoat, so it blurs the design a little and gives it some depth.

הטכניקה פה היא ממש פשוטה- יש המון מקומות שאפשר ללמוד את זה ברחבי האינטרנט אבל אני אסביר בקצרה בכל אופן:

1. שימו שתי שכבות של צבע בסיס ותנו לו להתיבש
2. שימו שכבה אחת של צבע עליון (או כמה שצריך לאטום אותו) ותנו לו להתיבש
3. לאחר שכל הסיפור ממש יבש, קחו מקל אוזנים ואציטון ובעדינות תורידו חלקים מהצבע העליון עד שרואים את צבע הבסיס, לפי הטעם
4. שימו טופקוט ותיהנו!

אפשר לפני הטופקוט להוסיפ שכבה של צבע ג'לי שקוף שמתאים לצבעים האחרים, כדי לתשתש קצת ולהוסיפ מראה של עומק

NOTD: Water spotting

I've been meaning to update with some of the cool new stuff I got from the Born Pretty Store, but I keep not uploading the stuff to my computer. In the meantime, here's a little bit of nail art I had sitting around in my drafts folder for a while. I've been holding off because I want to post the swatches of this collection first, but since this post is all ready to go, the swatches will have to come later!

I recently came across a technique I'd never heard of before called 'water spotting'. In the pictures I'd seen, it looked like an easier method to create a splatter manicure look, and that's still my impression after trying it. It's still a very messy method, but there's a lot less fuss.

More pictures and instructions on how to recreate the look after the jump!