It's Blooming Springtime...!

Hi NaiLovelies!

I have something a little different to show you today.

Whilst creating my second ever decal mani, I decided to complicate matters by taking a few photos of the process I followed to achieve this springtime manicure....

1.  I grabbed my trusty bag of CND Shellac Remover Wraps.

2.  Each wrap comes with a removable tab which covers the adhesive tape on the wrap.

3.  During my soak offs I keep all of the tabs from the wraps used, they are great for making decals as they are the perfect size for the stamped image and super easy to peel the decal off once completely dry.

4.  This is what the each tab looks like once removed from the Remover Wraps (I have a stash of these saved up).

5.  I grabbed my trusty MoYou stamping plate which has the tulip image I chose to use for this manicure.  I also used my Magno nails stamper and Wet 'n Wild black creme polish.

6.  I applied a thick coat of topcoat to the shiny side of each of the four tabs (I only used three decals for this manicure but always make at least one extra just incase I mess it up!). I left this for about half an hour before stamping the image.

7.  This image shows how much of the tab is covered in topcoat.  I leave a boarder to make removing the decal easier.

8.  I stamped my chosen image onto the topcoated tab.

9.  Next for the fun part of colouring in!  I make sure to select opaque one-coater polishes so grabbed my trusty Sally Hansen Insta Dri polishes along with a couple of OPI's and Mentality polish.

10.  I coloured in each of the flowers carefully using the polish and a dotting tool placing a drop of polish onto a tile to make the process easier.

11.  Once left to dry for a couple of hours the decal is ready to be removed from the tab ready for use.

12.  I use my pointy tweezers to pull the decal off the tab after loosening around the entire edge with an orange wood stick.

13.  Once removed from the tab I cut off the excess polish using nail scissors.

14.  I applied topcoat to my nail and then quickly yet carefully, applied the decal to the wet topcoated nail and smoothed it onto the nail using the pad of my finger, being sure not to overwork the decal as it softens upon contact with the top-coated nail.

15.  I smooth the tip of the nail using a nail file, acetone on a clean up brush or my finger - whichever is most appropriate for the amount of excess decal.  I also clean up the sidewalls and cuticle area if needed using my clean up brush.

16.  I finished the manicure with a final coat of topcoat.

Mentality Sourball - Base
MoYou Pro XL 12 - Stamped image
Sally Hansen Insta Dri, OPI, Golden Rose & Mentality polishes - For decal infill
Ciate Rapid Dry - Topcoat

I love how this turned out.   I still need a little more practice though!

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Ciao 4 Now