More Fun & Learning with Konad

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've spent more time working on mastering the Konad, and have a passable mani to show you how I'm progressing. Last night I tried to use the black Konad polish to decorate Steel Magnolia, but only managed to make a big mess of things. It seems that the black polish is a little harder to master than the white - it's highly pigmented and thick, so it was harder to see what I was doing while scraping to get a good image to stamp. I eventually gave up and removed the mess I'd made. I decided that I'd use white over red today, and wanted to get the red base on before bed last night. That meant drying time was my first concern, so I went with my beloved Dior Poppy - Diors dry very well and very quickly with Seche Vite.

So, that brings us to working with the Konad this morning. I started stamping the right hand, as I didn't think it would be photographed (since it never has been). However, today will be the internet debut of my never before photographed right hand. I wanted to illustrate the difference in placement - at first, I was placing the design lining up the bottom of the design where my nail bed ends, at the bottom of the free edge. That left a space of red above the design at the tips, which gave an effect more like a stripe than a tip (please ignore the inaccurate left-to-right placement here, as well as the Steel Magnolia that I now see is under the edge of my thumbnail - I'm still learning and hadn't planned on pictures...).



When I looked at the overall effect, I decided to try the left hand looking at the nail from the end of the free edge. I lined up the pattern for the top of it to end at the end of my nail tip. It definitely looks like a tip, but I don't think this pattern is thick enough for my current nail length, as it makes it look like my nail beds are a mile long.



There's a cool tiger-strip French tip pattern I have that's thicker than the one I used here, but I'd like to use it with black over a gold base, and I don't think I've sufficiently mastered the black polish to use that one yet. Perhaps that will be done this afternoon or evening - I've been informed that there's a football game on tonight...

So that's the progress with the Konad, Dear Reader. If any of you have mastered it and have tips for me, I'd be thrilled if you'd post a comment or email me with any ideas that might speed up my progress through this learning curve.

Until later, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!