Purple Nails with Blue Squares

By B.Nova - Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Wow May is already here! I have lots of posts to share with you all this month!

This is my first post on nail designs and I'm so excited! One of my sisters had requested I post how I created my music note nails from my "Galactic Warmth" post I did earlier in the year. Here is the basic how-to on creating a design similar to it.

The two most crucial pieces of this equation are: 1) Konad Stamper, 2) the Konad Special Polish (it will make all the difference and regular nail polish will not work as well), and 3) the Konad Stamping Plate. I found all of them on Amazon. They also can be found on the Konad website.

The special stamping polish is unique and the company doesn't recommend it be used as a regular polish. (Basically, don't paint it on your nails because it's meant solely for stamping.) I have been trying these out and I'm not going to lie that it does take a little practice and precision. You have to work fairly quickly because the Konad Special Nail Polish will turn into like a stretchy dried glue consistency in no time.

So this one is for you Tiff! :0)

Here is what you need:

- Nail File and Cuticle trimmer
- Polish Remover
- Cotton Round/Cotton Swab
- Base Coat
- Background polish color ( I used Bandeau - purchased from Urban Outfitters)
- Top Coat
- Konad Special Polish, Stamp plate, and Stamper/Scraper Set

Be sure to remove any chipped nail polish and make sure you start with fresh, clean nails. So after I evened and trimmed my nails, I applied to thin layers of base coat to my nails.

Next I added two thin coats of my regular nail polish...

Now here comes the fun part! First select the stamp you want to use. Using the special polish, paint a little bit of the polish over the stamp. Next, using the scraper, scrape the excess polish off of the stamp plate. (See the next 3 images)

In the step above, once the polish is applied to the plate you have literally seconds to pick up the image. Using the larger side of the stamper, pick up the image by rolling over it. You will know if it was done right because the entire image will now be attached to the stamper and lifted off of the plate.

Each color of the special polish looks different, (the blue is a lot more transparent than the white), but again I'm still practicing with these so hopefully there is a way in which to make the teal stand out more.

Once the image is picked up onto the stamper, line up the side of your nail to the end of the image and roll it onto your nail. The end result should look like this:

So as you can see the image transfers onto your nails in no time! Give the stamped polish a little bit of time to set, (like a couple of minutes), because if you don't it will smear it. While doing this, take the cotton round and polish remover and scrub your used stamp on the plate clean. THIS IS CRUCIAL - allowing the polish to dry on the plate makes it harder to get it off. So the sooner you do it, the easier it is to keep clean.

After letting the stamped polish dry on your nails, add the a layer or two of top coat. NOTE: To clean up the polish around your cuticle, dip a Q-tip (cotton swab) and go around the nail. And that's how to stamp your nails!