How To Do Full Diamante Nail Art
For today’s nail art design we’ll be doing completely over the top paved diamante nail art.
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You will need:
To begin with, paint a base colour which is the same as the diamantes.
 We will be using the clear polish to glue the jewels down and you will need to work quite fast so you have time to move them around before it dries.
Paint clear polish all over the nail and place a diamante in the centre near the cuticle.
 Place jewels on either side of it to form the first row. The number of jewels you need will depend on the size you are using as well as the size of your nail.
 Continue making rows and working upwards. You can place the diamantes in a few different ways to get maximum coverage. My preferred options are either in straight rows like this or with the second row fitting diagonally to the first. What you will be able to accomplish will depend on the jewel size you have, the smaller the better!
 Continue adding rows to the top of the nail, on the last row use one less jewel so it follows the shape of your nail. Obviously if your nails are a different shape adjust the number of diamantes accordingly.
 Once everything is completely dry and being held securely in place, clear coat over the top. Make sure to get the clear polish between all of the jewels so it seals everything in.
 Easy! They are pretty blinding out in the sun so you will get some fun looks with these nails! Hope you enjoyed and see you next time!
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Violet’s Big Nail Art FAQ Updated Version
Time to update another one of my big FAQ posts, this time about nails and nail art. As always, this is just from my personal experience, your milage may vary, bla bla bla disclaimer…
About My Nails
Are your nails natural?
Yes, they are now. Previously I used stick ons and acrylic nails because I used to bite my nails. These days I have developed more self control and have learned to grow out my nails. They are still fairly weak and flexible naturally but I am hoping to improve my overall health which might help that.
How on earth do you do *insert menial household task like dishwashing/cooking/scrubbing the toilet*?!
The same way the rest of you do… with my hands. Long nails do not make you an invalid.
What’s the hardest thing to do with long nails?
Picking up small change from a table top.
Do you wear fancy nail art all the time?
If I had time to do it I would but life unfortunately doesn’t allow me that at the moment. One day though!
What happened to your nail art shop? Can I commission you?
I don’t have the time to make them anymore 🙁
Do false nails damage your natural nails?
To a point but it really depends on how you wear them. If you wear false nails all the time for several months straight it can make your nails soft and yucky. This is because nails need air to breathe so when you cover them for ages you deprive them of air. It’s like when you have a bandaid on for a really long time and then take it off and the new skin is all white and smooshy. This is why most nail artists will recommend you take a 1 week break from nails every 3 months. Also you should never peel your false nails off!
That’s not to say that you can’t wear them without damaging your nails. If you properly remove them, take care of them and take appropriate breaks in between you can safely wear nails with no problems. My naturals nails are still the same as they have always been.
Why is your hand skin always so dry and cracked?
Because I work with my hands making things constantly and taking care of them has so far been fairly low on my to do list. I do want to change this though.
What’s the longest your nails have ever been?
  
About Stick On NailsWhat is the process of sticking the nails on with glue? Here is a video which shows my process: How long do stick-ons last? If you use good glue they can last a few weeks but most people use them for shorter times or events. What are the options for attaching stick on nails? Depending on how long you want them to stay on you can use nail glue, nail stickers or double sided nail tape. Are stick on nails as hardy as acrylics/gels? No but it depends how gentle you are and the glue you use to attach them. The nails themselves are not as hard a acrylics but they are more flexible so you are less likely to chip a nail. Because they are more flexible than the glue used to attach them they can easily pop off though. How do I remove stick ons? If you used nail tape/double sided tape then soak the nails in warm water, after 10 min gently peel the nails off. If you have used nail glue you will need to to soak your nails in nail polish remover and melt the nails off. Do not peel the nails off or you could damage your natural nails. Can I re-use stick on nails? Yes… but it depends how gentle you are at removing them. If you remove them with nail polish remover you will most likely melt the nails and they will be unusable. What do you hold the nails on when you paint them? I’ve tried quite a few things for this but what I’ve settled on is a block of wood with several hooks screwed in. I then blue tac the nails to the hooks. Like this:
About Acrylic NailsHow long do acrylics last? Depending on whether they are professionally done etc they tend to last maybe 3-4 weeks then you will need to get an in-fill or a new set. This obviously doesn’t include chips or breakages.
About Crazy Nail ArtDo the diamantes and 3d parts really stay on? How long do they last? Yes. One or two might occasionally fall off and need re-gluing but if you stick them on well to begin with and make sure to top coat any damage should me minimal. To stick them on you can either use clear nail polish, nail glue or stick them directly into gel or acrylic. What is the easiest way to make french tips? Take a look at my tutorial here. How can I reuse ceramic flowers and charms? This only works for ceramic parts not acrylic parts… If you don’t mind wrecking the false nail they were previously attached to, the easiest way is to dissolve the nail in polish remover. If you can pull the flowers off your nails then just soak them in some polish remover until you remove any polish or dirt, rinse them in water then they will be as good as new. How do you paint all the small details? With a very small paint brush and a lot of patience. Why don’t my nails look as good/shiny/awesome as the nails I see in Japanese magazines? Most of those nails tend to have gel overlays. This makes them super shiny and bright, you can’t really get that effect without gel overlays. What do I do if one of the charms falls off my nail? If you have kept the charm you can easily re-attach it with clear nail polish or nail polish glue. Once it is dry you should be able to do a top coat which will protect it.
About Gel Nail Polish
What is gel polish? It’s a hybrid between traditional gel nails and nail polish.
Why is everyone obsessed with it? It’s easy to apply like regular nail polish while giving benefits of gel nails eg. strengthening and no chipping. It lasts longer than regular nail polish too. To be honest a lot of it is hype but it definitely is a worthwhile product if you can learn how to use it. What are the downsides? Price. You require a gel lamp. It can be a bit of a learning curve to get the gel/lamp combination right unless you buy a pack with both of them which can be expensive. Gel polishes can be up to $25 a bottle and the selection of colours is much smaller because it’s still slightly new technology. Can you use it with nail art? Yep you can base coat then do your nail polish and use a gel top coat to keep everything in place.  So hopefully that answers some questions! Let me know if you have any others for me to add to this!
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Reliving My Childhood With Chocolate Crackles – Cute Food Recipe
Cute food time! Today I’m going back in time to make chocolate crackles. This was such a staple of childhood party food and they are still delicious!
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You know the stupid part about this, I spent this entire time looking at the photos, looking at the crackles, eating the crackles wondering why they didn’t look like they did when I was a kid. It was driving my crazy. Today when I’m writing up the recipe it clicks: because when I was a kid we used coco pops not freaking rice bubbles. -________________-‘’’’’’’’ Oh my god so stupid!! But at least they tasted really good anyway so I guess you can do either.
You need:
In a bowl, mix up the icing sugar,coconut and coco powder so they are well combined.
Add in 4 cups of rice bubbles (or coco pops) and mix that through too.
Set up a bunch of cup cake wrappers ready to go because you will need to be quick in the next steps.
On the stove top, melt the copha in a pot. You can cut it up first if you want but I never bother. Don’t boil it, it just needs to be liquid.
Once it’s totally melted, pour the copha into the rice bubble mixture and stir it through.
You want it to be really evenly coated.
Spoon the warm mix into the patty cakes so they each have a bite sized amount.
Leave them on the bench to cool to room temperature then pop in the fridge to set. If you’re in a hurry just put them in the freezer.
Once they’re cold they are ready to enjoy! I like to add sprinkles or a little extra dusting of cocoa powder or even a drizzle of chocolate to the tops.
Delicious and a fun walk down memory lane, even if my memory is apparently a little fuzzy on the exact recipe!
Let me know if you make them!
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How To Use Watercolour Resist- Let’s Paint! Watercolour Walk Through
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Screw forward thinking, resist/masking fuild is awesome!
 Basically resist/masking fluid is a slightly gummy paste which you paint on, then you can paint colours over the top and carefully remove it to see the white paper underneath.
You can use it in a number of ways. Here are 4 of them!
Top left: Mask out entire heart
Top right: Mask out the area around heart to make a sharp edge
Bottom left: Mask out little spots on the heart
Bottom right: Mask out an entire heart on a painted area
 Once the fluid is dry, paint over the top.
 Gently peel the resist off the paper and it leaves it clean underneath. You can see on the bottom right, the top of the heart is messed up because I was too vigorous when removing it and I tore up a little bit of the paper which was still a bit wet. >_<
 Let’s do a bigger project with it. I have sketched out a deer and we will mask that out and paint over it. So sketch out main drawing.
 Shake up your fluid. I tends to form a skin over the top so you want to make sure it’s a good thin consistency before you paint.
 It’s a good idea to have a dedicated brush for working with masking fluid because it tends to be a pain in the arse to clean up and you don’t want to ruin good watercolour brushes.
 Begin by masking off the larger areas like the neck. You can see what happens if you use unmixed masking fluid below, it’s lumpy and harder to work with so make sure you mix it well!
 I suggest that you thinly outline the area that you want to paint in and then fill in the middles.
 If you make a mistake don’t just wipe it off. Wait for it to dry and then gently peel it off and repaint that area.
 Any areas you want coloured leave blank.
 It can be really difficult to see what you’re doing when painting white on white so I suggest angling your paper while sitting near a window. Leave it to dry very thoroughly before you start painting.
 The painting technique we’re going to use for the rest is basically adding a lot of water and then dripping colour on to it.
 So soak the paper with a coat of water. I suggest when doing paintings this wet you should remove the paper from your sketch book and put it on a board so you don’t ruin pages underneath. For this kind of painting you really need to use a heavy grade of paper.
 Once your paper is nice and wet, begin by dripping your first colour. I like to start around where the masking is so I can actually see what I’m doing for the rest of it.
 Add in a second colour and keep dripping water as you go to keep things wet and easy to move.
 Keep layering water and paint.
   You can see just how much water is used in these kind of paintings.
   Make sure to concentrate on important details like the eyes and pay close attention to the colours there.
 Now leave the entire thing to dry very thoroughly. Even if it seems dry I would suggest leaving it over night or else you risk tearing when you remove the resist.
 Once it is dry gently peel the edge of the fluid and slowly peel it up. If you can’t find the edge, you can VERY gently use a pin to hook it and then pull up with your fingers.
 It should have kind of the consistency of latex eyelash glue. Be super careful around the edges.
 Taadaa!
 To do this kind of painting you do need to be able to think ahead and almost do things backwards, you need a clear vision of how the picture is going to look in your mind before you begin.
 You can see that the lines around the resist are very sharp and clean.
 So there you go, now go and paint something fun!
 Hopefully you have a decent grasp of how masking fluid works now! Let me know if you have any questions 😀 I’m really enjoying writing this series now, I hope you are all enjoying reading them.
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How To Make Your Own Hair Mask – Recipe
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For this tutorial you will need:
Add all of the ingredients to a cup or bowl.      Mix them up vigorously until they are completely smooth.
  The consistency should be quite runny so it will be easy to distribute through your hair.
 Then just apply it to your hair and leave it on for at least 10 minutes. It feels and smells a little gross but it really does make my hair feel awesome!
 You can wrap your hair in cling wrap if you are worried about it going everywhere while you wait. I have always wondered if any of these kinds of treatments can actually do anything useful because really you’re just adding things to you hair. I imagine a healthy diet and having the correct vitamins in your body to begin with would really do you a lot more good than just softening the hair after it’s grown out. But this isn’t my area of expertise so what do I know! Either way, soft hair for the win!
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How To Get Hair Waves Using Stockings! Photo Tutorial
Today’s hair tutorial is a little odd but it’s great to have as many tools in your arsenal as possible! Today we’re going to getting waves using stockings!
These kinds of overnight styles to get curls are always a bit hit and miss depending on the type of hair you actually have. This is similar to all of those sock buns=waves sorts of things but it’s a little easier to do because stockings are bigger and stretchier.
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To begin with tie your hair in a high ponytail.
 At this point you can add any hair spray or mouse etc that you like to keep the shape.
Fold the stockings in half and sandwich the ends of your hair between the middle.
 Roll the hair around the stockings.
 Continue rolling the stockings up until you reach the base of the ponytail.
 Tie the stockings in a knot at the back.
 You should have something like this once you’re done!
 Now add another layer of hairspray and then go and have a peaceful night’s sleep!
 Next morning!
 Once the stockings are removed the hair should have more volume, especially around the ends which will hold a nice curl. How much curl you get will depend on the type of hair you have and also your hair cut. Layers curl much more obviously!
 Now just separate the curls out with your fingers.
 If they become too loose you can re-curl the shape with your fingers.
 Add a pretty accessory and you’re good to go! Pretty 😀
 For these sorts of tutorials, results will always vary so let me know how it goes for you!
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