Metal Decals: What they are, and tips for using them in your nail art!

Metal decals are a pretty cool way to accessorize and customize your nails because they share the intricate designs of nail stickers but are WAY more bling and cool to look at, besides being relatively simple to work with. 

They are made of a very soft, thin metal, can be used on acrylic nails or natural nails, and are usually pretty small in size (below 5mm or 2/8"). At this point, I've

"Antique Bronze Relic" Manicure

I was looking at one of the prints on an XL stamping plate and saw one design that I thought looked really interesting. It's a geometric pattern that looked kinda organic (peacock) and kinda tribal/sci-fi in a rather 5th Element or WoW Iron Dwarf relic kinda way. Nerd, I know.







I used:

A beautiful duochrome polish olive-green from China Glaze that's a dupe for Chanel Peridot, called

The “Yellow Polka-Dotted": Lemon Fizz Nails with Acrylic Bow and Pink Glitter Spots

Yellow polka-dotted nails with acrylic bow on accent finger and sequin heart on thumb.




Items used from left: China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Konad pink special polish, yellow acrylic bow with pink dots, and pink translucent glitter. QA30 stamping plate from eBay.





I was inspired by a pretty yellow acrylic bow and decided to do matchy-matchy nails to go with the theme. 


Apply pale

[Nails] Psychedelic Swirls: Adventures with XL Nail Stamping Plate B

If you're an expert, you probably already know everything I'm about to say.
But if you like doing your nails but haven't heard of "Konad" or "nail stamping", it's one of the easiest ways to "cheat" and create intricate designs on your nails without visiting a salon.


People who get into stamping get quite fanatic about it, because it's such an economical way to jazz up your nail look.

Starry, Starry Night: Navy and Silver Glitter Ombre Nails

(For the fabulous Yina of The Velvet Dolls.)

Super simple, and pretty darned quick to do. This nail look requires no ready-made glitter polish and no mixing of pigments into clear polishes. All you need is:

A dark blue nail polish (I used L.A. Girl Dance Club)
Repositionable glue (below) or nail foil adhesive
A silver glitter (fine-grained)
A soft blue eyeshadow (I used MAC Shimmermint)