It has been a very tiring weekend because I had to work till 12am on Friday night! To make matters worse, it's extremely hot as well. Next Saturday is going to be pretty much the same with the mercury hitting 37 deg.C.

I was lazing around the house feeling very lethargic the whole weekend not wanting to move or go out. I feel like a sloth! Luckily, by Sunday afternoon we had heaps of cooling sea breeze and I was finally motivated to redo my nails.

I don't even want to think how long it took for me to create this set. It's by far the longest time spent ever. Reason being, it's the first time I've ever tried using acrylic to create a full cover overlay. It's also the first time I've tried using glitter powder to create a gradient effect and it's the first time I'm making these gel cherry blossoms.



These are all the nail art materials I've used to create this look. I really love this glitter pot. If you look closely, you'll see that it's not just purple glitters. There's a mixture of a lighter shade of purple and some silver bits.



To get the gradient effect, I mixed 2 batches of glitter with clear acrylic powder, each with different concentration of glitters. I've never done this before and my hands were so busy with the mixing I've totally forgotten to take photos of the process!

Anyway this is the final result. I think in total it took me 6 hours or more, because I had a dinner break inbetween!


 

 I Really Love This Glitter!


 Under Warm Light



Comments (28)

On December 7, 2009 at 10:25 PM , Unknown said...

Oh they looks so sweet and pretty~ ^^
i like it in blue and white,
and the cherry blossom,
it's like once you touch them they will fly around you,
little bit of gold added more impact to the design.
great job and worth to take so long haha..

 
On December 7, 2009 at 10:36 PM , Jin said...

Thank you Rachel! The gold is my dad's idea! He loves to come into my nail room to check out the profess of my nail design. He told me that the purple looks quite dark and it would look better matched with yellow or gold rinestones.

 
On December 8, 2009 at 12:02 PM , Violet LeBeaux said...

Oh that's so pretty! I love the cherry blossoms on the gradient, I wish I could do something as pretty as that :D Great job!

 
On December 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM , Anonymous said...

Divine nails Jin, the colours are superb, your father has excellent taste! I agree with Rachel, they definitely have a "take flight" effect!

On a side note, I know what you mean about sloth weather. As you know I am not a big fan. When I heard on the news last night that the long range forecast for Boxing Day is 45 degrees, I amost fainted. Ughhhh - I'll melt like chocolate ;) Surely they are joking! xx

 
On December 8, 2009 at 2:18 PM , Jin said...

Hi Violet thank you for visiting and for the sweet comments. I am sure with practise you can also do this. I would love to spend more time practising acrylic overlays and extensions, however the smell of monomer really gives me a headache! hehe

 
On December 8, 2009 at 4:39 PM , Jin said...

Thank you Danielle! I'll let my dad know that his suggestion have been highly praised on my blog hehe. He'll be delighted. ;)

I did not hear of that boxing day weather report! Oh no, I will most certainly melt too. I hope it's not humid as well!

 
On December 14, 2009 at 8:35 PM , ThRiSzHa said...

wow!! honestly im so envy everytime im seeing a nail with

glitter gradient like this.. how did u do that?? i dont

have any glitters like urs...can i use the ordinary

glitter? oh i really want to try this out...btw..
about my konading skills.. i dont think i have special

technique on stamping.. i just do the ordinary way of

stamping..my tip that i can share to u is that: put a top

coat after u put ur base polish before stamping this base

polish will be a protection to ur base polish if ever u

made a mistake in ur stamping.. when ur polish is totally

dry..start stamping and if ever u made a mistake u can

sightly wipe out the design with polish remover (the top

coat u put after the base polish will protect ur base

polish) so on this way u're not goin to start over again..

i hope this will help.. ohhh.. i just notice now that i

havent put u on my fab blog roll list..damn me!! i always

forgot..now i put u on my blog roll list... im so envy

with ur acrylic skills...u're awesome!! one of my ultimate

wishlist is to have a starter acrylic kit...so sad i cant

find any here in Abu Dhabi...where do u buy ur acrylic

kit? i love ur pearl beads and ur gold beads...oh girl..im

really envy with ur nail art stuffs...

 
On December 14, 2009 at 9:10 PM , Jin said...

Hi Thriszha thank you so much for adding me to your blog roll! Really appreciate your nice comments. This is the first time I'm doing this glitter gradient effect. I think you can use regular craft glitter as well. Just make sure they are fine if not the gradient effect will not be as nice. I mix the glitters in clear acrylic powder and apply them on the end of my nails. I use less glitters as I move up the nails. Between the glitter and clear sections, I simply push little bits of glitter across to get the gradient effect. You can layer more glitter acrylic at the tips to make it darker. I get all my acrylic supplies from a small local shop. I'm sure you can source these online too.

Hey thank you so much for the Konading tips! I shall try Konading again next time. Hope it'll be successful this time round.

 
On December 15, 2009 at 12:40 PM , ThRiSzHa said...

ohhh so sad i cant purchase online... i dont use credit cards..nor i have paypal..btw where u from? can u make a blog post on how to put acrylic nails?thanks

 
On December 15, 2009 at 8:01 PM , Jin said...

Hi Thriszha I am in Perth, Australia. Ok next time when I do another full cover acrylic overlay, I will do a step by step tutorial. I am actually thinking of doing a give away on my blog's 1 year birthday! I may do a acrylic starter set give away. So stay tuned!

 
On December 15, 2009 at 11:26 PM , Yvette Lim said...

Nice...I like it....back at work now...:) counting down ...

 
On December 16, 2009 at 2:11 AM , Jin said...

Hey Yvette, thanks for dropping by! I am glad you like this design. Maybe I can do a set for you someday. Yes you are counting down to 12 months leave! I am so envious of you! Come visit me often on the blog ok.

 
On December 18, 2009 at 3:56 PM , Shanghainese Dumpling said...

Very pretty!! :)

 
On December 18, 2009 at 6:13 PM , Jin said...

Thank You Ena!

 
On January 11, 2010 at 4:08 PM , Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

 
On January 11, 2010 at 7:35 PM , Jin said...

Thank you so much for the encouragement! I will do my best! ;)

 
On January 18, 2010 at 3:29 AM , Anonymous said...

Good fill someone in on and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you seeking your information.

 
On February 16, 2010 at 8:26 AM , Anonymous said...

nice article. I would love to follow you on twitter.

 
On February 16, 2010 at 10:19 AM , Jin said...

Thank you very much! I am still trying to fit in blogging and nail art amidst my busy work schedule. I've been thinking of joining Twitter and Facebook. That will definitely be the next thing I'll look into once I have more time at hand.

 
On March 7, 2010 at 8:56 AM , jo.frougal said...

Wow wow wow. You and your dad must share some artistic genes there. THis mani is absolutely fab!

 
On March 7, 2010 at 2:17 PM , Jin said...

Hehe thank you sooo much jo.frougal! I think my dad is way more artistic than me. He is my go to person when I get stuck with anything that's gotta do with matching colours.

 
On June 5, 2010 at 8:42 AM , Anonymous said...

Hi
Very nice and intrestingss story.

 
On June 5, 2010 at 12:24 PM , Jin said...

Thank You!

 
On June 7, 2010 at 3:26 PM , Anonymous said...

Whats's Up i'm fresh here, I came accross this forum I have found It extremely accommodating and it has helped me a great deal. I should be able to give something back and guide other users like it has helped me.

Cheers, Catch You Later

 
On June 7, 2010 at 5:39 PM , Jin said...

Thank You. I am glad you find it useful.

 
On April 7, 2011 at 4:13 AM , Anonymous said...

I'm glad that I've found your jin-lim.blogspot.com web site.
Oh, this is a really qualitative post. In theory I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real effort to make a good article... but what can I say... I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.

 
On September 8, 2011 at 2:38 AM , Diana said...

I love your 3d designs! I've been trying to work with nsi's 3d gels and I find it so hard to work with. I can't even mold a simple bow. How do u mold the 3d gels so perfectly?

 
On February 26, 2012 at 1:09 AM , Jin said...

Hi Diana, 3D gels are quite easy to work with. However I do find some a bit too runny to mould. For those that have harden, just work some clear gel into it to soften it up a bit. I don't really have a trick. Just mould to your liking and quickily cure it before it starts running.