Jin Jin's Adventures

This set of nails was created on full cover nail tips, made specially for my dear friend Wendy who got married in December last year. Her favourite colour is purple :) I was afraid they were a bit too long but it looked absolutely perfect on her!

Nail polish used was OPI - Yokohama Twilight

I've officially ditched dark colours this Spring! I'm so into bright or pastel colours this season.
This is China Glaze - Agent Lavender with lilac and white acrylic and purple bullions.

Wow time really pass by so quickily! Jin Jin's Adventures has just turned 1 year old! A BIG Thank You to everyone who's been following and reading my blog. I can't express in words how much fun I had interacting with fellow bloggers who share the same passion in nail polish and nail art.

Looking back this past year, I've realised just how much nail art materials I've collected and purchased! Only last week, I was shocked to find out that my nail art station and table is running out of space to fit all my stuff! The year ahead, I'm hoping to experiment and to try more methods and techniques for creating nail art. I hope that you'll enjoy reading the post as much as I enjoy creating the nail art.

As for this week's nail art, I created a design to go with a purple dress I wore to a friend's engagement party. In my excitement to capture it before sun set, I've totally forgotten to clean the nail polish overflow around my nails! So please ignore the ugly bits hehehe

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.

Look what I found after going to the hardware store! I've seen people using hooks and blue tags to hold nail tips like this. It's a great way to prop them up so that you can have both hands fee. It's especially good when applying air brush artwork.

I am now slowly trying out all the new gel products I bought earlier. On Monday night, I started working on removing my previous nail art and getting my nails ready for gel. The whole process from removal, to reshaping, cleaning cuticles and applying the gel took me 5 hours! I went to bed at 2 am and spent the most of Tuesday living like a zombie!

It took me a while getting used to applying gels as they were much thicker than nail polish. This design was done by drawing alternating lines of 2 different coloured gels and then dragging a thin brush across the nails in sections. Each time I complete one nail, it needs to be cured under the UV lamp. I was impatient and did 3 nails on my left hand before curing and that just messed up the whole marbling effect. As the gel do not set unless cured, it will still move around when your hand moves. Therefore it's best to cure them one by one.

I also tried using one of the 3D gels I got. This one is a light purple colour with lots of sparkles in it. The sparkles made it a bit more difficult to mould but the effect was very pretty.

Last week I tried making a 3D gel rose and was very happy with the result. I called the store immediately the following day and booked a whole box of 3D gels in different colours! I'll be practising making different kinds of 3D nail art and hope to post them up soon.

Part of my haul last week include this very cool Silver Acrylic Powder. When it's wet it looks like a drop of mercury. However, it dries up giving a matte silver look. I really like the texture of this acrylic powder because it sets really well and was very easy to mould. This acrylic powder series also comes in gold and bronze, but I only got the silver one this time.

I'm very happy with this week's nail art, It'll be so cute to match it with a pair of silver peep toe shoes. I'm thinking of doing a matching design on the toes too!

As I've mentioned before, I've always only done my own nails and that of my mom's. I've also created nail art for 3 other friends before, but they were all done on natural nails. Last Friday, a friend of mine was going to attend a wedding and wanted her nails done. I thought I'll try painting on some artificial nails. The end result was pretty good!

I've been down with the winter bug since Wednesday 2 weeks ago! Never been so sick for a long while. I nearly took a whole week off from work to recover but I'm still feeling very sick. The doctor said it's not H1N1 but I think it maybe a variation, cos no matter what medication I take my flu refused to go away! I may have to revisit my doctor again to have a second check. I'm so over being sick...hope this flu goes away soon!

Last Monday, after being cooped up at home for 5 days, I ventured out for the first time to get some sunshine and fresh air. However, spending 1 hour outside took so much energy out of me that I was totally exhausted. Nevertheless, it was a rewarding outing because I got myself some new coloured acrylic powders, heaps of glitters, a cute nail art display stand and many more bits and pieces. I'll do more 3D nail art once I get rid of this yucky cold.

Here are some old nail art I did some time back. Sorry about the picture quality. They were taken from my handphone.

Have been feeling very stress lately due to work as well as other issues! There's so much to do and not enough hours in a day to accomplish them. sigh...