It's About TIME!

Without a doubt, the #1 question people ask after seeing my nails is:
"How long did it take to do those??"


So for this blog post, I set out to take pictures with my watch as I went through making this design - Royal Flush Poker Nails.  Here's a peek at the finished design:

*click HERE to go see a BUNCH of pictures of these*

Alrighty - here we go...

 8:45 pm - I sketched out my design on paper before I began.  I don't always do this, but since I wasn't sure at first where this was going, I started with pencil and paper.  I sketched out several designs before deciding on the Royal Flush.

    8:50 pm - Foil Method.  I put acetone on half a cotton ball on top of each nail, then wrapped in foil.  This makes removing polish a breeze!  I leave the foil on for about 5 minutes, then gently twist each foil covering and pull to remove polish.  Then I touch-up any corners or sides where polish is tricky to remove.

    9:00 pm - Clean Nails!!

    9:05 pm - (sorry, no clock)  I use an old toothbrush to clean out extra 'gunk' hiding under my nails and get them nice and clean before putting on new polish.

    9:15 pm - Base coat.  I use Sally Hansen Double Duty.  After the base coat, I let it dry really well before adding polish.

    9:25 pm - First coat of Wet n Wild Shine French Creme.  And then drying time...

    9:30 pm - Second coat of French Creme...then lots of drying time....

    9:50 pm - Black card outline with Kiss Nail Art Paint in black and a few spots with white to cover up my "oops".  I think this was the hardest part of the whole thing!  I'm still getting used to the way striping brushes work, so making the slightly rounded edges of the cards was a bit of a trick.

    10:00 pm - Just finished painting on the Hearts on my left hand (using my dominant right hand) using Pure Ice Crimson and toothpicks

    10:10 pm - Just finished painting the Spades on my right hand (using my non-dominant left hand) using Wet n Wild Black Creme and toothpicks

    10:20 pm - Finished painting green outside the cards with Wet n Wild Fast Dry Sage in the City and a small brush on both hands

    10:30 pm - Finished putting a second coat of Sage in the City on both hands.  Then I used a cotton ball dipped in acetone to clean-up around the edges.  Let it dry for quite a while, then added a topcoat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

    11:00 pm - DONE!

So......"How long did it take you to do that?"  Just over 2 hours!!  But most of the "time" is spent just waiting for things to dry!

Wanna see more pictures of this one???  GO HERE NEXT!