XL-C Image Plate.

No, I did not free hand these nails. Hehe.

The answer to how I did that design is nail art stamping. If you're not familiar with stamping, it's a method of creating nail art where you apply nail polish to a design etched on metal plate, pick up the design with the stamper and transfer it on to your nail. You can do a Youtube or Google search for "nail stamping" if you want to learn more.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you guys this image plate (the metal plate used for stamping) I acquired recently. The XL-C image plate. It's the most be-yoo-ti-ful image plate I have ever seen. Ever. I am so in love with it. Just look at it!

See the detail on that?? The designs look Indian/Thai/batik/tribal-inspired. I'm so excited to use all of them! One of the neat things about this plate is that most of designs come with mirror images. So if you're OC with symmetry you'll have no problems with this plate. Also, some of the images have these curved bottom edges which you can use to make patterned french tips. Cool, right?

So you can better see the designs, I stamped all of them on a piece of paper and scanned it. I couldn't get the whole of the design images though. Apparently, each design is too big to fit on my stamper. That's a good thing, IMO. No worries about the design being bitin for your nails!

I got this plate from a stall at 168 Mall in Divisoria for Php 500.00. But I'm so sorry, guys, because this plate I got was the last one in the store and I wasn't able to find it in any of the other nail art stalls. I've tried looking for it online but the local online nail art shops that do sell it are out of stock, too.

If you really want it, I would suggest doing a Google search for it. But be prepared to pay international shipping fees. My plate doesn't really have a brand but I know these kinds of plates also go by the name of Cheeky XL plates. Try searching "XL C image plate" or "Cheeky XL C image plate". Good luck on the hunt! Hehe.

- Jix.

Braided Nail Design Tutorial.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram have probably already seen this.

As I've said, this is my first manicure in over a month and I wanted to do a design that would 1) showcase how pretty Orly "Luxe" is, 2) be in line with the "Pink October" theme (October is breast cancer awareness month for those, like Dax, who don't know -_-) , and 3) look good on short nails (since I've been cutting my nails to the quick to get rid of any unhealthy nail asap).

So I thought, what better way to tie that all together than to do a braided nail design! Heh. See what I did there? Eh? Eh? *nudge nudge* Tie it in... Braid... Get it? Aaaanyway...

This is actually a pretty popular design, as of late. It's been making its rounds on the nail art blogosphere. I think it's because it looks intricate but is fairly easy to do and you don't need any special tools to do it. I'll show you how.

First, pick three colors. The colors that I used for my manicure were Orly "Luxe" (of course), Caress "Pleasure" and Caress "Rose Beige", pictured below.

Orly "Luxe", Caress "Pleasure", and Caress "Rose Beige"

Now, on to the design tutorial. Just use the brush that comes in your nail polish.

Braided Nail Art Design Tutorial.

See? Pretty simple, right? Just keep applying the colors in sequence. You don't need to follow the exact number of strokes I made. Then, clean the edges and apply topcoat when you're done.

BTW, please excuse my crude methods, but that's really how I do my concept and practice nail art -- on acetate.-_- Methinks I should get some of those fake nails if I want to do more of these nail tutorials. Hehe.

Just some tips for this design:

• Wait for each color to dry before applying the next color. This is the only drawback to this design -- it takes time. I would suggest doing one color on all of your nails, then do the next color, apply on all of your nails, and so forth. That way the polish will have semi-dried on the first nail by the time you move on to the next color.
• As much as possible, choose polishes that are opaque in one stroke so you don't have to go over them again before moving on to the next color. In my case, it took me a little more time to do this design since the pink colors needed two coats for opacity.
• This is just my opinion, but I think selecting one pearly or metallic color to go with two creme colors really accentuates the design. Three cremes is fine, too. But more than one "bling-y" color may be overkill. Hehe.

That's it. I hope you guys liked this. Show me if you decide do this design on your nails! And if you see any of my nail designs you'd like to learn how to do, tell me and I'll post a tutorial here.:)

- Jix.

Orly "Luxe" + Comeback Nail Art.

Orly "Luxe".

Such a pretty gold, don't you think?

I spotted this while looking for a nice gold polish color to use for stamping. I wanted one that wasn't too yellow or too bronze, and I think Orly "Luxe" was just that. It's a shimmery metallic gold with some silver micro glitter mixed in to "cool down" the color. It has a foil-like finish when applied.

I didn't purchase this right away since I was holding out for China Glaze's "2030". But since I couldn't find 2030 anywhere, I got this instead.

It had been sitting on my dresser for weeks before I finally got to use it. Not that I wasn't excited. In fact, I was just itching to do some nail art with it. But I was giving my nails a break from polish. They were becoming unhealthy and started getting the equivalent of split ends where the top layer of nail started chipping and peeling. Yikes.

After a little over a month of naked nails, I finally deemed them healthy enough to be painted again and here's what I came up with:

Braided nail art with Orly "Luxe".

Of course I had to reserve one whole fingernail to be painted gold. Hehe.

I bought Orly "Luxe" at SM Makati for Php 349.75.

Oh, it stamps pretty well, BTW. You might still be seeing this in my next nail art posts. I have the most beautiful nail art stamping plate to show you!

I've also prepared a tutorial for how I did that braided design above. If you're interested, check back in a few hours.:)

- Jix.

HG Nude Nail Color: Caress Cyclamen Pink

Ever since I got into nail art, I've had some new design on my nails almost every week. But I'm pretty conservative with my toe nail colors. Doing those mint toe nails a few weeks back was actually a new thing for me.

Instagram shot of my minty toes.

I still prefer having shades of pink on my toes. My favorite toe nail colors are those pink-nude kinds. I'd always been in search of a perfect "my-nails-but-better" shade and I found it a few months ago, from a local brand no less!

Caress Cyclamen Pink

This is Caress in "Cyclamen Pink". I tried my best to adjust the photo's color balance to mimic what the color looks like in real life. I don't know how it would look on your screen but I think you can tell how flattering this shade is against my skin. In the bottle, it's not very pretty or remarkable, to be honest. It looks like an old rose pink with grayish undertones. I'm not even sure why I picked it up in the first place, but I'm so glad I did. It's the perfect nude for my skin tone -- not too pale, not too brown. I'm wearing two coats in this photo.

This color usually goes on my toes, but I used it on my nails this time since I'll be attending a formal event later. No crazy nail art. I might have some fun with it after tonight though. Hehe.

Caress nail polishes are sold at most department stores but they don't carry all the colors, all the time. So there's a chance you might have to visit more than one store if you're looking for a specific shade. The most comprehensive "collection" I've found is at Cash n Carry Makati. This particular one, however, I got from Landmark Makati for Php 22.75 (as you can tell from the price tag, haha).

- Jix.