Shabby

FAQ

Q1 Are your nails natural?
A1 Yes, they are! Partly good genetics (thanks Mom and Dad :k) and I take good care of my hands and nails, you can find more info about that here.

Q2 How do you polish your nails?
A2 Maybe I'll make a special post about this one, but for now a picture (awesome paint job, right? I'm definitely better at the real nail painting, hee-hee) and a short description:

The first thing I do is applying a base coat. Then I get my bottle of nail polish, roll it a couple of times in my hands to mix the components. I don't like to shake the nail polish right before using it, because shaking can cause bubbling and I want a smooth non-bubbly result. It's important to get the right amount of polish on the brush, it's hard to explain what amount is right, it depends on the thickness of the polish, the brush.. it's about experience I guess.


I start the actual polishing with placing a drop of polish in the middle of the nail at the base but not against the cuticle (1.). I push the drop towards the cuticle and stop at about 2 mm from the cuticle (2.) because I prefer a small gap between the cuticle and the polish. Then I move the brush towards the tip of the nail (3.), I paint  a second stroke on the left side of the nail bed towards the tip of the nail leaving a small gap between the skin and the polish (4.) and another stroke on the right side (5.). My next step (6.) is wrapping the tip. You can find more info about this step here. I prefer to apply thin coats, so I often need two or three coats of polish. A nice layer of top coat over it and I'm done.


Q3 How do you get that smooth line between your cuticle and the polished area? 
A3 I made a how to about this, you can check it here.

Q4 What base- and top coat do you use?
A4 Base coat: Nail Repair from Trind or Color Club's Milky White base coat
     Top coat: INM Out The Door Fast Drying Top Coat or Poshe Super Fast Drying Top Coat

Q5 What camera do you use?
A5 I use a Nikon D5100 or a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS6.

Q6 Do you use Photoshop?
A6 No, I use GIMP. ^_^ I use this software for cropping pictures, adding my watermark and colour correcting if my camera messed up the nail polish colour. Sometimes I use GIMP for a little retouching (removing dog hairs, paper cuts, etc.), but don't worry, I do the actual nail painting, not GIMP! Don't forget you can work wonders with a little brush and a drop of acetone (see Q3).

Q7 How to create a curved watermark?
A7 This is hard to explain in words, I recommend checking this tutorial.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Let me know in a comment or send me an email!