Skip to main content

Experiments with Gold Leaf Nails

I've made it something of a habit to collect anything I could plausibly stick on my nails lately.  I have dried flowers, pots of glitter, beads and more all sitting in a plastic bin.  Something that's been a bit of a mental block for me though is a little pot of gold leaf.  It is clearly interesting but I just wasn't sure what to do with it and there is a surprising dearth of tutorials online.  So, for the sake of science, I decided to do an experiment.

I wasn't sure of the coverage I was going to be able to get with the leaf so, starting with my thumb, I added the normal base coat and a coat of Revlon Gold Coin.  I then cut out a square of leaf and laid it on top of the wet polish.  Surprisingly, the leaf stuck well.  Trying to position it left small tears so once I'd smoothed the sheet over my nail gently using a rubber orange stick, I added a tiny amount of Seche Vite over the area and applied a patch.  As the foil is so thin, this actually worked in covering up the tear.  I then repeated this process over all my nails.  I added another layer for a smoother finish once I was done, with another coat of SV to just smooth everything over.  I used small pointed scissors to clean up around my cuticles, using the edge to score and remove the leaf without tearing it.







The Verdict:  This looks so cool once done although I'd have liked the surface to be a lot smoother than it was.  This isn't a very practical mani as even with plently of top coat it's still very fragile.  I think I'll try this one again but with two coats of base coat/ridge filler for the smoothest possible surface.  Gold nails though!

Comments

  1. I just did a mani and used red variegated gold leaf as an accent nail. One thing I learned, apply BC let dry till its tacky then apply leaf and use a fluffy eyeshadow brush to smooth then TC. Sadly the leaf seems to have disappeared after a few days even though the TC is still there, weird? I have to get some gold because I'm dying to do one like yours!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Nicole by OPI A Million Sparkles is Accurately Named

It's amazing what you can find when you wander around at night.  My favourite time to go shopping is ridiculously late and I'm extra happy when it pays off.  I've been looking for Nicole by OPI A Million Sparkles for a while now at that couldn't be more up my alley if it tried.  I finally managed to find it in a Shoppers last night and it really does live up to its name. A Million Sparkles is a predominately blue glitter that has an amazing ability to look like a foil after a couple of coats.  Combine that with gold, silver and pink bar glitter and you have a winner.  It's seriously so sparkly I got distracted from what I was saying at lunch today.  Application is decent but you really need four coats to get completely opaque coverage.  That's ok, glitter dries fast.  It's a little rough too but nothing Seche Vite can't fix.  The Verdict:  Yay glitter! If, like me, you like sparklies to the point where it's the biggest tag on y

Review: JENsations Stars in Space and S'mores

Guess what everyone?  I'm going to review some indie polishes that you can actually buy without having to wait for email messages!  Yay!  And sparkly too!  Imagine all the holo glory as while my lightbox produces lovely even white light, it saps any and all rainbows from manis, leaving me to try to take pictures in my kitchen like a barbarian.  It may not sound that hard but when you use a manual focus 60mm macro lens that has a wafer-thin depth of field, it's not the easiest.  Anyway, let's take a look at two, that's right, two, beautiful polishes from JENsations , Stars in Space and S'mores. First up, Stars in Space.  I started with two coats of Zoya Caprice, a very bright purple creme that you'll be seeing a lot of as it makes for a great base.  Next, two coats of Stars in Space, the most fabulous mix of silver holo glitter.  There's stars, squares (man, I love square glitter), hexes and micro glitter.  I liked this one as there was enough glitter on

31DC2014 Day 17: Glitter! AKA OH GOD THE CRUSHING PRESSURE

The challenge isn't going super well for me.  I could do it, but it's bringing up this whole complex mess of procrastination, pressure and something undefinable that makes me just want to avoid doing it.  I feel like I'm rebelling when I don't do a day.  Screw you Past Laura, you can't tell me what to do!  Add the pressure of choosing something for "Glitter", well, that's clearly not going to be done on time.  It's late, but look, rainbows!