First Acrylic and Ombre nail attempt

Holla!!!
Hope you enjoy my first nail post!
Last night I did an Acrylic nail - that's right singularrrr - and had a go at ombre nails (which I've never tried before. Next time I try the Acrylic nails I'll post some step by step to show you how I got on!

Acrylic

So last night I cracked out the newly purchased Acrylic nails set and had a go on on ring and pinkie fingers of my left hand- I still have uni work to do and didn't want my typing speed to be impeded too much and I'm not supposed to do my nails properly until I finish university, but the pack came in the post and I am a sucker for temptation.

I bought the beginner Acrylic set by Naio because I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos with Gemma Lambert and hers was the beginner video I followed the easiest. I cannot comment really on how good this set is as it is the first time I've used anything like this.

I had a go at both white tips and just a nail extension. The White tip was not as easy as just doing a full clear extension but all in all I didn't think it was too bad considering it was my first attempt

I then decided to see how easy it was to soak off my pinkie to see how easy it was. The result was VERY easy - but that was more likely down to my lack of proper nail prep before applying and not because they come off super easy.

Ombre Nails

I then decided to paint my nails so the single Acrylic I was leaving on wouldn't look too out of place with the rest of my nails(to see how long it would last/ how difficult it would be to have it and how uncomfortable it would be - I have in the past had acrylics done at the salon that were so thick they just felt like they were weighing my finger tips down).


I filed the Acrylic tip down so it wasn't drastically longer than my other fingernails
I painted my left hand all orange and then spotted my yellow so thought I would give gradient a go. So for this hand I painted the top half of the nail with my yellow and then sponged it. The result, I think was pretty good.

For the right hand I did the "google approved method" of painting the pale colour all over and sponging the darker colour over the top - whether it was because it was my dominant hand or my method was a bit better, I didn't like the effect on my left hand as much.
I can see why it would be necessary for paler colours that don't have such good coverage - but my yellow covered over the orange really well.

If you're reading this I hope you enjoyed the beginning of my nail journey

Products:

Naio beginner acrylic nails set
Sinful Colours Polish in Unicorn - available at Boots
Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Mango - GNP18 available online, at Boots and Superdrug

The Beginning

"Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi"

Hellooooooo
I've been yammering on about creating a blog for months now, today I've finally decided to do it!!! This is more for my own benefit than expecting anyone to read it, and it will be nice to have somewhere to put my photos :D



So, I have always been into nail polish and nails and things, but up until I was about 16 I bit my nails quite badly so could never really do anything with them. Even after I weened myself off biting my nails they were always soft and brittle and snapped easily so they were never great to do anything with except a nice colour polish - and even then it was messy and chipped all the time as I still had a habit of putting my fingers in my mouth and was quite rough with my nails.

About a year ago I started watching YouTube videos and reading other nail blogs (the life of a Uni student ey - I had far too much time on my hands. I started learning about better nail care and about different polishes and things. I slowly began getting more adventurous with my nail polish and started doing some nail art on my nails.

When I discovered "shellac" gels was when the obsession really took over - I bought a lamp and a few polishes off Ebay and found with the harder gel coating my nails were stronger and could grow to a more respectable length than I had ever imagined my heavily damaged nails could grow.

I am still at university (technically - I graduate next month) and I do computer science which (as you can imagine) is heavy on the typing so having my nails any longer than the ends of my finger tips is a big no no. they were still quite long for what they were especially since the few times I have been to the salon to have my nails done it is always commented how short my nail beds are.

At a later date I might upload all my previous nail art attempts into a blog- but I have so many finding the time to sift through them all, well it probably wont happen.

So I started getting better at the gel nail polishes I decided, since I was leaving university and coming up to the summer I needed a new 'project' to get me through, what is doubtlessly going to be a very tough and disheartening couple of months searching for a 'real' job. So I decided I was going to teach myself how to do Acrylic nails, and this is where my story begins.