Konad/Fauxnad French - M19, C02, Zoya Sari

Another simple French mani today, you know how I love French's, especially with the odd Konad embellishment.

I used Zoya's Sari for the base colour, a very pretty sheer pinky peach shade for a natural look.  Well, more natural looking than my usual white sheer Lucy, (my favourite one, even if it is not as natural as Sari).  Two coats for the base, then tips stamped with konad M19 and white, then one more coat of Sari over the top to soften the tips.

I then used GCOCL fauxnad plate C02 for the design.  These are great plates, I got them in an 18 plate set recently off Ebay.  They are the hexagon plates that include the famous Hello Kitty image.  This plate has the reverse designs too, so great for each hand, love that!   I used Konad Princess special polish in Violet Pearl for the delicate floral/dots design.

Very happy with the result, though I think I went one coat too many on Sari, made the tip look a bit grubby ;o)  Will try this one again with my fav French base Zoya Lucy

Konad M19, M81 - Easy French Mani

Today I decided to show the Franch mani I did with Zoya's Lucy.  As you know, I loved Lucy! ;o)
Really fabulous, non-streaky sheer white. Bliss!

I decided to add a little pattern with Konad, just to add interest.

I applied two coats of Lucy, then stamped the tips in konad white and M19, then  applied a third coat of Lucy to soften to tips.
I then added the small design from plate M81 and used OPI Dim Sum Plum.

Nice and easy one to do and looks quite pretty too  :o)

Konad/BundleMonster mani - French Kiss!

As soon as I got my Bundle Monster plates, I knew I had to do this mani, it was crying out to be done!!!

The only reason I bought the BM plates was because of the lipstick print design,  how could I not do a French mani and call it French Kiss?  Come on.........

So I used two coats of Zoya Lucy (reviewed here), my goto HG French base colour, love it!  I then stamped in white using Konad M19 for the tips.  One more coat of Lucy over the top, to soften it.......and that is my basic French mani routine.
Now comes the fun bit,  add the lipstick design from BM02 in red and a final top coat and you are done!

 in natural light, outdoors

Simple, quick and lots of fun, a great French Kiss!

Review of Bundle Monster plates coming in the next few days........

Zoya Polish - Lucy

As you know, I have been spreading my wings and venturing into Zoya-land recently.  I must admit, they are stunning polishes and I am loving them all!

Today I have Lucy for you, a soft white jelly-like polish, perfect for French mani's.
I cannot express how much I love this polish, it is the most perfect sheer white I have ever tried!  It just does not streak, the jelly type consistency means it goes on beautifully with no streaks in sight, don't you just love that!?

I was so impressed with this one that I actually bought a second one as a back-up!  Perfect, non-streaky whites do not happen very often. It is pure love.......

It was great with one coat, added just a brightening effect to the nail.  Two coats was really great, nice and lifted colour but with a still visible nail bed.  I used three coats, and this gave a more almost opaque, whitened look to the nail bed, which I loved as my nail beds are really pink normally.  Makes your hand look healthy, fresh and tanned.

I used Konad plate M19 for the french tips and konad white polish.  I used two coats of Lucy, stamped the tips then added a third coat of Lucy.  A top coat of SV gave a very finished look to this mani, loved it.

If you are looking for a great, non-streaky sheer white for French mani's, or just to brighten your nails, I highly recommend Zoya Lucy.  It has become my HG sheer white.

Konad M69 - Lace French

Hello Girls :o)

This was taken a week before I first tore my nail, at the time I had just filed them a few mm's shorter. I had a small split in the tip of one nail, the layers were peeling slightly, I guess from all my recent mani's :o(
So I decided to file it down and make the rest match. Sadly it means that a traditional French will not look so great till they grow back a bit......not to be outdone I thought this would be a good alternative. Sometimes I like the simple look on my nails, french's always looks clean and fresh.

Using the lace design on plate M69 I stamped the tip in konad white polish.


Simple, and fresh looking and a great way to do a french without ultra long nails !

Konad M19, M31 - Floral French Manicure

Hello Girls :o)

Okay, I was inspired to do this mani, based on a design on the konad web site. I really loved it and knew that it was one I wanted to try when I got my plates and polishes.
It has taken me a few months but I have finally gotten round to trying it........it is nice and simple and I really do like the result.
I used M19 and konad black, then stamped the flowers in white using plate M31. The dots were done using a dotting tool.



Am I the only one who hates the konad black polish?
I just seem to turn into a three year old child whenever I use it and the flipping stuff ends up everywhere! My skin gets stained and it just never seems to clean up! The more I wipe the worse it gets. It drives me crazy, I wouldn't use it except it always looks so nice on the nail......aarrghhhhh!

Konad M19 & M57 - French Zebra

Hi Girls :o)

Today I have another French mani for you. This time I went a bit wild!

I used konad white and M19 to do the tips. I then used black and plate M57. I do have the zebra styled tip plate but thought the lines looked a bit thick for this, so I used the full pattern instead as it's more delicate.



Looks funky and wild, don't you think?

hugs
BabyD
xxx

A Valentines Konad M19 & M56 - French Hearts alternate colour

Here is the mani I am wearing today........thought I would celebrate my 100 followers day with my favourite Konad design, yours too from the response it got :o)

As this was such a popular mani, (you can find it here) and I loved it too. I could not resist trying it in a different colour scheme......This pattern is fast becoming one of my favourites, it just looks too adorable,I never want to take these ones off !



I used M19 with konad Pastel Violet, then went over the top of that with M56 and konad Violet Pearl special polish.



Violet Pearl is available is both the Konad Special and Princess polishes. I was disappointed to find the Princess version was more dingy and looked a grey/purple, not what I was after.
I ordered the special Violet Pearl and low and behold it is brighter, it is an actual purple, the shade I had expected first. So I recommend the Special polish version over the Princess.

Konad M56, M66 - Black French mani

Hi Girls!

Another Konad today, this time a fancy French Mani.

I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Sheer French Color as the base, it's iridescent tone helps lift French mani's.
I stamped over the top with M56 and the swirl patterned tip in black pearl. I then added the butterfly from plate M66 in black pearl to the ring and thumb nails only.



I quite liked this one, it is my first black French mani, and I kinda liked it. I ruined it later that same day, I spilled acetone over my hands while trying to un-stick and polish lid. Had to watch the polish melt off my nail tips, aarggghhh!!!!
Never mind, there is always another day and another konad to try.

Konad M19, M53 - French Manicure

Todays Konad is another nice clean simple French manicure, plus I need the practice with M19....



I used Sally Hansen Hards as Nails Sheer French Color for the base, it is a lovely iridescent sheer pink, it added a little more interest to an otherwise simple mani.
I then stamped using M19 and konad white, adding the butterflies from M53 in black pearl.


Wishing you all a great weekend !

A Valentines Konad - French Mani, M3, M19 & M56

I had to do at least one Konad for Valentines Day, hopefully I may get one or two more in before the actual day.......

I just wanted a simple but fun one so decided to do a French mani using plate M19, I stamped this with konad pastel pink. I then stamped over the top using plate M56 and konad red polish. I then added a pink and red heart to the ring finger using plate M3.



Hope you enjoy !

2 More Konads......one cute, one yuck!

Two more Konad mani's for today.........

I love, love, love animal prints and had to have the plate M57, which is a must have konad plate for anyone! Hubby got me this one for Christmas so I was dying to try it out Christmas day!

I used a base of China Glaze 'Golden Spurs', from the Rodeo Collection. This was a bit odd to apply, it was kind of thick and thin all at the same time, on the first coat it felt almost 'stringy' in its consistency, really weird, not horrible, just odd. Thankfully the second coat was much better, applied more thickly so that helped too. I love the colour of this polish, a flattering tan/gold, very nice polish. I applied this polish Christmas Eve, in preparation for my M57 plate Christmas morning ! LOL

I then used the leopard print design from plate M57 and konad polish in black pearl. I was not as happy with the result of the black pearl, I was expecting it to be opaque but it seemed to print a bit 'off'.
When I stamped the nail the design would print fully on the nail but the design was also left on the stamp instead of being removed completely. So the result on the nail was a bit more sheer than I wanted. I was not happy so ordered the konad black polish as I wanted a full opaque black. However I had to redo my thumb nail a few days later and redid the base polish too, this time when I stamped, the black pearl lifted completely off the stamp and the design was fully opaque.......I can only assume the problem first time was because I had applied the base 24 hours before and maybe oils from my hands had caused the issue, when the polish was fresh there was no such issue and the black pearl was perfect. One thing to take note of for future konading.



I decided to try the look with a matte top coat a day or two later, really loved it matte, it made it look more velvety and fur-like.......



After begrudgingly removing the leopard nails after 5 days I decided to go for a more naked nail, so time to try my M19 plate..............okay, this was the most frustrating plate to use so far! It seriously drove me batty! I just could not get this straight, after about 6 tries and removals on the left hand I got them straight, but the right hand was just not gonna happen! I was quickly getting annoyed and very tired.
So I removed it all and decided to do the tips using sticker guides. This was where it all went bad, disaster manicure on the way.................
Now, with the benefit of hindsight, what I should have done was add the stickers then use the konad M19 plate to stamp the french tips.......Noooooooo not that smart, I decided to paint them direct from the polish, big mistake ! I have never used stickers and polish directly before, I only used the stickers with a konad patterned french tip, which was perfect. When I used the polish it flooded under the sticker and created this awful bumpy ridged tip. Unfortunately I didn't realise this until after I had restamped over the top with the konad M45 plate, so when I removed the stickers I discovered the horrific mess that was my nails! I was gutted, but I was also so tired by this stage and annoyed too, that I just gave up, added topcoat and decided to live with it, lesson learned for next time! Trouble was it irritated me so much that I ended up removing it the next day, but still took a photo which I share here, see, I even show you my epic fails!

Lumpy tips done with China Glaze Emotion and crappy sticker guides
M45 plate, dot tips in konad white
M20 flowers in konad white



Eeeeuuwwww, disgusting and gross, this still makes me shudder when I see the pic, I hate it! Can you see the horrific lumps where the polish bled under the stickers, it most obvious on my index, middle and pinky fingers. Nice design just really bad execution, not konad's fault but complete user error and crappy stickers! ;o)

My first venture in the world of Konad

Okay, when my kit arrived last month, I was ready to go. It had 2 plates (M2 and M3), 3 special polishes (red, white and blue), the long stamp and scraper. I was a bit scared to try at first, as I had heard of issues getting it to work.
I had a go and just went for something simple, just a small design on my ring and thumb nails. It is not a great work of art, but I was just happy it had worked at all!
I added some freehand french tips, which was fun as I had not done this for at least 15 years! As you can see, I need some practice. My poor hands are not really up to scratch, and my nails need to grow a bit, though I don't like them too long, they just break anyway :o(

Try 1

My second try was much better, I was very happy with this one, looks kinda cute. I stuck to doing the design on the ring and thumb nails only, wasn't quite ready to do all the nails yet!
I used plate M59 for the snowflakes, this is one of my favourite plates, it never fails to look cute! I used the konad white polish for those.
The base polish was China Glaze OMG, this is an amazing holographic polish, but my camera skills are rubbish and it just wouldn't show on camera.

Try 2

Try 3 was fun to do and I think looks really sweet. I love french tips and to be able to do patterns with konad is great!

I used french tip guides for this, trying to do konad tips freehand drives me nuts! I can never get them straight on both hands, the left hand is okay, but the right hand is always lopsided. These designs definitely have a learning curve!
Using french tip sticker guides helps immensely, though I will one day get the tips right freehand, it is my mission!
This design was stamped using konad white polish and plate M56.

Try 3

Some Konad Tips

Make sure you have everything to hand: plate, stamp, scraper, polish, polish remover (one without oils, I use pure acetone), cotton bud (q-tip) and paper towels. I have the plate holder but never use it. I think it works best if you put the plate on a paper towel and scrape onto that. The cotton bud can be soaked in polish remover and used to clean-up any polish that ends up on your skin.

Use a top coat over your base polish. When you make a mistake, you can simply give the nail a quick swipe with polish remover and the base polish will be fine as only the top coat will be removed. Once you add your final top coat the dullness caused will be gone and the nail will look great!

You need to work quickly. Once the polish is on the plate, scrape and stamp pretty swiftly. If the polish dries, it will not pick up or transfer to the nail properly. We are talking under 10 seconds from polish on plate to transfer, sounds fast but you'll be amazed at how fast you actually do it.

You don't necessarily need to buy the Konad special polishes, some other polishes work very well, chromes and thicker, opaque polishes are worth a try. I use China Glaze Romantiques and Khromes collections with great success, however, they dry super fast so you need to be quick.
The Konad special polishes are very thick and dry more slowly, giving you a little bit more time. They are very opaque and show up well, they will also give you a fighting chance as you learn to Konad. If things are going wrong and you are using normal polish, you won't know if it is your technique or the polish at fault, this is why I recommend at least starting out with the konad polishes. The white and black ones I think are valuable ones to get anyway. The gold and silver konad polishes are not great, quite sheer, I use China Glaze Khromes for this.

If the design isn't picking up, try wiping the stamper and plate with acetone, this works for me every time. Oils on the stamp or plate will stop it working correctly, the acetone will remove all traces. I wipe clean after every nail. Some people gently file the stamper to get it to pick up. I personally have never needed to do this, I have 3 stampers (the short, long and double ended stampers) and all them pick up fine just making sure they are clean.

Another sticking point is the top coat application. I have tried a cheap top coat and it smudged. I use the Konad top coat and it seems great. You can apparently use other top coats, like Seche Vite, but I don't have it so can't comment on it's success rate. The trick with any top coat and konad, is to only go over the design once, and do so very lightly.