Tutorial: Pied-de-poule nail art with Konad

Chickenfoot stamp nails!

I'm not attempting to cast an optical illusion to your eyes, and I haven't been smoking.

Pied-de-poule or pied-de-coq (chicken foot, or rooster foot) stamps are (usually) black and white stamps used on tissues, including haute couture trends for winter seasons. They're called like that, because they look like some drunken chicken walked all over a white tissue and created a geometric pattern, apparently. In french, because of course.

Yeah, mine are greenish-windows-98 blue. Because anarchy, that's why.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCK!

No, I haven't drawn all that crap in my nails finger by finger, do I actually look like someone with such patience?

Konad Nail Art Plaques

Not gonad, you immature thing. Konad. 

Maybe this is cheating. I think it's awesome. Konad Nail Art consists on a kind of nail-stamping method. Yes, you can find it on eBay. But pretty much any nail shop these days has Konad (or fake wannabe konad) kits. They cost from U$ 10 to U$ Depends-on-how-many-plaques-you-want. The normal kit comes with 1-2 plaques, the stamp tool, the plaque holder and the scraper.

But you can buy plaques and kist straight from their online shop here, too. The pink hurts my eyes, but their stuff is great.

Calm down, I'll explain everything step by step so you don't get lost.

 01) Paint nails

I tought this was pretty obvious. But after you sand your nails, kill your cuticles or simply push them, and do all the preps, pick a color that suits you best and paint your nails.

I've chosen the, as mentioned on the tiny picture subtitle above, green-blue Windows 98 color as background, AKA, Risquè's Husky color:

I apologize if my cuticles look a little butchered. The weather here made my hand's skin rather dry and for me the only way to put them back in shape is by doing my nails normally until they get used to being treated again.

02) Stamping Kit

Your nail stamping kit will have the following objects:

1-  Stamp Plaque of choice

This is  a full-nail stamp, which I've used to achieve the effect. There are plenty of images you can choose from, some are french nail, stamped french nail, any cute pic you can imagine, fleur-de-lis, flowers, retro stamps, lines, squares... You can check the models from Konad website here. There are 3 series of stamps released so far. I only have 8. Lol.

2- Plaque holder

You can live without it, yes, but, it makes much easier to use the stamps if you have it, because you gotta scrape the polish off the plaque, and if you don't have a holder, polish gets everywhere. You can use a newspaper or a plastic meat board to replace it, but it's still slippery or messy compared to simply usign the holder. Most kits already have the holder with them.

3 - Polish Scraper

You'll understand what's this for in some seconds, don't worry. But basically this removes the excess polish and allows you to actually use the stamp.

4 - The stamp tool 

It's a simple two-sided rubber stamp. This is the epitome of how clever this product kit is. The polish draw adheres to the surface and then transfers to your nail. Some kits have only the big side. The small, green bottom is used for small details like flowers and such. For the whole nail, like I'm doing on this one, you gotta use the big, pink side.

03) Stamping 101

1 - Apply the polish to the plaque

I have two favorite black nail polishes, this one - China Glaze's Liquid Leather, and Chanel's Les Vernis, Black Satin. Since I keep the Chanel out for"I won't spend this preciousness on nail art application", I went for my beloved L.L.

Here's why: You gotta apply a generous layer of the polish, covering the stamp you've chosen completely. You have to be quick with this, so it may take a couple of tries until you get the stamping right. If you're too slow, the polish will dry on the plaque - specially if it's China Glaze, they have quick dry ingredients - and you'll have to start over. 

Tip:  Always choose strong polish if you want a solid effect of the stamp. If you choose semi-transparent nail polish, the stamp will not show clearly on your nails.

02 - Scrape the excess of polish 

Take the weird thingy I've shown you before and run it over the plaque, leaving only the polish in the gaps of the stamp. Make sure to make a single, parallel and sleek move, so the stamp will be consistent. If you push it down, it's gonna be more transparent on your nail.

03 - Copy & Paste the stamp

Yeah, it's like Ctrl+C Ctrl+V, handmade:

Press the stamp tool on the plaque (see how the holder has the excess of polish on it, and the stamp is filled with black polish)

You'll get something like this:

Then, roll it over the nail, from left to right (or whatever, right to left) so you cover the whole nail with the stamp.

04 - Repeat x10

(Unless you have some missing fingers)

CLEAN UP! Every time you repeat the process so all your nails are stamped, remember to clean the stamo tool and the plaque with cotton soaked in polish remover. Otherwise, the leftover of stamp will, on the plaque, not allow another perfect copy, and on the stamp tool, will overlay the stamps you applyed to other fingers.

05 - Finishing:

There's gonna be some excess paint around your nails. Just like in the other tutorial, use a stick, metal or wooden, with a cotton rollled around it, soaked in polish remover, and wipe out the excess.

At last, apply a clear, shiny top coat, or a 100% clear polish on top of the whole deal. Otherwise the stamp will wear out. Make sure the stamp is totally dry before applying the top coat, otherwise it will blend with the clear polish.

Ta-daa!

There, your nails are done.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, geeky fashionista minions. 

Maybeon the next tutorial I'll make another mess and teach you how to make "english" nails (frenchies gone wild).

And also, before i forget, happy "I have boobs" day!

I solemnly swear I will not make a post with pink animated glittering animated gifs. But I might post something today about Women's Day.

February-March eBay blast

I know I have a problem. But hey, wouldn't it be a much bigger problem if I was paying the 100% price with taxes my country absurdly charges for the very same items?

It's almost a rainbow, it sure as hell sells unicorns and glitter. It's my WorldWideWeb treasure chest.

It's also the reason my credit card will someday jump off the window.

Because shoes.

Magic Scotch tape dispenser - Black Stiletto

I've been keeping an eye on this one since last year, but since I still had my own standard boring office tape dispenser working fine, I could find no excuse to buy it. But then my parents kidnapped my tape dispenser, and no matter how many times i bring it back to my wardrobe, it mysteriously finds his way back into their stuff. 

So I said, what the hell, I found one cheaper than most (Costed me U$ 14,00 with shipping fees). It's coming from London all the way here now. 

There are other versions available, in pink, or red mary-janes, animal-printed, blue sandals, or even some bedazzled bejeweled ones custom-made by very bored people:

This one is from Canada, and the little purse is a post-it dispenser. You can buy it here. 

There's a thousand other versions, and nto just shoe ones, they have bird-shaped, stickman shaped, and many others, just throw in "shoe tape dispenser" or "fun tape dispenser" on your search window and have fun scrolling.

Something blue

I love scarfs, and I have a LOAD of them. I'm serious, last time I counted, I had over 40 of them. The problem is 95% are made of wool, or pashmina with cashmere (try saying that out loud, very fast, 5 times), and my city has an average of 25-35 Celsius degrees (screw F

fahrenheit  I'm not gonna convert it). Whatever, It's a hot place. Last year, winter here had about 2 weeks of below 15°C and the rest wasn't cold enough to keep a jacket on all day.

So I went to this store to buy myself some shirts (I never buy, and do not recommend to buy clothes or shoes on eBay, I found out the hard way the tissues and quality are never what you expect, not to mention the fits and sizes. The only time it was successful was this medieval dress, which I should post about in the halloween this year maybe). As I'm checking out my 2 shirts out of the 20 I tried on (I hate cloth-shopping) I see this rack with beautiful light-tissue silk stamped scarfs, and It was all fine until I saw the price tags...

They wanted the equivalent of 35 dollars for a damn scarf.

My reaction?

TO EBAY, BITCHES!!!

And then i found the lovely blue+purple scarf you're looking at above, (There are other color combinations, check it out) for FIVE FREAKING DOLLARS, FREE SHIPPING.

I can only wonder, god damn it people, do you need that much money? ¬¬

Well there are plenty of scarfs under U$ 10 on eBay, go knock yourself out. 

I'll be brief on the next item since they're far more important to me than to you, but I'll still put them here for design purposes:

Mini-purse crossbody for parties

It's small enough to keep your phone, ID, money, credit card, it won't make you slap people while dancing, and it's cute as hell. Bought it cuz' my smallest bag still fits an average human head inside. Don't worry, I haven't tested.

U$ 13 + Shipping, Comes in Black, White, Pink (they call it red but it's clearly pink), Green and Light Brown. Click here to check it (I bought the black one). 

Similar bags in Brazil cost at least U$ 25.

LED Wooden alarm clock

It's been 2 weeks I've kept my laptop on for the sake of using it as an alarm clock. My cellphone no longer wakes me up, I became such a ninja on turning it off, I don't even remember disabling the alarm anymore. So because my laptop needs some sleep, I've found a new alarm clock.

I found it's design quite interesting, it's simple but cute, and it's very small. It's a 6cm³ cube, you can plug it normally to the wall, USB it to your computer or add batteries. U$ 10, free shipping, here.

You can find it in other colors, white, marble, and different shapes. You can also pick the color of the lights. I went for white lights + black wood.

TK Fine Vario Mechanichal Pencil by Faber Castell

0.3 - 0.35mm

This baby was my lost childhood. 7 years ago I brought it among my drawing stuff to the beach house. When I returned home, everything was there, except this mech. pencil.

This is the most expensive item on my purchase list this month, U$ 18,95 + Shipping. My old Pentel 0.3mm mechanichal pencil (I love this graphite for drawing because it makes very smooth sketches and very defined details), was being an old bitch. The barrel kept coming off the socket and breaking the graphite. So I decided to browse for a new one online, considering the price of brazilian drawing supplies are from double to triple price as USA or other place's prices. I accidentally found my old lost love, the TK Vario, flipped out completely and went straight for it. Should arrive in 1-2 weeks.

I've also bought 2 more items, a "Web Design For Dummies" for 5 bucks, and another mysterious item which I will dedicate a whole post about, and it's specially for the LADIES. So keep your eyes up. I'll be writing a nail art tutorial today, and tomorrow, you might just find something that will change your... *drums*

Nope, I wont tell you.

Cya all later!

Spoils of war

Let's burn some cash!

My dreams! My shallow, material dreams!

Granado Espada Visual Chronicle

At last! It belongs to me! Well, thanks to my lovely country unholy mail service, it's not physically mine yet, but it should be, until january.

For those of you people who still have a life noobs who don't know, a Visual Chronicle is basically a concept art book. These are the first ideas for characters, monsters, bosses and maps of the game before they went into the marvellous 3D machine and became an actual game.

I've always loved the looks GE has, as i've mentioned in my last year's review of the game. As you all know i have my shallow plastic side which simply cannot play a game unless it looks good and has pretty dresses I can fondle. (God that sounds so wrong). And I love drawing, if you wnat evidence, check my deviantart page. I acknowledged the existance of this book has been about 2 years and I needed it. I just needed it. My favorite game, one of the best artwork ever and a huge opportunity to learn how to draw them accurately without staring at a screen. But there was a problem.

GE's Visual Chronicle is off-press, aka, it's not printed anymore. So those little tragic things cost from 80 to 100 dollars. God damit, that's like $200 in brazilian coins. 

But then a lovely soul on eBay - DUH! Ofc it's eBay! What else?? - had put the book on sale... for $50 -.-"

Still off my budget. 

He had opened the sale for offers [on ebay you have buy it now, bid auction and make offer for items options. Up to the seller's way] so I tried.

And he accepted my U$ 32 offer last week.

Hoorraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

A tiny rage on banks

May someone explain me why those fetid bastards are around everybody's necks when they don't need you,  but when YOU need THEM, they simply dissapear, never work the way you want them to, the bloody credit card never arrives?

Last month I opened a bank account for myself at last, and i had to pretty much beg them PLEASE LET ME PUT MONEY IN YOUR BANK, PLEASE, LET ME HAVE A CREDIT CARD, PLEASE.

Yet they send you 10000x credit cards when you don't want or need them. Amazing.

I get it that it's near christmas time, but you don't tell a kid their stuff will arrive in 2 weeks and then take a month and a half to give ti to them, y'know? Baaaah.

Okay I'm done bankraging.

Pandora/Pugster/European Bracelet

Girly stuff.

There's this very clever bracelet, probably not new on the market, but surely new to me.

It comes in gold, silver, cotton or leather. Is a standart width bracelet withotu any charms on it. 

You can then buy multiple charms in any color shape and theme you want to fill them. Like crafting a bracelet but one notch up in fancyness and jewelness.

My mother actually bought hers first, and at a certain point i couldn't help but finding it fun, and potentially good-looking if you choose the right stones and colors and such. She has travelled to the US with my brother and father (damn, me, i stayed, had finals and had to take care of my cockatiels. I should make a post about my cockatiels sometime, altough it woudl be completely unrelated to the blog theme. Do you want me to ramble about my birds? Please answer in the comments!)

Well mom bought me the bracelet alone with one pendant only. The bracelet is the only problem to buy on ebay. We tried to buy one but the lock didn't open. We were not able to remove the beads on it to make my own bracelet. So she bought me an original Pandora (there are several brands which work, like Pugster and European. Of the 3 Pugster is the cheapest but also the hardest to find at stores).

The beads on eBay are cheap like hell. I recommend you search as 'european bracelet charm', 'pugster bracelet bead' or so on. You cna insert golden/silver on the research or glass for the colorful glass beads.

The prices vary from U$ 0.90 to U$ 50. All depends if u want originals or not. The originals will have ensured quality, but the underbrands are so accurate and well-crafted it's worth the risk. You're always under the possibility to have a not so good-looking one but if they don't match the picture you just do your eBay things and the seller will return your money. 

It's a very customizable fun thing. In Brazil we have a jewel brand called Vivara with a Pandora-copy and they called it 'Life bracelet series'. Pretty much suggest you to have a lifestory souvenir hanging from your arm. It's a cool idea. They have everything-shaped beads. Not just Vivara, eBay too, of course. Pets, tourist locations, random objects, symbols, etc. It's also a nice gift if you manage to get a good cheap bracelet to match the beads. 

Back to tactics...

Lugia Plush

Yeeeeeeeeeash pokemon was my childhood.

I was bored one day and decided to go browse the mother-of-shopping [eBay... I think eBay should start paying me really, I speak of them all the time and make reviews of stuff they sell all the time]. I decided to look for my favorite, childhood remark pokemon, Lugia.

He's cute, ain't it? Screaming 'TAKE ME HOME!! PLEEEASE.'

It's very cheap, just U$5, 2 dollars shipping. But i left it to buy later with a bigger purchase, so I acquired it with the Granado book. It's small, about 20 centimeters tops. 

I loved Lugia since the first pokemon movie, so i just had to take him.

I think I'm done blabbign about my purchases for now.

Have some awesome Lugia artwork by the deviantartist EvilQueenie and enjoy your weekend!

Stay tuned! I will be posting regarding the GamersFirst -> T3Fun transfer of Sword 2 - Granado Espada still today!

Destroying eBay + Lime Crime in a single week

&

Oh my GOD Forgive me my dear sweet lovely blog for abandoning you to rotten and dust in a poor corner of the worldwide web! QQ I had so much diversions... *Hugs header*




Sooo I been making my holidays shopping and giving perhaps one too many xmas gifts to myself. Tonight I encountered a 3 hour battle against Lime Crime's Sale (Oh my god the site still won't load even to copy the link! There's probably thousand of people buying even now) for Carousel Lip Gloss Collection.

Edit Warning!

For those who are still interested in the great Sale, Doe Deere has made an announcement, tonight over 2 million people tried acessing the site, which made it crash!

Therefore Lime Crime will re-make the sale today as soon as the site is fixed and running!

Enjoy it while you can! And special thanks to Lime Crime itself for having such dedication to consumers :) We wouldn't do it any different!

Tonight I was so glad to have checked the Muse of Unicorn's blog, because gurrrrrrl thats one aMAAaaAazing (please picture that word spoke with a hig-pitched drag queen voice) colurs!

Here's my favorite, Kaleidoscope:



I love the theme of the colelction. First, because it's obvious the twisted glass looks of the bottle are based after those old carousels canes where the horses hang from. Second of all, this made Sorry'Go-Round by Poets of the Fall stuck in my head all day.

Thus, I love how, despite Doe calling herself Queen of Unicorns, you can easily twist this theme to the creepy circus-festivals epic side which I love in some games and movies. And to a fourth, I'm obsessed with purple and I have a Journey on the seek fo the perfect purple lipstick. I have a drawer crowded int hem. Perhaps I can post about this ont he weekend.

I got 100% convinced by the pure magic of Kaleidoscope after seeing a swatch made by mschaplinnn on youtube. Bless you for doing this, tonight i'll sleep to the signt of the pretty pictures of the glosses.



I bought the full Carousel collection as a self-made christmas gift, and some lipsticks I was waiting restock to buy. 3 lipsticks and 3 eyeshadows. Will make swatches when they arrive.

Here's the other colors:




Well now off with Unicorns and in with Epic eBay Assault !!

Star Wars

No I won't marry you. Stop begging. You're getting pathetic now. PLEASE STAND UP!

Kist kidding xD

Well the past 2 weeks me mom and dad have been re-watching ol'good saga, and that + a barbecue we made last weekend to celebrate vacations with my uni peeps, I went out into the wild eBay search to look for an apron.


Admit it, it's awesome. And its MINE SO GET LOST! xD
Nah, I'm not that mean. Here's the seller store for this epic apron of geekness.

Also I remembered my sympathy for R2D2, poor cute little robot he's so smart and full of tricks but they always manage to screw him up. If i was Yoda i'd wack Luke with the cane every time he hurt R2 somehow.

So I stirred it up with the fact i'm starting driving lessons on holidays and bought a cute Lego keychain of him

<3

And 3rd geek thing It's a secret because I won't show u until it arrives. BAHAHAH.


Last but not least... Medieval Scissors




Months ago there was a girl on Brazil inlove with a pair of scissors, who could not buy them because these n00b sellers out there didn't ship the damn thing to Brazil!

Today I saw an old notepad file with 'WTB' on its title so i looked it up and saw it! When I saw them the first time i messaged every freakin' ebayer with one but nobody shipped here. Til I foudn this guy. Dear Sword & Armory seller, don't put your adress in the pack because I will go up there and steal everything, your stuff is so awesome I would have to buy a 2nd apartment just for all the stuff I wanna buy from you and other stuff.

Particularly inlove with the Dragon's Breath sword he has there, but I can't buy anythign else til.. January xD Except for clothes, I need some new ones badly.



How FREAKING AWESOME IS THAT SWORD? *nosebleeds and daydreams*

It's actually not expensive, at ALL. I think i'll talk to my brother about buying it with him.



I have so much new stuff I don't know where to begin with, but I should go for now. I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope i get my own Yoda wacking my head with a cane if i stop posting here again.

m4y 7h3 1337 b3 w17h y0u!