My first attempt at Konad!!

Whoots, here it is! OK, I lied, this isn't my first attempt at Konad, but it's the first ever documented!

Index
Base: China Glaze Snow
Stamp: Zoya Breezi
Plate: m51

I definitely like the index finger design best. It reminds me of old Chinese white porcelain cutlery with their intricate blue designs. But sorry for the smudge. Although the polish looks a little thin on the nail and looks a bit bald in some places, I actually like it that way! Like I said, reminds me of the Chinese cutlery.



Middle
Base: OPI Diva of Geneva
Stamp: Zoya Marley
Plate: m79

Middle finger looks a bit strange! I don't think the combination goes really well. For a relatively darker polish like Diva of Geneva, a lighter stamping colour would be better. Zoya Marley was supposed to be that light shade, but for some reason it came out pretty dark on the nail. The design's a little incomplete but I also surprisingly like it that way. Gives it a bit of a vintage feel, especially since the design is roses and pearls and random lines.

Ring
Base: Zoya Marley
Stamp: OPI DS Diamond
Plate: m60

UGH, I can't see DS Diamond at all! What a pity. I had expected DS Diamond to really shine when on Marley but, no. I can't see it at all. And because it's a scattered holo, I suspect that's why the holo effect didn't come out so well when stamped on, unlike linear holos (like legendary China Glaze OMG etc.) How saddening. Now it just looks like I have some glittery holo topcoat-ish thing on my Marley.

Pinkie
Base: OPI The One That Got Away
Stamp: Konad Special White Polish
Plate: m51

Whoops, I forgot to put on a topcoat for this one. And before anyone comes up to me with an accusation of not cleaning up properly on my pinkie, the story goes that when I stamped it on, I was so amused by that whole bit that stuck out (and rather enamoured by the design) that I kept it as it is. But yes, I will clean it up later on. I like the combination here. The One That Got Away is one of my favourite base colours of just about any nail art because it's that deep but rich shade of reddish-pink, but the glass flecks in it really helps it become bright. So basically it's good for just about everything.

Hailing from Korea, Konad is a brand that specializes in making image plates on which you can paint on nail polish, scrape it off (so that there's only nail polish left in the engravings of the design), stamp it on a stamper, and then stamp it on your nails. It sounds difficult, but it's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Of course, doing it on your right hand (if you're right-handed) is a whole different ball game and one at which I am completely at the bottom of the ladder.

Anyhow, Konad (obviously) recommends you to get their own Konad special polish which is ultra-opaque (so much so that it is highly recommended that you do NOT try painting it as a full coat on your nails - honestly, I don't even want to try) as well as a whole bunch of other stuff. I like how small and handy all the equipment are, very convenient and all-round cute. Everything's a becoming girly shade of pink (hey, if you're doing nail art with flowers and stuff - kinda speaks volumes about you). Using the Konad special nail polish would definitely make it a lot easier for you to get the hang of things, and I would highly recommend that to beginners. Personally, I think the white Konad polish is a must-have for everyone, since white Konad is especially lovely. Black and silver are also becoming tempting. I stupidly bought the lavender shade which I have not used until now.

In my opinion, Konad's one of the easiest nail arts that I've come across. I've tried water marbling, I've tried nail foils and nothing really works without hair-pulling frustration. Shatter polish doesn't count. Konad, however, is pretty simple, as long as you don't do it in a windy place or under a fan, because the nail polish would dry up faster than you can stamp it. Yes, I confess, I learnt that the hard way. Anyway, that being said, Konad isn't fail proof (especially the RIGHT HAND), so you may have to practise a bit before you get things right.

So I'm really happy that I've found colours that are able to work with my Konad. This is my first time successfully trying stamping with non-Konad polishes! Generally, if you want to find something that works, go for those polishes that are one-coaters, or at least has a pretty good coverage in one coats. The thicker and creamier, the better. Zoya cremes work marvelously for this one, I've heard that China Glaze Millenium, 2030 and Color Club Worth The Risque and Revvvolution are great polishes for Konading as well. Will try it out when I get them!

sunny days, sweeping the clouds away

Base: 2 coats of Zoya Breezi
Design: Konad plate m79 in White Konad polish
Glitter: 2 coats of China Glaze Fairy Dust.

In the first photo, the shade of Breezi is more true to real life. In the second photo, you'd see an excellent close-up of the holographic glitter of Fairy Dust.

I was trying to grab the chance before my internship started to do something funky with my nails and was playing with Konad one day while watching Pride & Prejudice (not the heinous Keira Knightley version, the awesome BBC 1995 one). By the way, one tip for Konad: DO NOT ATTEMPT IT WITH ANY SORT OF WIND OR FAN BLOWING. I was foolish enough to try to do it under a rather large and strong fan, and experienced several failed attempts before it finally struck me to switch off the fan, which worked like a charm but left me sweating buckets.

In any case, I bought m79 mainly because I wanted to try out the clouds print on it. I was somewhat pleased with the end-result. It looked like a happy starry sky when you take a closer look at it, but the only downside to it is that from afar, it rather looks like cow-spots, or fluffy flowers. D: Not exactly the intended effect, but cute enough, I guess.

I really like how Fairy Dust is your usual fine holographic glitter for layering but there's a certain depth to it that I've never seen before in layering polishes of its type. Usually the cheap-ish layering glitter polishes we see around layer on rather flatly and could even dry rough and chunky. Not so for fairy dust. It's almost as if the glitter particles are suspended in a layer of clear polish, giving it a very 3D effect. It's not quite so visible in the photo or even in the close-up.

Because I took such a long time trying to get the Konad to work, I got frustrated and lazy after doing 4 fingers, so for the rest of the 6 fingers, I opted for the easier option of normal painting. I tried to do something a bit still in theme with the whole sky thing so here it is:



1 coat of Zoya Marley with 1 coat of Nubar 2010.

All right, all right, so it takes a stretch of imagination to see how this fits in with the sky theme, but I intended this to be a sunset scene, where the sky is a lavender hue and the flakes are rays of sunshine as it sets. Yes, I'm very imaginative.

Anyhow, this photo does no justice at all to the opalescence of Nubar 2010. In the photo, it looks rather flat and uninteresting but in real life, it looks a whole lot more orange/green then in the photo (thereby giving it a sunset feel, heh). Nubar 2010 was a good buy, indeed.