Fall Foils

This week I decided I'd experiment with the copper and gold "nuggeting" I'd gotten awhile back. You may recall that these were included in my contest prizes as well. They're very thin sheets of foil that you pull apart into as large or small bits as you'd like with orange sticks, and then set in a layer of top coat. I would imagine you could do whole tips or maybe even the entire nail with it - I'll have to experiment with that later.

I forgot to get a photo of the polish bottle this time - but this color just looks black in the bottle anyway. I started with 2 coats of OPI's "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow" for the base color. It's a super-dark green, more like black with a green tint, really. To see the green, you really need a flash or bright sunlight.
Applying the foil is super-easy, especially if you're just going for random abstract art like I was. I laid down a coat of top coat, then picked up pieces of foil with the moistened tip of an orange stick, and spread it out on the nail. I didn't worry about wrinkles in the foil - personally, I think they add texture and interest, but I suppose if you had a really light touch you could smooth it out pretty well.
After I put random bits of copper and gold foil on each nail, I sealed it over with two more coats of top coat, and voila! That was it. Very easy and quick.
Finished and clean with a flash (above).
Complete without a flash.

I like the foils quite a bit, and can see using them a lot, maybe even for defined shapes if I can figure out how to cut them out without tearing the design.

Yes, I know my cuticles are in bad, bad shape right now. They got that way over Halloween with all the decor and outdoor labor, and the air is so dry right now my skin is rather more like alligator hide. I'm planning to get my paraffin bath out of the closet again next weekend (got put away to leave room for decor), and try to get my hands/feet back into better shape again.

Next week, a Thanksgiving manicure, of course!

Happy polishing...