Konad Starry French Tip with Konad Special White Polish and China Glaze Fairy Dust

My nails have grown really long and even for a while now. They're perfect. They're all the same length, strong, smooth, and ready for a french tip!

I've had the professional huge Konad case for years now. I'm ashamed to admit this, but it took me YEARS to figure out how to Konad correctly. It was really upsetting because I practiced a LOT, read a LOT of instructions, watched a LOT of tutorials, and just could never get it to work for me. It made me sick because the kit was a really expensive gift from my parents, and I just couldn't get it to create the art I saw other people making with these stamps. I put the kit away for a couple of years and often looked at it, reminded of my failed attempts at stamping.

I got the itch to try again just a couple of weeks ago and hauled out the kit. It didn't go well, again! I went back to the internet checking out forums and videos looking for any tips or information that I hadn't already employed. Now, I know I'm not the only person who has trouble with Konad stamps - there are way too many tutorials and instructions out there with all kinds of advice for that to be the case. I tried everything: using all the different Konad special polishes; using tons of other brands of polish; using the metal and plastic scrapers; trying out four different stamping surfaces (all of which came with the kit); using remover in between each stamp and not; scratching the stamp's surface with a fine grit file; varying the time and ratio of polish, scrape, and stamp; varying the amount of polish used; varying the pressure I applied to the stamp at all parts of the stamping process; changing my scraping angle; etc. You get the picture. I tried anything and everything I could think of or read/watched. It was really frustrating because it seemed like once you figured out the magic behind it all, it was easy to create intricately detailed designs.

Well, I was in the thick of tutorials and such when I came across a quick piece of information. For the life of me, I can't even remember if it was a video or typed instructions and tips. I couldn't direct you to the specific site if my life depended on it, but whoever you are out there, THANK YOU! It was simple, took out all the other advice I've read, and got to the point. There was one tiny piece of information about pressure that changed how I understood the process; I promptly tried it, and it worked!!! I was freaking out. My husband was thrilled for me (I had complained about it.. what a sweetheart, he tried to help me with my problem.. he saw all the frustrating practice... he knew); I immediately called my parents and told them about it; they were thrilled; and I promptly decorated a large pile of nail tips, using all the different colors and stamping EVERY SINGLE STAMP! It was so much fun; I had a blast! They looked so cool. I should have chronicled it all in pictures, but honestly, I didn't have much faith it'd work for me. Once it did work, I could focus on nothing else. This opened up a whole new nail world for me - one that I had only seen before in other people's videos and on other people's blogs and forum posts. I had the secret to the magic. I will definitely be making a video tutorial that will be posted soon; I will also take you on a tour of the big kit.

Anyway, I decided I would use one of the oh-so-awesome French tips since I hardly ever have nails long/even enough to do this and because I can't really do one on myself well. I used the star Frech tip with the white Konad polish (I'll include a full write up of these in my tutorial post). It went on pretty easily and I think it turned out incredible for my first try (things working and all). I also tried stamping a different holiday design on each nail, alternating red and green, but decided it was too much (I know, me?) and just kept the tips. I also covered my whole nail in China Glaze Fairy Dust, you know my obsession, before topping it off with Poshe. I did not use a basecoat. I don't know why.

You can see that there's definitely a learning curve with the stamp positiong, but once I figured it out, it was SO SIMPLE! This was a really cool variation on a traditional look that wasn't obvious. Several people commented on how I did a boring mani until they looked closer. Then they wanted to know how I did it. I told them magic, no joke.

This mani lasted for days and days. It was sparkly, rainbowy, and it had stars! It also beautifully showed off my perfect long nails. (I only brag because it never happens; the stars were definitely aligned (pun intended)!) I think I had it on for five days. It suffered minimal tip wear and didn't chip until after a marathon dish washing session. Even then, only one chipped a little on the side, and I could've easily touched the whole thing up to look fresh if I had wanted to. But five days is a long-wear mani for me, so I was ready to move on.  More Konading soon to come! I loved this look!