Of Life and Lacquer

Today I decided to konad up my manicure. There is something about red and white that just screams Christmas to me…it’s probably the candy canes. Anyhow, here are the details:

1) Base Coats – I have used a lot of different top coats and I really love China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat. Using a base coat helps your polish last longer and it also prevents staining. Who likes stained nails? Not me!

2) Base Color – For this manicure, I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps. It’s a gorgeous red with red glitter.

3) Stamping Polish – When I first starting using Konad, I thought I could get away with using regular nail polishes. Opaque metallic colors work well for stamping but if you want crisp and opaque designs, you have to get Konad Special Polishes. I only have the white and black versions and don’t really feel the need to get anymore colors just yet.

4) Top Coat – Seche Vite. I use Seche Vite always unless I’m doing a matte manicure. Seche Vite dries your nails in just a few minutes and leaves them glassy and beautiful. I just wish it didn’t smell like death.

5) Konad – I used plate M60 for this konadicure. You will need the stamper and a scraper.

6) Clean Up Supplies : Acetone and cotton balls to clean up your stamper and plate in between stamping each nail; tweezers to handle the cotton balls soaked with acetone (trust me…use the tweezers because you will ruin your nail polish while you’re stamping and cleaning up the plate/stamp); brush to clean up the edges and cuticles after you’re done stamping

If you’re curious how all this Konad stuff works, you can watch the following video on youtube:

I chose this video for comedic purposes. They do a good job of explaining how to use Konad but that creepy robot lady and that music…who thought this video was a good idea?

Anyway, here is the final result:

And I’m ready for Christmas!

Bisous mes chéris!