FAQ

I saw this FAQ on Cristine’s Blog, Simply Nailogical, and thought it would be a nice thing to include in my Blog as well. So here we go:

♡ ♡ ♡ NAIL POLISH BASICS ♡ ♡ ♡

What’s your favourite nail polish?
This is not really a fair question since I own about thousand polishes now and I think all my babies are special, BUT I love everything holo, glitter, shimmer and multi-chrome.

What’s a holo?
Holo is short for holographic, in nail polish terms describes holo(graphic) polishes which have very fine microshimmer or glitter that gives off a rainbow-like effect when viewed at different angles and in different lighting.  Holo can be either linear or scattered.

Where do you get your nail polish?
I used to get a lot in drugstores like DM or Rossmann, but I also bought a lot ONLINE!
One of my favorite brands is Ciaté, which is rather hard to get and expensive in Germany though. And if it comes to other international brands or holo polishes, the only way to go is either TKmaxx or online.

♡ ♡ ♡ BASE COAT, TOP COAT ♡ ♡ ♡

What’s your favourite quick dry long-lasting top coat?
I really love speed coat from Ciaté, but since it is harder to get and also more expensive, I also love the ultra quick dry top coat from trend IT UP.

What’s your favourite matte top coat?
Again, mattnificent from Ciaté or OPI’s matte top coat. A really cheap alternative is also top coat matte from Cosmetica Fanatica. For a review of lots of matte top coats check out my Blog post here.

What’s your favourite base coat?
It clearly depends on what I’m doing! Most of the time I use Sally Hansen’s complete care 7 in 1 nail treatment. It really helps my nails to stay strong and healthy. Another option is tough cookie from ORLY and 4 in 1 complete care by p2 which sadly got discontinued.

Fav peel off base coat?
So far I actually tried a few like one night stand by ORLY, peel off base coat by p2 and even tried a DIY one with glue. None of them convinced me. So I definitely want to try ready for takeoff by UNT.

Fav long-lasting base coat?
Again, Sally Hansen’s complete care 7 in 1 nail treatment. This stuff really does it for me^^

♡ ♡ ♡ NAIL CARE ♡ ♡ ♡

How do you keep your nails/cuticles/hands so awesome looking?
It’s easy, use a good base coat to protect your natural nail, moisturize your cuticles and cream your hands. Use gloves when you wash the dishes and if you can even when you wash your hair. Do NOT soak your nails in bath water while you are taking a relaxing bath.

What’s your favourite nail/cuticle oil?
Not really oil, but the lemon butter cuticle cream from Burt’s Bees. Only downside, I hate running my fingers through it and applying it on my nails. Fav oil would be the love me oil almond cuticle oil from Ciaté which also was discontinued :(

How do you get rid of yellow nails?
I don’t. Even if I have yellow nails sometimes, it doesn’t matter since I always cover it up with polish anyways. Also, having yellow nails is not a bad thing. Stop nail-shaming ;)

How do you file your nails?
From edge to centre using the crystal nail file from Ciaté. Glass files are more efficient at filing down the nail and leave cleaner edges with lesser splits. I also like the green file from p2 for weak nails. It is very fine and not damaging for the nails. It also won’t file off too much at a time.

How to save a nail with a cut?
I love the tea-bag method. For my (old but gold) tutorial please check here.
Another great product is ORLY’s nail rescue kit.

♡ ♡ ♡ NAIL ART ♡ ♡ ♡

Liquid latex barrier?
I always use a DIY liquid latex mix with products from www.latex-24.de.
I also use clean edge from Liri’s Beautywelt, which I really love. There are many different brands out there, but I find that my DIY latex works best for me. And if you feel extra sassy, you can always add some fine glitter to make it sparkle when it dries ;)

Why do you use a make-up sponge for some nail designs?
A latex-free make-up sponge can be used for gradients or applying glitter without adding a gazillion coats of glitter polish. This way you get good glitter coverage without thick coats of clear polish in between.
Gradients are a form of nail art that basically blends several colors into each other. To create this look on your nails, you use 2 (or more polishes)  with one color toward the tip and another color toward the cuticle and the colors blend together in the middle of the nail.  Similar to the way a sunset might look when pink fades to orange.  You can find a great explanation and example here.

How do you make your brush stroke lines so smooth?
There is a simple trick. All you gotta do is to add a bit of nail oil to your brush, soaking the excess on a paper towel and paint away. The oil will make sure to keep the bristles together and allow clean lines.

Where do I get nail stickers, water decals and nail vinyls?
Can you guess? Right, online. One of my favorite shops is Lovenails, they have a wide range of nail art supplies, stickers, decals and are working on offering more nail vinyls as well.
STAY AWAY from the white vinyls sold on Amazon – they are extremely cheap quality, basically like hole reinforcements and do not have the flex in the vinyl that higher-quality nail vinyls do.

What about striping tape? Isn’t that the same thing as nail vinyls and where do I get some?
No, striping tape is different in material than nail vinyls. You can do a lot of things with it, since it’s up to you to cut and place it however you want! Lovenails also has many different colored nail striping tapes.

Where do you get loose glitter for glitter placement manis?
I bought my glitter collection in the USA-New York at Micheal’s Arts and Crafts. I also bought super fine glitter and glitter dust at Lovenails.

How do I remove a glitter manicure?
Well, you either use a peel off base coat before you apply it (which would result in the many to not last that long) or you use the aluminium foil method. Again, for my (old but gold) tutorial check here. Make sure to wash your hands and apply cuticle butter or oil, since the nail polish remover will dry out your skin.

♡ ♡ ♡ PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOS ♡ ♡ ♡

What kind of camera do you use?
So far I have used a Canon EOS 1100D, but since it got stolen from my home I was forced to work with my Nikon coolpix S9900. Sometimes I also use my Huawei P9, which has two great cameras. I would love to buy a new camera, preferably the Canon 750D, but I simply can’t afford it right now.

Do you edit your nail photos?
Yes I do, in Photoscape. I use it to adjust light exposure levels, white balance, color balance and add my watermark.

How do you film/edit/export your nail art tutorials?
If I make a video, I use windows movie maker. I know, it is kinda crap but the only thing I can afford (since it’s free).
Edit: I recently got the magix movie editor, I yet have to try it though.

Where can I watch your video stuff?
You can watch my YouTube channel, but so far I only have a couple videos.
I would love to do more videos, but simply don’t have the time right now.

♡ ♡ ♡ BORING STUFF ABOUT ME ♡ ♡ ♡

When did you first get into nail art?
Let’s back up a bit. I first got into nail polish when I was really young. Maybe 6 or so? I was shopping with my mom and stole a bottle of polish. Later I showed it to her and we had to go back to the shop and I had to give it back. After that my mom was forbidden to step foot back into the shop for 6 moths I think. I AM SORRY MOM!

When I was around 15 I started to use my mom’s polish or bought my own to do my nails. I quickly escalated and did my nails at least once a week. For many years I tried to control myself and not buy so many polishes, but the people who know me outside the internet know that I always had a weakness for polish. In 2014 all hope was lost. I started this Blog and from that moment my polish stash grew and grew to around 1000 bottles.

When did you start blogging?
Like I said, beginning February 2014, but I was thinking about creating a Blog for a long time even before that.

Do you swatch for a living?
HAHA, um, NO. I have a regular fulltime job to earn money for rent and all my other real life needs.

What do you do in your spare time outside of work and nails?
Nothing… I’m in the stay home club. I watch TV shows and movies.
Breaking Bad addict represent!

What’s your favourite nail design ever?
urgh, that is hard. I am really proud of my 2014 world cup nails for the japanese team 1 | 2 | 3  | 4
as well as my Michael Jackson nails (I love him so much) and my caviar nails

How did you get so good at doing nails?
practice, practice, practice

How do you come up with your designs?
They are hidden inside my crazy head and I get inspired by a lot of stuff n thangs.

What year is it?
The year of the holo.

Can you please post a water marble tutorial?
No, I am not a witch.

Can you do my nails?
No, believe in yourself and try it yourself.

 

Any more questions you’d like to see here that weren’t answered? Comment below and I’ll add them... maybe ;)