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2011-02-25

My left hand fill

Last night, I filled up the spaces in my new nail growth.
I sanded off most of the surfaces, the 3D flowers, the colors and added white on tips to create French nails.
Then I practiced 3D flowers again on every nails.

I think French nails are the most beautiful nail art of all.
It makes your nails look pure, beautiful and longer.
I like to add something on them though :) like rhinestones, glitters and 3D motifs.

Finally my right and left hand nails look like they are following the same theme :p

2011-02-22

Lots of Bling-bling!

It was time for fills~~yay!
Actually, it's been 3 weeks since I first did these nails, it was a good time to fill them in.
And also I am off to Calgary this weekend with my girl friends it's nice to have a brand new look:)

I started on my forefinger gave it an Opposite French with rhinestones.
Then I couldn't stop decorating my nails with rhinestones.
Good thing I ordered a bunch of those, I can't wait for them to come.

Now I am staring at my nails constantly. They are so sparkly, feels like I am in my 20's again :P

2011-02-19

My First Client !

Yay! I got my first client today.
Actually she is my friend and she said she was fine with getting her nails done in unprofessional environment ( like my kids running around..).
And also I really wanted to practice on other people's hands.

Her left fore finger nail was chipped, so I sculpted this nail.
Other nails are gel overlaid on her original nails.
Since it was her first time getting gel nails, she wanted something simple but gorgeous ones.
She chose French nail base with a little bit of glitters and 3D flowers and they turned out really good!
I am so glad she liked them!


Her thumb

She also wanted to get gel toes, so I did a quick gel toes for her.


Pink shell on the tips and 3D butterflies on her thumbs

We had so much fun talking and I was so happy doing nails, and she seemed so happy getting her nails done :)

Thank you for coming today, and hopefully see you soon again!

2011-02-17

Just a little change

I wanted to see how the removal goes, so I removed 2 nails last night and redone them.
I removed gel from my right pinkie and the ring finger soaked in acetone for 15min and were easily removed :)
My pinkie nail have gotten long enough so I didn't have to do sculpture so I only did overlay.
The ibd white gel I bought here was too sheer to make a nice sharp smile line, so I tried white gradation this time.
I noticed that the white tips I created last time ( it was about 2weeks ago) was turned a little bit yellow compared to the new sets : still look good though.

The Valentine's day is over but I wanted to put something cute, so I chose glitter heart.




Next was my left index finger.
I tried a fill for this one and I wanted some add ons of course.
I created a pink 3D flower, and didn't like it at all :(
The pink doesn't look cute on this nail, I should have left it white....
Oh well, maybe next time :)

2011-02-14

Little touch ups

I am already getting tired of the previous designs, but I don't want to take them off as this causes stress on your nail beds so I repaired and did some touch ups on my nails.

Like the picture in the last article, I wanted to create 3D motifs.
This time I used acrylics, not gels.
Fortunately, my kolinsky sable brush was in really good shape, it was fun to make motifs.
Acrylics are very strong, so I am hoping that my nails got more durable.

Next time, I want to try design sculpture which usually means embossed motifs under gel or acrylic sculptures so the surface is smooth and flat.
I also want to try to put Fimo ( polymer clay) cane slices inside gel nails.
That would be awesome to collaborate SaSa Handmade stuff and tOkO Nails.

I think I would go with this nails for at least a week.

My foot. Pink glitter and a 3D bow

My right thumb. 

My both hands. Different designs :) 

My right hand. White french with 3D flowers.

My left hand. Aurora glitter with 3D flowers.

Let's start nails!

This year, I want to start doing nails.
To start with, I will write a little bit about myself.

My name is Satoko.
I loved doing nails when I was young and I was constantly wearing cute nails done by myself.
As you may know, Japan is a nail heaven.
Lots of girls wear creative and decorative nails, it's easy to get nail goods.

I really wanted to learn more about nails so I decided to go to a nail school.
The school I went was called "Pro nail academy" which is still at the same location in Vancouver.
I took a course there and learned about nail diseases to nail sculpture.
I went to school from 9am-5pm everyday and my life was good :)

After I went back to Japan, I had a child and after that I started working as a delivery nail tech.
I mostly went to hotels for bridals on weekends.
That was really good experience but I had to quit because I got pregnant.

Since then my nail life has stopped, but now I sometimes get to have my own time and since nails are getting popular here, I decided to start doing nails again.

I still need practice, but after I get good enough technique, I want to start my business, and here is my new blog where I post my nail pictures and write down how I did.

Nowadays, the most popular nails are gel nails.
There are lots of kinds of gel systems.
The newest thing is called soak-off gel (sometimes called soft gel).
Literally, the texture is much softer than non-soak-off gel or acrylic.
It's mostly for gel overlay (just on your own nails), but there are some kind that you can make sculptures (make your nails longer).
I found a very good gel system in Japan.
Gels are made in Japan, it's hard enough to make strong nails, very clear, hypoallergenic, non yellow, and etc...
I ordered a starter set and tried several times, and I like it so far.
It hasn't turned out so good but it's not because the product but because my lack of experience.
I think for sure I will be good using this product.

So, here are some pictures.