Konad Flowers and Green Stripes

These were the first fruits are my laboring over a Konad kit.  I'd ordered fauxnad plates from Bundle Monster to play with when I arrived at home, so I only bought a stamper, scraper, and one stamping plate to play with in Korea.  I’ve read that Konad has a greater selection of flower designs than most fauxnad sets have, so I selected a plate of flower designs, even though the smaller, more detailed stamps are supposed to be a bit more difficult to use.  In the end, it was a good decision, because I didn't end up with any doubles once I finally got my hands on Bundle Monster's 25-piece set. 

I wasted a fair amount of time just testing different polishes, since the less opaque ones wouldn’t stamp.  I tinkered a lot before landing on a design I liked, but I think I’m getting the hang of the rolling motion necessary, plus the accomplishment of multicolored stamping.  The white base is my trusty Skin Food BW001 (White Milk).  It's a bit fussy, but it's the only white polish I found in Korea with enough opacity to cover my nail, at least as compared to the whites available at Aritaum and Bavi Phat.  The sort of coral flower color, which looks very pink in its thin, thin stamping layer, is #86 (여름햇살 빨강) from Innis Free.  Finally, the green is a ₩1000 purchase from Etude House, and you can see the effects of different thicknesses in the leaves and stripes.  I watched several tutorials to help with my stamping (including Konad's video with its unusually calm and creepy spokeswomen), but the biggest surprise was just how thin and delicately the polish stamps onto your nail.  Should you find yourself in Seoul, I bought the set at 경안사, which also has the largest selection of American polish brands I’ve ever seen in Korea at pretty decent prices for Korea.  Walk straight from exit 6 at the 회현 stop and it’s clearly marked on the right.  

Blue French Tips

These polishes were the result of a little shopping spree at Innis Free inspired by my VVIP card discount.  30% off is the only excuse I need to buy far too many beautiful bottles of polish.  But this was my favorite Korean brand, and I had to stock up before I returned to the United States, right?    

These manicure features two of my favorite Korean polishes.  I love them enough that I bought extra bottles.  The base is a lovely, complex pearl shimmer (#26, 눈쌓인 길), and the tips are a gorgeous cobalt blue (#89, 여름햇살 파랑).  Based on the name of the latter (summer sunshine blue), I’m guessing this is a special seasonal color, so grab one now if you want it.  
  

This manicure was my first attempt at free handing French tips, and I think it was pretty successful.  Plus the whole thing is as classy as blue French tips can get.  

Blue and Orange Ikat

I love these cute little polish bottles from Bavi Phat, but the polish itself tends to be a bit thin and sticky.  I based this manicure off of Mr. Candiipants' tutorial (of course), but I also decided to use the same colors she used, which isn't my usual habit.  I like to tweak my manicures a bit, even when I base them off a tutorial, but the blue and orange together just looked so bright and summery!

Again, this blue polish is from Bavi Phat, while the orange and white are from Aritaum. The black is my trusty nail art pen from The Face Shop.  Nowadays I use brushes more frequently, but these pens are what got me into nail art in the first place, so I'll probably always have a fondness for them.

Korean Newspaper

These newspaper nails have a twist befitting my country of residence until last week.  Hangul is naturally very graphic-looking, so I think it lends itself well to this sort of pattern.

Also, if you want to learn to read Korean, here is a link to teach you in fifteen minutes.  Um, yes.  Fifteen minutes.  This isn't Chinese, people.  Korean has a phonetic alphabet, and it's super easy to learn.    

 
Although the gray polish from Aritaum is nice enough, I really want to try this manicure again with a pastel polish.  This is also the only photographic evidence I have left of my dearly missed Windows Phone- sigh!  It was stolen from me on the bus just one week before I left Korea.  It's especially frustrating since the phone doesn't even work in Korea; I only used it for music while I was abroad.

Monarch Gradient

This was one of my first nail art designs, hence the poor flooded cuticles- eek!  It hurts a little to look at, I know, but this was the first design that I was really proud of, even if it's an exact copy from Nail Art 101's butterfly tutorial.  I cringe a little when I think of how long I spent working on these babies, but they're awfully cute.  

  

The orange polish in the gradient is from Aritaum, and the yellow polish is BL002 from Skin Food (Melon Milk).  They yellow looks much darker here than it does alone, but I think a large part of that is due to color mixing during the gradient process.  The black is my trusty nail art pen from the Face Shop, and the white dots were done with a nail art pen from Etude House,which I would not recommend since it smears far too easily.