Having fun with nail art & rhinestones (LOTS!)

Recently, I became interested in nail arts. I found these packages of colorful rhinestones and beads from a local store and thought I just had to try these out.  Would you look at these gorgeous beads and rhinestones?  Seriously, click on it and look at the full size photo!  They are eye candies~

 If you see my previous gothic nails (3D nail deco with Konad), this would be my second attempt with these glue-on 3D nail decoration.  Without further ado, here are my nails...

I was going for an elegant style that mimics the feel of those Japanese/Korean acrylic nail arts, which couldn't (shouldn't?) be duplicated exactly by regular nail polish.  The decorating was fun but not so easy.  Mind you my 10 nails took a FEW hours to do with countless re-do's.



Only the index fingers have more complex design.  I have used mostly purple rhinestones to create the french nail looks.  The right index finger had a white bow, some silver round beads in addition to the rhinestones, while the left only had the extra silver round beads.  I just can't wait to try more designs.

For the nail polish, I applied 1 layer of Essie protein base coat, 2-3 layers of Essie Mademoiselle.  Once everything was dry, I then applied some clear top coat to the nail tips and quickly place all the nail art deco on top.  Finally I sealed the pieces with another thick layer of top coat. 

Some after thoughts....

Originally, I was trying to use the Kiss Maximum Speed nail glue, which was supposed to set in 4 seconds.  However, it was a total failure!  Not only did it not dry in 4 seconds, I had to thicken the glue first on a toothpick, apply it and wait for minutes before it was completely dry.  So in the end, I just tossed the nail glue back to my drawer and went for the top coat instead.  To be fair, I'm gonna assume that I just happened to buy a bad one from the batch or one that has gone bad for being on the shelf for too long.  But keep this in mind if you are looking for nail glues at your local drug store.

Beware of this nail glue....

may NOT work well.