Simple but bling bridal pedi! This was done with Gelish Desert Sands as the base, then Gelish Water Field for the tips before adding tons of embellishments and lace stickers!
Category: Recent Buys
Gel Mani x Sha Nail Pro: American Tattoo
A week ago, I attended a Sha Nail workshop conducted by Sha Nail Japan instructor Ms Kimi Akazawa and now Nail Art Express is certified as a Sha Nail official nail salon!
Sha Nail is well-known in Japan for their intricate stickers that are thin and of excellent quality, perfect for use with gel and acrylic nails! They also release gorgeous new designs regularly, and I posted some on my Facebook page. Serene saw the American Tattoo design and wanted it on her nails! The result:
I used the stickers over a grey marbled base done with Angel Pro Gelly Polish in #14 (light grey), #47 (white) and #29 (black), based on a design featured on the Sha Nail website. 🙂
Gelish Mani: Lace Polka
I am SO glad I bought these intricate lace stickers when I was in Japan – they are so gorgeous! Just look at them:
And yes, I do have some stocked for sale in my ネイル shop, but looking at how gorgeous they are on Serena’s nails, I feel like keeping them! So if you want some, hurry before I change my mind!
So anyway… Back to the design – Serena was originally looking at a half moon design with polka dots and stars, but knowing that she loves lace, ribbons and polka dots, I suggested combining them instead and worked out a design based on this pack of lace stickers.
I used Gelish Desert Sands as the base, Gelish Sheek White for the tips, and added black polka dots with acrylic paint before using the lace stickers! I used the most intricate one with ribbons in the lace pattern on the thumbs, and a simple lace design on the rest of the nails, the single ribbon that you see on the index and ring fingers are from another pack of ribbon stickers that I thought would match this set. Love this! I might just do this for myself next… 🙂
Gel Mani: Furry Friends
Trish loves dogs so I whipped out my ultra-realistic doggy Japanese nail stickers and this was the result:
The base colour is Gelish Desert Sands with Angel Pro Gelly Polish in #11 on the tips amd #47 for the polka dots. I added lace stickers a super fine print to line the tips, then added the dogs of Trish’s choice on alternate nails.
For the thumbs, I sculpted on an embossed round “canvas” and lined it with a string of silver bullion beads. Then, I added stickers of more furry creatures and sealed it with gel top coat.
As you may have noticed, there has been a sticker invasion of sorts in my work. Lately, many of my customers have requested for my special Japanese stickers to be used in their designs. I can understand why – these stickers are of amazing detail and I can’t imagine reproducing that kind of detail freehand. So yes, sometimes, stickers aren’t just an easy way out – they are the only way!
To get some stickers for your own use, check out my ネイル shop!
Gelish: Butterfly Among Roses
Melody knew exactly what she wanted – classic white French tips, with a butterfly, dotted flight path, and landing on a flower. I whipped out my super realistic butterfly stickers (available here) and she picked out a white butterfly as she needed her nails to be subtle for work. She also chose pink roses from my stash of realistic floral stickers.
I suggested having the roses at the corner of all the tips instead of just on a few fingers as she had originally wanted and I’m glad she agreed! I think they look very pretty as a set, and being placed at the corner makes means the beautiful curve of the French tips are still visible.
Gel Mani: Sweet Tooth
Pelicia is a colleague of one of my regular customers, Bee Fang! She really liked the candy stickers that I posted on Facebook page awhile back, so this is what I did for her:
This was done with Gelish Desert Sands as the base, and Angel Pro Gelly Polish in #39 for the baby pink tips, and in #47 for the white polka dots. I then added lace stickers as well as the cNdy stickers (available here)!
Gel Mani: Flower Garden x Lace
Kai had a wedding dinner to attend but her nails had chipped badly and we didn’t have much space to work with. However, all hope is not lost even if your nails are short- they can still wear nail art!
The base is Angel Pro Gelly Polish in #3 and the lace was done freehand with acrylic paint. Added some floral stickers (available here) at Kai’s request!
Gel Mani: Vintage Florals
My mom’s nails are testament to the benefits of gel manicures – just check out how short they were previously:
And after three weeks, when I removed the gel polish for her, her nails had grown a lot without chipping! This is a real miracle for her because she can NEVER keep her nails long naturally. With normal polish on, they chip very easily.
This time, I used Angel Pro Gelly Polish for her instead of Gelish so that I could have an easier time removing her gel polish next time.
I used #2 as the base colour – it’s a gorgeous vintage yellow, quite light but not so bright or pastel that it becomes too sweet. Then, I added floral nail stickers as a quick and easy way to decorate her nails. Love them!
P.s. If you’re into DIY, you can get these stickers here!
Gel Pedi: Glitter and Stripes
Brena opted for a simple design for her birthday pedi as she would be wearing covered shoes and wouldn’t be able to show off her pedi art!
This was done with Angel Pro Gelly #38 for the pink base and Orly Gel FX in Luxe for the gold glitter base. The stripes were done with a gold glitter striper from Orly. Added a flat gold ribbon charm – love it!
Gel Mani: Hello Kitty x Ribbons
This month, I’ve been lucky to serve a couple of lovely new customers, and Shirley is one of them! She’s a busy mother of two cute kids and she dropped by to fill a last-minute slot that I had posted on my Facebook page. She liked the embossed Hello Kitty designs from my June nail wheel, as well as the embossed ribbons on hearts, so I paired them with ribbon stickers and polka dots! The result:
I used Gelish Water Field for the glitter base and Angel Pro Gelly Polish in #38 for the pink base. I added some gorgeous ribbon stickers – you can see the amazing detail that makes them look like real fabric ribbons! Then, I filled in polka dots with acrylic paint.
These ribbon stickers can be found in my ネイル shop if you’re quick!
In The Woods
Li Yi didn’t have a design in mind for her express manicure, and she was open to the idea of using my new Japanese nail stickers! The result:
I used OPI Pearl of Wisdom for the base and added super realistic floral stickers (with the odd bunny silhouette – see if you can spot the hidden bunnies!).
Love the thumbs! Li Yi chose to use my super realistic bunny and squirrel stickers for this frame design, done by sculpting an embossed “canvas” and surrounding it with a string of gold bullion beads, so that it ends up looking like a piece of art, literally! Reminds me of framed portraits!
P.s. Limited quantity of these stickers are left in my ネイル shop!
Gel Mani: My Secret Garden, Purple Upgrade
Jiamin, one of my regular customers, booked an appointment for her sister for bridal nails. Her sister originally wanted a full set of extensions but I ended up extending only three of her nails as she had managed to grow the rest out beautifully. She picked theMy Secret Garden design, but opted for it to be in purple instead.
I used Angel Pro Gelly Polish in #5 for the light purple and Artistic Colour Gloss Fly for the dark purple. The art was done in acrylic paint, except for the super cute and realistic bunnies ob the thumbs – these are actually Japanese nail stickers… And you can still get some for yourself here if you hurry!
Gelish: Bridal Blush
It’s the wedding season! For June and July, I have a record number of bookings for brides as well as ladies who are attending weddings, so it’ll be interesting to see how the designs pan out! This one was custom-designed for Carrine, who didn’t have any specific design in mind, but knew she wanted flowers and French tips, and wanted something simple and not too 3D. This is the end result:
(If you’re wondering, I used an iPad app called Frametastic for this!)
I used Gelish Desert Sands for the base and Gelish Sheek White for the tips. I added a silver glitter line and embellished the French tips with a side cluster of crystals and tiny round gold sequins.
There were two accent nails – one of them was done using gorgeous super realistic rose stickers in white and blush pink, and I added silver glitter highlights to make them stand out more. For the thumbs, I sculpted embossed roses in shades of white and pink and embellished them with crystals and pearls.
P.s. You can purchase the rose stickers here if you’re quick – limited quantity left!
Gelish: Chanel Monotone
Cheng Min requested for a Cynful Nails Chanel design, and I adapted it! The original:
My take:
I used charms for the middle and ring fingers! Chanel logo encrusted with crystals and a black ribbon with crystals, perfect against their respective black (Gelish Black Shadow) and glitter (Gelish Water Field) bases!
For the thumbs, I switched to the Chanel flower that was taught in Pink Room’s Chanel Kitty workshop that I attended in May. I learnt a lot of embossed designs and this is the first done on a customer!
The main base design is a white base (Gelish Sheek White) with a black tip (Gelish Black Shadow) and with art done in white (Angel Pro Gelly Polsh #47), then embellished with crystals! Can’t wait to put more of what I learnt from the workshop to good use… 😛
Pedi: Girly Union Jack
This is the design that Cheng Min chose for her pedi!
The original design had words written on the red accent nail, but as it wouldn’t be obvious from far, we opted for a silver star stud instead.
The interesting thing about this Union Jack-themed design is the use of lace stickers! Makes it look so uniquely feminine, don’t you think? These are of course really awesome quality stickers that I got from Japan last year… Looking forward to using them in more designs!
Gelish: Sweet Tweed with Gold Ribbon Charm
Cheng Min didn’t have a design in mind, and I was impressed by how quickly she picked both her mani and pedi designs from my Japanese nail art magazines! This is what I did for her, with some modifications:
The main design is a heart-shaped tip, which I did in baby pink (from the latest Candyland collection by Gelish), baby blue (Artistic Colour Gloss Deblu), pale cream (custom mixed from Gelish Forever Beauty and Gelish Sheek White) and pale purple (custom mixed from Artistic Colour Gloss Fly and Gelish Sheek White). Mixing colours is tedious but necessary because the Gelish colour range is so limited!
For the heart tips, I ended up adding a crystal accent as the original design was a little too plain.
The accent nail is a sweet tweed design which I did with Gelish colours. I also added a pastel yellow into the mix (again, custom mixed from Gelish Sheek White and both yellows from the Gelish Candyland and Rio Neons collections). The original design had a single pearl embellishment with the four gold beads, but I opted for a crystal instead for more shine.
A close up of the ribbon charms on the thumbs:
I really love the ribbon charms! I only bought two on my Japan trip last year as they were very expensive, and I was dying to use them, just for the fun of it. Now, seeing how pretty they look, I’m definitely going to stock up when I go to Japan again!
New stickers!
Many of you will know by now of my fascination with Japanese nail stickers, which are incomparable for their gorgeous designs and impeccable quality!
Recently, I added these to my collection – most of them are for my personal use as I only purchased one or two packs per design, but I am also happy to whip them out for my regular customers… That’s one of the perks of loyalty!
And I also stocked up on some designs that I already have! I have more of these, so they are available for all customers to choose from. 🙂
Whew! I really really cannot wait to hit Japan again because I found out about some new nail stores to check out! Please forgive me for constantly talking about Japan… I just love it so much and can’t wait to be back there!
Liz Lisa Mystery Bag Auction!
This post is to provide more information on the Liz Lisa mystery bag that will be auctioned on my Facebook page today, ending at 9pm tomorrow night (Singapore time).
These items have a combined retail price of approximately $500 (Singapore Dollars), are entirely brand new, and free-size.
Please note that Liz Lisa clothes are always “free-size”, but tend to fit size M best and are looser on size S girls. They can also fit up to size L as they are often made from stretchy fabric, or come with adjustable straps.
In keeping with the fukubukuro tradition, the contents of this lucky/mystery grab bag will be kept secret. Instead, I will provide some teaser pictures and details so that you will roughly know what you are getting, but will still be in for a surprise when you open the bag.
1. Cropped soft knit sweater with crochet lace trim.
2. Floral print long-sleeved short dress with fuzzy collar trim.
3. Soft velvety long-sleeved top with a ribbon front, can be worn off-shoulder.
4. Floral mini skirt with ruffle trim.
5. Light pink camisole with ruffle trim and ribbon.
Happy bidding!
Liz Lisa Luggage Auction
This post is to provide more information on the Liz Lisa Royal Flower Carry luggage that will be auctioned on my Facebook page today, ending at 9pm tonight (Singapore time).
When I purchased this in Tokyo in December, I had to use it as a carry-on luggage on my return flight. Although I have not used it at all since, there are some scuff marks from that trip and I have not tried removing them. Please take this into consideration when making your bid.
Ok, on to the pictures!
Check out the floral print with giant ribbon and lace trim – super girly, super Liz Lisa style.
Gorgeous gold logo plate:
Fully extended handle – you can see most of the scuff marks at the base of the back.
Top view:
Zip:
Happy bidding on my facebook page!
Gelish: Polka French with Crystal-Studded Bow Charms
Few customers are aware that I actually have a large collection of embellishments – I have five boxes of assorted flowers, crystals, studs, stones, charms… Apart from that, I also have chains, beads, metal charms, as well as glitter in assorted colours and shapes. And… I also have a lot of quality stickers. Many of these items can’t be purchased locally – I had to source for them from other countries like Japan and Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, due to the higher cost of these materials and the limited quantity that I have, I can’t bear to use them for sample designs. I usually only whip them out when I think a customer might be interested in them! One day, I really should find the time to photograph my collection…
Anyway! I’m talking about my embellishments because Xen opted to include some in her mani!
I used Gelish Less Talk for the base and Gelish Black Shadow for the polka dots and the slanted tips. For the thumbs, I used Gelish Ambience for the base and Gelish Less Talk for a half moon design, with Gelish Black Shadow for the polka dots.
At Xen’s request, I added a ribbon charm to the ring fingers and glued on pearls and crystals in the shape of a ribbon for the thumbs. Love the bling effect!
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