Nail art ain’t goin’ away that’s for sure. This is the sixth nail art book that I have reviewed only because nail art is why I love blogging in the first place (though I haven’t had quite as much time/inspiration to do anything complicated). Like many Cinderella beauty stories, El Salonsito began in 2011 (when I started blogging too!) as a platform for manicurist and nail artist, Ami Vega, to share her portfolio of nail art in addition to her love of nail polish. Four years later, Ami has teamed up with her brother Gabe to manage what is now a booming brand with celebs asking for their claws to be decked out in Ami’s handiwork. What I love about Ami’s designs is that most, if not all of it is brushwork as opposed to 3D bling. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some 3D bling, but there is something “pure” about detail and basic brushwork. I know some of you are probably screaming in your heads that even just applying polish on the nail is hard enough, but there is a manicure in this book for EVERYONE!
After going through some nail basics like nail shape and manicure and nail art tools, Ami dives right into the “how-to” of the 50 designs in this book. Something of interest is Ami’s open and often encouraged use of acrylic paint in her nail art designs. Acrylic paint is something I always use for fine details and for drawing intricate designs as the viscosity of acrylic paint is MUCH more forgiving than of nail polish. Those that are specifically nail ART bloggers will be aware of THREE areas of contention: filing vs. trimming the nail, real vs. fake nails and acrylic paint vs. real polish. I can talk for hours (or at least a solid couple of minutes) on these three topics, but I am a purist in all ways except that I fully support the use of acrylic paint!
Brush stroke manis are one of the most expressive forms of nail art because you can literally take the “almost” dry brush every which way and the final product looks like some sort of abstract painting. I have done this manicure myself (here) with different colours and it is both straightforward and more importantly fast to accomplish!
The brightly coloured shapes on top of white polish is one of my FAVOURITE forms of nail art for summer! The shapes can be totally random and the end result is always awesome! I did this manicure a few years ago (here) and loved how it turned out!
I singled out this squiggly manicure because it reminded me a little of the drawings from Dr.Seuss! I really should try this one out when my nails get nice and long again. I have horrific VNL, so I might have to make my squiggles a little bit fatter!
Final verdict: A lot of the designs are very basic (dots and lines), but the colour combinations that Ami comes up with are quite trendy and can be adapted to work with that perfect outfit you have on. Many time, I would like to try a technique, but can never choose the right colours. Or maybe it’s because I have too many colours to choose from! A lot of the designs would work on most nail shapes, but there definitely are some designs that would rock on some very long stilettos!
Alrighty! It has been FOREVER since I have done a giveaway and this one will have TWO winners!
GOOD LUCK!
Terms of the Giveaway
- Open to CANADA & US ONLY
- Giveaway ends on August 22nd, 2015 at 11:59pm
- 2 winners will EACH win ONE copy of Designer Nails
- The winner will have 48 hours to reply once they are contacted
- Do not follow only to unfollow (I have a VERY good memory!)
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