3D Nail Art: Black And White

So for about five minutes I was considering piercing my nail, maybe keep it for a week or two.  Then I looked up how to do it and the first tutorial said to use a hot needle.  I'm terrified of burning myself, so I decided that was too hardcore for me.  Instead, I went out and bought a set of acrylic nails to pacify myself.  This is my birthday present to myself, my outrageous acrylic nail set!

I managed to go a little bit overboard from the original urge to pierce my nail.  I think it started because I bought some really long acrylics and felt like I had to DO something with them.  It's understandable, right?  Well, even if it isn't, I only wore these today to take pictures of them. 

I don't like to wear fake nails because I hate the glue.  I used a bit of it in constructing these because I was making them heavy and I knew top coat wasn't going to be strong enough to hold all the jewelry on them.  I managed to glue my fingers to stuff a lot, which is NOT fun.  At all.  In addition, using that glue on your bare nail can really damage them.  I got around this by using stick-on tabs.  They held really well considering I was photographing my hand while wearing these things!  Afterward, they slid right off with a little gentle but firm pressure.  Perfect for fun!

This is how my right hand set turned out.  Isn't it exciting that you get to see it for the second time in the span of only one week?

I have a little box full of broken jewelry that is about half full of earrings that are missing their other pair.  Most of the things I used for these were from that box.  Recycling!

First, I filed each nail down to the appropriate size for each finger so they fit well.  I have rounded cuticles so this was pretty much a must.  Then I painted each nail individually using Finger Paints Black Expressionism and OPI's Alpine Snow.  I added an acrylic top coat and then let them dry for several hours.

I actually didn't end up piercing any of these, but I did add that dangling bobble with a bit of chain and some jewelry pliers.  And glue.  This was the first occasion where I glued my fingers together during this project.

This is one of my favorite nails--and also the one with the biggest ornament.  It pretty much has two full earrings on it!

Another one of my favorite fingers is the one in the middle of this picture.  I used a needle marbling technique on it and couldn't stand to cover it up all the way, so I kept the ornaments minimal!  I want to try needle marbling on my natural nails now.

Of course, I made sure to toss in a little Hello Kitty!  Or rather, a huge Hello Kitty compared to the size of the finger nails!

The acrylic nails weren't damaged at all by the sticky tab adhesive I used, unlike with nail glue, so the best part is that I can wear these again!  Hopefully on an occasion where I don't actually have to DO much.  When I was loading them onto the computer, I didn't take them off to make sure my photos came out alright.  I had to name the folder by typing with a chopstick!

I hope you enjoyed these!  Thanks for reading!