Nearly But Not Quite #3 - Nail Art Attempts

It's been *checks notes*.... five years since the last Nearly But Not Quite post. Where the fuck does time even go. Anyway, here are some fails I've been saving in a folder from the past few years.

1 - Boo Nails

I can see why I didn't bother uploading these. Not scary, not cute, the white is patchy and it looks more like spilt milk than a Halloween look. The base was also starting peel and lift so that didn't help either.

2 - Lipgloss Nails

Remember that time when Hailey Beiber invented lip gloss and everyone went crazy making everything "glazed"? Yeah, I tried doing the 'lip gloss' nail trend without gel polish and this was the result. I genuinely have no idea how I managed to make them satin when I was trying my best to get them to be plumpy and glossy. That must be a skill.

3 - Spooky Glaze

Another look meant for Halloween (I think...the folder was called 'Spooky Glaze'). I think I was going for pearlescent slime? I have no idea at this point but it looks like bad Christmas pudding now. I do love the base colour but what was I thinking pairing it with a patchy, pearlescent white?

4 - Peach Stripes

Probably the best of the lot. I'm not mad at this look, the Essie base colour is beautiful matte and glossy. Ironically I might have achieved Lipgloss nails on the index and pinkie. I'm not sure I like the mixture of matte and gloss finishes and those white stripes are a crime. I do think my hand-painted peach is pretty cute though.

5 - Quartz Fail

I'm forever on the quest for the perfect quartz look but dear god. I'm offended just looking at this photo. I jumpscared myself when opening this folder for the first time in years. This must've been during that time I experimented with square nails....*eurgh*. That shape looks lovely on others but my nail fold is just too rounded to get away with some square, blunt ends. Also, the quartz effect looks like it was painted on by a two year old.

6 - Love Is Not In The Air

I think this would've been cute if the stamps were clear. You can tell this was done during the time I was obsessed with negative space nails. The anti-valentines plate though is still one of my favourites, it's such a shame that MoYou don't do stamping plates anymore. I hate those gel strips they do now.
 

Nearly But Not Quite // April 2020 Nail Fails

It's been a while since the last nail fail post; and boy April was not a good month for me nail art-wise. There really was an attempt. I have 5 looks from April to show that I just don't feel are that great; none of them deserve their own post so I've been collecting them for a nail fail post.

Let's begin.

Arabic Space

I don't know what to say. I was messing around with the watercolour polishes from Nicole Diary and this happened. I then added the stamping design on top followed by a matte top coat. I then got bored of that and added a holo top coat. This is what happens when you have no restraint.

Coming Up Tropical

This was inspired by a bottle of shimmering body spray I saw whilst browsing the eternal Hollister sale page. I'm planning to re-do this because it did not turn out how I wanted. Sometimes I just rush looks to get them done when I should practice them first beforehand. I like the negative space but I just don't feel like the colours compliment each other.

Geometric Pastel

This started out well (apart from my awful nail folds looking crusty as hell). I smooshed all the pastel shades on top for this nice water colour looking design and then I ruined it by poorly stamping whatever I wanted on top. I really hate it when the stamps clearly look like they've just been placed on top instead of blending in a little.

Peru Flowers

I originally painted each nail a colour from the OPI Peru set that I had...then got bored and stamped random shit on top. It's a problem; I just can't leave a bare mani alone. I think this would've looked good if the background wasn't so busy.

Strawberry Mandalas

I don't think there's really anything awful about this look but I just don't feel it deserves it's own post. To pink is just too pink for my liking. Also, whenever I place mandalas at the tip of my nail it just looks like doilies. It looks great on others though.

Nearly But Not Quite // November 2019 Nail Fails

It's time for some more nail fails! These three looks were done right at the start of November and I wanted to do so much last month but got hindered by the hideous looking nail. I like having short nails but that was ridiculous. Thankfully, it grew back enough in time for December because I was not missing out on snowflake and Ciaté swatching. But it meant that I didn't have much time to make it up and posts were sparse.

Autumn Falling

This wasn't supposed to be a nail fail, it was supposed to be glorious. I used watercolour paints and everything to create the burnt orange and red background. The problem happened after the stamping. The thumb used my most opaque white stamping polish and it looked pretty good. Some colour was still coming through but it wasn't obvious. I then applied the top coat and the white just turned to water and ruined the entire look. 

Winter Leaves

Now this wouldn't look so bad if it weren't for the horribly stained yellow nails shining through. I need to start wearing a base coat on top of my peel off base now as I keep getting horrible stains even when I'm only wearing polishes for an hour or two. Unfortunately I'm still growing out the stains on my ring finger so I can't recreate this just yet but it is a cute look so I might use a opaque background.

Forest Drag

What a drag. I enjoy doing drag marble looks however I chose the wrong shades for this one and there is way to much white. I'm trying to perfect that geode rock formation but it's not quite right just yet. 

NAIL FAILS #3 // 2Smooshed4U

My god man, June was not a good month for nail art. I see the art I want to do in my head and then what comes out on my nails just isn't it. For example, the above look was supposed to be sort of a lieve91 style look (her nail art is just #goals for me) and it just looks awful. I loved the dark green leaf nails and I painted over the other nails for this post earlier in June. I also hand painted those leaves and well I'm no van gogh. I have bought some new brushes specifically for nail art though at £7 a brush so hopefully my skills will start to improve.

This look I did trying to practice drag marble and applying custom decals. I really don't know what they do to get the lines so neat when cutting off the excess. This photo is deceiving because it looked awful irl. There were also spots where it wouldn't lie flat and on the pinkie the polish separated and urgh. 

OK, so there is nothing inherently wrong with this look but it just doesn't feel worthy of it's own post or an insta slot. I do love that A-England polish though. It's Maxim from the recent 'Return to Manderley' collection. 

And that's it for this month, there were a few others but I didn't even take photos of them. The acetone was just whipped out straight away instead. 

Valentines Schmalentines // Nail Fails #2

So there were four other designs last month that I just couldn't bring myself round to post as I wasn't proud of them in the slightest. However, it's nice to see people fail sometimes; it's a good reminder that we're only human after all and you can become skilled anything with enough time and practice. I clearly still need more time and practice lol.

So, here are the designs I didn't want to show off this past February:

Fail #1 // Wedding

So this was the design I did for the Clairestelle8 Wedding prompt and it was based off a popular pin on Pinterest. That look used rose gold and pink and to be different I used blue and gold. I don't think it's terrible. I'm surprised how neat the detail looks considering I had to *shudder* free-hand it. I'm terrible at free-hand, I'm no artist and never will be however the french tip decals I had were too strong and kept ripping up the polish. Don't buy nail tips from Avon everyone.

Fail #2 // Hearts

I literally have no idea what this is supposed to be. I was swatching a colour because there was nothing on my thumb (a sign that I was swatching) but I can't remember what it was now. Regardless, I clearly decided to stick a glitter top coat on, then add some stamps for no reason. This is just a jumble of stuff with clearly no thought put into it. I give it 2/10. Next 👏 Nails 👏. 

Fail #3 // Roses 

WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I am disgusted by this mani on so many levels I think I triggered myself. Excuse me whilst I hold an #ifndef_nails_h_ is over party. This actually started out with a black base coat and I was attempting to do a stained glass look with roses....it did not go well so I just thought "fuck it, I'll smoosh it." And smoosh it I did....this was my first attempt at smooshing, it kind of looks like sewage water in some places and nothing says romance quite like sewage water....My thumb is the part I can't get over the most; just ew to this whole thing.

Fail #4 // Roses II - The Rosening

Ok, so this actually isn't that bad. I had just received some new Born Pretty polishes and really like the coral colour. I think this would be ok without the roses but I had to incorporate roses into it in someway otherwise it wouldn't fit the prompt. I don't think this had been executed badly, nor does it look bad; it just makes no sense to me.

And that's it for this compilation. Don't worry, this won't be the last one. There are plenty more fails instore. Here's the first fail post if you'd like some more:

- Nail Fails #1

Stripes & Baubles // Christmas 2018 Nail Fails

Well Christmas is now over for another year and it's time to contemplate over my first year of doing Christmas nails...it wasn't good...

I actually attempted three of the Clairestelle8 challenges but only posted one as the other two I just found hideous. I also had some crazy deadlines to complete for my degree and only really got some days off starting the 21st; not leaving much time for nail art designs. Coupled with the crazy amount of swatching this month I'm looking forward to actually doing nail art next month...that said I've got both the Cuccio Wanderlust & Tapestry collections to post, plus the boxing day Morgan Taylor haul I did today with December Mani & Lola and Meebox....ARGH. There isn't enough time in the day. I did this to myself though, no one needs this much nail polish......said no one ever.....

Design 1 // Ornamental

The 12th of the Clairestelle8 Christmas challenge was "Christmas Ornaments" and using a Circus plate I came up with this. It doesn't look like much but I spent around 2 hours doing this due to all the stamping. The baubles were tripled stamped, as was the wiring and all that stamping took a while. I have a newfound appreciation for those who make double or triple stamping look easy.

I think the colour combo is one of the main reasons I don't like it that much. The blue and green just seem jarring with each other. This was a design that I had no idea where it was going but unlike the other times; this one didn't turn out so well.

Design 2 // Christmas Candy

Designed for the 16th of the challenge which was "Gingerbread or Candy Cane" I tried to do the double lines that have been sweeping across instagram. I did this whilst swatching the OPI advent calendar and felt like I could do something with the shade....I couldn't. I detest this design; the colours don't match, the pink in the background just ruins it.

And that's as far as I got with the challenge. I finish my degree in June so next year I'll be able to participate in the challenge properly as it's so much fun. I'd love to the the Digit-al Dozen challenges as well but they seem to only post their challenges on Facebook; which I don't have. Oh well, I'll just have to keep doing my own challenges, which I don't seem to stick to lol.