1. IS THAT ACRYLIC PAINT YOU ARE USING
yes. it is acrylic paint. it goes like this: 1. polish 2. acrylic paint 3. topcoat. yes, it is as effective as polish if you use a good topcoat. no it does not last as long on natural nails and you must seal the ends with polish.
if your acrylic paint is in a tube, it is very thick, you must water it down! it must be very thin (like hair dye) not like water, and not thick and goopy. it must 'flow' on the nail, not catch and skip.
the brands i use are: apple barrel, folk art, ceramcoat, delta, american. you can buy them at walmart, the craft store, art supply stores, any large department store with a craft section. to see all of what i use go to my favorites on youtube...there are videos there that teach you how to: mix your paint, thin your paint, use the paint by practicing your brush strokes. when you go to my youtube page you will see my name with my picture at the top...next to that it says "all" ...click all and you will see my favorites and my playlists. please watch all of my 'favorites' section before asking any questions to me. it is very important you watch those videos. they get you started and help you to understand what i am doing.
2. WHAT KIND OF BRUSHES DO YOU USE AND HOW CAN I BUY THEM. (WHERE DO I GET STRIPING BRUSHES)
the brushes i use are of all different makes and models. they do not have a name on them, they do not have a size on many of them. they come from all over the world on ebay and the people i buy them from are stores that are long gone. in my favorites section, i show you how i choose my brushes. how i cut them and how i make them perfect. the brush i am using right now costed .79 cents and i have used it for 3 months. you can use any brush that is perfect for YOU. but, i show you how to CHOOSE them. cut them. manicure them. keep them soft. pointed. etc. please....watch those start up videos..they are so important.
striping brushes is one of my hardest questions. its a very personal thing. there are TONS of crappy striping brushes out there...i would say 70% of them SUCK.....so, to find a good one is just like seeing a unicorn...if you do, BUY IT if you can afford it. hahahaahah...they must be pliable, sable, kolinsky sable if possible. now, i do NOT recommend this but...if you are in another country and cannot find striping brushes ANYWHERE in craft or art supply stores then i would say you have a GOOD CHANCE of getting a good striping brush with OPI on ebay. opi makes good striping brushes, HOWEVERRRRRR, i have gotten a couple from them that SUCKED and totally didnt make a good line and i was very angry..however, i DO recommend them over an anonymous ebay store selling them for 1.00 each....those are going to be awful.
3. WHAT TOP COAT DO YOU USE AND WHERE CAN I GET IT
i use: "pro finish UV GOLD topcoat by Creative Nail" it comes in a small bottle or a 4oz refill. it is expensive. it is hard to find and it works perfect for me. i get it from a supplier in vegas who is nice enough to send it to me on a regular basis because i love them very much and have been doing business with them for 17 years. i know creative makes an air dry finish top coat that works well but isnt for me because i NEED my art to be sealed effectively and quickly. i do not want one of my portraits messed up because of a sub par top coat. i NEED a GREAT top coat. for those of you starting, i do not recommend buying this top coat because you dont NEED it. you need a thick, shiney top coat that doesnt crack and seals your art. i recommend testing top coats and finding a nice thick one. top coats that are thick and high gloss are perfect because they cover the 'bumps' of the paint and protect the art from chipping.....thick topcoats also do not crack and look ........emaciated. the topcoat brings your creation together and makes it even and shiney and flawless. i do not use seche vite, but i have seen other art sealed with it and it has a nice gloss and you can tell it is thick and juicy. it LOOKS nice. its also less expensive. so...if you find a thick and juicy topcoat that is inexpensive, leave your comment here and give others an idea of good new topcoats that seal art well....i would be happy if you did and helped other girls find their perfect topping!
4. CAN I DO THIS ON NATURAL NAILS (HOW CAN I MAKE IT STAY LONGER)
my first response is: no...hahahahahahaha but!!! i am lying. you can. you can, but i cant. people pay me to have their nails last. they want my art to last. so, i put very thin layers of acrylic over the nails to cover them and build canvasses for my art. (no, the smell doesnt bother me, i dont care...my art is more important than the smell, i am used to the smell, i never had a problem with the smell and i dont care that gels smell less...i prefer acrylic as a canvas. if you prefer gel, perfect and i say...lets get to painting! i do not LIKE talking about the nail part of my art, i just want to paint.) so..quickly let me say: you must dehydrate the nail before you begin to paint, it allows the polish to last longer. you can use fresh nail by CND, or scrub fresh by CND, or white distilled vinegar if you want a natural product. these all take the natural oils off of the surface of the nail and allow the polish to adhere longer.
then it goes like this: ALWAYS POLISH FIRST...I NEVER PAINT OR FOIL OR ANYTHING on a natural nail. i POLISH the nail........then i decorate it. if you decorate on a nail with no polish, the first time your hands get wet they will all come off! so please...wash your hands well, get the cuticle back, dehydrate the nail gently, polish, decorate and top coat. (it will not last as long as acrylic, but it will look very nice for quite a while)
5. FOILS, FOIL GLUE, FOILING PIGMENTS,
foils, glues and pigments are very hard to find but getting easier. i buy my glue called "the best glue ever" from scraperfect.com. they also sell 'embellie gellie' which is like this glue stuff that you can attach to an orange wood stick and it allows you to pick up HUGE stones and all other types of things like microbeads and gems so if you DO order from them, also order the gellie, you will NOT be disappointed if you do a lot of nail art. also there is dollarnailart.com. they have the foils and glue there as well. the glue doesnt work as well, but is great to get you started and you can see if you like to DO foiling :) please do not get the glue on your skin. its for crafting. so its for polish and acrylic so be careful with glues and other stuff if your skin is sensitive!
6. HOW DO I CLEAN MY BRUSHES?
i have menda dispensers: (google menda dispenser to see a picture)
these dispensers distribute small amounts of liquid and keep chemicals from spilling and becoming a problem. when using acrylic paint, i use just a menda with water..i rinse off my brush and go to the next color
for harder jobs..i have s dispenser full of acetone (polish remover) i pump out enough liquid and wipe the brush over it and then wipe in a sweeping motion across a towel i have near my brush to clean it out completely. synthetic brushes begin to freak out after awhile when you clean them with acetone and can be reshaped by sweeping them over a bar of soap and making a new point with your fingertips and letting it dry overnight....you can rinse the soap out and your brush will have a new point on it.
for natural hair the same thing except you must condition natural hair brushes with oil every once in awhile if they get dried out (like hair) this keeps them pliable and nice.
now, i also have a very small menda dispenser with rubber cement thinner i clean out goopy messes i have had with glues (this is more for the hardcore professionals who work with chemicals and have a license) but i want to put it out there in case someone is doing it at home and might be harming themself and creating a dangerous environment.
chemicals must never be mixed or in hot places or around open flames. the menda containers keep them separated and safe from being spilled. after each time you clean your brush you must wash your towel.....chemicals in towels collect and become toxic. now, i am writing this because i once worked in a shop that was carefully monitored by state board.
every 6 weeks a state board member would monitor our shop, make sure we were all up to code etc....and one day, a flame came too close to a towel that was not clean and saturated in chemicals and all i heard was a "whoosh" and i looked up and the girl in front of me was on fire. her towels were not clean, they were one on top of the other and they were just saturated with many chemicals and there was a reaction.......state board cant monitor chemicals that are all invisible....it is up to YOU to keep yourself safe. it is up to YOU to keep your area clean. you must pick up good habits and keep your area clean and sanitized at all times for your safety and for the safety of others!!!!! and acetone and superglue and thinners and polish and everything are very dangerous when you have them in hot places or near flames (candles, cigarettes) .....you can seriously hurt yourself...the manicurist i worked with was SEVERELY burned and suffered tremendously and i was in a shop....so, if you are doing this at home, please be mindful of yourself and others.....you only get one life. be careful with it!
i am new to the ONLINE scene...i am new to what to say on camera and what to say in the description and i might leave things out or mis-communicate something i am trying to teach, but please..............always read my descriptions and learn what i am trying to teach and be very careful because i want you guys to have fun.
cleaning brushes is easy and a pain in the butt, but really...just soap and water....most of the time and acetone .................what is more important than cleaning your brush...is cleaning the area you cleaned your brush in after you have cleaned your brushes. be safe....i cant say this enough.
7. HOW DO I TAKE A GOOD PICTURE OF MY NAILS
since starting nails this has been one of the worst problems ive had. i have lost (never had a chance) to capture YEARS worth of designs...literally 1000's because i could not get a proper picture. now, they make cameras that can capture detail...(thank god) but, you still have woes.....here is a solution.
put a sticky note over your flash. make sure its a white sticky note. take a picture..if there is glare, add 2 sticky notes..if there is glare, put 3...........adjust your lighting until you see how sticky notes take the basic glare off of the nail when you are shooting it.
this small tip..............has helped me IMMENSELY.....MORE THAN MOST ANY OTHER.....i have sticky notes everywhere near my camera and there is not one day that goes by where im not looking for sticky notes to adjust glare..........i hope this helps you as much as it has me.
8. HOW MUCH DO YOU CHARGE FOR YOUR ART?
price is a personal preference. people i know charge in many different ways. i charge by 15 minute time gaps. it keeps me on time for my next client (which is very important) and allows them to decide whether or not they want to pay extra. i give them all a general time. all extra is made in advance and blocked out for their next appointment schedule.
it all is very personal. if it takes you 4 hours to paint marylin monroe, but your client loves it.........its different than someone who paints her in 20 minutes and their client leaves unhappy...(even if it was way cheaper)......its about quality, time, and being fair..... being honest and being real about the situation, the economy and so forth..........having happy clients who come back has no really dollar amount....some art i do takes 10 minutes and its the clients favorite design of their life...
just know:.........happy clients come back, they dont if you charge too much and prove them with little effort. they come back more if you provide extra effort even if they arent exactly thrilled with your end result...people love when you TRY to make them happy.
happy fun clients are hard to find. so, charging less and practicing and having a good time promotes happiness and having a gang of happy clients is wise because they come back and make YOUR JOB less of a job...unhappy ones pay more maybe..but they arent regulars and you cant wait for them to leave and every single moment it feels like your job is hell.
xoxoxoox
thats what i charge.
:)
9. WHY IS MY POLISH BUBBLING? WHY DOES MY POLISH BUBBLE? SOLUTION
"why are there bubbles in my polish"
"why is my nail polish bubbling?"
there are only two culprits: hands and polish!!!
(hands)
heat and oil.
---....wash your hands with cold soapy water, apply nail dehydrator (white vinegar for natural nails *and let them dry thoroughly) (...fresh nail for artificial nails by CND: for those who bubble a lot) -- that fixes the problem 99.9% of the time...i had one client that nomatter what i did, she would bubble like crazy...i still to this day do not know why...medication???? i dont know.
"why does my polish get bubbles" avoiding bubbles (in polish)
if you use too many strokes applying polish...it creates bubbles on the nail surface that 'rise' to the surface. this happens when you actively brush over and over and over and 'scrub' the polish on....as you scrub your hair, it creates bubbles in shampoo...you scrub polish and get bubbles in polish.
rotate your brush in the bottle in a clock wise circle to get the bubbles out of the brush....you can see what i mean if you do it with clear polish as a 'test subject'.........(actively apply a bunch of clear on a piece of paper and scrub the polish around on a piece of paper and apply the brush back in the polish and watch how many bubbles are created!!!) when you rotate in a circle, it gets the bubbles out of the brush.
my advice...start with clean and cool nails and learn how to use your polish "calmly"
if you do get one nasty little bubble...have a pin near you (my bubble pin i have on a magnet on my lamp on my desk) just take it and pop it in the middle when the polish is tacky and then wet your finger and gently gently run over the bubble a few times and it should smooth right on out.
so!....dip your brush calmly, apply polish calmly and topcoat calmly.....the acrylic paint, you can be more wild! hahahahaha :)
xoxo
robin
p.s. if you tried it all and its just no help..maybe you have a crappy bottle of polish and try another! if its the polish..throw it away and get a fabulous one! xoxoxo haha
10. WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR GLITTER AND PIGMENTS
pigments are loose eyeshadows. you can buy them at any drugstore. they are the shiney shimmery colors you get in little pots that look like fairy dust. pigments are light or they can be very very dense and full of color. they vary from matte to pure glitter. i prefer working with pearls and very glittery pigments because polish serves me well in the matte and shiney categories....i use pigments to enhance my art and so i have favorites from lots of brands. mac is expensive but makes the most beautiful pigments....i wish to own every pigment by mac someday!!!! haha! however! nyc makes great ones...bare escentuals is SUPER GROOVY because they sell samples of their pigments at their counter and you can try them on and see how much glitter each color has and how dense they are before you buy them. its a very cheap way to practice and get the feel of pigments. i buy TONS of colors from a place called "INAZ PIGMENTS" on facebook. their company is VERY small and they are making a website but i found them by accident because i saw a girl named chararie03 wearing "glam rock" (A HOLOGRAPHIC 3D GLITTER) as an eyeshadow that just blew my mind. i had to have it. i bought samples from 'INAZ PIGMENTS' and loved them so much that i use them in a lot of my videos. they are dense, exceptionally shiney and do not crack under polish. they are a great source for pigments for me and i hope they stay in business for a long time because i really enjoy working with those beautiful colors. inaz 'glam' series means it is a glitter.
11. CAN I COPY YOUR WORK AND POST IT ON MY BLOG?
all of my art is copyrighted with the library of congress and to copy my work without giving me credit is an infringement of that copyright. this PROTECTS me from huge companies copying my art and it protects me from others on youtube copying lots of my art and saying it was 'their' idea. to answer the question though, YES, i encourage you to copy, learn and have fun with all of the art i do on nails. --HOWEVER, if you do use MY design and paste it up, i need you to say somewhere that you were inspired by me, especially if it is exactly like my design. if you put "nails by _____" put "design inspired by robin moses" somewhere on the picture or near the art. EASY!!! i want to see every girl who wants to learn something new achieve their dream, get a better clientele, have more fun with art and share that with the world. i understand that many things are the same and a butterfly is a butterfly etc....BUT, i am talking about my designs. design after design of MY work....you must say it was inspired by me. if you do that, you are having fun AND giving me credit!!! WHICH IS AWESOME! saying "robin moses" inspired me, but here is mine!! is awesome.......i am 100% behind you! i WANT you to have fun and success but i need my name in there somewhere. that protects and inspires me to keep teaching and hopefully keeps you inspired to keep learning ---and then we all are happy........no problems will ever come of that! i love that others are making my art. i wish to do this full time everywhere...so, if you do happen to see my work out there copied over and over WITHOUT my name, please just pass this note out to them, or say 'hey, robin moses inspired that!' this way we both reach our goals and dreams... mine is to show my canvas art in galleries all over the world.......i believe teaching nail art will help to facilitate that dream and i really want to keep teaching this to girls who appreciate me and my teaching and who give me credit and want my success as much as i want theirs!!!
so, i hope i answered most all questions and i hope you guys keep watching and painting and be safe and smart and have tons of fun!!! my love and respect always!
robin
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