Butterfly manicure and Corset Belt intro

I saw the butterfly manicure online a while back and think it's beautiful. I'm not much of a butterfly person, but the butterfly is associated with fibromyalgia awareness, so a couple of weeks ago I was inspired to do a Fibro Awareness manicure.  I was diagnosed back in 2004 after a long and painful illness that led to a hysterectomy at 24.  It's cost me jobs, relationships, and opportunities.  Eventually, I've to come to terms with this disease and while it's a struggle, I'm determined to live the best life I can.  I'm with a wonderful man and a job that I love that has seen for the last 5 years the ups and "I am in so much pain I can't think" moments.  I'm grateful to the people in my life who have helped me through the depression that lasted through my twenties.  I'm glad that now they finally see me emerging from my own cocoon to become the woman that was inside all the time.

Done, right?  Nope.

I didn't document the steps that time because it was the first time I'd done that manicure.  I did the nails again because i liked them so much!  I still haven't stopped my crafting, though... I've got a deadline.  This next major project is a corset belt, which I'm still finishing up all the tiny little details.  One problem: I'm an noobie seamstress.

I wanted to do a hall costume this time around because I've never done it and I love having really cool, unique costumes.  This time, I'm doing a Steampunk Kitsune after finding a yarn tail tutorial on YouTube and getting inspired.  I had some of the elements already and it's now just adding all of the little details, like a corset.  I don't have the skills yet to be able to make one that isn't terrible, so I went online and found an easy corset-inspired belt that would be a successful enough project.  I've had lots of little bumps in the process of learning and although it's far from perfect, I don't hate it.  The sewing didn't take long, but now it's just adding all of the details that is taking a while.  You'll see the completed journey next week when I can show off both sides of this beast... it's reversible! (More costume, no extra room needed in suitcase FTW)


Now.. on to the girly-girl painting of the nails!!  This is not a manicure for the faint of heart, as it does involve drawing with your non-dominant hand (shudder), but it's easier if you've got something like Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen or even a sharpie.  I did not create this manicure, and you'll see several different versions of this tutorial online.  You'll see this theme again come November for Transgender Awareness week.

A few thoughts on nail art and beauty products in general:

I do not believe that you have to have the most expensive and latest and greatest to achieve any look you want.  I use cheapie stuff because I'd rather spend 50 bucks on a video game.  More expensive products tend to be more highly pigmented, though, but I've seldom had an unresolvable problem with the cheap stuff.  Use what you can afford and what makes you feel beautiful.  You don't have to go all out, just a few simple tools and a lot of patience will get some really amazing results.

Supplies

• Base coat (your choice)
• Pale nail colors (shown here are Sally Hansen "Mellow Yellow", Sinful Colors "Irish Green", and Wet N Wild "French White")
• Nail art pen/sharpie/nail polish in Black (if you just have the nail polish, you'll need a striping brush.  The pen has more control)
• Dotting tool (a toothpick works well here)
• latex makeup sponge
• Top coat (I'm using a KISS topcoat)

Let your nail polish dry between each step.  My general rule of thumb is to wait about 5 minutes more than I think I need to, so this is my "Binge watch a show" night.  (This week was Black Butler, if you're curious)  A topcoat is a mandatory step here, btw, because the sharpie or nail art pen will rub off!

Shape your nails however you want.  Apply base coat to protect your nails and help your manicure last.  Once dry, it's time for your pale nail color(s)  Here, I painted all my nails white

Then green.  I did this because the green is neon and very thin, so the white helps it pop.  This works for just about any color, though.  You'll get a much truer-to-the-bottle color if it's on white nails.  Here's 2 coats.

I then put the yellow on the latex sponge and dabbed the sponge over the top of my nails for a gradient effect.  Concentrate more of the yellow on the tips and only dab a little towards the middle so that it blends seamlessly.  If your nails aren't dry at this point, it'll ruin the manicure, so wait for stuff to dry before sponging.  

I put a thin layer of glitter on top of this just to give a little sparkle.  I'd have preferred a finer milled glitter polish so that I had fewer random big chunks of glitter on my nails.  Grab your pen (or brush) and draw a diagonal stripe on the lower half of the nail.  This placement will vary depending on the length of your nails.  If your nails are shorter like mine, keep the line closer to your cuticle.  If they're longer, put it closer to the midline of your nail.

Draw 2-3 stripes on the nail going in the opposite direction that begin on the original line.  You may have to go over your lines a couple of times to get them nice and black.

If you're craving an energy drink right now, I'm sorry.

Curve the top of the spaces in between the lines.  Best trick I've seen and done is to make a point and then fill in that little bitty tip instead of trying to make a perfectly symmetrical curve. Make sure paint the sides of your nails above the line black, too, so that you've got more of a teardrop shape in each little space

Put a drop of white polish on a palette of some sort... foil, plastic sheets, or even a reusable metal palette.  (Clean the metal one with nail polish remover afterwards) and dip your dotting tool (AKA "toothpick" if you don't have an actual dotting tool.  If you do a lot of nail art, I recommend getting a set of dotting tools, but if you don't, don't bother.)  Put dots in the black at the top of your nails and then finish them off with a top coat and you're done with your new beautiful nails!

Clean the dotting tool after every nail to keep your dots a consistent size