Bridal Roe!

Good Morning and Happy Friday!! Well after all the fun I had last week doing "Fish Egg Friday" I decided to do it again today. Also, I am starting a new theme for all my nail art - Bridal! So today, you're getting a little bit of a two-fer!

On to the mani!! I named this one "Bridal Roe" because firstly, it's a bridal mani and secondly because salmon is pink and today's fish eggs are definitely pink!

The base color here is OPI's "Kiss Me On My Tulips" and the beads are actually clear which lets the underlying mani colors show through. I've seen how awesome clear beads are over white (for winter/christmas) but they are even more stunning over color!

Here's a few macro shots of the "fish egg" part.

There is a little trick to getting the beads to lay flat and neat on the nail. The pictures below are the "tool" you need to do it and how to use it. 

I have no idea what the tool is called but I have several that came with nail art kits, like dried flowers, rhinestones and even a few puffy nail stickers. It looks similar to a cuticle pusher but rubber end makes that impractical. They are sooo handy for applying anything other than polish to your nail!

Do this step after you've sprinkled or dipped your nail in beads and tapped off the excess.

I got the inspiration for this one from last week's Fish Egg Friday Rant. French Manicure or Pink and Whites - it just seemed the perfect thing to make my statement! All this week has been a variety of Bridal Runway shows reminding me that Bridal season is here!! Yay! "This coming week, I'll be showing you the "Bridal Manicure" I"ll be sporting at my own wedding this summer! Have a Groovy Fishy Weekend! Thanks for reading!! If you did a fish egg Mani - let me know in the comments where to find it and I'll link to it here!

Other ladies posting for Fish Egg Friday:
NailArtAddict
Salla at Polish 'em
The Lacquerologist
Color is Magic
Thoughts of a Midwestern Girlie Girl
Nail Loopy
The Rock Chick Rambles
I Like To Talk Alot A few days old - but she did more than one rockin fish egg mani!

I'll be updating throughout the day since today's Fish Egg Friday is not an organized event like last week's. You can also share/follow FishEggFriday Mani's on twitter with the hashtag #FishEggFriday

Fish Egg Friday!!

I'm baaaaack!! I decided to go ahead and double post today and bring you "Fish Egg Friday"! This was a last minute blog community event and I'm very glad I decided to do this. I've never done a caviar manicure and I'm certainly glad I gave it a shot!! Look for more of these style nail art manicures in the future.

This style nail art first appeared on the runway last year at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week and you can read about  Dashing Diva Pro's avant guarde look here.  This is the specific look I attempted to replicate today! I apparently need to be clear about that since there's a DIY kit available by Ciate, a brand from the UK and it very much differs from the original look. Now on to the pictures!!

These were all taken in bright sunlight to highlight the glitter and to demonstrate what a difference it makes to the overall look. Personally, I feel that without the glitter, the look risks looking like nothing more than a smudged up black nail from any distance. Let's be honest here, our nails don't get noticed up close unless we're in the habit of poking people in the eye.

Here in the second shot, you can see how the glitter as become part of the texture.  I used Orly's "Shine On Like a Diamond" as a top coat here both to get the glitter effect  and to secure the beads to my nail firmly. I have previously discovered from working with micro-beads that using a fast dry top coat can sometimes effect the color of the beads by almost leeching the color from the beads and making it bleed into your design. If you want to skip my rant, just jump to the end to get a list of all the other gals participating today!

~Rant Time~

I am going to take a moment to talk about why I decided to participate in "Fish Egg Friday". I am a professional nail technician, I am licensed by my state and this "Ciate caviar manicure" product is not marketed to me as a professional. I also don't do product reviews except in the most incidental manner (I used this, I don't use that, etc.)  This product is not even available in my area except online. The recent unprofessional conduct of their PR dept toward the beauty bloggers as a whole embarrasses me. Outside the fact that I am a former DIY-er who made the transition to professional, One of the things I enjoy about my profession is the industry as a whole and the professional code of conduct that doesn't include that sort of behavior. We don't put each other down publicly or behave negatively towards each other. This industry attracts certain types of people and those that flourish are caring, supportive, positive bundles of energy.

This is a unique industry. It's one of the few industries where duplication and imitation is what helps us grow, evolve and push us in new directions while still offering quality, iconic products/services. Offering consistent quality and accessibility is what gives your "branded technique" staying power not legal action against those who chose to not promote your product to achieve a look you didn't create. One has only to look into the history of the "French Manicure" to see an example of how it really works. Exclusivity and trademarking is not what has made this field the biggest growth industry at a time of world-wide recession. It has been it's accessibility of quality to the average person at every level which has made us all flourish.

I expect the folks at Ciate to follow in the footsteps of Max Factor and Orly and their "french manicure" and re-orient their PR staff appropriately. This type of behavior may work in other industries, but it doesn't fly in this one. Here, the rule of the day is either adjust the quality or adjust it's accessibility (price).


Thanks for hanging around to read my rant! Here's a list of the other bloggers participating in today's "Fish Egg Friday" be sure to check out their GREAT manicures cuz this is a amazing line-up!! The list keeps getting longer so be sure to check back and see all these new great caviar manis! You can also keep up with everyone else on twitter who's jumped in using #fisheggfriday!