My first ever manicure with real bird feathers. I decided to try it yesterday, and here’s the result:
To my surprise, it wasn’t as easy as I thought (and read) it would be. I thought I will only have to paint my accent nails pink, and while the polish is still wet, I’ll press a feather down into the polish, it’ll stick and I top coat the design. Nope. Not that simple.
First of all, the feather I used:
Secondly, here’re the problems I had while doing the feather manicure, and a few things I learnt in the process:
- I found that soft “parts” of a feather work best. I cut out a thick main “stem” thing – if you decide to do so too, be careful as the feather can fall apart!
- I had to be very careful trying not to smudge the half wet background while pressing the feather down.
- The feather wouldn’t stick, and its ends kept lifting up. With a thin brush I had to add some extra top coat under the ends, and to place them correctly.
- After the feather stuck on decently, I trimmed off the excess at the sides of the nail. The trick is to trim it as precise as possible, and it’s even better to make it so that the feather is just a little bit shorter than the nail. I made it simple – in my design the feather is placed in the middle of the nail and doesn’t reach the tip of the nail.
- I needed lots of top coat over the feather to make the surface smooth. The feather kept soaking the topcoat. I think I applied at least 4 layers of a clear fast drying top coat. I wouldn’t dare to use a regular top without fast drying feature – that multi layer cake would have never dried. On the other hand a feather mani is a very lasting one thanks to the huge amount of topcoat.
I’m glad I did only two accent nails with real feathers. However, I do like the nail look. Maybe I’ll do another nail design with real feathers again some day in the future.
The polishes I used:
- OPI Italian Love Affair – pink with a subtle shimmer
- Sally Hansen Black Out – black creme nail polish
- Orly Dazzle – silver metallic polish
To my surprise, again, removing the feather wasn’t difficult. I needed less time and nail polish remover than I usually need to remove glitters.
Well, that’s it :) Thank you for reading! See you soon xxx
I think all of that trouble is well worth it :D Looks gorgeous :D
Thank you! :))
I’m so in love with your nail designs, they’re always perfect! :)
:)) *blush* I’m so glad you like the nail look ♥
This is such a gorgeous way to use a feather in a manicure! I love how well Dazzle fits into this manicure :)
I’d say its one of the easiest ways to use a feather in a mani :D I saw girls decorating all their nails with feathers, I can imagine how much effort they put into that!
That feather is so pretty :) Love this mani!
Thank you June! I’m glad you like the feather. It was in a set of craft feathers of different colours, so I still have some left for other designs :)
It’s so beautiful, and even if it was time consuming, I think it was worth the effort…
Thank you Maria! Some serious amount of patience was required as well lol
This is absolutely beautiful Mari! :-)
Thank you :))
This is gorgeous! I love the feather accent and how your worked it into the manicure!
Thank you Anutka! Tho I’m startung to think it would have been easier to pain the feather freehand lol
It looks gorgeous!! Very classy and sophisticated. I love it!
Hei Roxy :) I’m glad you like the nail look!
I’ve always wanted to try this! You make it look so easy. :)
Lovely, lovely manicure! :) I haven’t done a nail art using feather because I was afraid of what you mentioned, but I didn’t know it needs that much top coat O.o Thanks for letting us know the “real” issues behind scenes :) kisses Mari,
Cristina