Hi Goddesses
Today’s post is all about Recycled Nails. It’s something I stumbled on by accident, but something that has helped keep me sane and time managed as a blogger lol. It’s also something I’m going to make into a weeklyish feature on the blog.
I’m going to take you back in time. During the Christmas Challenge there was, appropriately enough, a Christmas Miracle, and I did some nail art of an angel that was both okay AND looked like an angel. So good in fact, that I didn’t want to take her off, only to redo her for some other manis that were coming up later. So, what does a Crumpet do? We recycled her, and eventually she appeared in 3 manis –
What does this accomplish? Well, it saves time redoing stuff, which is a smart way to work.
This then collided with one of my other philosophies – always experiment on your nails before you take them off. Itching to try a tape mani? Do it on your current mani, just before you take it off. Want to know if you can do a gradient? Do it on your current mani, just before you take it off. Want to try a watercolour mani? Do it on your current one, just before … yeh, you get it :)
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Gradually, this experimentation mutated into a bit of a game with myself. How many different looks could I get out of the same mani ? Usually I manage 3. At the weekend, I paint each hand different colours, so eventually I end up with 6 manis. And that’s how you help your scheduling problems.
I thought I’d take you through some examples of when I’ve used this on the blog. I see some other bloggers doing it, but probably not to the extent I do, but believe me when I say it’s a sanity saver.
So, first of all, let’s go back to the Spring Challenge. Day 2 asked for your favourite spring pink. Easy – OPI Sparrow Me The Drama.
Day 16 asked for a Spring Gradient … which I prepped on the same day as Day 2 … using my base of Sparrow Me The Drama …..
And then I stamped over it, and a few weeks later I posted “Squiggles”.
3 posts from one mani. Recycled Nails.
A couple of weeks ago I wore Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid.
I then wanted to do a gradient with it, so picked up OPI Give Me The Moon, and I wore my nails like this for another day.
And then I stamped over it – puddy cats!
3 posts from 1 mani. Recycled Nails.
Sometimes, the recycling is different. Day 6 of the Summer Challenge was Summer Sunrise.
When I looked at it from another angle, I also realised it looked like a farmer’s field of crops, which is what it then became for an Adventures In Stamping post.
1 cool gradient. 2 posts. Recycled Nails.
This style of working won’t be for everyone, but I find it gives me variety, AND more crucially, encourages me to play with my polishes more. Every single mani in this collage is a Recycled Nails mani, meaning it started life as a completely separate idea or swatch, with its own individual blogpost.
Tomorrow, we’ll go through my favourite Recycled Mani so far :) Enjoy xx