Friday, March 8, 2013

Sharpie Nail Polish?!

Doesn't it seem as adults that we are ALWAYS busy?!
There is always something going on in our lives that makes it impossible to just slow down for a minute. Well that cam often lead to neglecting our nails for months or not getting your hair cut for the better part of a year.
We have all been there.
Yes even I, a hairdresser!!!
Well in an attempt to fix her long overdue need for a manicure Jean tried the "Shaprie Manicure". Now I know Sharpie can fix A LOT of things (it's the new duct tape!), but I'm not sure how it will do with fixing naked nails...let's check it out!
 
The Original
 
 
 This is a cute way to jazz up your normal polish routine that generally everyone has in their junk drawer. I like that the options and creativity with this are endless...Sharpie is ALWAYS coming out with fun new products and colors.
*It has come to my attention that I didn't specify that these are the metallic Sharpie markers, which are different than regular ole' Sharpies...sorry about that. I read the original blog post which specified that but it slipped my mind to mention it here! Thank you commenters for catching me on that!* 
How did Jean's turn out though?!
 
The Pinstrosity
 
 
Well it kind of worked.
 
Here is what Jean had to say about it:
 
"Overdue for a professional manicure, I thought I'd try the sharpie
marker French tip.  Some came out great. Others, not do much.  The
clear coat smudged the sharpie everywhere and in my attempts to
correct it, I ended up with a bumpy smudgy mess!"
 
 
Why did this happen?!
Well for starters I think it is good she started with the Sharpie on top of polish. I think it can be harder to get Sharpie off of your natural nail, and I think it looks better anyways!
 
According to the above tutorial you can get Sharpie off of your nail using rubbing alcohol. This is handy in case you mess it up. Now I'm not sure what Jean used to try to clean up her smudge that made it even more smudgie but I don't think it was rubbing alcohol.
One thing to be sure of is that your Sharpie design has dried completely before you put the top coat on.
Also when putting on the top coat don't rush and just throw it on. Take your time, go slow and don't put too thick of a coat on or it will NEVER dry.
 
Does anyone have any experience with this?! I am not much a nail art with Sharpie person, I generally just use polish or acrylic paints! Let us know!! I am sure we have some Sharpie lovers out there who would be willing to share their wisdom!
Have a bunch of tips and know how? E-mail them to us! We would love to learn more!
 
Happy Friday Pinstrosipeeps!
 
 

14 comments:

  1. This post reminds me of the old thing we did back in school of coloring our nails with highlighters :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've tried this too, and what I've found is that some top coats are just going to smudge sharpie no matter what. So, if one top coat brand is smudging even though you're sure you let those suckers dry completely, you might need to try a different brand's top coat. The other thing I found is that the metallic sharpies are much harder to smudge than regular black/blue/whatever color sharpies are. They just seem to dry a little faster & stay put a little better.

    I agree that it is definitely necessary to have a nail polish base coat, and then use sharpie, though. Sharpie isn't going to give a very even color if you put it directly on your nail, so there's that, and it's also super likely to stain your nail if you don't use a base coat. So definitely do a base coat of something before whipping out the sharpie markers!

    Overall, though, I still prefer using nail polish or paint and a small brush when doing details on my nails. The Sharpie was a fun experiment and looked good for awhile, but I didn't think it looked quite as nice as actual paint, and it didn't seem to last quite as long (the metallic lasted OK, but the details I used black on seemed to fade, and when that faded, I just took it all off).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did that before Pinterest because boredom in high school leads to those things and I never had any issues with it smudging. Although, I'm not sure I ever tried to put a top coat on.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Does the issue come with using a standard sharpie versus a metallic one? I imagine they are different, they smell different.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmmmm . . . this is interesting to me, not that I ever do my nails. But now I'm wondering, I just got some sharpie *paint* pens that I'm in love with. It says it's water based but nothing more specific than that. Wonder if they would work . . .? Time for an experiment, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The original pin is only talking about these metallic sharpies, not just any sharpie. The metallic ones have a a slightly different formula than a regular sharpie... regular sharpies smear like the dickens when you try to put a top coat on.
    I have tried the metallic ones though, and they can make a really stunning and simple mani... there's a picture of mine in this post:http://onesassyhousewife.blogspot.com/2013/01/manic-monday.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Original pin is metallic (different formula) Sharpie art over regular polish. Pinstrosity is just regular Sharpie on bare nail, kind of like that one kid always did during chem class. Not the same.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Although, that being said, I know people who have had success with plain sharpie, but over regular polish first.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I tried off-brand metallic "sharpie" on my regular nail, and when I messed up it was just about impossible to get off! I ended up having to just paint over the whole thing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Why not just use those nail art pens?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ugh...I did this and it did not work. I used the same metallic sharpies and they totally smudged before the top coat and then when I put the top coat on. And the color was totally opaque...it was hard to get good coverage.

    Not a fan...will use metallic polish next time.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have tried this with some success. I've found that after each step it your nails need a lot of time to dry. Putting the sharpie on with a fresh coat of polish will result in dimpled polish and an uneven etched looked. Etching does however prevent the smudging when you get to the top coat. But if a smooth look is what you're going for (what most people want) you have to give it time. Then carefully draw on your design. Let it dry. Draw it on again if you want a more solid coloring. Let it dry. Then very s l o w l y add your top coat. I like to get as big a drop on my nail at once as possible and only slide the brush down once. This leads to the least amount of streaking/blurring. After you top coat dries you can draw your design again, let it dry, and put another top coat on. It makes it look more crisp especially on those areas that may have blurred. They seem to smear and blur less on top of a top coat, go figure!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Perfect example of not knowing what you are doing. As a nail tech when attempting this project I would reccomend not only waiting for the sharpie to dry but when you put on top coat go from the cuticle down wiping off the brush after every stroke, this goes for regular nail art as well. You can also invest in airbrush top coat.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I wanted stormtrooper nails for comic-con and I found a pin, bought white nail polish and a black nail pen. The nail pen had a small brush and was terrible so we ended up trying a black sharpie. It worked great and lasted quite a while. I tried a quick dry top coat and it smeared it so I went without a top coat. I found it smearing a little after a day or so and realized that it was due to the alcohol based hand sanitizer which I use frequently. It was very easy to reapply the sharpie to clean things up and I got lots of comments on my nails.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.