Nail Rehab Week 1 and Art Deco inspired nail art

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Hey y'all!

This week's prompt for the FingerFood Theme Buffet is Art Deco, so I used some striping tape to create my first-ever nubbin nail art!

First up, let's talk about my nail rehab.  It's been a week since the damage was done, and most of the really ugly burns around my cuticles have healed up, save a couple of places on my ring finger.  Essentially, I'm keeping them really well moisturized with a combination of OPI Avojuice Skin Quenchers at least once a day (I am loving the Sweet Tea scent!) and Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream at night, just before bed.  I'm also applying a cuticle oil with vitamin E as often as I can remember throughout the day.  This first week, I've left the nails bare, but this will definitely change next week!  You can see that I've already started getting a little bit of length back - whereas they were rounded off for the nail tip application in my course, I've flattened that down to more of a straight edge with highly rounded corners. 

Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about some nubbin nail art.  I have to say that if anything, this first attempt has taught me a great deal of respect for bloggers like Sammy at The Nailasaurus, and my buddies Emma of Em's Little Corner, Kirsten at Geeky Owl, and Catriona of Belle Glamour for the AMAZING work they do on short nails.  I mentioned on Facebook the other day that I hadn't realized how much of my femininity had been tied into the length of my nails, so I definitely have a new point of view towards these amazing women who make it look so easy!

To create these art deco nails, I began with 3 coats of Nina Rum & Reggae on all nails.  Maybe partially on account of the cool name, I am loving this very vanilla nude polish and will have to investigate the brand further.  On my middle two nails, I taped off this deco-ish geometric design and covered with Barry M Espresso before removing the striping tape.  I think I may have learned something about matte polishes and striping tape, because I found that the polish actually stayed put better when I let it set a bit longer.  When it was still fresh wet, it tended to drift into my stripes, which had to be corrected with a striping brush and more of the Rum & Reggae.  I finished by covering selected sections of the design with silver and gold striping polishes before sealing with SV.

To finish the look, I added some of these really pretty black rhinestones that I recently received from bornprettystore for review. 

350Pcs/Box 2mm-5mm Delicate Water Dropping Heart Design Rhinestone 3D Nail Art Decoration

This large nail wheel includes 4 different rhinestone shapes in two different colors.  I love the pearly white iridescent hearts and teardrops, but what really drew my attention are the gorgeous black AB gems, which come in the 2mm rounds and 5mm pointed ellipticals.  The colors roll around in the blue/green/purple family, and sometimes I catch hints of gold as well.  Aren't they gorgeous?

If you like these, be sure to check out the rest of the nail art supplies selection.  Remember that when you make a purchase, you can use discount code FXX31 for 10% off regularly marked items in your cart!

All the other Art Deco nails can be found in the inlinkz below - please do check them out!

An InLinkz Link-up

Hope you guys are having a fantastic day, and I'll see ya soon!