Spring Floral Stamped Nails & ACG Flawless Swatch
This is what my nails looked like before I added the stamp. I was trying to do another brushstroke design, except the brushstrokes looked more like blobs after I cured the polish. I still really like this look all on its own without the stamp though. This has a base of Artistic Color Gloss Flawless, and then I used a dry brush to add streaks of color with Gelaze Spontaneous (purple), FingerPaints Cool Blue Harmony, ibd Peach Blossom (pink), and ibd Aphrodite (silver glitter).
And here’s what Artistic Color Gloss (ACG) Flawless looked like all on its own before I added the color streaks (blobs?). Flawless is a really pretty, pale pastel yellow with a tiny bit of shimmer to it. I’ve been looking for a pale yellow shade to use in spring and Easter manis, and finally found the perfect one! You’ll probably see more of this color in the coming weeks. :)
This was my first time using the ACG brand and I liked it for the most part. It’s a full size bottle (0.5 fl oz) that I picked up from Amazon for under $10. I did experience some shrink-back and had to flash cure, but that was the only issue. The color was opaque in just two coats and cured great in my LED lamp.
Gorgeous!!
Very nice. Love the yellow! Let us know how it wears. Always looking for fun colors! I think I have to invest in a LED light as my UV doesn’t seem to “flash” cure but I love it and I can fit both hands in it… I just got the buy 5 Couture polish set. I haven’t tried that brand and am really partial to Gelish but thought I would give it a try!
I look forward to your posts and suggestions. Thank you!!
Thanks, Suzanne. Yes since UV lamps take a longer to cure they don’t “flash cure” as well as LED lamps.
Bummer the streaks blobbed, but the end result is gorgeous!
I love the yellow SOG and I love the design you did! The brushstrokes would be an awesome backdrop for so many different stamp patterns! I might have to try it on my current mint nails! :)))
I’m so excited to finally see a swatch of this ACG color, I just ordered it the other day for my Easter mani (swatch unseen) because there are no decent swatches of this brand that I could find. So happy to see that it is the perfect color I was hoping it would be :-)
Love this one – the base is perfect under the stamping!
question: I have been following all your how-to and I am a newbie to applying my own gel polish. This past weekend I tried using the ASP acrygel method, 2 coats, then used sensationail pollish and top coat. Now my polish is peeling off the ends. I capped the ends the best I could since the nails are short. I’m trying to grow them out. I don’t know what I did wrong. Can you help?
thanks for all the great tutorials! and help!!!
Hi Laura. I’m not sure what the “ASP” acrygel method is. Did you use the method described on my site or another method? There are a lot of reasons the polish could peel so it’s hard for me to say exactly. Is it just the color coats that are peeling or the acrygel as well?
ASP is the product name from Sallys. I used your method or I tried. It the polish that is peeling off of the acrygel part. I just buffed alittle on one of the nails and I could see the natural nail. Hmm.. I must have missed a step somewhere. Can I fix what is left?
Thanks
Laura
Hmm. It’s probably best to soak-off and start over because patching usually doesn’t work well. Or you could file them down really well and apply another layer of acrygel over top. Are your nails healthy or do they peel? Peeling nails will result in peeling polish. If the acrygel is staying in place and just the polish is peeling off you might benefit from adding a layer of foundation gel over your last acrygel layer for better adhesion.
My nails are healthy and don’t peel. I think I will re-watch your tutorial and try applying the acrygel layer over the other acrygel layer then apply polish again. I will try the tip of apply the foundation gel over the last layer of acrygel layer and see if I can have polish stay on longer. Thank you very, very much for your help!
Laura
Could you explain what it means to flash cure? I am guessing for a few seconds, but then do you add more on the tips or something? I need this technique for some of my polishes. Also another question – how do you best manage a very thin gel polish? I bought a couple Gelaze colors and had issues with flooding into the cuticles, despite my best efforts at pre-cure clean-up. Thanks so much – love your blog!!
You just put your hand in the lamp for a few seconds after painting a nail – do it right away before the polish has a chance to shrink back from the edges. Then cure all of your nails for the normal amount of time after you paint all of the nails. For thinner polishes I just paint very carefully in thin layers and clean-up just before curing. You can also flash cure them to prevent the pooling.
Hi As I can say is that please…. beautiful
I love the Yellow
So my nails peel! I used the Essie nail strengthener. It caused my nails to peel back as much as 1/2″. I’m thinking it stuck to the top layer so well that, with all of my hand washing, it caused the under layers to separate…my nails used to only peel in small sections. I’m just using the Gelish with the addition of a layer of Structure Gel. Is there anything else I can do? I really appreciate your expertise and love your site!
Try using something that’s meant to repair your natural nails. Structure gel is just for adding some strength/hardness while you’re wearing it but it won’t repair your nails or prevent peeling. You might try something like Gelish Vitagel Recovery or find a local salon that offers IBX treatments. IBX is a new product that repairs and protects natural nails and acts as a shield when wearing gel polish, but it’s a professional product and is hard to obtain if you aren’t a nail tech.
I forgot to select the “notify of reply box” so am posting this so I can select that.
I tried the Artistic yellow after your recommendation and it didn’t work well for me. Each time I cured it, it wrinkled more and more. Luckily I put lots of dots over it so the wrinkling was camouflaged Then the next day a big chunk lifted. This is the first non Gelish I have used. I have been using SOG polish for almost two years and have never had a problem before. I guess I will go back to only using Gelish. : (