Talent???

OH I forgot to tell you - our lil holiday this past weekend??? We were in Ottawa - playing tourist.

On the Friday night - to kill time between check-in at the hotel and dinner - W and I ran across the street to a big mall.  W loves to poke around shops - me ?? not so much. 

However while we were poking - I came across a Kiosk.  Now Kiosk's can be interesting - Kiosks can be fun.  They are not (usually) big named stores with the usual crap.  Most of the time Kiosks are small independent whatevers - with - sometimes - some really intriguing stuff to poke through.

What drew me to this one - was the strong smell of nail polish (not exactly my favourite smell in the whole wide world - but I can think of a whole lot worse smelling stuff) Anyway............. this wasn't just a nail polish vendor.  No No !!  This Kiosk was selling "nail stamps".  What are nail stamps you ask??? (me too btw)

Have you ever noticed a woman's nails (I guess there may be some men with it too - but I haven't seen any) that have patterns painted on them??? I have admired some of the patterns/nails and wished I was talented enough to decorate my nails that way.  Oh I have looked at stick ons at the drugstore - bling to add to your nails - but that wasn't quite the same.  I even bought and tried the "crackle" nail polish.  I never could get used to my nails looking like I had marked them up while doing the manicure.

The young salesgirl was quite enthusiastic about showing me how "nail stamps" work and doing one of my nails.  Of course I didn't ask for flowers and bows I wanted something "oriental".  After much hunting and pecking she found some oriental lettering and proceeded to demonstrate how "easy" it was to use.  She even got me to try it .. and after a couple of false starts I did manage to transfer the pattern from the silver disk to my thumb nail.  

W was watching intently and suggested I buy the kit.  I was sorely tempted - BUT - come on - we all know how easy it is to do your nails with your right hand (left if you are a lefty) and how damn difficult it is to do the opposite hand.  I figured I would buy the kit and do my left hand ok - but never master the opposite hand.  

W was all gung-ho - the salesgirl just quietly cheered me on - telling me it really wasn't that difficult.  So - after much thought - and some persuasion I decided to buy a kit.  W haggled a bit with the girl and got her to empty one of the starter kits and add the silver plates I wanted (one oriental - one multi-patterned flowers and ribbons and bows and one Christmas one - snowmen and Christmas trees etc) as well as adding the nail polish colours I wanted (red and black) 

Now I have to admit I was excited and wanted to try stenciling my nails the minute we got back to the room.  However - my logical side won out.  IF I screwed it up - I didn't have nail polish remover - so the package was tucked away until I got home.

Yesterday I couldn't wait any longer.  

Out came the package............. 

And the nail polish remover..............And I started.......

If you look closely in the above picture you will see the silver plates.  Each plate has 7 different patterns to choose from...... See the flat pink rectangle in the picture - that is the scrapper - see the round pink plunger sort of thing?? that's the stamper.

Ok - so here's what you do....... 

You pick a pattern and cover it with the thick nail polish - then you use the scrapper to scrap off the excess polish and at the same time fill the grooves of the pattern.  Then you quickly (operative word being QUICKLY) stamp the pattern with the stamper and immediately transfer the pattern to your freshly manicured/painted nails.

I learned pretty damn quickly if you don't move fast - it doesn't work ....... and if it doesn't work properly you have to remove the pattern - which removes the nail polish/manicure and you have to start from the beginning ................. 

Needless to say - it took me a couple of hours to actually get the hang of it........ sort of.

I didn't pick any pattern as advanced as the one I posted at the top............ but hopefully I will work up to multi-coloured patterned nails........... 

For the time being ......... this is what I accomplished with my "nail stamp kit" 

Am I talented or what???   (no comments from the peanut gallery )