Inside Ah-Ha Nail Lacquer

Good Evening! As you know, I make my own polishes, 'Ah-Ha Nail Lacquer'. I thought I would take a moment and share some background info as well as the process I use.  Background: I was in the 7th grade when I saw a lady with the prettiest nails. Because of her, I stopped bitting my nails and strived to grow out my own nails. Gradually, I  started to paint my nails more often. I've had long natural nails ever since, only getting acrylics once but ripping them off with my teeth one-by-one 3 days later and vowed to stay away from salons. Throughout high school and college,  nail art was constantly on my mind and dreams of having a nail polish line. A farfetched dream from a broke college student. Then finally, I graduated college and was left with a unfulfilled emptiness of no longer having to meeting deadlines or turn in papers so started a nail blog and gave myself the assignment of posting every weekend.  I really wanted a hobby and something to call my own. I started calling distributers, 'just to see' what it would take to make my own polishes and was set back when I learned that start up costs range from 1k to 5k.  I couldn't make the jump yet. Then I purchased a new vehicle-my biggest purchase to date. As much as I appreciate my new car in terms of safety, I wasn't 'thrilled' in the least. After weeks of pondering my dissonant feelings, I told myself, if I could spend X amount of dollars on a car that has little value to me, then I should spend X amount of dollars to do something that I'm passionate about.  I jumped the gun. On the behalf of big corporate banks, I am able to make my jumpstart my own nail polish line :)

How did I come up with a name for my line? Easy, the initial of my first name and my last name. 

How do you make your own polishes? There is no set way. I wish I had one formula to guide me but I mainly work on trial and error (I've had to toss many bottles that didn't come out to par).  I work with 4-5 liquid chemicals-thinner and thickeners-all toxic-free. Although, my solutions are toxic-free of the 5 most potent toxins known in cosmetics, they are still dangerous chemicals and need to be handled with caution.

(I should probably mention that Ah-Ha didn't start off as a toxic-free nail polish venture until I started getting sick off of toluene fumes, which made me do more research..)

 I always wear protective clothing and a professional grade respirator gas mask. Chemicals can be absorbed through the skin and cause poisoning. From there, there are hundreds of mica powders and glitters. I order empty bottles, mixing balls, etc. separately. I even design and print my own labels and superglue each one. It's a ton of work and I usually stay up late on most nights after coming home from my day job to work on what I'm really passionate about :)

WARNING: Please to not attempt at home!

Supplies.

Nude Polish Halloween Decals

BOO! My computer is being chaotic tonight so this is a short entry. Just something simple with nail stickers. Have a Happy Halloween :)

Orange Creme with Floras

Hello again. This was my first time creating flowers with a freehand. I have to say that this was fairly easy to do! I am excited that this turned out amazingly, and will be sure to incorporate more flowers designs in my nails. Next time, I will be sure to take step-by-step photo tutorials. I basically used to tones of pink and swirled them together while the paint was 50% dry and ta-da! 

Halloween Decals

Boo! Only a few more days until Halloween. I picked up these decal stickers at my local beauty store. When I'm not free handing my own designs, I enjoy using decals! They are a simple way to add intricate designs to you nails and they work like stickers. Decals are simple, easy and do most of the work for you :D. This orange creme base is something I quickly created by combining polishes that were already in my collection! Happy Halloween :)

Orange Jelly with Gold Glitter

Happy Fall!

This is another one of my handmade creations made of an orange jelly finish with gold glitter. Perfect for Fall :)

'Famous Beaches'

Made by me. It's not as opaque as I would like. It takes 4-5 coats for complete coverage. I'll let the photos speak for itself. Remember to click on photo to enlarge.

Crackled French Tips

Good Evening! Who's ready for Halloween? This is a black French Tip with pooka dots layered with Crackle Overcoat to give it a spooky vibe. I have to say that I was never a follower of the "Crackle" trend but was given the polish as a gift which has been collecting dust for a year. I decided to crack it open and give it a try and I'm glad I did. The effect is perfect for Halloween.  I loved watching the polish going into action and cracking seconds after applying it. Below is a step- by-step tutorial to achieve this design. While creating this, I did learn a lesson that is helpful for future designs that involve pooka dots and that is to wait a full 5 minutes for the dots to dry before applying a top coat. I impatiently waited a premature 2 minutes for the dots to dry which resulted in smeared pooka dots. As a perfectionist, this is bothersome to me but for this nail look it adds to the overall spookiness. 

This is the complete design

Tools: Crackle Overcoat, Black Polish, and I improvised and used a ballpoint pen to create pooka dots

Step 1: Start with a Wavy, Diagonal Black French Tip

Step 2: Add White Crackle overcoat

Step 3: Using a ballpoint pen dipped in black polish, create a series of black dots

Thanks for visiting!