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Miss Reborner · Senior Member

Fingernails and toenails

precious_lullabies · Guru

not sure about acrylics... i just paint them with my genesis... i do moons at the base, i think it give a more natural look. Some of my babies have really pinkie nail beds with flesh 08 moons, others have softer peach nailbeds with more subtle moons, depends what mood i'm in and what i feel like doing at the time...

i do it in steps.... first the nail bed, then cook. Then the nail moons, and cook. Finally the nail tip and cook. Then i gloss seal them with a non-yellowing varnish/gloss/sealer

TinyEarthAngels · Guru

Miss Reborner wrote:

Ladies, what do you use to tint the nails? Do you give them the half-moons or not? Can I use acrylics for the tinting, and then gloss them on top and still get a realistic nail? Any tips, techniques, or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi hun I usualy use my blush colour very thinly and flesh08 for my nail tips. Acrylic for your nail base(the pink bit) is a little too thick an alternative is Gallery Glass window colour its made by Plaid and the colour you need is rose quartz when you apply this it is very thin I usualy use two applications you cant bake gallery glass paint so do this as the last step of your reborning to paint the nail tips i use Semco Acrylic paint the colour you need is off white then follow this with a coat of baby tears to give it a slight shine only one coat anymore than that and it will be too shinny, I dont do half moons because if you look at a newborn babys fingers they havent yet developed their half moons ( no offence Naomi ((hugs))) ) I hope this helps hun (((hugs)))

Miss Reborner · Senior Member

Thank you both for the responses. I'll definitely keep the tips in mind for my next baby, which I'm going to do with Genesis paints. On my 2nd baby, the one I'm working on now, I finally decided just to try a little bit of a pink stencil cream paint and ivory acrylic tips. It worked just fine, and I glossed them already. I would post a picture, except I don't know how to do a link. Anyways, that worked for this one, though it may not be 'professional'. :) Thanks again for the tips.

Heather M · Senior Member

I usually use my blush color mixed with glazing gel for nails, but I have also tried HunnyBuns lip and nail shine, which also works well. It is premixed acrylic paint/glaze and works well, but you have to do it as a last step because you can't bake it. I have only done half moons once and I didn't like the look--but then again, I don't have half moons on my nails. I don't think everyone does.

precious_lullabies · Guru

thats interesting what you gals have said about nail moons... newborns not having them... i'll have to take extra notice next time i'm around a bub this small. no offene was taken leah don't worry

Buffington · Guru

I have also heard that and look at baby nails to see. I have never seen many and if they have them, they are random, like not on every nail or they only had 1. Isn't that funny?

TinyEarthAngels · Guru

I think it has somthing to do with actual nail growth i did read all about it but it was a long time ago and i do have brain fog alot of the time but basicaly when we are born our whole nail is quite soft it takes a little while to develope a stronger nail base then our lunula (half moons) starts to develop, because each finger nail grows at different stages some babys will develop one on say index finger and none on the others for a little while, i do know that the little pinky finger is the slowest to develop so therfore usualy the last one to get its lunula, some newborns are born with what look like odd shaped lunula's but i belive this is a desease of some kind (cant rember the name) but it can dissapear not long after birth, its quite fasinating to read about i looked it all up when ppl started to do lunulas on reborns, i think they do it mainly to give a more real effect even though its not nesisarily(spelling) real i know some collectors wont buy babies that have them and some will only buy babies that have them so its a personal choice really as reborn artist ((hugs)))

Heather M · Senior Member

That is very interesting! I wonder why I don't any?

TinyEarthAngels · Guru

aparently some ppl never get them if you do a search on lunula you will get heaps of sites to sift through about it ((((hugs)))

Heather M · Senior Member

Ok, this was actually some of the most interesting reading I have done in a while. I probably don't have them because I have a hormone disorder.

precious_lullabies · Guru

wow something for me to keep in mind. maybe i'll only do them on my bigger babies - the ones like riva.s sculpts, they're big enough to be about 3 months old. I'll pay around and see what sells better with or without.

learn something new each day :)

sara zata · Guru

Hi Everybody, I just checked out Macy,s nails and she still hasn,t developed half moons, and there is very little on mine, as TEA said, I think it takes awhile to develope, I guess I,ll be waiting awhile. LOL. weirdface

June M from Oz

LovesDolls · Guru

I don't do the moons. I use a pre-mix nail in a very thinned out layer. I use flesh 07 straight from the jar for the tips. Only nails that have french manicures are white-white on the tips! They should only have the slightest shine to them. IMO, don't want it to look like baby has been to the nail salon!

Zweers · Veteran Member

Hi,..
I do moons,..that is only on the fingernails ,..i use the thinned down flesh 08 for that ..same with the tips of the nail and than finally seal them with the varnish closs.I dont know anything about acrylic paints i only have worked with Genesis paints.

Danielle

-- Edited by Zweers at 19:16, 2008-08-09

Miss Reborner · Senior Member

Hi, as to the half-moons, here's what I found out. My almost 2 year old little sister has no half-moons on her fingernails, and my 3 1/2 year old sister only had half-moons on 2 of her fingers. Interesting, huh. I think on that one you just have to choose what you want, there is no right or wrong. Thank you ladies for all the helpful tips on nail-painting.

LovesDolls · Guru

I'm finding more and more that there are no right or wrong. I'm buying a special batch of mohair for Sparrow. (Based on what I read in Barrow-Belisle book). She was told African babies are born with straightish hair but my teacher/friend baby who is AA was born with super culry hair as were her 3 older children. It just depends on the baby!

Buffington · Guru

Absolutely depends on the baby, just like moons.
My sisters 3 kids all had different hair being AA. They all had fairly straight or wavy hair up till about 1 year of age. TJ with brown hair/blonde streaks/loose curls; Josh with auburn hair/ very large curls; and Bri with dark brown hair then turned very dark and got traditionally kinky.

None of them had any moons (lunula?). Just goes to show how individual and unique beings we are I guess :)

precious_lullabies · Guru

well i was working on some nails lastnight and didn't do the moons after learning all this. Still i didn't want my nails to look unfinished or overlooked with detail - So instead i did some very subtle grading of tints on my nail bed.

Ever so slightly blue'ish tone at the base of the nail, going to a very subtle pink'ie nail bed. And instead of using the white french tip look, i used a little flesh 08/07 mix.

Actually looking at my own nails i have moons only on 3 of my own - both thrumb nails and one index/pointer finger. But mine are slightly blue'ish toward the nail base.

i'm glad i could learn something new through this post.

Buffington · Guru

Yea, I think TEA did a good job on research AND letting us know about it :)

Mo · Senior Member

The secrist catalog has a great tutorial on painting nails, i followed it yesterday and the results were great!

Georgiaga · Senior Member

LovesDolls wrote:

I don't do the moons. I use a pre-mix nail in a very thinned out layer. I use flesh 07 straight from the jar for the tips. Only nails that have french manicures are white-white on the tips! They should only have the slightest shine to them. IMO, don't want it to look like baby has been to the nail salon!

:lol:
I love this post!
I don't want a manicured baby either! :lol:
I cannot get the nail tips right. if I use a toothpick its not going on right, if I use a crease and wringkle brush it is thick on the top and bottom of the line and thin in the middle of it...ugh! furious

I need help as to how to make a nail that looks good!!!!!!!!!!
I do prefer a tiny hint of moon, but that's just me.
Also what do you varnish the nail beds with? The moist glaze, the baby tears...that may make it look to glossy, what do I use? I have glazing gel, but I think that's the actual same thing as moist glaze just in a different name because one is Genesis and one is Authentic Reborn.
Thanks for any advice! Georgia smile

Buffington · Guru

I like that too! :D
What you could to is to take a piece of paper or something like maybe acetate sheet from the craft/art store and make a template. Draw a line on it following the edge of the nail, then cut it on the line being careful to make a straight cut. Then when you're ready for your nail tip, just lay the template on the nail and move it up toward the nailbed ever so slightly, then paint your tip. It should only be as wide as the space between the end of the template and the end of the nail!

If you use acetate or mylar, something like that which is more sturdy than tracing paper, you should be able to use the template for many nails before it doesn't work any longer. :D

I have the glazing gel so I use that. It gives just a hint of shine. Or Genesis has a satin glaze. Or you can just go out to a ceramics store/classroom and get some Duncan satin brush-on satin glaze. YOu can use it AFTER you are done baking/heating so it won't burn or ruin your paint job. It's acrylic so you don't heat/bake it, and it's air-dry. I use it all the time on the nails or the lips as I like the look.

Georgiaga · Senior Member

So the glazing gel is no heat? Just air dry?

Buffington · Guru

No hun. The glazing gel is heat just like the rest of the Genesis/Secrist.

Noantum · Senior Member

Glad I look here smile

The nail tips I've finally gotten down to a science....I can tell you what I do.....I use AR flesh 08 or the AR skin texture foundation for my tips. I like that they are not too white. I use a thin brush and cut off some of the bristles till I have like three or four left on it.

I dip it in and go across the tip of the nail slowly. It comes out kinda wide but that's good and how I want it. Then I take another paint brush that has a straight edge on the bottom, dip it in thinner, and lightly sweep across the bottom of the tip I just made till I get the tip I like. If I mess up no biggie because it's thinner so I can do it again. Doing it this was also allows me to have "broken nails" if I want. We all know that our nails are not always neatly trimmed but break on the sides. Babies are uneven too aww

For the shine, I like to use the AR moist glaze. It gives me just enough without being too shiny. Hope that helps.

Georgiaga · Senior Member

I like that idea of the AR skin texture and the moist glaze. ...Will try the brush thing, too...thanks!

Noantum · Senior Member

Welcome!

Buffington · Guru

Its always good to know what others do so you have a choice :D

Noantum · Senior Member

Tomorrow I'll post some pics in the WIP thread so you can see how they come out.

Noantum · Senior Member

I've posted a couple of pics of the baby I'm working on now.

Buffington · Guru

I'll have to take a look!