Nail Art Play With Pigments!

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I'm always searching Instagram and Youtube for fun shellac nail art examples/tutorials.  I found several videos using Lecente's neon pigments a few months ago and immediately wanted to purchase the set, but I could only find them for sale to professionals in the UK (which I am neither).  Luckily, Lecente recently got a US distributor and I was finally able to purchase them!  These five little pots of pigment showed up nicely packaged a few weeks ago and I tested them out during my next DIY shellac manicure.

I decided to go all out and use all five pigments for a rainbow effect on each nail and then stamp over it with a new Bundle Monster plate.  It took me almost two hours per hand because I'm slow and a perfectionist, but it was totally worth it.

What I used

  • Shellac lamp

  • Shellac basecoat

  • Shellac in Cream Puff

  • Shellac top coat

  • Lecente pigments

  • Brush to apply pigments

  • Poli-peel

  • Bundle Monster s120 plate

  • Scraper & Stamper

  • Black stamping polish

  • Isopropyl alcohol

How to do it

  1. Prep your nails by removing old polish/shellac, pushing back/removing cuticles, and dehydrating with a final wipe down of acetone.

  2. Apply your basecoat and cure under your lamp.

  3. Apply two coats of cream puff, curing after each coat.

  4. Apply pigments to the inhibition layer with a brush in your desired pattern.

  5. Float top coat over the pigments and cure under your lamp.  Don't forget to seal the free edge.

  6. Apply Poli-peel around your nails before stamping to assist in clean up since stamping can get messy!

  7. Apply black stamping polish to the plate, scrape, pick up with stamper, and stamp each nail. 

  8. Remove Poli-peel and clean up around edges of each nail. Take your time here so the stamping polish has plenty of time to dry so you won't smear the stamped design in the next step.

  9. Float top coat over the stamped design (making sure to seal the free edge again) and cure under your lamp.

  10. Remove the inhibition layer using isopropyl alcohol.  You're all done!

I was so pleased with how these turned out given that it was my first time ever using pigments and that the power went out in the middle of one hand (thank goodness for back up batteries!).  I will definitely be experimenting more with these beautiful pigments and sharing my results!