Then and Now: Biology DNA Nail Art

Hello there everyone!

Today's post is going to be super photo heavy, so be prepared! :) Back in July of 2013, when I first started getting into nail art, I did a set of DNA/biology/cell inspired nails and by the time I got around to photographing them they were kind of chipped and so I never ended up posting them. But I found these pictures the other day and thought that I'd redo them to see how my skills had improved, especially since they were the first set of nails that really relied on my painting/freehand skills. I had done galaxy nails, tape mani's and gradients before, but nothing like this. I remember being so proud of them when I finished! :) But lets have a look at them, shall we?

My first attempt

To be honest, as a first attempt for something like this, they aren't too bad. They are definitely not great, but they could be a lot worse. Also, the original pictures hadn't even been edited, so all the editing I've done just now, which is why they have my current watermark on.

Okay, now you've seen the originals, lets have a look at the ones I've just done.

As you can hopefully see, I have improved quite a bit in a year and a bit. My clean up is better (although to be honest, that is something I still have to work on because I can never really be bothered doing clean-up), my lines are much crisper and I was able to get so more detail onto my thumb nail! My photography has also improved and my overall nail shape is better as well. In the before photo my index fingernail is really short and round and it took me ages to get it into a more squoval shape so that it matched the rest of my nails. 

Look at that detail! (But look less closely at my right thumb nail, it's a little more dodgy)

Also, while my left hand painting isn't perfect now, it has improved drastically since last year!

I mean, that isn't even recognisable as a chromosome (ring finger in the top picture). For those not scientifically minded, I'll explain what each nail represents.

My left thumb is a diagram of an animal cell and if anybody can tell me what organelles are featured, you get virtual hugs and cookies! My right thumb is a cell undergoing the final stage of mitosis (cell reproduction), where the cell splits in two. On my index and middle fingers I have the four nitrogenous bases which make up the structure of DNA (adenine (A) which pairs with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) which pairs with guanine (G)).

My left pinky and right ring finger have the double helix of DNA on them and the little crosses on my left ring finger and right pinky are chromosomes, which is the condensed version of DNA.

All in all, they really are quite nerdy nails but I like them quite a lot. Especially that left thumb. I am really proud of that. Especially since my sister was able to correctly identify all of the organelles. :) She also helped me with the photography for these as so far I have been unable to photograph both my hands at the same time. :)

Right hand photography!

 For these nails I used

Snow Me White by Sinful Colors (white)

Grass Slipper by Sally Hansen Complete Manicure (green, pictured)

Black Out by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear (black)

Shade 12 by BC Company (blue)

Red Snapper by Sally Hansen Triple Shine (red)

Rush Hour by Models Prefer (pink)

Some Like It Hot by Face of Australia (orange)

Endless Blue by Sinful Colors (dark blue - on chromosomes)

And it was all topped off with a coat of Poshe's Super Fast Drying Top Coat

As for the before photos, I have no clue what polishes I used except for the white base. was French White by Manicare, and I hate it. The formula is really thin, it requires a bajillion coats for full opaqueness, it chips like there's no tomorrow and it dries slower than my grass grows (which is pretty damn slow). 0/10 would not recommend.

Anyway, I hate to end on that down note, so here's a side by side before and after picture, because I'm proud of how much I have improved.