Mypsychonails: The Alphabet Challenge: D is for duckling!

First of all, I'd like to ask everybody to excuse me for posting this late! Sorry, girls :( Secondly, I only like the result on my right hand so only right hand photos :D
After trying to find a word that starts with "d" both in Romanian and English, I gave up and chose "duckling" (the word for it starts with "r" in Romanian) because I wanted to recreate a cute design featuring a rubber duckling I saw on an amazing nail artist's page.

Mai intai de toate, as vrea sa rog pe toata lumea sa ma scuze pentru ca am postat asa tarziu! Imi pare rau, fetelor :( Apoi, imi place doar rezultatul de pe mana mea dreapta asa ca numai poze cu mana dreapta :D
Dupa ce am incercat sa gasesc un cuvant care sa inceapa cu "d" si in romana, si in engleza, am renuntat si am ales "duckling" (boboc de rata) pentru ca am vrut sa recreez un design super dragut cu o ratusca de cauciuc pe care l-am vazut pe pagina unui nail artist genial.

I wondered what could go well with rubber ducklings and then I thought "Of course! A bath interior!" and so, on the other nails, I did a matte checkered pattern using pastel blue and white and some "water" drops with gel polish topcoat.
Now something about the duckling - it was inspired by this creation from the amazing Pisut Masanong, an incredibly talented nail artist from Thailand (I strongly recommend you check out his page, he is AMAZING).

M-am intrebat ce ar putea merge bine cu ratuste de cauciuc si apoi m-am gandit "Bineinteles! Un interior de baie!" si asa, pe restul unghiilor, am facut un model cadrilat folosind bleu pastel si alb si cateva picaturi de "apa" cu topcoat semipermanent.
Acum despre ratusca - a fost inspirata de aceasta creatie a genialului Pisut Masanong, un nail artist incredibil de talentat din Thailanda (recomand cu caldura sa-i vizitezi pagina, este GENIAL).

This cartoon style 3-D is done by moulding the acrylic beads as little as possible, because we want the finish to be smooth, we don't want to see brush strokes. Try not to touch the top of the bead, only work on the lateral sides. You can see how to do this style in the rabbit tutorial in this post - How to: 3-D acrylic!/ Cum sa faci: acryl 3-D!. I did the ducklings on a piece of paper which I first fit underneath my nail, to give it the same curvature. Because this was the first time doing this style and I didn't practice beforehand, my first duckling came out horrible, this horrible:

Acest stil 3-D de desen animat este facut prin modelarea bilei de acryl cat mai putin posibil, pentru ca vrem un finis neted, nu vrem sa vedem urme de pensula. Incearca sa nu atingi partea de sus a bilei, lucreaza doar partile laterale. Poti sa vezi cum se face acest stil in tutorialul cu iepure din aceasta postare - How to: 3-D acrylic!/ Cum sa faci: acryl 3-D!. Am facut ratustele pe o bucata de hartie pe care mi-am potrivit-o intai sub unghie, ca sa-i dau aceeasi curbura. Pentru ca aceasta a fost prima data cand am facut acest stil si nu am exersat inainte, prima mea ratusca a iesit oribil, cam asa de oribil:

I stuck it on my left hand and proceeded to making the second duckling which, given the experience I had gotten, came out almost perfectly, as you could see in the first photos :D I applied matte topcoat around the acrylic, using a small brush and then with the brush in the bottle, I applied a bit over the acrylic, to keep the eye (which was made with acrylic paint) from coming off. Do not apply over the acrylic with the same small brush because there is a risk of transferring the colour of the polish onto the acrylic, as it happened to me on the first duckling. Oh, yes and this topcoat ruined the painting on my other nails, boooo! I found that when coming across a topcoat like this, applying it thicker and with less strokes helps, somewhat like letting the brush slide, without it touching the nail.

Am lipit-o pe mana stanga si am purces la realizarea celei de-a doua ratuste care, avand in vedere experienta capatata, a iesit aproape perfect, dupa cum s-a putut vedea in primele poze :D Am aplicat topcoat mat in jurul acryl-ului, folosind o pensula mica si apoi cu pensula din sticluta, am aplicat putin si peste acryl, ca sa nu se stearga ochiul (care a fost facut cu vopsea acrilica). Nu aplica peste acryl cu aceeasi pensula mica pentru ca exista riscul transferarii culorii ojei pe acryl, cum mi s-a intamplat mie cu prima ratusca. Ah, da si acest topcoat mi-a stricat pictura de pe celelalte unghii, boooo! Am descoperit ca atunci cand dai peste un astfel de topcoat, aplicarea lui in strat mai gros si cu mai putine miscari ajuta, ceva gen sa lasi pensula sa alunece, fara sa atinga unghia.

Here are my nails without polish (with basecoat), they've grown a bit hehe :D
Aici sunt unghiile mele fara oja (cu baza), au mai crescut putin hehe :D

And here are the other lovely girls who took part in this challenge. I like the fact that each of us thought at a different word starting with "d", all the manicures are unique!

Si aici sunt celelalte fete dragute care au participat la aceasta provocare. Imi place faptul ca fiecare s-a gandit la un cuvant diferit care sa inceapa cu "d", toate manichiurile sunt unice!