So y’all are thirsty for some #ThirstyThursday?

Okay then.

I painted my nails for London Pride back in July last year.

When my amazingly supportive and feminist advocate of a line manager that I had at the time saw them, she suggested I carry on.

So.

I.

Did.

Initially, I was just using the brush that comes with the polish (the first three photos in this post all use the standard brush), but I soon felt limited and bought a nail kit. I have to admit that I don’t use much of it. To create the ‘beer nails’ above I used a dotter, but the main two tools I use are the striping brush (a long, thin brush that does what it says on the tin; you get effects like this candy cane I did for Xmas)…

…and a sponge, which lets you blur lines between colours.

I quite like creating patterns with lines, and recently I’m much more into drawing abstract patterns onto a clear base, which I find (as a man who paints his nails weekly) something that is slightly more tolerable by the old, white, “can’t handle diversity” generation.

Coming soon I hope to vlog a demo of how I do my nails, particularly tips on painting your own. The biggest challenge, undoubtedly, is in using your off-hand; mitigated in part by practice, but also by finding a way you can keep your hand steady – fixing your off hand and moving your dominant hand into the brush, for example, is a great way of countering the shakiness!

Anyway, a quick one this time because, well, it’s been a long day! But do follow my instagram (@riffraph) for more of my nail inventions.

xRaph
A Male With [Painted] Nails