It is a trend in Japan that the girls all have rather long, elegant nails and many of them are decorated with special paint work, gems and 3D designs. This is even more so in Elegant Gothic Lolita style clothing and Cosplay costumes. I've always loved the designs and images that have often accompanied the lolita images in the mags I collect but have never had much ability to do them. In Japan, you can purchase sets of very over the top nails in a 'press on' form, thus making things much easier.

But recently. I came across a Korean makeup store in the Sydney CBD that sells amazing kits that, essentially, allow you to add multi colored stencils onto your nails...and the design are amazing!

The two sets of nails photographed here are my real nails, painted by myself. The top set were done to go with my Princess Ai costume and were inspired by images in the manga. The bottom set were my first attempt with my new stencil kit. Both only use basic stencils but I have some larger, more extensive ones now that I will have to photograph soon.

Pink Nails - Pink base with white stars and red hearts stenciled onto the tips. Small red crystals and hearts added along with a single large, pink crystal heart and a white 3D rose on each nail.

Blue Nails - Aqua base color layered with white and dark blue star stencils in different designs. Tips diagonally tipped in dark blue and then stenciled with white hearts. (they seemed to pick up some of the darker blue color underneath) An assortment of clear crystals, puffy sakura blossoms and 3D roses were added to each nail at random.