Lead lighting - First attempt plus tips and tricks!

Morning all!

Today I will be showing off my first ever lead light manicure.

 

For those of you who have not heard of leadlighting before it is the technique of filling in some or all of a tamped design with a sheer polish so that it looks coloured in but you can see all the detail. Think of a stained glass window and you have the right idea (hence the term leadlighting as old stained glass window panels were actually divided up using strips lead)

 

I did mean to do a full tutorial post but have to hold up my hands and admit I forgot to take the photos! I will give you a brief run through of how I achieved the look below the picture!

 

 

Finished leadlight manicure

 

 

Firstly I painted my nails with a solid black base. I used Sinful Colours Black on Black. This is my standard "go-to" black polish as it's brilliantly glossy, dries quickly and is opaque in a single coat. The fact it's a single coater also makes it my go-to black polish for stamping.

 

I then stamped the floral design you see using Sinful Colours Snow Me White. Again the Sinful Colours is my go to stamping polish for white too as it's crisp, clear and opaque in one coat.

 

The floral design itself comes from the Pueen Buffet collection and is plate 72.

 

To fill in the colours you have a few option. Many brands are now selling Sheer tint polishes (Opi is the first one that comes to mind) and also many indie makers are now selling sheer polishes designed for the leadlight technique. I have to admit to owning neither so I made my own armed only with my single bottle of clear nail polish (Barry M) and some spare bottle caps.

 

I made two sheer polished for this design a green and a purple so I put a healthy dollop of clear into two bottle caps. I then added coloured polish to each bottle cap of clear polish drop by drop (for this design I used a green and purple from the Essence Range sold by Wilkos) Add the coloured polish to your clear polish a bit at a time and stir in between. I kept testing it on a scrap of white paper until I was satisfied it had enough colour whilst still being sheer.

 

I then  simply used a small nail art brush to fill in the different areas on the white stamped design. I used purple for the petals of the flowers and did these first. I then went back and filled in all of the leafy and vine-y areas with the sheer green.

 

I then topped with a coat of Seche Vite topcoat.

 

If you are looking to try this out I would recommend starting this way with a black base as if you go over the edges or aren't particularly tidy then the sheer colour will not show up over the black.

 

I would recommend this technique to anyone as it's relatively simple and can produce some stunning results. I think I'll also stick to the bottle cap method of making sheer tints as this means I can make small batches of the colours I know I'll need or want to use per mani and not have to either invest in a whole range of sheer tints or acquire too many bottle of clear to make whole bottles of my chosen colours. You could also use a small paint palette as these are usually easily available cheaply from 99p stores and anywhere else selling children's craft supplies.

 

Let me know how you get on with leadlighting - I would love to see what you all come up with!

Products Used:
Sinful Colours - Snow Me White and Black on Black (these used to be available at Boots in the UK but I'm having issues sourcing them now. If anyone finds a good source could they let me know)
Pueen Plate 72 - Bought as part of the Buffet Collection from Amazon
Barry M  - all in one base and topcoat (this was the only clear polish I had but any clear polish should do)
Purple and Green polishes from the Essence range at Wilkinsons. These are also available online at www.wilko.com/