Brand Spotlight: Maniology

I've decided to start a series called 'Brand Spotlight', where I highlight my favorite products from a particular brand.

Let's start with my favorite products from Maniology. I do have a coupon code with them (MICHELE) for 10% off I believe. I get a small percentage of this, but honestly it's a few bucks here and there. My point is, I like the products and that's why I'm sharing. If you use it, thanks for buying me a coffee. :)

All the plates pick up well, I have several that I'm not mentioning just because I don't use them much or I don't find them very versatile.

I've gotten some of their stamping polishes in the past, I've found they're not super consistent. The white is amazing, the black is overly inky, but so is the black from most brands (in my opinion). I got a brown metallic one which was quite sheer - I think it was intended to be, but their website doesn't mention it. The silver was pretty good, but I had some issues with pick-up.

However that was a while ago, sometimes I return to products from early on in my stamping journey which I thought weren't good at the time, but it turns out I just wasn't good at stamping myself!

Anyway! Less chatting, more yummy nail art supplies. Let's go.

STAMPING PLATE M020

I have been LOVING this plate and uncharacteristically I've used it in many recent manis. It's so much fun, so versatile, you can get a lot of looks with it. I love the art deco vibes too. Here are some manis I did with it:

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STAMPING PLATE BM-XL201

They were out of this plate for so long and I LOVE IT! It's so cute! Again there's a variety of patterns so you can get a lot of use out of it. Here are some manis I did with it:

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STAMPING PLATE M003

I haven't used this a ton, but I love how original it is. It's a collab with Jaunty Juli, she said she wanted 90s style designs you can layer. Success! Here are some manis I did with it:

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STAMPING PLATE BM-XL476

This one is an honorable mention, it's a really nice marble plate, but with time I'm less drawn to these plates which are all variations of one design - you can't get a bunch of different looks with it. But it's still pretty.

For marble, I usually reach for Nicole Diary 076 plate more often, and it's cheaper. You can find that on AliExpress. The only thing is it doesn't have a backing, but I buy my backings separately on AliExpress too, from a brand called Finger Angel. Message me if you want the link.

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 SMUDGE FREE TOP COAT

Ah, my holy grail. I will never be without this! I put a thin coat of it over my stamping and follow it with a quick dry top coat or a matte top coat. It never smears! It's great.

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PERFECT TRIO

This is a great trio if you're new to nail stamping. As mentioned above, I LOVE their No Smudge Top Coat, the white stamping polish is great and the black is good too (a bit inky, but still good).

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CONCEALING BASE COAT

I got this recently but haven't tried it yet, it seems really cool for negative space manis. It's a base coat that has a slight lavender tinge, to cancel out the yellow in your nails. To be continued on this one.

*April 2020 update: I did try this out, one coat makes a small difference, two coats is more noticeable. I don't reach for it often, but for negative space manis it's useful.

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STAMPING PLATE ORGANIZER 

This is a nice looking and sturdy organizer, it holds 48 plates. I could probably use another one soon, hmm, don't judge me! :)

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Whew! This turned into a mega post! If you have some Maniology faves not mentioned here, let me know in the comments below.

Love and lacquer,
Michele

*Links to Maniology and AliExpress are affiliate links, which means I receive a small percentage if you should make a purchase. Thank you!

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Did I Save My Instagram from Tanking?

Back in December I talked about how my Instagram numbers were going down after a busy November in my personal and professional life. I debated if doing Instagram was worth it - some people told me not to worry about growing my account and to just have fun, but for me the challenge and discipline of it is really motivating and fun.

I decided to give it my all in January and see if I could turn this sinking ship around. Or stop it from sinking. Whatever the analogy is, you get the point.

So in January I did a bunch of things (which I'll tell you about because we're besties) and yes, things are starting to improve.

A few days ago I got back up to the follower count I had on November 10. Yes it took me almost 3 months to get back to where I was. No I don't know why my account was leaking followers when I was doing pretty much the same thing. But anyway! I'm happy to see that things are moving in the right direction, even though my growth is MUCH slower than it used to be. But I can accept that.

Here's what I did:

1. I changed my nail shape from oval to square

I swear square does better. I ended up changing it back because with such curved nails I was stabbing myself and my swing dance partners and I couldn't handle it. But I did have square nails for most of January.

2. I changed my posting schedule

I noticed that @nails_bychels (whose account has been growing like crazy) usually posts two photos on day 1, a video on day 2 and nothing on day 3, then repeat. I'd been posting every day. The amount of manis are the same: 3 manis over 3 days, but I experimented with this schedule and I think it helps. Giving the video one extra day to get traction perhaps is good, I don't know.

3. More videos

I posted more videos. Once I'm in the groove, it's not that much extra work. We all know videos help with Instagram engagement.

4. I shared my videos in IG stories

This helps in case people miss it in the feed.
 

5. I paid to promote a few videos

I barely got new followers from this but I did get more likes on my videos which I think helped. I paid 2$ a day for 2-3 days, nothing major.

6. I switched up who I tag on my videos

Every time I post a video, I tag a bunch of accounts who repost nail art videos. I've been using the same ones for a long time, I realized that some of them hadn't posted in months!

So I went to the explore page and looked at nail art videos and saw which repost accounts were reaching the top. I haven't gotten reposted by them, but I think other people may look in their tagged photos, so it doesn't hurt.
 

7. I refreshed my hashtags

I looked through my saved list of hashtags and re-worked them. I've hinted at how I do hashtags and I will do a whole post on this at some point. I looked on the explore page, I looked at what other successful accounts were using, I clicked the ones I'm using and made sure my nail art style fits in with what is being highlighted at the top of the page.
 

8. I did a mani swap

Towards the end of the month I did a mani swap and I plan to do more. This is a great way to get exposure to a different audience who might not know you (and it's fun).

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Most importantly I feel back on track and inspired again. I realized I'm way too much of a nail art addict to quit this anytime soon! Even if my growth is incremental, as long as I'm generally going in the right direction, that's fine with me.

That's it darling! Do any of these surprise you? Do you have any other tips? I'm all ears. Feel free to comment below or on my latest post on Instagram.

Love and lacquer,
xoxo
Michele

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The App I'm Digging for Managing Instagram

*April 2020 update: while I loved auto-posting with Planoly, I think it may have affected my engagement so I recently switched back to posting manually. Sign up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) if you want to be notified when I post, I will update you on this.

Happy New Year! If your New Year's resolution is to be more organized, you're in luck. Today I'm talking about the app I've been using to manage my Instagram.

If you follow my stories, I've mentioned this app before. BTW this isn't sponsored or affiliated in any way, I'm just sharing. :)

The app is called Planoly. It allows you to get a preview of your feed, move posts around as you want, it has some insights and a calendar view as well.

Planoly

What I really like about it is if you have a business profile, you can automate posts. Previously Instagram didn't allow for automated posts, but they finally changed this policy in 2018.

You can also save a set of hashtags so you can just insert them with a click.

Automated posts are not much less work than posting directly to Instagram, I always do my descriptions beforehand so it's just a copy/paste, but there's something mentally freeing about not having to remember and manually go in every day to post! I love it!

Planoly

It's hard to say if switching to a business profile or automated posting is affecting my engagement or likes/follows, however I haven't noticed anything.

You can't auto post sliders (multiple images) even with a paid account, however you can set it up and and the app will notify you when it's time to post. They make it easy to post it manually to Instagram.

With the free version, you can tag people, add location, insert a saved hashtag set. You need to upgrade to a paid plan to post videos, but I just set a reminder on my to-do app, Todoist for that day. Todoist sends me a reminder every morning of my tasks, so I just post videos manually.

BTW Todoist is an awesome To-Do app, I live my life from it and there are so many fun things you can do to simplify entering tasks. If you type 'post IG video in 6 days' it will automatically enter it in 6 days without you having to find the specific day. I literally have reminders for like in a year from now.

Anyway! I digress.

At this point the free version of Planoly is working for me so I don't feel the need to buy a paid plan, but I may in the future. I'm loving this app and it's helping me feel less tied to Instagram every day.

I hope 2020 is a great year for you doll.

Love and lacquer,
Michele
 

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How to Gain Instagram Followers (And Do You Want To?)

Today we're talking about the question I get asked the most - how to grow your Instagram account.

I'm also going to get deep (bear with me) on whether these efforts are really worth it... but that's later.

I'm not a marketing specialist, these are the things I've observed growing my account from 0 to over 10k in one year.

I'm also not going to go into every single tip, just the ones I've found make the most difference. Yes you should tag brands, use hashtags... in fact I have lots of thoughts on hashtags, but I'll save that for another time.

Let's get into it.
 

HOW TO GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM

 

1. Post every day

This is THE MOST IMPORTANT tip I'm giving you. You have to post every day. Even if I miss one day, I see a drop in likes and engagement. The time zone doesn't matter, just between midnight and midnight - post!

I often see people using sliders where they post 5 photos at the same time, but then they don't post for 4 days. In my opinion this is a mistake. Save those photos and post them once each day. Sliders have a useful function and we'll get into that, but don't sacrifice your daily photo to post a slider.

2. Post videos

Instagram rewards you for time spent on your post, so when people are scrolling through and stop at your post, the algorithm will consider it 'important'.

Videos are more likely to get reposted by brands and repost accounts which can be very helpful.

3. Think about time differences

I live in Montreal, so posting between 11am - 4pm gets the Europeans, the west coast of North America and my time zone during peak times; mornings, lunch, after work and bedtime. If you live in LA and you're posting at 9pm, you lose a big chunk of the English speaking followers who are asleep!
 

4. Sliders

Yes these sliders I mentioned earlier - they do have a benefit. If people don't swipe through to see each photo, Instagram will show that post again with the second photo, and on and on until you've seen each photo (I believe). So it's a way to get a 'second chance' at being seen.
 

5. Have a consistent feed

If you look on my Instagram, you'll see I always post 3 similar type photos so there's a vertical pattern. Some people use a specific filter so all the photos look the same (with manicures that doesn't work since we're looking for true to color photos, but it's a thought). Just make sure when people come to your profile, there is some sort of pattern, order or cohesion.

That being said, don't focus so much on it that seeing an individual post in the feed is annoying - for example when people post a sliced photo image that looks amazing all together when you look at the profile, but looks like random nothingness when you see it in the feed. 

6. Challenges

Participating in nail art challenges is a great way to connect with a new audience. This account posts nail art challenges. Some popular ones are #glamnailschallenge and #nailartchallenge. If you do a challenge, make sure to go and like/comment on the other posts.

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BUT IS IT WORTH IT?

Instagram doesn't pay you for having lots of followers like YouTube does. Yes you can get free products - this is something I was really excited for, but honestly when it starts happening, it's kind of a pain.

Companies expect certain things of you and you usually don't get to choose what you receive, so you end up with extra products you won't use.
 

Storytime

This whole year I've been so dedicated to Instagram, posting religiously every day.

Then about a month ago, some exciting things started happening in my life - I was dating a lot, I rekindled some old friendships, and I started a beauty business doing lash lifts!

While I still had content to post, I was so busy living my life that I'd occasionally forget - I was still posting regularly, but missing a day or two here and there.

Guess what happened? My engagement tanked. I am literally losing followers every day. Compared to earlier this year when I was averaging about +40 new followers a day, this was a big change.

This got me thinking about the past year and I wondered: is my success on Instagram inversely proportional to my success in life?

If I'm bored and lonely at home, my account does great.

If I'm out with friends and dates, starting a new exciting business... my Instagram dies.

The algorithm is so punishing, there's no lenience at all. You can't have a 'day off'. You really have to dedicate yourself to it, otherwise you'll be penalized harshly.

I do Instagram for fun, but it is rather demotivating to feel like there's no growth.

So what's more important? Success in real life or success online?

I'm not saying you can't have both, but it's definitely not easy. This is something I've been thinking about.

I will always do nail art because I love it. It makes me happy expressing myself in this way, chatting with others about it. But I'm definitely reconsidering my commitment to Instagram.

We'll see what happens in the coming months.

Love and lacquer,
Michele

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My Top 5 Textured Nail Stamping Plates from AliExpress (Cheap)

Nail stamping plates can be expensive, am I right? That's why I order most of my plates from AliExpress, which is like an international Amazon for all kinds of stuff.

A lot of the products are made in China and take a long time (1-2 months) to arrive. But if you have the patience, there are great deals, free (or super cheap) shipping and a lot of the products are actually really good quality!

If you've been following me for a while, you know how much I love textured, grungy manis. So today I'm going to share with you 5 textured stamping plates you can get on AliExpress for super cheap.

Most of these links are the ones I've used and they were fine, a couple I just searched the plate and found it. Occasionally things do get lost in the mail, but all the sellers on AliExpress have been super nice and they'll always refund you or re-send an item for free.

*These are not affiliate links.

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1. UR SUGAR UR-M12

​https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/d8PrJjhm

UR Sugar M12 stamping plate

I love the crackle designs of this plate and especially the wood, it looks so cool. Here's a wood design I did last spring using this plate.

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2. KADS Chinese 010

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32914746325.html

Kads Chinese 010 stamping plate

The possibilities for this plate are inspiring, it's a great plate for layering. Just keep in mind these are smaller images so if your nails are quite long, it may not work for you. Here's a design I did with this plate.

 

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3. Nicole Diary - 076

​https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/EM4VztyyJR

Nicole Diary 076 stamping plate

Everyone needs a marble plate and this one is great... lots of variations and options for layering. Unfortunately this doesn't have a plastic backing, I added one although some people don't mind no backings. I ordered backings here. Here is a mani I did using this marble plate.

 

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4. Mr Fox LA016

​https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/qb4K07m0

MrFox- LA016 stamping plate

This is a really fun mix of patterns, again the images are a bit small so it may not work for really long nails.

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5. JR-113

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32914746325.html

JR-113 stamping plate

I love this plate and have used it several times, here are some examples.

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So there ya have it, some really fun textured stamping plates you can get for super cheap (as long as you have patience for it to arrive).

I hope you have a great November, Happy Thanksgiving if you live in the US. See you next month!

Love and lacquer,
Michele

 

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How to Record Nail Art Videos for Instagram

September Recap

Well! September certainly was exciting. I reached 10k followers on September 22nd, woot woot! I felt thrilled, overwhelmed, it was almost surreal to pass that landmark.

And! We completed my first nail art challenge - #ManiFunChallenge was a big success in my eyes. There were a bunch of dedicated women who got right in the spirit of things and participated enthusiastically, it was lovely. I got to connect with new people I wouldn't have otherwise. And it was a joy to see how creative everyone got with the prompts. Wonderful!
 

Making Nail Art Videos

*Product links at the end of this email.

I've been getting a lot of DMs asking how to make nail art videos, so I will give you an overview of what I use.

I don't have a swanky camera, fancy lighting system or expensive/complicated editing software. But I think that's cool, because I manage to make pretty nice videos (if I do say so myself) without a large investment.

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Camera

I just use an old iPhone, iPhone 6 I think. To record in square format, I use the iPhone app Clips. I'm sorry I don't know any equivalent Android apps, but if you search on google for 'square video app android' you can try out a few and see what works. If you find a good one, let me know!

You could make it in 16:9 format and crop it to square using the editing app below, although I've tried this and I find it more difficult to get my finger straight and have it come out as well.

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Tripod

I use a bendy arm tripod like this one. It's easy to move it however I need. Unfortunately I found the light wasn't strong enough on it's own, but you could use it in combination with other options listed below.

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Lighting

For a long time, I used a lightbox that I got for like 17$ off Amazon. That's still what I use to take my pictures. I would put my hand half in it... it worked okay and the end effect was pretty good, but it was rather awkward. However it's definitely a good option.

I taped white tissue paper loosely over the lights to reduce glare and reflection. THIS IS A FIRE HAZARD so please be very careful. I never leave the light on and unattended and I made sure the tissue paper doesn't touch the light anywhere. Please be careful.

This is the lightbox I use, I got it on Amazon.ca

Now I got a more expensive tabletop ring light. This one is pretty good and it's easier to film without having to put my hand in the box. However I wish I'd gotten one which had a more stable tripod at the bottom - when I angle the light down, it has a tendency to tip over.

I couldn't get the phone attachment to work for me either. This has some extra features that made it more expensive, but I don't use them.
 

This is the ring light I got

This ring light below is less expensive and it looks like it would work well. I like how the bottom looks stable enough to be able to angle the light down without it tipping over. It also doesn't have that third leg that gets in the shot.
 

I didn't get this ring light but I think it would work well and it looks stable at the bottom

Another option which I haven't tried myself is to use regular table lamps and LED bulbs. I believe you will need to make sure the color temperature is at least 5500k, which means it will be closer to real sunlight and your images will look cooler and whiter, instead of that yellow/brown look you can get with indoor lighting.

For the background I just use a few sheets of white paper. I like the clean look of that.

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Editing

For editing I use the app InShot. It's free, and you can remove their branding by just watching an ad. I find it pretty easy to figure out.

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Links

Here are some links to the products I talked about. These are affiliate links so if you purchase something, I get a small percentage - thank you!

USA - amazon.com
ring light (I haven't tried this one but it looks good)
bendy phone holder (different brand than what I have but looks the same)
light box

CANADA - amazon.ca
ring light (I haven't tried this one but it looks good)
bendy phone holder
light box
 

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That's it!

I hope this has been helpful for you. Making nail art videos on Instagram can be intimidating at first and your initial attempts may not look incredible, but just play with it and you'll get better quickly!

If you try this out, tag me, I'd love to see it! Please tag the photo/video to make sure I don't miss it, if you just tag me in the description I may not see it.

See you next month!

Love and lacquer,
xoxo
Michele

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How to Find [Legal] Music for Instagram Videos

Do you know what made a big difference in my Instagram growth? Adding videos to my Instagram feed.

There was a lot to figure out, and a big issue was finding music for my videos. Contrary to common belief, it's not legal to use popular music without permission - even if it's just for 30 seconds.

When it comes to jail, I'm of two minds...

On one hand, I think I might do great - I'm an introverted hermit and get along well with others.

On the other hand, I don't think they have kale smoothies in the clink. Or Instagram. OR NAIL POLISH!!

For this reason, I've decided to stay out of jail by using only copyright-free music for my videos.

But first! Let me tell you about my month, because yes I'm that self-absorbed.
 

Indie Expo Canada

On August 16th I went to Toronto to participate in Indie Expo Canada, an expo (in Canada) of indie nail polish brands!

Indie Expo Canada

It was really fun and if you follow my stories on Instagram, you saw that I took a polish making workshop, shopped for fun nail supplies and ate some yummy food.

If you don't follow my stories on Instagram, HOW DARE YOU just kidding. I have a highlight on my IG page of my trip, if you want to check it out.
 

Copyright Free Music

Okay back to keeping you out of jail.

One of my favorite sources for copyright free music is the YouTube channel Audio Library. You can discover all kinds of great artists on there. The description box explains how to download tracks.

Some of my favorite artists are:

• Joakim Karud
• Peyruis
• Oshova

Just make sure to read the description and information about each artist, usually they request that you give credit and mention their soundcloud page for example.

Nail Art Challenge

I'm running my first nail art challenge on Instagram, ayyy! It's also a giveaway so participating in the challenge automatically enters you. Here are the prompts.

Mani Fun Challenge on Instagram

There's more information on the Instagram post. Between you and me I'm a little nervous about running a challenge, I wonder if anyone will participate (no pressure). But as my mom always says, "go for it!". It's something I've thought about for months and I'm really excited about the prompts. Even if only I do it, I'll have fun haha. :-)

Have a great September and we'll chat next month.

Lacquered love,
Michele

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