When Tanis Darling arrived in her new hometown of Owens Sound, Ontario, Canada, three years ago, she decided to volunteer her talents as a nail technician and makeup artist at the local community theater. She had planned to retire from the nail business and thought that working there would simply help keep her skills sharp. Well, retirement didn’t last long, and Darling is now the happy owner of A Perfect Ten nail and skin care salon. What’s more, she’s still a valued member of the theater ensemble.

Their recent production of “Monster Madness,” put on by the youth troupe, presented, Darling with an opportunity to do some unusual nail work. To create the illusion of long, bony fingers, Darling glued nail tips onto the gloves worn by the skeleton characters. She painted the tips with glow-in-the-dark polish to create an eerie effect under black light. The werewolf’s claws posed a particular challenge. Darling painted nail tips black with a shiny top coat, but encountered trouble trying to get them to stick to the costume’s fake fur gloves. After experimenting with a hot glue gun, Superglue, and other adhesives, Darling found Creative’s Gelbond did the trick.

 

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