Shellac Foil and Dots

Two manis today!

The first is Shellac Midnight Swim with two shades of blue foil.  Easy peasy, but I just had to try the new color!
The second is Shellac Midnight Swim and Hotski to Tchotchke.

Tigers

 Something exciting happened in the world of sports.  I haven't got any idea what it is, but it kept being posted on facebook, and I got requests for Tiger nails.

Top:  Essie Blanc, Mademoiselle, acrylic paint (blue and black), CND Speedy Topcoat.
Bottom:  Shellac Base Coat, Black Pool, Negligee, Top Coat, transfer foil, OPI A Roll In The Hague, Alpine Snow.

Essie Matte About You

I finally bought a bottle of Matte About You, and got to playing with it straight away.

The first two are OPI Black Onyx with Seche Vite Top Coat and Essie Matte About You drawn on.

Purple is OPI Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs, Seche Vite Top Coat, Essie Matte About You.
Dots:  OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me, Essie Matte About You, OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs.
Gray is OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine, Seche Vite Top Coat, Essie Matte About You.

Brights!

Bright colorful nail art!

A girl I work with asked for tie-dye and that's what I came up with; I wanted to try some bright lightening style nails, and I wanted to make a puzzle - unfortunately, the red in the center blends with the orange on the right in all my photos.

Tie-Dye:  OPI Fly, Need Sunglasses?, Don't Know, Beets Me, Did It On 'Em, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Lightening: OPI Fly (blue), Don't Know, Beets Me (pink), Need Sunglasses? (yellow), Black Onyx, Orly Dazzle, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Puzzle: OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue, Danke-Shiny Red, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs, Deutsch You Want Me Baby?, Seche Vite Top Coat.

Back To School!

And now that everyone has been back to school for a few weeks, I finally did some back to school themed nails:

And for whatever reason, I associate grade school with argyle:

For the pencil:  Essie Blanc, OPI Need Sunglasses?, Dulce De Leche, It's Totally Fort Worth It, Pink Friday, Black Onyx, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Ruler French:  OPI Need Sunglasses, Black Onyx, Essie Blanc, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Bus:  OPI No Room For The Blues, Need Sunglasses?, Black Onyx, It's Totally Fort Worth It, Quarter  Of A Cent-Cherry, Essie Blanc, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Crayons: OPI Jade Is The New Black, No Room For The Blues, A Roll In The Hague, Color So Hot It Berns, Pamplona Purple, Black Onyx, Essie Blanc, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Chalkboard: OPI It's My Year, Dulce De Leche, Quarter Of A Cent-Cherry, Suzi Loves Cowboys, Jade Is The New Black, Essie Blanc, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Argyle:  OPI Ski Teal We Drop, No Room For The Blues, Jade Is The New Black, Seche Vite Top Coat.

Warm and Cool Colors

Warm colored mani for Chalkboard Nails contest!

I actually did the other hand in cool colors, too.

And that one I entered over on Color Club's fb contest.  (Click to vote for me!)


Left hand:
Orly Rubberized Base Coat, OPI The "It" Color, Essie Red Nouveau and Good As Gold, Crayola Orange, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.
Right Hand:
Orly Rubberized Base Coat, Dazzle, Royal Navy, Essie Coat Azure and Bikini So Teeny, Venique Blue Suede Shoes, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

Fun fact:  both my thumbs were repaired with acrylic - I did my left and it's lasted almost a week!  Hurray for improvement!

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A throne is only a bench covered in velvet.

I went to Sephora today to buy powder and eyeliner...  I got them, as well as five bottles of nail polish and three eyeshadow palettes.  One of the polishes I bought was new from Ciate - the velvet manicure.  Obviously, I had to try it immediately:

I did my left hand first, and as you can see, wasn't very good at it.  My ring finger is cropped out because it looks that bad!

My right hand was going a little better - I was faster and knew what to expect.

That's my right ring finger; the best in my opinion, and shows the texture with and without the velvet applied.  (I used tape to do the French style.)

A couple comments immediately.  1)It is MUCH darker than I expected.  Here's the box I bought:

2)I was worried about the texture, but I can't stop petting my nails!  Even after washing my hands it feels great!

I was surprised I hadn't heard about it, since I work full time doing nails, do more nails at home, and generally breathe all things nails...  I'll edit this post in a few days to comment on how it wears.  


*Edit*  After a day, (and washing my hair with the velvet on) the velvet stopped showing, and my nails just looked lumpy.  I found velvet fuzz on my face for three days, possibly because I rub my eyes a lot.
I tried it on a coworker with Shellac base and top coat - I did the Shellac base (cured), then two coats of the color -which was very difficult to apply over the gel base- and after it dried, did a Shellac topcoat, sprinkled the velvet on that before double-curing it.  I cleaned the inhibition layer off the top, and the velvet still looked good, but she also complained that the velvet got everywhere.  Even with the gel, her manicure was ruined in two days.  I did end up returning it, but it was fun for a minute! 

Here is the manicure I did on my coworker:

And she also complained that it doesn't photograph very well, but with the Shellac we thought the color was not so dark.

Deborah Lippmann Rehydrating Base Coat, Ciate Velvet Manicure (color shown).

Starfish On A Beach

I skipped nail art on my last pedi, so this time I went a little brighter than normal.

I used CND Stickey Base Coat and Shiny Top Coat, Essie Coat Azure, OPI The "It" Color, FingerPaints Blank Canvas Cream.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I never bothered to topcoat the stamping on my hands from my last post, so they were already starting to chip.  (Also, I work in a nail spa, so it's tough for me to make it last more than a day.)
But then I ran across Kayla's blog and contest, (congrats Kayla!) and I thought it was a perfect excuse to do some real art!  (Even though I work in a nail spa and will ruin them tomorrow.)

CND Sticky Base Coat, Urban Outfitters blue glitter (tips, polish is unnamed), OPI Gone Gonzo, Black Onyx, And This Little Piggy, I Want To Be A-Lone Star, Hawaiian Orchid, The "It" Color, No Room For The Blues, Claire's Flame, Orly Blue Collar.

When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.

It felt like spring today!
To be fair, this winter has been so mild, it's felt like spring a lot...

The green and yellow together reminds me for some reason of Ninja Turtles...

I used Yellow Stopper Base Coat, OPI No Room For The Blues, Don't Mess With OPI, The "It" Color, Black Onyx, Ulta Moody Blues, Essie Red Nouveau, Splash of Grenadine, Claire's Flame, Orly French White and 3-in-1 Top Coat.

Rainbow Zebra from Algae Veronica

I met my new favorite person, Algae Veronica, the other day when she got a pedicure from me at my spa.  Thrilled to meet another nail artist, we swapped URLs, and when I got home I immediately went to her blog...  and read all the way back to the first post.  She has some great video tutorials, and I adored the rainbow zebra one.  I had some spare time tonight, and decided to try it on myself!

I used Orly Rubberized Base Coat, 3-in-1 Top Coat (2 coats this time), LA Colors 565 (purple), Claire's Flames, OPI Black Onyx, Dating A Royal, Don't Mess With OPI, The "It" Color, OPI Red.

Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in gray than in peacock bright.

Ah, I've missed having my nails colored...  where have I been that I haven't posted in almost a month!?  I stayed up past my bedtime last night for this:

I smudged my right index finger repeatedly, and moisturized with a shimmery lotion before taking the photo.

I used CND Stickey Base Coat and Speedey Top Coat, Orly Royal Navy, Crayola Green Apple and Blueberry, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms and Manhattan (color names are unreadable; both are iridescent green), MK 24 Karat, OPI Warm & Fozzie, The "It" Color, Teal The Cows Come Home.

Rainbow French

My other sister stopped by and talked me into a manicure - she loved my very favorite French, and decided she wanted a French with five colors.  (I don't ask questions with her, just go with it.)

I used Orly Rubberized Base Coat and 3-in-1 Top Coat, OPI Yodel Me On My Cell, Animal-istic, OPI Ink, Finger Paints Meet Me At The Met, China Glaze Icicle.

Flower Toes

I needed to do my toes...  I almost did just a plain color, then decided to put some flowers on.

I used CND Base and Top, OPI Pink Before You Leap, Road House Blues, Orly Pointe Blanche.

I'm inclined to think that a military background wouldn't hurt anyone.

My cousin was visiting last week, and when he saw my nail art, he suggested I do military nails.  (He's in the Airforce.)  I spent a lot more time than I anticipated on these, and saved the easy stuff for my right hand.

From index:  Coast Guard, Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy.  I had to simplify the designs a bit, especially the Navy.

On my right hand I tried several variations of camo - I think I like the middle finger version best.  It was done by painting the base tan, then making a "c" all over with each color, lightest to darkest.


I used Orly Rubberized Base Coat and 3-in-1 Top Coat, Dazzle, Pointe Blanche, OPI Black Onyx, Get In The Expresso Lane, Don't Mess With OPI, Dating A Royal, The "It" Color, Finger Paints Scenery Greenery, Sally Hansen Cherry Red, Pure Ice Jaguar, and an unnamed gold glittery polish from Urban Outfitters.



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Meep-Meep-Meep and Gone Gonzo

Another sister manicure, with more glittery brights!

Orly Base and Top, OPI Meep-Meep-Meep and Gone Gonzo (accent nail).

I took up French boys and wine and I studied psychology.

A glitzy French manicure for a date.  ;)  I like the colors together, but alas, I ruined it at work today - even wore gloves for every service!  Don't mind the dry skin around my nails, it's all that acetone.  And I even moisturized just before the photo was taken...

Next I'll show you a similar French mani with different (better!) colors.  I absolutely adored it!

China Glaze Tinsel Town and Snow Globe.  Orly 3-in-1 Topcoat.

A sea setting us upon the ice has brought us close to danger.

Initially, I planned on this being an icy blue set...  but I think it looks more like a nice beach.  Too bad we got our first real snow this week!

I used OPI Not Like The Movies, Teal The Cows Come Home, China Glaze Blue Year's Eve, and a sparkly blue that doesn't have a name from Urban Outfitters.  CND Base and Top.  A cheap craft store jewel glued on with polish.  I don't like it.

Life is Made Up of Marble and Mud

I apologize for the bad photo quality...  I'm not improving, and I always have someone around to take a photo for me!  My cousin asked me to try the water marbling on her, so if you can see it, here it is!  It's been several weeks (months?) since this happened, so another apology for being busy.

And I know I fail, but I don't remember what I used...  The pink is from OPI.  :(  Better next time!

Here's what I was doing instead:

It's chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream, and a peanut butter cup detail...  I was going to send it to Fred (I wanted to test how mailing a cupcake would go) but I got busy and distracted.  Next time, Fred.

I also made bread for the very first time.  I got the recipe here, and it was so good.  I gave the big loaf to my daughter's teacher right before Thanksgiving, and we tried the little one.  We made another loaf for Christmas, and will surely make more pretty soon!  Next time, my sister suggests we replace some of the liquids with orange juice...

I love Christmas, not just because of the presents but because of all the decorations and lights and the warmth of the season.

Just about finished Christmas shopping, which is not my favorite thing to do, so I consoled myself with some festive toe nail art.

I used Lippmann Collection Rehydrating Base Coat and On A Clear Day Topcoat, A Perfect 10 (available at Wal Mart) Missy, Sally Hansen White Nail Art Pen, Finger Paints (available at Sally Beauty Supply) Scenery Greenery, OPI Black Onyx, OPI Red, The "It" Color, Dating A Royal, Don't Mess With OPI.