Slithering...

I'm not sure why, but this reminds me of snakes.

I wanted to use more of the new Shellac colors, so I just put some together randomly...

I used Shellac Base Coat, Sugared Spice, Pretty Poison, Rock Royalty, Top Coat.

Girly Nails

First up:  a client wanted "lace" over her French manicure to match her homecoming gown.

I used OPI Black Onyx; the remainder of the service was done by another technician so I'm not sure what else was used.


I had some free time later, and was trying to think of conservative art for a bride I'm doing this weekend...  Not sure if she'll like them!

Clearly, I need to start photographing in natural light - it looks so much better that way!

Flowers:  OPI Princesses Rule, A Grape Fit, Suzi and The 7 Dusseldorfs, Seche Vite Top Coat.
Pink & Black:  OPI Pink Friday, Glitzerland (on right), Black Onyx, Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous (on left), Seche Vite Top Coat.

The Proposal!

No, I'm not getting married.  But I saw some adorable nails in a magazine, and had to do my version:

Fancy date, above.  It's hard to tell, but the little red spot on her belt and over his pocket are rhinestones.  I realized later that her necklace is about as large as her fist would be, but that's the kinda thing girls are supposed to be into, right?

And the shiny ring!  With a necklace as large as hers, the ring probably got laughed at, but I like happily-ever-after, so maybe it came with a kick-ass vacation/honeymoon.

On the Guy:  OPI Black Onyx, Essie Blanc, Seche Vite Top Coat.
On the Girl:  OPI Dulce De Leche, Black Onyx, Kyoto Pearl, Seche Vite Top Coat.
For the Ring:  OPI Cha Ching Cherry, Glitzerland, 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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The Princess Pat Pedicure

New pedicure, using a bunch of rich colors that I love:

All the colors remind me of the "Rigabamboo" camp song I learned as a child.  Red and gold and purple too!

CND Rubberized Base Coat, Stickey Top Coat, OPI An Affair In Red Square, Black Onyx, Orly Pure White Tip, Tokidoki Stellina (gold glitter), Savana (purple glitter).

If I be worthy, I live for my God to teach the heathen, even though they may despise me.

Here is my St. Patrick's Day mani.  I wasn't able to post it yesterday because I worked at the spa until 6, then went immediately out to do promotions for Jameson Whiskey until midnight...  It was a long day!

Several similar designs as I did on my client, with the green and glitter french.  I used CND Base and Top Coat, Orly Pretty Edgy, OPI Fresh Frog Of Bel Air, Black Onyx, Urban Outfitters unnamed gold, MK 24 Karat.  The rainbow was a variety of Essie and Orly polishes I used at work; I don't have the names and don't own them.  Topped with OPI Gel Color Top Coat to make them last through 13 hours of work.

St. Patrick's Day Mani - Client

I was at work today and got a request for a full set of festive nail art.  My spa is in an area where everyone seems to be a business professional or stay-at-home-mom, so art is not a common request, except the occasional kid wanting one or two nails...
So I didn't have my brushes or any art tools with me...  I did the entire thing with the polish brushes, my clean up brush, and toothpicks.

She wanted something different on every finger, and did have a pinterest page for reference.
Used a bunch of OPI and Essie colors, as well as some others that she brought in.

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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Fashion offers no greater challenge than finding what works for night without looking like you are wearing a costume.

Not nails, I know.  Soon, promise!  In the meantime, here are the costumes that are so much better than the nails in my last post:

I didn't celebrate Halloween as a child (I blame my parents), so I kind of have to make up for it now.  I've always wanted to be Cleopatra - she's the epitome of sexy to me, even though doing research for the costume sort of shattered all my illusions about her - and I'm young enough to get away with such a risque outfit for another couple years.  The party was the weekend before Halloween, so the weekend before that, I looked her up on Wiki and Google Images, did some sketches, decided which partner I would make Lover portray, took some measurements and busted 'em out.

I made the tunic and cloak for Mark Antony, as well as a hair ornament and arm band not in the photo.  His cloak can be wrapped several different ways, and is attached to the tunic.
For myself I made the top, skirt, cloak, wrist bands, and headdress.  My cloak is detachable, and can be attached either to the wrist bands or to the sides of the top.  Not bad for three days' work!

Being in a band you can wear whatever you want - it's like an excuse for halloween everyday.

Happy Halloween!  I feel that my toes are much harder than my fingers, but I'm still trying to keep my hands professional looking.  My photography is still a bit of a failure, so the colors don't show as nicely as I'd like.  Oh well, my costume is awesome enough to make up for both.


I used:  Orly Base and top, French Tip, Hook Up, Royal Navy, OPI Red, Finger Paints Meet Me At The Met, Wet n Wild Green Shimmer, Sally Hansen Aqua Chrome, Black and White Nail Art Pens, Gold Glitter Top Coat, Crayola Orange.

America Is An Enormous Frosted Cupcake In The Middle Of Millions Of Starving People

This one was quite a while ago (July/August) but my photographer and I got really busy at the same time, so it was overlooked.  I give it to you today to make up for lost time...

Orly Base and Top, Hook Up, Blue Collar, Finger Paints Sketchy Character, Ulta Brownette, Sally Hansen Cherry Red, Ruby Diamond.

OPI Shatter vs China Glaze Crackle - Showdown

Without looking at the filenames, can you tell the difference?  (Apart from having a third hand to take the black shots and myself to take the blue?)

I did them both the same way - base coat, two coats of the base color (and dried completely), shatter/crackle, top coat.  I polished in the same direction on each nail (for both colors - middle fingers horizontal, ring and thumbs vertical, baby and index in opposite diagonals) and you can tell with both polishes by the way they crack how I did it.

The black is OPI, and the blue is China Glaze.

I found the OPI to be a bit more user friendly - you can see that it generally shattered fairly consistently, and it goes on like regular polish.  China Glaze was a bit thicker, sort of tarry, and to thin it out (check my left middle finger) it just gets worse.  By the end of my right hand I think it looked comparable, and pretty cool, but it's not quite as fool proof.  Also, on my left thumb and index finger - where's the effect? And on my ring finger, how come there are slits on the end and crackling toward the cuticle?  Then my right thumb completely separated and it looks like I missed a spot, but on the right index it didn't crackle very well.  The last three fingers on my right hand look pretty good, so I'm not sure what gives.  Maybe I'll do a "take two" to see if practice will improve.  ;)

Overall - both worth it.  China Glaze is much easier to find (Sally's has it, OPI is only available in salons) and I think retails for slightly less...  They offer very different color selections too, so buy what you like and work it!

MK Base, OPI Simply Smash-ing, Black Shatter, Love & Beauty Fuchsia, China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with.

It's jazz appreciation month!  I didn't listen to any jazz, but I themed my nails for it.

I know my right hand is kinda lame, I did it first without the detailed inspiration, and I'm right handed anyway...

I used MK Perfect Surface Base Coat, Sally Hansen Wild Life, Black Out, Pure White Tip and Nail Art Pens in Black and White for details on the keys, Orly Hook Up, Finger Paints Sketchy Character, Ulta Brownette, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

Tips - Animals and Nature

The last two sets of beauty school tips:

Animals:

You get the flash and no-flash shots, cos I couldn't decide which looked better.  First is pink zebra stripe, suggested by a classmate (but I couldn't do just black n white!), then ladybug print cos my baby is obsessed with them, then a bumblebee, dalmatian, and spiderweb.

Nature:
                                                                                                                                                                     
The first is a sunburst, the second is a flower design after a temporary tattoo I had once, third and fourth are roses, fifth is a sunflower, sixth is the sun on an ocean, seventh is lightening, eighth is a crescent moon and stars.  Still working on the photography thing...
Aren't you glad I did these in sets instead of individuals!?

Tips - Designs

More tips from beauty school:

Random splashes of colors, and I don't remember the polishes.

Tips - Decals

For your viewing pleasure, since I'm not going to redo my Starry Skies manicure until Monday, I bring you a collection of tips that I did in beauty school.  Admittedly, this set of tips were when I was feeling lazy, tired, cranky, or uninspired...
But anyway:

Again, I don't remember most of these polishes, but the first (top left) one I polished red, then when it was still tacky dipped it in gold glitter shreds, the second I applied tiny gems in a spiral, the third I applied little heart confetti as a french tip, the fourth has the same tiny gems as the second, the fifth is MaryKay 24K (which I can't find anymore) with decals, the sixth is another spiral with hexagon confetti, the seventh (bottom left) has the heart confetti, the eighth has flower/star confetti, the ninth was dipped in a fine glitter for a french tip, the tenth and eleventh have the hexagon confetti, the twelfth has the flower/star confetti.