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.

He Loves Me... Not

I had to try the new Shellac black, but then it was too dark for me...  so I added color!

I used Shellac Base, Overtly Onyx, Hotski to Tchotchke, Purple Purple, Red Baroness, Top Coat.

Butterfly, Skull, and More Tips

Some tips inspired by magazines:

On the butterfly tip:  OPI Did It On 'Em, A Roll In The Hague, Black Onyx, Alpine Snow, Don't Know... Beets Me, Topcoat.
Biker Girl: OPI A Roll In The Hague, Need Sunglasses?, Don't Know... Beets Me, Black Onyx, Alpine Snow, Topcoat.
Pink Flower: OPI Don't Know... Beets Me, Alpine Snow, Topcoat.
Skull: OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine, Black Onyx, Alpine Snow, Pink Friday, Topcoat.
Kitty: OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui, Alpine Snow, Monsooner Or Later, Black Onyx, Topcoat.
Light Pink Flower: OPI Shorts Story, My Very First Knockwurst, Black Onyx, Topcoat.

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.

Care For Some Vino?

Wine themed nails!  These were all in a magazine I was flipping through, so I thought I'd give them a try.

There actually is a glass around the wine in the second nail, but it's in white, and I couldn't get a visible shot of it on the nude background!


For the French:  OPI, So Many Clowns So Little Time, Kyoto Pearl, Honk If You Love OPI, (glitter and rhinestones) Seche Vite Top Coat.
For the bottle: OPI Heart Throb, Honk If You Love OPI, Got The Blues For Red, Jade Is The New Red, San Tan-Tonio, Black Onyx, Essie Blanc, Seche Vite Top Coat.
For the grapes:  OPI San Tan-Tonio, Jade Is The New Red, Honk If You Love OPI, Got The Blues For Red, Seche Vite Top Coat.
For the glass:  OPI Kyoto Pearl, Jade Is The New Red, Black Onyx, Got The Blues For Red, Honk If You Love OPI, 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.

Graffiti is not about clean lines, pretty colors and beautiful blends. Graffiti is my life's turbulence exploded on a wall.

Graffiti nail!  I stayed after work today to practice doing acrylic, and my model agreed to let me polish her nails however I wanted with the polishes she chose.

They are her polishes, two from China Glaze and three from... a brand I fail to recall, but the bottles were extremely similar to China Glaze.

It pulled me like a magnet, jazz did, because it was a way that I could express myself.

I was picking up work supplies the other day, doing very well buying only what I went in to buy, when I reached the counter and saw the last two bottles of magnetic nail polish.
I purchased them both.

I thought the green worked much better than the silver, but that thumb was the most defined so I took a photo of that, too.
The only design options were the curved lines shown; sideways does work, but I thought it looked nicer straight up or down.  At least it's a one-coat polish!  And the colors are both nice, even if I decide to wear them without the magnetic texture,

CND Base and Top Coat, Magneto by Gelish Lacquer in Polar Attraction (green) and Iron Princess (silver).

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.

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.

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.

Just a simple strawberry pedi this time...

I used Orly Rubberized Base Coat and 3-in-1 Top Coat, OPI An Affair In Red Square, Jade Is The New Black, Eiffel For This Color.

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.

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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At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.

My sister informed me tonight that I need to get someone else to take the pictures....  As if I didn't know! The ones my five year old daughter took are better than mine.  :-/  Next to my baby toe we have holly or mistletoe, then a gift/bow, a white tree, a snowman, and candy canes.  The rest were mixing and testing new colors.


I used Lippman Collection Hydrating Base Coat and On A Clear Day Topcoat, Fingerpaints Scenery Greenery, Sally Hansen Cherry Red, OPI Black Onyx, China Glaze Velvet Bow and Ring in The Red, Orly French Tip, Venique Twinkling Glitter.

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.

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.