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.

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.

Client Toe Nail Art

I had a lovely pedicure client this afternoon ask for art on her toenails.  I asked what she wanted, and she replied "I don't care, but it'd be cool of you could keep it in the fall theme, so black and white" [on her orange base color].  Spider web, I asked her?  "Sure!"

That is OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby, CND Base and Top Coat, and acrylic paint.

Luckily the spa is decorated with spiders (and witches, ghosts, etc) this month, so I had a reference, or I probably would have drawn the legs out the rear segment instead of the front.  O.o

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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Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.

Fall is almost here!  I mean, it was 80 degrees today, but that's downright chilly compared to the almost-100 degree days we've been having.  And it was cloudy besides, and school started yesterday, so that's like fall...

I finally got a few of OPI's Germany Collection!

I used:  Lippmann Collection Rehydrating Base Coat and On A Clear Day Top Coat, OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby (base color) and Deutsch You Want Me Baby + Don't Talk Bach To Me mixed equally as the leaf veins.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If a building looks better under construction than it does when finished, then it's a failure.

As the warm weather approaches, it is joined by orange and white barrels, single lane highways, and irritable drivers.  Behold:

I just googled traffic signs for reference (they were much orange-er in real life, not sure why they photographed so red...) and wasn't paying attention when I painted the bio-hazard symbol.  Oh well!

Not catching the zombies reference?  Than you obviously missed the big news!

MK Perfect Surface Base,  Sally Hansen Black Out, Pure White Tip, Cherry Red, Orly Hook Up, Claire's Flames, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

I tried water marbling for the first* time.  It's arson awareness week, so I used some fiery colors to do it.
I'm torn.  It is messy.  I'm content to spend two hours painting details with a tiny brush, but to spend it swabbing polish off my fingers?  Not so much.  I think my fingers have aged a decade - acetone is not good for you, and my hands have seen a lot of it this evening.
But, it's kinda cool.  I'm not very happy with how they turned out this time, but I expect with practice I'd get better at dipping into the pretty spots.  And keeping more pigment on the nail.  My results don't really resemble fire, but hey, they can't all be winners.  Actually, it seems to be pretty impressive... Maybe I'll try again.

*Actually, we tried it in beauty school...  but we were instructed wrong; the result was ugly and messy.  It's still messy, but at least has potential.  Youtube it.

MaryKay Perfect Surface Base, Sally Hansen Cherry Red and Black Out, Orly Hook Up, OPI Big Hair...Big Nails, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

Tips - Designs

More tips from beauty school:

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