Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.

Oooh, I know it's been forever!  I have missed my nails!  Since my last post I've moved, changed work locations and doubled my work hours - so it's been busy!
But I was in the drug store, waiting for my daughter to see the doctor, and walked around to get sunscreen, a Mother's Day card, and some odds n ends, when I stumbled upon a nail stamping kit.  It was only $10, so I couldn't resist!

I think they turned out pretty cute!  It took me a few practice tries (on bare nails), and I found the the thicker the polish, the better it stamps.  I found an old Sally Hansen that should have been thrown out ages ago, and it worked great.  Now I have a reason to save my gooey bottles!


CND Base and Top Coat, OPI I Want To Be A-Lone Star (feet), Hawaiian Orchid (hands), Sally Hansen Precious Glow (all stamps).

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.

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.

Let Us Dance In The Sun, Wearing Wildflowers In Our Hair...

I know it's been a while.  Let's start with a picture:

And now I'll explain - way back when I started this blog, I was working as a salon receptionist.  That is to say, I was encouraged to have my nails polished, especially by the company's brand.  Then I started doing nails, and it was just impractical to have them polished - removing everyone else's ruined mine every day, but I tried to keep it up for a few months.  I moved to a different nail place, where gloves were permitted, but then got a professional job.  I'm still pretty new there, so I'll wait a bit before painting my hands.  The other women keep theirs light or natural, and while I'm comfortable standing out, I actually like my job and don't want to stand out in a bad way.  ;)
I'll try to keep up on my toes in the mean time.

Orly Base and Top, Hook Up petals, OPI Midnight in Moscow all over, Rue Beaute 146 petals, Finger Paints Sketchy Character and Meet Me at the Met center, Sally Hansen Black Out center

A Weed is But an Unloved Flower.

My brother and sister were visiting from other states this week, so I was in a hurry.  My sister chose my base color, and I drew the flowers with a pen.

Orly Base and Top, CQ2 Shimmer Purple, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen Black.

The French Complain of Everything, and Always.

Boring as far as nail art, but I had some pictures taken that required natural looking nails.

French manicure it is!  I used Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen (White), and shimmery pink.  Beauty Secrets Topcoat.

They chipped rather quickly, but the pen was pretty cool.  It requires a light touch and several coats/dabs, but I was pleased with the result.
I didn't use a base coat because I expected to have to clean up the smile lines, but the pen did great and went on smooth - next time I'll try a base coat and see if it helps the pen polish adhere for longer.
It chipped in a way that felt like White-Out, but I'm sure I'll be using it again anyway.

Tea To The English Is Really A Picnic Indoors...

Happy 4th to my American readers!  I'll share my picnic with you:

And what's more picnic-y than watermelon?!

I have a confession.  I painted my hands at a bar.  While drinking.  (On the patio - I didn't try to kill the patrons by painting indoors.)  And I woke up the next morning and thought "woah.  I was drinking for sure, eh?"  But oddly, I thought my ants turned out really well, even though they were the last thing.  Proof:

In my defense:  I go to this bar every week.  Lover plays in a band there, so I know the staff and the regulars, and while usually I drive myself, on this day I rode with him, and I figured I had a few hours to kill - drinking and painting seemed like a great idea!  It was fun though - by the end I had a line up of staff wanting manicures, nail art, and fills.

Hands:  MK Base, Sally Hansen Black Out, Cherry Red, Pure White Tip, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.
Toes:  Base, OPI Strawberry Margarita, Lincoln Park After Dark, Green, Gray, Top Coat.

Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.

June 7 was National Crayon Day.  I know my post is late, but I did my nails in honor of the occasion.

Sorry about the poor shot of my thumbs...

MK Base, Sally Hansen Pure White Tip, Cherry Red, Black Out, Finger Paints Scenery Greenery, Sketchy Character, Love & Beauty Fuchsia, Ulta Moody Blues, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

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.

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art...

Remember the emotions chart from when you were a kid?  No, I'm the only one that needed that kind of therapy?  Well, it's just a bunch of clipart smiley faces labeled with different emotions to help a child verbalize what he's feeling.  Recently, I've gone through quite a range of emotions, but the original artwork is a bit boring for nails, so I used emoticons!

I used MK Perfect Surface Base Coat, Orly Hook Up, Sally Hansen Black Out, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

Of course I have played outdoor games. I once played dominoes in an open air cafe in Paris.

The other night my friend couldn't come out with me because she was playing Triominoes with her parents.  (She was home to visit, be nice.)  I'm actually not familiar with the game, so I just did Dominoes.

I think they'd look better if my nails were square too, but I think I look weird with square nails.  Also, I find them unbelievably annoying.

MK Perfect Surface Base Coat, Sally Hansen Black Out and Pure White Tip, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

My sister loved my first attempt at water marbling, and requested I do her nails (NOW, since she's moving out of state).  She chose her colors, and here it is:

Her left ring finger is my favorite, and I'm glad because I think it was her most attractive nail that day.  A friend who is also a nail tech suggested I put vaseline around the cuticles to keep the cleanup to a minimum - I did this, and it worked!  (Thanks D!)  I coated the entire finger just past the first knuckle with it, carefully avoiding the nail beds, but we wiped the polish off the skin easily and I only had to do a bit of detail cleanup.

MK Perfect Surface Base, Sally Hansen Spark, OPI Flashbulb Fuchsia and A-Rose at Dawn...Broke by Noon, Ulta Dance Teal Dawn, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

As a side note - comments are not being published.  I get them in my email (so thank you, commenters*, I appreciate your feedback!), but I can't reply to them.  Switch to WordPress already? 

*I see that this is apparently not a word.  But commenter is, and I wanted it to be plural.

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

It's been raining for most of a week here, and is scheduled to continue for another week.  Instead of being sad about the rain, I decided to be happy that I don't have to water my flowers (not including the one that died cos it got too cold, but I digress).  Tulips are possibly my favorite flower - also, they're reasonably simple to draw, even left-handed - and my partner isn't keen on having more (than the one by the porch).  Admittedly, their bloom period is short, but I still love them.  Same with lilacs...

It occurred to me after that I should have reversed the colors - the dark blue as the clouds, and the gray as the sky/background...  Oh well, next time. 

MK Perfect Surface Base Coat, Ulta Moody Blues (base), OPI I Want To Be A-Lone Star (clouds), Big Hair...Big Nails, A-Rose at Dawn...Broke by Noon, Rose to the Ovation, Flashbulb Fuchsia, Orly Hook Up, Finger Paints Scenery Greenery, Sally Hansen Pure White Tip, Cherry Red, Love & Beauty Fuchsia, 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.

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.

Remember When Atmospheric Contaminents Were Romantically Called Stardust?

Lyrids Meteor Shower is scheduled for April 21-22 this year, so I did shooting star nails.

I used: MaryKay Perfect Surface Base Coat, Sally Hansen Spark and Aqua Chrome, Beauty Secrets Top Coat.

Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden perhaps get so boring that eating the apple was justified?

April is National Gardening Month!  I've "planted" a mixture of vegetables and flowers for your viewing pleasure.

Cucumber, carrot, plumeria, tomato...

Broccoli, sunflower, daisy, hot pepper...  (Yes, clearly I should have used a reference for some of these...)

Rose (what, you can't see that?), pansy.

Base is MaryKay Perfect Surface, and the red on all nails is also MaryKay but I can't read the name...  Rose something, I think.  Wet 'n' Wild Metallic Green, Orly Hook Up, Sally Hansen Pure White Tip, Cherry Red and Spark, Finger Paints Scenery Greenery and Sketchy Character, Beauty Secrets top coat.