AIS Challenge: Spiders

Hey Lacquer Lovers!

I know I have not been posting regularly, but life has been keeping me pretty busy lately.

So the nails that I have for you today were done for the AIS Sunday Stamping Challenge.  This week's theme was Spooky and Scary.  First, I attempted a haunted graveyard design for this challenge but it was not coming together how I wanted, so I scrapped that idea, and I'll try it again another time. 

What I ended up with was a cute but not too scary spider mani.  For the base color, I used 2 coats of China Glaze Gothic Lolita.  The stamping was done with SHID Silver Sweep and Kleancolor Black.  The images I used come from BM-13, MASH-38, SH09 and SH01

So sorry for the extra rough looking cuticles on the last pic.  I moisturized before taking the pic, but obviously not enough :)

Thanks for checkin' me out.  Happy Polishing!

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Lava

Hey Lacqueristas!

I've got one of my new pretties to share with you today. Last week I picked up most of the shades from the new Sally Hansen Lustre Shine collection. The only shade from the collection that I did not grab was Plume because it seemed to be another Chanel Peridot dupe.  I already have two and don't need another. 

Today I'm wearing Lava, which is a gorgeous metallic multichrome.  This one flashes from pink(mostly) to copper to gold, and it has a foil-like finish.  In these pics I'm wearing two coats of Lava.  The polish itself was on the thick side, but needed at least two coats for opacity.

 

This is the predominant color

 

Here, you can see the copper flash

This color reminds me so much of changing leaves. It's so pretty and I just keep staring at my nails and moving them around to see the pretty colors shifting :)

And here's where it all just goes bad... So after one day of wear, you know I wanted to add something extra.  I mean, it's very rare that I wear just polish without some kind of art.  I took me a while to decide what to do and the I remembered some nail art supplies that I ordered from Dollar Nail Art a while back.  I saw the laser lace and thought the it would look cool over this.

 

 

Application of the laser lace was fairly easy.  I added a layer of clear polish (no name), cut a piece of the lace to fit my nail,and applied the lace while the polish was still tacky.  Then I cut the little extra pieces off with my cuticle nipper.  I added a thick coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all out. 

 

I started with and accent nail, and should have stopped there.  But...I decided to try a french design on the rest of the nails.  Then I added some loose hex glitter at the bottom of the lace. 

 

Hated it!  First of all, the lace blends into the base color too much, and then my attempt at french was all crooked.  So I stopped with these three nails and decided to take it all off.  I will definitely be using the laser lace again but over a darker color.

 

Have you ladies been able to get you hands on the polishes from this collection?

 

Thanks for checkin' me out.  Happy Polishing!

 

 

Nouveau Vintage + BM 314

Hey Lacquer Lovers!

Fall is in the air and I cant wait to dive into all of the rich, deep colors of the season!

The nails that I have for you today were originally done for the AIS Stamping Sunday challenge, but I did not have time to post them.

I used a beautiful metallic color from Studio M called Nouveau Vintage.  As some of you may know,  Studio M is made by the same folks that do Color Club and the polish names and colors are identical.  I get my Studio M polishes from Meijer and the cost less than the Color Club versions.

These pics show two coats of Nouveau Vintage.  This is such a unique color, like pewter, bronze, olive, and brick all wrapped up into one.   I wanted to see what it would look like matified, so I use Hard Candy Matt-ly In Love on the ring finger. 

For the stamping, I used Silver Sweep (SHID) and BM 314.

Thanks for checkin' me out.  Happy Polishing!

Teal Tuesday: Something Sweet

Hello my Lacquered Lovelies!

It took me a while to figure out what to do for this theme because in my mind teal and sweets just don't mesh. So I decided to try my hand at the spun sugar technique.

 

 

It actually looks pretty good IRL, but with the macro settings the pics look like a lumpy, bumpy mess.  I know that this kind of nail art is supposed to be textured, and that's what I like about it, but I could really do without the big globs.   Also, this method is very time consuming.  With the waiting for the polish to get stringy, it took about 10 minutes to do one nail.

Now on to the polishes.  For the base, I used 2 coats of Zoya Wednesday.  For the lines, I was going for a gradient look. I used (in order from the cuticle up) Zoya Zuza, Sally Hansen Insta Dry Blue Streak and Sinful Colors See You Soon.

Have you tried this technique before? 

Thanks for checkin' me out.  Happy Polishing!

Check out the other ladies participating in Teal Tuesday.

Classic French + One Stroke Flower

Hey Lacquerheads!

Today, I could not decide what I wanted to do with my nails, so I decided to keep it simple and do a classic french manicure.  This is the first time that I did a pink and white french without the tip guides and I think that this was much easier.  I never cared for the way the my french mani's turned out using the tip guides, because there was always some polish that managed to seep under the guide even though I would press it on the nail as thoroughly as I could.  Then when I took the guide off, the base polish would come off with it.  I guess that could be due to rushing, and of course this was before I discovered the one and only Seche Vite.

So let me get on with it and show you how I did it. 

First, I painted my nails with basecoat.  Lately, I have been using Sally Hansen Triple Strong Nail Fortifier. I used it before many years ago,  but let me tell you, I'm loving this stuff right now. I haven't had any breaks since I started using it (and I did yardwork today, so that's saying alot!).

Next, I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry in Whirlwind White to pain the tips.  I wasn't being all careful like and trying to pain perfect smile lines. I simply painted the tips the same way that I would paint the rest of my nails. 

 

I know it looks messy, but here's where the acetone comes in. I used the same brush that I use for cleanup, dipped in acetone to "erase" the polish and make the smile line.  Then I used Orly Beverly Hills Manicure in Beverly Hills Plum from the cuticle up to the smile line.  Topped it all off with Seche Vite.

 

 

 

And you know me...Gotta add something extra. This was too "Plane Jane" for my taste. So I tried my hand at a one stroke flower.  I'm happy with how the flower came out for my first time, but the squigglies left a lil something to be desired.

 



 

I used acrylic paints by Americana, Lavender and Snow White for the flower, and Lamp Black and Snow White for the squigglies. 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by, glad to have ya!  Happy Polishing!



China Glaze Flying Dragon + CH16

Hey Peeps!

I have really been into neon colors lately, so I pulled one from my untrieds that I was kinda on the fence about.  Flying Dragon from China Glaze claims to be neon on the label, but it just doesn't live up to it in my opinion.  It is a very pretty color but seems more suited for fall to me.

Flying Dragon is a saturated plum with very fine pink and blue glitter. It goes on matte, like most neons, and is streaky and uneven with the first coat.  The second coat takes care of the streakiness and brings the polish to full opacity.  The swatch is more color accurate than the full picture at the bottom.

 

This color was too dark for what I was going for, so to lighten it up a bit, I decided to pull out the ole stamping plates :)   I used Cheeky CH16 and SHID Fast Fuchsia for the stamping.

So what do you think of this color, does it qualify as a neon?  Is it more appropriate for summer or fall?

Thanks for checkin' me out. Happy Polishing!

Zoya Zuza

Hello Lacquer Lovers!

Today's nails were done for Teal Tuesdays.  This week we took a polish poll to see what was the most common teal polishes among the group, and we had to do a mani featuring one of those polishes.  And the winners were Zoya Zuza, China Glaze Atlantis and A England Saint George.
I chose Zoya Zuza because it was the only one that I had at the time, but I have since added Atlantis to The Stash.

Now on to the pics.

To get this look, I started off with two coats of Pure Ice Oh Baby, a gorgeous multi-chromatic polish with teal, blue and purple shimmer.  You can see really see the shimmery-ness in the second photo. Next I did a Funky French with Zuza and topped that off with Sally Hansen Fractured Foil crackle polish.  For the accent finger, I did two coats of Zuza with a squiggle of Fractured Foil.

I'm really feelin' this mani. I like the simplicity with a bit of funkiness thrown in for good measure.

What do you think, Is this a good toned-down mani that is work appropriate?

Thanks for checkin' me out. Happy Polishing!

MSMD: Sunset Palm Tree Nails

Hey Lacquer Lovers!

Sorry I've been MIA for the last week. During the week I was mad busy and could not find time to do my nails, and then I went out of town for the weekend.  But not to worry.  I'm back today with one of my most intricate mani's yet.

My inspiration came from the Tropical Nail Art at Girly Bits.

I started with a gradient of Sally Hansen Insta Dry's in Heat Flash, Lightening and Presto Pink.  Next, I stamped on the palm tree image from SH 19 with Kleancolor Black.

And because I wasn't satisfied I decided to add some more color. 

I used all nail polish to do the filling in.  First, I painted in the water with SHID Brisk Blue.  The palm trees were painted in with SHID Just In Lime and Avon Bronze.  I used the Kleancolor black to go over the outline and add more detail to the palm fronds.  Except on the pinky :(  I didn't notice it until I uploaded the picture.  Oh well.

The brush I used came in the nail art brush set from MASH.  I used the angled detail one. 

It's not the neatest, but I'm happy with how this came out for my first time using the nail art brushes for something other than stripes.  Gotta expand those horizons. I had been wanting to try adding more color to my stamped main's for a while.  Gonna have to play around and see what else I come up with. 

So what do you think?

Thanks for checkin me out.  Happy Polishing!

Summer Challenge: Summer Chevrons

I created this mani a couple of weeks ago, and I decided that it is perfect for the Summer Challenge over at the Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge.  This was done before my nails were reduced to nubbins courtesy of a family bowling outing.  I know, I know, bowling is the kiss of death for long nails, but I had fun.  I actually only broke one nail while bowling, but over the next few days the rest of my nails decided to have a pity party and break too, so I was forced to take them all down to nubbins.

Anyways...on to the mani!  Here is my version of Summer Chevrons.

outside, shade

outside, sunlight

outside, shade

This was my first attempt at a tape mani.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out , although some of my lines are not as crisp as I would like.  I used regular transparent Scotch brand tape to make the chevron. 

So let's meet the players.

Sally Hansen InstaDry Lively Lilac

2012 Prayer

Sally Hansen InstaDry Mint Sprint

Milani High Speed Jiffy Orange

Finger Paints Drawn To This Shade

I used Jiffy Orange for the base and Drawn To This Shade for the accent finger.  To make the chevrons,  I used Mint Sprint, and before I removed the tape, topped it with Prayer, which is a purple crackle polish.  After I removed the tape, I added the dots with Lively Lilac and Mint Sprint. 

I think this mani has a tribal look to it.  What do you think?

Thanks for checkin me out.  Happy polishing!

Check out the other chica's participating in the challenge.



Lemon Lime

Hot. Humid. Sticky.  That was the weather yesterday in Detroit.  100 Degrees.  Thankfully we only get a handful of those hot hot days each summer.  As I was drinking my ice cold Bud Light Lime, it reminded me of one of the stamping plates from the new Bundle Monster set (BM 308) and this mani was concieved.

To get this look I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry in Lightening and Just in Lime as base and stamping colors.  Lately, I have been loving these Insta Dry polishes.  I used to just use them for stamping, but I am loving the one coat coverage and fast dry time. 

Here is a  side-by-side so that you can see the difference in alternating the base colors and stamping colors.  On the left thumb, the base is Lightening, stamped with Just in Lime, and the right thumb is Just in Lime stamped with Lightening.

And one last parting shot for the road...

Thanks for looking.  Happy Polishing!!

Side note: Please excuse the different watermarks in the pictures. As a new blogger I am testing out different picture editing websites to find out what fits for me, but I'm trying to keep it as consistent as possible.  Bear with me :)

Monkey See Monkey Do Monday!!

Hi Ladies.

Today is my first time participating in Monkey See Monkey Do Monday.  I am so excited to to be a part of this with all the other fabulously creative nailnistas :)  The rules of Monkey See Monkey Do Monday are simple: re-create a mani from another blog and provide a link to the original manicure. 

My MSMD inspiration comes from Thriszha at Fab Ur Nails. She has the cutest nail designs and she also sells stamping plates and polish. Check out her blog. 

Outside, sunlight

Outside, sunlight

Outside, shade

To get this look I use the polishes above, L to R, Presto Pink, Fast Fuchsia, and stamped the design with Orchid Express. 

I thnk I'm gonna like the Monkey See Monkey Do thing.  I have seen so many great mani's that I can't wait to try.  This should be fun.

Thanks for looking.  Happy Polishing!!

Pink Lemonade

The nail that I have to show you today is a bright summertime gradient that makes me think of pink lemonade.  Gradients are one of my favorite type of manicure. There is just so much that you can do with nail polish and a sponge.  The sky's the limit.

To get this look, I painted the entire nail with Pink Hottie from the Milani Neon collection. This pink is much brighter IRL, but my camera did not want to capture all its neon glory.   Next I sponged on SH Insta-Dry in Lightening on the tips. When everything was thoroughly dry I stamped the image from BM 203 with Insta-Dry Whirlwind White.  The image got a bit smeared from the topcoat.  I ended up using FingerPaints topcoat because I could not find my Seche Vite.

So what do you think?  Do you prefer to use contrasting colors or colors within the same family for gradients? 

Until next time ladies!