Subtle French Mani with Flakie franken

After my last manicure, I felt like I should go subtle...but I think I went to subtle! My 18 year old told me it was boring, LOL!
A few posts pack, I posted about adding flakies to sheer-ish polishes. I used one in this mani.

In some of these you can see the subtle flashes of flakie goodness, but it doesn't come right out and bop you on the nose, LOL! I added some accent flowers with a dotting tool and  tiny gold balls. Very lady-like very calming...BORING was right LOL!
Then I was stupid and realized I still had to give my dog her medicine, because she is terrified of most loud-ish noises...TERRIFIED...so not worth missing a dosage. Here is the damage...

It was worse, but I licked a finger and smoothed the heck out of it....this I could live with for a day (french mani's never last long with me, the white starts looking "dirty").

Several weeks ago, we installed a new door in our house and my hubby took a picture of me using a router to cut a spot for the faceplate on the door. I didn't plan on putting it up here, simply because I look like hell, the house was messy behind me and really, who wants to see a 40-something lady sweating over a doorknob installation?! Ah, well, It might explain something about me...I LIKE doing stuff like this, I can change the oil on my car and even replace a few parts, and I am the one that explains things to the mechanic. My husband is pretty proud of this, I think and my sister-in-laws a little weirded-out, LOL. That's OK-I like doing things for myself and I don't have issues about husband and wife "jobs" in the home. Legacy of being the youngest of five with 3 older brothers.

*sigh* yah, not a petite lady...lol! Have a great one!

Wow!

I simply couldn't think of a good name for these, short of WOW! They did take extra time because of the scotch tape and layers, but so worth it in my book. The purple (and really, it is purple no fooling) I got from ABOP's blog sale and it is Quirius Eggplant. I didn't know it had that awesome blue flash until I put it on, and it's growing on me I can tell you! First the finished mani and then how I managed to pull it off, LOL!

Seriously sexy nails in my opinion. I like bling, but glamorous is really not me...and this screams GLAMOUR!
So here is the how. Let me show you this polish and see if I can capture what it actually looks like on my nails (not blue!)

OK...purple, right??
2 coats of QRS Eggplant, and let it dry really well for awhile...I rushed things and almost ruined it.

The I used scotch tape to make a diagonal line across my nails. I just do one at a time....much easier.
On the untaped side, I coated Nubar 2010 and pulled off my little strip right away. It works best if you cut the tape into thinner strips. When it is a big piece of tape, it doesn't seems to adhere on the diagonal very well--too sharp a curve going.
I coated my nails once with Orly Sec-N-Dry, let that cure for about 10 minutes and then cut thin strips of tape to make a little stripe of gold right over the edge of the diagonal line, and I have a picture below...

Pretty easy to see the problem areas on dark polish....the places where the tape is lighter, you may have some polish bleeding under the tape, so try and press things down pretty well. I used Revlon Gold Coin along that stripey area and pull them off before they dry. One at a time seems to work well....keeps messes down. I just snag the sticky edge of the tape on my work table-clean it up later when everything is dry. As long as the groove between the 2 pieces of tape looks even and straight, you should be fine. I can't draw a straight, even line to save my life...so this was my solution.

YAY! They turned out so awesome!

"Salty Margarita" Franken and subsequent mani!!

OK, I confess, I saw one of the new Barielles on one of the sites I follow  (Candy Coated Tips) and I was highly intrigued by a  nude colored-flakie polish ...not clear...NUDE!!!I didn't know the flakie goodness could show through. SO of course I had to try this, I had some pretty sheer french mani colors floating around (doesn't everyone?!)
Tried the palest pink/beige one, liked it, made one for my friend, but then I got this wild hair and added Nubar 2010 to this polish, a sheerish day-glo green that was cheap and a liquid staining machine. I like the way it looked and couldn't leave well enough alone...good thing!
I added a bit of my new fave glitter, Sinful Colors, It's All About You...OMG!!!! Yah, I am loving this stuff!!! Check out the mani first and then the ingredients. You might be able to see the flakies better if you click on the picture...

1 base of white polish, then 2 of Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up (orange) and 3 coats of my new Salty Margarita franken :0)

What do you think?  AWESOMENESS in a bottle?!?? Yeah, I almost did an "Angry Birds" mani...that will be another weekend...but I wanted something equally silly/bright. I do believe I succeeded!! I can't quite get away with something this wild at work (actually, I probably could).

Flakies Galore



So I couldn't handle the green sparkly mess....it was wearing at the tips and just driving me batty. So I slapped something easy on this afternoon. Pure Ice-Scandal 2 coats, and 1 coat of Nubar 2010 flakies...I sooo love the flakies.



Yes, I messed around briefly with dabbing some Konad Special polish in gold on my ring finger...but stopped while I was ahead and before it was too noticeable!