All Buttoned up! Day 2 of the Tri-Polish Challenge

I have day two of the Tri-Polish Challenge...I was really happy with how this turned out! I got the idea from a picture on Pinterest...the colors on that I think were a turquoise blue and white. I love this version...

The polishes I used for this part of the challenge are A England Elaine and Pure Ice Wild Thing. Elaine is a deep plummy purple, but my camera just doesn't capture the awesomeness of this polish...so beautiful in person...

I started with 2 coats of Elaine and then after that dried...I coated half my accent nails with Wild Thing. For the dots, I used the flat end of a bamboo skewer. I used a smaller object for the purple dots in the center. These reminded me of old-style Victorian boots...the kind with buttons....

Below...Goliath, Mr. Miracle kitty. He's so cute curled up on the couch...except that's MY spot, lol!!

Below..my Nova dog....I rarely get good pictures of her because she is so black!...The sun was coming in and the light was perfect...There ya go: nail and pet spam, lol!!!

Check out the fantastic manis below...they're all pretty darn amazing!

Funky Half-Moon Mani

I have never tried a half-moon mani-simply because 1) I stink at drawing neat lines and 2) They are not my favorite style (probably because I can't DO them!)

BUT...I came by sort of a half-moon by accident. I used scotch tape and fancy scissors and Viola! I had always wondered if I could figure out how to do the half-moon with scissors and tape and now I know, lol!

Two coats of Sally Hansen Complete manicure Thinking of Blue-one of my post-holiday hauls.

Woops, didn't take a picture of that color on its own...but you can see it clearly-lovely dark blue cream.
I used these scissors to make the shape

I had actually planned turning the pattern to follow my cuticle line, but I screwed that up and had to run with it :0)

I used Pure Ice Heartbreaker for the offset color, and went by after and made little dots below the ^ shape.

I found it hard to see the shape of the ^ after I added Poshe quick dry topcoat :0)

That is probably as fashionable as I will ever get with my nails, lol. I probably will  never try a ruffian-damn those look tricky!

I think our area ended up with a bit over 24 inches of snow, but since it rained on top of the snow (!?) right after, it was hard to be positive.

Right now, I plan to return to my warm butterscotch-chip cookie and ice-cold milk....I love cold milk....

Good Night!!

Polka Dot Insanity!

I was just telling a co-worker the other day that I would never be able to pull off a polka dot summer dress...BUT a polka dot mani is a whole other can of worms!

Many very talented ladies have done this mani in a stunning fashion. This is just my version of it. Work was hectic and stressful this week, so I needed something fun and carefree.
Two coats of Revlon Silver dollar, with 2 sizes of polka dots. I used my dotting tool for the small dots and the flat end of a bamboo skewer for the large dots. I have been wanting to try this mani for almost 6 months now, hehehhe.

 GAH! look at the smearing! I hate it when I think I did a great mani and pictures show me this kind of stuff...grrrr

Right hand...I don't use this one much for photos....I am right handed and need that for clicking pictures!

Here is what I used:

Speaking of dots....here is a recent mani that was not so successful, but the first time I did a mani with this franken. Meh, ok, but nothing to rave about!

Take care and be safe :0)

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!

"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).

Purple Franken Flowers

I got the franken bug again and made a very cool looking purple, glitzy franken. I will show you the finished bottle first, then the craziness that went into it!

This is a bit blurry, but it was the best picture to show off the holo-type glitter I put in it. Here is the mani I did with it.

I did 2 coats of my purple Glitz franken, and little dot flowers with Revlon Silver Dollar, yellow dots in the middle for an accent. I got a little carried away with the yellow...a bit runny, so not as clean-cut as I would have liked :0(

Here is what I used to create this polish...

I added the holo micro-glitter after I decided I needed more Bling!...I DO love my glittery bling.... I loved what the Revlon Gold Coin did to the mix, but it wasn't as pronounced as I would have liked, hence the holo glitter.

For the first time, I experienced the SV shrinkage issue, but it took me half a day at work to figure out what was bugging me about this manicure. The little bit that is left in that bottle will be recycled into a franken, so that is OK, only about a fifth of the bottle left.  By the way, my last manicure left my nails stained yellow green, even with a base coat...bummer!

Weird Little Piggies

OK, I am known in my family for my weird toes...so it is a stretch for me to do this, but I need to get over it, LOL! I have 3 older brothers and they would always tease me about my middle toe and that it was "flipping" everyone off.....yah, I know, family of five and I was the youngest.
So I am showing my toes in humility, mostly because I want to show this off...Doing toes is HARD! especially when you are a little bit *clears throat* Older :0)
Here goes with the toes- 2 coats of Dollar Tree Sally Hansen In The Red Creme. It is not really a red creme, though. It has this kind of cool almost blue shimmer that lurks. I was disappointed at first, but it is a rocking cool color, really.



I used a dotting tool to make the white dots with a french mani white, and then used SH Black Out for the black dots. Finally a thick coat of SV. Please ignore the messy/dry toes, they are hard to clean old polish off also!

Polka Dot Party!

I went off to my Mother-in-law's house over the 4th of July, as my dog, Nova is freaky scared of loud noises, to the point of breaking things trying to get away from the sounds...so we went and hid out in the country until this morning and so that meant *gasp* doing my nails somewhere other than my house, LOL! I think I did pretty darn good, and I had FUN!
I started out with 2 coats of my dusty blue franken, and hmmm...what next?! Polka Dots! I used Sally Hansen's Green with Envy, and Revlon's Silver Dollar.

I didn't have much faith in my ability to dot in a straight line, so I tried doing random dots and it got a bit crazy...but fun :)
Next time, I will go for a bit more of a straight line or patterned look, since it really seemed pretty easy, once I got started. (excuse the pics, I took them under natural light near dusk)

I really discovered that I like my blue franken with the SH Green with Envy....I think they look awesome together and it's definitely a combo I will got for again!