Delicate Diagonal Stamping

I picked up some clearance polishes at CVS Pharmacy over the last week and tried out one of these today. The polish I used was Sally Hansen's Gray on Gray. Pretty awesome color, in my book...Looks like a blued-out gray creme in the bottle, but looks and is more gray than in these pictures. As always...my camera picks up the blue more, so things are always a bit more blue than in real life.

Here is one coat of GOG (lol!), with no topcoat...

Now picture this a bit more gray.... Pretty darn good coverage in 1 careful coat, but I went for two coats, and a topcoat before I stamped.

I am already in love with this polish/color. The brush is flat and rounded at the tip. It was different at first, but I think I kind of like the brush. This was one of the Sally Hansen "complete manicure" polishes, and I had not tried these yet.

I used a slice of clear tape to mark off my nails diagonally and just stamped half of my nail with a Bundlemonster "full nail" pattern using NYC white creme.

Ignore the fuzzy lint on the tips, please! I had lotion on and wanted to swipe it off my nails and the lint free wipes left lint, hahaha! This is with one coat of quick-dry top coat over the stamping.

I really like the clean simplicity of this mani. Yes, I had to restrain myself from adding more! Every time I looked in my polishes and then looked at my nails, I thought nothing could do it justice, so I left it like this :0)





Glitter Blizzard! and some other fun

This mani was totally inspired by Anita at splashofserendipity.blogspot.com. She does some amazing nail work and has gorgeous nails to boot, hahaha! Thank-you for the fabulous idea, Anita!

Started this late at night and needed a simple, quick but pretty mani, since I have a reputation to keep up at work! But first you get to see some nail porn...NAKED NAILS! The staining finally grew out and they look pretty darn good to me...

My nails are translucent in some places, because I had been working in the kitchen, cooking and doing dishes, so afterwards I slathered them with argan oil and let it soak in...
Ok, on to the easy-peasy mani:

On clear gel nails, I sponged NYC french mani white starting at the tips and making a gradient...
Over the top of that, one coat of Wet N Wild Hallucinate. Over the top of that, one coat of Pure Ice Heartbreaker. Sorry for the blurry pictures, but I was trying to get the PI polish to show up like it does in real life...

OK, I really like how simple and effective this look is. The green and blue flashes were much more noticeable in person. Gorgeous and a bit flashy without being TOO flashy...I know...not like me right?!
On to some craft/homemade fun!
My compromise to actually giving away my Christmas ideas if the kids look at this post, is...

Experiment number one.......

Hmmm, not dark enough and a bit too soft, back to the drawing board for more Brown Iron Oxide and a bit more beeswax.... E-mail me if you need help or want to know what these are going to be hahaha!

I missed stamping....

I haven't done a stamped mani for some time and tonight I realized I have missed those manis. Weird, I know, but life has been just a little too hectic to take much time with nail stamping.

Tonight, even though my weekend was a little crazy...I felt the need for a konadicure, or what passes for one in my home :0)

One coat of Wet N Wild Black Creme for a base. Then one coat of Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl (*sigh* I hate the name but love the color). Here is the uncleaned version of how that looks, even though you may have seen it before.

These pictures definitely DON'T do this polish any justice. All sorts of subtle glitter in a purple base, and just gorgeous to apply, also.

I didn't want to hide any of the purple flash, so I decided to stamp some leaves near the edges with Sally Hansen Black Pearl Chrome. They turned out very pretty (if you don't look close, LOL)

Much prettier in person, though. The purple glitter flashes more frequently and is more visible. In these pictures, seems like only the other colors of glitter are showing :0(

**I have a quick question...I want to put more of my craft things on, but what do you think? I originally started this as a crafty blog, but the fingernail polish has taken over. Do you mind if I put occasional craft projects on? I am working nightly on presents for my family, but I won't be able to post them until after the Holidays :0) My girls are sneaky enough....I can't let the secrets out until Christmas, Mouhahahahahahaaaaaa!!!!!** If you are really curious, e-mail me :0)

My Favorite Blue

I have worn this color twice and it has got to be the most heavenly blue...if you love blue, and I do!
It has officially become my favorite blue, if not my favorite polish...

One careful, thick coat of Pure Ice French Kiss *sigh*
Some free form swipes with a detail brush: Pure Ice Heart Breaker, Pure Ice Busted and I mistakenly added Orly Golden Halo swipes as well.  It was perfect before the Golden Halo....should have left well enough-alone!
Still lovely, so I can deal with it.

Oh, and one coat of SV over the top...as always! I shall be basking in all this Blue Loveliness for the next few days, until I decide I need a new mani, LOL!

Is this a dupe?

Quick post! (Stop cheering!) I picked this polish up, loved it...kind of hated the formula and then saw what looks like a near dupe for this one at boxofpolish (hint-One of the new Essence polishes!). She has gorgeous nails, and the gold/olive green is more pronounced, but look at this and then check out Kayleigh's blog! I love the stamping she did over the other polish without taking anything away from the awesome color :-)

Revlon's Mistletoe, 2 gloppy but pretty coats.....

Yesssss, I know my fingers look scary and crooked in the last picture. Maybe they are? Can I chalk that up to years of little kids tugging on them?! Nah!
At any rate, this is a Fast-drying polish, which I have never loved, but totally worth it! Bugger to remove, though....ultra-fine glitter in this polish! Tell me what you think...Dupe or not?!

Revived Dollar store find

I went trolling at our local Dollar Tree and found some really cool polishes. Some were for a swap, but one was almost like a bottle of dried-out glue!

LA Colors Tropical Storm (I think, I had a lot of wrappers, lol)...a silvery metallic polish, but apparently the lid had cracked at some point and let air into the polish bottle. I cleaned the broken plastic bits up, added A LOT of Beauty Secrets Nail Polish Thinner and let it sit for about 4 days...I was not hopeful.
When I went back it did look to be loosening up, so I stirred it with a bamboo skewer (LOL) and added metal balls/BBs and more polish thinner. 2 days later and the pictures are what my stubborn-ness gets me...  *happy dance*

2 coats of LAC Tropical Storm, and 1 coat of a franken I tossed together from Pure Ice Strapless, black glitter and clear top coat. Just a little bit of flash when only a little bit is needed!

I wasn't worried about a lost dollar-store polish-but it looked so pretty, I had to try and save it :0) Have any of you tried this? I am a sucker for metallic polishes....totally bonkers-they make me drool, hehehe...

Have a good weekend, stay warm and dry or at least don't get arrested, lol!

Lilac and Gold loveliness!

The Minute I saw Sally Hansen's new (?) polish Big Money, I HAD to have it. It is one of their new Gems Crush polishes and to die for if you are a glitter addict like I am!

Most of the reason is that I love gold glitters, and also because it would look awesome with Essie's Lilacism...see the evidence!

2 coats of Lilacism...showing more blue than in reality, though-

1 quick application of SHGC Big Money on the corners...this stuff will overwhelm any polish it goes over the top of-it is drenched in Glittah!

Look at my ring finger below, I was playing with the new haul and put various polishes over my last mani...the dark green holo polish...

Look at that coverage-that is one coat...I can hardly see any of the underlying color! This is one you could wear totally on it's own. At any rate-I'm off to bed, darn cold here...looking a lot like last November all of a sudden!

October Pink Ribbon Mani

OK, this month I wanted to alternate between Halloween themes and October Breast Cancer Awareness manis......Pink...which is just about my least favorite color. Since I know several people affected by breast cancer and it runs in my family, it is a topic near and dear to me.

Unfortunately, this one counts as a Fail in my book. I think I rushed the crucial "what the h--- am I going to do?" phase...big hairy no-no, lol!

At any rate, you get to see it, because for this, the thought counts, even though my rendition sucks....

2 coats of OPI's I Think In Pink-super sheer impulse buy that I need to franken with some white...

I sponged on some white spectraflair franken, some SH Twisted Pink, and the ribbons are also done with that color. I sponged on Revlon Silver Dollar after the fact...*thwacks self on head*...I just missed my bling, lol!

 (sorry about the poor pics)

The nails with NO ribbon look pretty good, the ribbon part was the fail. Ah, well....if anyone has ideas on making a better/more precise ribbon, give me a yell!

*Oh, and still loving the gel nail polish as underwear...

Halloween Freckles Franken

OK, I know I could have called this funky color HOLOween Freckles, but I couldn't bring myself to do it....just a bit over the top :0)
I made this franken with some OLD Nina Ultra Pro orange frost polish, that yuks me out....Not sure why I ever bought it, but there ya go....addicted, lol.
If you look close, you may be able to see what I put in this mess...Spectraflair, rust glitter and black glitter! (hence the freckles).
2 coats as a base with minimal stamping to show off the polish :0)

2 coats, no topcoat...a bit gritty, but not bad.

 2 coats, with SV as a topcoat....Like shiny, sparkly glowworms on my fingers!

OK...with bats, since I was feeling somewhat Batty today :0) SV over the stamping. This is from one of the new Bundlemonster plates, and I plan to make the most of the Halloween stamps :0)
I love this color as much as I hated the original Nina Ultra Pro Burnt Orange...the rust/copper glitter is hard to catch, but I like the fact that these are things you don't often see in the same polish: holo, glitter, black speckles and some metallic polish in there for good measure-it's a keeper.
Take care-stay dry and warm...rainy and cold here.

UM Grizzly Mani

Today and most Thursdays during football season, we are allowed to have a University of Montana Grizzlies Jeans Day at my workplace. If we want to wear jeans, we have to wear the UM Griz school colors, lol. Works for me since I attended/graduated college there. And I will do almost anything to wear jeans and a nice T-shirt, lol!! Normally we have to wear dress slacks, nice blouses and dress shoes. Not ultra conservative, but not casual either. So here is my Maroon/Silver mani, those are the college colors :0)

Revlon Ruby Ribbon, which is a "suede" polish (2 coats), 1 coat of Sally Girl silver glitter over that, and one heavy coat of SV over the top.  *SIGH* sparklies are so pretty!

I am still wearing regular polish over my gel polish that was applied 9/22. So it has been a full week now and I will show you how they have changed over the nail polish removal, wear and tear. See the picture below and don't ralph at the staining :)



The red arrow shows the only cracking that is noticeable to picky me....a little notch in the nail wrap I did with the gels. VERY little...but I pick at stuff like that, so it is important. I wrapped all my nail edges with the base coat, 2 coats of sheer pink and again a base coat layer. Not bad! The green arrow shows how the whole thing is growing out. If you click on the picture, you can see the raised line of the gel polish a bit away from the cuticle. Also, they are losing their lovely shininess, but that is totally workable. After all, the goal was to protect my thin nails, provide a smooth base for regular polish and nail art, and maybe prevent nasty *^#%* stains from happening! So far, it's meeting my goals! I will probably re-apply the gel over this weekend, because I hate that much gap near the cuticle.

Take care, and be safe everyone!

New Franken Fun!!!

When Morenailpolish was selling the color-morphing pigments and some other goodies, I put an order in and patiently waited for my goodies to arrive (she had a HUGE response!). And arrive they did, this week!! Woo-hoo!
Man alive, I can't wait until my empty bottles come in so I can play more! Here is a little picture of my pigments and little tiny sample of one polish I made last night for my youngest daughter...I don't have a name for it yet...maybe I need some help?!

If I didn't think the Copyright police would find me...I would name it after Kermit, since I love the Muppets, but ah, well!!

I also made a very cool teal franken with color-morphing pigments and a purply-maroon holo-franken my friend Saundie is trying out. More pictures in another day or two, hopefully!! If I can pry my teenager away from World Of Warcraft (WOW) hahahahaa! 

Oh, and if you are looking at the pigments and drooling, go check out morenailpolish.blogspot.com, because I think she has more now! She did an awesome job of labeling, weighing, shipping and just putting up with more insanity than I would have-in order to fill people's orders.

Matte Pink Flakies

I'm not doing anything fancy tonight because I HOPE my loot from Amazon will come in the mail tomorrow. I did some retail therapy last week-it was a pretty rough week at work, and ordered an inexpensive UV lamp and some shellac base coat. The awesome lady/cosmetologist that does my hair knows I am freaky about polishes and stamping. She told me my regular polishes will cure harder with a lamp...plus I think it will be useful for other things, like broken nails. At any rate, I am excited to start experimenting with this.
On to today's mani...after which I will show what happens when you miss a tiny bit of base coat-pure nastiness!
I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Twisted Pink...and topped with 2 coats of ABOP's Flakie Franken...a polish which Rocks!



This stuff is so blingy that my camera couldn't focus with 2 coats on, LOL! Normally I do one coat and it focuses fine....not so today!

Then 1 coat of Essie Matte About You- I have been dying to try this look....I have seen a lot of people put flakies and matte over blues and purples, but I have missed seeing pinks, so here we go :0)

Gorgeous, isn't it? Why did I wait so long to try this look? Not a clue, because I am loving it!

Now for the nastiness...my last mani stained in the weirdest way. I must have missed a tiny bit of base coat, or maybe it was just thin in one spot, but look...

Green dots of nastiness. I was able to buff most of this off, but imagine what that would look like if I used that dark green over the whole nail with no base coat? Blegh....My nails are still light yellow/green from a few months ago and my Day-Glo Green/yellow mani. Halfway gone and it was 2 months ago roughly....

Take care and be safe.                             





Grurple Leopard Print!

I know...but that was the best I could do on 5 hours of sleep and not nearly enough caffeine :0)
I have a few pics of my Sunday/Monday/Tuesday mani and then the one I just finished...it's cool! The first one...not so much, heeheeeheee! But dessert first! YUM!

I wanted to try out the leopard print BM plate finally....and I made myself NOT copy all the pretty summer manis out there...yellows, oranges, etc....Even though I really wanted to-those look awesome! So I went with SH Mint Sorbet, Orly Charged Up, and Sinful Colors (cripes, now I have to get the bottle!)Ahhh, Last Chance!! I love that deep rich green.



I did a diagonal stripe with Charged Up, but it's fairly runny and sheerish, so in hindsight, scotch tape would have helped me get a nice thick layer the first time around. It took a few swipes with the brush, look-

Too pale!  I also did the SH  Mint Sorbet on the opposite side, not worrying too much about neatness and this is why!

Last Chance covered the imperfections. I actually planned the purple for the middle, but that is where the lack of sleep kicked in-grrr.

Then a quick coating of some cheapy little BonBon blue-green glitter that I got for frankening.

I almost left it there...pretty! But I wanted to see how the leopard print did across the glitter. I used Wet N Wild Black to stamp with, and it works pretty darn good! I just realized (light bulb moment) that I have been pressing WAY too hard on my scraper and stamping tool to pick up the pattern...I think I have been actually pushing the polish out of the plate pattern and making it look funky-hmmmm sometimes too little sleep can be enlightening...
So again, the finished mani with SV over the top-A little darker thanI wanted, but still pretty in my opinion.

It's Grurpalicious! Try saying that five times fast and see if you don't get arrested! Hahaha..

OK, now the boring mani...pretty, but boring

That's it...I did add a leopard print in black on my ring finger last night and THAT looked pretty cool...That is one that bears repeating...stamping over a holo polish-niiiice!

Hey, did ya notice my cuticles? I followed a fellow blogger over to loodie loodie loodie and she has an awesome site if you want to learn about nail care. I took some of her advice to heart and found a product hanging around that I multi-purposed and started using on my cuticles and hands (feet too, btw) and my hands and cuticles are looking amazing, I think. Amazing because my hands have always been ultra dry with mangled cuticles. My mom taught me to push my cuticles back regularly, but that only goes just so far. At any rate, the constant moisturizing with this mixture of vegetable/vegan oils has really helped. Three Cheers to Loodie!! (Even my crazy little piggies look better for the moisturizing!)

OK, enough blather, have a great night and stay dry, smoke free and safe, where ever you live (we have forest fires here)