Stripey Power!

Now I have the stripey power!!!  Now I wield the stripey power!!!

How fun, right?  This is after 4 days of wear.  But still not horribly bad!  My favorite nail is my thumb in this pic.  A sort of diamond/ harlequin pattern.   I even got that last strip in the lower left corner!  I was tickled pink that that came through!  

Oh the things that thrill a nail polish-aholic, right?

I tried a mani I found on-line last winter.  It used tape like this but I didn't have any then.  I tried cutting strips of scotch tape.  CRUDBALL mani! :p

So I'm so happy I finally ordered some on Amazon. 

There is definitely a technique to this.

You must wait a bit for the stripe nail polish to settle or the color will bleed onto the base color when you pull the tape up and off the nail!

I look forward to doing some more with my new found knowledge 

AND do less fixing after pulling up the tape!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow and Coral Reef and Seche Vite were used.

Goodbye August, Hello September!

Greek Bubblegum

She-who-shall-not-be-named came over the other day and we both tried on nail polish after nail polish.  I just procured this gorgeous palest lemony whisper-of-yellow polish that I was dying to use.  So I put a coat on in exacting detail.  Then since that coat was waaaaaaay streaky I put another on.  And the Seche Vite.  That's when the smudges started to happen for no reason.  The dings made by the summer breeze.  

The top coat wrinkling up cuz the stuff underneath wasn't dry yet... simply by looking at it wrong I swear!  Oh I was so bummed!  

 

Voldemort was having no luck either.  So she just grabbed a polish and I grabbed my new Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Bubblegum pink and carefully put that on there and without further embellishment as we are so wont to do, we called it done.

Not bad for a mani done a few days ago right?  Yay, Xtreme wear!  I wanted to play today!

I ♥ me some konad action!  

Btw, I just found out the other day that, GASP, I think I bought FAKE Konad plates on Amazon!  Not real ones that I was led to believe I was buying!!!!   Oh I would have had someone's co-nads in a vice if I knew at the time!  My nail polish friends and I always wondered why some designs, clearly meant for the entire nail, were too small...  

insert emoticon with smoke coming out of ears here.  ...and a vice.

So the faux-nads have been doing pretty well by me.  

The ones that are big enough to use...  Isn't this pretty?

I had much fun this afternoon using the dregs of my ancient bottle of OPI's It's All Greek To Me. I'm going to see if I can find another bottle of this stuff.  

It's been such a fave over the years.

I put some Seche Vite, Bottle #3, on there after the photo shoot.  

I want to look at this mani for at least a couple of days!  

I hope you're having lots of nail polish victories this summer!!!  :)

Guinevere's Diamond Dreams

*sigh* I'm having a love affair with Guinevere.  But more about her later...

Sally Hanson's shimmery Diamond Strength Diamonds covers this spongetastic mani!  

I rather like this one!

This is the last pic of the mani and the bottle of Diamonds before...

gravity snatched the bottle from my fingers and my glorious purple flowering clematis gobbled it up...  the black eyed susans snickering the whole time...  :p

It turned out to be easy to find but from this view looking down from my deck I thought I wouldn't see it again til springtime!

So a-england's Guinevere has made off with my heart! It's the antique pale mauve that you see.  Isn't she beautiful?  I've done my best to sponge it together with the blue Revlon's Dreamer.  I wish I knew how to make a really awesome gradient between the colors!

Just yesterday I looked at an air brusher in Michael's art supply store.  But it's a little too spendy.  I also envisioned how I'd work the airbrush with my left hand...  not pretty!  ha ha!  My sponging technique will just have to improve.  :)  Ciao!

Addendum:  OMG I just found this gradient tutorial and it looks so awesome!!!
Can't wait to try it!!!

Sparkle on my tootsies

I've been having fun doing up my toes in simple ways this summer so I'm finally going to start sharing!

In winter when I look at these pix it will make my snowed-in heart ache for summer.  I just know it.  This pic seems to encapsulate what summer is all about to me!  It's extra perfect that my beautiful little girl's folded under leggie is in the pic.  She's never far away, my little fairy girl.

This is the rare polishing where I knew exactly which colors I wanted!  Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry Lively Lilac, covered with clare's sparkley who-knows-what-the-heck-it-is!

This is the package of bitty polishes I recently got at claire's with nary a name for the individual polishes anywhere! I guess Precious Metals is the collection name.

Lookit!!!!  Isn't that so cool?  I love it!  

 Super duper close up of  the purple sparkly crazy-talk on top of the Lively Lilac.

So that's what's rockin' my toes these days.  All my best, lovies!

Camping = Manis

A camping trip with a nail polishy friend means Manis!!!!  (My girlfriend prefers not to be named on the blog so we'll just call her Voldemort from here on out.) 

It's doing Mani's outside on lawn chairs while our hubs and kids are swimming!  

What could be better!!!! 

These were the lovelies we chose....  once again Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid... essie's Shine of the Times... Sally Hansen's Rockstar Pink... & Sinful's Dream On.

On the way to the camp ground we made a pit stop at Target where I just happened to find myself running through the nail polish collections and I spotted Shine of the Times!  It's reputation preceded it!  I'd never seen it in Target before!  To say I pounced on that last bottle wouldn't be an overstatement!  :D  

Camping was off to a REALLY good start!

 Voldermort was smitten too! What's not to like after all? 
Right over the way cool Cool Aid.

Shoot.  I don't even know how to describe what's going on here!  

Here goes a try: Chunky, iridescent, transparent, dusky loveliness!

Voldemort is rockin' this look, don't you agree?

I was feeling less subtle, more I'M CAMPING AND LIFE IS GRAND!!!    The florescent Dream On was my good start!

 Topped by the crazy little silvery gold, blue and pink sparklies in RockStar Pink!

I love camping, don't you?  

:)

My Kind of Cool Aid

Finally laid my hands on this dusky gem from Cult Nails!

MY KIND OF COOL AID!

The pretty sparkle in the bottle doesn't translate so much to the nail.  

So I decided to kick that sparkle up a bit!  

After a generous coat of Cool Aid, I put on my Seche Vite.  

Then Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength "Diamonds" polish.  Lookit that shimmer!  

Isn't it purty?  I did this yesterday morning.  I should have used Seche Vite one more time -over the top of everything.  Because THIS morning I noticed SEVERAL chips!!!!!   No way!  Say it ain't so!   :p  

I can only hope another layer of SV would've averted the chippage.  

'Cuz chipping after 24 hours is just not right!

So cover-up dabs in place, I took to the deck for the photo um, shoot.  yeah. That's what I do, photo shoots, sure.  I do believe I ♥ this fabby drabby Cool Aid!  

Happy Father's Day!  Have a great week everyone!

Flowers everywhere!

Ok, I lost myself down the rabbit hole the other day.  A visit at a friend's became all about finding a fun mani and when we parted company I felt like we never visited at all!  Well wait THAT was  stupid!  :(  Anyone else ever have that happen???   Well we'll get together again and this time I'll cut myself off!!!  ha ha!  Yes, only so much darn time futzing with the nails and that's it!

What we have here is the last of my Sally Hanson Insta-Dry White for the base.  Made me really want a new white polish.  'Gloopy' does not begin to describe the white dregs I had to work with!  lol

And then a cute flower konad couplet!  

It was a big flower next to a smaller flower of the same style.  

I just painted the one individual flower I wanted to use for each stamp. 

Lots of pretty SH Insta-Dry colors with SV on top. 

If I was better at this there wouldn't be overlapping and half stamps of flowers! ha ha!  But I was under the gun and for pity sake and I wanted this nail adventure to be over already!

I like it.  When I catch a fleeting glimpse during the day I think of jimmies on vanilla ice cream!  Welcome summer!!!

Crackalackin!

My girl is in the other room watching Madagascar so "Crackalackin" is on my mind!  

This is my first Crackle purchase!

First I bought Sinful's beeeyooootiful color shifting polish.  I put it on and, hmm.  The tone wasn't quite right on me.  So I purchased Sally Hanson's blue Crackle and put that on top.  

Well it sure adds visual interest!

Funny, this hand seems more stringy than crackly!

I suppose Crackles have their place and I'm glad I did this.  But I'm still not exactly a crackle enthusiast.  :)  Seche Vite on top of course!  I think I'll always be a Seche Vite enthusiast!

Ixnay on the Ombre

Remember Offspring?  Love that band... couldn't help but think of their album title as I attempted my first ombre. 

I started out with my Nail Magic Nail Hardener because of some disturbing peelage!  Nooooo!  And then?  Get this:  my mom's just been introduced to the joys of nail polish by me.  But my beloved, deceased Grammie LOOOOOVED nail polish!  I never knew that!  And her favorite?  They still make it!  Revlon's Cherries In The Snow.  Now I have my own bottle of my Grammie's fave :*)  How awesome is that? 

Cherries in the Snow is the darkest pink/red.  Sally Hansen's Presto Pink Insta-Dri is the lighter pink.  SV on top.  I used the neato technique found here!

Personally?  I think I need more blending!  Sarah and I were doing our nails at the same time and after we got outside we were astounded at all the problems we could see in our work!!!  HAHAHA!  We were all like, "What's this noise?  It looked way better inside!"  Hilarious.  Next time, we're doing our manis outside. Haha!

Any perfectionism aside, I'm pleased with my first foray into ombre!  

Sarah ♥ Audrey

Or maybe it's more like my friend Sarah ♥ Tiffany!  She told me her story of, no kidding, being a carny in San Diego for a summer then spending her earnings on her very own Tiffany necklace.  I love it!

We did nails today and I think hers deserve their very own post :)

SO CUTE! Sunlight pic first...

Then in a bright shadow... crazy what light temperatures can do huh?

She had her 20 year old bottle of Sally Hansen metallic silver polish and China Glaze's For Audrey!

 Per her story, Sarah chose the necklace konad on plate m62.  

Clever grrrl!  I love this!

Here's another close up of her pretty accent nail.  And my fuzzy dog in the background :)  SV on top!  Sarah ♥ Tiffany and I ♥ Sarah!  What a triangle we have going!

fleur konad

Something pretty and spring-like is in order today!  Enter Revlon's Top Speed Lava, Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry Whirlwind White and Konad's m73 plate!  Not to mention some patience! ;)

 Way up close, the super fine lines in the design show varying amounts of polish -therefore they are varying opacities.  I wonder if the Insta-Dry aspect of the white is the problem.  Wonder if using the specialized Konad White polish would take care of that.  I don't have too many readers but does anyone else have experience with Konad's White polish?

 

Maybe we'll just stick with slightly out of focus pix!  ha ha!!!

This is only my second or third konad so it's still very fun to learn how to do this!  

I think the luscious Seche Vite topcoat dims the white somehow.  

Well I'll take it anyway!  

Hope you're enjoying springtime!  xo