Doctor Who Nails

So yesterday may have been Easter, but it was also the return of Doctor Who! I don't have BBC America so I have to wait for iTunes to get it. Should be any hour now *refreshes page...again* Well, while I pace waiting for it to download, here is a manicure I did for a Sunday Challenge a few weeks ago for my stamping group. That week's challenge was "Nerdy Nails". I couldn't resist. It's a stamping group so it had to include stamping. On the index, middle and pinky, I painted my nails black (Wet n Wild's "Ebony Hates Chris") and sponged on some galaxies using Hot Topic's Morbid brand purple, Wet n Wild's "Teal or No Teal", and Sally Hansen's "Lightening". I stamped the tips with BundleMonster.com's BM 220 in Claire's white stamping polish. The ring finger is painted white (Sally Hansen's "White On") stamped on a blue bow-tie cause bow-ties are cool in Orly's "Blue Collar" with Claire's plate (they don't number their plates yet). A pair of stripes in China Glaze's "Hey Sailor" creates suspenders and 3 dots of "Ebony Hates Chris" for buttons down the front gives you the Eleventh Doctor's outfit.

And my thumb I covered before when I was practicing. Paint the finger white, do a gradient with Wet n Wild's "Saved by the Blue" and outline over the top in black. I used my Tenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver as a prop just because it makes me giggle.

*refreshes iTunes again*

Easter Egg Nails

Well you all saw a few days ago the Skittle Mani I did. Well, when I did it my mom wasn't all that impressed. She thought having all your nails a different color looked almost childish. I don't blame her (much) alot of people don't care for skittles. When I told her how many compliments I kept getting, she didn't quite believe me. Until we went to lunch one day and the waitress complemented my nails, then the bagger at the grocery store, and then the cashier at the bank. I think she was impressed then :) She asked me to do her nails for work, but instead of leaving them plain like I did, she wanted Easter Eggs. So this is what I came up with. This is the same Sinful Colors as my skittle mani, but I also used Stripe Rite's White, and L.A. Colors Art Deco's pink, blue and purple. I don't think they have specific names, just white, pink, blue and purple ones.

Have a good Easter and Spring Celebrations!

Stamping Plate Binder

I love stamping. It may not be what got me into nail art, but it turned a mild hobby into a full blown obsession! For a while I just had my stamping plates in a tin box, but if you've followed this blog for a bit, you'll know I like to SEE my equipment. I didn't have many plates at the time, but I knew I wanted a better way to store them. Then one day I saw a video by PlasmaSpeedo on YouTube. She was showing how she made a binder to store her plates. She got the idea from another blogger, who probably got it from someone else, and so on. I'm not sure who came up with the idea first, but it was brilliant.

Make your own after the jump!

Easter Skittle

Well, its been over a week since my last post. 3 failed mani's later and we are nearing on Easter. I finally did the skittle nails I've been wanting to do (Skittle means each nail is different). I wanted to stamp over them, but couldn't decide what to stamp. By the time I decided it was too late and the nails were chipping. Even with no art on them, however, I still received ALOT of compliments. It was odd and flattering. I mean, I just painted them, nothing special, but people loved them. It's all Sinful Colors, some being the new Sugar Rush collection for spring. Pink: "Cotton Candy", Blue: "Sweet Nothing", Yellow: "Unicorn", Purple: "Tempest", and Orange: "Hazard".

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Not my work! This is the mani I tried to do. My mani is the pictures below.
Check out MadamLuck's blog here.

A friend of mine posted this picture to my facebook page and I LOVED it. So I decided for St. Patrick's Day I'd give it a shot. I watched madamluck's YouTube video and was happy to learn I had nearly all the same polishes she did. So I tried it out on my practice finger. I love that silly thing.

I actually turned out rather well. I was proud of it, so it was time to do it on my actual fingers.

Well, it not that bad, but not exactally what I was planning. My stripes are all kinds of wonky. Well here is the steps I did for it. 2 coats of Duri "Rejuvacote" Nail Growth System (I used this instead of base coat this time because my base is kind of a milky color and I didn't want that to show in the french tipped fingers), Wet n Wild's "SaGreena the Teenage Witch" and Sinful Colors "Call You Later". The stripes were made with Stripe Rite's white, Sally Hansen's "Green with Envy" and Sinful Colors "Hazard". Topped with Seche Vite.

Pi Day

March 14th (3.14) is universally recognized as Pie Day. Yes. Universally. So to celebrate today I did a Pi(e) manicure. Well to be brutally honest, it's not my best work, but it was fun and only for today. Tonight its back to one more St. Patty's mani, then maybe an Easter skittle. The only real brown I own is Sinful Colors "Nirvana" and the white under the pie is Sally Hansen "White On". I did some touch up's with Stripe Rite's white striper to make the angles in the slices of pie crisper. Steam vents in the pie and the Pi symbol done with a knitting needle and Wet n Wild's "Ebony Hates Chris".

Now I leave you with a chant learned while I was on the Math Team in high school (yes I was on a Math Team. I took 3rd place in our big tournament that year too so there).

"Sin, Cos, Cos, Sin
3.14159!"

My First Stamping

St. Patrick's Manicure nearly a year ago today.

Ok, if I'm gonna be completely truthful, this manicure isn't my very first stamping. My very first stamping was on my toes, but I really doubt I'll be posting my feet on this blog anytime soon. And again I will say I was new to nail art and didn't really grasp the whole "clean up" thing so yeah, I have polish all over my fingers. Back then I usually just let it wear off my skin instead of trying to clean it up with remover. I don't really remember what colors I used, but I believe it's Sally Hansen "Green with Envy" stamped with Sinful Colors "Daisy the Pig" and the gold tip is probably Sinful Colors striper "Pot O Gold". I had just gotten my first stamping kit, the Salon Express set and was crazy excited to try it. I'm glad it turned out as well as it did, else I might not have continued stamping and I so adore stamping now.

Even tho I cringe to look at it today, last year I was ridiculously proud of  my nails.
Live and learn :)

Green Diagonal

This isn't what I started out wanting to paint. It turned out ok, but my original plan was to stamp a gold braid on the diagonal. But when I tried it out on the practice finger the gold just didn't show up strong enough. It got lost in the greens. So I pulled out my gold striper and did that instead. Not bad, but not what I had planned. I love green and St. Patrick's Day, but I'm really itching to do something else and give my greens a break. Sinful Colors "Exotic Green" and "Pot O Gold" and Sally Hansen "Green With Envy".

Lacey Half Moon

I've never really gotten behind the "Half Moon Manicure" trend. It just never really appealed to me. However, since I've created this mani for a nail art contest half moons have started to intrigue me. Paint your nails black (I used Wet n Wild's "Ebony Hates Chris") and your accent nail white (Sally Hansen "White On"). Now the fun thing I did with the stamping is I used stamps traditionally used for french tips, I just placed them upside down and at the base instead of the free edge. Clever, I know. I stamped BundleMonster.com BM 217 in white (Milani's "White On The Spot") on the black nails and black (WnW "Ebony Hates Chris") on the accent. I do like how this turned out, but I do regret trying to fix the stamp on my middle finger. I should have just re-stamped it instead of adding the arch with a striper. Learn from my mistakes, friends.

And my finished product:

Plastic Marble With Stamping

Here is the Plastic Wrap Marble from the other day. I was trying to stretch it a couple more days by adding some gold stamping, but now the ends are getting chipped so its time to switch. That and I'm not sure the gold really added anything to it. Maybe I should have stamped in a dark green. Anyway it's Maybelline Color Show in "Bold Gold" and Salon Express SE 18. Time to come up with something else. I love green and St. Patrick's Day but I think I'm starting to crave pinks. No idea why, maybe its longing for spring. We got another 5 inches of snow yesterday and as much as I like winter, its time for spring now. I want my garden back already *sigh*.

Vintage Mint

This is one of the manicures I entered into a contest last year. The theme was Vintage/Retro. Now when I think of the word "Vintage" for some reason I think of kitchen appliances. Fridges that come in colors with names like "Harvest Gold" and "Avocado". Coffee makers from the 70's. Get what I'm saying? This is a mint green by Pure Ice called "Home Run" stamped with Wet n Wild "Ebony Hates Chris" using BundleMonster.com BM 209. The dots were made with a knitting needle using the colors "Hey Sailor" from China Glaze, "Lightening" by Sally Hansen InstaDri and the burnt orange was an acrylic craft paint that I don't remember the name of. If your curious the record is George Carlin "Class Clown".

Oh, I didn't mention it was a video contest? :)

Plastic Wrap Marble

Ok, I just learned this technique about 2 days ago, but WOW am I impressed with it! Very easy to get a marble like look. It definitely looks different from a water marble but still fun. Rather easy to do and quicker than I thought it would be as well.

See how easy after the jump...