Koi Fish.

I almost named this post "Jelly Fish" for no other reason than it made me giggle. After my fail of a seahorse, I still wanted to try making an image go across all my nails. Other than a little mess up on the middle finger (it's a bit twisted) I really like it! I painted my nails white (when my bottles of white get low I pour them all into one bottle, so this is a mixture of Sally Hansen "White On", Wet n Wild "French White Creme" and Milani "White On The Spot") I then stamped with Cosmetic Arts "TGIF" using Messy Mansion plate MM29. I colored in the Koi using OPI "Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?" making sure to leave uncolored white patches. Then I filled in the water with a frankened blue jelly I made. I love this so much more than my seahorse from the other day!

And here is the Koi fish for comparison in-case you're not sure what a real one looks like.

Book of Kells

Well, I wanted to do a St. Patrick's Day mani without using green, and I think this qualifies! I was falling asleep a few nights ago trying to come up with a green-less mani and had a brilliant idea. The Book Of Kells! I could mimic the calligraphy and colors used in that famous illuminated manuscript. I fell asleep that night knowing I had solved my problem. The next morning I could not remember my idea to save my life. I knew I had thought I came up with an answer, I just couldn't remember what that answer was. Frustrating. It took me a couple days, but I did eventually remember it.

A note about the base color. I've been looking for a perfect "old parchment paper" color. Not a stark white, but a slightly yellowed, maybe almost creamy brown type of color. I have not been able to find what I was looking for anywhere. So I decided to make one. I didn't take progress shots because, honestly, I didn't expect it to turn out as well as it did! I took an empty bottle of top coat, poured in some Wet n Wild "French White Creme". I don't use it all that much since I discovered Cosmetic Arts "Picture Day" for stamping. I then added in a small amount of Sally Hansen "Lighting" and a couple of drops of Milani "Dark Coffee". The color was perfect! Exactly what I was looking for!

Image from Wikipedia.

I then sponged on just a little bit of Sinful Colors "Nirvana" in random areas to look like older, browning areas of the paper. Then came freehand time. Using a small detail paint brush I painted large decoative letters on the thumb (Essie "Fifth Avenue" ), index ("Lightning" again), and ring (Wet n Wild "Saved by the Blue"). Outlined the letter in Wet n Wild "Black Creme" and dotted around the edges. Middle and pinkie got random letters that I hope look like the calligraphy in the Book of Kells. I wish I had some Celtic knots to add around the edges, but over all I'm pleased. Turned out much better than I thought it would.

Sherlock

This week's challenge in my stamping group was to do a manicure based on a TV show you are watching. Now I usually do Doctor Who, but that show won't be back on till August. To be honest, the show I'm watching a lot of right now is Sherlock. The new episode will be airing next week and I'm super excited for it. Each nail is based on a different episode and I'll go through them one at a time.

First up is the index. "A Scandal In Belgravia" introduces us to Irene Adler, the Woman. I really think that this is the one woman that Sherlock could really fall in love with. I wanted to go with red and black, something seductive, for her. The base color is Essie "Fifth Avenue" and stamped with Wet n Wild "Black Creme" using MoYou Suki 07.

Next is the middle finger. "The Hounds of Baskerville" is a classic episode! I wanted to stamp a black wolf howling at the moon, but apparently I have NO wolf stamps at all. So my black wolf looks suspiciously like a fox. The base color is Milani "Mr. Sandman" stamped with "Black Creme" and MoYou Landscape/Mother Nature plate 03. Odd thing about this plate, it's from the Mother Nature Collection, but the name etched into it is Landscape. I think maybe that was the original name for it before they went with Mother Nature. Oh, and the eyes are dotted with "Fifth Avenue".

The ring finger is based on the episode "The Blind Banker". I painted it with "Black Creme" and stamped a couple times in Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" using BundleMonster BM206. I then freehanded the cipher over the top in Sally Hansen "Lightning".

Finally the pinkie. "A Study In Pink". The base color is Sinful Colors "24/7" and the skull is stamped in "Black Creme" using BundleMonster BM211. Very simple.

MoYou Madness!

So Excited!! The MoYou plates I ordered came in! Squee! Sorry, I need to get control of myself. I just love these plates so much. I just couldn't decide what image to play with first, so here I am rocking several at once. This hand is sporting MoYou Pro plate 06. I was afraid the images would be too big for my nails, and they are large, but as you can see that can be worked around.

A quick tour or what I did. Sorry for the poor quality of photos. I'm gonna eventually have to make a light box if I insist on taking pictures in my room at night. The thumb is sporting Milani "Mr. Sandman" stamped with Wet n Wild "Black Creme". This one and the index are my favorite of this hand. There is something simple and elegant about the light netural brown and crisp black lines that is so appealing.

The index also turned out super pretty. China Glaze "Tree Hugger" stamped with "Black Creme". Actually all the fingers except for the pinky were stamped with Wet n Wild "Black Creme". I want to do a mani of this image with all different colors. It reminds me of lava lamps, or amoebas. Something bubbly or science-y. The middle finger is rocking Wet n Wild "French White Creme". This stamp reminds me of the BundleMonster stamp I use all the time and love.

The ring finger is Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" and I really need to get the hang of larger stamper decals because I really have plans for this stamp. I'm thinking stained glass windows. The pinky is Milani "Mr. Sandman" again but this time it's stamped with Milani "Dark Coffee". This stamp screams henna patterns to me. I want to stamp this one so it overlaps my skin. Have the pattern on the skin and it drifts onto the nail.

And there is the full hand again. I want to keep playing but it's getting late and I still haven't come up with a Thanksgiving mani yet. 

Dalek Nails ~ Doctor Who 50th Anniversary

I am so excited for Doctor Who's 50th anniversary celebrations! Nov 23rd the BBC will be airing a special episode for the 50th, and while I'm still trying to pin down some tickets to the 3D showings in theaters, I will be buying the episode the second its available on iTunes! Until then I'm watching trailers for it on YouTube, avoiding spoilers on Facebook, and painting my nails. Here is what I've done so far:

DALEK Nails!! This makes me giggle so much. I considered using studs for them, but I like the dotted better. The base color is Milani "Dark Coffee" and the stripe and dots were added in Maybelline "Bold Gold" using a dotting tool. Very simple to freehand. For those of you that don't know what a Dalek is, here is a photo that I think is from the episode "Parting of the Ways" but I could be mistaken about that.

So much fun! I'm really gonna have a blast coming up with Doctor Who nails. If you don't like the show you might wanna avoid me for a bit, I've been babbling like a fangirl about it for a month :D

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Three ~ Inspired by a Movie

By now you know I'm a Sci Fi Geek. When told to pick a movie, it usually comes from that genre. One of my favorite tv shows was "Firefly". When it was cancelled after just one season (damn you FOX!) the creators (yay for Joss Whedon!) made the movie "Serenity" to wrap up loose storylines. If you're not familiar with the movie, it's amazing and you should check it out from your local library. Now. It's ok, I'll wait.

Anyway, the movie is set in a very Sci Fi/Western like universe. The name of the ship the crew lives on is called Serenity. It's very gritty but the way the crew has banded together to be a family...I love it.

Back to the nails, I started with a base coat of Orly "Liquid Vinyl" and wanted a bit of a galaxy mani, but I knew I was gonna stamp and freehand over it so it had to be subtle. I sponged a little Wet n Wild "Teal or No Teal" and Sally Hansen "Chop Chop Copper" in nebulas. I then stamped over it with Claire's no name white stamping polish. I usually use Milani "White On The Spot" but the cap is stuck on it and I eventually gave up trying to open it today. In the future this universe is set in, the USA and China are the 2 superpowers of the world and their cultures have kinda combined. So on the index I used BundleMonster BM207 leaf image. As Wash (the pilot) says in the movie "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar." On the ring and thumb I stamped BM221. I'd like to say that I knew all along that that was the symbol for luck, but I have to admit, I just googled it right now. So happy that that worked out for the movie too! The pinky is just a fun little image from BM208.

On the middle finger I attempted to freehand the title of the movie and the image that is painted on the side of their spaceship. I actually really like how it turned out! I used a pencil eraser to make a circle of white so that Wet n Wild "Saved By The Blue" would stand out better. Then used a fine dotting tool I wrote the name. Kinda. I was just gonna do some squiggly dots that could be words when viewed from a distance, but instead tried to make it look like the word Serenity a little bit. I started in the middle of the circle with the letter E but left out the crossbar in the middle of the letter. After simplifying the letters NIT and dropping the Y all together, I went back and did the R E and S. I am so happy at how it turned out and I don't usually like my freehand manicures.

These "Inspired By" Challenges are hard, but I'm loving it. I have no idea what I'm gonna do for tomorrow "Inspired By A Book" yet. I hope I come up with something soon.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-One ~ Inspired by a Color

Wow, this one was hard. I tried 4 different practice nails and 2 actual manicures. First, what does "Inspired by a Color" mean? We already did the spectrum the first week of the challenge, what color is left? I thought it might be a particular color, like robin egg blue or something. Looking up manicures people have done in the past for this challenge, it seems the consensus is to take the name of a polish and make a manicure inspired by that. Ok, that makes sense. I had just bought Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" and thought it would be cool if I could make a Radioactive symbol on each nail. I figured I could freehand the symbol on some plastic and peel it off and place on the nail like a decal.

I used a pencil eraser to get the circles

I used a dotting tool to draw the symbol

As a reminder, this is what the Radioactive warning sign is supposed to look like:

As I review the pictures looking for a good one to post, I guess they didn't turn out too bad. Not my best work, but not as bad as I thought when I was doing it.

Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" and Orly "Liquid Vinyl"

I also attempted mani's for Sally Hansen "Lightening", Sinful Colors "Cotton Candy", and Milani "Wild Violet". With Violet I tried the one stroke technique. I'm gonna get more practice before trying that one again, it was a disaster.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty ~ Water Marble

This prompt made me giggle. I love Water Marbles! They are what got me into nail art in the first place and will always hold a soft spot in my heart. But where to start? With all the colors under the sun at my disposal, what to do? I really thought about my go-to color, green, but my last marble was green. As I sat at my desk my eye caught on a bag of polishes I just bought. 2 of my new colors, Milani "Wild Violet" and Sinful Colors "Tokyo Pearl", really reminded me of that very first water marble. I decided that if I was gonna redo that first mani, something had to be different. I'm still perfecting swirls instead of the classic petal style marble. I still have work to do there, but otherwise it turned out pretty neat. I did a base coat of "Tokyo Pearl" on all the nails, but Pearl didn't want to marble, so for the actual marble I used China Glaze "Ice Cap".

My original water marble, 2 or 3 years ago, my first nail art ever:

This is the traditional petal style marble using Cover Girl Nailslicks "Silver Belle" and Sally Hansen "Purple Potion". And this ends the Pattern section of the Challenge. Tomorrow starts the Inspired By portion. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with that :D

31 Day Challenge: Day Nineteen ~ Galaxies

I love galaxy manis! So forgiving and spectacular! I have never decided which I like better tho, glitter for stars or dotting tool. So I decided that for all the colors in the nebulas I was gonna use shimmer polishes. Hopefully I wouldn't need to add stars that way. So I started off with a base color of Orly "Liquid Vinyl". Then I sponged Milani "Wild Violet" in random parts of the nails. On top of that went Wet n Wild "Teal or No Teal". I don't have a shimmery yellow, and I really thought the nebulas needed a lighter color, so I used Sally Hansen "Lightening" sparingly. On top of that is Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" and "Chop Chop Copper" I always love galaxy manis. I wonder if I should stamp something over it, or add stars, but for now I'm just loving it as is.

...And All Night

After my Sunrise mani on my left hand, I decided a moon manicure on the other hand. Moonrise wouldn't look as cool as sunrise, but how about the phases of the moon? I put down a base of Orly "Liquid Vinyl" and using the hole from a piece of notebook paper I painted in Milani "White On The Spot" the moons. Full Moon on the middle with gibbous waxing/waning on ring and index and crescents on thumb and pinky. A holo glittery coat of Out The Door fast dry top coat in "Northern Lights" adds stars and matches with the glitter of the left hand.

Pink and Purple Daisy Gradient

I haven't done many vertical gradients before. I usually like doing the top and bottom half of the nails in different colors. This was an attempt to do the left and right sides in different colors. I really like where the 2 colors joined. I did it so long ago I don't remember exactly how I got such a smooth gradient, but it turned out well. The 2 colors are Sinful Colors "Cotton Candy" and "Tempest", I think. It was months ago that I did this. I stamped with BundleMonster BM224 in Milani "White on the Spot". I then used the pink to dot the center of the flowers on the purple side and purple to dot the center of the flowers on the pink side. I really do like how it turned out. I might just do more vertical gradients soon.

Happy 4th of July!

This is a mani I did for Memorial day last year, but I like it so much I thought I'd share it for 4th of July. China Glaze "Hey Sailor" and Wet n Wild "Saved by the Blue". I don't remember what white I stamped it with. I don't think it was Milani like I do now. Maybe I tried Sally Hansen "White On". It's not as good for stamping as Milani "White on the Spot". I used BundleMonster BM201 and BM220.

4th of July's Simple Stamping

A very simple stamping. The red is Bath and Body Works "Candy Apple Cream" with Sally Hansen "White On" undies. The blue is Wet n Wild "Saved by the Blue" and the stamped images are Milani "White on the Spot" using BundleMonster BM319 for the stripes and BM220 for the stars. I think if I do this again I'll do the pinky and ring in the blue and middle, index and thumb in red. It just looks backwards to me right now.

It's My Birthday!!

Yes, today is actually my birthday. I've had a bad week, so I decided to paint my nails to cheer me up. This is my first real attempt at a birthday nail manicure. Last year I attempted it, but it was so horrid I don't even think I took a pic of it. This year I'm much happier with it. After the jump I'll explain each nail separately.

Paisley Stamping Decal

Co-worker pointed out a card at work and told me I should paint my nails like that. I'll try and get a picture of it (Google isn't being helpful right now) but it was a pink and green paisley card. I decided to try a technique I read about a month or so ago called stamper decals. I'll write up a post about that soon, but here is my first serious attempt at stamper decals. Looks good, but next time I'll be more careful about getting it to lay flat, it wrinkled a little when I put it on. Base color is Sally Hansen "Straw-Ready" ( I really love this color for summer) and stamped with BundleMonster BM315 in Milani "White on the Spot". I then filled in the stamp with Sally Hansen "In Record Lime" and Sinful Colors "Hazard" a coral-y orange that unfortunately just looks like more of the base color. Other than a few mistakes, I really like this and might do the decal on ALL my fingers instead of just an accent, but the decals take a lot of time to make.

Love Letters

And a second take on my purple milky glitter franken. I'm really working on my layered stamping, but just don't quite have the hang of it yet. I stamped BundleMonster BM311 in Sally Hansen "Grape Race". On the accented ring finger I stamped again in BundleMonster BM323 (isolating one of the roses) in Milani "White On The Spot". I like it, but its still missing something. Maybe if I stamped in a super pale purple instead of white....I dunno. Still working on it.

Lace Ribbons

Here is the milky glitter I made yesterday. Of all my frankens, this is my fav so far. I really need to make more milky glitters! Stamped with BundleMonster BM321 in Milani "White on the Spot". Very easy, light and girly. Sorry for the short post, I'm having some real internet problems and I'm trying to get a few posts done fast before I lose net again.

Nail Polish Lexicon ~ Jelly Sandwich

For quite a while I was stumped by the term "jelly" and "jelly sandwich". I kept getting it confused with Gel nail polishes and tips. The main trait of a jelly is it is very translucent with a weak or watery color. To make it opaque would take a crazy amount of coats if you could get it opaque at all. I used to hate the few jelly bottles I had thinking they were lame polishes and the color too weak to do anything with. I've since apologized to them :) Now that I'm using them correctly I think of the colors and squishy (no idea why) or like Jolly Ranchers or some other hard candy.

The most popular use of jelly polishes are layering them with other polishes, usually glitter. Layering them is what is known as a jelly sandwich. This gives depth and dimension to a manicure. Check out a few samples after the jump.

Memorial Day 2013

Memorial Day this year was a little dreary and wet, but we still had a good turn out at our local cemetary where my family does a little history presentation. For fun I did index and ring in Wet n Wild "Saved by the Blue" and thumb, middle, and pinky in China Glaze "Hey Sailor". Dotted on the blue and stamped on the red in Milani "White on the Spot". The stamp is BundleMonster BM221. Just something slapped together the night before, but still fun.

And again, trying to use my webcam for photos. Still haven't gotten the hang of it yet. Sitting in the library where the internet is hundreds of times better than at home.

Coral and Gem Net

For the last day of my Chicago vacation I wanted to do some real nail art. Something fancy. So I have on index, middle and pinky Sally Hansen "Straw-Ready" stamped with Milani "White on the Spot" and BundleMonster BM315. The ring and thumb are "White on the Spot" with 3 plastic rhinestones each. This marks only the second time I've worn stones and I have to say, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to them. By the  third day of wearing them I was itching to pick them off. They drive me nuts and just feel weird. Maybe they won't bug someone who is used to tips or acrylics or something, but I've never had much more than polish on my nails and they feel weird.

Oh, and to show that I tried to make posts on my vacation here is a shot I took in the hotel with my webcam. I think you can see why I waited till I got home to download the pictures from my camera.