Halloween 2021 Black to White Spiderwebs

I'm loving this simple gradient. Sally Hansen's black fades into a cool Orly grey and into Pueen's stamping white. I wanted the spiderwebs (a MoYou stamping plate) to fade into the white at the tips so I used the same stamping white to stamp the webs. It kind of worked. You can still see the webs at the tips so they didn't fade completely away. This is all so a rare shot of my right (or Cindy) hand. The left one got some weird wrinkling and bubbling going on in the top coat. I think I globed it on too thick because I was worried about smearing the stamping and it just dried weird because of it. But in my defense I was running late for work.

Hand made and painted mask, hand made hat, hand done make up and polish...I am loving this!

Halloween Spiderwebs 2014

This isn't the best mani I've done, but it's been 2 months since I've posted anything on this blog. This was my Halloween mani. A fit of depression has kept me from doing much nail art, but I'm starting to get interested in it again. This is Hot Topic's no name purple, Essie "5th Avenue", Sinful Colors "Clementine" and Orly "Black Vinyl". I stamped with Cosmetic Arts "TGIF" and MoYou Pro XL 05. I used a different sponge for the gradient than the usual cosmetic wedge and I'm really happy with the smoothness of the transition. It came with a Halloween make up set and I'm gonna try and find more like it. Maybe I'll do a comparison post on different sponges for gradients. I was running late for work so it's not my best cleanup. My topcoat is getting thick as well. Time go thin it and get more before I run out :D

Ingress ~ Enlightened

I've mentioned it before on my other blog, but I'm a big girl. I don't mean grown up, I mean I got more than a little meat on my bones. As such I've been keen this year to loose some (or alot) of weight. I took up jogging which, on its own is fine, but I just discovered a video game that ties very nicely into my wanting to get up and work out. It's called Ingress and it is a world wide, GPS based, capture the flag type game. You capture points (called portals) for your team. The catch is these portals are actual sculptures, interesting buildings, or works of art in your town. You have to physically go to these locations. This game gave me the excuse I was looking for to go for a long walk or jog. You can procrastinate when you're just listening to music and walking, but when you get a notification that the portal you captured yesterday is under attack today? You grab your shoes and try and get it back now! Its way more fun and addictive than you would think it would.

Anyway, there are 2 teams and I play for the green team (my fav color) called the Enlightened. The blue team is the Resistance. The idea behind the game is a new energy is leaking into our world called Exotic Matter (XM for short). The Enlightened want to study it and see if it can be harnessed for good. The Resistance believe no good will come of it and it was sent to control human minds. The theory is XM has been leaking for a long time and has shaped mankind's will for generations. It even has affected our minds and made us shape our art in a manner that will allow it to leak thru faster (hence portals are usually art sculptures. We unknowingly made them into patterns that will allow XM to come thru).

To do these nails, first I painted them all black using Orly "Black Vinyl". Then using a striper brush I painted white lines and free handed the enlightened symbol using Cosmetic Arts "Picture Day". I used the water color technique to make the foggy field areas (when you connect 3 portals in a triangle it makes a field between them and gives you lots of experience points.)

Then I painted over all of it with Sinful Colors "Irish Green" a bright green jelly. I hoped you wouldn't see the green over the black, but it did show up somewhat. Next time I'll have to be more careful with the jelly.

Some XM just floats around, that's the white dots I added after the green jelly. I am adoring this mani even tho very few people will understand it. If you get a chance, check out the game. And join the Enlightened! :)

Check out this great commercial for it! *Note: I am not paid for this. I wish I was, Google has deep pockets. I just really enjoy the game and like to talk about it.*

*Technical Difficulties* apparently I can't access YouTube on the mall's WiFi. I'll try and add the vid later.

Draven

I was gonna do Doctor Who nails for the beginning of the new season, but this past week I lost one of my beloved cats. So he gets nails this week instead. Orly "Mirror, Mirror", Cosmetic Arts "Picture Day", Sally Hansen "Presto Pewter". The stamps are BundleMonster BM412 and MoYou Mother Nature Collection 02. I painted my nails the light grey, stamped the white wings (removed the body of the bird before stamping the wings) and then stamped the grey cat over them (removing the 2 paw prints from the stamp first as well).

Draven helping me take pictures from my Nabi post.

RIP Draven

Sherlock Wallpaper

The season finale just aired last night for Sherlock season 3 and wow! I really enjoyed it. Shame there is only 3 episodes a season. So here is my new Sherlock inspired nails. Not the best job, but fun none the less. Orly "Mirror Mirror" as the base with Cosmetic Arts "TGIF" as the stamp. I used Color Workshop's stamping plate. It was tricky, Color Workshop's stamps are narrow so I had to double stamp many of my fingers to get full coverage. I freehanded the smiley face in Sally Hansen "Lighting".

Oh, and for those that don't know, here is a pic of the wallpaper in question. In one episode Sherlock paints the face on the wall and shoots at it because he's bored.

Gradient Icicles

Snow is moving into the area again. It probably won't be as bad as it was on New Year's but it is coming. Here I wanted my nails to look like icicles and I'm not sure I got the image across all that well. It's Orly "Mirror Mirror" and Sally Hansen "Blue Me Away" in a gradient. I wanted the blue just at the tips. I then stamped in Claire's unnamed white stamping polish using BundleMonster BM319. Not exactly the look I was going for, but it worked out ok. I've been on a bit of a gradient kick lately and having fun with it :D

Cybermen Nails ~ Doctor Who 50th Anniversary

I think I found the cure to my writer's block. Instead of doing nails I think I should be doing because that's what you're supposed to do, I'm gonna do what I want to do. I was gonna do all kinds of fall/autumn/Thanksgiving nails, but that's not really me. What I want to do is Doctor Who nails. So I'm gonna. Here is my attempt at Cybermen. I did a coat of Orly "Mirror, Mirror" but it wasn't really the color I was looking for so I went over it again with Pure Ice "Silver Mercedes". I then freehanded Cybermen faces with a dotting tool in Wet n Wild "Black Creme". I don't care if no one realizes what they are, it made me giggle to paint them. Here is a Cyberman reference picture.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Seven ~ Inspired by Artwork

If only one good thing comes out of this challenge, it has to be that I'm less afraid of freehanding now and more willing to practice it. I simply ADORE how this turned out and is one of my best works ever. Not just of freehanding, but of all my nail art ever! *giddy happy dance*

Ahem. Sorry.

I have a few favorite paintings and most of them are by Van Gogh. I don't know why I like him, I just do. Of all of them Starry Night is my number one favorite.

Ok, how did I do this. First off I started with a gradient on all fingers of Wet n Wild "Saved By The Blue" Orly "Blue Collar" and "Saved By The Blue" again. Next I cut down an old paintbrush to a smaller size and painted the tower in Orly "Liquid Vinyl", but I should have done the wind first before the tower. For the wind I used Wet n Wild "French White Creme" and dry brushed on the wind in a stippling motion. To dull it out (the white was a bit stark) I dry brush stippled some "Saved By The Blue" in the center of the wind line. "French White Creme" was also dry brushed in tiny circles all over for the stars with a center of Sally Hansen "Lightning". Simple techniques but it was the brush that helped out so much. Proper tools make things so much easier.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Five ~ Inspired by Fashion

I have never done a fashion manicure before even though they are rather popular in the nail art world. I had no idea where to even find the dress to mimic. So I went to my ever trusty Google Image search. I just typed in "Red Carpet Dresses" and this neat gown popped up.

Apparently she is Kelly Rowland at the 2013 Grammy Awards in a Georges Chakra Couture gown. I really don't know much about any of that, but that is what it said on Google. I'm not sure I really captured the dress all that well, but it was the first time I have ever done this. I freehanded a simple french tip on all my nails but for the accent using Color Workshop french pink and white. I taped off the stripes with striping tape on my accent then used Orly "Liquid Vinyl" over the tape. Peel it off and you have the open mesh areas of the dress. Again I'm not sure I used enough tape to get the idea across, but I like it. Simple and elegant.

31 Day Challenge: Day Twenty-Four ~ Inspired by a Book

Ann McCaffrey. I grew up on her books. She is one of the reasons I became a voracious reader. While this is book 2 of the Harper Hall Trilogy, its also my favorite of all her books. I'm showing you the book before my nails, because they didn't turn out all that well. In the world of Pern there are Dragons and Fire Lizards which are a form of tiny pet-like dragon. Both species come in 5 colors for breeding reasons. Gold, Bronze, Brown, Green, and Blue. Well, here are my nails. Another freehanded attempt.

In my defense they don't look as bad at a distance. Blowing it up in a picture makes the mistakes bigger too. Anyway, the thumb is my gold dragon in Pure Ice "Excuse Me". Index is my bronze dragon but I don't have a bronze polish so I used Maybelline "Bold Gold" and Sally Hansen "Chop Chop Copper" to dull it. Middle is brown dragon in Sinful Colors "Nirvana". The ring is a China Glaze "Tree Hugger" green dragon. Finally the little blue dragon on the pinky is China Glaze "Blue Sparrow". The eyes on the dragons whirl different colors depending on their mood but I stuck with Orly "Blue Collar" on all of them. The outline was done with Orly "Liquid Vinyl". I love the position of the dragon on the thumb and pinky. I even kinda like the close up of the head on the ring. Index and middle I would prolly have redone. Sorry this post is late today, I really had no idea what I was gonna do right up until I did it.

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-Two ~ Inspired by a Song

My favorite band ever is Blackmore's Night. I simply adore them. It's very Medieval/Renaissance meets Rock n Roll. Any bad that can combine electric guitars and bagpipes has my vote! This last week a lot of mani's have been popping up with an awesome smoke effect that I wanted to try. So I chose the song "Fires at Midnight". A base coat of Orly "Liquid Vinyl" with Wet n Wild "French White Creme" dabbed over the top with the watercolor technique to look like smoke. The fire on the index is Sally Hansen "Lightening", a no name orange, and Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" sponged to look like flames. Then just a very small amount of Sally Hansen "Cha-Ching" a red glitter and "Chop Chop Copper" a bronze-y copper glitter. I wanted the glitter to look like embers flying into the air.

"On the hills the fires burned at midnight,

Superstition plagued the air,

Sparks fly as the fires burn at midnight,

Stars are out and magic is here,

The stars are out and magic is here..."

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 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.

31 Day Challenge: Day Fourteen ~ Flowers

Picture found on Google Images. No idea who photographed it
but it wasn't me.

The Stargazer Lily is one of my fav flowers, but was rather tricky to replicate in a manicure. My original idea was to do a background color of some pastel and free hand the lily in the corner of each nail. Freehand has not been kind to me lately, however. I almost had to scrap the whole idea when I stumbled across one of my BundleMonster plates, BM314. Hang on, is that a lily? Woot! But wait, there is a whole bunch of stuff on this image. I just want the lily to be in the corner. How can I isolate the flower and color it in to look like a Stargazer Lily? The answer was stamper decals. Now I'm still perfecting the art of stamper decals. Some decals get this hard edge that sticks up, or don't want to lay right on the nail. It was a bit of a risk, but that's what a challenge is for. So I stamp the image, scrape away the parts of the image I don't want and color in what's left.

When making a stamper decal you kinda need to think about it from the top down. The topmost layer when you put it on your nail will be the bottommost layer when you paint it. So first is the outline provided by the stamp in Wet n Wild "Black Creme" and a layer of topcoat to protect it while you color it in. The next is the spots I added with a dotting tool using Sinful Colors "Energetic Red" and the paler pink strip in the center of each petal in Sinful Colors "Cotton Candy".

Last is Wet n Wild "French White Creme" to fill in the flower and a final coat of topcoat to strengthen the decal. Let it dry a bit and place it on your nail. Topcoat it in place. I did one and took pictures incase I messed up the other 3. Good thing I did because the first one turned out so wonderfully and the next 3, not so much.

AMAZING! I love, love, LOVE this! Oh, and a quick note about the background color. I was gonna slap on just some random pastel, but last week I read about a technique I'd never tried before called watercoloring nail polish. I'll write more about it later, but basically what I did was paint my nails with Sinful Colors "Unicorn" a pastel yellow, then put a teeny, tiny drop of Orly "Blue Collar" and Sally Hansen "In Record Lime" on one nail and with a large paintbrush (not huge, but bigger than you usually use for nail art) dab acetone over it to dilute it and make it run over the nail. When it dries it makes these subtle water rings of color. I adore how it turned out.

But then I got carried away and made a decal for all my fingers. I should have stopped when I was ahead. The next 3 didn't turn out as well and the combination of all the decals made it look too busy. You also lose the look of the watercolor below all the decals. Also the air bubble problem I've been fighting decided to show up again. No idea why, I'm not using any of the same polishes or topcoat that I did for my temporary tattoo manicure.