Holiday Mani

OK...I'm on this huge Celebrate Sequins by Hard Candy trip right now. LOL I put it over Sally Hanson Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep and added some Kleancolor metallic green and Nailtini Bloody Mary for some holly berries...Tis the season for Holo Disco Ball Tips!

Work Mani

So I finally tried out my awestatical butter LONDON polish, Disco Biscuit. Of course I had to work, so how to preserve it? Add GLITTER!! So I coated the tips with Hard Candy Celebrate Sequins, and donned my awesomely fantasmic gloves I got from my ninja Santa.

Still being a lazy sad sack...Buuuut....

Ok so I've still been extremely lazy with my nails..but I got an Amazical and Awetastic surprise gift from two of the most wonderously fantasmic girls on MuT.
These girls surprised me with the Nails inc Ice cream and Sprinkles mini set, China Glaze in Frostbite, Butter London in Disco Biscuit(these girls know me too well, I've been dying to try BL, I'm the pink freak, and the name is just awetastical) and BL cuticle oil (OH EM GEE it smells sooooooooo yummy)...plus as if this wasn't enough, I got a pair of handmade fingerless gloves..now anyone who knows me knows i go bonkers for anything handmade and from the heart...so I'm very happy it finally chilled out here so I'm rocking these bad azz gloves on the daily!

So being that I got all this Lovely goodness it would be rude if I don't use it right?

The Goods:

 What I've painted with so far:

I love you girls!!

Oh, My!

I've been away too long...quite honestly just been lazy with my nails, LOL.

So I am vowing to do something with my nails this weekend and post. Hopefully...


And Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all!

Stripes

I've been on a major stripe kick lately, so I did some more play with my striping tape using Finger Paints Warhol Wannabe as the base color and going for texture on top with China Glaze Of Course! over it. I love the look of it with some texture, some smooth, so much fun!

15 Days into Recovery..

Ok, so I haven't been on in awhile to post...

15 Days into my Nail Tek II treatment, and taking Biotin, there isn't a whole heck of a lot of "visual" difference...but the "feel" of my nails is greatly improved. They are no longer peeling, and not as flexible...so no more looking down to see my nail tips pointed skyward.

I started painting again over the Nail Tek II...though I have noticed that it makes most of my polishes want to separate from my nail, and even my good polishes like Bondi New York don't last quite as long...but I never left one color on too long anyway so no biggie.

I do still have a problem with my cuticles, even with daily slatherings of creams and lotions and KUR oil.

Here's my latest mani:

I Used:

Bondi in Lady Liberty, some round black nail art studs, and two coats of Bondi I'm Vers.

The Road to Recovery...

My poor nails are feeling the effects of that blasted challenge. I normally have fairly short, peeling nails to begin with, but for the challenge I wore fakes..it had a good and a bad side. The good part is they protected the natural nail from a lot of remover and polishing and all the damage that goes along with that. The bad part is they are fakes and the nature of the beast is damage from that. So now the fakes are off, my nails are very very short now, still peeling, and thin. not a good look. So for the next couple of weeks (or more) I will be doing therapy on them. I've heard good things about Nail Tek II, so I got a bottle and will be using that along with KUR oil, and of course my normal obsession with lotions. So I will be chronicling any progress made with this course of treatment to see if there is any hope for good nails in my future.

Here's the damage (pre-filing and treatment):

Day 31 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 31: Nails I Love!

I decided to redo a challenge I loved and redid my Galaxies Mani.

Original:

 New Galaxy:

I Used:
NYC Bowery Black, Orly Sunglasses at Night, Sinful Colors Snow me White, Bondi Fool's, Hard Candy Bitty Blue, Julep Oscar, and Spolied Shaken Snow Globe.

Day 27, 28, 29, and 30 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Ok so I got a little behind in my posting here towards the end...so I will make one post for the last 4 manis.

Day 27: Artwork!
Inspired by Monet
Used: Bondi Blue Skies, The Limelight, Brick Road, Pure Ice French Kiss, Square Hue Valor, Essie Play Date and Loreal Crazy for Chic.
Sponged on all colors over Blue skies except the pink, purple and yellow, thise were dotted with a brush.

Day 28: A Flag
Inspired by Racing Flags
Used: Bondi The Limelight and Brick Road, Nailtini Bloody Mary, Sinfil Colors Snow me White, and Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out.

Day 29: Supernatural
Inspired by Greek Mythology...mainly Zeus
Used: Hard Candy Bitty Blue, Sinful Colors Snow me White, Bondi The Limelight and Brick Road, and my good 'ol trusty Sharpie pen.

Day 30: Tutorial
Inspired by a YoutTube.com Video on Splatter Painting
Used: Sinful Colors Snow me White, Bondi the Limelight and Brick Road, and Finger Paints Warhol Wannabe.

Day 26 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern!

I did Argyle print today.

I used:
Bondi Fool's, Essence Mr. Rusty, and a Sharpie pen.

I used striping tape to section off the diamonds after 2 coats of Fool's, then filled in with Mr. Rusty and removed the tape. Lastly I free Handed the black dotted lines.

Day 25 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 25: Inspired by Fashion!

OK, I'll admit it, I struggled with today's theme..I'm not very fashionable I guess.
Soooo....I decided to go with nail fashion and use it as an excuse to play with 3D and practice with my Fimo slices.

I used:
OPI A Like-Haley Story for the main color, Essence Party Princess for the tips.
Used nail glue to add on the fruit slices and hold the edges down.
Used an UNGODLY amount of Bondi I'm Vers and Sally Hanson Insta Dri Clearly Quick to seal it all up, and when I say ungodly, I mean it was like 5 coats of the Bondi and 3 or 4 of the SH.

Day 24 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 24: Inspired by a Book!
I chose to do Tick Tock by Dean Koontz. He is my ABSOLUTELY MOSTEST FAVORITEST! LOL

I Used:
Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out and Salon Perfect Sugar Cube.

Everything was done freehand with a small art brush.

Day 23 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 23: Inspired by a Movie!

Again, my son picked out my theme, so we have E.T. the extraterrestrial.

I used:
A dark grey with blue micro glitter I got at Icing..unfortunately it had no name on it.
I also used Salon Perfect Sugar Cube, Bondi Top of the Rock, Bondit Horny Mistress, and Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out.

Everything was done free hand with a small art brush.

Topped with Bondi I'm Vers.

Day 22 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 22: Inspired by a Song!

A big thank you and the credit to my son, Nicholas, for telling me "Mom, you HAVE to do Party Rock Anthem"

So Nick, This one's for you!

Party Rock Nails!

I used:

Thumb: Bondi the Limelight, OPI Still into Pink for the zebra stripes and Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out to do the little "everyday I'm shuffling" guy
Index: Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out and Salon Perfect Sugar Cube for the glasses
Middle: Bondi Fool;s and Sally Hanson Black Out for the little robot head guy from the video
Ring: Pure Ice Beware with OPI Still into Pink and Bondi the Limelight for the words(outlined with a Sharpie pen to make them POP)
Pinky: Salon Perfect Sugar Cube with Bondi the Limelight and OPI Still into Pink, woth Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear for the neon leopard print.

This was SO FUN!

Day 21 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 21: A Color...PINK!

I like today..Makes up for yesterday.
I'll let the PINKTASTIC goodness speak for itself here.

I used:
OPI Still into Pink, Essence Party Princess, and Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out.

Thumb and Pinky are the OPI and Essence, Index is the OPI and studs, Middle is bisected one side is OPI, the other is OPI with Essence, Black out and studs dividing, Ring is OPI with Black Out stripes, larger pink section has the Essence. All are topped with Bondi I'm Vers.

Day 20 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 20: Water Marbling!

This is my least favorite day...I hate Water Marbling...hate it with a passion...hate isn't a strong enough word...I despise it with a fiery passion so strong it could melt the world. This is my third attempt at it ever, and the only one that actually looks like it should...sorta..

I could lie and say the index is an accent...or say I was going for a true to nature marble effect...but I won't...I just suck at it and hate it and don't feel like putting in any more effort for it.

BTW: it hates me too...I knocked a bowl of residue water all over my couch,end table and living room floor...another reason I can't stand it...messy. More power to those of you who do it and like it and come up with those amazing ones, you can keep it!

I used:
Base coat of Bondi Lady Liberty
For the marble: Lady Liberty, Essie Naughty Nautical, Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out, Salon Perfect Sugar Cube.


Never again.

Day 19 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 19: Galaxy!

Today was my first go at a galaxy mani and I have no idea why I didn't do one sooner!

I used:
A base coat of an unnamed polish I got at Icing, it's a beautiful dark grey with blue sparkles
Sponged on Salon Perfect Sugar Cube, Pure Ice Busted and No means No
Dabbed on Julep Oscar, Pure Ice Beware, and Bondi Brick Road.
Topped off with 2 coats Bondi I'm Vers

Day 18 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 18: Half Moons!

Play on words for me today, the half moons are half "moons".

I used:

NYC Bowery Black
Salon Perfect Sugar Cube
Bondi Top of the Rock

I painted my nails with the black, used a small art brush to paint on the white, and while the white was still wet I used a slightly larger brush to dab in more white, and the grey to create little shadows and craters.

Not sure if I like the result, while I am Happy with my clever little idea, half the time I look at it I feel it looks like I just cant pain to save my life. LOL

Day 17 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 17: Glitter!

I went full out GLITTAH JUNKIE for today! Its was fun.

I used:

Two coats of Elmer's school glue(for easy removal..since we all know glitter is a major beach to remove)
one coat of Sally Hanson Insta Dri in Silver Sweep, and Martha Stewart craft glitter (just sprinkled on and pressed in as much as it would hold.

Day 16 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 16: Tribal!
OK, so I'm not feeling real creative right now and the only thing besides tattoos(which i dont have the skills to put on my nail) that came to mind for tribal was native american style woven rugs, LOL.

So here is the rug nails:

I used:

Bondi Strawberry Fields (1 coat), dabbed on a little Fools with a dry brush and kinda smeared it in, used Bondi Horny Mistress, Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out and more Fool's to draw on some rough lines and diamonds to make it look woven instead of painted.

Day 15 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 15: Delicate!

I decided to do a girlie little print for delicate.

I used:
Sation Of Corset I'll Call You
Zoya Jacquelin

I used a dotting tool to do the dots and a small art brush to freehand the stripes and ruffle edge.

Day 14 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 14: Flowers

I'm not really proud of or fond of this one. I decided to try out the 3D thing and use some FIMO slices. First of all let me say I do love the slices, they are too cute! I think I just was lacking in my ability to pull off what I had in my head. I'm going to try again on another mani with the fruit ones I got.. I'll do a little more creative research too. I think I went overboard on the middle finger, LOL.

I used:
Bondi Botanical Beauty (2 Coats) for the base
Did some viney stuff with Bondi The Limelight
and sponged on Salon Perfect Sugar Cube before adding the rhinestones and FIMO slices.

Again The slices are too cute and they were really cheap too, I got them on Ebay.com for $0.99 for a wheel of them, same amount as the packs at Sally's Beauty Supply for $7.

Day 13 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 13: Animal print!

Ok, Let me start by saying that as much as I love a good zebra or leopard print, I wanted to go off the beaten path today and decided to get a little more BOVINE in nature with my mani.

So without further delay..introducing the COW MANI!

I used:
Two coats of Salon Perfect Sugar Cube
One coat of Bondi Horny Mistress on the index finger
Used a small art brush to draw out the cow bell features with Bondi Horny Mistress and Brick Road
Used Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out and a dotting tool for the dots and the lettering "MOO!".

I am completely happy with this one, and for the first time this week I got a presentable Mani on the first go, double win!

Day 12 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 12: Stripes!

I just went all out FUNKY on this one. Had a lot of fun with it.

I used:

Bondi the Limelight(2 coats)

used scotch tape and Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out for the Stripes

Dotted on OPI Still into Pink( and used for the zig zag)

A coat of Bondi I'm Vers, and a coat of Sally Hanson Insta Dri Clearly Quick

popped on a few round silver studs prior to the 2nd top coat

I did have a first attempt on stripes..well more like a first 6 attempts...tons of gouges,smudges, dislikes combos...I didn't even bother taking pics of most of them. I did post one on Makeuptalk.com in the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2013 thread if you just HAVE to see that one.

Day 11 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 11: Dots

Dots, dots and more dots! I couldn't choose a mani.
First I used yesterday's gradient and added dots...but then I thought some might consider it cheating by recycling a mani, so despite my LOVING that one...I took it off and did another, but I didn't like it as much, so I went for round three and cheated and used round studs,lol.

So Here they are:

Mani #1
Orly Beach Cruiser and Sally Hanson Insta Dri Lightening Gradient, with Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out dots

Mani #2
Zoya Gie Gie, Orly Purple Crush, Essence Party Princess (Dotty Jelly Sandwich)

Mani #3
Bondi Horny Mistress and Gold Nail Studs
(this one didn't photograph for sh!z..but looks awetastic in person)

Day 10 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 10: Gradient

Usually I don't have issues with doing a gradient look, however my skills have ran away on this and I'm coming up with big flops.
So I decided to just settle with the third attempt because I really like the colors.
So here is my rough looking Gradient...

I used:
Orly Beach Cruiser and
Sally Hanson Insta Dri Lightening
I did my normal slightly moist makeup sponge blotting technique, but the sponges had it out for me and decided to stick to the polish...the picture her looks ok, looks like I used textured polish.
I guess it could be worse.
I think I will just go with it and maybe turn it into a base for tomorrow's dotted mani.



And in case you want to see the other much rougher flops:

 This one is: OPI Still into Pink, Essie Play Date, and Pure Ice French Kiss...this one was ok until I added topcoat then it decided to run up my nails.

This one was done over Bondi Top of the Rock with Bondi Blue Skies and Pure Ice French Kiss, the sponge stuck to this one too, and it only looked worse and well...just plain sloppy after topcoat.

Day 9 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 9: Rainbow

Today I wasn't really feeling too terribly creative..
Flat out lazy in that department really...
So I went literal with the challenge.
So here is my RAINBOW mani:

I used:
Bondi Blue Skies as the base,
Sponged on Salon Perfect Sugar Cube, added a little craft glitter for the cloud under the rainbow,
Drew stripes for the rainbow with a small tip brush using:
Nailtini Bloody Mary
OPI fresh Squeezed
Bondi Brick Road
Bondi The Limelight
Pure Ice French Kiss
Bondi Botanical Beauty

Day 8 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 8: Metallic!

Today is my Metal Works mani.
It was complicated and time consuming but it's one of my favorites so far.

I used:
OPI in Still Into Pink (nice bright matte pink) as the base
Sally Hanson Insta Dri in Silver Sweep and Bondi in Fool's as the gears and sheet metal
Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear in Black Out for the outlining and to roughen up the metal look.

This one took awhile to finish because I hand drew EVERYTHING, the gold took several coats to be opaque over the pink, outlined it all, used the fan brush and a little of the black polish to roughen up the look of the metal, and added silver studs as the rivets.
I didn't add any topcoat to this one because I was going for a rough look, and it took a lot of work to get the polish a little rough and bumpy like raw metal.

So time consuming, but I LOOOOVE this one, I think it's AWETASTICAL!

Day 7 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 7: Black and White!


Yes I know I'm Posting this on Day 6, but I will be busy tomorrow and unable to do them then...or blog for that matter.

Anywhozit...This is my Black and White mani.

I used:
Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear in Black Out
Salon Perfect in Sugar Cube
And a few randomly placed round silver nail studs.

Pretty straight forward mani, I used a dotting tool for the dots, a small brush to frame the white and fill in the black on the two accent fingers.

I did however fudge it up when i applied the Seche Vite topcoat, kinda smeared a few dots, but in person it's not so bad and since it's only going to be on a day and other more pressing matters (like an 11 year old boys B-day party) will be taking my time, I figured I'd just leave it...not to mention the head cold from you know where ( yes I'm keeping it PG) has me ready for bed...again....it stays tonight and tomorrow.

Day 6 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 6: Violet!

Today I borrowed a technique from one of my fellow MakeupTalk ladies. Very easy and fun.

Purple FANcy Nails

I used:

Two coats of Essie in Play Date for the base
One thin layer of Pure Ice in NO Means NO with a small fan brush ( I dipped the brush in the second color, wiped off a little excess on some paper towels, and lightly dragged the brush from the tip about 3/4 of the way up the nail)
Finished it off with some Seche Vite

Day 5 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 5: Blue!

Today is Blue Marble/ Blue Sky...I'm in love!!

I used:

One coat of Bondi in Blue Skies
used a pair of tweezers and small chunk of slightly damp makeup sponge to dab on Pure Ice in French Kiss and Salon Perfect in Sugar Cube
Smoothed it all out with a coat of Seche Vite.

Day 4 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 4: Green!

Today is Lizard Eyes!
I had a lot of fun with this one.

I Used:
Two coats of Bondi in The Limelight
One coat (in an oval) of Salon Perfect in Sugar Cube on the middle and ring fingers
One coat Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear in Black Out (smaller pointed oval)

Udes Sugar Cube again to add a little shine mark in the eyes.

Day 3 of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 3: Yellow!

This one was a Challenge to me as well...I'm not a huge fan of yellow nails on their own...but I guess that's why it's a challenge not a 31 day frolic in the park.

I used:

Bondi in Brick Road
Sally Hanson Insta-Dri in Lightening
and Gold Nail Art Studs


All nails were painted with the Bondi, I used scotch tape (after sticking to my hand a couple times so it wouldn't pull off the polish) after the polish was dry, to section my ring finger vertically and painted one side with the Insta-Dri. I used a little extra polish to adhere the studs, just three little dots down the center once I removed the tape.

Day 2 of the 31 Day challange/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 2: Orange!

This is my Marmalade Mani...Or an Orange Jelly Sandwich.

I used:
Two coats of OPI Fresh Squeezed
Two coats of Spoiled Shaken Snow Globe
One more thin coat of Fresh Squeezed.

Ta Da! My first ever Jelly Sandwich!

Day One of the 31 Day Challenge/ 30 Manis Marathon

Day 1: Red!

I don't own a ton of red polish, actually I only have a couple bottles for art purposes. So this one was a challenge...what to do besides plain red nails?

So...

Anime Red Nails!

I Used:

Two coats of Nailtini Bloody Mary

Lined the outside of the nail in Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out

Drew a little exclamation point for the shine mark with Salon Perfect Sugar Cube

And covered it all with NYC Matte Me Crazy topcoat.

A Revisit Of My Arts

Aqua Daisies (main color is OPI Alex by the Books)

Cherry Blossoms (main color is Loreal's Eiffel for You)

Pintastic Gradient ( Zoya Gie Gie and Forever 21's love and Beauty in Fuschia)

Metallic dotty ( main color Nails Inc. London in Stratford)

Violet tone on tone (Pure Ice No means NO with NYC Matte Me Crazy Topcoat)

OPI Gumdrops in My Cherry Amore

Lavender tone on tone (Essie Play Date and Pure Ice Busted) 

Coral and Gold (main color is Sinful Colors Thimbleberry)

Aqua and glitz ( Opi Alex by the Books, and Julep Oscar)

My Cheer Me Up Mani ( main color Sally Hanson Black Out)

4th of July

Hard Candy Gloriously Pink Mani ( Little Hottie and Celebrate sequins)

Neon Chevron Love ( main color Color Club Reign in Spain)

Girlie Ruffian/ Candy Box (Sally Hanson Black Out and Sation Of Corset I'll Call You)

Awetastical Pinkitude ( Orly Beach Cruiser and Hard Candy Black Tie Optional)

Watermelons ( Nailtini Bloody Mary, Sally Hanson Lickety Split Lime)

Kitteh Cuteness (main color Essie Naughty Nautical)

Sunny Pink ( Bondi Brick Road and Fuschia-istic)

Demure Dots ( Bondi Top of the Rock, and Botanical Beauty)

Neon Graffiti Pop (main color Bondi In the Limelight)

Just a few of the mani's I've done over the past couple of months.

 I'm not going to waste anyone's time listing every single polish in each one right now. I will be giving a detailed breakdown when I do the challenges, and any future mani's I post. For right now I just wanted to give anyone who doesn't know me from Makeuptalk.com a feel for what it is I do to my digits.