Swan Song

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's the last round of this month's 'Animal' challenge from the Nail Challenge Collaborative!  I decided to base this nail art on some Swan charms I found online and just loved, and I found the perfect glitter to go with them.

The Nightmare Before Christmas - Jack and Sally

Hello, Fireflies!

For my last NCC Stripes challenge of the month, I wanted to incorporate stripes and one of the most popular Halloween traditions - watching The Nightmare Before Christmas.

This mani was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest, but I cheated and used a 3-D charm for Jack's face.

I painted all but my middle finger with Revlon Spirit, and then used a black striper to freehand the black stripes.  The middle finger was painted with Milani Black Swift, and then the charm was applied.

Bottle shot:  Revlon Spirit, Milani Black Swift, and a black striper.

What's Jack without his girl?

 This was inspired by a mani done by The Nailasaurus, but it reminded me of Sally.

I started off with a white base to make sure that the colors were bright.  Then, I used striping tape to mark off the different sections.  Even thought it would be nice to paint one color at a time, it dries too quickly for that - and dry polish gets pulled off with the striping tape.  So, do one nail at a time.  I painted over the white lines with black polish and made the stitches, too.

Bottle shot:  Revlon Spirit, Nails Inc Bond St., Wet 'n Wild Pleasure Pier, Urban Decay Bang, Finger Paints Go Van Gogh!, and a black striper.

Wouldn't it be neat to have one hand done like Jack, and the other like Sally?

GOT Some Ruffly Yellows

Hello, Fireflies!

You know you're a polish hoarder when...

...there is a yellow challenge, and, even though you rarely wear yellow polish, you still have to narrow down what you want, and even so, still have 4 to use for the challenge.  Sigh.

The first yellow is your typical horrible yellow formula - streaky, patchy, sheer.  I suppose I keep Ulta Cream Of The Crop because it does remind me of fresh white corn.

I hear that this next yellow's formula is changing or that it's being discontinued? Too bad, because Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow is actually a great little sunshine yellow.  I applied it here with a dotting tool to get that ruffly effect.

I am making a real mess with this mani!

Bondi Brick Road is a goldenrod yellow.  I don't know if you can get Bondi anymore.  There was some drama about this subscription service, and I know the money I had invested into the subscription for future boxes was returned to me.  Plenty of other yellows to be found.

This ruffled mani is rounded out with Nails inc Hampstead Road, a 'trend shade'.  I suspect that 'trend' here means 'so ugly it's kinda cute' in the way that 'cozy' means 'small' in Real Estate ads.  I can't imagine ever wanting to paint my nails mustard yellow, but I kinda like it as the finishing color in this ruffle.

For someone who isn't that big into yellow polishes (except for Superhero nail art, lol) I actually really liked this!

Bottle shot:  Ulta Cream Of The Crop, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, Bondi Brick Road, and Nails inc Hampstead Road.

Have you tried a color of makeup or polish that you thought you'd hate, but ended up liking it on you?

An InLinkz Link-up

Technicolor-Texture-TRI-Polish Abstract

Hello, Fireflies!

I was doing the Challenge Your Nail Art monthly challenge last week, and ignored my Crumpet Nail Tarts challenges! 30 lashes with a wet noodle for me!

But, I'm back, with a funky mani inspired by Finger Food's technicolor abstract nail art.

I started with Nails Inc Green Park, a dusty greyed-green.  It's not as far as Army green, but it's not a clear garden green.  These greyed-out colors are some of my very favorite polishes.  So sophisticated!

For the purple and red, I go crazy for the textures! I love the ones with some sparkle to them, and Sinful Colors Purple Gleam has a nice, soft shimmer.

Sally Hansen Sugar Shimmer Cinny Sweet brings even more sparkle, and it's thick enough to draw dots and lines and be opaque.  This is so fun.. but I knew I couldn't leave it all bumpy. I'd be too distracted by all the different levels of polish.

It's not as unique all topcoated, but it's still pretty. And, there's still some sparkle!

Bottle shot: Nails Inc Green Park, Sinful Colors Purple Gleam, and Sally Hansen Sugar Shimmer Cinny Sweet.

I really like the versatility of textures, though I know not everyone likes them.  With a bit of topcoat, they look like sparkly glitters or shimmer polishes, so I know I'll use them for years to come, even when the trend is done.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday Stamping - Flowers Over Flakies

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Stamping Sunday challenge is to stamp over a green.  Well, I thought I was doing that, but in the photographs, it looks a little blue, doesn't it? This is Nails Inc. Queen Victoria Street, a lovely spring GREEN creme.

I love adding a little green flakie to a green party! Nails Inc. The Wyndham adds a touch of green sparkle.

Flowers seemed a natural theme for a green base, so I used Revlon Spirit and Dashika plate Big SdP-L to make this daisy pattern.

Sometimes, simple is best! Even with a simple stamp, I can't get it perfect.  Ah, well.  Only you guys are looking that closely.  Macro pictures show every mistake!

What's with this picture and the blue bottle? So weird.

 Bottle shot:  Nails Inc. Queen Victoria Street and The Wyndham, and Revlon Spirit.

Reminds me of a field of daisies! What would you stamp over green?

Sunday Stamping - The Guilty Pleasure of Excess

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's stamping challenge is Guilty Pleasure.  Oh, I have so many.  I love crappy reality TV like Teen Mom and Real World, I love peanut-butter-filled pretzels and going to Big Lots for bags of Bridge Mix.  I love makeup and nail polish.. lots and lots of nail polish, and lots of different kinds.

I kinda even like crackles, which would definitely be a guilty pleasure! One trend I am whole-heartedly embracing right now is the textured polish. 

But, even a textured polish can be taken too far.  Witness Nails Inc Beaded Polish Covent Garden:

It's like blue, sparkly cottage cheese...

It took 2 layers of Gelous and 2 layers of Seche Vite to make it smooth enough to stamp on.

This stamp, from MJ III, just says, "excess" to me.  And, and, AND, and, and, and, and...

I stamped with Milani White On The Spot. 

Bottle shot:  Nails Inc Beaded Polish Covent Garden, Milani White On The Spot, and Gelous.

Too much of anything isn't a good thing, right?  Then, why does it sometimes just feel so good? lol! What's your guilty pleasure?

#WeekOfLoveChallenge - Candy Heart Sayings

Hello, Fireflies!

Welcome to the Week of Loooove Challenge!  It's time to get all pink and sappy with hearts and flowers and crap because this week is all about the mush.

Ok, it's really about the nail art.  Actually, it's all about the after Valentines' Day sales when candy is cheap and plentiful! But, we must entertain ourselves until then.

In the meantime, check out this glitter - one of the first I remember coming on the scene after Indies exploded with colored milky bases swimming with glitter - Nails Inc Topping Lane.  Doesn't it just look like candy?

That candy quality is why I chose it, because today's challenge is about being inspired by those ubiquitous candy hearts that taste like sugar on steroids.

In order to have the hearts pop out of the background, I first did an outline of the hearts with a white striper.

I chose pastel scattered holos for the hearts themselves:  Aly's Dream Polish in Bayouberry and Rumpleberry, and Treasures by Tan in Midorita and Amazon Dreams.

In a purple nail art pen, I wrote what I imagined these hearts might say now, in as few letters as possible because I have nubbins!

Topcoat, and done! Very sugary-sweet! Don't eat the polish..

Bottle shot:  Nails Inc Topping Lane, Aly's Dream Polish in Bayouberry and Rumpleberry, and Treasures by Tan in Midorita and Amazon Dreams, white striper and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Purple.

Are you looking forward to any special Valentines' Day candy?

Stay tuned - at 9am Eastern, my #NailArtForNubs post goes live!

Dotty Art Deco

Hello, Fireflies!

I reached into the way-back depths of my Pinterest page to find this nail art that I've always meant to do.  Unfortunately, I was duped again and sent to an advertisers page when I clicked on the link!  I have no idea who this nail art idea belongs to, but if you do, please let me know so that I may give credit where it belongs.

I started with a beautiful polish with a weird name:  Nails, Inc Chelsea Physic Garden.  I don't know what kind of a garden a physic garden is.  Is it supposed to be psychic?  Still not sure what that is - a fortune teller's garden?

It looks like the original artist used tape for this next step, but I was feeling ballsy, so I freehanded it.  Free-falling is more like.  I don't think I would know a straight line if it bit me on the butt.

After painting the lower 2/3 of my nail with Nails Inc Primrose Park, I dotted in some larger squovals that touched the top, and some smaller dots along the cuticle.
 

Then I took Chelsea Physic Garden and dotted a smaller circle inside the squarish-ovals.  I can't decide if this is more tribal-looking or art deco, but I went with Deco, because of the alliteration with Dotty.  I can't pass up good alliteration.

I really like the effect of dotting the background color inside a larger contrasting color.  Makes it look like I am *really* good at drawing tiny lines.  I like anything that makes me look better than I really am. 

And, here's the bottle shot:  Nails, Inc Chelsea Physic Garden and Primrose Park.

When I first started doing nail art, I never would have thought that this design would be doable, but if you break it down into smaller parts, it's pretty easy.  If you try it, I'd love to see your version on my Facebook wall!

Unrequited Flakie Love

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's post has two manis that I did to try and recreate a love I found on Pinterest.  In the end, I was unable to recreate the look from Let's Do My Nails, and so, the love remains, sadly... unrequited.

For my first attempt, I started out with this beautiful blackened teal - Nails Inc. Kensington.

It's really hard to get a dark blue without having it look black, but I think this one does a good job. 

I picked up this polish from Essie's newer Luxe Effects release - Sparkle on Top.  It's not a true flakie, more like the new 'flakies' I tried from Butter London - iridescent mylar shards.

It's pretty! But not what I was looking for.  I tried it matte, which I think I like better:

Here's the bottle shot of my first attempt:  Nails Inc Kensington, Essie Sparkle On Top, and Julep Matte Top Coat.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had the two polishes listed in the description of the picture! This is OPI Cuckoo For This Color, a metallic teal.

I topped with the true flakie topcoat, Essie Shine of the Times.  Gorgeous.  But it's not the same as the pix.  Whomp, whomp.

Even with a matte topcoat, it still isn't as light or vibrant as the inspiration pix. 

Bottle shot:  OPI Cuckoo For This Color, Essie Shine of the Times, and Julep Matte Top Coat.

Now, I, too, have experienced the bitter disappointment of falling in love with a swatch and finding myself disappointed in the actual recreation.  It's a special kind of heartbreak, a love that can never be fulfilled, because it only truly exists in special lighting and Photoshop.