MMMM... Pie! #ChallengeYourNailArt #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Challenge Your Nail Art prompt is for Fall Food.  Nothing says Fall to me more than baking!  It's too hot here in Florida to do a lot of baking in the summer, anyway, but the really good apples don't get ripe until the Fall.

So when I saw this nail art (original author unknown) for cherry pie, I thought, well, I'd rather have apple.

I started off with Revlon Orient Express, but it was too red, so I put a layer of OPI Glints Of Glinda over it, which gave it a milky, softened look that was more like what I wanted.

I used a short brush to daub Zoya Flynn in a cross-hatch pattern, like a lattice-top pie.  To give it more dimension (and golden-brown deliciousness,) I added little spots of Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn, a dark brown holo.

Yeah, it still looks like a cherry pie, I guess.  Which is okay.  It's still pie, after all.

Bottle shot:  Revlon Orient Express, OPI Glints of Glinda, Zoya Flynn, and Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn.

Will you be indulging in a little pie this week?  What's your fave?  It's so hard to decide, but a good peach pie is hard to beat!

Sad Monsters

 Hello, Fireflies!

This month's NCC prompt is books.  I used to read a lot.  All the time.  You know what killed it for me?  College.  I actually read textbooks and articles, and somehow, through 4 years of undergraduate, and some years of graduate work, I no longer read for fun.

So, I was fumbling around for this first mani.  Not sure if I should go back to the many bookshelves we have and find an old book of mine, or one of my husband's many books.

I was wearing this polish, Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn, a deep brown, bordering on plum holo.  And, I thought to myself, Self, I should do something based on this polish.

And, so I did.  I found this book cover art for Sad Monsters, and decided to give it a try.

First, I stamped with Maybelline Bold Gold and Dashika Big SdP-A, and tried to hi-light with a yellow nail art pen.

Then I drew in the eyes, mouth, and teeth of the sad monster on my ring finger.

He's a sad, sad monster.

Bottle shot:  Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn, Maybelline Bold Gold, and nail art stripers in black and white. I used a yellow nail art pen, too, but I guess it didn't want to be photographed?  Not sure how I missed that..

When you're looking for inspiration, where do you look first?  Pinterest?  Google? Your workspace? Nature?

An InLinkz Link-up

Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida - Purple For Lupus Awareness #BBCFL #PutOnPurple

Hello, Fireflies!

Do you know what Lupus is?  Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body. (Lupus.org)

It's one of those diseases that is often misunderstood because the person may not 'look' sick.  They have flareups and remissions, too - so they can be fine one day and incapacitated the next.

The Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida are linking up today to show their support for one of our own who has this disease, in hopes of bringing more awareness to it.  Put on Purple today!

I started with Revlon Gwen's Crush, a red-leaning violet with an awesome shimmer. 

I needed undies for this because Lacquerhead Polish Space Cadet 2.0 is a very sheer jelly, and would take too many layers to get opaque... but look at those glitters! I really like how you can see some of the violet shimmer from Gwen's Crush, and then flashes of the holo glitters.

I really liked the way the stamping looked over the glitter in Dressed Up Digits' mani, so I tried to do something similar with Shany 20 and Finger Paints Silver Sculpture.

Purple over purple over purple - lots of layers.. kinda like Lupus, I guess. It doesn't appear to be a straightforward disease.

Those glitters!

Bottle shot:  Revlon Gwen's Crush, Lacquerhead Polish Space Cadet 2.0, and Finger Paints Silver Sculpture.

For more information about Lupus, please visit Lupus.org.  Do you have any experience with Lupus? Will you be wearing purple today?

An InLinkz Link-up

Also shared on The Nail Files! Please click through to see other Nail Files manis.

Sunday Stamping - Opposites on the Color Wheel

Today's stamping challenge was to do opposites on the color wheel.  I first picked a lovely red-violet polish, and found that the opposite was yellow-green.  Oh, boy.

Lacquerhead Polish Plum Crazy.  This is a jelly polish with subtle holo sparkle.  It probably took about 3-3.5 coats of polish to reach opacity, and under the bright light showed a little VNL, but you couldn't tell in Real Life.  I really like this red plum color!  It does dry semi-matte, so you'll need topcoat for that shine.

I figured I'd have some trouble making the green show up over the plum, so I first stamped with Milani Pearl White.

Then, I stamped over it again with Nabi Green.  I ended up dabbing some more green on to make it show up.  Kind of a fail, really.  I love the color combo MUCH more than I thought I would, but my execution was lacking!

The plate - Mash 50.  You have to use your imagination, but the vines on my nails look like the ones on the plate. Can you see it now?

Bottle shot:  Nabi Green Hologram, and Lacquerhead Polish Plum Crazy.  Two colors I never would have put together, but I liked!

What's an unlikely pairing you made that you ended up liking?

Matchy-Matchy Yum-Yum

When you're a *ahem* famous beauty blogger who specializes in nails, people expect fabulousness!  So, when I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday wearing this blue patterned shirt, I wanted - no, needed - nails to match.

I started with Lacquerhead Polish Blueberry Yum-Yum.  I am constantly fooled by polishes like this that look so dark in the bottle, but then need a million layers on the nail to achieve it.  After three, I generally give up.

As I'm usually running late, I didn't have time to start over, so I looked for a pattern that resembled my shirt, and stamped in black, which made it look a little darker, and also helped the holo to stand out more.

One nice thing about stamping is that it's generally easier to replicate on my right hand than freehand nail art.

As you might have guessed, no one really noticed, and the one person at the party I showed it to could not have cared less.  But I knew, deep inside, how fabulous I was, and that was all that mattered.

Do you like wearing matchy-matchy nails, or do you like your nail color to be complementary, or as wildly different from what you're wearing as possible?

If you'd like more information about Lacquerhead Polish, you can find her on Facebook, or her Etsy shop.