Teal Tuesday - Glam

Hello, Fireflies!

For this holiday season, I've been focused mainly on light, glittery eyes and red lips for my looks.  It's still a fave, but I thought I'd show you a darker, smoky teal eye with a light lip that might be fun for a night out.

Chevron Couture

Hello, Fireflies!

Today, I'm sharing the second installment of this month's "fashion" challenge with a look at some chevron nails I did to go with a dress of mine, plus the makeup look I did with it.  Get ready for lots of teal!

One Fish, Two Fish, White Fish, Three Blues..

 Hello, Fireflies!

I'm picking back up with the 52 Week Pick 'n Mix challenge this week, and combining the 3-blues prompt with the domestic animal prompt.  Let's see.. shall I make a blue dog, a la Blue's Clues?

I start with this really nice, bright, opaque blue from CoverGirl, called Out Of The Blue.  This is ONE coat.  Easy, breezy, beautifu-  wait.  Wow, that's good marketing. You were thinking it, too, weren'tcha.

I started to do a chevron French tip with OPI Keeping Suzi At Bay, a medium blue jelly, but then when I added Sally Hansen Insta Dri Teal-y Fast, I just kept adding stripes.  It's not a fishtail, but along those lines.

I really liked how this turned out.  These colors look good together.  I took a few pictures in case adding the animal part to the mani completely failed!

When I had all the blues picked, I thought of fish! And these cute goldfish from Cici & Sisi 11 fit the bill.  I stamped with Milani White On The Spot.

Up close, you can see all the lines of the blues, but from a reasonable distance, it just looks like light and shadows in the water.

Everybody, now, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"

I've never owned any kind of fish before, but I do like watching them sometimes.  Have you ever owned fish before?  What's the attraction?

To Everything, Teal, Teal, Teal, There Is A Season, Teal, Teal, Teal...

Hello, Fireflies!

Well, to everything there is a season, and the season of the Tri-Polish and Golden Oldie Crumpet Challenges has come to an end.  Today is the last Tri-Polish challenge, and it is also the beginning of the new Crumpet challenge, the 52 Week Pick 'n Mix challenge!

To celebrate, I have two manis, and two linkups.

For the Tri-Polish challenge, it seems only fitting that I only get in two of the colors - grey, and teal.  I've always been an underachiever.  The polishes are so pretty, though, maybe you won't mind.  I started with Different Dimension Have A Grape Day, which is a thermal polish... but I couldn't capture it. 

This design is inspired by Bianca Fredrich.  Her acrylic creations are so elegant.  I improvised on my nubbins.

The French Tips are done with Different Dimension Gasoline Rainbows, a  gorgeous charcoal grey holo with a rainbow holo, and then I used a black striper and added a little rhinestone.

Bottle shot:  Different Dimension Have a Grape Day and Gasoline Rainbows, and a black striper.

The first prompt for the the Pick 'n Mix challenge was to do a 2-color gradient, and include a teal.

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Wait 'n Sea, and then did the gradient with China Glaze X-Ta-Sea on the tips.

Kinda looks like I used three colors, doesn't it?  That's just the sheerness of the purple, letting the teal bleed through.

There has been a resurgence of the popularity of China Glaze Fairy Dust in some of the polish communities, so I couldn't resist Fairy Dusting All The Things! It was so sparkly in person, I couldn't even capture how gorgeous. 

Bottle shot:  China Glaze Wait 'n Sea, X-Ta-Sea, and Fairy Dust.

I hope this was a good send off for the previous Crumpet challenges, and a good intro to the new one! I hope you'll continue to join me in finding new colors, combinations, and patterns in exploring nail art!

As always, I encourage you to share your creations on my Facebook page!

Bonita Glitter Dotticure

Hello, Fireflies!

I found a new-to-me brand of polish last time I was at Ross.  I'd heard of Bonita, but hadn't ever tried it before.  All of them came in those clear packs with no names on them, much like the Color Club repackaged polishes.  I guess they don't think that our cheap polish needs a name, poor things.

This poor no-name is an aqua-teal color.  I was pretty impressed by the quality of these polishes.  And, I know the bottles are kinda weirdly shaped, but I dig 'em.

I thought this glitter was so pretty, and perfect for this challenge because it reflects both lilac and teal.

I couldn't resist a little dotticure for good measure. 

Here's the bottle shot, but no names!  Don't these just look like they were made to go together?

I love it when a collection is released and the polishes compliment each other so nicely. When you buy makeup or polish, are you ever surprised that they go together, or do you purposely buy makeup in sets, or do you go for the chaotic approach?

An InLinkz Link-up

Majestically Holo S-TRI-pes

Hello, Fireflies!

Ready for some TRI polish challenge goodness?  I'm loving this month's colors.

I started with a lovely subtle lilac holo, Enchanted Polish Majestic.

Then, I took a striping brush and made stripes of different thicknesses with Colors by Llarowe Thriller, a bright teal holo.

I love having a silver striper - it makes adding a little silver detail so much easier.

Topcoat, and the look is finished! 

I love how saturated the teal is, especially in contrast to the muted lilac and the pale silver.

I forgot the bottle shot, but, look, both hands!

I love stripey nails.

An InLinkz Link-up

TRI - Deco

Hello, Fireflies!

Welcome to a new month of TRI-Polish Tuesdays! This month's colors are Lilac, Teal, and Grey/Silver.
I decided to do a technique for creating an Art-deco style graphic that I saw on Pshiiit.  It makes this neat pattern a lot easier to do, though I will admit to having some trouble lining up the striping tape.

I started with Cover Girl ShowStopper, a nice smooth silver.  When that dried, I applied the tape according to the diagram on Pshiit.

I wasn't talented enough to take pictures of the process.  I did want to show you that it's kind of a mess when you pull off the tape, though.  Don't be discouraged! A lot of nail art looks a hot mess until you put topcoat on.

I found that it's easier to do this one nail at a time.  Paint the nail bed portion first, and then the tip.  Quickly, before the polish starts to set, take off the tape with a pair of tweezers.

I used Rimmel Salon Pro Purple Rain and Pop Beauty Brave for the lilac and teal.

I love this look, and it can be done with so many different colors!

Bottle shot:  Cover Girl ShowStopper, Rimmel Salon Pro Purple Rain. and Pop Beauty Brave.

What do you think about this Art Deco type look?

An InLinkz Link-up

Galaxy Music!

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Adventures In Stamping challenge was music, inspired by World Music Day.  When I did a Google image search, this was one of the images that came up, and it helped inspire my mani!

 If you saw yesterday's post, you may remember how completely ga-ga I was for Celestial Cosmetics Meteoroid.  I am equally enamored of this polish, Celestial Cosmetics Galaxy Field, a deep emerald-tealish linear holo.  Another amazing formula, too!

I used Essie No Place Like Chrome and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme double-stamped with the same stamps from this large YH809 plate that I bought off Ebay.  I'm not sure who the maker is.

 Swirly bars of music!

If this were a real piece of music, it would be in the key of F.  As in WTF.

These little metallic notes have been in my stash for at least a year, waiting patiently for their time... and back they go.  They wouldn't lay flat. Kinda messed up my mani.

Bottle shot:  Celestial Cosmetics Galaxy Field, Essie No Place Like Chrome, and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

What kind of music would you listen to to celebrate World Music Day?  I'm an 80's girl myself! Lately, though, I have had Crowded House playing over and over in my brain.  Earworm!

Stress Management and a D!ck In A Box! #NailArtForNubs

Hello, Fireflies!

I really like creating posts that showcase a step-by-step process of how I achieved a nail art look.  It really bugs me when I get so involved in the creation of the look that I forget to photograph a step!

I hope it bothers me more than it bothers you.  Pretend there was a picture of Girly Bits D!ck In A Box by itself, first, because it is a gorgeous holo.  Grey with green and a multicolor rainbow, it's spectacular.

I paired it with Ginger + Liz Stress Management, a teal creme.  I didn't use tape, just the polish brush.  I'm going to cover my mistakes with glitter in a second.

Glitter covers lots of mistakes!

I added a few festive rhinestones, in alternating green and white.

Funky and fun. This holo is super amazing, too.  So much color!

Bottle shot:  Girly Bits D!ck In A Box, Ginger + Liz Stress Management, and a Stripe Rite teal glitter striper.

Don't let nubbins cramp your nail art style! Horizontal stripes - especially offset ones - can create illusions of length.  I often choose smaller rhinestones so I can fit more on my nubbins, too - 2 mm is a great size for small nails.

An InLinkz Link-up

Two posts today! If you missed it, I posted my quick review of all the subscription boxes I received in May! Click HERE for my post.