Pink checkerboard

After a failed manicure earlier in the week I wanted something simple and fast.  So I did a quick mani yesterday morning with Zoya Lolly, a lovely pink matte color.   I chose the matte polish because I wanted to do my nails in the morning before work and matte polish dries fast.  The first coat drags a tiny, bit but everything should level out by coat #2.

As I was showing my boyfriend the color he mentioned it would be cool if you could do a french tip fauxnad (of course he didn't know that there WAS such a thing!)  So at his suggestion, I added a checkerboard fauxnad tip using white konad special polish and plate M56.  It took me a couple tries to get the tips straight and even then the stamp didn't transfer perfectly.  But I think it looks cool.

I-Don't-Know-What-This-Stamp-Even-Is Konad Gradient Nails

Hi ladies! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. They go way too fast, don't they? :(

I wanted to try and see if I could do a more successful gradient, so this weekend I sat down and tried the Sammy technique and what do you know -- it actually worked!! I do have to say though, that I tried to do it with 3 colors at first and couldn't get it to look like an even, gradual gradient. So if anyone has any tips on that besides the usual just sponging two colors, one on top of the next method, let me know.

The two colors in the gradient are Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud and Essie Knockout Pout. I thought I got pictures of the plain gradient, but alas, I didn't. And I didn't realize until I'd already stamped and taken pictures of the final mani. Shucks.

I topped the gradient with a coat of Fairy Dust (my bottle is about as thick as Elmer's glue these days...) and stamped over with Sinful black polish and plate RA-112. I don't even KNOW what this pattern is supposed to be, so I don't know what to call these nails! Anyone have any ideas for what the pattern actually IS? Haha. Oh well, they turned out pretty well I think. Maybe I'm getting back into the groove of things!

Think I'm going to head over to Ulta today to pick up some CG On Safari polishes, so look out for some manis with those! Have a lovely day :)

Cherry Gingham Nails

Hi girls, I saw this design and just HAD to recreate it on my nails!

For this mani, I started with a base of Essie French Affair. I might need to repurchase this soon, I use it so often...

I then stamped over it with Konad plate m64 and a pink chrome Sally Hansen pen. The only bad thing about these pens is they give me all these little stamping wispies that I have to flatten out on my nail. I don't really know what else to call them, so I hope you know what I'm talking about. Hahah.

I made the cherries with acrylic paint and a small paintbrush. I think they turned out nicely, I only wish I had stamped with a lighter background color because I think it makes the cherries a bit difficult to see. But oh well! I'm a little out of practice, so hopefully these weekly nail nights with Mama will get me back into the routine :)

Just a brief post tonight because I'm on my way to visit the manfriend. And I am a little buzzed. Ok Bye!

Sparkly Summer Butterflies

Hi ladies, it's been in ill minute since one of us has posted, hasn't it? Well, Mama was in town for the week of the 4th so we were spending lots of time together. Hopefully you can't fault us for that :)

I wanted to sit down and do some nail art with some pizzazz this weekend, but OF COURSE I didn't know what color I wanted to use or what I wanted to do! So what did I do? Settle for one of my most FAVORITEST colors ever -- Zoya Jacy.

This color just makes me drool. It's vampy and berry all mixed into one and it's formula is awesomesauce and *le sigh* I just love it. Do you have it? No? Go get it. Now!

I used two coats of Jacy and topped with a coat of Revlon Quick Dry. I gotta tell you, I've given up on Seche Vite.  You see, I sat down and did this UBER sparkly mani Friday night... it was a light golden pink shimmer with a few coats of Teenage Dream, and it was AWESOME. But without fail, about ten minutes after I top-coated with SV, I experienced the worst tip shrinkage (giggity) that I've ever had. So I think I'll be giving some love to the other top coats I've neglected during my love affair with SV. Sorry SV, it's been real, it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun. Peace Out.

ANYWAY! I sponged Zoya Faye on the tips for some nice sparkliezz. Then I used the little butterflies on Konad plate m78 and one of my Sally Hansen Chrome pens. Those things are AWESOME for stamping, and you can get them at the dollar store!

I finished up by adding some little microbeads with the butterflies. I think it looks kinda like a flight path!  Mama also got these at the dollar store during her visit. It's a little pack that comes with 8 colors. Pretty cool! I think they look nice, but boy they sure were a biatch to get on and I doubt they'll stay on long. I'll probably end up picking them off when I get my hands stuck in my hair.

Anyway, here are the pics :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Zoya Sooki Funky French

Hi all. I'm alive!

Today I have a funky french for you guys. Since I rarely have the time (or motivation) to do my nails these days, I've been building on plain color manis as a refresher so I don't have to remove the entire mani.

This started with two coats of Zoya Sooki (any True Blood fans here?) which is the SEXIEST red in all the land. I love it. It's just like...UNF!! Then I taped on a diagonal and used Zoya Kelly to make a funky french. I stamped with a Sally Hansen chrome pen and Konad plate m73. I usually have problems with this particular plate design but it worked pretty well with the Chrome pen.

Sorry for the short post, I hope you all are well! Until next time, see ya :)

Gradient tiger

Hello readers!  Did you think that Amanda and I fell off the planet?  Well I'm back today with a fierce tiger mani for you.

You have probably noticed our lack of posts.  Both Amanda and I are struggling right now with a little blogger burnout, but trying to post at least once a week to keep things going.  We had a death in the family last week.  A cousin of ours who has been very sick for about a year died at age 47 to brain cancer.  We were both devestated and will miss her very much. 

Amanda is working a full time job during the week and has a long-distance boyfriend that keeps her traveling on the weekends.  I'm also working a 30 hour week, but try to do my nails in the mornings before work.  The last 2 manicures I've done I hated, and removed right away without taking pictures.  Plus, I admit that Diablo 3 is taking up quite a bit of my free time.  Grr it's so addicting!  If you play - look me up (Zoya#1115)!

So enough with personal stuff and on to the mani.  I actually really like this one.  I've been trying to master the art of the gradient mani, but apparently am a slow learner :)  Here we have a base coat of Sally Hansen Kook-A-Mango with Zoya Jancyn and Sinful Colors Pull Over to make the grade-IENT.  (haha).  Then I stamped it with Konad black polish and plate m57.  Please forgive the tiny bit of streaking as I was rushing out the door to make it to work in time! 

Hope you enjoy!

Bright Flower Gradient Nails

Hello ladies, hope you've all been well :)

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been recovering from a brutal allergy season. I've had a terrible cough for the past two weeks.. BUT! I'm back in action with a pretty new mani to show you guys!

I started this one with two coats of China Glaze Papaya Punch, then created a gradient with China Glaze uh.....the fuchsia one from their spring collection, and China Glaze Spontaneous. And you know what? This freaking mani chipped in two hours! Yeah. I did these at about 6:30, got in the shower at 7:45, and when I got out they had chipped. WHAT! Lame.

I'm not sure what my camera's problem was when I took the pictures of the gradient, because that's DEFINITELY not how this looks in person. The final pictures are more color-accurate.

I Konaded over it with plate RA-112 - don't know what to call this pattern? But anyway. I think it came out so pretty! I've been out of practice lately with my nail art so I was pleasantly surprised with the way this one turned out.

That's all for today, have a fabulous day! Almost the weekend :)

Orly Passion Fruit fauxnad

Happy Pink Wednesday everyone (this post was supposed to go up yesterday but Amanda and I had a scheduling conflict!  sorry about that!)

I know you're thinking to yourself - that doesn't look pink.  But the camera is playing tricks on your eyes.  May I introduce Orly Passion Fruit, which is a bright neon coral jelly.  It actually looks more pink in the bottle than the nail - once you get it on, it leans a little more orange.

Passion Fruit applied very nicely and dried fast.  I didn't have any issues with streaking, dragging or cuticle pooling.  I initially was going to do 2 coats, but realized I still had VNL so I went ahead and added a third coat.  As I mentioned, Passion Fruit dries with a jelly type finish so I topped it with SV for some shine. 

I decided today was the day I wanted to try out my Color Club Copy Coats scented topcoats.  I used the pink one - named Mimic - because I have read elsewhere that these topcoats; although only slightly tinted, can cause mimimal color shifts in your base color.  I have to say that I really enjoyed the scent of Mimic.  I can't comment on what perfume it smells like, because I'm not a perfume connoisseur, but the company information says it contains blackberry, damask rose and sandalwood.  I was sniffing my nails all evening.   And I love the bottles - little squat square bottles with colored scented goodness in them!

This morning I applied a fauxnad over the base color using plate M72 and a Sally Hansen gold chrome pen.  I love these for stamping - great pigmented color!

What do you think of this fauxnad?  I've been really uninspired lately but I'm really liking this one!

Sally Hansen Feelin' Saucy fauxnad

So this color combination was inspired by my calender today.  It's a picture of a kitten playing with 4 balls of yarn - magenta, yellow, blue and red.  Unusual colors to use together but somehow they just worked! 

I started with a base of Sally Hansen CSM in Feelin' Saucy, which is a gorgeous magenta color.  I don't know why I don't wear this color more often, when I applied it, I really liked it.  My bottle is a tad thin so I had to take care not to flood my cuticles.  It levels well, dries fast and is well pigmented.  I used 2 coats for opacity.

When my base was dry, I lightly sponged Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening (sic) and Sally Hansen CSM in Right Said Fred and topped with 2 coats of Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond to give it just a touch of a holographic shimmer.  Then I stamped with a geometric pattern from Red Angel plate 114 and Konad special blue polish.  BTW - does anyone have any suggestions for a well pigmented medium blue stamping polish other than Konad?

This design somehow reminds me of the Autobot and Decepticon symbols from Transformers.

And here's a pic of Feelin' Saucy by herself.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Springy Spongey Konad

Yes...I know it is January 20th. But we got about 3 inches of snow yesterday so I needed a spring pick me up.  I am hoping this winter won't last until like May since the first part of it was pretty tame :\

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, then sponged randomly on top of the white with China Glaze Lemon Fizz, China Glaze Peachy Keen, China Glaze Electric Pineapple and Essie French Affair. Add a coat of Fairy Dust (duh) and I stamped with the flowery butterfly plate (RA 102). I really need a better white stamping polish because this Sinful one does NOT show up opaque enough. But I kind of like the subtlety it gives it.

The end result is an overly spring mani that looks way out of place in this dreary wintery Indiana weather, but I don't care because it's pretty and I like it! :D

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Orly Orange Punch leopard

Any one that knows me knows I'm a big football fan.  And since my team unfortunately had a dreadful year, I had to go with a surrogate team for the playoffs.  :)  I know that the Denver Broncos have been in the news a lot because of Tim Tebow, but I find it refreshing to have a good positive role model for kids; not some gun toting, girlfriend beating thug.  So here's my nod to the NFL playoffs with my Denver Broncos leopard print.

The base is Orly Orange Punch, which applied like an absolute dream.  Smooth with good opacity for a creme/jelly.  One coat gave pretty good coverage, but I am a creature of habit and applied a second.  Then i stamped over it with konad plate 57 and special polish in blue, and dotted the spots with white acrylic paint.

As Amanda says... "Rawr"

I'll always be a Colts fan though.  You can take the girl out of Indiana, but you can't take Indiana out of the girl :)

New Years Eve Mani - Gradient Stars

Hi all. I know I know, it's been a bit since one of us has posted. But the holidays are crazy busy and I just couldn't find time to do my nails or get any posts up! Sorry about that :)

Since Christmas is over, I have to start on my new holiday to create nail art for -- New Years! Even though I'll probably only get two designs in ;)

I started with a base of China Glaze Cheers To You. Then I sponged on China Glaze Skyscraper on the tips. A coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (duh) and some hand painted and Konad stamped stars complete this look! Pretty easy really.

Did you all have a lovely Christmas? What was your favorite gift? I got the Naked palette! From my dad! That was a shocker! Hope you're all having a fabulous week.  We had our first snow of the year here in Indy! First snow of the year.... on December 27. Crazy!

A return to blogging and Christmas present nails

Hi everyone!   I'm back!  Thanks to Amanda for completely carrying the blog for almost the entire month of November while I was packing and making arrangements to move cross country from Indianapolis to Boston. I'm now (mostly) settled into my new place and can once again start paying attention to my nails.

My nails - ug.  Any of you who have moved know how stressful it is on your nails.  Packing and unpacking boxes not to mention lifting them.  I think I've broken the corner off nearly every one of my nails in the last month, so I was forced to cut them down to Super Nubs and hope that they will grow back out by Christmas.  My cuticles are weeping.

The drive was horrendous.  Who would have thought that the blizzard we had to drive through would be in Indiana not Mass?  We intended to drive 7 hours the first day and 9 the second, but the weather was so bad that we were over an hour behind schedule and had to stop an hour early just to get out of the storm.  That made for a very long 12.5 hour drive on day 2 (counting some additional weather slow downs).  Remember that scene in Star Wars where they make the drive to hyperspace?  Try driving in that kind of weather for 6 straight hours.  Case in point -

Yes, that is literally what our windshield looked like as we were pounded by a snow storm. 

So 2 days later we arrived Boston.   Most of my stuff arrived intact, minus the plate glass from my china cabinet that came broken in 2 pieces and my poor, poor light box.

So anyway, on to the mani..

I started with China Glaze Midnight Kiss, which is a sparkly gold foil.  Then I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rapid Red.  I was really hoping for more of a contrast, but I'm happy with the more subtle way it turned out.  It kinda looks like wrapping paper. 

I actually prefer stamping my nails  when they are shorter because the full nail designs fit better.  Incidentally - I'm apparently out of practice with konad after taking a month off because I had to redo nearly all of the nails on my picture hand at least twice with the index finger taking 4 tries to get the stamp straight.  ug.  And then I guess I bumped it with an acetone soaked cotton square where the design is missing.  Too much time off!

Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

I don't even know what this means....so I just went with a simple Konad-icure. I had to work Black Friday yesterday and was quite tired when I sat down to do this mani so I kept it easy.

The base is China Glaze Strawberry Fields with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust over top. Then I just stamped this image using Konad special polish in Black (which is a great deal more difficult to clean up than regular black polish...but that's a whole other post) and topped with a coat of Poshe.

Sorry for the quick post today (er, last night as I am writing this on Friday) but I am wiped out!

Day 25: Inspired by fashion

Nobody ever said this prompt meant "inspired by good fashion" ... and that's exactly where I took this one!

I was inspired by tacky Christmas sweaters! (Thanks to Steph for suggesting this idea) They are totally not fashionable in the slightest, but I think this mani turned out SO CUTE!

I used a base of Sinful GoGo Girl and drew the little snowmen with acrylic paint. The snowflakes were done using a small Konad stamp and white Sinful polish.

Here's my inspiration for this mani:

What do you think of these tacky snowmen nails? Appropriate for the holidays?

Zoya Cody fauxnad-icure

Tonight's post was just a quicky faux nadicure.  haha.  nadicure.  Maybe that should be fauxnad icure. 

This is a base of Zoya Cody (which I love!)  Cody's a deep dusky brown creme and applies like a dream.

Then I just stamped with my gold Sally Hansen foil pen over the top. 

Day 15: Delicate Print

Hello ladies! Today's theme is delicate print. I feel like the term "delicate" is very up to interpretation, so I did another flower mani for today.

I started with two coats of OPI Play The Peonies then stamped over with this Konad flower image!

I think it definitely represents "delicate," how about you? I originally thought of doing snowflakes for today's theme, but.... I am very anti-snow and I don't want it to think it's welcome yet. Because it's not. I know, I know... I live in central Indiana. I should be used to snow by now. I am....but that doesn't mean I like it or want it anytime soon! :P

See you tomorrow for Tribal Print!