Simple Valentine Faux nad

Have you ever just had one of those days?  How about one of those weeks?  About 2 weeks ago I broke the corner off one of my nails on my picture hand.  So since my right hand looked pretty decent, I switched to taking photos of my off hand while the break grew out.  Last week I broke the corner off a nail on my off hand.  ARGH.  So I went back to my left hand (which had had 7-10 days to grow out and was easier to hide the break).  And yesterday I broke another corner on my left hand...  Someone is definately trying to tell me something.  So I bit the bullet and just chopped them all off to be the same length so they can grow out strong and split free. I prefer my nails square, but for the purpose of growing them out I went ahead and tapered them to give them extra strength.   It annoys me so much when I break a nail; and I've had a real hard time getting them back into good condition this winter.  So here are pics of my super nubs proving that short nails can be pretty too!

Today's post is a super easy Valentine's Day mani combining some simple sponging with stamping.

I started with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Pink Blink which is a light pink, then sponged over it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Presto Pink (which is a darker pink) and Pure Ice Superstar to give it some depth.

After it was fully dry I stamped with Sally Hansen Color Quick Fast Dry pen in Red Chrome and Red Angel plate 114.  If you haven't tried these pens for stamping yet, they work really well but dry SUPER fast so you have to work very quickly.

Thanks for reading!

Day 7: Black and White Nails (Tuxedos!)

 

Today's theme is Black and White nails! I'm pretty proud of these puppies.

I wanted to do a black and white mani that wasn't your traditional pattern -- no checkerboards, zebra stripes, etc. So guess what I did? Yep. Googled "things that are black and white." I'm like a child. The options that immediately peaked my interest were penguins, yin yans, dominoes, bar codes, and tuxedos. I'd seen tuxedo nails before and thought they would be the cutest! Although... I don't know who originated this idea so if any of you do let me know! I want to give credit where credit is due.

I just used Pure Ice's Super Star for my base and created a V-french with a simple black Kiss striper. I made the bow ties with a dotting tool and teeny tiny paintbrush (couldn't get my lines as sharp as I wanted) and finally added on the buttons with a small dotting tool and black polish. Pretty simple!

I love these cute tuxedos. I left this on for three days! That's a long time for me. And I got SO many compliments on it from total strangers! That always makes me feel good :)

Have a lovely day everybody!

Autumn Leaves Nails

Hi all! Fall has officially started for me. It's been about 60-65 degrees all week here in Indy! Let the autumn colors begin!!

I started off with three coats of Color Club Positively Posh. It's a nice dusky mid-brown color. Perfect for fall!

Then I took Pure Ice Fast Lane and sponged it over the brown in little lines. This is supposed to look like little tiny particles of dried leaves floating through the air. Please tell me you know what I'm talking about :)

I didn't have any stamping polishes that looked exactly the color of autumn leaves. What I did was alternate between using red and yellow Konad polish. I also used both colors on stamps sometimes to get a look of uneven color on the leaves. I think it worked pretty well, just wish the polish showed up a little brighter! I was a little disappointed with that, but oh well. Top with Seche Vite and voila! I still think these are very fall appropriate.. I'm digging them :)

When I was taking this picture, a maintenance guy from the apartment walked around into our backyard. He gave me a "WTF are you doing?" kinda look. Embarrassing.. I hate it when people see me taking nail pics!

Take care!

-Amanda

Sally Hansen Fairy Teal/ Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Fairy Teal - this polish is really well pigmented and covers well in one coat.  You may want a 2nd just to even out your color and surface.  It's dry time is average and formula is good, flow and leveling were above average.  Over the top I applied 2 coats of Pure Ice Heartbreaker.  Heartbreaker is a teal base with tiny teal microglitter and it gives the polish just a flash of shimmer.  Heartbreaker is too sheer to wear on it's own, you'll want to layer it over another color.  Click on the pictures to see the sparkle more clearly!

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.  Ovarian Cancer is one of the most deadly of women's cancers. Each year, approximately 21,880 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In 2010, approximately 13,850 women will die in the United States from ovarian cancer. What makes ovarian cancer so unspeakably dangerous is that it is hardest to detect in its early stages. Sadly, only about 19% of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed before the cancer has spread outside of the ovaries when the disease is most responsive to treatment. If detected at its earliest stage, the five-year survival rate is more than 93%. Recent research suggests that together the four symptoms of: bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and urinary urgency or frequency may be associated with ovarian cancer.  Other symptoms may be nausea, indigestion, gas, constipation, diahhrea, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath and backaches.  You may be at greater risk of developing ovarian cancer if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, personal history of cancer, are over the age of 55, have never been pregnant or are on menopausal hormone replacement therapy.

And now I'd like to take just a moment more of your time to talk about how cancer has personally affected my life.  I lost my mother to colon cancer in 1982 when I was 18 and she was 54.  I lost my father to bladder cancer about 8 years ago.  I myself was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1992 while I was pregnant with Amanda's younger brother, then again in 1993.

I was one of the lucky ones.  I have been vigilant about my health since I lost my mother and we caught the cancer early.  I have been cancer free for 18 years.  There have been lots of times I wanted to ignore or blow off my yearly pap and pelvic exams or mammograms.  But I would rather experience a moment of discomfort now than a lifetime of regret.  I don't want to look back on my life someday saying "IF ONLY I'd had my screening, we might have caught it earlier".

So please...  Get your yearly pap and pelvic screening.  Get your mammograms.  Make your appointment today for peace of mind tomorrow. 

Minnie Mouse Nails

I wanted to start with a base of a good, rich red so I chose Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Right Said Red.  I used 2 coats.  Dry time on this is a little slow, be sure to let your coats dry thoroughly in between.  I really liked the look of the matte base for the dots shown in my previous pink polka dot mani so I topped the RSR with 2 coats of China Glaze Matte Magic.  I love how the red looked matti-fied.

After the base color was good and dry, I used a medium sized dotting tool and Pure Ice Superstar to apply the polka dots.  I let that dry overnight, then had Amanda draw in the little black bows with black acrylic paint (she prefers using acrylic paint for detail work as opposed to polish).

I am really loving these.  So cute. 

Now that Amanda is back to hold the fort down I'm jetting off to Boston for the week.  See you on the flip side!

Revlon Carbonite ruffian

While browsing in Meijer on my lunch hour on Thursday I found a display of this special limited edition Revlon polish.  There were only two left.  So I picked it up along with a bottle of something else I had specifically stopped for and came home with my treasure.  And - OMG girls! - treasure it is!

Carbonite is A-MAZ-ING!  I fell in love with this one instantly.  It's smooth, well pigmented and covers in one coat.  It applied like a dream, dried fast and is everything I think a polish should be.  Way to go, Revlon!  This was a pleasure to work with and has shot straight to the top of my favorites list.

This is 2 coats.  (yes I know I said its a one coater and it is - I just dinged a couple nails and was too lazy to remove it so instead I applied another coat.)

Love this.  love Love LOVE!

For the ruffian I started with a small brush to set the ruffian cuticle line and Pure Ice Superstar, because its a nice opaque white.  The 2nd coat was Superstar with the regular bottle brush.  And then I used a coat of Sally Hansen Polar Bare on top just to smooth out the brush strokes, as it's a nice sheer white.  It's weird.  And bizarre.  And so offbeat.  Amanda says it looks like robot fingers.  But I like things that are off the beaten path and I like expressing myself through my manicure.  I don't want to be like everyone else! :)

The only thing I regret on this mani is that the white polish covered up the beauty of the Carbonite.  I plan on doing another manicure with Carbonite that will really showcase how pretty it is. 

Oh, and before I go, I have to tell you all about the weird dream I had last night.  I'm sure you all will appreciate it and find it funny.  I'm being held captive in this locked room in this underground city.  Fast forward to me finally finding the key to the locked room and escaping as the time bomb is ticking down to detonation.  As I'm running down the long hallways and corridors of the underground town there are these displays of nail polish and cosmetics like what you'd find on the endcaps at drug and discount stores.  I keep stopping at all these displays and scooping all the different colors of nail polish into my purse saying "if this place is gonna blow up they won't be needing these".  Then I continue my escape out of the city.  Someone is trying to tell me something, aren't they? :-/

Burlesque Corset Nails!

I'm pretty pleased with today's manicure.  I wanted to do some nail art because I haven't done that in a while.  This has been on my to-do list for a while and I'm working late today so I decided today was the day!

I started with a base coat of Wet n Wild Everyone Loves Redmond Fastdry and let that dry thoroughly (2 coats).  This polish is a little on the thin side but flowed on very well with decent coverage.

Then I stamped the black fishnet design using plate M57 and Wet n Wild Black Creme.  I used a small brush to add wide stripes down the sides of my nails for the sides of the corset and let that dry.  I then used a medium sized dotting tool to make the white dots down the sides of the corset using Pure Ice Superstar.  The last step was using a small brush to draw in the ties using the black creme.  Here is the finished result..

So what do you think?  Would you ever wear this mani?

Summer Candy Hearts

Hi all! After a series of frustrating manis that I wasn't proud of, I think I finally did one that I'm happy with. The inspiration from this came from a pair of pajama pants that I have! They're white with multi-colored hearts. I was laying in bed reading last night and thought they'd make a darn cute mani!

I started off the mani with skittles! From thumb to pinky: Wet 'n' Wild - How I Met Your Magenta, Zoya - Jancyn, Pure Ice - Superstar, Sally Hansen - Grass Slipper, and Sally Hansen - Barracuda.

 

Then I painted on the little hearts with acrylic paint. Which was hard to do because I needed a shorter bristled brush...but I think it came out well for what I had. Mixing all the colors was a pain though :) Outlined in black because it wasn't POPPING enough and sealed with Seche Vite! Weird though...it's like the acrylic paint sucked up the top coat and it looked...sticky? I put another one after I took the pics and it looks okay now...but still...odd.

Hope you all have a FABULOUS day!

-Amanda

Stars and Stripes Forever

Hello everyone, sorry for my recent absence and it's good to be back.  I've had some personal issues I had to take care of and I'm having a terrible string of bad manicures I haven't wanted to post.

In keeping with the holiday weekend I'm posting an Independence Day manicure as well.  This mani was partly inspired by Kayla Shevonne.

I started with a base of OPI Nail Envy then for the blue fields I used OPI Russian Navy matte.  I let that dry thoroughly then applied a top coat of SV.

Then I taped off the tips of my nails and stamped 2 different star patterns from BM20 and 21 with white Konad special polish.  After that was dry I removed the tape and freehanded a white french tip with Pure Ice Superstar.  On top of the french tip I freehanded red stripes with a Sinful Colors nail art polish in red.  The stripes were really hard because I don't have a very steady hand. 

On my thumbs I used 2 coats of Milani Rock Star Heavy Glitter in Red Sparkle.  I really like how this turned out.  I feel so festive!

Here's the Russian Navy by itself without top coat.

And with SV to make it shiny

And here are some pics of the finished mani

I call these...my diva nails

Hello! This not having a job thing sure leaves me a lot of time to do my nails...

These are definitely my "diva" nails. They're funky and sparkley and in your face and I think I really like them!

I started off by painting just the tips of my nails with Pure Ice's Super Star which is a really good white polish given the price. I only needed two coats to get it opaque! I applied SV over the white and waited a good 15 minutes, then taped off a diagonal on my nail with Scotch tape. I used Milani Purple Gleam over the tape to create the diagonal, applied more SV and waited another 10-15 minutes. Finally I taped off the opposite side of my nail and used the zebra print Konad plate in black special polish. Some of the tape lifted off when I was putting the purple on so I decided to use a silver striper to cover that up. I am so sneaky :)

Whad'ya think? Yay? Nay? I think these are so FIERCE! Rawr

-Amanda

Pure Ice Ombre

Ok, so the world didn't end.  I guess we will have to keep posting then.  :)  Amanda is off out of town visiting her b/f so I'm doing the post again today.

I'm a slow learner.  I keep plugging away at these Pure Ice polishes I bought.  The colors are so pretty but the formula just isn't good.  I let the coats on this mani dry a good 10 minutes in between and I still ended up with bubbles.  The dry time on this polish is just awful.  And it's not just limited to one color, it's pretty much every one I've ever used.  The coverage was good.  If you have the time to wait 15-20 minutes between coats you should be golden with this.
 
These colors happened to be lined up next to each other on my dresser this morning and as I glanced at them I thought - 'hey, those would make a pretty ombre mani.'  The colors are Magic (pinky), Fast Lane (ring),  Jaguar (middle) and Best Friend (index).  So pretteh!

Summer Butterflies

This is a manicure I've wanted to do for a long time.  I've seen the idea on both Lacquerized's blog and Cutepolish's youtube channel.  I thought I could free hand it myself; but alas - I had to enlist Amanda's help.  She did a beautiful job with the painting.  When I type it looks like butterflies flitting over the keyboard.  I love this mani so much.

Orly - It's Up To Blue (thumb), Sally Hansen - Amazing Blaze (index), Studio M - Frenzy (middle), Sinful Colors - Courtney Orange (ring), Orly - Hook Up (pinky), KISS black striper for the black wing accents and Pure Ice Superstar for the dots.

LOVE.   LOVE.   And so much win!

Editor's note - The Orly Hook Up really stained my nails.

Pure Ice swatches

Yes I know I've been on a Pure Ice kick lately.  They have a wide selection of colors and finishes for $2 a bottle.  Today's post is just swatches of 3 of the colors I have in my stash but hadn't tried yet.

First up was Mint Dream.  In the bottle its a soft white duochrome that flashes pink and blue.  It reminds me a lot of an opal.  The application and the coverage was good for a polish so sheer, but I had trouble with dry time on this.  I ended up with bubbles.

Next was Nasty Girl - a sheer pink with tiny microglitter in it.  I don't know why they call it Nasty Girl - how can something so soft and delicate be nasty?  Again - same issue - long dry time which caused bubbling because I didn't wait long enough between coats.

Last but not least was Rescue Me.  In the bottle this is a lime green sparkle with sparsely suspended blue glitter particles.  It's very sheer, so you'll have to layer it over something.  Here I have it over Mint Dream.  The website says this polish glows in the dark, so I had to test that out.  And I can confirm - yes - it does, indeed, glow in the dark!! :)