Harlequin Hardware manicure

You may or may not have seen this mani floating around the internet a lot lately - its a mani first introduced by CND at the Diego Binetti show during NYFW.  Ivana did a lovely version of it HERE

So here's my version of it using 2 coats of Sally Hansen Shell We Dance as the base then lightly sponging on Orly Oh Cabana Boy around the cuticles.   I suggest you protect the skin around your nails with tape ala water marbling or be  prepared for extensive cleanup.  You WILL have pink fingers! ;-)

To finish off I freehanded a french tip with Essie Good as Gold.  Lemmetellya - this polish wears like IRON!  I wore this mani for 5 days and still had no tip wear on the Essie metallic.  Good stuff!

Have a lovely week!

Girly giraffes

I love giraffes.  They have a special meaning to Amanda and I, and I have really been wanting to do another giraffe manicure.  I did a freehand giraffe here.  But it seems everyone and their brother have been doing a giraffe stamp with the new BM set and I didn't want to regurgitate the same design again.

So, I decided to change it up a little bit and do a girly giraffe with Orly Passion Fruit and yellow Konad stamping polish.  It's subtle but I really like it!

Thank God it's Friday!

Golden hearts

Today's manicure started out with a base of one of my most favorite red polishes - Zoya Carrie Ann.  It's a sparkly fire engine red and it just flows over the nail like a dream.  I used two coats for the base and let it dry thoroughly before I stamped it.

I told myself I wasn't going to pick up the Essie mirrored metallics.  One - because I tend to not like Essie's formula, and two - because I thought I had dupes of most of the colors in my stash.  (By the way, my boyfriend says I shouldn't call it a "stash" because it's way too big.  I should call it a 'hoard' instead - LOL)  I saw some of this line being used to stamp with though, I changed my mind and picked up 4 of the 5 colors available.  Bad me.  Bad.  I need to put myself on a makeup/nail polish purchase moratorium.   

Anyway, my first experience stamping with Essie Good as Gold was successful and here is the result. The stamp is BM 317 from their 2012 release.   Oh, and on the thumb I added some sparkle with Milani Red Sparkle One Coat Glitter.  I really love this glitter, but my bottle is half gone and it's starting to thicken a little.  Might be time to look for a backup bottle.  Let's face it - I just love red polish!

Well, I'm off to work for what's sure to be a brutal 'last day of the month' Tuesday.  Have a good one everyone!



Fairy butterfly wings

I have been wanting to do a manicure inspired by my tattoo for a few weeks now, but never really had enough time to implement the design.  This is my interpretation of fairy butterly wings.

I started with a 2 coats of Sally Hansen Green Tea, which is a dusty light mint color.  Green Tea is a finicky polish and doesn't like to be overworked, or it can become patchy and streaky.  Then I lightly sponged Sally Hansen Insta-Dri  Blue Away and Orly Charged Up over the top of Green Tea and let that dry thoroughly.  I then finished the design off with a black striping polish, Wet N Wild black creme and a small paintbrush; and Zoya Purity and some dotting tools.  Purity is my favorite white polish because it is so opaque.  I'm about half way through my bottle and had to thin it down a little today with some Nail Polish Thinner.  When everything was dry I top coated with SV, because I wanted it to dry super fast so I didn't ding it.  It would be a shame to do all that work and have to redo it because of a dent! 

What do you think of my take on fairy wings?

And just for fun here's a pic of my inspiration - this is the tattoo I got about 3 years ago and is my first and only tattoo.  (I'd like to get another tho!)  I wanted to incorporate my love of fairies (I collect them!) with a more mature tattoo.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

60s inspired fauxnad

My original plan was to make this manicure a gradient, but I ran out of time and the colors I picked didn't really work too well together.  So I ended up stamping over it.

This is 2 coats of OPI Did it on 'em and BM plate 322 stamped with Black Konad special polish.  Very 60s eh baby?  shagadelic!

And here's the lovely OPI Did it on Em by herself - one of my FAV colors!

And now a question I pose to our readers (if you still are actually reading).  Amanda and I have been experimenting a lot with different makeup looks and are toying with the idea of starting a beauty blog.  I'm in my late 40s though with partially hooded lids which might be a turnoff to some people.

Would you be interested in seeing different makeup looks and reviews from both a younger and a more mature perspective?  Please vote at the bottom of the page !