Week 28: Gradient Mani

This is a repeat mani for me, however a first for you guys because I never got pictures of it the first time around >.<
Seems like the words "gradient" and "ombre" kinda look the same in the nail world. So this is my take on the gradient mani.

Thumb- China Glaze Kinetic Candy
Index- My franken
Middle- Sinful Colors Why Not
Ring- China Glaze Blue Year's Eve
Pinky- Essie Dive Bar
All- Studio M Covered in Diamonds
For being five different polishes, everything blended together really well!

Now to do my rockstar mani....hopefully I can get that loaded up closer to on time. I may have wore this at the right time, but I definitely posted this late!

-Lynnette

Matte vs. Glossy nail art

I found a great tutorial on Copy That Copy Cat in which she did black on black nail art (matte nails with shiny nail art) and knew that I had to copy that. I used China Glaze Stone Cold as the base and a black nail art striper because I wanted a little bit more contrast. For my accent nail I used a coat of Fergie's Make Them Boys go Loco.

Love! I wore it both matte and glossy with topcoat and loved it both ways. Definitely will have to repeat this one!
Later Gater!
-Lynnette

Week 27: 4th of July

I actually contemplating moving this mani to another week because I was not feeling red, white, and blue again. However I decided I had to give it the "old college try". The original theory was to use different effect polishes to spice things up.....and it didn't go as well as I had hoped.

The blue and white nails started off with 2 careful coats of Wet n' Wild White Cream, then a side swipe of Sally Hansen crackle in Distressed Denim. The red nails were supposed to have an awesome magnetic effect using Nabi Magnetic in Red. These were a horrible fail this time mainly because I tried to use the Nabi magnets instead of the better Icing ones. Also it's pretty hard to get the right coat consistency to pull the design. To try and cover up the fail (so not in the mood to redo them) I did a coat of China Glaze Snowglobe.

This ended up chipping really quickly and came off earlier today. I redid them all in the blue and white design. To me this feels sorta nautical and summery, and I'm really diggin it!

Until next time!

-Lynnette

Week 23: Ombre mani

When I looked at the list before I started this mani, I noticed that ombre and gradient mani's were fairly close together. I looked what each one was, and came up with pretty much the same pictures for both......So I used the sponging method to do what I'm calling an ombre.

This mani used L.A. Colors in Splash, then sponged with China Glaze Blue Years Eve and Essie Dive Bar. Didn't turn out too bad honestly.

Before this look, I did do something different. I used 5 different blues and painted each finger a different color. It actually almost matched my new striped shirt! However that mani chipped off before I was able to get pictures of it.

Well I'm a bit behind now. I haven't even fathomed a flag mani and the Pride one is quickly approaching! Maybe I can combine the 2 somehow....
Until then!
-Lynnette

Week 19: Floral

My nails have gotten pretty weak lately, so I'll be sticking to the challenge manis for a little while and not doing a whole lot in between.I've got to break the bad habit of peeling off the polish instead of removing it properly!

This nail art turned out kinda pretty. I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Social Ladder, a fairly sheer pinky/pearl shade. I like to use this as my "natural but better" shade. Then I stamped with Sally Hansen Plum Burst, China Glaze Sweet Hook and Kinetic Candy. The only thing I don't really like is that Sweet Hook is nearly invisible.

Nice and Girly!

In other news, I recently inherited my Grandma's Pfaff 7570 embroidery machine. I love sewing with this machine, and I've wanted an embroidery machine for a looong time so my focus has shifted a bit more to sewing. Soon I'll have a post up about all I've learned about this machine so that the information is out there for others (I wish that someone had posted this info for me when I was starting with this machine).

Until next time!

-Lynnette

Small haul and Hunger Games manis

Last Friday I stopped by my local Sallys, and picked up 3 1/2 polishes there.

Agro, Stone Cold, Kinetic Candy, Ruby Pumps

They had about 1/2 of the Capitol Colors collection, and 2 of my favorites. I haven't read the Hunger Games book, but it looks good, I'll have to pick it up now. Out of the collection I got Stone Cold and Agro. Then from the Electropop collection I picked up Kinetic Candy; I think it will make great "underwear" for Revlon Whimsical as well as being pretty on it's own. Then I found a mini bottle of Ruby Pumps in the clearance for 50 cents, can't pass that up!

Here's Stone Cold as a mani:

Lovely in matte, but chips super quick!
Now Agro as a mani:

One of the few greens I like. In the sun this flashes orange as well as gold. Also, look at those lovely long nails! I'll have to show you "righty" more often now!

Now today, I stopped at my local CVS and picked up 2 more polishes.

 Spoiled Shuffle the Deck, Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic.

This time they had the Spoiled line, and about time! I had been looking for it since I started seeing swatches on other people's blogs. It was my lucky day since CVS had the shade that I really wanted, Shuffle the deck. Then I grabbed Sally Hansen Showgirl Chic from their gem crush line. This might wind up as my first pedi of spring!

That's all I have for now. We'll see what my next mani is after Agro!
-Lynnette

Week 11: St. Patty's Day!

So here's my green mani. I raided my stash for all my greens, and added Argo from China Glaze Colors from the Capitol collection, as well as Stone Cold (I'll talk more about that in my next haul post). I wanted to do a cool needle marble I saw on youtube, but it wasn't working out. So i whipped out a makeup sponge and sponged all the colors on.

This is one careful coat of China Glaze Stone Cold, sponged with Revlon Emerald City, Gosh Golden Dragon, China Glaze Agro, and Julep Leah. It needed 2 coats of topcoat to get it smooth because it was a little bumpy from the sponging.
Next time I'll have a haul post for you.
Until then!
-Lynnette

Week 12: Spring Skittles!

By now, you can probably tell when I have the day off from work because I get all my posting done lol!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't/don't feel like doing St. Patty's day quite yet. So instead of falling a week behind on the challenge, I figured that I would skip week 11, and do week 12.

    I think this is my first time doing a skittle mani since I was in middle school. Usually I am pretty decisive on what color to wear and don't usually feel the need to wear more than one polish. Skittles was actually pretty nice. I did both hands the same (my brain couldn't handle doing them each different lol) and subconsciously did lightest to darkest lol.

So diggin the spring colors! What you see is 2 coats of:
Thumb- China Glaze Sweet Hook
Index- Fingerpaints Brushstroke Blush
Middle- Julep Hayden
Ring- my first franken (names anyone?)
Pinkie- Julep Charlotte
Then I topped all the nails with a coat of Julep Melissa to give them all the same finish (my franken has a slight shimmer that didn't blend well with all the cremes). I realized AFTER I was finished that my indexes could have used another coat of pink due to a slight visible nail line. However you couldn't really see it, and I can be incredibly lazy so I didn't re-do it.

Well, that's all for now. When my current color comes off, I'll do something St. Patty's (and green...ugh!). Until next time!
-Lynnette

Week 10: Polka Dots!

Hello there! Another challenge mani to show you, and this one I really loved! I wish it had stayed more than 3 days, but that's life. For this one I used 2 coats of China Glaze Sweet Hook, a lovely sweet creme. Nice and thick, but still manageable and easy to apply. Then for the polka dots I used Julep Charlotte and the end of a small paint brush.

Charlotte tended to make Sweet Hook look more pink, but I think they looked great together and I got a few compliments :)

Well, next on the agenda is to show you the nail mail I got late last week!
-Lynnette

China Glaze Blue Year's Eve and L.A. Colors Treasure Island

This is what I'm currently wearing. I used China Glaze's Blue Year's Eve as my base, 2 coats. This is a great polish by itself; nice glass flecks with some micro glitter mixed in I think. Then I put a coat of L.A. Colors Treasure Island on top. Treasure Island is green and blue micro glitter in a clear base...a glitter bomb itself, when put over Blue Year's Eve it's even more so! The two compliment each other really well, and aren't too distracting (like glitter can be).

Mmmm! Glittery goodness!
Well, that's all for now. Now to think of what my week 8 challenge will be!
-Lynnette

Sally Hansen Black tie

I'm getting later and later in posting my manis.....I've gone from posting while the color was/is drying to the color being almost all chipped off! oops! Sorry. In an effort to do better, I'm forcing to post this before I try out my new Julep Maven polishes for my 52 week challenge.......ugh, this will have to be quick because they are calling my name!

I did Sally Hansen's Black Tie on Wednesday night (after the newspaper came off. I didn't have to remove much....most of it chipped/peeled like normal polish). This is my first duochrome and i love it! I would describe the color as a dark graphite grey that flashes plum purple and dark hunter green. My pictures don't capture all the colors right, but you can get the feel. It's not as flashy as a lot of duos are, and I like that. I have to wear a hunter green work shirt, and I felt like this coordinated but wasn't matchy, and wasn't too out of place. Neither of my jobs have anything about nail polish in the dress codes, but I like to feel pulled together; there's nothing that makes me feel more disjointed than polish clashing with what I'm wearing.

You can see a smidge of the green in this photo.

This color wore beautifully by itself for about 2 days, then I decided to  refresh it with a crackle coat (I still happen to l.o.v.e. crackle polish lol). I wanted to see what would happen to the color of the crackle/if the duochrome would show through. Sadly, it didn't show much if at all. This is a medium coat of Oxidized Aqua by China Glaze.

Black Tie sadly just looks dark blue/purple under the crackle coat :(. I wore it this way for about another day and a half (it didn't start chipping until today). Looks like with this base/top coat combo i can go from Saturday night to Wednesday, then Wednesday night back to Saturday. This is great for me. While i enjoy painting my nails, I don't have tons of time lying around. Also this way I actually get to enjoy my manis....right up till the time that I get sick of them lol!

Well off to paint again.....next challenge: half moon manicure!
-Lynnette

New blog!

Hello everyone!
I'm starting this blog mainly to participate in the 52 Week Nail Art Challenge lol, but also to write about sewing, knitting and a growing polish addiction. Is that a bad reason? Anyway, here's the challenge!
1. Jan. 1st - "Make it Sparkle" Mani.
- Pull out your Best looking glitter, flakie or holo and bring in the New Year with a "Bang".
2. Jan. 8th - French Tip Mani.
- Are you classic, funky, modern or trendy! Your french tip doesn't need to be just 1 white line!
3. Jan. 15th - Color Block Mani.
4. Jan. 22nd - Plaid Mani.
5. Jan. 29th - Newspaper Mani.
6. Feb. 5th - Half-moon Mani.
7. Feb. 12th - "Valentine's Day" Mani.
8. Feb. 19th - Corset Mani.
9. Feb. 26th - "Vintage" Mani.
10. Mar. 4th - Polka Dot Mani
11. Mar. 11th - "St. Patrick's Day" Mani.
12. Mar. 18th - Skittle Mani.
13. Mar. 25th - Ruffian Mani.
14. Apr. 1st - Striped Mani.
15. Apr. 8th - "Easter Day" Mani.
16. Apr. 15th - Dotticure Mani.
17. Apr. 22nd - "Earth Appreciation" Mani.
18. Apr. 29th - Cartoon Mani.
19. May. 6th - Floral Mani.
20. May. 13th - Bows Mani.
21. May. 20th - Fruit Mani.
22. May. 27th - Splatter Mani.
23. Jun. 3rd - Ombre Mani.
24. Jun. 10th - Flag Mani.
25. Jun. 17th - Pride/Rainbow Mani.
26. Jun. 24th - Neon Mani.
27. July. 1st - "4th of July" Mani.
28. July. 8th - Gradient Mani.
29. July. 15th - "Rockstar" Mani.
30. July. 22th - Water Marble Mani.
31. July. 29th - Crackle Mani.
32. Aug. 5th - Needle Marble Mani.
33. Aug. 12th - Galaxy Mani.
34. Aug. 19th - "Bling" Mani.
35. Aug. 26th - Cupcake Mani.
36. Sept. 2nd - Tape Mani.
37. Sept. 9th - "We Remember 9/11" Mani.
38. Sept. 16th - Metallic/Magnetic Mani.
39. Sept. 23rd - Dry Marble Mani.
40. Sept. 30th - Animal Print Mani.
41. Oct. 7th - Patchwork Mani.
42. Oct. 14th - "Pink 4 Breast Cancer Awareness" Mani.
43. Oct. 21st - Spider Web Mani.
44. Oct. 28th - Halloween Mani.
45. Nov. 4th - Tribal Mani.
46. Nov. 11th - "Mustach, 4 Movember; Prostate Cancer Awareness" Mani.
47. Nov. 18th - Thanksgiving Day Mani.
48. Nov. 25th - Feather Mani.
49. Dec. 2nd - Glitter Sandwich Mani.
50. Dec. 9th - Snowflake Mani.
51. Dec. 16th - Red Mani.
52. Dec. 23rd - Christmas Mani.
- 30/31 - you've learned enough; go all out and show 2O13, what its all about!

Now, the first mani you're supposed to do is a glitter. However i didn't know about this until the day after the challenge had started :( Oh well, we'll do better for week two!
On New Years Eve/Day, I wore Orly Le Chateau by itself. On Monday i added some stamping with Wet n' Wild Metallica, and glittered my thumb with China Glaze Snowglobe. I really like how Snowglobe looks over Le Chateau, but I'm iffy about how the stamping turned out. I'm still getting the hang of stamping, so it can only get better.

My thumb.

The rest of my fingers.

I don't remember which Mash plate(s) i used for the stamping, but i'll look it up and add it later.

Well that's it for my first post. Later!
-Lynnette

Edit: Ok the mash plates i used are mash-12 for my fingers and mash-16 for my thumb.