Oil Slick water marble

Finally a nail post after.....well way too long! I have been polishing my nails, just not posting about it.

For this marble I used Sally Hansen Black Tie and Scarab, as well as Orly Space Cadet  over a plain ol' black base (Wet and Wild Black Creme).
Take a look!

Of course, it looks better in real life....i picked some of the worst polishes to photograph. Trying out a new thumbnail shape also. I think I like it, but not sure yet......it almost looks fake (and I'm not sure how I feel about that).

Well SWAP 2013 has been submitted. Those pictures will be next on the blog.
Until next time!
-Lynnette

Week 21: Fruit

At first I was a bit stumped as to how to use fruit as a theme. I really didn't want to use stamping plate. I really only have grapes and strawberries for stamping, but on top of that it feels like cheating to do so much stamping. So I came up with an abstract way to do cherries.

I used Sally Hansen Rapid Red, my black nail art striper and black nail art pen. Quick, easy, effective!
Up next, another sewing post!
-Lynnette

Week 14: Stripes!

Ok, finally a challenge mani that turned out well! I used Wet n' Wild black, and Metallica for the base color, then a coat (or dabble) of Spoiled Shuffle the Deck. I say "dabble" because the brush flat out SUCKS! I like most wide brushes, but this one was floppy and more like a wet mop. This is one of those polishes that I will either use a different brush, or suffer through the "wet mop" because I love the glitter mix. After that dried, I did 3 vertical stripes in silver and black.

Kinda reminds me of the stripes in some of the costumes in Tim Burton's Sweeny Todd.....Anyway, trying out a new layering system for basecoats/polishes. I'm trying to make it last, without destroying my nail in the process.

Until next time!
-Lynnette

Week 13: Ruffian mani (Updated)

So....I've been a bad blogger! I totally wore Kinetic Candy before I did this manicure, but didn't take any picture of it. Nope not even one. I will say that it's a great color, and the formula is like Sweet Hook from the same collection. However, I know that Kinetic Candy is one I will be wearing again, so I'll nab a picture then.

Another bummer.....I'm back to nail nubs :( After I took off Agro I noticed a hairline crack in one nail. Then as I was getting ready to put on Kinetic Candy, the nail fully broke. My slight OCD kicked in, and then all the nails had to go (this is a habit I've had since before I was a polish addict). This is another reason why there are no pictures of Kinetic Candy; I couldn't stand to take pictures of nubs :(

Anyway, on to the challenge mani! This week is a Ruffian style. I had to google this, and originally I was going to copy-cat a red and black look. Then over the weekend, I found some new Sinful Colors displays and changed my mind. I picked up Sinful's Cinderella and Glass Pink and used those as "undies" for Revlon's Whimsical and Starry Pink (I've also seen this called Popular). The Sinful "undies" have a TON of shimmer, that even shows through the Revlon!

 Left hand

Right Hand

This turned out ok, but I'm not in love with it. My "ruffian lines" are uneven, but masked by the milky glitters on top. Then there is just so many layers......2 coats of the bottom color, 1 coat of quick dry topcoat, 2 coats of the top color, then the glitter coat, and another coat of quick dry topcoat (I'm currently using Sally Hansen Insta-dry). Oh, and then on top of that, I woke up this morning to bubbles. Also trying to cleanly paint nubs is a joke; even clean up sucked (as you can see...my nails look horrible in the pictures). I would have skipped the pictures until I could try to make them look better, but I have a feeling that this isn't going to be staying on long. 

Ugh....At least I finally found "undies" for Starry Pink. I have been looking for a while, but hadn't found anything I liked.

Next time, I think I might show some of the polish strips I've been making.

-Lynnette

EDIT: This mani never. fully. dried! Even after I posted about it, this was still gummy and dentable. Yuck! Needless to say, this has come off to be replaced with Starry Pink over Glass Pink. Pictures to follow.

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

Week 9: "Vintage" mani

Well I kinda cheated on this one, but I've got a good story! This week I used a "vintage" color in more than one sense. Not only is this a great old school red, but this is the red that my mom used all. the. time. when I was growing up. If I was a good girl, Mom would paint my nails, usually with this color. Revlon still makes this color under the same name, Cherries in the Snow. I picked up both of us a new bottle not too long ago.

This is a bit hard to capture on camera. In one light it looks tomato red, in other lights it's blue based, then other times it looks so pink it's red. This is the more tomato look here.

I know, I should have done something more, like half moons again or something. However, I really didn't like them when I did it the first time. Besides, me and this color have a history :).
Until next time!
-Lynnette

Water Marble!

So my friend Tasha saw another friend's water marble on Facebook and asked me to do one for her. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of hers, but I decided to do one for myself. I liked the colors used in Tasha's marble, so I used the same colors but added one. Originally I used Ulta Jaded and Sally Hansen Flirt, then added Sally Hansen Black Tie for mine. It took a little while to get a bulls-eye that I liked, but the nails I dipped before the "perfected" bulls-eye turned out good enough to keep.

 Left

 Right

Left thumb.

I can't get the picture of my right thumb to co-operate, but it tuned out well. 

That's it for now; Later!

-Lynnette

Week 8: Corset mani

This week I used 3 polished from my recent haul. I started with 2 coats of Ulta Maine Attraction, then did a coat of Julep Megan. Originally I was only going to do Megan on the sides and have Maine Attraction be the middle, but the two looked so close together that it would almost defeat the purpose. So I did a stripe of Marisa down the middle, then used my silver nail art stripper to do the crisscross. I didn't think a bow would turn out well so I omitted it.

Please excuse the tip wear....I did this Friday night, but it's worn well :).
Well, later!
-Lynnette

Week 7: Valentines Day.....rock star style!

Hello again! Late post again this week, but I thought I would post this challenge on the day it celebrates....Valentines day. I've never been a fan of V-Day for 2 reasons: 1) if you're single, this day is made to make you feel worse. 2) if you're with someone, this day is made to make you stress about getting the perfect gift/the best romantic surprise. The hubby and I will do something fun, but nothing over the top.

Without further ado.....this weeks mani uses Sally Hansen Unbreakable Heart as the red base (I remember this being a darker red when I first wore it around Christmas time, but here it's more cherry.....whatever). Then I used Sally Hansen Flirt for some subtle little hearts (so subtle I'm not sure you can see them in my pics....but they are there!), and Julep Elizabeth to stamp the heart with wings. Add some sweet stickers to my thumbs and middle fingers, and dab heart glitter on ring and index (from Nicole by OPI Step to the Beat of my Heart), topcoat and done!

And here's proof that I do sew! I made these super wide leg knit pants to accommodate a new thigh tattoo. All the pants I own happen to have side seams that rub and hurt the fresh (as of Saturday) tattoo. The one pair of bottoms I have without a side seam happen to be skin tight leggings....... not good for a fresh wound that needs air to heal.

I used a simple P.J. pant pattern that didn't have a side seam (Simplicity 2290 I think). I lowered the waist (now that they are made, I could have lowered it more....) and cut the leg pretty much straight down from the hip. Sew according to the directions, and voila! Thigh tattoo friendly pants! Now this is a picture of the "wrong" side/inside.....the other side is black. since the skull print hides the minimal seams and the elastic is enclosed, I treat these as reversible (I'll wear the black side out in public most likely).

Since the sewing machine is un-buried and the child has decided to nap, i might go sew up another pair......this time denim?

Later!
-Lynnette

Julep Rachel

So this is what I put on after my challenge mani came off. I used 2 (careful) coats of Julep Rachel as a base; a lovely copper color). I do want to mention that part of what made the week 6 challenge more challenging is I was not careful enough with Julep Elizabeth. When that was dry, I stamped a lacy design with Julep Elizabeth, then added a coat of Julep Oscar. I wanted the stamping to stand out better, so after Oscar dried I did another stamping round with Elizabeth. I did use two different plates/designs (which of course I don't remember!), but they meshed really well together.

Next to each other in the bottle (and in my mind's eye) I thought theses would be more eye catching. On the nail however, they turned out to be a little......blah? I don't know, what do you guys think? I will say that Oscar with a coat of topcoat is lovely and smooth; no grit, no texture other than smooth!

Well until next mani!

-Lynnette

Week 6: Half moon mani and my Julep box!

I was so excited to see/receive my Julep It Girl box, I had to use at least one of the polishes inside for my weekly challenge. If you've never heard of Julep, they make you take a style quiz, then send you a monthly box with polishes and products based on your style profile. Click here to go to Julep's website (it's also my referral link). This month's box came with Oscar (gold glitter), Rachel (warm copper), and Elizabeth (midnight purple; the website says blue, but it's purple in all lighting). I've actually got a lemming for the box they first showed me;  Hayden (a peach), Leah (a leaf green) and Megan (Mediterranean aquamarine)...it's actually almost the colors I thought of for my baby nursery lol.

Anyway, week six is a half moon manicure. I used an OPI for the base color, I don't know the color name. It's labeled "Be a Dahlia wont You", but if you google search it that color is actually a bright pink.....nothing close to what this color is. Since I found this polish in the parking lot of a store that doesn't even sell OPI, I can't really go back to the store and ask them......If anyone is game to helping me figure out the real name of this beauty, I'd gladly snail-mail them a swatch! Then I used scotch tape to tape off the bottom portion (most how-to's say to use a circular sticker, but I had nothing close to that), and did one coat of Elizabeth.

This is how it looked in most lighting.....nude shimmer with black. Elizabeth is gorgeous, but very very dark. Was a bit disappointed with how this wore. I do my manicures before bed, and somehow got tip wear in my sleep....not cool! Then got more chips at work the following day. I retipped and topcoated that night, but the next day there was even more chipping.

So Monday night I caved and took it off and put on what I'm currently waiting. That will get it's own post soon :)

Again, if you want more info about Julep's Maven program click here (it's also my referral link). I believe that if you use code "NEWYEAR2012" you can get your first box for only a penny! Yup one cent! (If that code doesn't work, I believe Julep also e-mails you a code to get your first box for only $5....I just don't remember the code or if mine would work for others)

Until next time!
-Lynnette

Week 5: Newspaper fail and win

Hello, sorry this is late. I actually did this Saturday night, but didn't get pictures/time to post it until now.
     So i'm not sure how everyone gets great results doing newspaper manis....mine sucked! I planned to do QR codes (you know those things for smart phones) and barcodes on all my nails. However, the newsprint only transferred on 3 of my nails......fail. So i took little pieces of the paper (it just so happens I was using a flyer with my name printed on it) and stuck them into my still tacky topcoat, then did 2 more coats of topcoat. Now when I say "stuck them into my tacky topcoat", I mean that I literally used my other nails/a pen cap to sink it into the polish as much as possible, focusing on the edges. That way, when i did my subsequent coats of topcoat, it leveled out nicely. The smoothest one is my middle right; my pinkies still have a ridge on one side but it's not enough to bug me.

This is the left hand.

This is the right hand.

This is 2 1/2 days of wear, so please excuse the tip wear! I used my Sally Hansen base coat, 2 coats of Revlon Timeless (I picked this up with my newspaper mani in mind lol), and a coat of Sally Hansen on all nails, plus another coat on the nails with paper stuck on them. Not sure how removal will go, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it eh?

     A quick note about the Sally Hansen Continuous Treatment base and topcoat....This is great as a base coat. Keeps your manis looking great for days. Since I started using it, I've yet to have a mani chip before i was tired of it.....the same could be said for my Orly Bonder. However, the Sally Hansen hasn't destroyed my nails. I have used it as a topcoat, and it works well, but I'll stick to my Out the Door Quick dry. I'm usually doing my nails before bed, and I just don't have the time to wait for the Sally's to completely dry (it takes FOREVER).

Anyway, time to take the baby to the doctor, six month check up today!

-Lynnette

Week 4, Plaid mani

This prolly would have looked better on longer nails. However, due to my recent basecoat issues, I've had to trim them.....again. So instead of using my Orly Bonder, i used Sinful Colors clear (I think that it's supposed to be a topcoat). I was feeling like warm colors, so i picked out Sinful Colors Rich in Heart a lovely warm brown with a little bit of red shimmer. Then i used my gold glitter stripper (Art deco by L.A. colors) to create what i call a "mini plaid". I wish that i had a metallic gold stripper in my arsenal, i would have been able to get thinner lines......another thing that would have made this mani would be copper and gold stripes.

Anyway, i wore this shiny for a little while when out with my mom. While out at Hot Topic, i found out that they carry matte topcoat (Warpaint Beauty is the brand, their house brand i think)!! For only $4!!! So i nabbed it up, and put it on this mani for a little extra something.

You get pictures of my right hand this time because it looks better than my left!

Until next time!
-Lynnette

Revlon Radiant

So the color black mani didn't last too long lol. I went over to my mom's house to show her my Mash stamping plates. Originally i was going to do her nails, but she didn't want them painted :(. So i just played with mine instead! This is one coat of Wet n' Wild Black Creme, stamped with Sinful Colors Why Not using Mash plates mash-18, 15, 17 (butterfly and 2 different flowers), then covered it with Revlon Radiant.

 I tried to do a very thin coat of Radiant so i had glitter, but not so much that it covered my designs. This picture shows both the glitter and the stamping pretty well.

This picture is a bit dark, but you can (faintly) see the butterfly on the right and flowers on the left (and the horrible clean up job! eek, sorry!).

On another note, i Picked up Revlon Whimsical on my last polish shopping trip. I found it again at K-Mart this time. My K-Mart had the whole new Revlon display, so i picked up Whimsical, Radiant, Timeless, and Scandalous. I might have to start doing haul posts lol!

As much as i LOVE my Orly Bonder, i think it's slowly destroying my nails. They are peeling/flaking more and more :(. So i am on the hunt (again!) for a base coat with some grip....any suggestions?
Until we meet again!
-Lynnette

Week 3, Color block mani

So, I don't hate it like i thought i would. I'm not thrilled with how my topcoat dragged the lines, but other than that i like it. I used Bianca, Savage, and Why Not all by Sinful Colors. A few surprises in Savage and Why Not; Savage dried really matte (even with top coat), and Why Not was a one coater! I think this is the first time that i've encountered a polish that had even coverage in ONE coat!. 

For the accent nails, i first did a coat of Bianca (actually, 2 coats on the half that shows. Bianca needs that lil extra to show up well). Then i followed up with Why Not over 3/4 of the nail, then Savage on half. I tried my hardest to keep the lines neat, but not too hard because i knew that i would be using my L.A colors Black stripper polish. 

All in all, while i like this mani, i'm not doing everything i can to save it. It's just not my cup of tea. However i really like Why Not and the fact that it's a one coater. I'm going to have to try some stamping with it!