Week 30 & 32: Marble Madness!

It's becoming more and more obvious that the real challenge in the 52 Week Challenge is NOT the nail art....it's the posting! It's pretty easy to do the challenge and get the pictures, but it's not as easy to edit the pictures and write about it. With me starting a second job soon, I may get even more sporadic with posting. However I am still having fun with nails....I'm just not showing you guys as promptly!

Week 30 (which I did, didn't get pictures, then skipped and re-did) was water marbling. LOVE water marbling, even if I am marbling nubs. You can get some crazy intricate designs, and every nail is different.
This is using Julep Elizabeth, Isla, and Piper. I find it best to prep the nails with one coat of the lightest color in your marble....which isn't always white (but in this case it was lol).

Week 32 was needle marbling. Now this one I hadn't done before, but I've seen some cool designs around the web. I'm ok with how mine turned out, but I think that I could have done better. Maybe I needed another color? I'm not sure, but here's the pictures. You'll have to excuse the state of the my cuticles....I had to clean my turtle tank and these pictures where taken mid cleaning (I realized that the mani was slowly chipping off because of all the water and I needed pictures ASAP!)
The base is Orly Decades of Dysfunction marbled with Grave Mistake. I really like these 2 from the Dark Shadows collection and I'm regretting not getting the other 2!

Well that's all I have for now. Today is my wedding anniversary, so maybe there will be something special on my nails for that!
-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