My First Indie - Sticks & Stones

Finally got my hands on a bottle of Sticks & Stones!  It's just...just fantastic.  Let's see if I can get everything in here.  Sticks & Stones has big, medium and small white hex glitter, white bar glitter, big and small black hex glitter, big and small black SQUARE glitter (love square glitter) black bar glitter and just a hit of holographic glitter!   It looks great over all the cremes I've tried it on and on a couple jellies too!  Next time I post about this polish it will probably be in a pink jelly sandwich so stay tuned!

On with the show! Here it is over my skittle nails.  Thumb to pinkie I used Hard Candy Splendid, Unnamed pink jelly from the 99cent store, Unnamed Green jelly from Icing(sorry!), Wet&Wild Blazed and Sally Girl Chillax.  Then I topped them with Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love.

OoOoOo, Aaaaah

My sister said it reminded her of a garage floor!  I think she meant one of those kinda fancy garage floors.  My boyfriend even thought this looked cool, he really liked the bar glitter.

Do you have Sticks & Stones or any other black and white glitters?  Are you as madly in love with them as I am?

Crackle - A Torrid Love Affair

I was thinking the other day about what exactly started my nail polish obsession.  I've always liked polish and I have always kept my toenails painted but I never used to be so into painting my finger nails.  I had a small collection of pinks, a couple reds and some pretty sheer pearly whites but I rarely painted my nails.  Then one day I bought a neon pink, you know the kind that it almost hurts to look at.  Well, I painted my nails with it and I was in love!  Still, I wasn't knee deep in polish addiction yet.

So what was it, what really sent me over the edge? SHATTER!  When I saw the OPI Katy Perry collection in InStyle I went bonkers!  I had to have it.  I looked all over for it but it was sold out everywhere.  Finally one day I found the Icing brand Crackle and of course I bought it right away.  I loved it, I still do!  I've only collected 4 colors but I'm so glad I have them.  While other people lost interest in crackles I remain enamored! I don't use them terribly often but I'd never toss them to the wolves.  Today I decided I needed to show my Silver Claire's Crackle a little love with one of my favorite color combos.  Teal/Silver.  Enjoy!

Did you fall in love with the crackle craze?  Do you still enjoy using them?

Summery Water Marble

I was driving home from work the other night and I thought, "I think I want to do a water marble tonight." So I did!  Let me tell ya, if you just suddenly get an urge to do a water marble, you might want to take it as a sign.  It's not something you should try to force or do when you aren't feeling like you have a little extra patience!

I was really happy with the way my left hand came out.  The right, well that was another story.  I didn't like it so I forgot to take a picture of it.  Yeah, that's it...I forgot!

For this one I used a white base color under the marble.  Then I used Claire's-Secret Garden, Grasshopper and Hard Candy-Splendid.

I love the water marble look but it can be such a pain!  Do you enjoy doing them?

Sally's Visit - Skittle Mani with Gradient Accent

So I just renewed my Sally's Card (YAY!)  They sent me my monthly flyer reminding me that it was about to expire and there was a coupon on the back for 15% off and a free Ion or Silk Elements product!  I  ended up being good and just bought some Seche, renewed my card and got a free Ion Conditioner for just a little over 10 bucks!  I think their card is a great deal.  If you don't have one, GET ONE.  I know you might be thinking you don't want to spend the 5 bucks for a card but you get a $5 off coupon for your next visit and there is no set amount that you have to spend to use it.  You can just buy $5 worth of product if you want to.  You also get discounts on just about everything and sometimes it's a pretty good discount.  Just browse around the store and look for the Beauty Club price.  You can save a lot of cash! 

The next day I went back (since I had my $5 coupon) and bought some of the Sally Girl polishes and a bottle of the Beauty Secrets brand thinner.  I used to have the Orly Thinner and let me tell you, the Beauty Secrets brand works just as well!  The bottle is bigger and a little less expensive.  The only down side is the bottle design.  The Orly Thinner has a really nice squeeze bottle top and it's very easy to dispense just a drop or 2.  The Beauty Secrets brand thinner has a flip up spout.  It doesn't just spill out but it's easy to get carried away.  Aside from that, it's great!  I accidentally left a bottle of polish partially open and didn't realize it for a long time.  It was all but completely dried up.  I poured a good deal of thinner in there, mixed it up with an orange stick and then shook the hell out of it!  It totally saved my polish.

Anyway, I didn't intend to ramble on like that but I really love that card and wanted to tell you about the more frugal option of thinner!  What I really wanted to do was show you the mani I did later that night with my Sally Girl minis! (plus one Spoiled)

Unfortunately I can't positively remember the name of the pink on my index finger!  It might be Blink Of Pink but I can't find it on the site. However the rest (middle to pinkie) are Chillax, Epic and Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober. Chillax is more blue then it looks in this picture.

I love the Sally Girl polishes, they always apply really well and dry quickly for me!  Have you tried them?  What did you think?

Warhol Bender - Day 31 - Recreate your favorite Challenge

I have seen this last day interpreted many ways.  Some people recreate a mani of their own from a prior day or a mani someone else did for one of the days.  Our instructions were just to choose your favorite challenge and create a mani based on that theme.

 I have to be honest now, the day I chose wasn't my favorite (shhhh) however, I took this as a chance to retry a challenge that I wasn't very happy with the first time around! I choose Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork.  This was the idea I really wanted to do for the original day but I just didnt have the time after work to do it.  My boyfriend actually came up with this idea so I gotta give him credit for that! 

I present to you my Warhol Bender (the robot).

I really love the index finger here.  I think it came out the best, his expression is perfect and totally says "Bite my shiny metal a**" to me!  The pinkie is my least favorite and kinda reminds me of Marvin The Martian! The eyes on this one gave me a heap of trouble for some reason but overall, I really liked it!  I think I may try this again but instead of all Benders I'll try different characters on every nail.  Something I don't think Bender would take kindly to!

Forom index finger to pinkie I used Claire's Grasshopper, Hard Candy Splendid, Claire's Secret Garden and NYC Fuchsia Shock.  The Benders are all mixed acrylic paints.

Explosions - Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

Day 30 was kinda a flop for me. I was a little stressed out and just couldn't relax.  That usually makes for a bad nail day!  While I was pretty happy with the end result I couldn't get it exactly how I wanted it.  Now, looking back, it seems so easy.  I re-did it today as an accent nail and it came out just right!

The tutorial that inspired me is here Nailside - Explosion Tutorial and here is my submission for day 30. By the time I actually ended up with this I just didn't have time to do the third color for the challenge deadline and honestly I just didn't feel like working on it anymore!

I used Claire's Aqua and Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go for this one.

And here is my re-try of this design as just an accent nail. I used Claire's Bright Skies, FP Easel Come, Easel Go! and Sally Hansen Black heart.  I like this one MUCH better in terms of getting it to look like the tutorial. However, looking back at the original I realize that I do really like the way it came out!

Ever have one of those bad nail days where nothing seems to workout?  I hate those days!

Cutie Ghosties - Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

All I can think about when I hear the word supernatural is Sam, Dean and Castiel.  Oh my goodness, talk about wanting to be touched by an angel!  I'm sorry, was that too much?  I digress...  Seriously though, it's a great show with some super hot guys!

Again, I apologize, that's not what this is about!  I didn't do my nails based off the show. I based it off this tutorial from a very talented lady Nails In Nippon.  I thought it was so freakin' adorable and had been wanting to try it since the first time I saw it!  Here is my version.

You can't be scared by these cute wittle ghosties can you?  They look so friendly and cuddly.

All American - Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

I started doing my nails with the flag at the end of a Super Mario Bros. level as my inspiration and then realized that my nails were just a little to short for me to do exactly what I wanted.  So, I switched it up to the more patriotic option!  Super shiny, glittery patriotism!

Reminds me of Captain America or the 4th of July! 

I used China Glaze - Ruby Slippers, Orly - Winter Wonderland and Claire's - Bright Skies

Comic Nails - Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork

Another day where I was working with very little time to get my nails done after work.  I wanted to do something detailed like an Andy Warhol using Bender the Robots face on each nail or The Scream by Edvard Munch.  However, I only had about 1 1/2 - 2 hours so it just wasn't going to happen!

I have tried newsprint nails before and I really liked the results.  This time I decided to try colored comic strips.  It was kinda a win/fail.  Win in the fact that they do work!  Fail in the fact that they didn't come out as good as I had hoped and I didn't have time to re-do anything!

My index finger turned out really well and came out clear.  It was much brighter then it looks in the picture.  I still like this but that damn ocd perfectionist part of me keeps saying I could have done better!  I just wished I had more time!

Ever try newsprint nails?  It's super easy, try it!

Cherries! - Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern

I have  this awesome, vintage style apron.  It's white with red trim and little red bows on the pockets.  It's also covered in cherries!  I love cherries in every way possible.  They are delicious, they are adorable on clothing and jewelry and...did I mention they are delicious?

I mixed it up a little bit and chose black for my base color on my nails instead of white because I have been using white quite a bit for this challenge and well, I thought it would look cool.

Now that I'm thinking of cherries...I have to share this.  If a little swearing offends you then turn back!  Turn back NOW!  Otherwise, stay tuned.  It's just one word!

.

I think this is originally from this site ComicDay.

Vintage Style - Day 25 - Inspired by Fashion

This one was a bit rough for me honestly.  I love fashion but for some reason I couldn't come up with an idea that I really liked.  I also needed something I could do fairly quickly because I knew I wasn't going to have much time to work with.  I desperately started searching the internet and looking at clothing and jewelry pages I frequent for ideas.

Then, suddenly...SPARKLES!  Inspired by a sexy hand bag! I found this at PlasticLand

Sexy, right?

Sometimes, things just work out!  I used China Glaze - Ruby Slippers and Finger Paints - Easel Come, Easel Go! for this one and it only took a few minutes (I'm leaving out the dry time of course)

Simple, quick and kinda cute I think!  Occasionally, less is more!

Curiouser and Curiouser - Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!  Again I've been totally slacking off on posting these pictures on time.  Between work, painting my nails and geeking out on other people's nails I just haven't gotten around to posting. 

I chose "Alice in Wonderland" as my book.  I wanted to make it look like the red paint was dripping off a rose but it kept coming out looking like blood.  Not the look I was going for this time!

Here is my end result.

For some reason the heart was giving me more trouble then all the other shapes.  Actually, I think I know what it was.  My middle fingers are both crooked at the tips so it was hard to get it centered.  I'll have to take a picture of that someday soon. They have always been that way and it tends to cause my nail to wear down and break at the corner.  When I used to get acrylics done, people would say "They put that nail on crooked!" and I would say "No, they put my finger is on crooked."

Used mostly acrylic paints for this one but I used NYC French White and Claire's Secret Garden as my base colors.

Nerdy Nails - Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

Watchmen!  Great graphic novel & good movie.  I was going to do this one for tomorrows challenge which is "Inspired by a Book" . However,  my other book idea is also a movie, I decided I'd just do this one today!

Here I used Hard Candy Splendid as my Yellow base, NYC French White as my white base  and a mix of a Sally Girl Teal color and Claire's Secret Garden for the blue base. For the designs I used acrylic paints.  You can see how thick it came out in close of the close ups!

Sorry if it's redundant,  I felt the need to catch this one from a few different angles!

The Night Owl Nail was very thick.

This is by far my favorite mani of this challenge.  I am pretty impressed with myself here!  It turned out so much better then I thought it would. The only trouble I had here was Night Owl.  I did it 4-5 times before I was happy. I couldn't get just the right angle on his mask.  Oh and I messed up a bit on the happy face nail but I just fixed that up with some of the Hardy Candy Splendid, topped it with Seche and you can't even tell!  That stuff is just magical.

Have you read "Watchmen" or at least seen the movie?  I recommend both but if you only choose one, choose the graphc novel!

Diamonds - Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

The song that I was inspired by was "Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend"  Originally I wanted to do "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" I got a pretty good looking marmalade sky going. I used an orange and yellow gradient with some sponge painted clouds but the diamonds were just to big to go with the design.  So this is what I came up with since I wanted to use my "diamonds".

I like how it turned out.  Very simple and kinda classy.

I used Sally Hansen "Twisted Pink" and my rhinestones were from the 99 cent store hahaha.  I don't think Marilyn would be happy with those diamonds

TMNT - Day 21 - Inspired by a Color

I was inspired by my beloved green jelly from Icing.  It has no name but that's alright, I still love the little guy!  I think it looks like Slimer from "Ghostbusters" when I'm out in the sun.  Inside it is a perfect Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles color, don't you think?

Let's see, here I used (from index to pinkie) blue acrylic paint, Sally Hansen "Sun Kissed", Spoiled "2 Weeks Sober" and NYC "Big Apple Red"  I drew the eyes on with a sharpie pen.  I do not recommend using a sharpie over top coat.  Under top coat it usually works out just fine though if you let it dry before adding top coat.

Completely unrelated to nails but totally related to TMNT.  Have you heard what direction Micheal Bay is going to take when he makes the new TMNT?  Ugh, that's all I have to say.  Okay, I'm lying. That's not all I have to say but it's all I will say here!

TURTLE POWER!

Bubble City - Day 20 - Water Marble

I love the look of water marble nails but have you tried it?!  It's tricky!  I've had good times and bad times.  This time I had mixed emotions.  I loved the design and colors but as you can see, I had quite a few bubbles!  Look it up on youtube if you have never tried this.  It's fun but it can also be messy and very, very, VERY frustrating!

I'd show you the other fingers but...I didn't do them!  I had already tried this hand about 3 times and I gave up and painted my thumb and my right hand with "True Romance".  If it wasn't so bubbly it would have been perfect!  I used a base of Finger Paints "Easel Come, Easel Go!"  I also used it in the marble along with Claire's "True Romance"  NYC "Empire State Blue"

Nails in Space - Day 19 - Galaxies

Okay, so they are more like space nails than nails in space.  While I would love to go to outer space, I don't know if it would be a good place to paint my nails!

Space nails are something I really enjoy doing.  There is a prior post about them here Pre-Blog Galaxies.  I think I actually like the first set better!  I used the same polish colors as I did in the first set but instead of a make-up sponge I used a sponge tipped eyeshadow applicator.  That's a mouthful, sponge tipped eyeshadow applicator.

Mattified, just for fun!

I didn't get to see how the matte version looks in the sun but the shiny version looks even more fantastic, like real nebula.

Do you like it shiney or matte?

Finger Necklaces - Day 18 - Half Moons

Another design I've never been crazy about personally.  I tried 3 different combos for this one and just wasn't diggin' it.  Also, I didn't have any of those nifty hole reinforcers and my lines were coming out crappy. When I finally came up with this combo, again I was in love.   It's like little pearl necklaces for my nails, so fancy!

Index Finger is my favorite, the pearls are so defined.

For the solid blue on this one I used Icings "Riviera Romance".  The Pearls are a unnamed BonBon shade and the kinda sparkly blue part is an unnamed Claire's polish that I bought because it was a dollar and the bottle is so darn cute!

Adorable right?

Forget You Franken - Day 17 - Glitter

Glitter, glitter, glitter!  I can't get enough of the stuff.  Sure, it can be a pain in the butt to apply. Then there's the terrible, horrible, very bad, no good removal.  You can put soaked cotton on you fingers for a few minutes and yes, that always helps but it still sucks!  Every relationship has it's problems though and I will stick by glitter till the bitter end!

For day 17 I chose my Deborah Lippman "Forget You" franken, mattified!  I love matte glitter and it shows up better since I can only use my webcam.   It's a bit thick because the base color in mine is so sheer.  I would normally layer it over black but I was fresh out!

What do you think?  Do you franken your polish?  If not, you should try it!  It's super fun!

Pleasantly Suprised - Day 16 - Tribal

Tribal Prints. Now here is something I had seen but never had the urge to try on myself.  I have nothing against the concept but I just didn't think I would like it.  Was I ever wrong!

It took me a while to figure out exactly what I was going to do.  I tried a couple ideas on my nails but nothing really struck me.  So, instead of wasting remover, polish and cotton I drew little nail templates and started sketching.  This is my end result.

I was loving the finished product.

I decided to take pictures of this one step by step because I wasn't sure what I would like best. Except I forgot to that pics when it was just black and white, oops! Want to see how it progressed?  You don't have to answer that because I'm going to show you regardless. 

I was totally diggin' it with just the blue...

But it needed more, just the right brown.  Perfect.

Top that off with some Seche.  Hmm...I don't like this shine.

At Last, I'm Matte-ly in love!

I used mixed colors of acrylic paint for this one so I have no colors to mention, sorry! 

 I'm glad I got to try this and step out of my box because  I love it!  Have you ever tried a design you though you would hate only to be totally enamored with the end result?

Cherry Blossoms - Day 15 - Delicate Print

Another one I've been wanting to try!  Cherry Blossoms! 

I wish I could tell you some colors I used here but except for the white, they were all colors I made by mixing.  Well I can tell you what I used for the pink!  It was NYC - Fuchsia Shock mixed with a little whit.  I don't remember what I used for the brown, I just started mixing colors until I got the right shade.  Wish I could remember, I need a good brown!

Please excuse my ragged cuticles. I even moisturized them before I took this but they just weren't happy!

Roses - Day 14 - Flowers

This 31 day challenge has been just that, a challenge.  However, it has been a welcome challenge and it has been fun.  I've been trying designs that I have wanted to do for a while and trying things I wouldn't normally give a second thought.

This day was one that I've wanted to do for a while.  Simple roses.  I wasn't sure if I could pull them off as well as I'd seen them done but in the end I was extremely happy!  I just kinda dabbed the bottom color on, then added a little detail.  It looks kinda vintage to me and reminds me of Betsy Johnson's design style.  What do you think?

I used Finger Paints - Easel Come, Easel Go!(base) Claire's - True Romance (flower base), Sally Hansen - Ice (rose detail) and my favorite un-named green polish from Icing.