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?

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"

Electric Zebra - Day 13 - Animal Print

I started day 13 off thinking I was going to take the term "animal print" in a different direction.  I had wanted to do animal (foot) prints in an attempt to do something not many people might think to do.  I started off with the bright pink base, I was planning on using it if I did the foot prints but then I decided to try zebra stripes on one nail in this teal and I immediately changed my mind!

This is one of those combos that just won't photograph well.  The pink is very neon and it just freaks my camera out and the stripes are actually a bit darker then they appear here.  I kinda gave up trying to take an accurate picture.  Maybe I'll try again later and re-post, I just wanted to make sure I didn't skip a day again.  I want to get my thumb into a picture anyway!

Here I used Claire's - Hot Stuff and Sally Girl - Surf's Up.  I thinned some of the Sally Girl so it would flow more easily and free-handed the stripes.

Need a striping brush?  If you have one from a striping bottle polish that is getting old and clumpy, clean it up with some polish thinner and remover.  Polish thinner always works better than remover for me when I'm cleaning my brushes.

Blue & Silver - Day 10 - Gradient

I have to say that I had never done a gradient mani before.  Well, I guess I have done glitter gradients but those are way easy.  Colored gradients are not my strong point.  That being said, I was rather happy with the way this one turned out.  I wish you could see the glitter in the picture better but hey, what can ya do?  I actually had 2 different ideas for this one, one being a glitter gradient in case the other one didn't work out. I did the glitter gradient first and took a picture so I'll show you both!

First up is the one I actually submitted.  For this one I used Finger Paints - Easel Come, Easel Go!, NYC - Empire State Blue and Claire's - Bright Skies. 

Here is the other idea.  This one is Hello Kitty - Night Sparkle, Claire's - Gold Glitter Topcoat  & Color Club - Take The Stage.

I wish you could see the gold shimmer in the Hello Kitty polish better.  It's so pretty and those bottles are so adorable!  Even my boyfriend thought it was cute...not sure if he would want me to mention that but he isn't reading this!  My fellow polish club member (there's only 2 members) Taylor Tunno   got this one for me and I love it.  I never want to wear it because it looks so cool in the bottle!