Easter Time!

Hello!  So, I have had an epiphany!  I have figured out the lighting for my photos, finally!  O yeah!  What does everyone have planned for this Easter weekend?  Me, I am just going to relax and then spend time with the family tomorrow and eat so good food!  Today I have a gradient with stamping.  It took me many tries to get the gradient colors worked out, first I tried to use a shimmery China Glaze color as the base color, but when I started stamping I kept getting a balding effect that could not be fixed...I then tried various things on my ruined nails, and finally decided to use Sally Hansen Jaded as a base coat and then sponge Jaded and Sinful Colors Tempest onto the nail.  I took some photos with just the gradient, and I must say I am super excited about how awesome these photos look!  Next, I stamped some easter goodies using BM302.  The bunny on my middle finger is a little smudged, but I like to think of him as one of those long hair bunnies!  :)  Happy Easter!

My Own Creation/I found a beauty supplier!!!

Hi everyone!  So today I would like to share a little nail art that I came up with all by myself!  I was sitting at work a few weeks ago toward the end of the day, and then it just hit me!  I wanted to do a  single neon and single purple chevron with black dots in-between.  I went home, painted it, and loved it!  Now, I did think of it on my own, but thats not to say others haven't thought of it before.  I used Milani Totally 80's and China Glaze Coconut Kiss.  You will probably notice that my cuticles are a bit flooded in this look, this is because I was afraid that if I did clean up, I would loose too much of the neon color.  If my nails were longer I would have had more space to work with and would have cleaned up,  buuuut, since my nails are still in the nub stage, I decided to not do clean up.

Now on to so exciting news!  I found a beauty supplier!  I always have seen that all the bloggers I admire have a "supplier" and always wanted my own.  Well, I was in the town next to where I live a few weeks ago and found a one off nail supply retailer!  It looks like a bit of a hole in the wall, but you go inside and its about 6 isles of all kinds of nail supplies.  If I remember correctly there are 5 end cap cases about 6 ft tall holding all of the OPI nail polish you could imagine!  There were colors I have never seen before, colors from discontinued collections, and the Euro collection that had just come out the day before!!!!  And, the owner said if there is any color I want that I don't see, that he can see if he can hunt it down for me!!!!!  Im so excited!  No more paying $9.00 at Ulta for OPI anymore!  This place also has an incredible selection of Color Club and a decent selection of China Glaze.  I cant express how excited I am about this!  :)

I really love how this came out!  It was all done with tape and a dotting tool.

I am trying to work on my photography, I just bought some new lights and will hopefully try them out today!

I put this photo up because I am liking the idea of playing with hand positioning.  I recently saw a post on Chalkboard Nails blog where she did something like this with her hand and really loved the way it looked.  

Unintentional Break/Happy St. Patty's Day!

Hello there! So, I have been away for a while as you can tell...I really didn't mean to take a break like this. Originally I was feeling a bit run down. So, I decided to take a week or two break from blogging. That 2 week break quickly turned into a 7 week break. Oops! I haven't quit painting my nails, just kinda got out of the habit of blogging about them. Hopefully it doesn't appear that I don't want to do this, I think it is just that this is my first blog and I jumped head first into it, and got a bit run down...plus I started the blog only a few months after I started nail art. So, I have been learning how to do two things at the same time. Anyhow, I am back and have a bundle of goodies to share! :)

Like I said before, I am still green (holiday pun intended!) to the world of nail art and nail care. To be honest I find it hard to stick with routines, trying to remember to use cuticle care multiple times a day, let alone once a day, is difficult for me. I am getting better though, and I am trying all kinds of new products. Most recently I purchased Lush Lemony Flutter and Essie Millionails. I have been using these two solidly for a few weeks now, and cant quite tell yet, but think my nails are stronger! While I was on my break, I kept having a problem with the breaking of one particular nail! My nails were looking great, all but my right ring finger. For some reason when I start to get length on that nail, it immediately tears. This has happened THREE times in a row!!! So, I decided to switch up my base coat to Essie Millionails, and have been trying really hard to remember to condition my cuticles. O, and I also switched up my remover from a generic pure acetone that was visibly drying out my skin, to OPI Expert Touch. Soooo, that all being said, I decided to cut all my nails on my right hand and now have nubs! Hopefully not for long though!

Finally, I will get to some photos. I have decided to put together a little series of what I have been up to for the St. Patrick's Day holiday!

 

For this little number I used Julep Lucky and Julep Felicity.  I have to say the Julep Luck is AWESOME!  I love it, and cant wait to use it again!!!

This manicure looks better on the hand than in pictures I think...

This is Chick polish Hipster Chick, I love the way it looks in the bottle, but I feel it was just kind of eh on me.  Maybe I should have done a little some thing to add some pizazz?

This one I really liked,  I used China Glaze Gaga for Green and Piggy Polish Get Orge It.  Haha, I like the Finger Paints name! :)  I did all of the tips and stripes, and the four leaf clover freehand!

Teal/Green Water Marble

The process of the water marble was really easy and clean, which really surprised me.  If you have tried water marbling you know what I am talking about.  I guess practice helps!  Lets just hope its the same for stamping...still have not mastered that.

On my other hand, I decided to be lazy and do my first ombre!  For that I used all three colors in the water marble plus China Glaze For Audrey, and on my thumb (not pictured) I used Sally Hansen Sea.  I have to say Sea really surprised me, in the bottle it looks like it would be opaque.  But really it is quite translucent.  I really like it, and want to find a way to use it again.

A co-worker of mine told me her daughter likes to do her nails, YAY!   She has tried the water marble, but has a tough time with it.  So, I told her I would post a tutorial on how to water marble.  However, I decided it would be better to share a link to the blog that really helped me learn how to water marble.  That would be Chloe's Nails.  I referred to her tutorial over and over until I got it down!

Whimsical Ideas by Pam: Seuss!

Ooooo!  I am so excited to share this polish with you today!  It is Whimsical Ideas by Pam: Seuss!  I have actually had this polish for a few months.  Every time I would go to pick my color to paint my nails, I would browse my shelves, see Seuss, admire it, and put it back.  It never felt like it was the right time to wear it.  I started seeing everyone wearing Seuss, and started thinking I needed to find a way to wear it and not blend in with everyone else.  Then it hit me!  I found my inspiration, I would do all my nails with Seuss, except my middle nail.  I would do that one as an accent nail; with solid red and a french tip of Seuss!  Its brilliant!  I love it!  I also love exclamation marks!  Hahaha!

To conserve my Seuss I used Sally Hansen Blinding Blue as my base color, followed by two coats of Seuss.  I love for my glitter polish to have a layered look.  The polish itself it awesome!  I love all the glitter, especially the tiny blue ones.   For the red I used Juelp January.  At first I tried to do the french tip without the silver strip, but as careful as I was, I could not keep the colors from bleeding together.  So, I got the idea to paint a piece of tape silver and cut out a little strip of it to make a clean straight line.  I really love it!  

Of all my polishes, I only own 13 Indie polishes from 3 makers.  11 of them are minis, and 2 are full size.  Those two full sizers would be my Whimsies, I have Seuss, as you can see, and I Love NY.  Trust me I want more!  Just the other night I was eyeballing Whimsical Ideas by Pam Peacock Park, and Magical Mystery Tour.  I think I will be getting those sooner than latter...hehehe!  There is no doubt that my Indie polish collection will continue to grow, but Whimsical Ideas by Pam Seuss and I Love NY will always have a special place in my heart as my first Indie purchases.   :)

First Photos in Light Box using Julep Madison!

Check it out!  My first photos in my new light box!   I have been playing around, getting used to it.  I can already see the quality of photos I am taking improving by leaps and bounds.  Yay!    I really wanted to use a color that would photograph well.  So I chose to use a solid, bright color that I knew would be photogenic.  The color I used is Julep Madison.  I got it in my most recent Julep Maven box, and originally was not all that excited about it.  But when I got it on, that was a different story.  I am obsessed with this color!  I love 1940's styling; makeup, hair, and clothing.  This polish looks like it would be from that time, I could totally see a woman from back then wearing it.  I would describe it as a red with a bit of a coral color to it.  I have had it on for days because it looks so timeless, and makes me happy every time I look at it.   If there had to be a down side, it would be the finish.  I don't know if it is supposed to be like this, but the finish without a top coat is very flat and plastic-y looking.  But with a great top coat it is killer!  I cant wait to use it again!

DIY Lightbox

Here it is!  My light box!  I love it, and it is great!  It was really easy to assemble, I actaully had almost everything I needed right at home.  I only had to buy the poster board, and the fabric for the sides.  I figure I will just do a caption for each photo, I think it will be easier that way.  I used this website for guidance on how to do this:  How to Make An Inexpensive Light Tent - DIY

Here is what I used.  Sharpie for marking where the cutouts will be,  a ruler to measure the cutouts, fabric to cover the cutouts, and masking tape.  O yea, and the box, you can kinda see it there!

The Box!  Any box will work I suppose, however I have already tried this once with a small box and tissue paper.  That one did not last longer than a few days... :(

The box after I cut out the sections on the top, and both sides

Ta-da!  If there could be music playing, it would be!!! Hehe!  The finished product.  It took less than an hour, and because I already had most of what I needed it cost less than $7.00!  Woot!