So I'm slacking on the challenge. I've gotten soooo many new polishes lately, I just want to try them all! Plus, I'm still testing the stamps from my friend's plate that I used in my last manicure.
My husband recently pulled a muscle in his back. When he went to the pharmacy to pick up some muscle relaxers, he had 15 minutes to kill. I swear, he tried to bring home ALL THE POLISH! He brought home between 15-20 polishes for me, and amazingly, there were only 3 that I already had. So he did good! Then I went to Sally, and they were still having their buy 2 get 1 free sale, and I wanted to pick up another bottle of Fairy Dust anyway, so I grabbed 2 other China Glaze polishes that I'd been lemming but were always out of stock when I went. When it came time to redo my nails, I just took the bag full of polish that Husband bought, threw in the 2 new China Glazes, handed the bag to husband and said "Close your eyes and pick." This is what I ended up with!
The blue is China Glaze First Mate, which reminds me so much of the TARDIS from Doctor Who. That was the main reason I wanted this polish! Then I stamped on top with Revlon Smoldering. I am loving this polish. I wasn't sure how it would stamp, but Husband wanted me to try, and it stamped really well. The color shift is even more apparently in person than in pictures. I have such a hard time capturing color shifts on camera! Don't mind the scratches and dings. We didn't have sun when the mani was fresh, so there's a bit of wear.
I've been slacking on my cuticle care the last week or so, and it really shows. But I'm back on the wagon now, so they'll be happy again in no time! Of course, it doesn't help that I've been knitting like a fiend the last few days. I'm trying to finish a Red Riding Hood-esque cape for my daughter. I'd hoped to have it ready by her birthday tomorrow, but that's not going to happen, due to technical difficulties with the pattern. Completely me being a derphead. But it will be awesome when it's done!
It's been a week since my last post, but I have a good excuse! My sunset manicure actually lasted that long! This is a record for me. Normally, my polish starts to chip after 3 days at the most.
Today I'm taking a break from the 30 day challenge to show you a manicure I did for a different challenge. This was more of a personal challeng. My guild leader from my World of Warcraft (yeah...I'm a geek) guild challenged me to do parrot nails. So, I gave it a shot! There are a few things I'd do differently if I do something similar again, but for the most part I'm happy with it.
Now that St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, it's back to challenge nails for me. Today is day 9: Rainbow. Now, I tried and tried to do traditional rainbows. I tried multiple techniques, but I didn't like how any of them came out. So I thought about it, and I decided that rainbow doesn't necessarily mean an actual rainbow, but just a rainbow of colors. I'd read about watercolor nails, and gave it a go! Now, I think this technique might work better with fewer colors, but I still like how it turned out.
I had this grand plan to do rainbows and pots o'gold on my nails for St. Patrick's Day, but alas, it was not to be. My rainbows just wouldn't turn out!! So I went with plan B: Zoya Holly with pots o'gold that I made using a ziploc bag. For the pots, I started with a base of WnW Black Lace Creme. I decided that didn't look enough like cast iron, so I added China Glaze Stone Cold on top. The coins I made using a dotting tool and Orly Luxe topped with Color Club Take the Stage. I topped the whole deal with Seche Vite. Actually, that's not entirely true. I used Revlon Quick Dry Topcoat on all my fingers on top of the Zoya, then put the decals on my ring fingers, *then* put Seche Vite on just the accent finger. Of course, I had to go and bugger it up by putting the pots on my nails "upside down", but oh well. I'm still really pleased with how it turned out
Hiya! I'm starting this blog mostly to help myself remember what manicures I've done, and to share with my friends. I'm not a professional, not even close. My clean-up may suck most of the time, and my designs aren't always perfect. And that's just fine with me! I'm also not a photographer. I do my best, but my pictures don't look anywhere near professional. Hopefully, I'll get better with practice.
So I've decided to start with the 30 day/week/whatever challenge that has been floating around for a while. I know it's old news, but I needed inspiration this morning, so I've decided to go with it. I don't paint my nails every day, nor do my manicures *ever* last a week, so I'll just be going down the list as I redo my nails. First up: Red!
For this, I started with Nailtiques 2 ('cause I have peely nails. They're getting better, though!), and then a coat of Orly Bonder for grippy goodness. After that, 2 coats of Orly Star Spangled and a coat of Revlon Quick Dry Topcoat. The dots were done with Spoiled Bite Me and China Glaze Poinsetta. I put a coat of Seche Vite topcoat over everything, to seal it in and give it that shine I love so much.
