This virus is kickin' my butt! Over a week and I am still dealing with it. It has moved into my chest. I have been sleeping more hours a night in the past three days than I have in the past year. Like 11-12 hours when I normally average 5-6. I have always needed less sleep, and going to bed at 8 o'clock makes me sad. This also means that the end of the Nail-Art-A-Go-Go challenge has been suffering as much as me :( I have had a couple of nail fails that I just decided were not worth the time and energy to edit and post. I was feeling the same way about this mani, but decided to go ahead and post it anyways. We all have fails right? Get ready for the mess!
This was inspired by this piece by Penelope Paige.
You can see my mistake. Some day I will get the whole sugar spun thing down.
I started with two coats of China Glaze Desert Sunset. I have such a crush on this color, and I can't figure out why! It is an orange leaning caramel color. The only thing I can figure is that I have a soft spot for colors that are not like....other colors? Some people would call them fugly. I like a good blue or purple or pink as much as the other guy, as my stash can attest, but I love unusual colors. This is one of those, not orange, not brown, somewhere between the two. <3
Next I sponged with Maybelline High Style Sienna
Then I sponged again with OPI Lost On Lombardo. Looks kinda bloody, huh?
Sponged again with Finger Paints Black Expressionism.
Then I went and tried to do the squiggles with the spun sugar technique. Um...No. I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri Quick Sand. I thought that the quick dry on this would help. Yes and no. It got to the right consistency very quickly, but just as quickly passed through the stringy phase into the "I am going to clump on your tool and not do anything you want me to do!" So there you go, another nail fail. Now check the other non-fail nails. I'm going to go take a nap.
Finally caught up! Now I need to make sure I don't fall behind again! Today's prompt is Oils. Sorry, not going to happen. It also had a subtitle of textures or brushstrokes. I decided to use both and use today to show some swatches too. Yep, this is going to be a bit pic heavy! I will not ask for forgiveness!
I used all China Glaze Sea Goddess polishes for this mani. First I will show you the swatches. I grabbed all but one of these from my local Sally's because I hadn't seen ANY swatches of it at that point, so I thought I would "jump the gun", so to speak, on the swatching front. By the time I had swatches done and pics edited, (only 2 days) swatches were flourishing on the blogs. I decided to wait until this post to put them on the blog. So here are my picks from the Sea Goddess collection...yep, all but one. I was not interested in the "dirty white" (in my opinion).
China Glaze Teal the Tides Turn - 3 coats
Let's start with my least favorite. I wanted to like this, I really did, but it just is not a success for me. It is thin and watery, although it isn't a cuticle flooder. It is the least glittery and, because it needs so many coats for opacity, the texture is a little lost. Some may like it because of the color itself, but I just cannot get past the poor application issues.
China Glaze Shell We Dance - 3 coats
Another one that was somewhat disappointing. It is not watery like Teal the Tides Turn, but it is sheer and required three coats for opacity. In addition, it has a patchy application with balding in color and texture unless you use a careful hand. This light raspberry pink is filled with silver, red and black micro glitters. I felt the black glitters makes this look a bit dirty, but that is just my opinion. If you like the color and don't mind having to use a light touch, this may be one you would want.
China Glaze Tail Me Something - 2 coats
Now we get to the ones I think are definitely worth adding to your stash. This metallic lilac texture is fully opaque in two coats, applies easily and is very pretty. There are other light purple textures out, but it is the metallic finish that makes it stand out. The texture is also a bit smoother on this one.
China Glaze Sea Horsin' Around - 2 coats
Now we come to the one I think EVERYONE should own. The thing I like about Sea Horsin' Around is....well, everything. The gorgeous blue metallic finish, the golden shimmer (which you can see the most in the blurred pic), the perfect texture. This one applied easily and is stunning on the nail. Who could ask for more? I could.
I swatched this with a base coat, had it on only long enough for application, pics and removal, and yet this is what my nails looked like upon removal. I hate to think what it would look like after a few days of wear! Wear it anyways! Just double up on your base and be prepared to do some nail cleaning afterwards.
China Glaze Wish on a Starfish - 2 coats
This is easily my favorite of the bunch. A textured bubblegum pink filled with gold shimmer. Oh so lovely. My hubby thought it wasn't quite appropriate for a 30 something working woman. I don't know that I care! I love it! Easy application...a must for anyone with a passion for bubblegum pink....or shimmer....or texture....or all of the above.
Before I get on to the art, let me talk about top coating these. I tried it with all of them. You don't see any pics, because it made little difference in appearance, only in texture. I think it is because of the highly reflective colors, rather than matte finishes, it still looked textured with top coat, just didn't feel textured. You can see this in the above pic which has two coats of Seche Vite. Now, onto the art!
Stripped with Shell We Dance.
And Tail Me Something.
And Seahorsin' Around.
So there you have it, texture and brushstrokes. Do you like the Sea Goddess collection? Which do you like best? Would you be willing to put up with the application issues of Teal the Tide Turns for its' minty color? What about Wish on a Starfish? Is it appropriate for a middle aged woman? Should we even care? Thanks for wading through this long and pic heavy post! See you tomorrow!
After this post, I will be all caught up! For now (tee hee). Today's prompt is surrealism. Surrealism is the juxtaposition of unrelated things in a strange way. For me, this virus has been surreal, knocking me out in a way I haven't been in a long time. Inspired by Jenna from Inky Whiskers Musing, I decided to combine the idea of all my snot rags with my nails. Thanks Jenna!
I started with two coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff. It had some bald spots at two coats, but I didn't care because I knew I was going to stamp over it.
Next I stamped with BM-416 and Zoya Piaf. Piaf is a pastel yellow filled with metallic micro flecks. Then I used DRK-C and stamped different "snot splatters" with Cult Nails Baker and Zoya Gemma.
I really like how subtle this is. Yes, it fits the snot rag theme well! More pics on the way.
What do you think? Snotty enough for you. Sorry if this grosses you out, it just makes me giggle, and I need all the giggles I can get right now! Thanks for checkin' them out!
This mani is so apropos since we had a blizzard yesterday and I was unable to get out of my alley. Hubby spent most of the day shoveling the alley so that I could get out for work today. You would think with a day at home, I would be caught up on the Nail-Art-A-Go-Go challenge, but I spent most of the day in bed, still recovering from this virus that has hit me. Enough about all that, let's see the nails!
This is for both the NAGG and AIS Sunday Stamping. These are Bria's lovely nails. She is doing a really good job taking care of her nails recently! Look how long her nails are! She is helping me do some base coat comparison testing. Once again, thanks Bria for being my nail model!
This started with 2 coats of Scofflaw Flotsam & Jetsam. If you want to see this beauty on its' own, check my favorite 2013 teals HERE.
I stamped with Sugar Bubble SB Special 002 and ILNP Birefringence (H). I absolutely am smitten with this plate. It takes patterns that seem to be on every holiday plate and makes them better. Different sizes and shapes of snowflakes with little "bubbles" thrown in. No need to use different plates, this hits all the right notes.
Now let's talk about Birefringence as a stamping polish. It shows as a dark grey, but with flashes of that gorgeous blue holo. It was practically impossible to catch it in the pics, but you can see it a little wherever the light reflects off the nail in these pics.
This was but best that I could capture it. It made this very....surprising? You see the grey and then, BOOM, a stunning blue jumps out at you! Love it! I will be back soon with another post, and then I will be all caught up (except for the days I skipped :( Thanks for looking!
Not only have I been sick, but we had a blizzard yesterday which knocked out our internet last night and most of the day today. I have skipped a few days of the Nail-Art-A-Go-Go challenge, and probably will not be doing them. I had a Sci-Fi mani that was the biggest nail fail I have ever had. I may show it at some point, but probably as a "Fail" post. I am very happy, though, to post yesterday's prompt today :) The prompt is Pop Culture. I knew I did not want to do Pop Art. What popular culture did I want to portray. One that has always fascinated me is Steam Punk. It calls to my esthetic AND whimsy. I love it.
Although this looks complicated, and did have several steps, it was easy. I think it is because I knew I could be as random as I wanted!
I started with two layers of Sinful Colors Leather Loose. Although I really wanted to leave this matte, I knew there was a good possibility that I would have to top coat the end result, so I wanted to show you this brown, gold speckled matte beauty.
Next I randomly sponged with Mentality Hope. This polish was made for steam punk!
Then I stamped with BM-012 and Maybelline Bold Gold.
Again, more stamping. BM-415 and Revlon Copper Penny. Winstonia W206 and Silver Sweep. The copper wasn't standing out so I top coated it. I still wasn't completely happy with the copper, but I wasn't completely unhappy either.
I then added some little gold studs to the center of the silver gears. Here comes the pic spam!
I really like this, but I can see much room for improvement. This will certainly be visited again. Thanks for stopping by!
