A new month, a new challenge. This month starts The Crumpet Nail Tarts Pick n Mix Challenge. There is one prompt with two parts each week. This week is two color gradient/teal. You can do one nail art with two color gradient or one with teal or both on two different days or one with a gradient that includes teal. Get it? Sounds complicated, but it isn't, it just gives a lot of flexibility as to what you want to do. Plus, the idea is to concentrate on your golden oldies and untrieds.
On top of the Mix n Match, I decided to continue to try and get some of the #31DC2014 prompts completed. Plus Llama nails. I am becoming the combo prompt queen! Today's nail art is for inspired by a song (31DC2014), two color gradient (Crumpet Nail Tarts) and cartoon/anime. Here we go!
These, once again, are Bria's sweet nails. Why do I always do the complicated ones on Bria's tiny tips?
I have recently discovered a children's program that was on for three seasons starting in 2006. It is brilliant, funny and dark, which is right up my alley. It is Ruby Doom. I stumbled across it on Netflix and devoured two season within two days. I Bingeflix! This nail art was inspired by the following song.
Misery is a girl who's life is filled with, well, misery. And she is in bed because she can only sing (well) when she is asleep.
Anyway, I love this song and it fits my life perfectly right now. I try not to throw my personal life into my blog too much, but since it relates to the song....Some of you know I lost my job. Hunting for a new job after 12 years at the company is...well, let's say stressful. Then my dog got sick. After an expensive vet visit (which we can't afford because...well no job) we were given some pills and told to complete the course and see if he improved. He seemed much better, until we completed the medication. Then he started throwing up and having diarrhea again. Took him into the vet today. They did blood work and a rectal exam because he no longer will sit, only stand or lie down. They found that he has kidney disease and a hard growth in his anal glands. The growth may or may not be cancerous, but finding out would mean a biopsy, which, again, costs money. And the kidney disease? It has no cure and can only be managed with regular IV fluids. All this to say that we are going to have to put him down. If it was just one issue he was dealing with, we might pursue things further, but it would be for us, not him. He is obviously (at least to me) suffering and he is old. He was a stray, so our best guess is that he is 14 or older since we have had him for 13 years. So this song fits right now. Oh what the heck, throw in a sick dog.
I am keeping a stiff upper lip. I continue to look for a job and give my dog as much love as I can, while I can, but I feel like my life is spinning. That is why I continue to do my nails, and Bria's. It is relaxing and brings me joy. I may be posting less often, but don't expect me to disappear. I hope you feel like that is a good thing!
On to the nails!
My two color gradient consists of Julep Millie, an indigo creme, and Arcane Lacquer Dreary days (fits, huh?). Dreary Days is my untried. It is a gorgeous grey filled with blue and black glitter. These two go together perfectly IMHO.
I ended up really happy with this, except my middle finger. Let me walk you through it.
I added Orly Diamond Days on pinkie and middle. I don't know why I didn't add it to all of them, but I think I thought it would just be covered up with the stamping.
If you watched the video, you can figure most of these out. The ring is my pitiful attempt at freehanding the bridge. I tried to use an Eiffel Tower stamp, but it wasn't transferring, no matter what stamper I used. Oh well, you get the idea. My thumb is for the line "Did that place you're in explode". Love it!
I stamped everything but my thumb with MJ XX, my index with MJ XIX and ring with Vivid Lacquer VL 016.
I am kind of liking the multiple plate stamping right now. The only problem with this is that the Mash plate image stamps backward and I didn't realize until we were done. Unless you do a decal, it says BOOW instead of BOOM.
Bria, of course, loved this. The more complicated, the better, in her opinion. Plus she likes Ruby Gloom almost as much as I do.
Thanks for looking and commenting!
July zoomed by, but August is crawling. I think there is a couple of reasons. First, is that our 20th anniversary is at the end of the month, and although we don't have distinct plans, I have a whole week off! We are talking about going to the north shore for a few days. Kinda playing it by ear since we are not sure what days Scott will be able to take off. Having something to look forward to is slowing down time and making the days drag by.
The second reason is another "looking forward slows the days down". In November we will have all of our credit card debt paid off. We have been chipping away at it for three and a half years and will make our last payment in three short months. But the days are stretching and making it hard to wait. With a huge chunk of our income no longer slipping through our hands (more than our mortgage, if I can be honest), it will create such monetary freedom! Just in time to look at college loans :( We have some other plans also, doing work to the house that we have been putting off. A vehicle for the dear son is in the plans too, although he is only getting a junker. We have even talked about getting me a new car and Devin can have the van, but we are trying to be very careful not to go right back into debt again!
What I am trying to say is that I have a hard time believing that it is only the second week of August and I am already posting my second Nail Challenge Collaborative mani! I almost saved this for my last one, because you should always save the best for last, right? I think I may have one coming up that I will like more, though. Let's take a look.
I really ended up loving this one. Don't know why. Not perfectly executed or even that ingenious. It just ended up looking like exactly like what I imagined, a delicate flowered and gold banded teacup.
I started with three coats of this unknown blue Essie. I think it is Bikini So Teeny, but, since it came in a grab bag with no label, I can't be sure. Do you have BST? Is this it?
I stamped with My Online Shop MJ XX and Konad Special White. This is an old, flawed version of the plate. The new one does not have this image, which I think is sad. It is beautifully delicate. Yes, the roses may not be perfectly etched, but that is fine with me. You could always add details to them after you stamp. So glad I have this plate, despite it's flaws. If you want to see the new version, you can find it HERE.
I wore this as is for a couple of days and decided it was not what I wanted. I originally was going for a Wedgewood look. Purdy, but it ended up a bit to busy for me. I decided I really wanted to evoke an antique china look. So I pondered and searched images. I never found exactly what I was looking for, but all the gilt trimmed pretties inspired me anyways. Did you know that cups and saucers used to be trimmed in silver and gold because it was believed to kill germs? Plus it is pretty!
I ended up adding large french tips with the same Essie blue and then adding some gold stripes. I am much happier with this look and wore it for another two days. That may be a record!
I got mixed reactions at work. Some of them liked the original and some liked this. Do I listen to what other people say about my nails? NO! I wear what I love, regardless of season or opinion! I can see these as lovely bridal nails! Anyone for "something blue"? Thanks for looking and commenting. I have been lazy with my responses to comments, but I am making a conscious effort to improve! Believe me, I read and love all that you have to say! See you next time.
Only one more prompt for the Never Ending Pile Challenge and then we are taking a break. Today's prompt was a fun one for me, dupes! I finally have a huge enough stash that I have dupes! The funny thing is, I find that I am always drawn to the same types of polish...same color, same shade. For a long time it was corals. I grabbed every coral I found. Right now it is neon pinks, even though I rarely wear them. I have a problem.
My untried is Loreal Sexy In Sequins, a dark purple texture with gold, green, silver, pink and purple glitter. I am wearing two coats here. This polish is da bomb! Problem is that I have three others that are very similar. Seriously, THREE!
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| With Flash |
Here's the line up. All are shown with two coats:
- Index - Finger Paints Sparkle In The Sky
- Middle - Loreal Sexy In Sequins
- Ring - OPI Alcatraz Rocks
- Pinkie - Julep Glam Roc
As you can see, Sparkle In The Sky and Alcatraz Rocks are more blue leaning. The OPI gives better coverage and has more depth of sparkle. Texture is better too, smoother.
Sexy In Sequins and Glam Roc are the real dupe contenders. I personally like the Loreal better, both for price and for formula. It has chunkier glitter, which I love, and applies better. Do I need all four? Nope, not since I am trying to whittle away at my collection. Which ones are going into the blog sale/giveaway pile? Sparkle In The Sky and Glam Rock.
These are your nails. These are your nails on dupes. Any questions? Thanks for looking and commenting!
I have a long weekend! Didn't work yesterday, not working until Tuesday! I hope to catch up on my challenges...and the housework....and laundry....and celebrate Bria's 19th birthday...and maybe squeeze in a date with the hubster. Just a few things on my plate!
Catching up means that this is or yesterdays prompt for The Never Ending Pile challenge, free polish. This one was won in a giveaway. A couple months back, I was the giveaway queen. I entered every one I found and won four in one month. Since then, I just haven't had time. Entering giveaways can be very time consuming.
This is KBShimmer Laugh Myself Lily, a glitter filled light blue jellie that looks different on my nails than in the bottle. Totally opaque at three coats, the pink of my nail beds still influenced the color of the base, giving it a cooler tint. I think if I would have used a white base, it would have shown up as the beautiful robins egg blue you see in the bottle. Lesson Learned.
Next I stamped with PUEEN13 and Julep Laree, a hot pink with a gold shimmer.
At some angles you could see the gold shimmer, but most of the time you just saw pink. You can see the gold on my middle finger below.
The finished look looks like a jellie sandwich, in my opinion, but it is not. What do you think? Ocean or psychedelic sky? Thanks for looking and commenting! Hope your weekend is good and long too!
Tina
There is neon all over everywhere this season! OPI, China Glaze, Essie, Color Club. The list seems endless. It seems, therefore, very appropriate for The Never Ending Pile Challenge to have a neon prompt.
This mani is eye shocking IRL. Camera shocking too! Imagine this about 10 times brighter and you may have a slight idea how bright it really is.
Stamping decals....that is how I achieved this look. I started by stamping LLC-B and Finger Paints Black Expressionism onto my trusty silicone baking sheet. I the filled the squares/rectangles with the following colors:
- Coral - China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
- Green - China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard
- Pink - China Glaze Life's a Beach
- Blue - China Glaze Splish Splash
- Purple - Pop Art Purple
Yes, this was a bit tedious and did take me quite awhile longer than most of my manicures, but I think it was totally worth it!
After trimming the decals, I added two layers of Cult Nails Tempest and one of top coat. While the top coat was still wet, I pressed the decals to the nail. You can see, on my ring and pinkie, that I put a little too much pressure on the decal and split it. Looks like my wall is crumbling (tee hee).
Thank goodness that, after all that work, I ended up really enjoying this! It would have been pitiful if I didn't!
Even in the mega micro pics, I am still happy with it! Being the obsessive that I am, that doesn't happen very often.
As always, thanks for looking and commenting!
Back again! Today's prompt for The Never Ending Pile Challenge is brown. I had several to choose from since I love brown polish.....I think I say that about almost every color, right? This is going to very pic heavy since I ended up loving the look almost as much as the polish I chose!
So purdy! But is it a brown? Let's look closer.
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| With Flash |
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| Artifical Light |
This is three coats of Jindie Nails Clyde, one of a two polish Bonnie and Clyde collection. It was fully opaque at two coats, but you know me, it is all about the depth when it comes to flakies and glitter, so I threw another coat on for good measure. Technically, this is not a brown, it is a black jellie filled with lots of gorgeous flakies and shimmer, which give it a brown tinge.
Look at those flakies! I love me some flakies! There are bronze gold and copper flakies, plus pink glitter. The pink was shy for the camera, but you cans just barely see them on my index in the flash bottle pic above. This polish takes my breath away!
Next I stamped with GALS GA44 and Revlon Star Attraction, an antique copper magnetic polish.
What it ended up doing was making it look like the design was etched, even with top coat.
I loved the etched effect, even though it wasn't what I had in mind. I did some test stamping and had a polish that was copper colored....don't remember now what it was....but must have confused which polish was which and ended up with this instead. Happy mistake!
I am posting a lot more flash pics than I usually do because it really shows off the flakies. Get ready for the pic spam!
Yep, the stone tells the whole story. Thanks for visiting and commenting!
