February in Minnesota is a funny month. It is still winter. Spring does not really come until May, but often, in February, we have a little warming streak. By warming, I mean low 40's. It tricks us into thinking spring might come early. After living in Minnesota for the majority of my life, I will no longer be tricked! I learned early. I remember praying, year after year when I was young, that I would wake up on my birthday to discover the early spring flowers breaking through the snow. My birthday is in March. It never happened. My husband, however, is a California boy. A raise in temperature means spring is here. It took several years of removing his snow tires in February, only to have to put them back on in March, for him to learn his lesson. I still have to remind him of these past miscalculations and sometimes he blatantly refuses to give in to it all and will take those darn snow tires off anyway.
All of this is to say that, although there is no snow on the ground right now, I am under no disillusions that it is gone for good. This means that the Blogger Bragger theme of snowflakes is still appropriate.
Isn't that purple gorgeous?
It is two coats of Essie Coat Couture. I am totally in love with this polish! It has three of my favorite characteristics; it is dusty, it has shimmer and is matte. In this case, a dusty purple filled with a blue shimmer and a waxy matte finish. So stunning!
It is just as pretty with a top coat, although I am partial to the matte.
As often happens, I found Julep Margit on the same nail wheel as Coat Couture, so I decided to try stamping with it. Turns out it, like many Juleps recently, it stamps well. Just enough of a distinction between the the purples to make it not too subtle.
Finally, I topped the snowflakes only with Sinful Color Pearl Harbor for a little sparkle. In most of the pics it just looks purple, but on my index and ring in this one, you see Pearl Harbor's real beauty, a blue iridescent glitter. I just love it!
As always, thanks for looking and commenting!
Quick! Barielle is having another daily special and this one is amazing!
Get all five of these lovelies for $9.95. This includes shipping! Less than $2 each! This only lasts today though, so hurry over to Barielle HERE to get it!
Now I have something to tell you. I am doing what I never thought I would ever do....I am going back to school! And for something I never thought I would do.....Nail Technician. I feel like such a cliche. I took some time, though, to decide if it was really what I wanted. Just because I like doing my own nails does not necessarily mean I would want to do others. I started with doing my sister's nails. Once a week for several months. My sister is a good critic. And if I can do her nails in the front seat of her car, I should be able to do anyone's anywhere, right?
My biggest concern has been time. I can easily spend hours doing my own nails. Doing Bonnie's every week gave me the opportunity to increase my skills and speed. But the real test came at Christmas time. Bonnie was having a Christmas party with friends and asked if I would do manicures for those that wanted them as her Christmas present to them. It started out as only three girls. By the end of the night it was seven. There were all kinds of personalities and I had so much fun. A lot of work, but still fun. Seven manicures in a little over three hours. I did not do any cuticle care, but I still think I did good time! Here is a group pic I got with five of the ladies. (Two had left by the time I got around to pictures).
I prepared about 10 looks and brought everything needed with me. I had samples on a nail wheel so people could choose. Three people chose designs, but wanted different colors and we worked it all out. The red green and gold plaid was changed into a teal and copper plaid. I think that one was my favorite. Everyone had something different. So much fun!
So, here I am, days away from starting this new chapter in my life, nervous and excited all at the same time. I don't know if it is the best financial choice for me, but I have big plans. Eventually I would like to have my own salon suite for natural nail care and provide low-to-no cost manicures for women reentering the workforce. This is what really gets me excited. It means further education in non-profit, but not right now. One step at a time, right. Some days I feel I am too old to try and change my life so dramatically, but if not now.....Boy, I am one big cliche these days!
Thanks for looking and commenting!.
*This post was started on April 30th, but Tumblr sucked me in while searching for gifs. *does not feel ashamed*
April 30th and time for the last installment of The Nail Challenge Collaborative Music/Movies/TV prompt. I feel I just scratched the surface with this one....especially since I didn't even touch music!
Can you guess what this is for? Do you have kids? If not, you may have no idea. It is actually inspired by one of my favorite animated movies (one of many), The Rise of the Guardians. If you enjoy witty kids movies, you will love it. Right up there with The Incredibles, Monster Inc, How to Train Your Dragon, etc.
Yep, Jack Frost's infamous hoodie!
I started with two coats of Avon Suede Blue Royale.
Then I added some Different Dimensions Selene with a fan brush.
I can imagine a better interpretation, but then I almost always do. Love it anyways. Plus it seems perfectly appropriate since it has been snow showering here for the past three days! *rolls eyes* I will leave you with some Guardian love and then some NCC links. Thanks for looking!
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!
So much to do, so little time! I am taking time, however, to show you my last mani for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge. I did this as a Christmas present for my sister-in-law. She is very hard on her hands, so I wanted to pamper her. She was so happy with the outcome and I was happy that she was happy. Plus I liked it too!
S-I-L wanted her nails so that she could admire them, therefore the orientation is different than I normally do.
I started with two coats of LVX Celeste, a beautiful pale blue creme. I have said it before and I will say it again, LVX knows how to produce an excellent creme. I sponged the base with Konad Special White. Big mistake! When we were at the State Fair the Konad Rep did a sponged gradient with their stamping polishes on Bria and I had left my white polish on my mani desk, so I figured why not. This polish sponged well and dried quickly, but cleaning it up from the cuticles was a b***h! I normally would use straight acetone for stubborn polish, but S-I-L's skin was so dry, I didn't want to dry it out more.
Next I stamped with BM-407 and China Glaze Strap on Your Moon Boots. Then I stamped the thumb with BM-014 and Strap On Your Moon Boots.
Finally I added one coat of Essie Carnival, a holographic glitter, and top coat. I love how Carnival makes it seem like it is snowing. So purdy! Check out the other freestyle Christmas designs.
Get ready boys and girls, I got some gorgeousness coming your way courtesy of Essie. 12 days of Christmas prompt is snow/winter. Let's get right to it!
Look at that gorgeousness! Yep I am all about the texture recently.
This started with two coats of Essie Lots of Lux from their Encrusted Treasures collection. Such a stunning bright blue. This also is the most opaque textured polish I have purchased so far. It could easily be a one coater, but I used two coats because I know what macros do with visible nail lines. Yep this is pretty, but just wait for the top coat further down in the post.
Next I stamped with Sugar Bubbles SB Special 002 and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep. This plate has my favorite Christmas/Holiday images. <3 it!
I like Essie Lots of Lux textured, but top coated this polish is stunning! All the sparkly bits, well they....sparkle :) So purdy! Here comes the spam!
What do you think? Best blue textured ever (so far)? Is it sparkly enough for ya? Wintery enough? Let me know! And thanks for looking!
Tina
Challenge 12 of the Let It Snow NAC is winter wonderland. I loved how this turned out!
I started with two coats of Dandy Nails Chilled Down.
I love this polish! A white base with brown and blue flakies...Winter personified! Dandy does it again. You can find this and other wonderful polish at her Etsy shop HERE or at Ninja Polish HERE.
Next I sponged the tips with Contrary Polish Hayride, another glorious indie. I love to be contrary (tee hee). Want to see it on it's own? Check a previous post HERE.
Next I stamped with LeLac XL plate B and Avon Forbidden Fudge and filled in the branches with "snow" made with OPI My Vampire is Buff, my new favorite "white".
This just screams winter to me. I love it all, even the way a little bit of the branch stamped on my index finger. A final look, then check the other winter manis.
