My Life is a Train Wreck

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!  

Buffalo Bill Nail Art

Life is getting in the way of nails around here :(  I had my water marble (you can see it HERE) for several days and finally forced myself to change it.  As I sat at my desk with a list of the prompts I had not completed yet for the #31DC2014, I spied a nail decal left over from THIS nail art.  It was done months ago but must have been hiding out under a polish bottle or something :)  As soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to do the book and movie prompt together, plus the skittles prompt for Blogger Braggers.

Yup, Silence of the Lambs was a book before it was a movie.  I have seen manis inspired by this movie before, but I wanted to concentrate on Buffalo Bill instead of Hannibal Lecter.

I started with two coats of LynBDesigns Battle Dress, a shimmery nude polish.  This is an older swatch pic, which is why my nails are shorter.  I need to go back to this length :).

The well is on my index finger, which of course had to include the bloody scratches and finger nail.  I sponged with Julep Daria (a dark grey) and Nails Inc Old Compton Street (a light grey texture) then stamped with LLC-B.  Scratches are Orly Naughty.

The middle finger is a decal using MoYou 67.  I double stamped the ring finger with Messy Mansion MM36, Mentality Prim and Mentality Foxy.  "It puts the lotion in the basket or it gets the hose again".

The pinkie was splattered with Orly Naughty, what I think is the perfect blood polish.  I did not clean up the cuticles on purpose for a more gory effect.

Finally I free handed Buffalo Bills hand tattoo on my thumb.  Did you know that the three tattoos he has are tattoos from three notorious serial killers, at least that is what I read somewhere during my research and you know everything on the internet is real :)

That's it kiddies.  I have the mood stone, not particularly because I love the nail art, but because I love my interpretation of the movie onto my nails.  Kinda like my Donnie Darko manicure you can find HERE. 

As always, thanks for looking and commenting!

Barielle Water Marble Nail Art

After reviewing the Barielle Me Couture collection (you can find the review HERE), I wanted to do some nail art.  The formula was so perfect, I suspected they would work well for the #31DC2014 water marbling prompt.  I was right!

I have tried water marbling several times and I have to say that these were the best polishes I have used.  They spread wonderfully and don't dry to fast.  Seriously perfect!

I started with a white base and water marbled with Barielle Moda Bleu, Vintage Gown and Soho at Night.

I am still perfecting this technique and, as always, can see all my flaws, but I ended up really happy with it.

This whole collection will be going into my "use to water marble" list.  I am sure that they will be ones that help the non spreading polish work.  Yeah, I LOVE this collection!

Thanks for looking and commenting!

Doctor Who's Galaxy Nail Art

At the beginning of the month, I shared the nail art I wore to the Doctor Who premiere.  If you missed it, you can find it HERE.  Today I am showing you what Bria wore.  This is for the #31DC2014 prompt "galaxies".

This is my first attempt at galaxy nail art.  I always have been a little nervous about it.  I shouldn't have been.

I started with a base of Pahlish Eleven's Hour Is Over Now, a dark grey filled with flakies and some silver glitter.  It is the perfect base for this.  Not too dark, but with interest all on its own.

Next I sponged it with LynBDesigns Oobleck (green), LynBDesigns Tesalecta's Kiss (pink) and INLP Peace (purple).  I topped it all off with Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond, a holo glitter.

I created decals with MJ XII, Mentality Tough (blue) Cult Nails New Day (yellow).

I took these pics several days after I painted them, so there is a little bit of cuticle growth.

Bria loved this, so she wanted to make sure that that I took a mood stone.  I even ended up liking it., although I still can see areas of improvement.  It was so easy, I will definitely be trying it again!

Thanks for looking and commenting!  

Tina

Geometric Nail Art

Today I have geometric nail art for two challenges, #31DC2014 and The Nail Challenge Collaborative.  I did this nail art at the beginning of the month when we decided on the geometric prompt for NCC.  I have done so many manis' since then, I did not have it in mind when I did my first post for the month HERE.  When I started editing the pics for this second post, I realized...I used the SAME IMAGE!  Dooh!  Oh well, they look totally different!

I used the lead lighting technique here, stamping and then filling in with jellie polish.

I used the following jellies:

• Light blue - Llarowe Ocean Water
• Dark blue - Llarowe Grape Juice
• Pink - Sally Hansen Diamond Strength It's Chiff-On
• Yellow - Ellagee Cadmium Glass

I had fun doing this, trying to make sure that none of the segments had the same color right next to each other.  It made my need for order happy.  Silly Tina!

Once again, just a quick post.  My brain is filled with so many things/issues right now, it is hard to do anything other than show you the pics.  Hope your day is fantabulous!

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Delicate Stamping Nail Art

Get ready for some amazing polish!  Mind blowingly beautiful!   This is for #31DC2014.  The prompt is delicate print.  I'm not gonna waste your time with to many words, just to many pics.

 

This is I Love Nail Polish Black Orchid.  It is a beautiful red leaning purple holo.  

ILNP Black Orchid with flash

ILNP Black Orchid artificial light

I have several dark purple holos in my stash.  This one is different from them all as it is more burgundy.  Beautiful!  This is two coats.  Like every ILNP I own, this applied like lotion on a baby's bottom.  I have never purchased an ILNP that I haven't loved, and I have a lot!  Every single one is precious in my indie collection.  Right now, this one is still available at their store HERE, along with the entire fall collection, including Abundance, the stunning ultra-chrome I used in THIS lovely nail art.,

 
I certainly did not want to cover this stunner up, so I stamped only from the side with Loja BFF-18 and Maybelline Bold Gold.

Source

Isn't this plate gorgeous?  You can purchase Loja BFF plates HERE, but at the time of this post, they are all sold out.  Go check it out though, there are some gorgeous plates!

Yep, I LOVE this one!  Spectacular polish + striking stamp image = one first-class nail art, if I do say so myself!

Had to give you one last flash pic because...well...HOLO!

Thanks for looking and commenting!  See you tomorrow!

Spun Sugar Stripes with Mentality Resilience

Just a quickie.  Trying to catch up and have lots of other things to do today.  This is for #31DC2014 stripes prompt.

I have been wanting to try a spun sugar top coat over matte for awhile.  This was the perfect time.

Mentality Resilience with flash

Mentality Resilience in artificial light

I started with two coats of Mentality Resilience, a gorgeous deep teal matte.  LOVE this!

Then I added some stripes using KBShimmer Clearly On Top and the spun sugar technique.  Look how the top coat makes Resilience shimmer! 

  
Don't know what the spun sugar technique is?  YouTube it.  It is really easy, but I clearly don't have the patience for it.  My index was the first one I did and it has thicker lines and lots of blogs.  Then I walked away from my desk for a few moments (washed my glasses and brushed my teeth :) and tried again.  Better, but I could have waited even longer.

Have you tried this technique before?  Is it new to you?  Do you LOVE Mentality polishes like I do?  Tell me what you think!  Thanks for looking and commenting!