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!  

A New Technique Fail

So the prompt for the Crumpet Nail Tarts 33DC today is a new technique.  When I first saw this I thought it would be hard, not to try a new technique, but to find a new technique.  I have been at this for a year now right?  And you know what they say, there is nothing new under the sun.  I wasn't wrong, it was hard, but because I found so many new things to try!  You know what they say, there is always more to learn.

This technique is called "colored drops" and I found it at Vampy Varnish HERE, but I took it a step too far.

 The idea is kind of like a cross between a nail decal and watermabling....without the water.

 You start by painting a layer of topcoat on a slick surface.  This is my trusty silicone baking mat, but you could use a sandwich bag or even a spatula.  While the top coat is still wet, drop other polish onto it and it will spread, much like when you drop polish into water, only on a smaller scale.  Because the top coat needs to be wet for the drops to spread, don't use a fast drying one.  After you achieve the look you want, let the decal dry, peel off, trim and apply to your nails with more topcoat.

For my base, I used three coats of NYC Tudor City Teal.  I had never tried this brand before, but my three year old nephew picked it out for me.  In real life it is much more green than it shows in the pics, a pale blue leaning green, a very pretty color actually.  The formula, however, was not good.  It has a gellie finish, which I usually like, but this sucker was a balding, streaking mess.  This is three coats, and if I was going to wear it without any art, I would have added a fourth to cover patchiness.  Four fricken layers!  For a crellie that isn't exactly anything special.  I like my cremes to be one or two coaters.  Four layers?  Ain't nobody got time for that!

In looking through my stash for finish changing polishes, I realized that I don't have many, so I picked some polishes that I know I would usually layer over something rather than wear on it's own (except Ninja Polish Divinity.  It is one I am willing to do with three or four layers, it is so gorgeous!)  I used Nfu-Oh 40, a blue/green shifting flakie, the aformentioned Ninja Polish Divinity, a purple/maroon/green/blue shifting beauty, Wet n Wild Frosted Over, a pearl/blue/pink/lavender shifting shimmer with a bit of glitter, Zoya Chloe, a pink/green/gold/orange shifting flakie and Glitter Days Sundown in Seattle, a lovely pink/copper/orange/brown shifting topper.

So there were several reasons that I consider this a fail.  First of all, I piled on so many drops that I had a mini volcano mound of polish which, when dry, was very stiff.  Getting these suckers to curve around my nail and stick down was a total hassle.  Using a fast dry top coat (Seche Vite) helped, but I still had edges sticking up all over the place.

 
Also, to blend the edges, I had to add the most/thickest layers of top coat that I have ever used.  After the first coat over the whole nail, I went back and added top coat to the edges, let it dry and then added more to the areas of the nail that only had the base color.  When I was finished I looked like I had acrylic nails on!  Seriously, my thumb, especially, was over a quarter of an inch thick!

As always, with new techniques, I learned a lot.  If I do this again, I will not use flakies or glitter, they just add too much bulk.  I also would try to do it directly on the nail, rather than as a decal, to avoid the bubbles, rough edges and general hassle of using a thick, stiff decal.

So what do you think?  Was it a fail?  Is it worth trying this technique again with the changes mentioned?  Do you like the color combo?  Tell me all about it!  Thanks for looking and commenting!
Tina

A Frustated Monkey

My life is filled with frustration at this point.  So frustrated that I can't spell frustrated (don't look to closely at the title)!  Remember how I said that I got a "new" computer?  It is a used laptop purchased from Ebay.  Computer is great, but the charger went out.  With hubby currently laid off money is tight and I had to wait until we had some cushion in our budget to purchase a new one.  All that to say that it has been to long since I posted.  Guess the blogging fairies have not been on my side.  Please forgive me (if you even noticed tee hee)  I will try to make it up to you.  (Watch for a post later with one of my all time favorite manis).

But lets start with what is posted on Monday's.  Yes, it's another monkey!  For today I have something a little different.  Monkey See Monkey Do does not have to only be inspired by other nail artists, it can be inspired by anything.  Since I wasn't able to do my So You Think You Can Dance Fashion Friday post, I am going to show you it now (cause I have even more SYTYCD inspired manis...I think I could do a whole month of these!)

The first thing I have to say about this is....don't look to closely!  I LOVED this on my nails (and hope to do it again with different colors), however, with the dreaded macro shots all of the flaws show.  Bear with me (where did that saying come from?) and I will explain why it is all a little messy.

This was inspired by Amy Yakima's rehearsal tank.

 Please forgive the quality of this pic...it is direct off my TV.  Plus I had to do some color correction to get close to how neon and vibrant that purple was..still didn't get close...and her skin tone is totally off.  

 
This started with three coats of Revlon Decadent.  It was a really good match for the actual purple in the tank.  This is one of many "burples" in my stash, and it is burple for a good reason.  It is a lovely violet base with this amazing shimmer.  LOVE this color....however....I wasn't happy with the polish itself.  It had a horrible tendency to drag.  (See the bald spot on my pinky?.  Plus, if you look at the first image, you can see some dramatic tip wear...well, dramatic for ONE DAYS WEAR!  Yes, I did what I normally do and painted my nails in the late evening (or early morning in some cases :) and then did the nail art the following evening. Three coats of polish, tip wrapping, a coat of Seche Vite and less than 24 hours...this is horrible wear time in my world!  I thought about adding another coat to cover the wear, but decided against it to show you how bad this was.  Any of you know of a better polish with this color/finish, I would love to hear about it!  Any of you indie polish makers out there...well you know what I want.

 
 Now here is where it got crazy.  You have heard me talk about my A type personality before?  My desire for perfection?  (Although I rarely achieve it.)  My OCD tendencies?  Here is total proof of that!  I started by using 4 stripes of striping tape down the center of the nail.  I could have then just painted the blue and black across my nail bed....but no, I wanted the lines to be straight, so I went crazy with the painters tape!

 
The craziness did not stop there....oh no!  The only blue that was a "as close as possible" match to the blue in the tank (although you can't tell from the crappy TV pic) was China Glaze Splish Splash, a lovely matte neon robins egg blue.  The problem was that it required 3 coats so that the base wouldn't show through, and you know how thick matte polish can be.  Then, when I started peeling off the painters tape it  pulled the striping tape right off with it, which caused some mangling of the not quite dry enough blue.  All this to say that if you like this look, please make it easy on yourself and choose one coaters for the accent colors....or don't use painters tape.  Gah...sometimes I make things a lot harder than they need to be!  On top of all that....the Seche had some shrinkage, which happens rarely for me.

 

 

Despite all of this manis' faults, I loved it.  None of the blemishes were noticeable IRL...I loved the design....I loved that I haven't seen it previously in all my blog hopping....it was just different and I love different.

Well, what do you think?  Winner or loser?  Let's see if there are any other Monkeys today.

 
 

A Summer Monkey

Monday, Monday, Monday!  I have to admit that I hate Mondays.  Everyone who got sick or injured over the weekend calls to make appointments and I get so tired of talking.  When I get home, I don't want to talk to anyone!  I hide out in my little polish corner of the basement and perform some mani therapy.  However, Mondays means one of my favorite blogging days, Monkey See Monkey Do!

The moment I saw Katee's creation at A Girl and Her Polish, I knew I had to try to recreate it.  Although I had none of the polish or stamps she used, I knew I would try my best.  Check out her gorgeous mani HERE.  This is what I came up with.

I absolutely love this color combo!  If I was a flower gardener, this is the theme I would go with.  But as I have always said, "If I can't eat it, I don't want to waste the water" so it is all about the veggies around our garden (tee hee).  And do I need to mention my love for double stamping?  This is the first time, however, that I have double stamped with the same pattern and different colors, one right on top of the other.  LOVE it!  

Without Flash

 Once again, I forgot to photo the base coat before stamping, so I had to photograph my right hand.  I really don't know what was going on with the shape of my nails!  Look at that wonky ring finger.  Of course, my right hand always looks worse. 

With Flash

This started with three coats of NOPI Ladies in the Limelight.  What is it with yellows and their streaky formula?  I have yet to find a good opaque yellow with a good formula.  Of course, I rarely use it as a base coat because I don't think yellow looks good on me.  Despite that, I still have several in my stash (of course).   This turned out much more vibrant with three coats than it looked on my polishicle, but I knew that it would be mostly covered, so I didn't care.

Next I stamped with Konad Special White and BM-205.

I have been wanting to use this image for awhile and this seemed great for this mani.

Finally I stamped with China Glaze Modify Me, from their Tranzitions line, and the same image.  You might notice that I turned the stamp so that there was some variation between the nails.  Guess that is just the way I roll (tee hee).

As always, thanks for looking and commenting!  Now let's see how many got involved this week.  I may be the only one!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Subtle Monkey

Quick, quick post as there is so much to do and so little time.

Today is Monday, which means Monkey See Monkey Do.  This was inspired by Cazzy over at SpecialGirl Nails.  Check the inspiration HERE.  
 

The idea behind this is simple, but I had not seen it done before.  It is a stamping jellie sandwich.  Oh how I love saying that (tee hee).  Although the concept is simple, finding the right polish was not.  I wanted something that was sheer without being streaky yet one that was opaque in three coats (only because I have a thing about visible nail lines).  Because of the aforementioned "thing", I don't have many nude tones.  I think I ended experimenting with two of the three that I own.  I could not find one polish that fit all three requirements, so I ended up using two, one completely opaque for the base and a very sheer jellie for the top.  Even after all the hunting and swatching, I still am not completely satisfied with the results, so I expect to revisit this again in the near future.

I started with two coats of Essie Demure Vixen.  This is a pink with a lilac lean, sheer in one coat and opaque in two.  If you like the "mannequin hands" look, this is perfect.  I would have used this for the whole thing, but one coat was not quite sheer enough for me.  This is before the sandwich was added. 

Next I stamped with Sally Hansen Snow White and DRK-B.

Finally I added two coats of Julep Marie.  I love this polish and hate it.  It is a gorgeous pale lilac jelly, but it is soooo sheer.  I mean this is two coats and you can hardly tell it is there.  If I use this again I will layer it over white.

What do you think?  I love the concept of the stamped jellie sandwich but I will need to add a better selection of jellies if I want to pull them off.  See you next time!

 

Such a Simple Monkey

Hey all!  So sorry I have been MIA the last few days.  Was having some computer issues, but I think I now have it under control.  Makes me realize that I should back up my mani photos.  I have all my nail stuff on one computer and if it crashed....well lets just say I wouldn't be happy.  Backup, here I come!

Today is Monkey See Monkey Do Monday.  You know what that means?  Yep, time to hop over to another blog to see my inspiration.  This was inspired by Mandy over at Chameleon Stampede.  Check her HERE .

MSMD does not always have to be complicate or intricate.  Sometimes it is just a gorgeous combination.  As soon as I saw Mandy's mani, I knew I wanted to recreate it on my own nails, only with flakies instead of glitter.

Without Flash

With Flash

This started with China Glaze Strap on Your Moonboots.  I'm sure you have heard everything about the China Glaze holos, from "Love it" to "Hate it".  I am somewhere inbetween.  The holo is not as strong as the Laylas I own, but I really like this dusty denim color as a holo.  The biggest problem, in my humble opinion, is that there is absolutely no self leveling to this polish.  It is one of those that show EVERY ridge, dent and flaw in your nails.  I don't like buffing my nails because they have a tendency to peel, but it was tempting with this polish.  Instead I used Nfu-Oh Aqua Base, although I am sure you can use any ridge filler.  After one coat of the Aqua Base, I thought I would add a second coat to make sure all my ridges were leveled....Wrong!  Seems that the Aqua Base should not be layered on itself.  I allowed it to dry for 15 minutes before adding another coat and it dragged some of the bottom coat to my tips.  You can see the lumps, especially on my middle finger.

Finally I added 1 coat of Color Club Snow Flakes.  In my opinion this is miss named as the flakies flash red, yellow and green.  I added one coat to my ring finger and a gradient on all the others.  Subtle but interesting!

So what do you think?  Like my gif?  Don't ever want to see one again?  Tee hee.  Check out :all" the other MSMD manis (tee hee).

Taste the Rainbow

June's theme for The Nail Challenge Collaborative is neon!  Now I have to be honest, I am not a neon person.  Not work appropriate...I tend towards the more vampy stuff....difficult to photograph....the list goes on.  When I saw the theme I thought about sitting this month out.  However, the whole reason I participate in challenges is to get myself out of my comfort zone and try new things, so I decided to jump in with both feet...or hands in this case.  You know what that meant?  Yep, new polishes added to my stash!

I happened to "have" to go to Sally Beauty shortly after the theme was announced and Finger Paints were on sale.  I don't own a whole lot of this brand, but at $3.75 a bottle, I figured I couldn't miss.

When Bria saw all the bright bottles lined up in a row I knew my first mani would have to be on her nails.  We did some searching through my Pin files.  As soon as she saw Crumpet's Barry M Gelly rainbow gradient, it was all over, the decision was Made with a capital M.  Want to see the original post that inspired this mani?  Sure ya do!  Check it HERE.  

I have to warn you...there are going to be a lot of pics!  Why?  Not only was Bria "oooh"ing and "ahhh"ing over this for the rest of the day, I actually ended up liking them myself.  Not something that I would wear on my nails, but that is what I have a teenage daughter for, right?!?!

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen White Out to get a nice pop of color from the neons.  Next I painted each nail halfway with two different colors.  After that was dry I went back and sponged with both colors striped on my sponge.  I sponged it a couple of times, drying in between, until I got the look I wanted.  I never quite got the gradient to work on that pinky, but I think that is because the blue was the only non neon, non Finger Paint that I used.  Gotta go back to Sally's and see if I can find a neon blue.

Here are the colors I used:

• Thumb:  Finger Paints Iconic Orange - Finger Paints Warhol Wannabe
• Index:  Finger Paints Warhol Wannabe - Sally Hansen Lightening
• Middle:  Sally Hansen Lightening - Finger Paints Sunscreen Green
• Ring:  Finger Paints Sunscreen Green - Orly Shockwave
• Pinky:  Orly Shockwave - Finger Paints Pop Art Purple

Next I stamped with Konad Special White and DRK-B.  This is a new plate for me and I have to say I was very happy with the quality of this stamp.  Thought I would show you the whole plate so you could get a sense of all the lovely and fun images.

 

Although Crumpet's mani was stamped with black, I showed Bria a sample on my polish pebbles with black AND white and she chose white.

Whenever I do a new mani for Bria, I always ask what her friends think.  With this one she just looked at me, smiled and said, "Taste the rainbow".  Guess they looked like Skittles (tee hee).  One last photo and I'm done.

I was playing around in Photoshop and created this.  Kinda proud of this image :)  Should I make it my new header image?  As always, thanks for looking!

Tina