July is National WHAT month??

July is....my birthday month....the Nation's Birthday month...National Hot Dog Month...and best of all, National Ice Cream Month!!!!!!!!  How many of us have memories of that hot summer day, maybe it was after spending the day at the beach with the family or hanging out with your friends all day long, and you make that stop for ice cream.  Or you hear that ding ding....ding ding...ding ding...and you panic because you need to find your dollar for the ice cream truck.  The best part was racing this sweet treat to eat it before it melts.  Nom Nom Nom....Ultimately leading to sticky fingers and a sense of accomplishment that you totally KILLED THAT CONE!

Of course I needed to try an ice cream manicure.  :)

This was the base for my tasty nails.  I used a striping brush for the cone contrasting lines.

Left Hand

Right Hand

I couldn't really decide if I wanted to keep going with the ice cream cones, or the little ice cream cones on my thumb, or sprinkles...So I did them all!

Colors Used:

White- Zoya Snow White

Pink- Ciate- Candy Floss

Browns- Zoya Flynn and Dea

Purple- China Glaze Lotus Begin

Green- Julep Felicia

Blue Green- Barry M Greenberry

Yellow- Julep Lexie

Glitter on the ice cream and pink nail- Zoya Monet

The hit parade.

I wanted to update everyone further on what I have been up to nail wise during my quiet time away from the blog...so here are some highlights....

  

Playing around with the one stoke technique...they almost look like flowers....

And a simple purple gradient....

One of my FAVORITES...

Simple pink glitter gradient....

There was this craptastic Valentine's Day caviar and glitter mani.

Another TOP FAVORITE based on a pair of earrings that I purchased.

Summer neon with glitter....all China Glaze and fun.

A mod matter color block... 

Flip Flop Fantasy with stripes and dots....

Now I look to the future to see what I can learn, perfect, and just admire because it is pretty!!

You are a Bit Faker Rosie Lee

I confess: My nail polish drought was short lived :). To break my fast, I went all glitter.  We are talking dense, colorful, gorgeous glitter!  As they say, go big or go home!

If one beautiful glitter is good, two is better!  I started with a full manicure of Butter London's Bit Faker. 

This is a great full coverage copper glitter. It is so good, this is two coats. No matter how you turn your fingers, it sparkles!  I couldn't stop there.  Hubby to Be and I still had half an episode of Broadchurch (love!) to finish. I can't sit still during cliff hangers. Besides, Doctor Who just figured out who the killer was and I was fretting a bit...but I digress...

I decided to sponge on some Rosie Lee on my tips. She is just as full coverage as her copper friend. Sponged on and blended easily. 

You Purple Stud!

I went on a purchasing binge last month and made an impulse purchase of what I thought were a pot of glequins.  Interestingly enough, when I arrived home I realized they were actually studs.  No matter!  I love the color and have never played with a 3D object on my nail before.  So what the heck, let's give these a whirl!!

Colors used:

Gray- OPI's Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!

Purple- OPI's Palermo Purple

Glitter- OPI's Polka.Com

I used a non-quick dry clear coat to serve as my base for placing the studs.  Although, I may have used too much on my thumbs because the studs started to drift off center a bit.  I cemented them on with more clear coat.

My middle finger is an adventure in glitter gradients again.  :)

I actually enjoyed the look of these studs.  I thought I may be fussing with them throughout the day, but that was not the case.  They stayed put and never popped off for the week that I had this on my nails.

A little mermaid.

I have been trying to improve my glitter gradient skills.  This last one that I am posting today is from a few weeks ago.  I do confess that I have been in full on wedding planning mode this month and have been neglecting this part of my life.  Well...NO MORE!  :)  i have a few posts to share with you of what I have been up to this month.  I want to start with this glitter gradient.

This look was inspired by a video that I saw on YouTube. HERE It is by PackAPunchPolish.  I had all the colors she used, so I thought, "what the heck!  Let's try it!"  

I started with a base coat of China Glaze's Unpredictable.  The three glitters on top are from Sinful Colors: Call U Later, Nail Junkie, and Super Star.  

I really like the was this one looked outside.  Sadly, I couldn't get the camera to pick up half of the iridescence and sparkle that this mani had.  Trust me, it sparkled!  

Weekly Challenge Continues...Glitter Gradient Part 2

Okay, so let's talk about glitter and my ability to spread it across my nails...I have set myself up with a skills challenge of the week and this one is for improving my skills with glitter gradients.  I have not been good at this seemingly easy skill  I tend to have it get all blobby on the nail.  With my last post [and my first] in this challenge, I think I got off to a great start.

If you remember....

I got this....

or....

maybe...

I don't.

I thought I would continue the process and reverse it up a bit.  Seemed like a good idea.  I started with OPI's Pamploma Purple and my glitter was Julep's Vivien.  Both polishes I like independently.  This should be an easy marriage of deep purple cream and multi textured gold glitter...it wasn't.  I have my suspicions that I did two bad things in combination to lead to this semi-disaster.  :)  I think I started with glitter that was too thick on the brush and then I couldn't pull it own the nail with much success because I was already all blobby.  

This was a great learning experience.  I can't wait to try to try again!!

Weekly Challenge: Glitter Gradients

It has been a year now that I have made the transition from occasional nail painter to nail art explorer and overall polish enthusiast.  I have always been a process person.  I love to knit not for what I create, but the process of making it.  Same with when I make jewelry.  The process of creation is just as much fun as the end result.  The same is true for me and creating manicures.  That is part of what attracted me to going down this road to begin with.  Now it is time for me to up my game so to speak.  I have toyed around with different techniques that I have seen on others' sites and played around with some of my own designs.  I think it is time for me to embark on some mastery of skills.   I am going to set challenges for myself to attempt to become better at technique.  And this week I am going to start with glitter gradients.  I feel like this should be simple enough.  But for some reason it has not always turned out as I would have liked.

My 4th of July mani looked more like clumps of polish rather than a gradient.  

I decided to see exactly how others are creating these fab looks.  I love this video from EmJustLikeYou.  

I started with Julep's Annette, which is a light creamy dove gray.

I then added a coat of Sinful Colors's Frenzy, micro glitter of purples and blues.

I finished it off with OPI's Polka.com.  [top coat Seche Vite]

I think the finished product has turned out pretty well.  I like this as the beginning of this challenge for myself.

Mani Monday: Pretty In Pink Monday with Zoya Dita.

It's MONDAY!!!!!!!!!! More specifically: MANI MONDAY!!!  New start to the week = new manicure, but of course.  I am starting this week off pretty in pink.

Sadly, I broke my middle finger over the weekend.

Colors used for this manicure:

Zoya's Dita-  rich, deep pink cream

OPI's Pirouette My Whistle- Multi-dimensional hex and micro glitter mix

I topped off Dita with Essie's Matte About You to give the beautiful pink color a different dimension.  This color is usually pretty glossy, even without top coat.  The pink color is really receptive to the matte top coat, which gives it a rich and velvety look.  

I can never leave well enough alone, so I then added two accent nails in which I topped Dita off with glitter.   As you know, I always need more glitter in my life.  This is two coats of the OPI polish.  I do like this glitter because as you see it is how it goes on the nail.  With some larger glitter or glitter mix nail polishes I find I have to place the larger pieces so it doesn't do its own thing and clump up on the end....which can be nice if you are looking to do a glitter gradient, but not this time...Pretty In Pink Monday!!

Who Photobombed who?  

NOTD featuring China Glaze Pink Voltage

Happy Saturday!

The sun has finally come back out here in Florida!  Woo hoo! It has been raining for two days straight.  I was starting to think I was living up north again.  I must admit, I am spoiled by the constant sun of southern Florida.  This kid is happy to have the sun back.

The sun is back out. 

What better time for Neon Pink Voltage!

Polishes used:  Deborah Lippmann's Putty In Your Hands, China Glaze Pink Voltage [Neon], and a little sparkle with China Glaze Fairy Dust.  

I decided it would be a good day for a little bit of gradient fun on a Saturday.  I love playing with gradients.  And I love this fusion of nude and neon.  Sparkle on!!