Random happenings.

Here are some other random happenings as of late:

1.

Zoya.  How much do I love thee?  A LOT.  This whole mani is with Zoya polishes.  The pink is Harper from the summer Tickled and Bubbly line.  Great sparkly pink.  The black is Raven with the Monet top coat on top...let's talk about this top coat for a second.  This may be becoming a new obsession for me and I think it will get its own post soon.  This polish came out in the spring and it is unique to me.  The glitter has a different look pending on what base polish you are using.  It has this blue halo look to it over back.  While when playing around with it on other polishes, the glitter would look yellow or green or blue predominantly.  There are multi-color glitters in this polish, I just like that it seems to change its look.  The remaining nails are pixie dust in Dhalia and Tomoko.  The other fun fact in this mani is that I used the new OPI Glitter Off base coat...I need to play with this more in-depth as well.  It didn't just peel off with a tool for me, but with polish remover I barely needed to use any muscle to get these glitters off.  That is a bonus!

2. 

Neon Skittles with a little gradient.  I love love love neon nail polishes.  They may be my all time favorite as I am just drawn to the bright colors and the pop they have.  This one uses all China Glaze polishes.... Pool Party, Flip Flop Fantasy, I'm With the Lifeguard, and Celtic Sun.  All on a white base coat.  Same colors are used for the thumb gradient

3. 

Speaking of neon.....A little bit of China Glaze Pink Voltage....

4.

My June Julep Box.  I opted for both the Oxygen top and base coats.  I wasn't a huge fan of the Oxygen Nail Treatment before as I don't usually like light pink on my nails and they really don't recommend you use it under polishes.  So I ended up giving it to my mom so someone will use it.  In this box, I went with my usual It Girl profile.  

Polishes included were:

- Gold Shimmer/Metallic color- Savoy--tried it real quick and it takes a lot of patience to have it come out even.  Much like the Essie metallics but not the same consistency.

- Blue- Glitter in their Stardust Finish- Jennine-  I needed to layer it a lot in order to achieve opacity.

- Purple- Halo-like color-  Phia

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!!

Galaxy Nails...Aurora Borealis.

One of the things I love about doing nails is all the folks out there that love to do nails as well.  In addition to following all the lovely blogs out there, I love to share on Instagram and see what others are also doing.  I also like participating in Google+ communities.  One, Nail Polish Lovers, is a great place to share what they are doing and in addition they do a weekly challenge.  I need to start doing more challenges more regularly.  The challenge last week was  Galaxy Nails.  Yay!  I love this technique!  If you remember, I did these for the new release of the Star Trek movie this year....

and

I love this look.  I can't help it.  It may actually be my favorite mani.  For the challenge, I wanted to do something a bit different, but sticking with the technique.  So I decided on a lighter version.

For this I used:

- Sinful Colors: Amethyst [purple] and Soul Mate [pink]

- OPI- Can't Find My Czechbook [light blue]

- China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise [turquoise]

- Julep Adrianna [green]

- China Glaze Fairy Dust [micro glitter]

- Color Club Club Platinum Record [larger hex glitter]

The base coat is Sinful Colors's Amethyst with the other colors sponged on and layered for the nebula effect.  I get in such a groove when I am doing this, that I always forget to take pictures to document each step of the process.  I will make a point to start doing this with more regularity.  I promise!!

This effect was achieved by using a small amount of polish on a make-up sponge and applying the color gradually.  The more polish, the more opaque it will tend to be and the less you will be able to blend the colors.  I actually re-did the ring finger and thumb in order to correct this issue.  I wasn't happy with the color layers.  I like when it looks airy; the color wispy.  

After the color is applied, I use a coat of the Fairy Dust by China Glaze.  This may be my favorite small glitter nail polish out there.  No, I am committing.  This IS my favorite small glitter out there...I then placed the larger hex glitter by hand and finished with a top coat of Seche Vite.

What do you think of it with the lighter color/purple base coat?  Do we like the remix?  Or is classic black background still the way to go?

Back To School Part 3

Part 3 of my back to school inspired nails are Bring an Apple For Teacher...

Colors used:

nude- OPI's My Vampire Is Buff

red- Julep's Delaunay

brown- Zoya's Dea

green- Sinful Colors's 

I used a dotting tool for my thumb and pinkie fingers.  The apples were hand drawn with a paint brush.   I know they tell you not to pick favorites, but this one may be my favorite so far in this theme.  

Back To School Part 2

Part two of my back to school inspired nails....Don't forget your pencils!!

Sadly, I was a bit too anxious to photograph this manicure.  I smudged the Seche Vite on my thumb...yup, I was moving that fast with the camera!!  I think the smudge adds character.

Back To School Part 1

It is that time of the year again where all the little darlings are heading back to school...and the adult darlings too!  As the kids get ready to go back, and my teacher friends are prepping their classrooms, I started some back to school manis this week.  The first one is...

Chalkboard Nails!!

I started with a base of Julep's Laura and a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.  I had to wrack my brain to remember items I used to see on a chalkboard as a kid as it has been more than a hot minute since I was in school.  :)  This was topped off with Essie's Matte About You top coat.  

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: A little ombré.

Seems like a good time for a bright ombré!!!

I do love this technique.

Colors used:  Julep's Eden and China Glaze's Pink Voltage.

These colors are so bright and cheerful.

Mani Cam with July Julep Box California Coast Collection

MANI CAM TIME!!!!!

Julep's California Collection for July was inspired by the colors of the coast...or as Julep puts it: "inspired by surf, sand, sunsets and the breathtaking natural beauty of the coastline."  I went with my It Girl Profile box this month.  Biggest reason for this choice?  Why, because there was a gorgeous texture polish of course!!  

Angela:  A deep sea blue molten

Nadia:  Sun-kissed golden frost

Tracy:  Sparkly ocean blue with a sea salt finish.

I really like Tracy.  It has a great sparkle, fine texture, and just the right amount of glitter to make this girl happy.

Nadia and Angela are not my particular favorites.  Both of them go on easily in two coats for maximum coverage.  Angela is actually pretty interesting in that when you first paint it on, it almost goes on as a flat black-brown color.  As it dries, the molten blue really pops out of it.   Nadia is a great yellow frost color that does shimmer nicely.  Both are just not colors I naturally gravitate towards.  But just watch, in a month they are going to be my new favorite colors!

Mani Monday: Orange Crush

Mani Monday time!  New week, new manicure.

Today is the last day off from work for my birthday mini-vacay.  It has been really nice to not be worried about work for five days.  Sadly, my time has come to an end.  Vacations really do ALWAYS go too quickly.  To cap the time off manicure wise, I wanted something bright.   

Orange Crush Ombre on a Bright Sunny Day!

Colors used: Julep's Parker, Zoya's Sharon, Butter London's Jafa, OPI's Brights Power, and little OPI Jinx.

Bright little orange ombre manicure to end the day.  Yay!

Sadly, I need to work with my camera a bit more.  It is not managing reds very well.  I noticed this when photographing flowers outside as well in good sunlight.  If anyone has any photography tips, I would LOVE to hear 'em!  

Side note...

For my birthday, I received a new rack for nail polish to up my total to two.  Hung this bad boy today so that my stash can have some breathing room.  I am trying so hard to fight the urge to fill up the space up!

Days 3 & 4 of my July 4th Manicure Bonanza!

It has been a pretty busy weekend here in my household between summer cleaning and organizing, to family and friend visits, and the ever present wedding plans, that I did not make time to post my holiday nails until now.  So without any further adieu, here is day 3 and day 4 of my July 4th Super Birthday Mani Extravaganza.....or, 7 days of holiday nails until July 4th.  

Day 3:  Fireworks Gradient

Sticking with my red, white, and blue color scheme, Day 3 features a couple colors we have already used, and one I am very excited to announce.  The red is Julep's Delaunay and the blue is Butter London's Blagger.  Saturday my July Julep Maven box came in the mail....which will be posted tomorrow...and I did add on their special glitter polish to my box.  It is the third polish in this picture and it is called Fireworks.  This polish is packed to the brim with glitter.  The glitter is both multi-dimensional large and small hex glitter in red, white, and blue.  You gets lots of glitter per swipe of the brush and I just love it!

I decided on basic red and blue bases to let the glitter take center stage.  I pulled the glitter down from the tip so that it looks a bit like a shower of sparkles and added the loose stars to the blue nails.  

Day 4:  Deconstructed Stars and Stripes Tape Mani

For today's manicure, I used the above colors:  Sinful Color's Under 18, Essie's Blanc, and Julep's Eloise.

I wanted to produce at least one tape manicure in this series, and this is it!  I started with the blue as a base and the moved to utilizing the tape to divide my nail in half for the coats of red.  But I needed more pizazz then to then tape it off again for the white.  Solution?  Dots of course!!  I think it gives it a hint of both whimsy and sophistication.  Not sure if one can be both, but I am running with it!

Day 2...Stars and Stripes

It is day 2 of our 4th of July Nail Week, Birthday Celebration, Nail Extravaganza! 
As I posted yesterday, my birthday is on July 4th and I am doing a week of 4th inspired and themed manicures.  Yesterday was a subtle pattern, while today is......

Stars and Stripes Forever.

For this flag interpretation, we went literal.  I started with bases of red and blue.  I took a a striper and added white lines to the red.  On the blue based nails, I stamped on the stars in white.  Cute, simple, and patriotic!