I Got Purple-itis

Good morning, Kitschies! We tried to take the boys to the snow play area on Sunday but that was a big fail.  The snow area was closed for "unsafe conditions" - I don't exactly know what that means but I'm assuming that meant don't go sledding unless you want to run in to big, hard rocks.  And seeing as I've sledded in to my share of hard, inanimate objects, we chose to sled at another place.  It was cold and windy and we didn't have much fun, but Nate *did* enjoy himself for the little time we were out.

Every week, Polish-aholics Annonymous on FB runs a challenge.  I've been participating in the challenges, but I haven't done a corresponding blog post about any of them...until now.  Today's challenge was ombre/gradient nails.  In case you don't know, ombre means having colors or tones that shade into each other —used especially of fabrics in which the color is graduated from light to dark.  Don't worry...I didn't know the exact meaning, either.  Yay!  We learned something today.  You can go back to bed now. :) 

On to the pics, shall we?

I initially tried a white to black gradient, but it didn't turn out so well.  I had to hand mix two shades and it just didn't work.  So, I went back to my Helmer and dug around a bit - and viola!  Here's my purple gradient nails!

In the previous picture, the index and middle fingers look pretty similar, but IRL and in more natural light, they're not quite as close in color.

You can see here that while they're similar, they are not the same.  IRL, Mira looks to dry a bit darker than what you can see in the bottle.  But in all the pics I took to compare the nail to the bottle, they look identical.  Strange.

This is the first ombre mani I've done and I like it enough.  I just don't care to wear a different color on each nail.  It kinda drives me crazy even though I like the effect.

Here's what I used.  If you click on the pic you can read the color names better.

Pinky

Ring

Middle

Index

I didn't get a good bottle/thumb pic, so check out this swatch HERE for a good representation of the color. 

So...there ya go!  What color(s) would you have used if you had done an ombre mani?

Summer Closeout

Good day!  I had yesterday off because of home schedule issues, but I'm back in the swing of things today.  Sorta.  Nate is home with a fever and the hubs is home with him and my doc is out this afternoon, so it looks like I'll have some free time to myself today.  I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to squeeze in some skating, but it's supposed to rain, so I don't know if that's gonna happen.  I went to the track yesterday morning, but it was covered in puddles and since skate bearings and water don't mix very well, I had to call it off.  Cross your fingers I'm not met with this scene again today...

 

Anyway...a while back, I decided to try some nail art that I'd seen all over the place.  This time, though, I was inspired by Nail Nerd's Watermelon Nails.  If you've never heard of Nail Nerd, I highly recommend you check her out.  The girl's got serious skillz and she does a LOT of nail art.  I mean a LOT!  And now, since it's almost the end of Summer (September 23rd), I figured I'd better share this with you before it's too late!

Cute, right?  I used Confetti Cherries Jubilee as the base color then free-handed the tips with ChG Watermelon Rind (coincidence?) and did the little seeds with Zoya Raven using a small dotting tool.

I liked this one though I think I should've picked a base pink that was a little lighter and less bold. 

As for ChG Watermelon Rind, it's a gorgeous green glass fleck polish that would look great on it's own, but it was perfect for this mani. 

Thanks to Nail Nerd for the inspiration!  Check her out HERE if you didn't earlier in the post. 

Cross your fingers for no rain today...I really am itching to get out to skate a bit today.  Have a great rest of the day!

Mani Spam

Good afternoon, Kitschies!  OK.  I have a love/hate relationship with the time change.  Now that it's the afternoon and I'm getting closer to getting out of the office, I can say I like it.  Ask me in the morning and I'll tell you I hate it.  I especially hate driving to work when it's still dark.  And the boys are a PITA to get up and going when it's still dark.  But, we're planning on taking a walk after we get home tonight, so I guess that'll make up for the grumpiness in the morning.  Right?

I couldn't decide what to share with you all today, so I decided to do a little mani spam.  Ready?

Zoya Aria.  This isn't that accurate as far as color goes.  It's not quite as bright, but the sparkle/glass-fleck is right on.  Very pretty color, but it didn't make the cut because I envisioned something else for this mani.

Zoya Barbie.  Gorgeous bubblegum pink with just a slight bit of blue shimmer.  This was also a great color but wasn't what I was looking for for that particular mani.

Cover Girl Crackle over various colors.  I found this bottle at the Dollar Tree and swiped it faster than I could let out a squee!  I think the blue was ChG Sky High Top; green was Zoya Ivanka; orange was ChG Orange Marmalade; red was Zoya Alix; purple was ChG Coconut Kisses.  I liked how this Crackle was different depending on what color I used.  Oh...I did learn something with this older Crackle.  It does not work over top coat (it flakes right off) and it doesn't work over matte (doesn't crack - same with the new ChG Crackle and the OPI Shatter).

Confetti Blue Bombshell over SH Midnight in Manhattan.  My son wanted me to do half blue and half black and I didn't feel like doing all that so we compromised.  I liked this because it really glowed, but when I layer any color over black, I always have shrinkage at the tips.

NYC Love Letters over SH Black Out.  I had that weird layering shrinkage again, but it wasn't quite as noticeable.  I think I hadn't shared this mani because I didn't get any good pictures.  I must've worn this when the weather was crappy and didn't get a good outdoor pic.

Essence Colour and Go in Everybody's Talking About.  The bestie picked this one up for me when Ulta first opened in October.  It's a pretty color, but the color in the bottle didn't really match the color on the nail.  It looks like a bright berry here, but IRL, it was almost like a fluorescent red.  Kinda weird.  I was going to use this as one of my Two Weeks of Pink, but it turned out too red to be counted as pink.

So...there ya go!  I'll have a St Patty's Day water marble for you later this week (probably Wednesday).  In the meantime, check out THIS POST for a coupon code good for a FREE Hello Kitty stamp plate.

Cherry Shop

Totally terrific Tuesday, Kitschies.  When I got to work this morning, I could've sworn it was Monday because none of computers would come up.  Apparently the Northeast Heights had a pretty good thunderstorm and it knocked our modem offline.  Once we got that fixed, we were good to go.  But then I was cursing our regular 8:00 patient because he wasn't there and it was already 8:15.  Oh.  Wait.  It's only Tuesday.  So, yeah.  That's how the day started.  Not to mention I didn't get as much sleep as I'd hoped because or smoke alarms went off 3 different times throughout the night.  For no particular reason.  I know they don't need batteries because we just changed them out in June.  *sigh*  Is a good, solid night of sleep too much to ask for? 

Tonight I bring you a mani I wore a week or so ago.  It feels a lot longer ago that just early last week, but that's about how my days go right now.  Anyway, I was inspired by ANOTHER Bottle of Polish's Live and Black Velvet post, so I decided to give it a go for myself.  I didn't want to completely replicate her nail art, so I went digging through my drawers and found a couple good colors.

This is Confetti Cherries Jubilee (a bold red-pink creme) and a color that I mixed from some loose eyeshadow I got from Suds n Sass called Tattoo Shop.  While it's a pretty color, I knew it wasn't going to be something I ever wore because it's a deep black base with purple and blue shimmer.  Click on the above picture to fully appreciate the blurple shimmery goodness. 

So, after being inspired again by a fellow blogger, Lacquer Wear for Tips and Toes, I decide to get a little creative and do a little frankening.  I don't really consider this a true franken because all I did was add a little of the Tattoo Shop eyeshadow in with a clear nail polish I don't use anymore.  Either way, the end result was so great!  Look at all that awesome shimmer!  I'd call this a black jelly with purple and blue shimmer.  Sorry the pic is so blurry, but it makes the shimmer really stand out.  It's kinda subtle once applied, but I really dig those "hidden" nail colors.  It's a little on the sheer side (probably could've added some more shadow), so I used this over one coat of SH Black Out (my go-to black creme).  And to borrow the name of the eyeshadow I used to "create" this, I'm calling it Tattoo Shop.  And a little more inspiration.  This time from Libby's Pink Vanity and her I Couldn't Leave Well Enough Alone post.

With my dotting tool, I placed dots with the Cherries Jubilee on Tattoo Shop and black acrylic paint (Tattoo Shop was too sheer for the dots to show up) on Cherries Jubilee.  I had this conversation with a patient: Pt: So...I have a question for you. Me: OK?  Pt: Why are two of your nails a different color (said in a very skeptical voice)?  Me: Ummm...because I can?  LOL  I don't know, just because.  Pt: OK.  I was just wondering.  I thought that was a funny thing to say.  It's not like I had a different color on each nail.  I find it so funny when people look at my nails and make silly comments - they must think I've lost my marbles.

One more picture just for the heck of it.  Thank you to all my lovely fellow bloggers for all their inspiration.  It's so neat to be able to surf through a blog and find things that you want to try for yourself...and then find out that you actually can do cool stuff like that!

Alrighty then.  I'm off to watch some Grey's Anatomy.  Not the new season.  No.  I'm not cool enough for *that*.  LOL  I'm a season behind because we didn't have a DVR this time last year.  So, I'm recording the new season and I'll get all caught up after I finish all of season 6.  Season 6?!  How is that even possible?!  I remember starting to watch Grey's when Nate was born (thanks to DVD box sets/Netflix).  Can somebody slow time down...*just* a little?  Really.

Listening to: Someday by The Strokes
Mood: kickin

I Got Mail!

FINALLY!!!  We made it through the work week.  I don't know about you, but this week was particularly draining.  But it's not like the weekend is going to be much easier.  We have my nephew's birthday party tomorrow morning.  The hubs is helping his dad move his office back to his house and then going to Planet Ego for the monthly "Power Summit" (read: hide out from the wives day).  Sunday is a co-worker's daughter's birthday party in the afternoon.  I don't know about the kids, but I can tell I'll be ready for a nap!

I can say, though, that there was one definite bright spot in the week.  On Thursday, the mail man delivered an awesome package to me at work!  A couple weeks ago I found out that I had won a giveaway hosted by the lovely Kayla at Glamorous Geek Chic.  I signed up for her giveaway as fast as my little fingers could take me.  She was giving away 4 OPI polishes from the Fall collection and 6 (that's *half*) of the ChG Vintage Vixen collection (and it's the 6 that didn't suck, imho).  Take a looksee...

After fending off the nosy vultures at work, I unwrapped all the bottles to drool over their gorgeousness.  Each bottle was wrapped in bubble wrap - I appreciate the time she took to wrap all those because they arrived at my desk unscathed (until the nosy vultures got hold of them, anyway).

These close pics are in no way color accurate.  The first picture is a little better.  These are my first OPI polishes and I cannot wait to use them!  From back to front: Ski Teal We Drop, Yodel Me On My Cell, Diva of Geneva, and William Tell Me About OPI.  I get that OPI has cutesy little names, but some of them are pretty ridiculous.  But, it's their *thing*.

Ah...the ChG Vintage Vixen collection.  There's 12 in the collection, but I really can do without the others (except Foxy, but I already picked that one up).  If you click on the pic, you can see the names below the colors.  I'm excited about Swing Baby because I think it'll be perfect for stamping.

While I was out at lunch, I had to swing by CVS for something (don't even remember what it was at this point) and I *had* to check out their Confetti display.  I've heard that Confetti might be going away in the not so distant future, so I had to add a couple to my little collection that was started on my birthday, thanks to my bestie!

Click on the pics to make it bigger and to see the names.  Masquerade is a gorgeous deep burgundy sparkle in a dark base; Blue Bombshell reminds me a LOT of SH Blu (hence the restraining order); Smitten is packed with purple and blue sparkle.  Oh, and these are only $2, each.  The only drawback to some of these is that the brushes aren't always in the greatest shape.  It's like the brush is too long for the bottle and gets misshapen as a result.  Either way, it's two buck - I'm not going to complain (much).

Winning the giveaway was easy.  Now comes the hard part.  Which awesome Fall color do I chose first?  If you take a look at the upper right sidebar, you'll see there's a poll.  That's right!  I want YOU to pick for me.  Whatever the winner is by the end of the polling period, that's the one I'll wear and share on my blog.  I'm horrible at making decisions...and now I don't have to.

Have a wonderful weekend, my dear Kitschies!  If you dream tonight, I hope you have color dreams of Fall. 

KONAD!!!

Happy Friday, Kitschies!  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel that is this work week.  We're not doing anything exciting this weekend.  The hubs and his bestie are going to their studio on Saturday to do their once-a-month "power summit" where they do...I don't know what they do.  LOL  All I know is that they go to their studio and they come home.  Wow.  I'm an awesome wife, aren't I?  *sigh*  Anyway, since I'll have the boys to myself on Saturday, I'm hoping the weather will be nice so we can go to the park in the afternoon/early evening.  And I'm hoping to make some cookies with Nate, provided Mason cooperates and takes a nap.

As the title suggests, I got a Konad set and a Bundle Monster set of image plates for my birthday!  I was one happy Megan on my birthday!!  And on top of all the great Konad/fauxnad goodness, my bestie gave me a bunch of Confetti polishes.  This is the first one of the group I tried.

This is Confetti Belle of the Ball.  I had been on the hunt for the perfect light purple/lavender/lilac creme and I think this is it!  This is 2 coats with top coat taken indoors with flash.  The formula was nice though the brush was a little on the thin side.  I'm not complaining for two reasons.  1.  I got it for my birthday (I love it anyway) and 2. for $1.99, how can you go wrong?!

But I didn't leave this mani as just a pretty purple delight.  I had fauxnad plates calling my name!  I was a little nervous using them for the first time (which I did earlier that afternoon), but then I realized it was much easier than I thought it would be.  Thanks to all the stamping how-tos I read and watched before I even got my stuffs, doing the actual stamping was a breeze! 

I am not saying that this looks professional by any stretch of the imagination.  But what I am saying is that this was fun and easier than I expected.  I'm not in to the swing of things with this yet so I didn't write down the plate number, but I can tell you it's from the Bundle Monster set.  I used Sally Hansen Black Out and Konad special polish in white. 

One more picture for good measure.  This is the left hand.  On the right hand I did the exact opposite for the colors and used white on all but the index finger.  I liked how this all turned out and it wasn't too hideous for my first stamping experience.  I hope you don't get bored of the nail art I put up because I can bet you're going to see a lot more of it!

And now a question for those of you who have stamping image plates.  How do you store them?  I'm keeping mine in a small kraft envelope for now.  I picked up a container at Target for my ever-increasing polish collection on my birthday, so I'm trying to get things a little more organized.

Have a good weekend!  From me next week you can look forward to a new recipe (or two), the return of Workout Wednesday and some manis.

Listening: A bad smooth jazz remake of Imagine
Mood: sullen