A 4-pack of FAIL

Happy Friday, Kitschies!  It's been one long ass week and I'm glad it's coming to a close. 

I usually play along with Mamarazzi's Friday Confessional, but I don't much feel like confessing, so I'm going to share some nail fail with you.  I guess that, in itself, is a sort of confession.  LOL

These are all manis I wore but wasn't happy with. 

This is a pretty color, but it's not as great as I wanted it to be.  It's OPI My Address is Hollywood from their Fall collection.  It's a work-safe color with just a hint of shimmer.  Maybe I wanted the shimmer to be stronger?  Whatever it is, it just didn't do it for me.  I added the little hearts to try to change my mind about it, but it didn't work.

I liked the idea of this in my head but like so many nail art ideas, it didn't transfer very well from my brain to my fingers.  The color is a neon pink Nina Ultra Pro and then I added lots of black and white dots.  I think the dots ended up looking like bird poop.  This mani didn't even make it out of the house.

I wanted these colors to be closer and create less of a stark transition between orange and red.  These are Zoya Kimmy (red) and Tanzy (orange) from the Sunshine collection (Summer 2011).  I should've used Tanzy and Rica instead.  Anyway...I did some white nail art on these after wearing it for a day, but obviously it didn't impress me enough to take a picture of it before I took it off. 

And one more...

I was on a French mani kick for a while back in August (?).  The hubs has always said he didn't like the typical French look but I tried to do one anyway.  I started with SH White On on the tips and ChG Whitecap to add a bit of shimmer on the nail bed.  I liked it that way, even though the white was so, so stark.  I wanted to soften it up a bit so I added green star bursts with green star rhinestones.  That's where it went wrong.  I didn't like this one at all.  I don't think this one made it out of the house, either.

So, while these aren't fails per se, they're definitely not my greatest works.  Tell me, fellow nail bloggers, do you post your fails or do you keep them hidden from view?

It's Pronounced Fronkensteen

Happy Halloween, Kitschies!!  I have a compilation post for you today of all the Halloween inspired manis I've worn over the last week or so.

But...before I begin...a clip from one of my all-time favorite movies - Halloween or otherwise.





There is no more magical connection that Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman!

Anyway...on with the polish!  All pictures are click-able to make big-able. :)

These were my first two in my Halloween sets.  I started with a base of WnW Black Creme then I used two coats of ChG Ick-a-Bod-y from the Awakening collection (Fall 2010).  This gave me the effect I was looking for but I was a little disappointed because the orange glitter is a little chunky and made the finish a little rough.  That's just me being a little over critical.  The orange glitter is a perfect color.

Next up is Franken Fingers.  LOL  I started with 3 coats of Kermit with a Twist, a great franken creation from DragonRhi Creations.  It's a pretty apple green base with darker green and gold glitter.  I got this one is a box of franks from Chris and I don't know why I waited so long to use it.  It's so pretty and wears like iron.  Using my black striping polish, I created little Frankenstein stitches on each of my fingers.  This is the mani I wore to the derby championships last weekend.

Speaking of derby championships, you saw the whole look in THIS post, but here's a better full-face pic of me that night.

I went with a green eye theme to match my nails.

Next up are my mummy accent nails.  I used Ulta Underground on 3 of the nails and ChG White Out on the accent nails.  Then using my black striping polish, I created "bandages" and I used yellow acrylic paint for the eyes.  I ended up doing this just on the left hand because I was too heavy-handed to do good looking bandages on the right hand.  And ignore the smearing of the black stripes - stoopid striping polish smears no matter how long I wait to put on top coat.

This is what I wore for the end of the week last week and through most of the weekend.  This is Zoya Tanzy (from the Sunshine collection, Summer 2011).  What I like about Tanzy is that it has a bright orange color but there's lots of gold glass fleck in there, too.  I painted little flowers toward the tips of my nails using black acrylic paint and Tanzy as the center of the flowers.  Somehow, this ended up kinda looking like leopard print, but I knew they were flowers and that was good enough for me.  LOL

Last but not least, this is what I'm wearing for Halloween.  I used two coats of WnW Black Creme and then I sponged on a few coats of ChG Zombie Zest (also from the Awakening collection, Fall 2011) using a makeup sponge, just on the tips. 

I really liked this one because the slime-green glitter on the tips makes the black base almost look like a super deep green (think Nars Zulu).  I don't know what made me think of doing this look...it just kinda popped in to my head on Sunday afternoon.  I think it's a good end to two weeks' of Halloween manis!

Whatever you do for Halloween, be safe!  Keep an eye on the little ones - they're super crazy tonight.  I'll have pix of my little guys in a few days.  Happy Halloween!!!

One More Summer Fling

Happy Monday, Kitschies!  It was a fun weekend over here in the Land of Enchantment - well, Saturday was fun, anyway.  It was derby championships and I got all dolled up.  I was stuck behind a computer for both bouts, but I got to don my skates and glide around the area a few times.  It felt so good to be back on my skates - I hadn't laced them up since October 4th and let me tell you...I am itching to get back on the track!!  I'm going to my first practice tonight since breaking my toe - wish me luck! 

And yes...I hear you...rest that toe. :|  I hear you.

Now...for the real reason of the post.  Nail polish!  LOL

Waaaaay back in August (yes, another mani from August), I got on a French mani kick.  This is one of the few that survived the cut.

This mani *screams* summer to me!  I did the tips with CC Tangerine Scream (from the Electro Candy collection) then I used Finger Paints Paper Mache for the flowers and dots with a blue rhinestone in the center of the flowers.

I don't usually go for neon polishes, but I dig the whole Electro Candy collection.  They have the prettiest flash to them.  The orange has a really pretty white pearl flash to it.  Oh...and that's Nate's little foot over there in the corner of the pool.

I really liked the contrast of the bright bold cobalt blue against the neon orange.  And the white dots broke up the blank field of the nail bed a bit.

This is how Tangerine Scream looked in the shade.  I don't know what it is about neons, but you can't really capture their heat unless you're in half-light.

You're FIRED!

TGIF, Kitschies!  I'm so excited it's the weekend!!  It was a short work week, but it still feels like it took forever to get through.  Got plans for the weekend?  We do!  Saturday is my bestie's oldest son's birfday and then Nate gets to go over there and spend the night (YES!).  When I drop Nate off, the bestie and I are going to derby practice (practice for me, watching for the preggo) and when I get home, the hubs and I are going to crack open a bottle of wine and veg.  I might have to come in to work on Sunday, but that won't be until after I get to sleep in (the hubs says he'll cover Mason).  I can't remember the last time I got to really sleep in!  We'll see if it actually happens...


A while back, I got a wild hair and asked my hubs what he wanted to see on my nails.  He said he wanted to see flames.  *sigh*  Flames?  Really?  I thought about it for a while and couldn't come up with an easy way to actually paint flames on my nails.  Instead, I thought I'd give sponging a gradient a try.  I've tried sponging before and it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.  And it didn't really work this time, either, but I took pics so I could share my sorta fail with you.

I started by painting my nails with a couple coats of Sinful Colors Let's Meet (yellow), then I sponged SH Xtreme Wear Crushed (orange) from the middle of the nails to the tips.  And to finish it out, I sponged ChG Vertical Rush on the tips.  The colors are good, but the pattern isn't very gradient.

The lines between the colors aren't subtle enough for me.  I liked the concept, but I didn't like the end result.

It's even more obvious in indirect light.  I wore it like this for a few days, then I posted a question on FB for those in the know.  I got some good suggestions and decided to try it again.

This time, instead of starting with an all over base color, I started sponging the darkest color (red) at the tips.  Then I sponged the medium color (orange), overlapping the red and taking it to about the upper third of the nail.  Finally, I sponged the lightest color (yellow) at the nail bed and out to overlap the orange.  

I am much happier with the way the second try came out.  Maybe I won't fire my fire nails after all!  For added sparkle effect, I added Nailtini Spritzer on top.  Spritzer doesn't stand out too much, so it wasn't all glitter bling in your face, but I like the effect it had - kinda pulled it all together.

You can tell the lines aren't quite so bold this time.  I was pretty happy with this one once it was all said and done.  And the hubs?  He thought it was cool, but he was a little disappointed I didn't actually paint flames on my nails.  I told him he must think I'm a better artist than I really am.


Well...I'm off to lunch!  It's a quick trip to WalMart for me - OH BOY!  Enjoy the rest of your Friday and I hope you have a relaxing weekend.

Mexico Can Bite My Arse

Good morning, Kitschies!  It's been quite the day already and it's barely 9:00!  Apparently nobody told the computer system here at the clinic that it's no longer Monday.  *whew*  I hope this means the rest of the day will be smooth sailing!  *fingerscrossed*

I have a mani for you that's been sitting in my prepped folder for quite a while.  It's not one of my favorite colors so there it sat.  Until today.

This is OPI Magnifico Mexico.  It's not quite so red IRL, it's definitely a lot more orange.  This was taken indoors with flash.   

Indoors in direct light from a window.  You can see just a little more orange in this picture.  I tried to add a couple decals to my ring and thumbs, but I still didn't care for this mani.

Indoors, indirect light.  You can see in the upper pic that it's a little more orange there.  See...I just didn't care for this one.  It didn't photograph well and it was just a meh color.  Not really any shimmer on the nail (there's very slight shimmer in the bottle) and just not my color.  I could definitely see this as a pedi color, though.

I think I remember this mani lasting a day...if that.  I got this polish from my mom at Christmas because she didn't like it, either.  I figured...why not?...I'll give it a good home.  Yeah.  I haven't picked it up since!  So, Mexico can bite my shiny metal arse.  LMAO  Obviously I've been watching too much Futurama.

photo credit

It's settled down a little bit here in the clinic.  Let's hope that the rest of the day mellows out because I've had about as much drama as I care to deal with in one day.  Happy Tuesday!!

Flash of Orange

Happy Tuesday!!  Here we are, chugging through another week.  It's only the second full week of Summer and I'm already over it.  So over it.  Enough complaining, right?  Right.  On to the pretties!

In case you haven't noticed, I am *super* behind in posting my manis.  I'm posting manis from the end of April and the beginning of May!  I was in a blog funk for a while - I didn't want to prep pics, compose posts, the whole 9 yards.  But, it seems like I'm outta that funk for now and I'm getting chunks of pics prepped.  Don't worry...during my blog funk I still did my nails a couple times a week.  This is one of those manis.

This, my friends, is Color Club Tangerine Scream from the Electro Candy collection (summer 2009).  If you've followed me from the beginning, you know that I have a certain hatred toward neon polishes.  Then I saw the Electro Candy collection on Scrangie's blog and all that changed.

These pics don't make this neon orange scream as much as it really does in person.  The thing I like about these neons is the shimmer.  The orange has a light green shimmer that just glows in the sun.

On top of the screaming orange, I used a Bundle Monster full-nail stamp.  My only complaint about the older BM full-nail stamps is they're not broad enough to cover my whole nail.  I've heard they fixed that with the new set, but I can't say for sure.  While this didn't turn out exactly like I had planned, I still liked the design (incomplete and all).

For more color-accurate pics, please check out Scrangie's blog - she has the best pics of these pretty neon polishes.

Are there any polish colors, finishes, etc. that you hated at first but ended up liking in the end?  I'm glad to say that with the right ones, I don't think there's a polish I can truly say I hate.  However, there are some pretty fugly colors out there...but that's another post for another day. 

Anything But FAIL

Good evening, Kitschies!  It's Tuesday.  Right?  Yep.  Still Tuesday.  It feels like days ago since I got up this morning.  It was a busy day at work.  For me, anyway.  I spent a good couple hours working on the EMR program and 5:00 came *just* before my head exploded, so that was good. 

Now I'm home and I decided to do my nails (shocking, I know) and I've had nothing but failures.  I've attempted a purple gradient and a red/glitter funky french and they were both big FAT fails.  I finally decided to quit attempting to do something cool and went with a safe choice (Nubar Raspberry Truffle).  And to make sure that the fails of the night don't get me down, I'm sharing two manis that are anything but fails.

To celebrate the New Year, we had our besties over for dinner and games.  We used to do this a lot more often when we only had one kid a piece.  We try to get together at least once a month and when we do, either Wendi does my makeup or I do her nails.  This time I did her nails.  She knew exactly what she wanted and, of course, I had the colors we needed to pull it off. 

I started with the Color Club Electro Candy collection: Electro Candy (neon pink with turquoise flash), Pure Energy (neon blue with green flash), Ultra Violet (neon purple with blue flash), Volt of Light (highlighter yellow with blue-ish green flash), Tangerine Scream (neon orange with white flash), and What A Shock! (neon green with blue flash).

I paired the blue and purple together, pink and orange and yellow and green.  I overlapped each of the colors so they looked like they blended in.  Then I grabbed the black acrylic paint and striped each nail with zebra stripes.  How awesomely 80s is this?!

I'm still learning to take good pics with the new camera.  I've got taking my own pics down, but taking pics of somebody else's nails is a little more tricky.  In other words: sorry that pic is so blurry.

We realized later that the blue and purple nails match her awesome purple and turquoise ring.  WIN!!  I was so inspired by the way Wendi's nails turned out, I did my own nails similar to this the following week.

 

Instead of pairing up all six colors, I decided to just use the pink and orange.  I love it!!  These pics were taken indoors with flash.  I did this on a Thursday night and didn't take it off til tonight (that's 5 whole days)!

 It's kinda hard to see on the nails, but you can see in the bottle that both of these colors had a great flash/shimmer.  I know I've previously stated that I hate neon, but this collection has changed my mind.  I don't like the satin finish, but a coat of top coat fixes that!

This is indoors in indirect light, no flash.  The neon colors show up best when it's not in bright direct sunlight.  Its awesome in the dim first light of morning.

Indoors in more direct, bright sunlight.  The wear on this was much better than expected - especially since it's a neon.  Today I had a little bit of tip wear, but I did have a chunk pop out of the middle of my index finger.  I got tons of compliments about this mani.  It's so fun, so bright and so NOT winter.  LOL

I'm tired.  My hands are cold.  I have a headache.  I think it's about time to call it a night.  What do you think of my neon rainbow zebras?  They're definitely a horse of a different color.

All Hallow's Eve Eve Eve

TGIF!  We've managed to survive another week.  There hasn't been anything super exciting to happen this week and that's kinda ok with me.  I'm all for fun exciting, but stressful exciting?  Notsomuch.  This weekend the hubs has to help at his office for a remodel (better him than me) and we're having Ms Makeup Zombie over for dinner to celebrate her birfday and Halloween.  You should check out her Halloween Zombie makeup look.  It. is. awesome!

Well, despite my kicking and screaming, Halloween is upon us.  I can NOT believe Halloween is this Sunday!  I picked up an adorable lion costume for Mr Mason and Nate decided to be Darth Vader.  We didn't do trick-or-treating for Nate at this age, but since he's going out, we decided to go ahead and get a costume for Mason.  I don't think he'll be grubbin' any goods, but this way he'll be able to go out with us.  I can't wait to see them both all dressed up.  Of course I'll post pictures!

In honor of Halloween, I have two Halloween-ish manis to share with you.  I haven't felt very inspired in the department of nail art lately, so you get what you get here.  LOL

This is ChG Orange Marmalade with SH Black Out.  I picked up the lovely Orange Marmalade through Magic Maid's blog sale a couple weeks ago.  It is a medium orange with gold shimmer - it reminds me of Strawberry Fields, only in orange.  This pic was taken indoors with flash.

Early morning, direct sun.  You can't see the shimmer quite as much in this pic, but it still looks good.  I really liked this one and Nate even said "Mom!  Your nails look like Halloween!".

This second mani is what I've been wearing since Tuesday night.  I've been kinda busy at home and finding time to do my nails has been a little difficult this week.  Good thing I like how this one turned out (though the pics don't really do it justice).  I initially tried to do another orange and black look, but I ended up having a serious fight with the orange (a neon from Nina) and decided to bag that one and go with this.

I started off with Sinful Colors What's Your Name.  It's a black base with subtle teal/purple (it changes depending on the light but I couldn't get anything other than teal to show up on pics) shimmer.  I was so excited when I heard this was a dupe to OPI Unripened (as seen on The Polish-Aholic).  I'm not devout to one specific brand, but if I can get a dupe of a more expensive color in a brand like SF, you bet I'm gonna pick up the less expensive brand.

A close-up of the sparkle in the bottle.  See...it's pretty subtle.  And I wasn't going for subtle.  This is Halloween, after all.

So, I went digging through my collection and I happened across this beauty that the lovely Ms Zombie gave me for my birthday!  This is Confetti Ice Ice Baby (cue the unescapeable early 90s "hit").  I don't know why I didn't use this one sooner!  Ice Ice Baby has iridescent glitter in a clear base.

There YOU go!  That's a lot less subtle and just what I was going for.  Please excuse the orange paint on my thumb - I told you I had a fight with that neon orange polish!  The finish of Ice Ice Baby is a little rough because it's a glitter rather than a sparkle or shimmer, but a coat of TC cures the bumpies.

What I like best about Ice Ice Baby is that it shifts from royal blue to Kelly green to purple, depending on the angle and the light.  I wish I could've gotten better pics with this mani.

Those first two pics were indoors with flash.  This is early morning, direct sun.  You still can't really see all the pretty glitters.

Though blurry, you can see the glitter a little better.  And you can see a couple of the colors, too.  These pics were taken this morning - coming up on over 3 days of wear!  I don't have any chipping, but there is some tip wear.  I don't know that I can totally attribute that to actual wear because SF had horrible shrinkage with ChG FFTC.  Either way, I like this one.  And, it seems, everybody else does, too.  People (I don't even know!) have actually grabbed my hands to look at my fingers.  LOL  I'm not a touchy-feely person so that always takes me by surprise.

There ya go!  Two Halloween-ish manis on the eve of the eve of Halloween.  I want to do another Halloween-ish mani before Sunday, but I don't know that I'll have time. 

What are your plans for Halloween?  Do you dress up in costume or do you leave that to the kidlets running around the neighborhood?  Enjoy your weekend!!!

Listening to: The Funeral by Band of Horses (rather fitting, don't ya think?)
Mood: tired