Misc Nails 2012 - Part 1

Hello, again!  I went through some of my manis from 2012 and I thought I'd share some of them with you now. 

Ready for lots of pictures?  I'm splitting this up in to two parts because there were quite a few pictures and I didn't want to overload you all in one sitting.

Part 1

Orly Snowcone with KleanColor Blue Holo as an accent.  I waited a long time to get Snowcone and I have no idea why.  It's super pigmented and *bonus*, it doesn't stain!  A big thank you to Nailstah for the KleanColor way back in 2011.

Zoya Evvy (dark green-grey creme) and Zoya Quinn (deep berry).  The contrast of these colors was really great IRL...couldn't exactly capture it in pictures.

Zoya Bevin (mint) and Zoya Kristen (blue-based grey) with a little NYC Love Letters for some sparkle. 

Color Club Revvvolution (black holo), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Orange Crush, black striping polish and a bit of silver holo glitter to give it some pow.  Obviously, this was a Halloween mani.  I was feeling kind of uninspired for Halloween this year.

Milani Violet Dash (purple creme) and Milani Jewel FX Lavender as a glitter gradient.  I wore this for the first annual Southwest SparkleCon 2012 as organized by Makeup Zombie.  SO much fun meeting some new sparkle friends!!

A plastic wrap mani using a pale pink (I haven't a clue what it was) and China Glaze Designer Satin.  Super easy mani with maximum bang for your buck.  I loved this one!

And last, but definitely not least, a really pretty water marble using Zoya Anja (purple) and Zoya Midori (green).  This is the first marble I'd done in a while and I was happy how it turned out.  I really like how some of the green faded in to the purple.

I don't usually post makeup pictures but I wanted to share this one.  I did this as my look for a derby bout in October.  This is Fyrinnae Velvet Vampire (red) and Raven's Prophecy (black).  This look took me FOREVER but it turned out just like I wanted it and it was so pretty with gorgeous sparkle (that I couldn't capture). 

Stay tuned for Part 2 - coming soon!

January 2013

I'm not announcing my comeback, I'm just going to say...I have some pretty polishes to share with you.

With everything I have on my plate, I just can't blog like I used to.  I still do my nails (all the time) and I usually take pictures of them, but I rarely get the time to sit down and edit the pictures.  My plan, right now, is to compile my manis over the month and share them with you, in bulk, at the end of the month.  Sound good?  Here we go.  And, like always, all pics are clickable to make bigable!

This was my New Years mani.  It's kinda Christmas-y and it's all Winter.  I started with a base of Milani Juno.  Then, using BM14, I stamped snow flakes using ChG Designer Satin and a random white.  To finish it all off, I applied a layer of ChG Snow Globe for a little extra sparkle.

I picked up this gorgeous polish at Ulta while on a "we gotta get out of the house NOW" trip with the bestie.  I don't usually even look at the Layla polishes because they're pretty pricey, but this happened to be on sale (and I had a coupon).  Layla Ceramic Effects Green Galaxy (CE 54) is a gorgeous, gorgeous deep green jelly with green micro glitter, small round green glitter and big green hexies.  This polish wore like iron - definitely worth the money!

I was feeling in a nail funk when I did this and it snapped me out of it right away!  I started with a base of Revlon Royal (probably one of my top 10 fave polishes ever).  After that, I stamped the pretty flowers using Orly Snowcone and BM224.  I added pretty purple rhinestones in the center of one flower on each nail.

I did this one originially for a "glitter" challenge for a FB group I'm in, but I couldn't get a good picture of it.  You can't go wrong with a classic red nail!  This is Zoya Alix with Milani Glitter FX in Red.  The Milani claims to be "one coat" but for this much coverage, I started with a coat of Alix and then layered 3 layers of the glitter.  That's not what I'd call one coat!  I wore this for 4 days and love it.

This is what I ended up using for the glitter challenge.  Let me tell you...this is a mess polish!  I started with 3 coats of Orly Fowl Play then added a coat of Finger Paints Twisted (I loves me some flakies!).  And because that wasn't enough, I ended up using a coat of Milani Jewel FX in Twilight.  I am NOT looking forward to removing this (can you say "foil method"?).

So...there's January.  Maybe...if you're lucky...I'll post a review of a couple manis from last year later!

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?

Why You No Green!?!

Good day, Kitschies!!  It's FRIDAY!!!  It's supposed to beautiful weather this weekend, so we're planning on taking the boys sledding on Sunday.  I can't wait!  I think it'll be more for me than the boys, but it'll be fun either way.  Saturday will be spent getting things done around the house so we can play on Sunday.  What do YOU have planned for the weekend?

I have a fun mani to share with you today.  I've done a few like this before, but of the 3 I've done so far, this is, by far, my favorite.

I started with a base of a pale, pale pink Color Club (I cannot remember the name of it right now).  I wanted something light but not as stark as a plain white.  This super pale pink worked perfect!

Then I splattered ChG Four Leaf Clover (yes, that really *is* green, almost a neon green, but it would NOT capture correctly at. all.) and Orly Charged Up (purple) alternately on each nail.

For a more color-accurate pic, check out this swatch by ALU.  No matter how I tweaked the settings on my camera and no matter what I did in Photoshop, I could NOT get that green to look green.  Strange.  Usually I have trouble with purple.

I loved this mani!  Some of the polish dragged when I put on top coat and usually that would bug me but this time it gave it an almost watercolor effect, a la David Mack.

And just as a little side note, I've noticed I've picked up a few new followers here and there and I want to say WELCOME and thank you!  It's amazing to me that people are interested enough in what I do on my blog to follow me.  Keep an eye open for a giveaway to be happening very soon!  Happy weekend!

Give Me Some Lovin'

Good day, Kitschies!  It's been an up and down, roller coaster kind of day.  I got to read my book for more than two solid hours last night = good.  Nate woke up in a *bad* mood this morning = bad.  Mason screamed on and off for the entire 45 minute car ride to daycare this morning = bad.  Got to go to lunch with the hubs = good.  Bad prognosis for a long-time patient of ours = bad.  Helped a co-worked get caught up on referrals and such = good.  *sigh*  I'm ready for bed!!

I have a really pretty polish to share with you today.  This came out with a Summer collection and I don't think it got the attention it deserved in the blogosphere, so I'm giving it a little love.

This beauty is Orly Rock Solid from this summer's Mineral FX collection.  It is a gorgeous charcoal glittery base with scattered micro holo glitter.  This one is a stunner and it's hard to truly capture it's true appearance.

It's pretty on it's own, but I had just gotten the new BM plates for my birthday, so I used the snakeskin full nail image (BM 209) with SH Black Out for a subtle effect.

I like how this one looked a little darker in artificial light and a little lighter in sunlight.  Either way, those little micro holo particles glittered!

Here's the obligatory blurry shot to show the holo micro glitter.  Yeah, I know.  These pics make my eyes hurt, but they're so pretty!  LOL

Sure...the other polishes in this collection were pretty, but this was the only one that jumped out at me.  And I'm a little disappointed it didn't get the lovin' I think it deserves. 

What do you think of Rock Solid?  Do you own it?  Do you want it?  I know I've seen this at Ulta within the last month or so...maybe, if you're lucky, you can find it in one of the clearance bins now. 

New Year - New Mani

Happy New Year, Kitschies!  It's been a while since I was 'round these parts.  I've been so bad about posting and reading blogs over the last few weeks.  Hopefully things will return to normal now that the holidays are over.  Speaking of the holidays...how were yours?  Was Santa good to you?  My boys had a great haul from Santa - Nate got his first bike (complete with training wheels) and Mason got a construction site play set with a remote controlled car.  It's been so much fun watching them play with their new toys...they really are spoiled.  Over the last few days, the boys have been trading stomach viruses...definitely not a good thing.  Today I'm home with them both and Nate's been up since 3:30 this morning with a yucky tummy and Mason's mad because I cut the tip off all his binkies.  It's going to be a long day.

ANYway...

I did my first new mani of the year last night AND I decided to trim all my nails so I could start fresh for the new year.  I knew right away I was going to use Zoya Alegra on my toes, but I couldn't decide what to use on my fingers.  I knew if I asked Nate for his input, he'd pick the most sparkly polish I had, so I asked the hubs to pick.  I reorganized my Helmer and other storage drawers yesterday so all he had to do was open one drawer to browse my untrieds (I have a lot more untrieds than I realized).  He decided on SH Xtreme Wear Gunmetal.  I was a little surprised at that choice, but I went with it.

Once I applied it, I wasn't all that excited about it.  It's a pretty color (reminds me of a black pearl), but it's a little too frosty for my taste.  So, I went digging through my BM plates and found a design I thought would work and I am *very* happy with my result!

SH Xtreme Wear in Gunmetal - 3 coats.  I used BM-210 and Orly Luxe for the stamping. 

I impressed myself with this combo.  LOL  It's pretty subtle but it's really classy.  It's best viewed in low light and that's why this picture didn't so up as good - it was taken in bright, direct sunlight.

The longer I see this color, the more it grows on me.  I doubt I would wear Gunmetal on its own, but as a base for stamping, it worked really well.  I love it when an idea comes together when you don't think it will.

Happy 2012!  I wish you all a great year and thanks for hanging with me for so long.  I'll be around more in the coming weeks.  Promise.

Black and Blue

Good morning, Kitschies!  We're almost through another week...and I'm officially caught up on my days.  Being off work on Monday and Tuesday really threw me off.  But now I'm all back on track.

And what better way to celebrate being back on track than to share a really pretty polish with you?  I thought you might like that.

This beauty is Zoya Kotori.  I describe this as a blackened blue/teal shimmer.  It. is. stunning.  Kotori starts of a little thin with the first coat, but once you get 3 on there, there is total color payoff.

It's glowy and sparkly.  In the sunlight, Kotori catches the best glints of blue and teal.  LOVE this one!

And with a change of angle you can see how Kotori lights up - becomes less blackened blue/teal to just bright blue gorgeousness.  This was one of the very first Zoyas I got - I've worn it before but I've never shared it with y'all.

I wore Kotori alone for a day and then that evening, went home and did some simple nail art with Orly Luxe and black and white striping polishes.  It turned out very...nautical.  LOL

So, what do you think of Kotori?  If you have her, do you love her?  If you could only pick ONE Zoya to have forever and ever, which one would it be?  I know...that's a hard one!

He Picked It

Good morning, Kitschies!  How is it possibly the first day of December?!  Only 31 more days left in 2011 - and I still have so much to do.  And don't even mention Christmas shopping.  I haven't even started...and I need to.  Badly.

So, instead of thinking about the "C" word, let's look at some pretties, shall we?

Every now and again, I get to a point where I can't think of anything to do with my nails.  That's when I enlist the help of others.  This time...I asked the hubs.  He said I should do something with purple, yellow and green.  Not really my first thought when it comes to combining colors, but that's what happens when you ask somebody else for input.  I went to my Helmer and dug around a bit.  This is what I came out with.

This is Orly Velvet Rope - it's a really pretty deep purple...and beyond that, a description escapes me.  It's not quite a shimmer and it's definitely not a frost.  It kind of has a glow-y quality to it, but not enough to call it shimmer.

Velvet Rope also has some glitter particles in it, silver, if I remember correctly.  It looked pretty in the bottle but it just ended up looking like little bumps once it was on my nails.

By now, y'all know how I feel about a bumpy finish!  While I liked the end result of the nail art, I didn't care for the purple itself.  I used acrylic paint to make the flowers.  And, amazingly, I was able to do that design on ALL my nails!  LOL

Pretty, pretty purple.  Velvet is a very accurate description of this color.  It's a very rich looking deep purple that has a glowy quality to it.

What do you do when you run out of ideas?  Who do you go to for input?  Do you search Google?  Do you pull from the space around you?

They Can't All Be Winners

Good day, Kitschies!  We've almost made it through another week.  And I'm not *really* complaining because it could be worse, but holy hell I'm over this heat!  And, for some reason, the summer monsoons are skipping right over my house, so we don't even get the afternoon break like we usually do.  THIS SUCKS and I'm OVER it!  Sad thing is...we have at least another 6-8 weeks of heat.  Ugh!

Enough complaining.  Let's get to something better, shall we?

Although, not *much* better.  I did this water marble a while back and it didn't turned out how I'd hoped.  I started off wanting to do a green and blue marble but the colors I had were too close and just didn't show up well together.  So, instead of closing up shop, I decided to go with blue and purple.  I should've just closed up shop because I'm not rally happy with how it turned out.

I started off with Zoya Diem as underwear then I marbled Orly Royal Navy and ChG Coconut Kisses.  I don't know if it's because I didn't use the purple as the base color or what, but I just wasn't happy with this one.  And no matter what I did to this pic, my skin has this weird zombie-ish blue hue to it.  Nice, right?

I must not've been feeling this one at all because even my clean up wasn't very good.  I love marbling, but sometimes you should just walk away when it's not working well.  This is one of those times.

I even had bubbling and that usually never happens!  Sheesh!  I can't believe I actually left this one on more than a day or two.

AND...I even had a bald spot!  Man...this was NOT my best work.  *sigh*  They can't all be winners, right?

OK.  I feel better now that I got that out of my "pending blog stuffs" folder.  See...even a practiced nail arter (farter?) makes their share of fails from time to time.