Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Good afternoon, Kitschies!!  It's Thursday...and that means we're ONE day closer to the weekend.  WOOT!  And a good weekend it's shaping up to be!  The fam and I are planning on taking a morning hike along dormant volcanoes Saturday morning and then the bestie and I are going to check out some roller derby Saturday night!!  If we had more money, we'd crawl downtown, but seeing as we're both pretty much next to broke, we'll be lucky if we hit up Lenny's for some dessert afterward.  LOL  Either way, I don't really care because she and I haven't been out like this in a LONG time!

Anyway...I have a cute mani/pedi combo to share with you today!  I wore this back in early June and I've been itching to try it again. 

For my mani, I started with a base of Tip Toe nail polish in Lime Slush.  It's a pretty lime creme, but was a pain in the butt to work with!  It was a little on the thick side and it left some bald spots.  But after I spruced it up a bit with some flowers, it was all worth it.

For the flowers, I used SH White On for the petals and Zoya Tanzy for the centers.  There are a couple leaves thrown in there, too, and for that, I used ChG Jolly Holly.

I like how Tanzy was a little less opaque so you could see the center of the flower petals coming together.  What I don't like is my green leaves streaked a little with application of my top coat (which was probably ChG Fast Forward).

I thought this mani was really cute, but since Lime Slush was so thick, it chipped and cracked pretty fast.  No matter - it was cute while it lasted.

And I'm not one to play matchy-matchy, but I thought the little flowers would look cute as a pedi, so I grabbed my pedi tools and went to work!

This is Zoya Dannii, a gorgeous purple shimmer? duochrome? from Zoya's Intimate Spring 2011 collection.  I love so many colors from this collection, but this is and Gemma are the only beauties to have joined my stash (so far).  To be honest, I think I like how the toes came out more than I did the fingers!  I changed up the flowers *just* a little for the pedi.  Instead of using Tanzy for the center, this time I used Hard Candy Lava and green acrylic paint for the flowers. 

I *meant* to use Hard Candy Lava as the centers for my mani, too, but *somebody* (read Nate or Mason) moved the bottle and I had no choice but change oranges.  LOL

So, my question to you is this: do you match your mani and pedi?  Do you match colors or patterns?  Do you do your toes?  If you do your toes, why don't you share them with us?  I know of one, *maybe* two fellow bloggers who share their pedis.  Why are blogger so anti-pedi?

One more thing, if you have a free minute or two, please check out this post HERE to help a fellow blogger out.  Thanks!

Two for the Road

Good day, Kitschies!  Yep.  You're reading this right.  Two posts in one day!  It's much less chaotic here at the clinic and I missed a post on Tuesday, so I'm making up for it today. 

I know nail bloggers don't post many pedicures.  Why is that?  I know...toes are (generally) gross, but if you take the time to give yourself a pedi, why not share the pics?  Saying that, I hope I don't repulse you with my post today.  If I do...get over it.  LOL  Everybody's got toes.  Let's move on, shall we?

This is Zoya Jacy.  Isn't she beautiful?  This is a medium magenta with a purple shimmer.  The shimmer is rather subtle, but it's gorgeous.  Very opaque, I could've gotten away with only one coat but I used two.  I got Jacy from the Facebook offer Zoya had a couple months ago (in January?).

Toes!  I couldn't just leave this a plain pedi, so I grabbed my silver striping polish and a purple-ish rhinestone.  I don't know what's with the design, but this is how it turned out.  The hubs asked if it was "wings".  I don't see wings.  Do you?

Now, the second pedi is a little more up my alley. 

I started with a base of Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go (silver metallic).  Then using the black and magenta striping polishes I picked up at Ross (I think they're Art Club...I can't remember).  I was really surprised at how opaque the magenta was.  I was going for a plaid design which I got to turn out ok on one of the toes.  The other one?  Yeah.  It's plaid...though not like the other one.  Oh, well.  Nobody sees my toes this time of year anyway.  Good thing, huh?

Here's my question to my fellow nail bloggers.  Why don't you post pics of your pedis?  Or do you just not do your toes?

Born Pretty Store - A Review

Good morning, Kitschies!  It's a little less chaotic here in the clinic today - thank buddah.  I was about ready to pull my hair out by the end of the day yesterday.  What a difference a day makes, right?

Today I have my first official review for you.  A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Kevin at Born Pretty asking me if I'd be interested in reviewing some items from their store.  I roamed around their site and came across a few things I had already had my eye on (score!) and placed my order.  About 10 days later I got my package in the mail, which is pretty quick considering how far it has to travel!  Let's see what I got, shall we?

I picked the 5-piece 2-way dotting tool set.  I love that these come with different colored acrylic barrels with a fun swirl insert.  The sizes of the tips range from pretty big to itty bitty and there are more options than previous sets I've tried before.  The quality of these tools is better than others I've tried before - they have a good weight in my hand and the tips are well-anchored so you won't end up with a wobbly tip a few months down the road.  Of course I had to take these for a spin.  Wanna see?

I know...it's a pedi...so sue me.  Anyway...I started with a base of Sparkly Smurf (a Franken color I'll post on later) and then using red, orange, yellow and green acrylic paint, I dotted a rainbow on each big toe.

I've been kinda meh about my pedies lately, but I really like this, and it's mostly because of the little rainbow.  Using the dotting tools was super easy and they cleaned up nicely.  Sometimes it's hard to get all the paint off the tips of the tools, but I didn't have that issue with these. 

So...go now to Born Pretty and check out their dotting tools.  A set of 5 (seen at top) run $4.74.  Not bad, right?  Especially good since Born Pretty offers free shipping (a similar set on Amazon will run about $6 +shipping). 

The items reviewed in this post were provided to me by Born Pretty Store.  The information provided is my honest opinion and has not been influenced by the products in any way.

Ewwww Toes!

Since I mentioned the mani I paired with my Orchids Are Gray? mani, I thought I'd follow through with that mention and post the pics tonight.  I thought I had prepped these pics.  I guess after a while all the pics kinda just run together.  So, if you're anti-mani, here's your chance to run away.  If not, here ya go!

This beautiful neon pink with blue/green flash is Color Club Electro Candy from the collection of the same name.  I picked this collection up at Ross also - it was the first one I saw and I let out a big *gasp* and snapped it up as soon as I saw it!  Ever since I saw this collection posted on Scrangie, I had to have it!

Since I had mouse gray on my fingers, I had to do something crazy on my toes.  Can't get much crazier than neon pink in November!  Remember once upon a time, I complained that I just don't like neon?  Yeah.  I take that back.  I just didn't have the right neon.  The better formula makes all the difference.

I wanted to jazz up the pedi a little, so I grabbed my tools.  A striping brush, lavender acrylic paint, silver glitter nail art paint and two lavender rhinestones later, this is what I came up with.  You know what's funny?  One of my patients came in with this exact same nail art on her nails today.  I didn't tell her I had the same design on my toes (let alone that I did it myself).  HA!!

I think that's enough toes for one night.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.  The hubs is at Planet Ego tonight, so I'm off to bed so I can hopefully catch some z's before he comes home and starts sawing logs.  Ah.  The joys of sleeping with a man who insists on sleeping on his back. *sigh*  LOL

Whoa, Tainted Love

Whoa!  THAT'S a bad video.  LOL  Happy Saturday, Kitschies!  In case you didn't notice, I haven't been around for a couple of days.  Why?  Work has been busy, as usual, and then I just haven't felt much like getting on the computer when I get home.  I was planning on doing a post last night, but dinner took much longer to cook than expected and by the time we ate, the hubs and I decided to just veg instead of working out and working on the computer.   Either way, the work week is over and it's been a typically busy weekend.  I took Nate to the library this morning, where he picked out 5 books to check out.  I grabbed two cookbooks for myself.  I know the hubs is happy that I've rediscovered the library and am no longer buying cookbooks - at least for now.  After that I headed over to a friend's house to paint her and her daughters' nails.  We planned on doing a lime green and purple water marble but that was a big fat fail (I think the green was too thin), so I ended up doing something a little more simple.  I'll tell you about that in another post soon.  I came home, ate lunch and realized that Mason had a fever when I got him up from his nap.  Wonderful.  I'm not 100% convinced that he's sick yet, but considering Nate had something that started like that last weekend, I won't be surprised when he spikes another fever later on this evening.  Then the hubs went to the studio, so I've been home with the kidlets all afternoon.  They're eating right now, so I have a few minutes to work on this post.

Last week (or the week before), I ran across a post that reminded me of a great color I had, but had yet to use.  In fact, Nate saw the picture of the green and said "Oooh!  That's a pretty color, Mommy!"   I also remembered that as soon as I saw posts on this collection, I had to have it!  This is Tainted Love from Ulta Glam Goth mini collection. 

I thought it was going to be really difficult to apply this polish because the bottles are so tiny (hence the mini), but I really had no trouble at all.  Tainted love is a gorgeous green base with green & gold shimmer.  Some day I'll use it on my whole nail because it really is pretty.  This is taken indoors with flash.

Outdoors, direct sunlight.  Ugh!  My nails are so stained!  I'm sure I can tell more than your average Joe, but I see it an it drives me bonkers.  I'd love to just let them breathe for a week, but I really don't know that I could.  Anyway, I used French mani guide stickers to do the tips.  I'm sure I could do it free-hand, but I don't mind cheating. :)  As much as I liked the green tips, I wasn't quite finished with this mani.

So...I grabbed some black acrylic paint and my striping brush and did a thin line just under the green tip and then dragged out a couple "feathers" to make a simple little design.  And to accent the tiny gold sparkle in the green, I added just a touch of gold glitter with a Art Club striping polish.

And just one more picture for good measure.  Oh!  While I'm thinking about it...I have horribly ridged nails - especially on my ring and pinky finger on my left hand.  If you click the pics to make them big, you can really see the ridges.  I asked the Sallys girl what ridge filler she recommended and I picked it up, but I'm not really impressed.  Do any of you use ridge filler?  If yes, which one do you use?  How 'bout ones you don't like?  Is there such a thing as non-milky white ridge filler?

Enough with the questions!!  Tonight is a two-fer post.  I've been meaning to post this one for-EVA, so I'm finally remembering tonight.  Better late than n-EVA!

A couple months ago (yes, months), I borrowed this beauty from a co-worker.  This is SH HD Blu.  She'd always worn it with multiple layers, but I saw it layered over black it glowed.  So, I slapped on a coat of SH Xtreme Wear Black Out and the layered a couple coats of Blu over top.  It. was. gorgeous!  It almost made me want to wear sandals to work.

This was taken outside with direct sun.  It was a kinda messy application (not because of the polish but because I suck at pedis), but seeing the bits of black around the edges makes it look kinda cool.

And...this was taken indoors with flash.  This glows, even without bright light!  I wore this until big chunks were missing.  Now I have to go out and get this color for myself.   Thanks, Kim. *sigh*

I think it's about bed time for the monkeys here in the house.  After they go down (easily, I'm hoping), I'm going to do some work around the house and then do a little Konading on my poll winner: OPI Ski Teal We Drop.  I'll be posting that some time next week.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  The countdown to the Kitschy Suburbia/Makeup Zombie adult-only weekend begins on October 1st. I. can. not. wait.

Listening to: Scooby Doo
Mood: tired

What Happened?

To my weekend?!  Friday seems like a distant memory.  Saturday is a little hazy.  Sunday was too busy to count as a weekend.  It was a busy, stressful, fun weekend for me and the family.  It was back-to-work-Monday, but the MIL is sick and the hubs couldn't miss work so I get to stay home with the boys.  It's not even 10 and we've had breakfast (ham and eggs courtesy of the hubs), walked to the park, played a little, walked back home, and played out back while Nate had an Otterpop and Mason threw his ball in the kiddie pool.  Now Mason is down for his morning nap and Nate is (quietly) watching TV.  I better get this post in while I have a moment.

This weekend I did a bright mani because I'd been stuck in dark mode the last couple times.  Between the Vampire challenge and black, white & color splash challenge, I was over the darks.  To counteract those dark colors, I had to go with something BRIGHT!  Thursday night I painted my nails and that stayed on til Sunday morning.

Zoya Trinity.  This reminds me of the 80s!  Bright pink with purple sheen.  This is one of my favorites.  I threw this one in with my second Zoya exchange at the last minute and I'm glad I did.  This color is described as a lighter shade of bright hot fuchsia pink with strong blue-violet duochrome shimmer. Extremely eye-catching, a pink shade that's sure to mesmerize.  I think this is the perfect Summer pink.

And to add to the fun, I decided to do a cheery pedi.  Pardon the toe pictures - while I don't think I have the ugliest feet in the world, I definitely don't think I have cute toes.

Zoya Lianne.  I picked up this pretty summery orange with my first Zoya exchange order.  This color is described as a juicy medium tangerine fused with fine gold shimmer. A cheerful and stylish way to accent any outfit.  I'm on the hunt for the perfect orange/coral for my toes.  While this isn't quite it, I still like it.  I don't see myself using it for a mani, but I do like it for my pedi.  I wasn't happy with just plain polish, so I grabbed my trusty dotting tool and striping brush and did 3 little flowers on both big toes.  Cute!  If I do say so myself. :)

One more picture for the heck of it.  While the hubs was out doing something (and the boys must've been otherwise occupied), I played around with Photoshop.  I love that program but it overwhelms me because there's so much you can do with it.  And it doesn't help that I know *just* enough to frustrate the heck out of myself!!

Well, Nate wants me to watch Action-maniacs (Animaniacs), so I better get to it before he throws a fit!  Coming up this week: recipes for a main dish and a dessert, the first installment of Workout Wednesday and another challenge mani (though I don't know what the theme is yet).  Have a magnificent Monday, dear readers!

Descriptions of Zoya Trinity and Lianne were per the Zoya website.