31 Day Challenge, Day 6: Monochromatic

I know, I know. I'm not doing anything fancy, but I have been wanting a reason to use my matte top coat and this was the perfect opportunity.

Today's manicure is simply 2 coats of essie's Chills & Thrills with Seche Vite on part and Sally Hansen's Big Matte Top Coat on the other. Incidentally, my non-dominant hand is a wreck this week. I cut my hand on a box and managed to break every single nail on that hand. So for the next few weeks, please bear with me as my dominant hand will be the main feature.

I really like how the same polish gets a completely different look just by using a different top coat. I have always been one to prefer a very shiny top on my polish. When I discovered SV, I was so excited! It gives even my cheap polish a beautiful wet sheen. But a while back I bought this matte topper thinking I would try something different. I've used it a couple of times but just don't like the way it looks over the whole nail. When I was thinking about monochromatic colors that I could use for this manicure I realized this would be a perfect opportunity to use it!

To get this look, I used:

1. One coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps as a base coat. 
2. One coat of Orly Bonder Rubberized Base Coat
3. Two coats of essie Chills and Thrills. It's a much purple-er color than what it shows here. I cannot get my camera to capture it in it's true form.
4. One coat of Seche Vite over the entire nail surface
5. Tape off a diagonal stripe using scotch tape (I used washi tape because it doesn't stick as permanently and doesn't pull up the polish). Make sure your polish is completely dry or you risk messing up your base when you pull the tape up.
6. Apply one coat of Sally Hansen Big Matte Top Coat over the exposed nail. 
7. Immediately remove the tape from the nail slowly. 
8. Enjoy!

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31 Day Challenge, Day 5: Black & White

This is a rush job. Just want to put that out there. Tonight I plan to go back and redo them, but I had to take my chipping polish off last night and couldn't leave them naked for long so I slapped a fast couple of coats of my custom Eugene Malibu Black, White and Red All Over over a base coat. SV on top.

I am supposed to get my next installment of Eugene Malibu in the mail today, and I know I ordered a custom black glitter. Hopefully I'll get inspired and do something with it for the 'official' challenge manicure. I'll update later, when they're pretty again.

In the meantime, here's a macro of my plain ole glitter manicure (pinky finger).

 

Update: I did get my next shipment from Eugene Malibu and I got my custom black polish. I asked for a black crelly with a silver shimmer and silver glitter. I am quite pleased with the finished result. And you get to see two black and whites! I took this with the flash so that you could see the beautiful holo, but it still doesn't do it justice. What do you think?

 

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31 Day Challenge, Day 4: Secondary Colors

For day 4 of the 31 Day Challenge we had the option of either Primary or Secondary colors. I, personally, am not a fan of the primary colors, so I went with secondary colors in bright neon variations.

The purple and white base are both Wet & Wild, the orange is my favorite Orly shade Melt My Popsicle and the green is an unknown (if you want to know, send me a message and I'll look).

What do you think? It was 11:00 pm when I did this, after running after a bunch of Cub Scouts. Turned our pretty well considering how tired I was.

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31 Day Challenge, Day 3: Blue

So, I completely failed at Day 2. I actually did do my nails in a pretty green shade, but my sinus infection was getting the better of me and they looked horrible. Then I went and died in bed while they were still wet and they looked even worse by morning. Needless to say, there isn't any photographic evidence of that #fail.

For day 3 we could do either blue or violet. I looked around for inspiration but ended up sticking to something simple. Mostly because I'm still sick and didn't have the patience, or a steady hand, to do anything complicated.

Today's mani is using my standard base coats of Sally Hansen Hard As Wraps (which does make a huge difference) and ORLY Bonder. On top, I have 2 coats of Shany blue (no name). This color really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to like it, in all honesty. But it went on very smooth and has the most lovely shimmer to it. Even now, I stop and look at it occasionally because it just makes me happy. :)

On the accent nail, I used my custom Eugene Malibu color called Beloved (found here). I am really happy with the way it goes on. It truly is a glitter bomb. It's packed! This is one coat of glitter over 2 coats of polish. On top is a coat of OPI fast dry top coat and a coat of Seche Vite. I still love SV, but I've found that using another topper underneath it, it helps prevent shrinking on the edges.

My lighting set up consists of my bathroom mirror lights right now, so please forgive me. I'm trying to figure out a way to do a good light set up that won't involve my husband laughing at me for making a 'nail photo lab'. I'm sure the day is coming.

So, what do you think?

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31 Day Challenge, Day 1: Red or Orange

So, I said before that I was going to do the 31 Day Challenge over the course of the year. Well, it started over at the beginning of September and several bloggers are going to do it twice a week instead of each day. This is much more along my lines of time commitment. You can find the challenge prompts here (courtesy www.willpaintnailsforfood.com)

For day 1, I did Red and Orange because I couldn't decided between one over the other. I want to apologize in advance for the picture. I know it's horrible. I have been trying to get sick (and confirmed a double ear and sinus infection today) so this one is rather sloppy and I couldn't get my hand to be still to get a good picture.



I like the idea behind the design, but I'm not terribly happy with the way it turned out. I used a red Shany polish that I got with my big set (look here). The orange is Orly Melt My Popsicle (FAVE) and the yellow is a combination of a pale yellow by Revlon and a mustardy color by Shany. Neither had names.

I did a base of the Revlon yellow because the Shany was really thin. Then I used a makeup sponge to make a gradient. I like the way it looks like a sunset. I wanted to add a palm tree but I didn't have a stamp and I knew my hands were too shaky to attempt drawing. No palm tree. :( I ended up adding some little square thingies and painting some attempted tiger stripes. Like I said, I'm not happy with it, and it will be coming off tonight. I should have a yellow or green manicure up tonight or tomorrow, depending on how awful I feel when I get home.

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The Monthly Nail Review

I got my first nail mail today and I was so EXCITED! Last month I decided that I wanted to join a mail order nail box so I looked around for one that suited me. I finally settled on The Monthly Nail for a couple of reasons.

First, they ONLY ship polishes. There is a reason this blog is named what it is; I am not a 'beauty'-ful person. I'm not into the newest skin cream or make up color. I have a drawer full of stuff I don't use already, so I didn't want to join a box that included a beauty product that would just sit on my shelf and never get used.

Second, your box is completely customizable. I opted for the premium package which allows me to get 2 big name polishes (essie or OPI) and 2 of their indie brand, Eugene Malibu. You have the option of choosing any of the current or previous essie or OPI polishes, even if they aren't listed on their website, as long as the color hasn't been discontinued. For the Eugene Malibu colors, this is where the fun comes in, and my number three reason so:

Third, YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN POLISH! I was so excited over this. You have the ability to completely customize your own polish creation. You can choose the base, the color, if you want glitter or shimmer and on and on. There's even a note box so that you can get even more specific.

Finally, the price is unbeatable. For $23.99 a month I get four polishes. I figured it up and if I had bought them retail at Wal-Mart, even, I would've paid at least $9 for each bottle, so I'm saving over $10 this way. Plus they don't charge any shipping on the box subscriptions.

So, here's what I got in the mail today:

The box wasn't anything fancy. On their website it says that the monthly subscription can be gifted and it will come in a pretty box. I'm hoping that if you request it you get gift wrap.

I ordered 2 essie polishes (blue: strut your stuff, pink: haute in the heat) and I created the two Eugene Malibu colors myself. For the first one, I asked for a clear base with purple, black and green glitter and I must say it is PACKED with glitter  (called Beloved). It's really awesome and I can't wait to use it. For the second one (swatched below) I ordered a white crelly with red and black glitter (called Black and White and Red All Over).

Another cool option is that you get to name your creations. So on the bottom of my two custom bottles is a stick with MY polish name.

Now, onto the review of the actual polish. I used the white one and I really do love it. The formula was very smooth, and for a white crelly it covered pretty well. I have three coats on in the photo, but I could've gotten along with just two. It dried pretty quickly and there wasn't any streaking when adding the additional coats. The glitter wasn't as packed in this one as the purple, but it was still easy to get a good amount on my nails.

The red is a Shany polish that I've had for a while. It doesn't have a name (sorry). What do you think?

My only complaint so far with The Monthly Nail is that their website hasn't been updated since may and it doesn't look terribly professional. I was worried that it might be a two-bit run operation, but I'm very pleased with the actual product. Can't wait to get my email to customize September's box!

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Polka Dot & Zebra Print Nail art

Today was our big outing with the Cub Scouts. As the Den Leader for a pack of 8 year old boys, the planning and execution wore me out. Unfortunately, 0400 this morning found me wide awake going over every last detail to make sure the event went off without a hitch (which it did, if you were wondering). I played on Facebook and surfed Instagram trying to get back to sleep with no avail. I finally gave up and decided to peruse YouTube for nail art. It never fails to relax me. While I was looking around at random doticures and gradients, I came across this video from Selina's Nail Art and I KNEW that I had to recreate
this look.

Orange & Black Polka Dots with Zebra Print

I am not a pink kind of girl, but I have an Orly polish that I love and I knew immediately it would go great with this look. What do you think? I am quite proud of how it turned out. I have never used the striping polish until tonight and was actually rather nervous that I would screw it up terribly. Lucky for me the zebra stripes are much easier than they look!


Below is a list of everything I used, in order from start to finish.

• Sally Hansen Hard As Wraps
• I really love this as a base coat. It feels (and smells) like a thinned down acrylic liquid and functions similarly. Once applied and let to dry it gives my nails a very strong base for which to apply other layers. I have noticed a HUGE decrease in broken nails since I started using it, and it has become almost impossible to bend my nails like they used to do.
   
• Orly Bonder Rubberized Base
• I have heard mixed reviews on this one, but I swear by it. It looks orange in the bottle but I haven't noticed any skewing of the polish colors because of it. It goes on and dries to a clear, tacky surface. It never feels completely dry because of the rubbery texture. I use it, along with Hard as Wraps religiously under every manicure and I have gone from chipped nails the day after my manicure to wearing the same polish for four or five days without touch up. The last mani I did (here, with the broken nail) lasted five days.
• Shany (white, no name)
  
• Orly Goth
• This is a really pretty black shimmer in the bottle, but once applied to the nail it loses much of the glittery look it has in the bottle. Also, even though it's black, it still takes 2 coats to cover without streaking. Even though it loses some of its shimmer, I still love this polish and would gladly recommend it to anyone who wants to try black but is scared of the flat black that is so common.
  
• Orly Melt My Popsicle
• I can't say enough about this one. It is probably in my top five favorite polishes right now. The picture doesn't do it justice (I'm still struggling to get a good photo set up). It is a very bright neon orange, reminescent of the construction cones you see on the highway. It goes on very smooth, and as you can see over the black nail, its pretty opaque on the first go.
  
• Stiping Polish (black)
  
• Seche Vite
• I put a coat of SV over the base coat before adding the dots, and then again once the dots had dried. On the zebra nail, I also added a layer over the gradient to protect it in case I messed up the zebra pattern. It was then coated with a final layer.
  
• Pure Acetone (for cleanup)
  
• Essie Apricot cuticle oil (after any completed manicure, I always make sure to massage cuticle oil into the entire 'U' of my nail bed. The acetone tends to dry my skin out and I am terribly prone to dry and cracked cuticles so this step is mandatory.

That's it! What do you think?

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Repairing a broken nail

So, I would imagine this is something that plagues us all - a broken nail. That's what this post is about - repairing the break. This is a trick I learned back in my days training to be a nail tech and it's proved its usefulness again and again.

This week I kept my manicure simple; just polish, no art. If you don't already know, my mom duties including being a Cub Scout Den Leader for my son's pack. This week we did bike safety and I brought the mini's bike to our meeting. Somehow during the load and unload of his bike I managed to rip my nail almost half-way off. My son thought I was crazy to be upset about it (!!!) but instead of cutting it off, I decided to repair it.

Broken thumb nail (black spot is some glitter I missed)

The first task was to take the polish off my nail. As you can see, there's a tiny black glitter left, but it managed to get into the break and I didn't want to damage the nail any more by digging it out, so I left it there.

I use cotton cosmetic pads (from Ulta) to remove my polish, so I tore a tiny piece off the top layer off to give me a faux-wrap.

Cotton pulled from a cosmetic pad

Then, using nail glue, the kind that comes with acrylic nail kits (Superglue works, too), I glued the cotton down to my nail, making sure to cover the break completely.

Patch in place

 After the cotton had dried completely I added another layer over my entire nail. This step is option and for cosmetic purposes only. If you end the cotton application here, your nail will have a very pronounced bump where the patch is. NOTE: It's important to not just apply glue to the nail, but to apply it over the cotton once its adhered. This will form a barrier like an acrylic nail that will protect the fibers of cotton from being filed down in the next step.

After letting the whole nail dry completely, I trimmed off the excess cotton from around the edges of my nail and buffed it with a filing block.

Finished patch

As you can see, I covered my entire nail and then buffed it smooth. It won't look good naked, but once covered with polish only a very close inspection will show the patch.

Repaired and polished

And finally, the completed manicure! I got a mini polish from Sally Beauty Supply. It's their Sally Girl brand but the girl at the counter said they don't sell it in full sized bottles and I couldn't find a name on it anywhere.

Although I love the color, the pale blue and tiny black glitters, the formula was very inconsistent. It was thick, but didn't cover well and I had to let one drop dry completely before applying the next coat or it would streak badly. I used Orly Bonder Rubberized Base Coat and Seche Vite as a top coat over 3 layers of polish.

What do you for a broken nail? Do you clip it off or try to repair it?

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Inspiration is everywhere

So, if you're anything like me, the more you do art, whether on your nails or on a canvas, you begin to see inspiration everywhere. Everyday patterns begin to 'pop' at you; colors seem to blend together or contrast more than normal. It's an amazing experience when you can look out across the world and your mind translates that beauty into something creative in your mind.

This is how I got the inspiration to do this weeks mani. I found this really pretty comforter set in JC Penney (I think) and the colors just spoke to me. So, this week, here's the pattern I tried to recreate:

So, here's the result. I know the photos are horrible; I am still trying to get my whole photo set up established. It's incredibly difficult to get a good shot; I think I'm going to end up setting up a light box. But until then, just know that this isn't meant as a true representation of the polish color, but an example of the pattern.

Supplies used:

• Orly Bonder Rubberized Base Coat
• China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint (3 coats)
• Orly Prince Charming (2 coats plus the stamping)
• Pueen stamp 73. Its one of the round discs, from the 2014 collection, I believe
• Seche Vite top coat

So what do you think? Where have you gleaned inspiration?

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Polish Review - China Glaze, SinfulColors

As promised, here's my first polish review!

The colors I used for the manicure in my last post (here) are probably my two favorites right now. The first, the main red, is China Glaze Rose Among Thorns. I love the way it looks. It's a sheer color and took 3 coats to get the polish opaque enough that I couldn't see my natural nail through it, but the consistency is great, no streaking.

On top of the red, I added SinfulColors Pinky Glitter. It, too, takes about 3 coats to become opaque, but even then you can still see a shadow of my natural nail. I love this polish. I'm not typically a pink kinda of girl, but this one is just too pretty not to love. The flecks of glitter are slightly holographic and the polish base does a really good job of showing it off. In natural sunlight it shimmers like crazy. On this mani, I only added one coat on top of the China Glaze, simply to give it a shine and I am really happy with the way it turned out.

I used Seche Vite as a top coat. I love SV, I really do, but its big drawback is apparent with this mani and the reason I'm not 100% happy with it. SV is bad about shrinking cheaper polishes. Even though I wrapped the end of my nail, it still shrunk pretty bad, as you can see. As far as I know, SV can't be beat for top coat shine and fast drying so I'm sticking with it for now.

Let me know what you think! Do you have a top coat that doesn't shrink? Do you have a trick to preventing it?

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Phantom polish troll?

Ok, so I don't know how this happened. I swear to you that my whole was painted last night when I went to bed.

When I got up this morning, I went to pee (TMI, I'm sure) and noticed that my hand looked funny. In the hazy confusion of early morning and it was still kinda dark, I didn't think anything else about it. But when I got out of the shower, and put my glasses on, this is what I found.

I don't understand it! How does my polish disappear from one finger while I'm sleeping?

My only thought is that I scratched it off while I was dreaming. It's still really weird. I've been distracted about it all morning and keep stopping what I'm working on to look at it and ponder. Its absolutely freaky. And the other hand is just fine. I'm so confused.

My husband's theory is that this is my punishment for spending too much money on nail polish. I think there is a nail polish troll out there and he nommed on my finger while I slept.

Have you guys ever had anything weird happen to your nails? What's your theory? Nail troll or is karma punishing me?

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Don't peel your nail polish off...

I know that you know this. I know this. Yet today, my not-so-wonderful manicure (here) started to lift around the edges while I'm stuck at work. What's a girl to do? I can't help myself! I ended up peeling my polish off and then using the emery board that I keep on my desk to get the remnants off of my nails. The result? My nails peeled and are really, super dry. I don't have anything else at work for nail care, but I put some Burt's Bees Nourishing Lip Balm around my cuticles and massaged it in. It really helped!

I went home at lunch and put a base coat (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails) while I downed a bowl of soup. But now I am nit-picking them like crazy cause I can see every little flaw and ridge. On the up side, now the prep is done and I will HAVE to paint them tonight after Cub Scouts. I'm thinking Day 1 of the 31 Day Challenge and going with a nice, classic red. We'll see!


What do you do in a nail emergency? Do you keep supplies with you on the go?

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31 Day Challenge

So, along this journey, I want to enter some 'challenges'. In case you haven't found one of these addicting games, they consist of themes and, generally, time limits to complete a mani with that theme and post it. Most of the time others are completing the challenge, as well, but its mostly for fun - no prizes, just experience. I have found the 31 Day Challenge and am going to strive to complete it. I'm not making any promises that I'm going to do it in a month, simply because my life is too hectic to redo my nails everyday. Also, I think the official time frame has already passed, so I'm doing it simply for my own learning. There are some items on here that are way out of my comfort zone (animal prints!) so the only way I'll likely ever do them is for something like this. So here, is the list. I'll reference this post when I complete one.

If you'd like to check out other entries, try these:

• Nail Art 101 (where I found it)
• Chalkboard Nails
• The Nailasaurus
• Let Them Have Polish

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No longer on hiatus

I am so sorry I've been gone for so long. Real life has interrupted my blogging capability (and my nails were crappy after the acrylics came off).

So, I've been reading up on blogging, nail blogging specifically, and I'm going to sincerely try to be here at least a couple of times a week, even if its only to post my latest manicure. I've got a few new products I'm excited to share and some things in the works that I plan to review.

Don't leave me yet! I may be slow, but I have potential!
 
And one last thing to leave you with - my current mani. It's not the greatest, and I'll review the polishes used in the next, but at least it's pretty!

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Finally Nekkid!

Ha! Made you look! Seriously, though, I have finally gotten most of the acrylic off my nails without endless filing (or popping them off like I usually do and suffering the aftermath for months until they grow out). I used the aluminum foil method, which resulted in me having robot fingers for the better part of an hour, but it worked like a charm.

I soaked a cotton ball in acetone polish remover (Zoya Remove + to be exact) and then applied the cotton to my nail and wrapped it tightly in foil to hold it in place. I left it on, one hand in a time, for about thirty minutes. When I took the foil off the acrylic had softened considerably and I was able to scrap it off with a metal cuticle pusher with minimal effort. I buffed the remainder off pretty quickly and my nails are back to being au naturale! If I had somebody else with me, I probably would've done both hands at once, but I couldn't figure out how to wrap my other hand with robot fingers. Also, I had something like 12 coats of polish on so it had to soak though that first before the acrylic was breached.

Something funny happened when I took the acrylic off. I realized that my nails weren't as 'short' as I thought they were. I have always wanted long nails and as a result I have worn acrylics off and on for years. But now that I have taken them off and am actually paying attention to my natural nails, I have realized that I really like them like this! I'm learning that keeping polish on them and keeping them decorated that I actually love them at my natural length. They aren't talons, but they aren't bitten down to the quick. They're long enough to do cute nail art yet short enough I can type easily at my day job. They don't get in the way of my texting abilities and they don't get in the way of important things like buttoning my jeans.

For this week's decoration, I finally broke open my new bottle of Essie's Mint Candy Apple. I painted the base with two coats and let it dry then before taping them off on the diagonal. I couldn't find my scotch tape, thanks to the mini who used it all up 'building' on a box he keeps in his room. I ended up using washi tape, and it worked really well. Its easy to tear and isn't as sticky as scotch tape so it came off easily. I painted the diagonal with a coat of grey then two coats of silver glitter. Once everything dried, I added some decals and top coat. I love the way it turned out, but it peeled off after a day. I blame the fresh nail bed and hurried prep. I didn't base coat like I should have, and I didn't let the other layers dry as completely as I should have before I put the top coat on and I think it made the whole thing less permanent.But, they were cute for a few days and I got lots of compliments!

Hope you guys have a great week!

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#NailFail

Finished - livable for now

 TOTALLY janked this one up, y'all, but I worked on it so long that I simply refuse to start over from scratch. But let me lead you through the agonizing process and show you how I managed to finally come out with something that I can live with - at least until Tuesday when I have time to fix it.

So, I saw this really awesome technique today on nailnerd.com and really wanted to try it. Also, I bought a bottle of Orly polish last weekend in this really pretty light grey (even though I know better) and I wanted to try it out. My plan was to use a bright yellow & pink and make a cross-hatch design over the grey. So I applied 2 coats of the base and while I was letting it dry, I painted some yellow and pink on a ziplock bag.

plastic bag with my 'transfers' waiting

Ignore the obvious humps from the leftover overlays

I let the polish dry for a while and decided I was ready to cut my cross hatch pieces and get to work. It didn't work. They cut ok, but then they all started sticking together and I couldn't get the polish off the baggie unless it was tacked onto another strip of polish at which time it just made a nasty mess.

So here I am with grey nail and really, really wanted some bright color on them.So, I broke out my washi tape (the mini had used all the scotch tape or I would have used it) and taped off my nails, leaving a triangle open on the tip. My idea was to do a yellow and pink chevron, but as happens frequently with my half-arsed plans, that was a bomb, too.

Just ewww

So, the first thing I thought when I started applying the yellow is that I should've put it down first instead of the grey. With the grey behind it, it really muted the bright, happiness of the color and gave it a bit of a baby-puke undertone. Then I had trouble lining the tape up on top of the yellow to get a nice even triangle so they look all wonky. As a last ditch attempt to save them I added a couple of coats of an iridescent glitter. It helped a bit, but you can't really tell in the picture. Yuck. I hate them.

Finally, after looking at the hot mess for about a half hour, I decided to try one of my new stamping plates out (Pueen Stamping Buffet 2014) and hopefully hide the most of the jankiness under a wild pattern.

I found a decently angular pattern and stamped over the mess with black. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vete to seal it (until I get time to redo!) and called it done. Definitely not one of my favorites, but at least its something I can live with for a few days.

Tomorrow I'm going to visit my nieces and fully intend to use them as guinea pigs for more nail experiments.

Happy weekend everybody!

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Glitter!

It's pretty plain, but I have gotten more complements on this manicure than any of my fancy ones. I cut my acrylics down to my natural nail length and an planning to let them grow out instead of pulling them off like usual. I'm actually kind of loving this length, which is a surprise. They look much better painted than plain, which is how I use to keep them when they were this short. Maybe some bling is all I need to be happy with them. 

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New pretties

I have been itching to buy Essie's Mint Candy Apple, but have been holding off since I just bought a buttload of new polish. But, tonight I caved. And got a bottle of spaklies, too, in Sally Hansen's Snow Globe. Now I'm sitting at basketball practice with the mini and all but bouncing you get home and try them out.

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March 1 #NailArtMar, #Dotticure

So, I am trying to do this Instagram challenge things from Californails for March and I'm already a fail. I did the manicure but got so excited about posting to Instagram that I completely forgot to tag the challenge. Anyway, I'm putting it here for posterity.

I used my new stamping plates from Shany for the first time on my ring fingers and am happy with the way it turned out. My only complaint is that there aren't any full nail designs on the plates. That's not really Shany's fault; more my own for not really knowing what I was getting when I bought them. I currently have a couple of Pueen nail plates in my cart on Amazon, but haven't pushed the button to buy them yet. I'm wanting to make sure I am ordering the patterns I want because I have a feeling this is going to end up being a huge obsession for me and it's going to cost me a small fortune to feed.

Also, I used my new Shany polish. I don't know what color it is because the color stickers were all wonky when I got them. But its a really pretty pealized green so it seemed fitting for the first of March.

Now, with no further ado my #Dotticure for March 1.

It's not perfect, but I'm happy with the way the stamp came out. I had to play with it to figure out the exact pressure to use when scraping the plate and how fast I had to work to get the image on my nail. The other hand is a little less precise, but I'll spare you the details of that one.

Next, I want to figure out how to make my own decals, but I think I'll practice with stamping for a while before I jump into anything else.

Hope you enjoyed the stay and don't forget, NO NEKKID NAILS!

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Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time there was a girl who was absolutely obsessed with acrylic nails. She went to beauty school with the sole intention of becoming a manicurist. Instead, her life led her to college and kids and career. She forgot about the way a beautiful manicure made her feel and the pride she felt in keeping nails presentable.

Flash forward twenty years and a random post on Pintrest caught her eye. A pale pink French tip with intricate black swirls and rhinestones. Suddenly, the nostalgia was overwhelming and she had to have that feeling again!

I went and had my nails done for the first time in years. Acrylic tips, because my own nails are always short and breaking due to lack of nurturing them. They turned our really pretty, baby blue tips with black swirls, but not nearly as well as I wanted.

I was browsing Pinterest again and found a pin that melded both my love of a pretty manicure with my love of art. Nail art. In the twenty years since I've been conscious that I had fingernails it seems nail art has exploded! And I could not be happier! When I was in beauty school, nail polish ranged from neutral beiges to deep red, but there wouldn't have been a blue or yellow polish caught in that mix anywhere. Now, the shelves are stocked with every color imaginable and it makes my breath catch in my throat and my mind soar with the possibilities!

I have done some blog searching and found some amazing tips. I ordered a bunch of new Shany polishes and a couple of Shany nail stamping plates. I discovered the amazingness of Seche Vite (like OMG, the BEST top coat EVER), and the wonder of water-marbeling. My hope for this blog is to be a creative outlet for both my own journey of discovery and a place where I can learn from your comments and suggestions. I am incredibly out of practice, but I want to document my trials and errors.

I hope you enjoy your stay and remember, NO NEKKID NAILS!

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