St. Patrick's Day Manicure, from the Vault!

I completely spaced and thought St. Patricks day was mid week this year, so I thought I had time! Ehhhh, wrong! I planned a cute manicure and was going to post last year's pre-blog St. Patricks Day manicure as well. Since I have nothing done for today, figured I might as well still give you last year's. I think I need to put all the smaller holidays in my blogger calendar, because apparently if I'm not going out I forget it's coming. 

Here is my pot of gold manicure I created. This was all polish, though I couldn't tell you what I used now. I'm still pretty proud of that pot of gold. 

Have a great day, enjoy your corned beef, green beers and potatoes!  

Cheers all,

Lacquer Lust Split Personality With Freehand

This base polish was something a little different. A little different because it was a heat reactive thermal! The formula was great. The base was two easy coats, and I loved the colour...both ways! Hot is a royal blue and cold is a dark and rich purple.

This above picture shows my nails in the hot state. I also put the bottom of the bottle in the water so you could see the change in bottle as well.

Above is hot, below is cold.

My nail art for this was inspired by Radi K (Link), a really talented blogger I follow for her freehand work. This art was created with black, white and lilac acrylic paints and a detail brush.

And to finish off, one more transition bottle shot!

Cheers all,

Nail Challenge 2013 Wrap Up - Part 1

So here we are, and we made it through to the other side of the 2013 Nail Challenge. This was a fun, challenging and inspirational adventure to take with all the nail ladies this year. At times I felt like I bit off more than I could chew,  but I never gave up and only fell one day behind a couple times. I feel like my first challenge was definitely a success.

I'm going to recap the challenge for you and link up the post for each below it's picture. If you missed any, feel free to check them out this time around. Also, if there is any comments, or posts you would like me to recreate in a different colour combo please leave a comment on the post. I would love to try these again if anyone is interested.

Here is the prompt list for anyone who needs a refresher.

Here is a snapshot of my first 10 manicures from the Colors Category. 

Here is the link for Day 1 - Red Nails

Here is the link for Day 2 - Orange Nails

Here is the link for Day 3 - Yellow Nails

Here is the link for Day 4 - Green Nails

Here is the link for Day 5 - Blue Nails

Here is the link for Day 6 - Violet Nails

 Here is the link for Day 7 - Black and White

Here is the link for Day 8 - Metallic Nails

 Here is the link for Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

Here is the link for Day 10 - Gradient Nails

So there you have it. The first ten challenges. Lots of good ones in here I think. My favorite of this group would be Day 4 - Green. I like the vertical gradient and my freehand flowers.

I'll send out Part 2 soon. Cheers all.

Nail Challenge 2013: Day 24, A Book

Today my post is inspired by the book The hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette. This book I received for Christmas one year. I love historical fiction, and loved this book. If you Google Marie Antoinette for her fashion sense, the fabrics and shoes and dress designs are absolutely fascinating. I chose to stick to the book cover though with the beautiful blue and gold dress with floral motif.

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue me Away for the base, and then dragged an almost dry brush of Revlon Blue Lagoon over from the corners. Then I splodged on some Pure Ice Heartbreaker to give a silk like shimmer and greenish tinge. I then free handed the designs with gold and white acrylic paints to look like the gold and white floral detail on the dress.

Last photo is in sunlight.

Hope you think I did it justice. It's a good book for anyone looking for a new read...In fact I may read it again myself now.

Nail Challenge 2013: Day 14, Floral

So, I was at the dollar store and found these bins of  polish. Good polish too. It was $2-$3 depending on the brand. I think they are older colours the manufacturers are clearing out. I got a Sally Hansen in Greige Gardens. Perfect for fall. Also picked up a Nicole by OPI and an older Sally Hansen Magnetic that would look lovely under stamping. Funny pick up, but there you go!

So for floral today, I used that Greige Gardens and stamped the two rose patterns from Bundle Monster plates BM-H16/BM-323 with China Glaze Liquid Leather. My black stained this time around, so I apologize for those edges! Ended up going to bed. We are stuck in a heat wave and AC broke Sunday, so toooo hot for more cleanup. Don't worry, I don't use the lazy card very often!

Bottom two photos are in sunlight. These roses didn't show as well as I hoped. To me they are hard to make out. I will have to try different colours sometime, cause I do love them on the plates!

Nail Challenge 2013: Day 4, Green

Day 4 of the 2013 Nail Challenge is Green. I chose neon as this is probably one of the last times this season I'll be doing neons.

Fall has definitely fallen in Ontario!

I did a vertical gradient using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On and a neon green called 30, by a company called Midie. This was an old one I scooped up spur of the moment at a pharmacy a while back.

Once the gradient was dry, I went in with China Glaze Liquid Leather and freehanded some flowers and dots.

This last bottle shot is out of my light box and shows the neon green much more vivid, like it is in  person.
So far I'm really enjoying the Nail Challenge and all the girls I'm meeting on Instagram.

Bonus picture for you. We found this little guy on the door of our shed right after I finished  this manicure. Couldn't resist the picture op!

Good luck everyone participating and I'll ‎see you tomorrow for Blue!

Quick and Dirty: Fresh Baked Doticure

Another oldie but a goodie from the cell phone vault!

I called this fresh baked because as soon as it was done I realized I had the old Wonder Bread packaging on my nails!

I started out with a China Glaze White on White base and then dotted on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue me Away, a red I no longer have, and the yellow is NYC Lexington Yellow. I used a very small dotting tool for the small dots and the back end  of my paint brush for the largest ones. 

I still love this manicure, even though it looks like my clean up was nonexistent back then! This reminds me of the breakfast of my childhood! Silly and it dates me...but true! I hope my computer is back tomorrow, because that is the last post I had prepared that isn't trapped in it! Yikes!

Quick and Dirty: Hibiscus with Sinful Colors Hazard‏

Another quick and dirty post from my old saved pre-blog manis. Too pretty to leave in the amateur vault!

This is Sinful Colors Hazard which is a lovely coral leaning orange cream. When I bought this, I wore it consecutively for a while. It's summertime fabulous and has a great formula!

I stamped the lovely little hibiscus with two images from Bundle Monster plates BM-221 and BM-318 in an unknown wine colored metallic polish my dad put in my stocking at Christmas. 

Two adhesive rhinestones, top coat and a summertime favorite manicure was born. I will definitely recreate this one someday.

Quick and Dirty: Stamping Decal Butterfly

Now I call this a quick and dirty post not because it was extremely quick or my clean up was that bad...but because it's a pre-blog manicure.

I've been keeping a folder in my phone of all my previous nail art. Cell phone photography and clean up aside I have some great old manicures I may drop in from time to time! 

This is China Glaze White on White double stamped with Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and a Sally Holiday Glitter 812017. I then added the sweet little butterfly that I prepared using the stamping decal technique and an image from Salon Express plate SE18. He really is the perfect little butterfly for stamping!

Top coat to seal, and Bob's your uncle! Sweet and easy! I got loads of compliments on these. I would love to know what folks are thinking of the blog so far and get constructive criticism from any fellow nail bloggers.