Oh Hai!...Again With Dots)

Well, I'm back, now as a happily married woman.  The wedding was beautiful and perfect (pictures to come), everything I wanted and hoped it would be.   Aside from the obvious, my change as far as the blog is concerned is that my trusty little digital camera died so now I'm going to have to work off of my Iphone's camera until I can afford a new one.  My sweetie tells me that it is just as good as my ancient digital camera, but we shall see.  

Although I've been taking a break from blogging I haven't taken a break from buying polish and have kept pretty well on top of the newest releases.  I don't have them all but I have enough to make me happy and that's what matters right.  I'm probably well over 500 bottles of polish at this point so I run no risk of running out of material.  Anyway, on to the polish.

This is actually one of the last set of pictures I got on my old camera so they're a bit dated, and unfortunately it didn't turn out quite like I envisioned, the colors weren't quite right, but it's still cute.

Colors used were OPI Thanks a Windmillion for my base color.  for the dots I used China Glaze Sunshine Pop (yellow) and Fuchsia Fanatic (pink) as well as OPI Did You 'ear About Van Gogh?  I used page reinforcements and a sponge to create my large dots.  I started with a base of Wet n' Wild white so they'd stand out more against the background.  I used a dotting tool for the smaller dots.

 It kind of reminds me of...I don't know what, I was going to say and Easter egg, but that's not right, the colors are a little too dirty for that.  Oh well.

 

These didn't turn out badly, just not as planned.  The overall look has potential so I'll probably try it again with different colors, we'll see.  

I think I need to do something to celebrate my return don't you?   I've collected up some grand polishes so maybe I'll start thinking of something to do with those.  For those of you reading this, thanks for sticking with me. 

Summer Bright Gradient

I picked up the Color Club Take Wing Collection from Ross Dress for Less.  I absolutely love the colors in this because they're so bright and fun and they actually have great coverage, even the yellow!  Pardon the tip wear, it's a mixture of my top coat and being a day into wear.

 You're also getting a sneak peek at a little project I'm working on, more on that to come though.

 For this look I used four of the colors, Daisy Does It (yellow) was the first to go down on the entire nail, followed by Fly With Me (green) over the lower two thirds of the nail.  I just used the brush to do the gradient, hence the rough look to it, but it looks great from a regular distance.

Once those two color were in place I followed it with Metamorphosis and then Sky High over just the tips, blending as much as possible with the brush.  It came out bright and fun, don't you think? 

 

It reminds me of some poolside drink you'd get made with pineapple juice and blue curacao  Served with one of those little umbrellas by some hunky guy with a great tan.  I think I'm going to slip off into this little daydream for a while, Until next time you all have a grand time and take care. 

Playing dress up

This great color is Zoya Freja, a black base that's swirled with shimmering gold and bronze.  Beautiful really and perfect for those that love dark vampy shades but not wanting to go all out black. 
I actually did these while on the road without any supplies but my base and color coat, so pardon the lack of cleanup and obviously poor lighting.  Hotel lighting is crap and I didn't see light of day until the second to last day there

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I had to go to a conference in Reno Nevada for work and on the last night there was a big gala dinner where I got to dress up. This is the polish I used because it was so perfect with the outfit I'd brought.  With the dark base color and flecks of gold and bronze the polish is much more stunning than these photos show. This was two coats. 

Here is the whole look.  I really rather liked how it all came together. (Excuse the bathroom shot, that's the only full length mirror there was in the hotel room.) 

With the golden, bronze top, the black skirt, and although unseen, fabulous black strappy heels I really felt that the entire look came together really well.  I felt beautiful.  And really, isn't that what it's all about anyway.  Thanks so much for reading and helping me support this little nail blog, I do appreciate you all.  Until next time.  Take care!!

Some Kind of Wonderful

I dug this out of my past pictures, I'm not sure why I didn't post it, but I love this color.

But I have to be honest.  I can't remember whether this is Essie Plumberry or Size Matters.  *shameface*  I may have to turn my laquerista card in.  I bought them both around the same time and honestly they're super close, just Size Matters is darker...so I think it's Plumberry but don't quote me.

The glitter is Milani Hot Pink which is fucsia and silver holo hexes in a clear base. 

A coat of  Seche Vite finishes the look off with high shine.  ...and I'm now seeing that I needed to do some work on my cuticles.  Oops.

So I know I'm being a terrible blogger, I'm pretty much a stranger on my own blog and I never have time to visit others.  I blame the wedding. I'm past the 3 month mark now so most of my time is tied up in plans and work.  My nails have suffered and even though I try to keep polish on them it's rare I get pics before they look horrid.  I'm planning a give away for after the wedding by way of thanks to those of you that are sticking with me through this. 
I'll post when I can, but I make no promises for frequency or fancy.    Until next time then, take care!

Boho blue

This is Color Club New Bohemian from the Boho Collection.  I picked this pre-packaged collection up for $7.99 at either Ross Dress for Less or TJ Maxx, I don't remember which. I love it though, where else can you get a collection that would usually be over $20 for that price?  My only issue is that the bottles aren't marked with color names so I have to write them on myself.  The agony of first world problems. :)

This is two to three coats, since it was a little bit sheer I decided to use Wet n' Wild white as a base coat, I figured that would make the color really pop, and I was right, the problem was that the white ended up showing in my cuticle area where I did my clean up, and also the tips.  Way too quickly too, this mani was only a couple of hours old when I took the pictures.  I guess I'm really hard on my nails.  

I love the earthy, very natural colors of this collection.  They are all for the most part very wearable.  Doesn't this color remind you of robin eggs?  Not sure when exactly this collection released, but it is very suitable for spring.

Much love to all of you that are hanging on while I go through a dry spell as far as posts. Stress has not been kind and I've had to cut off all my nails to nubs and most time I'm too busy or tired for polish.  I have a few older pics that haven't been posted yet, and a few new ones coming here and there so don't give up on my yet.  Until next time (whenever that will be) take care. 

Old Gold

Short post today.

 I love this color.  This is Orly Solid Gold

 It is actually matte, but obviously has been blinged up and a top coat added for extra shine.  I used two coats here and aside from the usual matte issue of drag caused by the quick surface dry time it applied pretty near perfectly.

 The glitter is a very fine loose glitter I picked up at my local nail supply store.  I applied it to the tips only using foil glue.  I applied the glue so it would have full coverage over the tips but somewhat fade the further toward the base I got.  Honestly once I got the glitter on it reminded me a lot of OPI's Warm and Fozzie from the Muppet collection. 

 I hope you enjoy this.  Thanks so much for stopping by and reading.  Until next time, take care. 

Done Up In Dots

I love how this turned out.  I was heavily influenced by ABOP and her ability to create amazing manicures with simple dots.  She has such an eye for color and placement.

My main color is China Glaze Fast Track, it was rather sheer so I needed three coats to get it to the point showing here.  Still some visible nail line, but I can work with it. 

The accent nail is done with OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know? This one only took two coats.  It reminds me a lot of a rich chocolate milk, the kind you actually make with real chocolate not powder.  The kind that is so thick and delicious it's like drinking a chocolate bar.  YUM!

The Wooden Shoe Like to Know? showed up fine on it's own against the Fast Track but with Fast Track being as sheer as it is, it would have taken me forever to build it up enough to look good and then been a big bump, so I took one size smaller dotting tool than I wanted the finished look to have, and some white acrylic paint to create an opaque base, then I took the next size up of dotting tool and went over those with the Fast Track.  It worked out perfectly and I'm really pleased.

 

I hope you like this look,