Gilded Gradients

As I'm sure a lot of you know, today the new Zoya Fire & Ice collection came out, and man, is it incredible! For a collection with 4 reds/pinks, a blue, and a purple, even this girl will wear all 6. (yes, even the pinks!) I reeeeeeally wanted to utilize them in today's nail design, so I decided (after 4 attempts to create a design that I didn't end up liking), on today's nail art- a super gildy gradient! I actually reallllly love this look, I think it is super classy and chic, unlike most of my designs. lol. The polishes in this line are superb for sponging gradients, the different sized flecks and colors of foil in these create an easy and really pleasing gradient! Go Zoya!!! I'm going to get the review of the collection posted on my review site tonight or tomorrow morning, along with a few other polishes from various places.

I used Essence Pointbreak as a base (but you COULD use Zoya Kelly!!), then sponged Zoya Crystal on the tips. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat to seal in all the sparkly goodness.

Damn, I feel sexy! I love this mani. lol It's SOOOO sparkly.


Disclosure: Zoya Crystal was provided my the manufacturer for my consideration. It can be purchased from their site at Zoya.com

MAC Formidable from the new 2010 Venomous Villains collection

So this came in the mail, and it's my first official MAC polish, sad I know. Bad Fairy will be here on Monday, YAYAYAY! I know, I know, Orly has a dupe of this, Galaxy Girl, which I have as well, and for some reason have yet to try that, lol. I just couldn't resist the pretty pictures online, *hangs head* I do love this though.

I will be posting comp pics of both Galaxy Girl & this in a few.

China Glaze Doll House

Doll House def shocked me........... I have had this for a while, but it scared me, yep, actually scared me to try it. I am fascinated with it in the bottle, but I normaly don't like BIG glitter. The color though, I LOVE! I layered it over black, and I can't stop looking at my nails!!!!!! Now THIS looks like sequins to me. It was a teeny tiny pita to apply, but way better than I was expecting. If you have the Gold Leaf Rococo, you understand, and this isn't even that bad. I did find that I had to just place a few here and there in the bald spots, but they might not even bother you at all.

 

LBD or LBB (Little Black Dress or Little Black Bugs) Revlon Nail Glitters in black.

So after my FAILed Konad last night, I was still feeling creative, and saw this in my nail art drawer. Back when I first began on MUA, a fellow NB'er posted a mani, using these Revlon Nail Glitters, and it looked amazing! So when she said where she got them, eBay, I ran right there, and grabbed a jar.  Now, it's been sitting in my art drawer for a LOOONG time. Well, not any more. I put a layer of Sinful's Black on Black  polish first, and before that could dry, I dipped my nails in the jar, one by one.  Lets just say these glitters are meeeesssyyy! I felt as though my nails appeared to look like a sequined little black dress, but then, because I had tons of little black glitter thingys all over my fingers, it also looked like BUGS! They were a PITA to get off. Anyways here is the effect. I love it, but it's just not very functional. I did try to add a tc after these pics, but it just ruined it. The glitter appeared to smoothed out throughout most of the nail, and some did come off. This too, got removed very quickly : P

This is a PSA, Don't Drink & Konad. Orly Royal Navy

 So last night, during the TERRIBLE thunderstorm, I decided to Konad, well, using the Bundle Monster plates, eeekk. I always feel really creative after a drink. I started with Orly's Royal Navy. This polish is amazing, the bright blue color alone is gorgeous, but then add all the turq. shimmer, and ........ it just doesn't get any better. This is 2 coats with 1 coat of SV.

 

  

This is where I FAILED. I was doing pretty good, but then all of a sudden when I went to stamp my middle finger, my hand just spazzed out, and push really hard on the nail, lol. I know it doesn't look all that bad, but for me, I get really anal about my stamping, and lets just say, the whole mani was removed right after I took the pics, lol.

Here is our pup Rolo, shaking his head at me. LOL. Oh well on to the next

Yabba Dabba OOOH!

Get ready to go bowling, break out your foot-powered car, and get your Dino on! Today is the 50th anniversary of the 1st episode of the Hanna-Barbera classic, 'The Flintstones'!!! Fun tidbit- for the longest time when I was a kid- I always thought that Hanna Barbera was a person, not the last names of two people. I eventually caught on though... Today's nail art is a tribute to the stone-age smile-inducers- the Flintstones (and the Rubbles). On my left hand, I have Fred, Wilma, and Pebbles Flintstone, with Dino on the ring finger, and a closeup of Fred's garb on the pinky. On the right hand, I painted The Great Gazoo on my thumb, then Barney, Betty, and Bamm-Bamm Rubble, with Bamm-Bamm's club on my pinky.

I used:

Left:

Thumb: Fred Flintstone

Orly Snowcone as a base, with American Apparel Summer Peach for his skin, then mixed with Color Club Best Dressed List for his stubble. For his tongue, I used a combination of American Apparel Palm Springs and Orly Pixy Stix, for his eyes, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud and for the hair and outlines, I used American Apparel Hassid.

Index: Wilma Flintstone

Orly Snowcone as a base, with American Apparel Summer Peach for her skin, as well as as a base for her hair. For her hair, I used CND Electric Orange. For her necklace and teeth, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud, China Glaze Salsa for her lips, then outlined everything in American Apparel Hassid.

Middle: Pebbles Flintstone

Orly Snowcone as a base, with American Apparel Summer Peach for her skin, as well as as a base for her hair. Like Wilma, I also used CND Electric Orange for Pebbles' hair. Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for her eyes and the bone in her hair. For her dress, I used Pure Ice Wild Thing, then outlined everything with American Apparel Hassid.

Ring: Dino

Orly Snowcone as a base, with Color Club Ms. Socialite for the purple, then mixed with American Apparel Palm Springs for his muzzle. I also used this combination in a different strength for his tongue. For his collar, I used Zoya Yummy, with Barielle Aura Angora for his 'dog' tag. I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for his eyes, and American Apparel Hassid to outline.

Pinky: Fred's 'suit'

CND Electric Orange as a base, with Zoya Yummy for his tie, with American Apparel Hassid to outline, and for the spots on the orange fabric.


Right Hand

Thumb: The Great Gazoo

Orly Snowcone as a base, with L.A. Girl Army Green for his face, CND Green Scene for his shirt and helmet, a mixture of CND Green Scene and
American Apparel Hassid for his collar, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for his eyes, and American Apparel Hassid to outline everything.

Index: Barney Rubble

Orly Snowcone as a base, with MAC Abalone Shell for his skin, then mixed with Color Club Best Dressed List for his stubble, American Apparel Manila for his hair, OPI Ginger Bells for his 'suit', and American Apparel Hassid to outline everything.

Middle: Betty Rubble

Orly Snowcone as a base, with American Apparel Summer Peach for her skin, China Glaze Salsa for her lips, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for her eyes, and American Apparel Hassid to outline, as well as for her necklace and hair.

Ring: Bamm-Bamm Rubble

Orly Snowcone as a base, with American Apparel Summer Peach for his skin, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for his eyes and hair, CND Electric Orange with American Apparel Hassid to outline and for the spots on the hat.

Pinky: Bamm-Bamm's Club

Orly Snowcone as a base, with L.A. Girl Army Green for the club, outlined with American Apparel Hassid.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

It's a living.

NEW Limited Edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Polishes

So I went to Rite Aid on my lunch, and what do I see.....the NEW Sally polishes!! I love my Rite Aid, they are always up to date on the new collectionc. I only grabbed 3, for the rest looked very common, imo.

This is Problem Child. Which reminds me very much of OPI's Merry Midnight. I think of Problem Child, as Merry M. little sister. PC, doesn't seem to have as big of, or as much flakies compared to her big sis. Still this color is beautiful!

This is Golden Ticket. Since it's sheer, I layered it over Problem Child, and really like it!

This is my FAVORITE of the 3 that I got, It's Sequin Scandal. A very dark olive/army green, with gold & green tiny glitter and what may be teeny tiny iridescent flakies, but not many, so don't get too excited.



People Say I'm Nuts

...but really, I'm just a-corny. :-D (bad joke)

A book came out yesterday from my FAVORITE author, David Sedaris, called 'Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary'. I bought it tonight, and I'm SO excited to read it. Seriously, if you haven't heard of him, or if you have, but haven't read any of his stuff yet, you seriously need to get on it. The man is a genius, and I've laughed more while reading his books or listening to him speak than I have at most comedians. His deadpan delivery and dry, self-deprecating humor will have you rolling, and I highly suggest, at the very least, LISTENING to one of his audiobooks. (My favorite is the Santaland Diaries, which chronicles his experience employed as an elf at Christmastime in a major department store) A while back, reader Shannon L. suggested that I do squirrel nails, and that got me thinking about acorns, and tonight, I joined both ideas together in honor of the new Sedaris book! :) The acorns turned out to be a funky version of a french manicure! (with lots of shading!! :-D)

and my nails with my new book.... :-D

I used American Apparel Palm Springs as a base, with butter LONDON Crumpet over it, then mixed OPI Ginger Bells with American Apparel Palm Springs and MAC Rich, Dark, Delicious for the tips, with a darker version of that mixture for the textured 'scales' on the acorn caps. For the shading on the acorn, I used a mixture of American Apparel Palm SpringsOPI Ginger Bells and MAC Rich, Dark, Delicious to shade, a mix of OPI Ginger Bells and American Apparel Palm Springs for the darker highlight, then pure American Apparel Palm Springs for the main highlight. For the thumb, I used OPI What's With the Cattitude? as a base, with American Apparel Palm Springs as a base for the squirrel, topped with OPI Ginger Bells, then a mixture of OPI Ginger Bells and MAC Rich, Dark, Delicious over that, then a few swipes of American Apparel Palm Springs around the eye, ear, and tail. For the eye, I used American Apparel Hassid, and for the grass I used CND Green Scene , L.A. Girl Army Green, and Pure Ice Wild Thing. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Stand on the magic star, and you can see Cher!!

HALLOWEEN NAILS & MORE!

Bewitching Halloween nails. This is a mix of stuff from just about everywhere lol.

New gel polish colors from OPI. I'm loving the new glitter colors.

More OPI gel polish.

The glitter is from sparklesnailproducts.com. The little clay leaves are from kennickkreations.com

I just love purple and green for Halloween. This client asked for tiger stripes a long time ago and she finally got them!

This is a glitter from sparkles nail products. So easy and so cute!

This is a glitter in #110 Caribbean Blue from sparklesnailproducts.com. I faded a little turquoise acrylic into it.

Surprise, surprise another glitter from sparkles nail art that I faded into a glitter from artglitter.com

Scotch Tape Striped Mani - Is my love for Turquoise Opal obvious?

I actually did this mani yesterday, but didn't get a chance to post it. I was trying to find other designs I could do, using scotch tape. Stripes came to mind. So I grabbed my trusty black, and Sally Hansens Nail Prisms Turquoise Opal, and started working on it. It was actually easier than I though, and I love this effect

This is with the flash on, see how much the turq. shows!!!