The Spicy Giraffe

My last baby-inspired manicure.  Owen asked for it, Owen got it.  I'm not usually a fan of animal print, but I do like giraffes.  Actually I like most animals that make animal print--zebras, cheetahs, leopard, but for some reason, I just hate prints of them in clothes, pillows, etc.  But duty calls and these giraffes are loud and proud (and I'm sure more sparkly that a real giraffe).

Base coat "brown" was China Glaze Evening Seduction topped with In Awe Of Amber.  Tan contrast is OPI Skinny Din'N In Lake Michigan and all topped with OPI Goldilocks Rocks.  I matted the whole thing with Essie's Matte About You.

Libby, How Do You Afford Your Rock And Roll Lifestyle?

Even though I have no children of my own, apparently they are great inspirations for manicure looks.  Libby, who turned one on Tuesday, is having a birthday party this weekend (Rock and Roll themed).  So these are for her, the Rock Star!!!!

Polish notes:

I have to give credit to The Daily Nail. She did a star polish the other week and I thought the technique was a great idea. Polish the color first, put a star sticker on top and then paint the black over it. I did have problems with the stars sticking and had to go back over my stars with s fine brush with my polish. The actual colors that are showing on my polish are the black (China Glaze Liquid Leather) and the stars are made with striping colors from It's So Easy Stripe Rite polish. They don't have colors listed on their bottles. I assume I have used glitter blue and red, and metallic silver.

Also, to answer a question Ginger had, I am right handed. The "rock" hand was drawn with my left hand. When it comes to nails, I've trained myself to be ambidextrous. Sometimes it's harder than others, but for the most part I can make both right and left look pretty good.

For The Love Of Ivy

This polish job is dedicated to the lovely babe who is on her way to the earth right now (or already here).   Her name is Ivy, and her mother, Ryah, is wonderful.  Here's to Ivy!!!!

Flashed:

No Flash:

I used China Glaze Something Sweet for the base color (a perfect baby pink), Ivy was hand drawn with a combo of CG Out Of Bounds (dark green) and Entourage (light green)

Re-Fresh Mint

I used one of my new colors from China Glaze called Re-Fresh Mint.  I really liked the color but I am having such a hard time capturing polishes with the camera.  I think I'm going to look into a DIY light box. The difference between flash and no flash is odd because I think it totally changes the look of the manicure. The no flash seems a little bit more true to color, but the flash makes the picture so much more clear. But anyway here is the mani:

With Flash

Without:

Other notables from this mani are Konad Plate S6 and Konad polish in Coral Blue.
 

Improving my Gradient

So I wasn't satisfied with calling my last manicure gradient and decided to try to fix it, since it was my intention to do a gradient manicure.  Here is the fix:

Also, because I threw it out there and "Purple Pride" is still on my nails today and the Vikings are playing tonight (and mostly because I am redoing my nails tonight), I have added some Vikings flare to my manicure.  I know it might not be as awesome as Prince's song, but it's the best I can do.  And in case you want to know who I'm supporting 4=Brett Favre, 28=Adrian Peterson, 8(which you can't see very well on my pinky) = Ryan Longwell, 18=Sidney Rice and 69=Jared Allen.  All who will play an important role is us winning tonight.  Is it an oxymoron to be so girly about nail polish but then also care about things like sports?

Purple Pride

I've been wanting to do a gradient polish for a while, but just haven't yet. I got my China Glaze "Up in the Air" polishes this week and decided to use two of the colors to complete the look. But, I'm not sure how much I like it. I also am not really sure it's gradient, it's more sponge painted. For better examples of gradient check out Nihrida's Blog. But no matter the style, I thought it was relatively on point since it's purple and the MN Vikings are all that people are talking about here. I guess if I wanted to make this uglier I should put the number 4 on my pointer fingers--haha!

I used CG Grape Pop and Light As Air. Topped off with two coats of Seche Vite.

In a related story, I found it amusing when I got my polishes from transdesign, this is how they arrived:

(China Glaze polish in an OPI box)

Looking On The Bright Side

It's time to think positively and pull out all the stops--which, of course, are all my bright polishes mixed together. Here is to a happy week!

I ordered nail polish through the mail last week that should be coming tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly why I did it because it's China Glaze and I'm sure I can get it at Sally's in the near future, but it's an upcoming line (Up in the Air) not in stores yet and I'm very excited about some of the colors. Here is a website that has good color swatches of the line. Oh, and I got a pretty cheap price.

This marbling was base coated with China Glaze White On White
Colors include China Glaze Shocking Pink, Japanese Koi, Coconut Kiss, Sky High-Top, In The Lime Light, Celtic Sun

Medicated Depression

After gaining perspective and feeling much better, I decided to treat my nails with China Glaze "Glacier".  I wish it would photograph better, but really it's a whole lot of sparkly bling to an otherwise very dark, depressing manicure.

In captivity (aka my bathroom):

In the Wild:

Major Depression

This manicure is mood inspired--and of course had to be named as such (since I'm in the mental health field).

Base polish--Essie Chinchilly
Water marbled with OPI Brand New Skates, Orly Red Flare and China Glaze Liquid Leather
Manicure mattified with Essie's Matte About You  

Self Promotion

Piper in Wonderland!

For my niece's party tomorrow with an Alice in Wonderland theme, I polished appropriately for the event.

Right hand

Left hand

All have been freehanded by myself, but I did use a Konad plate for the checkerboard outline, but had to fill in the black diamonds myself--I don't have a checkerboard.

Because Nails Just Don't Polish Themselves.

They also can't be painted just one color any more. This is another Konad creation. It was hard to photograph--it's a light purple/pink and metallic green.

I also ordered some more plates yesterday to add to my collection.

Houndstooth

Using my new Konad plates again. Pretty cool!