Stretch that mani!

 ( I totally photo-shopped this photo )

 I took these photos in the early EARLY morning sun.I wanna try doing my nails and taking photos early in the mornings as I am more likely to complete a blog post that day. My usual routine is to do my nails in the evening, having a bit more time to devote to nail art and experimenting, but I find that I start looking at nail blogs, and run out of time to post my own stuff or even finish my manicures! Does this happen to anyone else?

 Here is an interesting question..... I know I can easily spend hours looking at nail blogs and nail art videos on you tube ( pinterest and google....anywhere  )

 How much time do you estimate you spend per week looking at nail polish related stuff?

Has this already been covered somewhere else? If so let me know in the comments. Thanks a bunch in advance!

Today's nails are an update of my mani from yesterday. I removed the polish from my ring nails, then re-painted with my franken Purple Plain, then sponged on China glaze Grape Juice on the to 3/4 of my nails, added another coat of Top Coat, then affixed these lovely nail gems that I picked off of a scrapbook sticker from Micheal's craft store.....so far they are holding on just fine.

from yesterday

 The early morning light totally washed out this fabulous franken. I thought that just a big nail gem plunked down on my nail would look weird so I sponged on some China Glaze Grape Juice. I like how this turned out and have a similar photo in my 'nailspiration' folder but in green......

o

Zig-a-Zig-ahhhhhhh

Quickie Post; Here is a fun somewhat Easter-ish mani. I started with a base of China Glaze For Audrey, then I affixed zig zag stickers that I cut out of mailing labels using pinking shears, then added 2 coats of ChG Shower together.... When it was dry I peeled off the zig-zag stickers and added a coat of Top Coat. Some of the 'points' were wonky so I had to add 2 coats of Wet n Wild Blue Wants to be a Millionaire.

The holo-graphic micro glitter in Wet n Wild Blue Wants to be a Millionaire shows up much better in crummy lighting.

 stuff I used ChG For Audrey, ChG Shower Together & Wet n Wild Blue Wants to be a Millionaire

I originally intended to leave it as is....but added Wet n Wild Blue Wants to be a Millionaire

o

Essence Choose Me & ChG For Audrey sponge mani

I had different plans for today's manicure..... I tried to do one of those circle mani's, using a pen dipped in polish but I goofed it so bad I went to my dependable stand-by nail art =  a sponge manicure. This is 2 coats of China Glaze Foe Audrey, then a sponging of Essence Choose Me, then a sponging of Pure Ice Strapless ( sapphire blue glitter ) and a coat of TC.

my dollar store foam paint brush sponge.....& Essence Choose Me = I LOVE THE TEXTURE HERE

2 coats China Glaze For Audrey

o

ChG Watermelon Rind

 I am trying to wear some polish's that have been living in the back of my Deez-elmer..... China Glaze Watermelon Rind is a lovely dark green jelly with silver and some blue glass flecks. This needs 3 coats or more to be opaque, so I layered it over Icing Manic Monday, a dark green that is usually opaque in 2 coats.
 

Icing Manic Monday ( from a previous mani )

 Icing Mnaic Monday and China Glaze Watermelon Rind

o

purple zebra stripes

I am still wearing those old skool Nial Fetish artificial nails, I added a coat of China Glaze Grape Juice which is a lovely light purple glass flecked polish, then painted zebra striped with the nail striping polish from Klean Color, then added a coat of Pure Ice Busted, a translucent lilac shade with gold purple and hot pink flecks of..... flecks.

I like that the Pure Ice polish smoothes out any wonky zebra stripes, I did a fast, careless polish job because this was my third try with nail art yesterday evening.... hopefully I'll get back on track.

.....and - I fixed my camera battery issue, I guess the little things were not connecting when I placed it in the battery charger - I was really worried about that! And also none of my photos have TC today its way easier to get a clear non-fuzzy photo without TC.

shade

stuff I used; China Glaze Grape Juice, Klean Color stripe polish Duo, Pure Ice Busted

middle nail is w/ klean color nail stripes without Pure Ice busted


...... and one more

o

When in doubt - sponge! 2 purple sponge manis

lol - that fluff!

Today, after my blog hiatus, I have two purple sponge mani's. First I frankened Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost with China Glaze Grape Juice. Even though I darkened the China Glaze polish, the glass flecks were still very prominent, so that's a good thing.

I started with a base of older discontinued artificial nails from Nail Fetish that I found at the dollar store. I mixed up WnW Eggplant Frost with China Glaze Grape Juice on a piece of tin foil and sponged it on the last 3/4 of my nail....when it was sorta dry I added a coat of Nailene TC.

ChG Grape Juice, a pretty pale purple glass fleck polish that I don't use enough.



stuff I used; WnW Eggplant Frost, China Glaze Grape Juice Nailene TC

While I do like China Glaze Grape Juice, I think it is a tad too light, so I frankened a small amount with Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost and did a graduated sponge on a lilac base.

this is the base of the above and below manicures,

These are old discontinued Nail Fetish artificial nails that I found at the dollar store, they are a light lilac and have subtle shimmer. I had to cut them down and re-shape them, they were a weird almond shape.... also I glued the wrong one on my index nail, it is waaaaay to big! Whoops.

..... and another purple sponge mani~

stuff I used, XW Purple Potion, Purple stars from Michelas Craft stores, Nailene TC

I did a graduated sponge, then brushed on the Sally Hansen Purple Potion on the last 1/4 of my nail then added the star & a coat of TC



this is an older Sally Hansen X-treme Wear polish I found at a Garage sale for .10 cents

Purple Potion is a medium purple with strong blue flash

❤

China Glaze purple diagional mani

This is 3 thin coats of China Glaze Spontaneous with China Glaze Grape Juice. I applied a curved french mani tip-guide across my nails diagonally and added 2 coats of Grape Juice, when it was dry I applied a coat of Nailene Top Coat.

China Glaze Spontaneous, China Glaze Grape Juice and Nailene Acrylic Strong Top Coat

Below; I found these brushes at the dollar store.... The bright colours ones are for acetone clean-ups and applying moisturizer around my cuticles before painting my nails as I keep misplacing my black brushes.....  I haven't tried any nail art with these, If I do I will be using acrylic water based paint, there decent for a dollar store paint brush.
 

♥ 

♥ a simple diagional mani ♥

ALRIGHT!!!!! I need to spend more time adding to my own blog..... Every time I get on the computer I end up reading other peoples blogs and loose track of time! there is over 200-ish active nail blogs...... when I started my blog a few yearss ago there was only like 20-ish...... I am sooo happy to see that people all over the world are sharing their ideas and polish's and mani's.... makes my heart flutter.... So thank you to everyone who contributes all their ideas, their swatches and info.....

♥ And thank you to Brynne @ Glitter me Stupid for that quick comparison of Joe Fresh Peacock to China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic - that means that this polish Icing Dark & Stormy is close enough for me to not acquire Rodeo Fanatic! = = = Lemming Fulfilled!

 I am on a jewelery making kick right now - so I have'nt really been loving my nails as much as usual.there is sooooo many awesome videos on the interwebz & youtube.... and I also have seen a few nail blogger whipping up some cool stuff!

Here is a quick and easy mani using China Glaze Shower Together as a base ( 3 coats ). I applied Nailene straight nail tip guides on the diagonal and added a thick coat of Icing Dark and Stormy = which dried really fast despited being layered over 3 coats of the base polish I used so now I love it even more. I removed the Nailene Straight french tip guides and added Art Deco glitter stripe in Teal Glitter.... which is a mix of green and teal glitter.... I need a sunshine pic for that!

Products used -

China Glaze Shower Together - 3 coats
Nailene Straight French Tip Guides
Icing Dark & Stormy on the Diagonal - 1 thick coat ( that dried surprisingly fast!)
Art Deco Stripe Glitter in Teal Glitter Nailene Acrylic Strong Top Coat -1 oat


 I thought that the glitter would be a nice compliment to the two polish's I chose. The art Deco glitter strpeing nail art polish's that Ihave dry really, really fast. They are like alot of glitter polish'
s bases where it is almost like hair gel (?) it dries super duper fast. However I think that the other brand of stripe polish that can be found at sally's Beauty has a much finer brush - where the Art deco brand is great for use where you do not need a fine line.... the brush is thick with alot of straw wonky hairs that can be easily snipped off.

all my photos are indoors under fluorescent lighting.....

♥ Have a Great Weekend Everyone ♥

♥