Copycat tutorial - Chalkboard Nails

Ahhhhh this was so much fun!  Chalkboard Nails has a couple of great tutorials, including her Beauty and the Beach Summer Nail Art tutorial!  When I saw it I was all like, "I CAN DO THAT."  Well, sorta.  Not as good as hers but it was still pretty awesome!  I used Essie Sand Topaz for the base sand, OPI Alpine Snow for the pinkie, index, and thumb base.  Other colors used for accents were China Glaze For Audrey and OPI Cajun Shrimp. Cuuuuuute, right?

A little nail art

Helllooo.  Back on blogger, whatwhat?  First I took a hiatus, then I kind of rebooted on another location, then I kinda got locked out of that and blah blah blah here I am.  This time for reals.  Cross my heart.

Anyway, here is a little nail art that encorporates a lot of techniques that Nailasaurus has in her tutorials that are very easy to follow.  The index is her rose art tutorial and the pinkie is the waterfall art tutorial.

I used Sephora by OPI Aha! Moment for the base.  The index finger is a gradient from Zoya Bobbi to white.  The middle finger has Bobbi for the pink and Zoya Josie for the leaves.  Ring finger is just Zoya Bobbi and the pinkie is a waterfall with Zoya Bobbi and Stripe Rite pink polish (can't find a name on it - do they come with names?)

Fun to do and somewhat easy.  I like how each nail is different - do you think you would like all one pattern, or different patterns on each nail?

31 Day Challenge: Day 13 - Animal Print

So I'm sitting around the table at lunch today with this manicure, and the topic goes to my nails.  One girl grabbed my hand and said, "You changed your polish AGAIN.  What did you do this time?  Is that a sticker?"  I said no, it's a stamp/stencil technique.  Another girl said "Oh my God, where do you find the time for that" (hear the disdain in her voice).

I know that this hobby is seen as flippant, indulgent, and even vain.  I have struggled with this a little bit as of late, because during this challenge I am doing new nails every day, and I like to wear them to work.  But I did not realize how many judgments I would get because of it.  What's with the comments I wonder?

I have a daughter who is 4 and I usually do my nails after I tuck her in at night.  Does this make me lazy or inattentive to her?  Do people think that I am a bad mother because they assume that I am ignoring her whilst I polish my nails?  Or perhaps they believe I should be the sacrificial mother, who does not take care of herself because she gives everything to her children.  Should I neglect to get my hair cut, or put on makeup, or any of the other things I do to take care of myself because I will draw attention to myself and thereby, others will make a judgment on my parenting?

I am the first to admit, I am no happy housewife.  I work full time in a very physical job and I come home to a house that is not in the least bit clean, but is certainly not dangerous or disgusting (pleasantly cluttered, as I call it).  I do not like cleaning or cooking so once I get home, I am all about my daughter until she goes to bed, then I fold clothes, or wash the dishes, or do my nails (more of the last one lately)

I don't know why this has me so upset. I guess I just realized this little hobby of  mine is not seen as such a positive thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Breathe!

Now, here are my fabulous, amazing, semi-chipped nails that are supposed to look like snake scales.  I used Sephora Completely Fern-ished (3 coats, this stuff was runny!) and Sally Hansen Golden-I for the stencil.  The plate is BM 208.  For extra weirdness, I painted some eyes on my accent nail with Finger Paints Art Nouv-Yellow and Essie Licorice

Before nail art

31 Day Challenge: Day 12 - Stripes

Day 12 is stripes, and just in time for my new stamper! I bought a basic stamp kit from the beauty shop, but I also ordered Bundle Monster #200 plates - yessssss. Of course I had to play with it right away. I picked BM 201 and polished my nails up with Sephora Call Your Mother.  For the stamp pattern I used China Glaze Platinum Silver.  The entire stamp did not transfer to the nail, but I think that is more user error.  Also, I don't feel like this particular combo works very well.  I tried so hard to use Essie Penny Talk work, but it just wouldn't transfer on the stamp very well, so I had to do with the silver (which doesn't look as rich to me).

31 Day Challenge: Day 11 - Polka Dots

Polka dots!  Hurray for fun-ness!  I enjoyed this challenge and I got A LOT of compliments on it at work.  Everyone asked me if they were decals, and I said nope, look at my right hand and see how messy it is in comparison to my left HAH! Anyway, nothing fantastically flashy but I think my dotting technique has gotten a lot more consistent and for that I'm pretty proud!  I used China Glaze For Audrey and Sally Hansen White Out for this look.

 Check out the lovely ladies of Challenge 2012

31 Day Challenge: Day 10 - Gradient Nails (Nail Fail)

Day 10 challenge is to try your hand at a gradient nail, and luckily there are lots of these tutorials online. So, choosing one, I set to work to make a 2-polish gradient using Essie Bikini So Teeny and OPI Road House Blues. Well, it turned into a bit of a nail fail, and I was left with what my husband described as "kind of like acid wash jeans but more goopy." Thanks hon. So a removed the first attempt and started again with a white nail (Salley Hansen Xtreme Wear White Out).  I then placed a couple drops of my two blues on tin foil and mixed a spectrum in between.  I added a couple of drops of polish thinner and got out my dotting tool.  This was slightly less of a nail fail, but I still don't love it.  Anyway, here are my pictures.

So messy!

Sidenote: What do you use during clean up?  I used pure acetone and a lip brush and I could not get the polish off of my cuticles.  It was almost like my skin had absorbed it?  Do you guys think vasoline would work as a barrier when doing this type of nail?

31 Day Challenge: Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

This challenge was to create rainbow nails.  As much as I would like to create little rainbows on my fingernails, I don't have a brush small enough for what I had in my head.  Instead, I tried something I haven't done before, half moon nails.  I did not like this look when I first started seeing it on blogs, but the trend is beginning to grow on me.  It was very easy to do, although I thought it looked a lot better before I took my camera to the manicure.  Have you ever thought, "Wow, my nails look fantastic!" and then load the pictures on to your computer and see all the little places you missed?  Well that is what happened today, and I've lost the sunlight to reshoot them, so this is unfortunately what I have.  I will say that since I stopped biting my nails, the cuticles are looking better, but not great.  Baby steps, baby steps.

I used so many colors/brands that I will not list them here.  I also used a tape-off method with scrapbooking scissors which made it easy, but the polish did bleed a little through when I lifted it (lifting too early perhaps?)   I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!