Easter Manis, Day 5: Happy Good Friday!

Good Morning Lovelies!

Before we get into today's mani I wanna address 2 things....

First, my forgetfulness.  To make up for failing day after day this week with getting this picture up.  I'm posting it now...not that it matters, but I said I would, so here:

The mugs that inspired Tuesdays Mani!

The inside of the mugs are colored to match the tracks on the outside!

I think we got them at a Starbucks a few years back for Mom, can't remember.

Next...Takij commented yesterday that she was sad that my purple from yesterdays mani was a franken, cause she had been looking for that purple.  So last night I dug it out and compared it to another purple I have...Almost identical:

My franken, compared to OPI "Do You Lilac It?"

The OPI is just a touch pinker and half a shade darker.

The little bottle you see is Sally Girl "Your Majesty", The polish I think I used to make my franken, along with white of course.  This polish can be found at any Sally's store.

Ok...On to today's Mani!

My idea was to do a simple french, make it shimmery, and then have an accent nail with a purple cross with flowers and vines on it.  Let me tell you...it looked AWESOME in my head!   On the nail though....it was kinda a fail.  But I tried...and I stayed up til 11 last ngiht to get it done (4:30am came WAY too fast this morning).  So I'm gonna show you anyway.

I started off with 1 coat of a franken blush I made using Konaddict's Blush Recipe found HERE

Then I added hole reinforcements and painted on white tips with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Whirwind White".  I have discovered a trick with these.  Put the sticker on 1 nail, paint the tip, and immediately remove the sticker!  This prevents the polishing pulling that I've experienced in the past!

Then I added 1 coat of Diamond Cosmetics "Sweet As Sugar".  I LOVE this polish!

Then, on the ring fingers I used Sinful Color's "Let's Talk" a gorgeous royal purple, to paint a cross.

The Konad was brought out at this point and plate M36 and used the Lilly image.  I put Pure Ice "Outrageous", a pink chrome on the flower and China Glaze "Cherish", a green chrome over the stalks.

I then stamped this over the center of the cross and at the base of all the other nails.

Here's where disappointment set it.  On the sample nail, the Lillies showed up great!  not so much on my nails!

 

I really liked the tie in of the cross and the Lilly, but the execution just fell short.  

I guess I shoulda known, I've been so happy with all the other manis this week, I guess I was due a big FAIL!

Well, that's it for today.

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

V-Day manis! Day 10: Pink & Black, another Contest, and the bestest Mom ever!

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today's mani if the one I am currently sporting!  It's a few of my favorite things all together!  Funky French, Black and Pink, and Chrome over Black!

Buckle in, this sounds WAY more complicated than it was!

First I did 1 coat of a franken blush color and topped that with 1 coat of Diamond Cosmetics "Sweet as Sugar", a slightly pink polish packed with iridescent micro glitter.

Then I applied hole reinforcements to all the nails except the thumb.  For the thumb I had to use a traditional french guide, since my thumbs are so wide.

I then painted Wet & Wild "Black Creme" on the tips of 1 hand and immediately took off the reinforcements.  If you don't take them off immediately, while the polish is still wet, you will not get a crisp line, cause as you remove the reinforcement, the polish sticks to it and pulls off a bit.  I then repeated this on the other hand.  I still have a bit of issue here and there with the polish pulling, but found i could clean it up a bit by pushing it back into place using the edge of my Konad scraper.

Then I reapplied reinforcements, yes, I know, lotsa steps!

Then stamped the overlapping hearts tip design from M73, using Pure Ice "Outrageous" my go to pink chrome. 

Oddly, my camera hated me last night, and refused, no matter which setting, I used, and how many times I adjusted the white balance, to show the stamp as a pink color.  Here is the closest I could convince it to go:

To see this same pink chrome accurately, click HERE to go to a picture of a mani I posted here a while back.

Next!

I forgot a Contest Yesterday!!!

Make sure you run, like now, over to On Beauty and Polish and check our the lovely prize she's giving away very soon!  Seriously...is there anything better than a bunch of random polishes?  I think not!  Click HERE to go check it out!!!

Oh, btw, Have I told you all I have the bestest Mom EVER????  Our laptop, which is only 4 years old, decided it had had enough, and went to laptop heaven Wednesday Morning.  Mom to the rescue!  When she discovered she couldn't fix it, she decided that she'd just have to get us an early Birthday Present!  We have a new, MACK DADDY laptop!  so yeah THANK YOU MARMIE!!!!  You're the BEST!!!

Well guys, that concludes the Valentine's Day Mani's! 

I hope you all have a Fantastic weekend!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

V-Day manis! Day 3: French Roses

Good Morning Lovelies!

I hope you are all well today!  I wanted to take a second and address 2 things, before we get to today's mani...

1 - when I started this blog, I prided myself on responding to each and every one of my comments.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing it too!  Unfortunately, time has not been my friend the past few months.  And it doesn't look like it's going to get any better soon.  Work is jam packed full, and more keeps being added to my plate.  As it is, I am just barely finishing the tasks I have to do on a monthly basis, in time to start the following months "chores".  After work is about the same.  I wish I could survive on 2 hours sleep, cause then I might be able to fit in everything that I need to do on a daily basis. So, all that to say I am very very sorry.  I read and enjoy each and every one of your sweet comments!  I also visit all of your blogs, I just don't get to comments as much as I like. 

2 - Lacquered Lizard had said that she's having trouble pasting into her blog.  Hun, me too!  But I found the solution...I think.   The only way I have been able to paste into the blog post is to get my cursor where I want to paste, and then hitting the space bar a few times.  Then, click and drag over the spaces you just made to highlight them, and then do the whole, right click, paste.  That's been working for me, so hopefully it will work for you. 


OK...For today's mani I did something simple with just a touch of decoration.

I started out with 1 coat of a franken blush polish.  Then added 1 coats of Diamond Cosmetics "Sweet as Sugar", which is a iridescent glitter in a slightly peach toned base with a bit if peachy shimmer I believe.

Then, I discovered how to get that deeply curved smile line I've been wanting!  Hole reinforcements as french tip guides!  I LOVE a more curved smile line, and the typical french guides are just too straight across for my taste.  I'll show you guys how great it looks soon, since it's hard to see on this mani.

I painted the tips with 1 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in whirlwind White, followed by 1 coat of Diamond Cosmetics "Diamond's Diamonds".

Then I broke out the Konad and stamped the rose design from M36 using China Glaze "Harmony", along the smile line.

That's it for today my wonderful readers!

I hope you have a marvelous day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Christmas Mani #6: SO...MUCH...GLITTER!!!

Good Morning Lovelies!

I need a little help please...

Can anyone tell me where December went?  I can't seem to figure it out!  Wasn't Thanksgiving like less than a week ago? 
I swear the days seem to just be flying by!  It's insane!
I had great plans to get Snow pics together to share with you today, but alas...that didn't happen last night!
After a longer than expected "grab a few things at the store" trip, we went home to lift.  Decided to work on Rob's Dad's Christmas gift real quick first, and the next thing we knew...it was 11:30! How did that happen?
So yeah, just a mani post for ya today!


So, I decided to go a bit over the top and do a glitter Funky French for Christmas!

I asked Rob which color I would use for the base and which for the tip, 'cause I couldn't decide, and he had a hard time deciding too!  So I figured I'd do my thumb and ring finger opposite of my other fingers.

I started by applying my french tip guides.
Then on my index, middle and pinky nails, I applied China Glaze "Emerald Sparkle" to the nail bed area. 
On the thumb and ring fingers, I applied China Glaze "Ruby Pumps" to the nail bed.
I used a total of 3 coats here to get nice depth!

Then I took off the guides and applied the opposite color to the tips.
It just looked unfinished to me, so I got out the gold glittery striper from the Art Club "Pretty Shiny Things" Kit and applied that along the smile line, where the two colors met.

Soooo Pretty!

Pardon the mess ups, this was pre-clean-up.

It looks so much better in person than it does in these pics!

Well guys, that's it for today!

I'll be showing you my favorite nail art endeavor so far tomorrow!  I'm usually way unhappy with how things turn out, but this one came out GREAT!  Well, 3 outa 5 nails are perfect, not bad!

I hope you guys have a fantastic day!!!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Christmas Mani #4: String of Lights!

Good Morning Lovelies!!!

I hope you are all doing wonderfully today!

Today's Mani is another fun Christmas design.

I started off with a basic french manicure.
1 coat of my Franken blush polish for the base, and a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Whirlwind White" for the tips.

Then I took my Black Stripe Rite and drew random squiggly lines on each nail.

For the 'bulbs' I used:
Sally Hansen Extreme Wear, uh, not sure on the name, but it's the creamy yellow.  sorry!
Pure Ice "Crimson"  i think...I lost the paper I wrote the names down on!
Sinful Colors "Let's talk" (this shows up blue in the pics.... again.)
China Glaze "Frostbite"
Sinful Colors "San Francisco"

For the plug prongs I used the gold glitter stripe brush from the Color Club's "Pretty Shiny Things" Nail art kit that I received from them for review.  Review on this coming soon!!!

 There ya have it!

That's all for today my wonderful readers!

I hope you all have a fantastic day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Christmas Mani #2: Frosty Tips

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today I have a mani that I just couldn't wait to do!  This idea popped in my head and waiting until after thanksgiving to do it was like torture! 

I was very pleased with how this came out! 

I started with 1 coat of a blush polish I frankened using KonADDICT's Recipe.
For mine I used 1/3 bottle of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Beige Blast" and added enough clear to make it 2/3 full.  I then added approx 8 drops of China Glaze "Vertical Rush".

Then I slapped on some French guides and painted 1 coat of Sally Hansen "Whirlwind White" to the tips. 

Once that was dry I topped it with 2 coats of China Glaze "Glacier".  MAN. is that polish GORGEOUS!

That Achieved the frosty tips look I was going for!  But what's frost without snow???

Next I broke out plate M59, and using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Blazing Blue Frost", I stamped the 2 snow flake patterns randomly on each tip.

Now, I realized after removing the guide from my thumb, that this was going to require some help, as I did not get a clean line due to so much polish.  So, before I removed the rest of the guides, I very carefully, took an exacto knife and scored the polish, using the edge of the guide.  Those of you with natural nails, may want to take the guide off after the white base coat, then free hand the glitter over it.  Then once that has dried, just reapply the guides so you can do the snowflakes.

This next step is the only part that didn't come out exactly as planned.  I used the snow flake on plate M20, and placed it at the cuticle, for a sort of moon mani-esque design.  Sadly I placed the stamp a bit high, but I think it still looked good.

I tried doing this stamp differently on my thumbs just to see what it would look like placed differently.  I also tried to cover the flaw that came from removing the guide without scoring, by using my Stripe Rite brush dipped in China Glaze "Millennium" then topped it with a line of Stripe Rite Silver Glitter.  I didn't care for it, but left it to show you guys an option!

 

It always amazes me to see these pictures after the fact.  The nails look so good in person, then I see the pics, and they look kinda not so good. LOL

I also want to draw your attention to a blog I was made aware of yesterday! 

Danielle of Project Danielle is having a Giveaway!  And guess what it is....The Palette I have from Coastal Scents!!!  Well not exactly, the one in the giveaway is the same colors, except it's the matte and satin finish palette!!!!  How awesome is that???    Click HERE to go and enter!!!

Also, for those asking, I actually don't think I have false lashes on in those pics from yesterday.  I did the look so long ago(a few months), I can't remember for sure.  But I opened them up huge and can't see a band, so I guess not.  I just have good eyelash genes, THANKS MOM!!!   I will say this though.  I go through spells where they are super thick and long, and then times when they are more sparse.  I am a very bad girl, and sometimes when we are busy, I will go upwards of a week without totally taking off my mascara.  I know, it's terrible!  It's after times like this that I notice them starting to fall out!  So I get freaked out and regardless of how tired I am, I take the time to take it all off, and I notice within a week, that they begin to thicken up and grow back well.  I also use Lipocils by Talika, occasionally to help them grow back faster when I've had too many fall outs. You guys should see my sisters lashes!!  Oh My Gosh, they are GORGEOUS!  Twice as thick and long as mine!

The mascara I use is Lash Blast by CoverGirl, for those that asked.

And thank you all for all the sweet comments, you guys just made my whole day!  I still struggle with self esteem issues, and hearing all your sweet compliments really means alot.

Well, that's all I have for you today my wonderful readers!

I gotta head over to Polishing Off and post a great Scalloped Potato recipe!

Have a FANTASTIC day!!!

{{{Hugs)))
Christy

Flying squirels and Michelle!

Good morning Lovelies!

I hope everyone is doing well this morning!

I am a bit sleepy!
I was woken up around 1:15am this morning to Macy flippin' out and barking her head off!  I asked Rob what was goin on, and he said she was hunting a flying squirrel!  Yes, these little cuties:

(got image from google)

They are seriously precious little things!  And since we live in the woods, they like to live in our roof!  It's pretty entertaining listening to them running around, you can hear acorns rolling around, it drives Macy insane! 

Well I realized this morning that I wish I woulda had my wits about me to grab the camera, but sadly, I was too out of it!  It will happen a few more times this winter, so I will be sure to grab a picture at some point in time!

Anyway, we had to catch Macy, which is NOT an easy task!  Then had to track down the squirrel and catch it and bring it outside where it would be safe.  Then, of course once all that had been done, we let Macy out of the bathroom, since thats where we trapped her! and she had to investigate herself to make sure it was gone! 

I've decided getting woken up at 1:15 is not a fun thing!

But at least me and Rob are crazy animal lovers who can put up with this kinda thing!  We get bats in the house from time to time too!  We still can't figure out how they get in! 

Ok, moving on!

Saturday, Michelle my bestest bud and none other than owner of The Obsessed Beauty Junkie, came over and got a set of acrylics and a Konadicure!  Sadly this is not my best work!  I promise to fix ya soon Michelle!  I just didn't get to shape them as well as I could have.  I have a heard time shaping other peoples acrylics with a file, I'm always scared I'm gonna wind up scrapping their cuticle and making a sore spot!

Between that and seeing the clock ticking time away and getting closer and closer to the time out dinner guest were arriving, and nothing had been started....I started rushing, never a good thing.

But for her mani, we did as follows...

First I laid down 1 coat of a light pink franken I made forever ago, so I don't remember whats in it!

Then I added 2 coats of China Glaze Temptation Carnation.

Once that dried I placed french-tip guides on and took off the polish from the tip.

I then added 1 coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Wirlwind White and 1 coat of Pure Ice Platinum on top of that!

Then it was Konad time!

I used my Wet and Wild Black Creme and stamped the viney floral pattern from M73 over the tips.

Then, using the same polish, I stamped the floral pattern from M32, at the cuticle.

I finished it off with my Silver Glitter Stripe Rite by adding a line of glitter to the smile line. 

To me having a line there just makes it a bit more polished looking.

 

It's a bit messy, Sorry Michelle!

Well I hate to run, but I have invoices calling my name!

Oh, one more thing!  Please don't take offense if I don't have time to respond to comments this week!  I love reading what you all have to say, but may not have to time respond this week!!  SORRY!

Have a great day everyone!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Sparkling Blue tips

Good Morning Lovlies!

This past week we've been hitting the gym pretty hard to make up for slacking off in order to make some deadlines the last few weeks.  To say that I am sore, is pretty much a massive understatement.  My lats are killin' me, but we haven't even done lats yet...that's tonight!  AHHHH!

Anyway....do to the increased gym time, my nail time has been cut down drastically...ok, basically I've had NO nail time!  So, for today, I have a vault pic for ya.  Bad thing is, these are running perilously low, so I gotta have a major nail session this weekend!

For today's mani I started with the same, tired Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Pedal Pusher.  If anyone has any suggestions on a nice base for frenches, please fill me in!
I then painted on tips in China Glaze Frostbite, and topped that with a coat of Pure Ice Strapless.

Then I stamped the flower tip image from M56 on the tips, in white.
Then I added the matching floral pattern from M51 to the base at the cuticle, also in white.

Not the best mani ever, but cute enough I suppose!

I carry around a notebook with me, pretty much everywhere, so as design ideas come to me, I can write them down!  I currently have about 20 sitting there just waiting to come to life!  So hopefully I'll be able to do a bunch this weekend and stash the pics, that way I wont run out on ya!

I'm also going to start on a few things for my Halloween week!  YAY, I love fun challenges!

Alrighty my wonderful readers, that's all for today!

I hope you all have an absolutely fantastic weekend!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Pretty Pretty Periwinkle

Good Morning Lovlies!

I hope you are all doing wonderfully this morning!

Today I have a mani that I just LOVE!  I took the idea from the awesomely talented KonADDICT

I started with a 2 coat base of Sally Hansen Inst-Dri in Petal Pusher, on all fingers except my thumbs and ring fingers.

Then I painted 2 coats off China Glaze Secret Peri-winkle on my thumbs and ring fingers, as well as using it to add french tips to the other fingers.

Next, I stamped the fishnet pattern from M57 in white, just over the Secret Peri-winkle.
Then I stamped the vine-ish pattern on M36 in Black, along the smile line of the french nails.
On the thumbs and ring fingers I stamped the butterfly from M39 twice, in black.

Sadly this was the best pic, and my thumb is cut off!

I didn't realize I didn't have a great pic 'til the mani was off.

Sorry guys!

Well, that's all I have for you today, my lovely readers.

Thanks for stopping by!

I hope your day is Phenomenal!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Caribbean Fishnets

Good Morning Lovlies!

How are all my wonderful readers today?
Good I hope!

This morning I have a Funky French for you!  I have been wanting to do this mani for a LOOOONG time.

I started with a base of 2 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-dri in Petal Pusher.
Then I free handed on french tips in Caribbean Temptation.  I do my french tips by starting on 1 side and dragging the brush about halfway across the nail.  Then doing the same from the other side.  I then go back and perfect the arch in the middle to make sure it's smooth.  Next I go back and hold the brush perpendicular to the smile line and brush from line to tip, which usually gives me a nice smooth finish in that 1 thickish coat.

I find that method WAY easier than attempting to paint the tip on by dragging the brush from one side to the other.  When I did it this way, I ALWAYS ended up with lopsided tips!

ANYWAY....

I think used my black Special Polish and plate M57 to stamp the Fishnet pattern over the tips.

I polished (no pun intended) up the look with a line of Silver glitter using my Stripe Rite.

I just LOVE that purple flash that Caribbean Temptation has!

Side Note...

We will be leaving WAY early in the morning to head up to Ocean City Maryland, for the Endless Summer Cruise-in!  I have an AWESOME mani planned that I will do tonight.  I will probably not be able to post it until late Thursday evening, that is if we have internet access at the Hotel.  I can't figure out if we do or not from their website!  So if there is nothing fun up for ya Friday morning, then sadly I wont be in contact until Monday!

Thank you for stoppin' in!  I hope you have a fantastic day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

 

Loooooong weekend and a vault pic!

Good Morning Lovely Ladies!

Wow, this weekend sooooooo did NOT go as planed.
Friday was great!  Got to play with a basset hound puppy at the track which pretty much made it an awesome day!  There ain't nothing like getting chewed on by a puppy!
Saturday started good, got to see a few rounds, but of all slower stuff.  Just before the top dragsters were set to come out...here comes the rain.  So we cooked lunch, rain stopped and track drying began.  about 15 minutes before they woulda been done, it started raining again.  This cycle went on 2 more times before they finally called it off for the day!
So rather than leave to come home bright and early Sunday morning, we stayed at the track 'til 5pm so we could actually watch some racing!

We got home alittle after 8pm.  But by the time all the animals were fed, stuff was unpacked, laundry was started and showers were taken (you get pretty grungy at the track!), it was after 10 and I was strugglin'.

So, tomorrow I will have some sweet track pics for you, as well as pics of what I got when we decided to go kill some time during the rain!

But for today I'll pull one outta the vault for ya! (I gotta get to paintin' I'm runnin out of vault pics!!!)

This was a base of an Avon bubble gum pink.  When I went to use it I discovered the cap was defective, so after I managed to get this on, I had to throw the rest of it away.

After the base I used Special Black polish to stamp M57 all over, then added the tip using M19.

This was back when I was using Poshe Top Coat.  You can see why I switched to Seche.  I got streaking pretty regularly with Poshe.

Well that's all for today.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Pink and Black French

Good Morning Ladies!

Today I have my current mani for ya!

I hadn't done a french in a while so I decided to go that route.  But hey, this is me we are talkin about here, so its obviously not gonna be normal!

I started with 3 coats of Sally Insta-Dri in Petal Pusher.  Still tryin to find a good color to use as a base for frenches, this will do for now though.

Ok, here's where it starts getting complicated.
-Next I stamped a french tip using Pure Ice (will update with name later, but its a chrome Rose color) and M19.
-Then I stamped another french tip over this, about a 16th of an inch closer to the edge of the nail, using Special Polish in Black.
-Then I went back to the chrome rose color and stamped my favorite viney/floral design on M73 over the black tip.  I know I know, Just walk away from the viney/floral Christy!  I will I promise!!!
-Finally I added the pretty leafy vine pattern from M36 with Special Polish in Black.

Top with a coat of Seche Vite and there ya have it!

And now for some exciting news!!!

I was running thru Walmart picking up odds and ends for a big race we are going to this weekend, when my peripheral vision picked up something and started screaming at my brain to turn me around!!!  What on earth did I see???

 

WALMART SELLS HARD CANDY COSMETICS NOW!!!!

:::dies:::

I was good, I only got this one, Envy.  SOOOO PRETTYYYYYY.

I tried to do a quick and dirty swatch on my pinky for you guys last night but the green shimmer just wouldn't show up, it just looked like black polish in all the pics.

So run to Walmart!!!!  get Hard Candy!

Thanks for visiting, hope you all have a wonderful day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy