Monday, 29 March 2010

Ode to Jasper

I have been waiting to do a Jasper post until I can really ride him.  And by Jasper, I mean my scooter.  I have taken the scooter out on some little joy rides, but with the weather shaping up this week, I thought it was time to break out a Jasper inspired manicure.  I picked the blue because it's the color of my scooter and the swirls are symbolic of the glorious feeling of air, nature and connection I feel riding it everywhere I go in the warmer months here in Minnesota.  So, ride on!!!!!!

Left hand:


Right Hand Close Up:


Artsy Shot:


Base color is China GlazeFrostbite.  The swirls are done with another CG color in light blue Bahamian Escape.  And So Easy Stripe Rite in White and Purple Metallic.  I then coated a clear coat of polish over the center of the swirl design and sprinkled glitter from Cina from their Metallic Jewels collection.  I then coated the manicure twice with Seche Vite and I'm ready to ride!!

Thursday, 25 March 2010

Girlie Girl

Pink!  Bows!  Spring!  I guess I was feeling whimisical tonight when I created this manicure.  The pink in the photos is pretty washed out, but you get the idea!




The base color is Orly Cotton Candy.  The bows are hand striped in three colors: So Easy Stripe Rite Aqua Metallic and Purple Metallic, and China Glaze Solar Power.  They are coated with Seche Vite.

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Let's Get One Thing Straight!

I am the HEAD CHEF!!!!  I thought after the banter that I've been having with my friend, Kari, who I cook with every week, I should make a foodie manicure.  A little joke we have is regarding who is the head chef of our little duo and who is the sous chef.  Bottom line though, I love to cook.  I am by no means a professional, but when my mom was listing to me the 50 most common mistakes of the home chef, I knew those mistakes and since Kari and and I have been making them and learning from them and have steadily gotten better and better over the years; I feel pretty proficient in the kitchen.  And this manicure sets the record straight--I'm the head chef, Kari's the sous ;)  Click images for better view.





For the nails I base coated with a gray from Orly Mirror Mirror.  Then the details are done with various mixes of China Glaze, OPI, Sally Hansen and So Easy Stripe Rite.  The lettering is Stripe Rite Gold Metallic and Black.  For the Pictures, I did not put a top coat on so they would photograph better, but I am going to protect them with Seche Vite when this post is done.

"H"/Knife--Stripe Rite silver and black

"E"/Kitchen Timer (or) Thermometer--CG Lemon Fizz, Stripe Rite Black and Red Sparkle

"A"/Stock Pot--Sally Hansen's White On and Stripe Rite Neon Green, Black and Silver

"D"/Ladle and Spatula--Stripe Rite Silver, Black and Aqua Metallic.

"C"/Chicken--OPI Skinny Dippin' in Lake Michigan, and CG In Awe Of Amber, and Stripe Rite White

"H"/Tomato--CG Salsa, VII, Japanese Koi (Neon) and Stripe Rite Neon Green

"E"/Red Onion--CG Grape Pop, Let's Groove, Seduce Me, Solar Power Stripe Right Neon Green

"F"/Avacado--CG Entourage, Outta Bounds, In Awe Of Amber, Solar Power

Chef's Hat--Sally Hansen's White On and CG Re-Fresh Mint and Stripe Rite Silver and Aqua Metallic.

Hot Pads--CG Something Sweet, Caribbean Temptation, Shocking Pink.

Sunday, 21 March 2010

Defrosted

I have so been looking forward to Spring.  The snow melting, the buds of flowers peeking up in my garden, the ability to get on my scooter and ride open air.  And, now, hopefully my internet has  been fully restored so I can update as I need to!  So with spring bloom in mind, I give you this manicure!

Without Flash:


With Flash:

I painted the base coat with a gray/blue sparkle from Orly, Pixie Dust.  The flowers are painted with China Glaze, Something Sweet (light pink) and Orly, Passion Fruit (bright pink) by using Konad plate m57.  Seche Vite coated twice.

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Green Machine

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I did this lovely green marble.  The photos make it look like it is more turquoise than green, but I assure you it isn't.  I was even able to get a clover-esque marble on my left thumb, which I love.

Right Hand:


Left Hand:

Clover close up (best color representation):

I used these four colors from China Glaze: Entourage, Emerald Sparkle, Re-Fresh Mint, and Four Leaf Clover.  I coated the manicure in two coats of Seche Vite.

Sunday, 14 March 2010

A Splash of Pink

Pink was the suggestion.  Pink was the result.  And for a relatively easy manicure and pretty on the nails, it was so fussy to capture.  Extreme close ups are all I got to get you the gist.

Natural Sunlight:

Indoor Flourescent:

I painted a base coat with Oh Cabana Boy from Orly and then striped the splashes of various pink hues from Orly (Passion Fruit and Razzle) and China Glaze (High Hopes, Something Sweet, Sexy Silhouette and Shocking Pink.

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

So Nice I Striped Them Twice

So I have been MIA from the computer.  My kitten-cat spilled my water all over our laptop last week and it has been drying out since then.  (We were both in the dog house)  But thank God, it's okay now.  I tried to post from the desktop computer but it is slooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww....  I got so frustrated, I gave up after 45 minutes of trying to upload photos and not being able to multi-task on the Internet.  But I'm back!!!!!

Anyway!  I am now ready to show you what I've been up to.  Water marbling!  Except without the marbling.  I have listened to your requests to make a tutorial for water marbling, and I hope to do that some day.  I do have a budding film-maker in the home, so maybe he'll come in handy someday....but not today.  For now you just have to enjoy the pictures.

Royal Stripes:

Left Hand:


Right Hand:

Close Up:


Silver and Gold:

The "Royal Stripes" manicure was done over the weekend and I really love the results.  I call it water marbling without the marbling, because I didn't swirl the colors together.  I just put my finger in the color circles and it took on the appearance of stripes.  The colors I mixed were China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Let's Groove and Orly's Rage.  Coated twice in Seche Vite.

The "Silver and Gold" (my current manicure) was done with China Glaze Twenty-Four K and Tinsel (thanks Jes for the gift), and OPI's Brand New Skates.  Topped with two coats Seche Vite.

Thursday, 4 March 2010

Karaoke Magic!

Tonight I am going out with friends to dinner and karaoke. So it was, of course the inspiration for this manicure. I thought it was kind of fortuitous that the pictures turned out a bit blurred, since I imagine our nights at various karaoke bars with a little haze...

Left Hand:

Right Hand:

Thumbs:

I painted a base coat of color with China Glaze Liquid Leather. TLinkhen I freehanded a microphone and some music notes on my left hand using It's So Easy Stripe Rite colors in Silver Metallic, White and Hot Blue. I polished the musical notes and bars white first with Stripe Rite and then colored that white base for the pink music notes with Orly Passion Fruit and the music bars with a light, iridescent blue from OPI that I no longer have the name to. The disco ball and it's twirling lights was all a combo of Silver Metallic, Gold Metallic, Black, White, Aqua Metallic and Hot Green Stripe Rite polishes. I then made the "karaoke monitor" by writing out "Baby you just got to release me" in white Stripe Rite first and Essie's Perky Purple and Hello Yellow on top. Each nail was coated twice with Seche Vite.


So now that this is done, I will now spend the rest of my day practicing Wilson Phillips for tonight and I'm ready to go!

Monday, 1 March 2010

Spring Bloom

The sun and my warm car have been making me think of spring and wishing here very soon.  So I polished to my mood.


I used a pale yellow base coat from China Glaze Lemon Fizz.  Then I used Konad plate m65 for the flowers and layered Orly Rage first (it's a rose-colored foil color from their new spring line), followed by Orly Passion Fruit (a pink neon) on top.  Then I used Seche Vite on top.

Weekend Exploits

So I went out of town this past weekend (thus the lateness of the post) and I gave manicures to three of my friends as well as myself.  So I wanted to show them off.


Four Hands:

Jes: Tequila Teaser

Me: Through the Fog

Jen: Bubbles Up

Heather: All Spice

For the specs:

Tequila Teaser: Water marbled with China Glaze: Solar Power, Four Leaf Clover and Purple Panic. 

Through the Fog:  Marbled with Light As Air, High Hopes From China Glaze with OPI's Brand New Skates.

Bubbles Up: Base coated with Sexy In The City and topped with holographic blue by CG named DV8.  Konad Plate used for dots in color Metallic Muse (China Glaze).

All Spice: Base coat China Glaze VII with stripes by It's So Easy Stripe Rite in Gold and Orange Glitter.

All manicures topped with Seche Vite top coat.