Does It Stamp?

Hello Dahlings!

 

Are y'all sticky hot & wishing for winter? I know I am! To take our dehydrating brains off da weather, let's look at some more violet polishes I found that can be used for stamping.

Here we go...

 

Sally Hansen Spark, Revlon Pop Star (magnetic) & Orly Harmonious Mess

 

Orly Ingénue & Wet N' Wild Ferguson Crest Syrah

 

 Sally Hansen Lapis Amethyst & Pure Ice New Lilac

 

 Sinful Colors Shock And Awe & Forever 21 Love & Beauty Eggplant

 

That's all for now, more next week!

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my 1 Year Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

Only 3 days left!!!

~Inky

 

Nailed It NZ Patchwork DIY Decals!

Hello Dahlings!

 

Whew! It's gonna be a scorcher this weekend in da Pacific North Wet...90 degrees. I know that doesn't sound hot to many of you, but we're usually in da mid 70's this time of year & rarely see 90+ at any time. Oh yeah, you want to see da nails...

 

 Da line up: Orly Platinum, Liquid Vinyl, It's Up To Blue, Beautiful Disaster

& Oh Cabana Boy. Yeah, I was in an Orly kinda mood.

 

 This is 2 coats of Platinum. Like many frosty pearly polishes, it was a streaky pita to apply, but since I knew I was going to be covering most of it up & just needed it for a white base color...good enuf.

 

Ta Da! I used Missy from Gnarly Gnail's DIY Decals tutorial with Jessie from Nailed It NZ's Patchwork Nail Art tutorial to make my own patchwork nail art decals. My patches & spacing of said patches could be a wee bit tighter, but overall, these came out pretty good. I used a short, thin detail brush to paint da patches & fill them in with color plus a dotting tool to make da polka dot back ground on my Milani Glosse tc diy decals.

 

If you haven't tried making your own decals & you tend to get frustrated trying to stamp or do nail art directly on your nails...YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!!! There is a small learning curve while you figure out how get your decals on your nails & clean up around da edges, but it's SO much easier to do any type of nail art on a flat surface then apply it to your nails than doing da art directly on your nails. Could this be considered 'cheating' by nail art purists? Maybe? But I do my nails for ME & am willing to embrace a technique that helps me get da art I want on my nails with less frustration & time wasted.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

If you haven't entered my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way...

what da heck are you waiting for? There's only 6 days left!

~ Inky

 

P.S. Even if you don't want to win one of my bags o' polish fun, you still may want to follow me on Bloglovin if you've been using Google Reader. Reader will be shutting down on da 1st of July. You don't want to miss any of my Inky adventures, do you? <3 font="">

Weird Wednesday ~ 5 in 1 SUcon test nails!

Hello Dahlings!

 

I told you last week that I'd have more convention test nails & I went for broke! This is really pic heavy & a few are a wee bit blurry, but oh well. I used a different bit o' sponge for each finger & went over each nail twice.

 

Da base color line up: L.A. Colors Energy Source, Finger Paints Paper Mache,

Ruby Kisses Whiter Than White, Scandal French White & China Glaze White on White.

 

Starting at da bottom, 2 coats each of: pinky ~ Energy Source, ring ~ Paper Mache,

middle ~ Whiter Than White, index ~ French White & thumb ~ White On White.

All work fine as a base color tho' my bottle of China Glaze White On White is a bit thick

& not easy to get a smooth finish.

 

 Pinky line up: Sally Hansen Spectrum, DVD & LCD

 

Usually these three give good blingy coverage, but they didn't want to play nice over da white. As you can see, they came out patchy & pastel. 

 

 Ring line up: Sally Hansen Flash, Spark & Gleaming

 

Decent coverage & blending. I lil on da dark side, but a possible contender!

 

 Middle line up: Nubar Absolute, Treasure & Brilliant

 

These 3 played well enuf together, but came out more pastel than I'm looking for.

 

 Index line up: Color Club Over The Moon, Eternal Beauty & Miss Bliss

 

I do love how well da Halo Hues play together! As gorgeous as it is,

it's still a wee bit lighter than what I want for my convention nails.

 

 Thumb line up: Sally Hansen BLU, Cyber & Digital

 

Now this is more like it! Blingy, well blended & bright is what I want to wear to SLC.

 

I still have a few more combos to try & 3 weeks left to see what I like best. If I'm going to have to wear da same nails for 10 days to 2 weeks, I'd better be in love with that mani!

 

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

Only 8 more days!!!

~ Inky

 

Vintage Holo Heaven!

Hello Dahlings!

 

Today's quickie is a lovely vintage find that made me very happy!

 

 Da line up: Scandal Modern Black, Sally Hansen Ruby Diamond 13

& Scandal French White.

(normally I don't include polish #'s, but there's also a Ruby Diamond LE also available

& da 2 are not dups.)

 

 This is 2 coats of Ruby Diamond! No patchiness while I applied it, but da dry time is a wee bit longer than most of us are used to, tho' not ridiculously long.

 

 Time for your close up! Da linear rainbows are quite a bit stronger than my phone camera could capture, even tho' it usually does a pretty good job.

 

TA DA! I tried to recreate a design I did a year ago March & posted in my 1st 'real' nail post, but I failed. Maybe I should have looked at da pic? (It's da 1st one.) I did have longer nails last time & my dots were much smaller, but I've had so much practice since then I should have done a better job of it. LOL Oh well, at least I got to enjoy some holo goodness while da sun was shining.

 

You can get your hands on this vintage Sally Hansen polish at Cassie Cosmetics on Ebay.

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

Only 10 days left!

~ Inky

 

Best Blog Award!

Hello Dahlings!

 

I'm taking a break from Does It Stamp? this week to post da last award/tag I've received in da last few months. Da very talented Jasmine from I (heart) Nail Candy nominated me for this award in May.

 

 

Da rules for this one are simple:

 

1) Answer da questions asked by da blog who nominated you.

2) Nominate up to 20 other blogs with less than 200 followers.

3) Create 11 questions for them to answer.

 

Questions from I <3 candy:="" font="" nail="">

 

1) What is your favorite brand of nail polish?

Whimsical Ideas by Pam is my fav indie polish, but I have the most Sally Hansen in my prodigious collection & uber love Sally Hansen's dearly departed Chrome line! <3 font="">

 

2) How is your polish stash arranged?

By color in clear plastic drawers from both Wal-Mart & Fred Meyer's. I can fit about 50 full size bottles in either size drawer. (da one's from Wally World hold 4 rows of 12-13 polishes & da FM ones hold 5 rows of 10 bottles) All my drawers fit under my desk...for now.

 

3) Besides nail art, what are your other hobbies?

Oh geez, where to start? Rubber stamping, jewelry making, beading, knitting & crocheting, sewing (both quilting & clothes), needle point & cross stitch,

oh yeah & reading.

 

4) What is your favorite cuisine?

Another tuffy! We eat a lot of Asian food & Vietnamese is my fav, but I also love Japanese, Korean & Thai food along with Mexican & Salvadoran, Italian, German & pizza. (American pizza is not Italian, but it is da perfect food!)

 

5) How often do you change your manicure?

Usually every other day, so 3-4 times a week. Unless I'm really digging a mani or am too busy to change what I have on, then I might skip a 'scheduled' nail session. I get techy if I have too much of a grow out line from my cuticles & chips drive me nuts too, so a week with da same mani is my limit.

 

6) What's your favorite mani on your blog?

My Kitchen Sink Saturday #1 post! Not only were my nails 1" long, I was wearing one of my fav frankens plus finally I broke free from da creative chains of 'all da nails must be da same'. Very liberating after 30 years of rather boring manis, let me tell you!

 

7) Do you play any musical instruments?

Once upon a time I played da trumpet, French horn & piano.

 

8) What's your favorite color?

Black...no violet...wait...what about fuchsia? Throw a lil silver in & I'm happiest wearing any of these. I guess black is my go to color, but I really love me some pinks & purples.

 

9) What's your favorite nail art technique?

Da Kitchen Sink Mani. I can do a lil bit of whatever I want!

 

10) Matte or glossy?

Glossy! Tho' I have learned to appreciate matted glitter.

 

11) What are your tips regarding nail care?

This post pretty much says it all: I Grew 1" Nails!

I didn't keep my nails this long cuz they were a major pita, but da things I do work for shorter nails too. Right now my nails are just shy of 3/4" from cuticle to tip.

 

Okay, I'm gonna break da rules now! I'm not going to nominate anybody & I'm not coming up with 11 new questions. If you'd like to do this tag award on your own blog using da above questions, go right ahead & leave a link in da comments.

 

I'll have another Does It Stamp? post for y'all next week.

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my 1 Year Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

You can't win if you don't enter!

~Inky

 

 

Girly Bits? SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Hello Dahlings!

 

Our tale today started nigh on 5 months ago. My DPD Swishie sent me a birthday box of polish goodies back in February. Alas, somewhere 'tween da Royal Mail & da USPO da package went walk-a-bout. Le sigh...great sadness on both sides of da Atlantic.

 

So what does my DPD do? She decides to send me a 1 year Blog-o-versary pressie! IThis time she played it safe by ordering from Harlowe & Co. (They're in Canada, but ship to da USA.) What did she send me, you ask?

GIRLY BITS!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

 

I couldn't decide which I wanted to wear first, so I decided to wear both!

 

 Da line up: Girly Bits Hot Shot & Twitterpated plus Layla Ocean Rush.

 

 Here's a close up of Hot Shot. Da linear holo effect is rather subdued & golden, but it was surprisingly opaque & it's a fabulous shiny, shimmery, bubble gum pink!

 

This is Twitterpated up close & personal. A strong linear blue violet holo with pink micro flecks! Ain't it gorgeous? I love it so much I had to put it on my toes, so I could enjoy it longer! (I promise, no feet pics! lol) If da light is too dull to show off da holo goodness, da blue violetness with teeny tiny pink bits is a grand alternative. Da only down side & it's a tiny one, is that its a wee bit sheer & needed 3 coats for opacity.

 

Ta Da! I got so excited while doing this mani that I forgot to take a base color pic. Blerg! I started with 2 coats of Hot Shot on my pinky & index; 3 coats of Twitterpated on my ring & thumb plus 2 coats of Ocean Rush on my middle. OR was a royally patchy pita to put on my nails! It showcased how smooth & issue free da Girly Bits are when applying them. I then added skinny stripes on pinky using my Essence skinny striper brush, a pseudo camouflage on ring using a very thin short detail brush, a gradient on middle using a bit of sponge, leopard spots on index using a dotting tool & chevrons on thumb using French Tip sticker forms. I sealed all da holo goodness in with a coat of Seche Vite.

 

Ain't my DPD Swishie da bestest? You bet your last bottle of polish she is! <3 font="">

 

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

You can't win one of da 5 polish bundles if you don't enter!

~ Inky

 

Wierd Wednesdays ~ Convention Test Nails #2

Hello Dahlings!

 

My polish daughter, Miss Swishie, reminded me last weekend that I hadn't done any Stampin' Up! Convention nail tests in awhile. Da sucon is only 4 weeks away so I  probably should do some more testing cuz I haven't decided what polishes to use yet. I'm going with a bright gradient in pink/purple/blue to match my hair with rhinestones spelling out da company name on my fingers & '25' on my big toes. Yep! I'm doing a pedi to match my mani!

 

I needed to do my June Polish Days manilast Sunday & I wanted to do some sucon testing, but I have a really hard time doing my nails, then taking da polish off as soon as I'm done so I can do another design. (This is why you don't see swatch posts from me, I refuse to spend hours polishing & removing said polish over & over.)

So I had to get a wee bit creative...

 

 Da line up: Orly Snow Cone, Ruby Kisses Electric Purple, Orly Va Va Voom

& Kleancolor Silver Star

 

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!

You are about to enter a pedi zone!!!

 

 

 Meet my chubby lil piggies: pinky & big have Va Va Voom,

ring & index have Electric Purple, middle has Snow Cone.

All colors are 2 coats.

 

Big piggy got the gradient then all 5 got a coat of Silver Star. (which I forgot to take a pic of) What I learned from this is that I'm going to have to wear white undies if I want my nail color to POP.

 

I promise you won't see my piggies again for a long while.

This was a polishing emergency!

 

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

~ Inky

Monday Quickie ~ I've Cracked!

Hello Dahlings!

 

Today's quickie is all about da CRACK! I know many peeps think cracking polish is passé, but I liked da crackle effect used in art & home décor for many years before it was brought into da realm of nail art. So I have lots of crack polishes

& will use them 'til they're gone!

 

 Da line up: Ruby Kisses Pitch Black Darkness, China Glaze Glam-more Crackle Glaze, Claire's crackle polish & China Glaze Gleam Me Up Crackle Glaze.

 

Ta Da! Simple sparklies for a sunny day. I started with 2 coats of PBD.

Pinky & index have Glam-more, ring & thumb have Claire's

& middle got Gleam Me Up.

 

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

~ Inky

Does It Stamp? ~ red, orange, green & teal

Hello Dahlings!

 

Today's Does It Stamp? covers some polishes recently acquired 

or over looked da 1st time thru my stash.

 

 

Reds ~ Sally Hansen Scarlet Ruby, Luminous & Radiant

 

Golden Tourmaline

 

Oranges ~ Sally Hansen Bright & Coral Amber

 

Greens ~ Sally Hansen Glow, Pure Ice Free Spirit & Ruby Kisses Tropical Green

 

Teals ~ Wet N' Wild Caribbean Frost, Wet N' Wild I Need A Refreshmint

& China Glaze Deviantly Daring

 

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

~ Inky

 

 

Punky Party Nails w/OOTD!

Hello Dahlings!

 

Mr Inky & I aren't big party peeps. When we do go to a party it's usually a work related thing for Mr Inky where making an appearance is somewhat political. (show up or we won't think you're a team player lol) So last Saturday we went to a 'team building' bbq at da bosses house. Mr Inky's boss is really cool, so going to his house isn't as bad as some of da other work parties we've been to when he worked other places. This is da same boss who's Day of da Dead party I wore this mani to last November. I knew it would be a mildly warm day & decided to wear a jumper I've had for nigh on 20 years & still love.

I wanted my nails to co-ordinate.

 

 

This is a pic of da back of da jumper I wanted my nails to match.

 

Da line up: Ruby Kisses African Violet, Silver Bling & Pitch Black Darkness plus Sinful Colors Watch It Shine along with my smallest dotting tool.

(not shown are my skinny striper & Milani Glosse Top Coat)

 

This is 2 coats of African Violet.

 

I did a double line French tip with Pitch Black Darkness & Silver Bling (I used my skinny striper to add da silver lines) then added a coat of Watch It Shine. I had to fish a bit for da lil rainbow holo diamonds, but it wasn't too difficult.

 

A close up of Watch It Shine for you. It's base is kinda murky looking in da bottle,

but it dries clear. Look at all da pretty rainbow colors!

 

I then made 2 decals using this image off Fab Ur Nails Fun 1 plate. I painted swatches on plastic using da Milani then stamped da image using Pitch Black Darkness. I colored them in using da smallest dotting tool I have (it has a point rather than a ball)

& African Violet, Silver Bling & Pitch Black Darkness.

 

TA DA! I applied my decals using da Milani tc then added some pink iridescent hearts over da stamped heart eyes using da Milani as glue. 

I sealed it all in with a coat of Seche Vite to finish.

 

I think this turned out so cute!

 

My accessories I wore with my outfit & spiffy mani. Da earrings are from Claire's, da watch was a 'buy $, get this free' from Sally Beauty Supply

& da bracelets are from Born Pretty Store.

 

A word on da bracelets...I knew when I read da product info they would be too small for my wrists, so I ordered 3 silver & 3 black then cut da elastic they were strung on so I could reconfigure da beads into bracelets that would fit. I got a package of pretty colored elastic in da kids' craft section of my local craft store & dug out da dental floss threaders I got at da drug store for beading & made 5 bracelets that fit plus I had enuf beads left over to make a barrette too. (I still have to glue those beads to a hair clip.) If you have average to thin wrists, these bracelets will fit you just fine, if you're big boned &/or well padded like me, restringing them is easy.

 

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

You can't win if you don't play!!!

~ Inky 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weird Wednesday ~ Shimmer Paint!

Hello Dahlings!

 

I'm sorry this is a day late, but my interweb took a vaca & didn't even send me a post card! A whole day with no puter or phone is TORTURE! I got lots of house work done, but was bored out a my inky lil skull.

 

This week's adventure into da weird is about Tsukineko All-Purpose Ink It comes in a bazillion colors (ok...46, but that's still a lot!) & can be used for all kinds of crafting. Da lil jars say 'Suitable for all porous surfaces such as paper, fabric, wood, leather and many others...' Stampin' Up! carried it under da name 'Shimmer Paint' until da end of May, when it was retired from da catty. I wanted to see if I could use it for nail art since I wouldn't be using it for work anymore.

 

 

Da line up: Sally Hansen Black & Blue plus Tsukineko All-Purpose Ink in Bright Copper,

plus my skinny striper & very tiny detail brushes.

 

This is 2 coats of Black & Blue. It looks like a blackened blue in da bottle, but it shifted between blue teal & green teal depending on da light. If I looked at my nails from an acute angle, da black base color showed.

 

TA DA! My 1st tribal mani & da ink works very well, thank you very much. It has a paint like consistency & is water soluble, like acrylic paint. I made a few booboos while painting & I just cleaned da brush off in water, dabbed off da excess water on a paper towel & wiped da ink off from where I didn't want it to be on my nail. I also cleaned it off my skin this way & found that it's much easier to clean up before it dries. This ink isn't polish soluble, so it handled having a top coat of Seche Vite no prob. However, not only isn't it polish soluble, it isn't acetone soluble either. I use a small soak jar with a sponge to get my polish off. Taking this off that way was leaving shiny lil chunks of copper paint floating in da acetone & sticking to da sponge. I found soaking my nails until da top coat was off, wiping my nails with a paper towel to get da ink off then soaking off da rest of da polish worked well. Cotton balls with polish remover or acetone should also work well. Acrylic paints are much cheaper than these inks, but if you have them already or find them on sale in a craft store, they work very well for nail art.

 

One more pic of da yummy duo-ness of Black & Blue.

 

Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to enter my 1 Year Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

~ Inky