Hello Dahlings!
Wow! The title of tonight's mani is a mouthfull. LOL I got the idea from Colette of My Simple Little Pleasures & you can see her video HERE on YouTube. She is THE Water Marble Queen! My version uses different polishes, but follows her general idea.
Also, I'm giving the white glue base coat another try. Even if it doesn't all peel off my nails, it is easier to remove than glitter over regualr base coat. I applied the WGBC & let it totally dry then I added my base color:
This is 2 coats of Savvy Ebony Black without topcoat. It's a black jelly! I wouldn't want it on my samich, but I LOVE it on my nails! Now for da glitter fest:
Tonight's line up: Ruby Kisses Money Maker (small green glitter w/silver holo bar glitter), Tokidoki Latte (small purple, teal & fuchsia glitter w/silver holo bar glitter), Ruby Kisses Mardi Gras (small purple & light blue glitter w/silver holo bar glitter), Orly Be Brave (pink holo bar glitter) & Revlon Ruby Ribbon (red & fuchsia small glitter w/silver holo bar glitter). See a theme going here? LOL
I applied 2 coats of Money Maker on my pinky, 1 coat of Latte on my ring finger, 2 coats of Mardi Gras on my middle finger, 3 coats of Be Brave w/da 3rd coat dabbed on to fill in some gaps, & one coat of Ruby Ribbon on my thumb. I think Ruby Ribbon is going to be my fav holiday polish! So much BLING in ONE coat!!! I then used a large head dotting tool with Ebony Black to add the French tips & larger dots and the small end of that tool for the lil dots. All this glittery fun is topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Inky
Hello Dahlings!
My stamp camp project prep is done & I only have 2 lil things left to do for tomorrow...so time for some new nails! I'm on GREEN for my personal Rainbow Challenge.
Tonights line up is a Sally Hansen green fest of Lime Lights, Resolution & Jumpin' Jade.
This is 2 coats of Lime Lights. Yep, it's really sheer. I figure 5 coat minimum for opacity & you still might have VNL. White or nude undies are a must with this one or you can use it as a top coat to add green shimmer to another polish. Since I knew I was going to be sponging over the nail line, I didn't worry about it.
I really do love gradients! I start by painting my nails with 2 coats of the lightest color I'm using, wrapping the tips. Then I take a piece of sponge approximately 1/4" x 5/8" (to fit my longish nails, you may want a piece 1/4" wide but shorter or longer to fit your nails) & paint a stripe across the 1/4" width of each color starting with the darkest on one end & the lightest on the other with the middle value color inbetween. Then starting at the tip of the nail, with the darkest color lined up at the tip, I begin patting the sponge side to side across the nail. After I get good coverage at that spot, I move the sponge up towards the cuticle a smidge & repeat the side to side patting. Depending on the length of the nail I may do a 3rd pass a lil higher. I then pat my way back to the tip to even out the color & blend the demarcation lines. I could have blended this mani a lil better, but I know the next step would hide any badly blended lines.
To finish off the colors I added a coat of China Glaze Oxidized Aqua crackle polish. I've had this aqua blue & green theme going lately to match my hair & I figured this mani is probably the last one as I'm changing my hair color in the next week or so. By popular demand, here's a pic of my blue hair with tonight's nails:
I dyed it using Ion Brights Aqua on September 25. That was over 6 weeks ago & I still have lots of color left! I think part of the longevity of this dye job is my using the sealer differently than the directions say I should. The words on da bottle say to use the sealer after the 1st washing with shampoo. I lose a ton of color in the 1st washing & the color bleeds until I add the sealer. So I came up with my own method that works better for making my color last & is good for my hair too. I apply the sealer right after I finish rinsing the excess dye from my hair, comb it thru thoroughly & leave it in at least overnight. I left the sealer in after applying the aqua for about 36 hours. The sealer has conditioners in it & acts like a leave in conditioner to help compensate for the 2 washings without conditioner & the bleaching. So say Hello & Good Bye to my blue hair! It's been fun but it's time for something new. If you want to see what color I do my hair next...leave a comment please! Of course I'll be doing manis to match my new hair. LOL
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Inky
Hello Dahlings!
Just a quickie cuz I have mondo stamp camp prep to do, but I couldn't let this special day pass without saying something. Why is today special you ask? Because 100's if not 1000's of nail polish & nail art enthusiasts are standing together against bullying. This is phenomenal!!!
If you've every been bullied you know that awful 'Why me? Why am I not good enough?' feeling one gets when targeted by others, just for being different. It sucks! What you may or may not have realized is that many people who bully others are pitiful beings who can't feel good about themselves unless they can make others feel worse than they do. I think it's so very sad that they feel this insecure. One of my fav quotes is this one from Enigmatic Ramblings : 'I never wanted to be different, I just wanted to be myself.' This pretty much sums me up. Unfortunately, there are those who can't handle 'different'. Anything that doesn't fit their myopic world view is bad & must be changed, driven away or destroyed. This is also very sad, as diversity is what makes life interesting! NOBODY is perfect. EVERYBODY is due their own learning curve. We all started out as beginners in life & the goal is to improve one's self at one's own pace in the way one thinks is best for themself. To impose one's view point about how one should appear or how one should act on others by physical or emotional force is WRONG! I spent decades trying to fit the mold my family thought I should be in. All I accomplished was dissapointing them by proving I couldn't be who they thought I should be. Trying to be other than who I am was like wearing hand-me-downs in the wrong size. I was uncomfortable & everybody knew it while wondering why wondering why I just couldn't be 'normal'.
I finally had an epiphany: If somebody has an issue with me, my apperance or behavior, it's THEIR issue...I don't have to make it mine. People can only hurt you if you let them.
So much for 'a few words'! LOL Bottom line: Be yourself! Nobody does it better.
Much luv for YOU, my polish sisters & thanks for stopping by!
~ Inky
Hello Dahlings!
Just a quickie to tide you over until my next mani post on Friday. I FINALLY got my inky claws on the 2012 OPI Pink of Hearts duo!!! As an added bonus I got the 2011 Pink of Hearts Shatter polish too. (I luvs me some nail crack! LOL) I hunted locally all thru October & couldn't find the 2012 set anywhere. I asked at every store I went to that normally sells OPI. Nada. Zip. Nothing. Some of them (including Ulta) had no idea what I was even talking about. Ed Wyse had ordered it, but as of November 1st, their shipment still hadn't arrived. Lame OPI! So off to Amazon I went & found a vendor called One41 beauty out of Georgia that not only carries both polishes, they also offer FREE SHIPPING! You can buy the 2012 set HERE & the 2011 Shatter HERE. I wasn't into polish last October like I am now, so I'm glad they still had a few bottles of the shatter left. Yes, there are vendors offering both for less $, but when I added s/h the price was more & I'd have to place 2 orders instead of one.
And here they are! Methinks my 1st mani after dying my hair fuschia again may have to be with the shatter or the glitter. Not both at once, the pinks don't go well together, but you will be seeing these beauties in the not too distant future.
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Inky
Hello Dahlings!
Back to my personal Rainbow Challenge! Today we have Red-Orange-Yellow ombre nails with black & white double dots and a lil bit of sparkle cuz life is better with sparkles & sprinkles.
Today's starting line up: Finger Paints Lemon Sour, L.A. Colors Wired, Orly Crush on You, China Glaze Rougish Red & Wet N' Wild Red Red.
You're looking at 3 coats on my pinky, index & thumb. I had to do 4 coats on my middle & ring fingers. Crush on You is more of a jelly than a creme & Wired is a really thin creme with delusions of being a jelly when it grows up. Ain't gonna happen! My recommendation is to wear white undies with these 2 if you don't like umpteen layers of polish or VNL. Both could have used a 5th coat for full opacity, but I knew I could hide the VNL with dots so called it quits at 4.
For a lil added fun I added glitter. Tho' it doesn't show well in the photos, it has pinkish red, orange coral & yellow gold iridescent bits.
Here's the rest of the line up: Milani Black Magic & White on the Spot plus L.A. Colors Sassy Sparkles.
Ta Da! I love the fun contrast of black & white double dots! I think they pull this mani together. I used my largest dotting tool for the big dots & the small ball on the other end for the inside dots. The ombre part took way longer than the double dotting due to the extra coats needed. Dotticures are one of my fav quick nail art techniques!
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Inky
Hello Dahlings!
I thought I was going to leave my dark red nails on until Sunday, but Mr. Inky text'd me this afternoon to let me know we'd been invited to a Day of the Dead party. We went to this couple's DoD party years ago & had fun. So off came the red & on with the sugar skulls!
Tonight's line up: Orly Dayglow, Wet N' Wild Sage in the City, China Glaze Splish Splash, Wet N' Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer, China Glaze Love's a Beach, Finger Paints Prints & Printsess & Orly Liquid Vinyl. Who says neons & brights are only good in the summer? Not Me! LOL
This is 3 coats of Dayglow over my fav base coat. The 1st coat was patchy, the 2nd coat was streaky, but the 3rd coat leveled it all out. In the bottle this polish has a slight blue violet shimmer but it didn't show up on my nails. (Please pardon those very scary cuticles!)
I used my handy dandy dotting tool for most of the elements & my short striper for the teeth. (My cuticles begged loudly for their after mani cuticle oil bath. LOL)
Don't forget Mr Thumb! He's a lil shy & avoids having his photo taken, but was willing to come out & play tonight so he could show off his fancy paint job.
This is the t-shirt I'll be wearing tonight. I based my skulls on the colors & used some of the design elements. I got it (on sale!) at the Alamo when we were in San Antonio a couple of years ago to watch our son graduate from Basic Training. He's a Senior Airman now!
Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to go visit Mimi Manicures so you can follow her awesomeness!
~ Inky
Hello Dahlings!
My favorite Mistress of Nail Art, no other than Mimi of Mimi Manicures, is hosting a 250 followers Give-a-way! Show her da love by following her & you could win 3 OPI crackle polishes!!!
Now go visit Mimi & show your love for her most awesome nail art!
Mimi Manicures Give-a-way
You're still here? What are you waiting for?
Check back tomorrow to see my Day of the Dead party nails!
~ Inky
