Weird Wednesday ~ Signo Gel pen DIY Decals

Hello Dahlings!

 

I am determined to find da 'perfect' nail art pens in a craft/office supply store/section! Why? Cuz I'm stubborn & have many other things I should be doing with my time. Toopid OCD tendencies...blerg. Here's this weeks experiment...

 

 This is the package of Stanford Uni-ball Signo 207 gel pens I got from Amazon.

 

 I did some pre-mani testing/comparisons against some other pens from this company.

 

 The group on the left are da Signo pens & the group on da right are the assorted others. The other SUB pens: Signo black (a thicker tip, from an older purchase), Impact blue, gold & silver (I've tested da gold & silver before & they work great!) & Vision green. I applied a coat of Seche Vite to all of the pen lines while da ink was still wet cuz I was having a wait problem. (Da smearing of da Signos over da white polish isn't from da TC, it's cuz da ink didn't look dry yet & I wanted to TC da samples, so I blotted it with a tissue & smeared it. Blerg.) Don't look at da white test strip, look at da silver & black ones. Notice that da Signos are mostly opaque over black & show well over da silver plus they make a nice thin line. Da black, blue, silver & gold from da 2nd group also work just fine. Da green Vision ink does not work over polish. While da gold & silver pens dry pretty quickly on polish, da Signo dry time is much longer.

 

 Da line up: L.A. Colors Live & Signo pens in black, violet & pink

 

 2 coats of Live. This is a really good silver foil polish for only $1-$2! I usually get mine at da Dollar Tree for a buck, but Fred Meyer also carries this line of polish for $1.99.

 

Ta Da! I made DIY Decals using Milani Glosse top coat & da pens. Making decals should give da pens time to dry before applying them to my nails...in theory. Maybe if I'd waited longer than 15 minutes, they might have dried...eventually. Since I didn't want to wait & my testing showed that tc could be added over da ink while it was still wet without smearing, I went ahead and applied them using da Milani as 'glue'. If you use these pens, you have to be very careful to pick da decals up with tweezers in a non-inked place & not move them around much once you set them on your nails or da ink can smudge. I had a wee bit if a problem with this on da tip of some nails. My index & middle show it da most. Over all I have to call this test a finicky success. These pens do write on polish & can be top coated if one is very careful to not smear them while wet or wait until they dry completely. (If you do try these pens & opt to let them dry completely before adding tc, please let me know how long they take? lol) 

 

TODAY is your last chance to enter my Blog-o-versary Give-a-way!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Inky

Stone Cold Electra KSM

Hello Dahlings!

 

Holy Freakin' Guacamole is it HOT! I know our North Wet heat wave doesn't sound like much to most of you, but consider this...since we don't gets 90+ temps all that often, most of us don't have air conditioning 'cept in our cars. We just get to sweat it out.

So to take my mind off how my body parts keep sticking to each other,

here's your Monday quickie:

 

 Da line up: L.A. Colors Electra & China Glaze Stone Cold

 

 2 coats of Electra

 

I applied a coat of SV then added da following using Stone Cold: pinky ~ skinny stripes using my Essence striper brush; ring ~ leopard spots using my dotting tool; middle ~ horizontal stripes using a short detail brush; index ~ double dots using my dotter (a fail cuz Electra isn't opaque enuf to show up well against Stone Cold); & thumb ~ curved stripes using French Tip sticker forms. I left da Stone Cold un-top coated so I could enjoy da contrast of textures.

 

This magenta is one of my all time fav colors! I've waited 30 years for it

& a few other 80's favs to make a come back. LOL

 

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

YOU ONLY HAVE 2 DAYS LEFT!!!

~ Inky

 

 

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