Purple and red Water Lily Manicure

Hello Jellos!

This is the manicure I sported after 7 days of naked nails at my family reunion. I apologize for the state of my cuticles. between my tapestry work, the house cleaning for company and the landscaping...well. EXCUSES EH?

At any rate, the cuticles didn't show up so drastically in reality but the photos pick it up.

Sunlight:


2 coats Sinful Colors Big Daddy, stamped background pattern using BM-207 and Sally Hansen Chrome Sizzlin' Gold. I shadowed the chrome stamp with my red Kiss striper polish to give it a bit more depth.


I took a small amount of Revlon No Shrinking Violet onto one corner of my triangular make-up sponge and daubed on a round spot the estimated size of my flower stamp. I did this randomly on each nail. The thumbs had two spots. I also took a bit of black polish (I think it was Claire's Black Hole) and daubed in the center of each spot, again for depth.

Shade:


I used Sally Hansen Chrome Rose Diamond and image plate BM06 for the Dahlia stamp. Then I went in with a smaller dotting tool and some unnamed Claire's pink and dotted the center of each Dahlia and placed some sprays of pink dots randomly on each nail.


My top coat was Seche Vite.


I was really happy with the way this one turned out! It reminds me of water lilies but like in cartoons when evil is afoot and everything gets covered in red. I'm really digging the purple and red combination lately! I can't remember where it was that I first saw the idea of dabbing colour where the flowers will be stamped. Perhaps it was on Maespiritu's blog Art of Nail, or Thriszha's blog Fab Ur Nails, but wherever I did see it I am sending my thank you's because I'm hooked! :)

Also, just want to send out one more big thank you to Valerie over at Lavender Parfait for the lovely goodies I won recently in her giveaway! Yay sparklies! I can't wait to try them out! Yes that is OPI Absolutely Alice on the left side! Eeeee!


I hope everyone has a stellar weekend! I am receiving more company! An old friend from High school is making the trip down from way up north to visit me for 5 days. We're having a girl's night tomorrow night! I can't wait!

♥
JQ

How I Stash My Polish

Awhile back I was tagged by Gottwinkies (thanks much!) to do a little post on how I store my stash! I apologize for the delay, but I had company for a week and then headed out of town for another five days at my family reunion. Anyways, here are some images!


I have a cabinet in my living room with one pull out drawer and a couple shelves. I got some of that rubber drawer liner so that the polishes wouldn't slip around.

Here is the left side: Art Deco and other striper polishes along the front row, Sally Hansens, Wet n' Wilds, China Glaze, OPI, Nicole by OPI, Color ClubEssie, Joe and and my one and only Orly so far. I also keep my thinner, base coats, top coats and nail care products here as well as some frankens and older polishes at the back. There really isn't a rhyme or reason to how I placed them.


And the right side: More Sally Hansens including Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure and Chromes for stamping, GOSH, Sinful Colors, Claire's, Cover Girl, L'Oreal, Revlon, my one and only Nina Ultra Pro, and a few more frankens/stamping polishes etc at the back. I place a little triangle of masking tape with an 'S' on the caps of those polishes I have successfully used for stamping.


And here is the rest of my nail art stuff, which I keep on one of the shelves below my drawer along with the removers.


Yes that is a cream puff container. :p

I nabbed it from my mum while I was home last Christmas to place all my polishes in for traveling back on the plane, and it kinda stuck around. :P Now I keep all my cotton balls, sponges, and remover pads as well as the lid of a margarine container, and some folded wax paper and paper towels which have been used over and over again for stamping, dotting etc (saved my dining room table).



And this is a neat gift basket I saved. It's a wicker basket with a light cotton canvas liner. In this I keep my rhinestones, sparkles, bullion beads, scotch tape, toothpicks, dotting tools/brushes, stickers, fimo, clippers, files, Lush Lemony Flutter (YUM) and other salves and lotions.




I keep all my image plates inside a round Lush solid shampoo tin. It works pretty well, but since I got the second bundle monster set the lid doesn't snap shut and I have to wrap a thick elastic around it. I am going to try the binder method with clear sleeves.



I kept two little yogurt cups and cut one halfway down. I use the short one for acetone when I am stamping, and the tall one for water marbling.

Phew!
I hope everyone is having a good week!
♥
JQ