Cheeky Rainbow Skittles

 

 Yes, I stayed up WAY past my bedtime.  For a rainbow XL stamping frenzy! Photos taken  in a hurry the morning after I did this because we were driving into the city and I had a feeling I would ding them up while we were gone.  And I DID.  Badly.  L.A. COLORS BASE/TOP, you make me sad.

 Base L.A. COLORS BASE/TOP

Colors: OPI Pamplona Purple, SH X-Treme Wear Sun Kissed, OPI Green-Wich Village, OPI Off With Her Red!, SH Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue, Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta

Stamp: SH Hard as Nails Black Heart

Plates: Cheeky XL plates A, B, D

Top: Seche Vite.

 

I wanted to play with all the different images, and had done a similar manicure with BM plates on my friend Jenna a few Christmases back, because we couldn't decide on just one.  My favorite is the pebbles on my pointer finger on the above image.  That was my instinctive choice for a full mani, and now I know I could have gone with it. Personally, I think it is the most successful combo.

 Glad I took these before I left, even though I wish I'd been able to get better shots.  The first image (flash) is actually quite nice and gives a good idea of how it looked overall, but it really made me shiny.

I LOVE MY NEW PLATES!   

Happy painting y'all!

 ♥

JQ

Hot pink with Polka Dots!

I was on the phone with an old friend--that lovely, quirky gal that got me hooked on nail art to begin with--and while we were chatting I was inspired to pull out my polish and take my beat up nails out of retirement. I filed them nicely and gave them 2 coats of Nina Ultra Pro Passion Pink, then took my dotting tools and made large black dots using Claire's Black Hole, and smaller white ones inside with Sally Hansen White Tip. I used the good old Seche Vite for a quick seal. :) It's a super happy manicure, in tribute to an uplifting phone call and a great friend. Thanks Alicia!

So I've been AWOL, coming back in only to post one winter mani and before that I think it was Halloween. This winter has been super hard on my eczema, and I've been concentrating hard on my Tapestry and other fibre work that does a lot of damage to my fingers and nails. I've also been suffering some terrible morning sickness the past 2.5 months, and that hasn't made it easy to drag out the stinky polishes and remover. :p

I do hope to keep on making nail art posts, even if they are few and far between. Sorry to everyone I usually visit and leave notes, because I've been absent there also. Hope everyone has been having a wonderful few months since Christmas. Sending out best wishes!

♥ ♥ ♥
JQ

Suit Up!

Hello Jellos!

Sooo I had to file my nails down to super nubbies. I am--in a haphazard way-- learning how to play guitar! But the really nice thing is that most of my full nail images will fit my nail now to that's a plus. And the guitar is coming along nicely! I hope to be able to play and sing my first song (Wheat Kings by The Tragically Hip) before the end of the month!

Lately I've been really expanding from just my nails to a bit of make-up and a fancy suit. I got all dressed up the other day and painted my nails to match my new outfit! It's a super cute brown casual skirt and jacket. There is a slight woven look to the fabric that I thought I could mimic with a stamped plaid.


And you get a good idea of how the plaid matches the texture of the fabric here:


Also my accent finger is painted to go with my shirt!

BM03 and Konad M60 were used to create this manicure. For all fingers except the ring finger I used 2 coats of Essie Little Brown Dress, and for the plaid, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Wet Clay. For the ring finger 2 coats of a frankened ivory creme, sponged on a bit of Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta, and Sinful Colors Vacation Time in opposing corners of the nail. Then stamped the flowers using Essie Little Brown Dress over Vacation Time, and OPI Off With Her Red atop Like Butta. Did a few criss-crossed with Wet Clay, and filled in some areas with tiny dots of Off With Her Red and Little Brown Dress to tie the nail in with my shirt.

And...okay this is a picture of my feet. 2 coats Sinful Colors Vacation Time and a coat of KleanColor V.I.P. (ooooh sparklies) and my Shooooes lalala...


I wouldn't really consider myself a fashion blogger, but I do enjoy making manicures to match my outfits, and have been dabbling in *gasp* makeup. :P What does everyone think if I do a post here and there to show the complete look?

Thanks for stopping by everyone!
Hearts off the charts!
JQ

Back from the crafting vortex...

Good morning/afternoon everyone!

The past two weeks have been crazy busy crafting up a storm, and between manipulating threads on my loom, using a fine steel crochet hook my nails bit the dust a week ago. The nasty turn our winter weather is taking had rendered my cuticles RAGGED. The hands are a total disaster. I spent yesterday giving them some TLC, and celebrated all my hard work with a pretty manicure last night.

I used my 'hospital green' franken for the base colour. Then I made my flower petal dots using my larger dotting tool and NYC Flat Iron Green. I then placed a slightly smaller dot of Sinful Colors Vacation Time (the all-time favorite pink in my current collection) on top of each dark green dot, then went in with the toothpick and dragged the center of each dot towards the center. One more dot of Flat Iron green in the center of each flower, and finish off with a dot of Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat to seal it all up.


Ewe cuticle yucks! Yay for macro. I don't think they look that apparent IRL. I hope not. :P


Thanks for looking! I hope I'll be back again full force over the next few weeks with a new manis! I've really missed doing them!

Hope everybody has a nice day even if the weather is getting you down!
JQ