Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Candy cane lane

In honor of the holiday season and the plethora of candy canes undoubtably in everyone's homes right now, here are a couple designs inspired by the holiday hook :)

The first was done on my sister....white is "moonlight" (china glaze) and red is "sizzling red" (Avon). The glitter is "fairy dust" (china glaze).

The design on myself is with the same red, but the white is "French tip white" (Avon). In order to get the striped candy cane design on myself I used a water marble technique.
















Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Hanukkah nails

My husband grew up celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas, and this is a water marble in honor of the Jewish holiday. I love using Avon polish for marbling! The colors I used are "vintage blue", "arctic waters", "cosmic blue" and the dots are done with "starry sky" (Avon). I followed the curves of the water marble when placing the silver dots on the design.





O Christmas tree

Christmas tree inspired nails....the green is "Ho Ho holly" (color club)....which I found out during this mani, is scented!! I started smelling evergreen, which confused me...since I don't have a Christmas tree in my apartment. Since I love the smell of evergreen, it was awesome!!









Friday, December 7, 2012

..These are a few of my favorite things...

Ok, so I am a huge fan of movies and musical theater...when those two things are combined, it makes me happy :) lol. Growing up my mom would show us movies like My Fair Lady, The Music Man, and Funny Girl...but by far, my favorite movie musical is The Sound of Music! It was a huge part of my childhood, and I am still obsessed with it to this day. This mani is inspired by one of the songs from the movie: "My Favorite Things." The line in the song goes: "raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string--these are a few of my favorite things..." Those 5 items are what I tried to capture on my nails.


The base color used for thumb and ring finger is "French Rose" (Rimmel); pointer is "Desert Sun" (China Glaze); middle is "Black Satin" (Rimmel); and pinky is "White on White" (China Glaze).

Colors used for thumb ("raindrops on roses) design are: "Sizzling Red" (Avon), "Exotic Encounters" (China Glaze), and a mixture of "Dreamer" (Revlon) and "White on White.

"whiskers on kittens" was done with "White on White," "Black Satin," "For Audrey" (China Glaze), and "Got a Date To-knight" (OPI).

"bright copper kettles" nail was done with "Lucky Penny" (Avon), "Starry Sky" (Avon), and "Hazy" (Revlon).

"warm woolen mittens" are done with "Noir Emerald."

The pinky was done with "A-Taupe the Space Needle" (OPI) and "White on White."


Friday, November 30, 2012

wrapped up :)

Continuing the trend of holiday themes, I decided to use a wrapped gift as my inspiration. I started with a white base of "White on White" (China Glaze). The 2 green colors are: "Entourage" (China Glaze) and "Exotic Green" (Sinful Colors). The bows on my ring fingers were done with a few reds: "Sizzling Red" (Avon), "Red Wine" (Avon), and "Sparkling Red" (Avon). I really like how this one came out...hope you guys do too :)




Thursday, November 29, 2012

Back to life, back to reality!

I did not fall off the face of the planet...just been really busy. Grading, meetings, trainings, trying to get back into working out, and spending some time with the family for thanksgiving. I hope you all had a wonderful time with your families. This post is going to be kind of random, sort of like my life has been lately lol.

Now that nail art is my hobby, I try to do my family's nails when I visit. Below is a mani I did for my sister. This purple gradient design was done with "Midnight Plum" (Avon) and "Wild Orchid" (Rimmel).


My maternal grandmother is obsessed with the color purple...to the point that we have taken to calling her "Grandma Purple." She has a purple couch, purple towels, shoes, and sheets...and now purple teddy bears on her nails. The pale purple base is "Lilac" (Revlon), and the glitter on top is "Full Spectrum" (China Glaze). I even put polish on the band-aid so that she could be stylin' as she covered up  her broken nail. That would have been the end of the manicure, but then she saw that I had purple teddy bears. She couldn't be stopped lol.


This is the quick mani I did on myself when I returned from Thanksgiving weekend visiting my family. The red is "Sizzling Red" (Avon), and the white snowflake is with "French White" (Rimmel).

I did not do any black friday/cyber week nail polish purchases. I know that might sound crazy for someone who is obsessed and addicted to polish, which I am. However, I do have a solid collection already (over 100 bottles of polish), and I am working with a teacher's salary here. I know there were some great sales/deals, but we all have to work with what we have. As my dad would say: "it is what it is." :)

Saturday, November 17, 2012

broke a nail...

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and in the midst of the chaos I broke a nail down to a nub :( It didn't feel too hot. I'm glad it didn't break off completely though.

I broke the middle one on my right hand (seen below), and chopped the other nails down so that it wouldn't look ridiculous. On my nails there is "Red Wine" (Avon), which is my favorite red of all time. Depending on the light, it looks a bit brighter.

This is what I have on my nails right now...keeping it simple. This is "Nude and Infused" (Avon) with "Full Spectrum" (China Glaze) on the thumb and ring finger. The nude looks almost mauve because it has a subtle purple shimmer. I am loving this combo more and more :)

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Don't "Fall" Behind...unless it's for the time change :)

It has been a while since I have done a water marble design, and I figured I would use this opportunity to use some fall colors. The (China Glaze) colors I chose  reminded me of autumn leaves. I used "Happy Go Lucky" for the yellow, the burnt sienna color is "Desert Sun," and the maroon is "Loft-y Ambitions." I really like how this turned out, and I love how the colors look together. There were a few unplanned bubbles and smudges, but overall I think it turned out well. Now I'm ready for fall and the "fall behind" time change this weekend. :)

 With Flash

Without Flash (Truer to the colors)

Monday, October 29, 2012

Let's Start a Revvvolution!

I did not have a lot of time to do my nails this weekend. I had a bunch of grading and planning to do...plus I, for my craft project, spent my free time making tactile materials on tissues for my blind student. I have never had a blind or visually impaired student before...so this is new for me. Since science is hung on observations, many of them visual, I wanted this student to have materials to help with understanding. Good news is...they worked really well, and the student was able to read the make-shift dried glue braille that I put on the cards. Plus, I'm pretty sure I've memorized the majority of the braille alphabet lol. 

Anywho...back to nail art: I recently purchased my first color club polish. It is a color that I had seen on some other blogs and youtube videos...and I wanted to try it. The color is "Revvvolution," and it is a gunmetal/charcoal gray holographic polish. It applied beautifully, and the thing that set it apart from the other brands I own is that I only had to apply one coat! Now, that being said, I am not sure if this is exclusive to this color or if it is a characteristic of all color club polishes across the board. As I said before, this is my first polish from this brand. We shall see...


 You may notice my nails are a bit shorter...I had a crack in one of my nails that I was tired of patching. Plus...they had gotten long enough that I had to alter the way I type.


Keep in mind that this is only ONE coat!!! I'm pretty pumped...obviously lol.


You can see the holo best in this one...but it is better in the sunlight.

Friday, October 19, 2012

We're Off to See the Wizard

I LOVE THE WIZARD OF OZ!!! Awesome movie! Great music! Integral part of  my childhood! I saw this design from Chalkboard Nails and had to try it.

 (no flash)

I don't think it's as good as my inspiration, but I am really happy with how it turned out :) The colors are: "White on White" (China Glaze), "Dreamer" (Revlon), and "Ruby Slipper" (Avon). The lighter blue stripes are from a combination of the "White on White" and "Dreamer."....I need to watch this movie again. lol

(with flash)

Gator-ade Hater-ation

Ok...so, I live in FL, and even though I went to UCF, I have family and friends that are UF gator fans. I am not, and it kind of annoys me when people who graduated from another FL university rep UF instead of having pride in their own school...fair-weather fans....now that I have gotten that out of my system lol.....

I have a co-worker/friend who graduated from UF, goes to a lot of games, and owns crap-tons of gators memorabilia....everything from the shirt and visor to a watch and cup....not for me, but I can respect that. She was going up for the UF/SC game this weekend, and I offered to do her nails yesterday. She really liked my breakfast at tiffany's design (previous post), and wanted the same but with gator colors (orange and blue).


The blue is "Ride the Waves" (China Glaze), the white is "White on White" (China Glaze), orange is "Riveting" (China Glaze), and silver is "Starry Sky" (Avon).

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

...and I said, "What about Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

I got some new polishes recently, and one of them was "For Audrey" (China Glaze). It is a beautiful color inspired by the blue Tiffany's box, and named for the star of the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's." I was so excited about it that I had to use it in my next mani. This design was inspired by Prettyfulz's blue polka dot design.

The colors used were: "White on White" (China Glaze), "For Audrey" (China Glaze), "Starry Sky" (Avon), and "Black on Black" (Sinful Colors). I really like how this one came out! :)

 This one^ is without flash

This one^ is with flash

Friday, October 12, 2012

Bubble Gradient

So I've seen this design a few times, and really wanted to try it. The inspiration came from Chalkboard Nails' gradient dots design. The base is "Riveting" (China Glaze), the dark grey dots are done with "Stone Cold" (China Glaze), and the silver dots (only on accent nail) are "Starry Sky" (Avon). I think it came out great for my first time :)

(flash off)

(flash on-you can see the shimmer/glitter in the polish)

I am entertaining the thought of possibility of applying a matte topcoat...it may dial back the shimmer a bit. I'm not sure though...if you have a thought, let me know.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

My mother-in-law and a friend of mine, both of whom I love and respect, have been affected by breast cancer. Having them in my life has made me a better person. Here is the mani I did to kick off October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Base (pink) is "i pink i'm in love" (Loreal), and the base on the accent nail is "i will" (Loreal). The pink ribbons were done with a mixture (equal parts of each) "i pink i'm in love" and "Candy-licious" (Wet n Wild).


Sunday, September 30, 2012

Skyscraper

Since the HHN design took a couple hours last weekend, I figured I would keep it simple this time. This is "Skyscraper" (China Glaze).


Halloween Horror Nights (Orlando) 22

This is my 3rd year going to Universal Orlando's HHN. This year, the major selling point was AMC's The Walking Dead. There are 7 haunted houses his year, all of which are represented in this design. A big tradition of HHN, besides the houses and scare zones throughout the park, is the bill and ted show (also featured)

My thumbs say HHN 22, then from left: alice cooper, silent hill nurse, walking dead (locked door with hands going through), bill and ted phone booth, lightning for the house of horrors, mansion from dead end, stained glass from gothic (set in a cathedral), and radioactive mushroom cloud over vegas for the penn and teller house.

this was the inspiration for the alice cooper nail

silent hill nurse

walking dead door

Bill and Ted

House of horrors...lightning flash simulation allows you to see characters

Dead end was in a haunted mansion

Gothic was in a cathedral with gargoyles. I was inspired by the stained glass that is found in most cathedrals.

Theme of the Penn and Teller house was "Newkd" in Las Vegas.

Fake Nail Practice

Sometimes, if I don't have time to redo my nails and wait for them to dry, I practice on fake nails. These are some of the sets that I have come up with.

Balloons on a white background

Ok. So as a science teacher, I couldn't resist having some science designs. This is inspired by an electrocardiogram.

As I said, couldn't resist. This was inspired by a shirt I bought. (Periodic Table...spells out "science") Disclaimer for all those who are science nerds like me: I know that there is no elememt with the symbol "E" on the periodic table (which is why the atomic number is listed as 0)...but that doesn't mean there won't be one day :)

Pikachu! I used to play this game on gameboy back in the day when there were only 3: red/yellow/blue.

My sister is an incredibly talented artist, and in a pottery class, she made a pacman sculpture....then she gave it to me :) which was obviously exciting for me lol. That piece of pottery that she made inspired this design.

After seeing Avengers this summer I couldn't help myself. From left: Avengers A, The Hulk, Ironman, Thor hammer/lightning, black widow, and Captain America shield.


 These were inspired by the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. I was obviously rooting for the USA. :) Regardless of who wins, though, I love the idea of the world getting together to celebrate athletics, teamwork, hard work, and respect among all countries of the world.

 This is probably my favorite set ever! I am a huge fan of musical theater...and every so often I come across a musical that I become obsessed with....a few years ago, it was Phantom of the Opera by ALW. From top left: title of the show, playbill mask, stage and spotlights, piano, rose, phantom mask, masquerade mask, chandelier, musical note, and candle. I am really proud of how this one came out :)