Monthly Archives: April 2015

Fun With Painter’s Tape

Posted on by

We are in the process of redoing our living room.  Right now we’re painting.  I was actually supposed to be painting when I came up with these nails.

IMG_4705While I was getting ready to start painting, I saw a roll of painter’s tape laying there, and it hit me that painter’s tape should work really well to make my own nail vinyls.  And it did!   Here’s how I got this look…

FirstIMG_4719 I picked out five polishes that I liked together and painted each finger a different color.  Then, while my nails were drying, I took a piece of wax paper and stuck about a 10 inch piece of painter’s tape to it.

IMG_4702Then I took my zig-zaggy crafty scissors and snipped the tape into a bunch of little strips.   When my nails were really dry, I stuck a strip of my zig-zag cut tape down the center of each nail.

Then, one nail at a time, I painted the sides of each nail a different color.  I brushed a pretty thick coat down the sides of the nails because I wanted it to cover the polish that was underneath in one coat.

As soon as I painted both sides of the nail, I pulled up the painters tape with tweezers.  You don’t want to wait until the polish is dry, or the polish will come up with the tape.

The colors on my nails look pretty random, but there actually is a pattern.  I lined up my polishes in this order:  pink, yellow, periwinkle, coral, green.  For the sake of ease, let’s just number them 1 – 5.  I painted my nails with colors 1-5, starting with my thumbs.  on the sides of my thumbs, I used colors 2 and 3.  On my first fingers, I used colors 3 and 4, on my middle fingers I used 4 and 5, on my ring fingers I used 5 and 1, and on my pinkies, I used 1 and 2.

I topped these with a quick dry top coat, and I loved how glossy they looked!

I sort of felt like the end result looked like a pinata, but I really liked it!  The colors were soft enough to keep them from looking obnoxious.   These nails actually got a ton of compliments and they really weren’t hard at all!  I will definitely be using this technique in the future.

Thanks for reading!  I hope this inspires you to fancy up your nails.

Easter Nails 2015

Posted on by

This is just a little recap of the nails that I wore for Holy Week and Easter.

IMG_4661

Although I like chicks and bunnies and candy as much as the next person, Easter is just so much bigger than that for those who believe in Jesus.  It’s the day that we celebrate his resurrection from the dead, a fact for which there is pretty good historical evidence.  Because this is the foundation of my belief system and worldview, I love taking this opportunity to fancy up my nails with some symbols that hold some really important significance to me.

IMG_4667

So, here are the two designs that I wore for Holy Week and Easter.  The ring finger on the bottom picture was inspired by @icandynails on instagram. I’m loving that we are finally out of winter, so I’ve been sporting the springiest colors on my nails!

I totally get that not everyone shares my beliefs.  I welcome any civil discussion, but I won’t tolerate any nastiness in the comments.  I hope you all had a blessed Easter.  Thanks for reading, as always.

March Favorites

Posted on by

March.  For those of us in the eastern half of the US, it was one more month of winter weather when it should have been feeling like spring.  It was a heck of a lot better than February, though.  Am I right?

Anyway, onto what you are actually here for: my favorites from March.

IMG_4691Again March I participated in the Weekly Nail Challenge (#wnac2015) on instagram, and the theme for the month was holographic.  For that reason, a lot of my monthly favorites were holographic polishes.  Let’s start with the top left…

This is IMG_4587Nicole by OPI – Rock the Look from the Roughles collection.  This came out awhile ago on clearance… I’m thinking it was last spring or summer.  This was one that sat in my untried pile for months.  I haven’t been big into the textured polish thing, but I figured I should finally try it.  The longer I wore it, the more it grew on me!  It was just so soft looking and different from anything else I wear on a regular basis.  The feel of the textured polish took a little getting used to, but I really liked it!  I think I’ll be wearing this one again!

IMG_4633Next is Nicole by OPI – Party Bus.  I got this one on clearance for $149!  I mostly got it for the large flower shaped holographic glitters in it.  These are great to fish out and use for glitter placement manis.  Like most holographic things, it’s hard to catch the true beauty and sparkly-ness of these glitters. IMG_4642

The next two polishes become a monthly favorite when they are paired together.  Pictured is Revlon – Matte Pearl Glaze over NYC – Lexington Yellow.  I love yellow, but like most light-haired white girls, yellow doesn’t love me back.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked happy yellow clothing of the rack while shopping only to discover in the dressing room that it makes my complexion look sickly.  It’s so sad.

When I first put on Lexington Yellow, it really didn’t look that great with my skin tone, but then I added Matte Pearl Glaze, and it transformed it into this soft yellow with a pinkish glow that was actually wearable for me!  Plus, my nails reminded me of Belle from Beauty and the beast.

IMG_4592Next we have Orly – Mirrorball.  Here’s the story with this polish.  Back before Christmas, when this polish came out, I stared at it in the store.  I held it.  I caressed the bottle.  Then I practiced some self control and put it back on the shelf.  I had been regretting that decision ever since.  Then one day last month, I was down in York, PA and I stopped in the Sally’s there.  Lo and behold, they had two bottles of Mirrorball in their clearance bin!  I couldn’t believe my good fortune!  My only regret is that I only bought one bottle.

IMG_4603Mirrorball has a fairly sheer formula, so it actually works really well as a topper to other polishes.  Here it is layered over Wet n Wild -I Need a Refresh-Mint.  (By the way, the current version of I Need a Refresh-Mint is a much brighter blue than the version I own.  The older version is pretty much a dead on dupe for China Glaze – For Audrey.)  I can’t wait to layer Mirrorball over all sorts of neon colors this summer.

IMG_4646The next polish is just like camping… It’s in tents.  (In tents… Intense.  Get it?)  Polish Me Silly – Tealing No Lies is the most holo of the holo polishes that I own.  The linear rainbow is just so strong.  Someday I’ve got to order me some more Polish Me Silly polishes.   IMG_4647Here’s some really simple flower nail art I did using Tealing No Lies as a base.  (I just used my biggest dotting tool to make 5 petaled flowers with a really light blue polish, and then I made slightly smaller petals with a deep blue polish over the light petals.  Then I used a little dotting tool to add some dots to the centers. Super easy and no artsy skills required!)

IMG_4341The last polish that was  monthly favorite was Fresh Paint – Honeydew.  I used this in several Easter manis, and I’ll show you those pictures in a separate post.  I’m pretty sure this polish qualifies as pastel neon.  It’s light and bright at the same time.  It water marbles well, and you can get away with almost one coat.  I think it will look great in the summer when I’ve got a bit of a tan.  (I’m foundation shade “fair” in the winter, but with a tan I’m can wear “light” colored foundation.)

So, that’s all I have for you today.  Thanks for reading!  I do post realy regularly on instagram, so follow me there if you want to see my nails as I do them and not a month after the fact.  Happy Spring to you all!