Frankenstein Inspired Nail Art

Hey guys!

Last night, I didn't know what the heck to do with my nails. I must have cleaned nail polish off of my nails about 4 or 5 times before I finally settled on the color I'm wearing now, Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Green With Envy. I don't often wear green polish, but I really liked this one. After looking at it for a while, I was reminded of Frankenstein. At first, I wanted to do an accent nail with the face of Frankenstein. Unfortunately I didn't have the time or the dexterity for such fine detailing, due to the consumption of a couple of after work celebratory beers ;). In the end, I decided to just draw stitches, and they look awesome!
I'm pretty sure I've seen something like this done before, but as usual, can't remember where I saw it originally. Please pardon the appearance of my cuticles in these pictures. I take my best pictures in my mother's little garden, but I usually I don't make it over there until after nearly a full day of work. I wash my hands almost every 5 minutes at work, so my skin dries out really quickly during the day. I can never remember to lotion my hands after every hand wash, so my skin suffers for it :(.

 I used a Kiss nail art pen to draw the stitches, but I'm sure a fine tipped sharpie would work just as well. Just make sure that the underlying polish is completely dry before you try to draw on it. I made the mistake of drawing on nail polish that wasn't completely dry yet, and ended up having to clean the dented mess off my nail and start over.

Frankenstein Inspired Nail Art

  I decided to use the glow-in-the-dark top coat on a whim. But I realize that the glow in the dark factor isn't even that big a deal,  now that I'm actually wearing the polish. I'm not in the dark often. I found myself closing the bathroom door and turning out the light just so I could see the glow in the dark effect, and felt like a total idiot both times.

These nails proved to be quite a distraction to some of my co-workers. I work with mostly women, so my nails get looked at a LOT. People think I'm absolutely crazy. And I'm just crazy enough to be happy about that :)

 Materials Used:
Orly Bonder Basecoat
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green with Envy (2 coats)
China Glaze Ghoulish Glow-Glow in the Dark Top Coat (1 coat)
Kiss Nail Artist Fine Art Pen in Black (to draw stitches)
Seche Vite Top Coat

I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't announce that The Walking Dead is back on AMC! And the second season is proving to be as awesome as the first so far. The show follows the life of Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes, who was shot on the job, fell into a coma, and woke up maybe a month later in the hospital to find that the world had been taken over by flesh eating zombies, or "walkers". It's a fantastic show, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a horror fanatic and an even bigger zombie fanatic. The show is about so much more than zombies. It's about people and their struggles, while in a hopeless situation. It shows both the ugliness and the beauty of the human spirit when pushed to extremes. I love love love it!! The first season is available to watch instantly on Netflix, but I'm sure free episodes can be found online. If you felt like just jumping in and watching from where it is now, new episodes come on every Sunday at 9PM EDT on AMC. If anyone out there already watches it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vampire and Bats Nail Art

Hey everyone,

I'm back home after a nights stay in the emergency room of the worlds worst hospital. I'm so happy that I'm a nurse and have medical knowledge, because doctors will take advantage of your ignorance and turn you into a pin cushion unnecessarily. I realize now that private hospitals are out to do one thing: make money. They'll come up with reasons to perform all sorts of unnecessary tests, just so they can tack on another hundred dollars to your bill. It's so sad to say, but healthcare is nothing but a profit driven business. They don't care about people...they care about the money going into their pockets.
The one highlight of my night? A couple of the staff members noticed my nails :). I always love it when people compliment me on them. One person even asked if they were my real nails! I figured that would be pretty obvious, considering that they're so short now.

Natural Light

Artificial Light (with flash)

Natural Light

Artificial Light (with flash)

Artificial Light (without flash)

All the pictures taken in artificial lighting were taken today, just a few moments ago. The ones taken in natural light were from yesterday, when the mani was still fresh. After the fact, I realized that I forgot to give my poor little vampire a nose! I tried drawing one in with a sharpie last night, but as you can see, it didn't last (since I didn't use a topcoat)
Drawing that little vampire was no quick task. By the time I was done with him, I made up my mind that one was enough. So on my right hand, I did the bats on every finger. I like it though :). It looks interesting with the single accent nail.
I used Bundle Monster image plate BM-213 and Konad Special Polish in black to stamp the bats, over Wet n Wild Writings On The Wall. For the vampire, I used China Glaze Frosty as my base (for the glistening 'Twilight' vampire effect), Wet n Wild Vandalize for the black parts, Sally Hansen Whirlwind White for the whites of his eyes and his teeth, and Writings on the Wall again for the drops of blood on his teeth.
It's times like these when I miss my longer nails. It's nice having a larger canvas to work on, but I think he looks pretty cute on the short nail anyway. What do you folks think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Arrgh! Pirate Themed French Nails

Hello!

I'm back to doing Halloween themed nail art! My nails are once again at the perfect length for french manicures, so I decided to try one out. And I love it! There's something so classy about french nails...but any-hoo, on to the pictures:

Thumb

Materials Used (L to R):
Orly Bonder Base Coat
Seche Rose (French Base)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rapid Red (stripes)
Konad Special Polish in Black
Diamond Shield Top Coat (for sticking rhinestones)
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
1mm Rhinestones (not pictured)
Fauxnad Image Plate m28 (not pictured)

I used a striping brush with Rapid Red to make the red stripes. I wanted to make it a little more interesting, so I stuck red rhinestones on the skulls eye sockets. Simple and cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hello Everyone!

Today is my 24th! And so far, it's been great. I got some great gifts, and got to spend the day with my family, so it's been pretty good :)
For my birthday mani, I wanted to combine elements of my favorite things. This mani incorporates my favorite color (purple), my favorite insect (butterflies), and of course glitter!

Materials Used (in order):
Milani 3D holographic Hi-Res
Sinful Colors Purple Diamond
Wet n Wild fastdry Hannah Pinktana
Sinful Colors Fiji
NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Starry Silver Glitter (2 coats)
Konad Image Plate m1
Konad Special Nail Polish in Black (stamping)

It may be hard to tell, but this was actually a gradient mani. My first successful one! I used a make up sponge to apply the polishes, and it was a breeze.

I got money as birthday gifts, so guess what I bought? Polish of course!

L to R: Milani Garnet Gems, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet, (2) NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Starry Silver Glitter, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement, Revlon Not So Blueberry

L to R: Revlon Blue Mosaic, Starry Pink, Facets of Fuchsia

 When I saw these 3 beauties in Target for $3.36 each, I literally squealed. My mom looked at me like I was a nut or something. She couldn't understand why I was so excited over polish. 3 lemmings satisfied in one go!

L to R: Sally Hansen High Definition Nail Color in Spectrum, Milani 3D Holograpic HD, NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Top Coat, Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat.

 I got the four above from CVS. I haven't been to CVS in years and was shocked to see that they had a good selection of Orly products! Of course, at $7.99 a pop, I wasn't about to go crazy. The basecoat sounded good, so I decided to grab it. On the back of the box, it says that it prevents nail lacquer from wearing off for up to two weeks. I will definitely be putting this claim to the test soon.

$5 for this set at Target! The polish junkie in me simply couldn't resist.

Shades from Payless. I paid $9.99 for one and $4.99 for the other! Payless is buy one, get one half off of everything.

Spin Pins by Goody. Greatest hair invention ever made! It holds my bun up all day long.

Inked Wet n Wild Craze Collection: $1.99 ea. at Duane Reade

Pretty decent birthday haul! And I'm totally happy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Autumn Leaves Mani

 Hi there!

 Today officially kicks off my favorite month of the year, O glorious October! Not only is it the month of my favorite holiday, Halloween, but it's also the month of my birthday. October is also the first full month of the Fall season, which happens to be my favorite season. I love to see the leaves change colors :).

All pics are enlargeable when clicked!

Right hand  (with flash)

Left Hand (with flash)

Left Hand  (no flash)

Right Hand (no flash)

Materials Used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed ( 2 coats)
Wet n Wild Fastdry The Gold & the Beautiful (1 coat over Sun Kissed)
China Glaze Haunting (2 coats)
Bundle Monster Image Plate BM04
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red (red leaves)
China Glaze Passion (gold leaves)

On my left ring finger, I tried to use Sun Kissed and Passion to make a sort of dual color effect with the leaves, but Sun Kissed didn't show up over Haunting so well. So if it looks like I have half a leaf stamped on just that finger, that's why. I'm really enjoying using multiple colors and alternating colors on each hand.  I hope you folks like it :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Twinkle, Twinkle over Deep Blue Sea

Good Morning!

For today's nails, I decided to use 2 of the polishes from my haul yesterday: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Deep Blue Sea and Twinkle, Twinkle.
Click on photos for a closer look!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Deep Blue Sea, 3 coats

Deep Blue Sea is pretty sheer. I needed 3 coats for good, opaque coverage, and I probably could have still done a fourth. The color itself is really pretty. It really does look like a sea blue, with silver shimmery particles.

2 Coats of Twinkle, Twinkle over Deep Blue sea

I was a little disappointed by Twinkle, Twinkle. Looking at the bottle made me think that the glitter was dense, but it really isn't.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Twinkle, Twinkle

Twinkle, Twinkle, 2 coats on swatch wheel

I do like the combination of the 2 polishes, but I wish Twinkle Twinkle was a more dense glitter. Both polishes would probably be great for layering. I love this look so much that I can't bear to cover it with art. I feel like it's pretty enough on it's own :)

Before I go, I just had to share this video I found. This woman holds the world record for longest nails! I'm curious to know how she functions daily...but take a look and draw your own conclusions!



Thanks for stopping by!

Drugstore Haul!

Hi everyone!

And welcome new followers! Always good to have you :). I was feeling pretty restless this morning, and decided to take the long, looong walk to Walgreens and Rite Aid. Turns out it was the best decision I've made in a while, because I came home with goodies!

Walgreens is still selling the Wet n Wild Fast Dry nail color for $.99, so get them while you can! The Sinful Colors were $1.99 at Rite Aid.

L to R: Wet n Wild: FuchsiaRama, How I Met Your Magenta, Teal of Fortune, Teal or No Teal, Grays Anatomy, Sinful Colors: I Miss You, Queen of Beauty, Love Nails

L to R:  Midnight Sky, Pumpkin Spice, Set the Stage, Twinkle Twinkle, Teal-y Cool, Teeny Greeny Bikini, Deep Blue Sea, Very Cherry

I was mega lucky at Rite Aid. All the polishes had literally JUST been put on display. I could tell the salesgirl was pissed, because I snatched up a good quantity of the Sally Hansen display she had just finished putting together. But oh well! Finding Pumpkin Spice alone made the trip worthwhile. And I immediately fell in love with Twinkle, Twinkle and Set the Stage. All of the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes were $2.99 at Rite Aid. Even though I already have an insane amount of nail polish, I just couldn't pass them up.

I previously posted about using a nail polish remover jar/sponge combo to remove glitter polishes. The big one was $2.99 and the baby sized one was $1.39 at Rite Aid. I love mini sized things, so I couldn't help myself :).

Last but not least, my nails for the past 2 days:

Shown with the book I've been reading. It's zombie fiction! Due to the unfortunate lack of good zombie movies that I haven't already seen, I've turned to books to satisfy my craving for zombies. And it has! Feed is written by Mira Grant, and It's set after zombies attacked and wiped out most of the population. The book follows 2 bloggers, a brother and sister, that report the news on their blog. There's a lot more to it, but I wont spoil it for you :).
On my nails is 2 coats of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in Golden Tourmaline.

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Golden Tourmaline,  2 Coats

Beautiful red polish with scattered holographic particles, but chipped after not even a full day of wear :(
I'm still pooped from my journey earlier, so I'll probably redo my nails tomorrow. See you then!

Thanks for stopping by!

Multicolored Pink Nails

 Hi!

 Was your weekend too short? Because mine was! Work rolled around way too fast :(. In anticipation of the cloud of depression that usually falls over me every Monday, I decided to combat the Monday blues...with pink! All pics were taken in natural light, and are enlargeable when clicked.

Materials Used:
CND Basecoat
Orly Cotton Candy (pinkie)
Orly Basket Case (ring finger)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pink Blink (middle finger)
Orly Fancy Fuchsia (index finger)
Orly Lollipop (thumb)
Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter (1 coat over index and ring finger)
Color Club Wild at Heart (stamping polish)
Seche Vite Top Coat
Bundle Monster Image Plate BM-213

As you can see, Wild at Heart is good for stamping. If I look at it really closely, I can see the holographic particles! Unfortunately, it isn't as noticeable in pictures.
I'm really loving using multiple polishes in a single manicure. It's a great way to 'test drive' a polish :)

Thanks for looking!

Windy French Tips

Hello!

I was going through my nail art pics, and came across a picture from June. I couldn't believe how my nails and hands looked back then. What a difference a little bit of care makes!

Take it from me: MOISTURIZE YOUR CUTICLES!!!

Base Color: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle in Nurturing Natural
Tips stamped with Konad IP m19 in Konad Special White Polish (or you could just paint the tips white yourself)
Then stamp over white tips with Konad Black Special Polish using Konad IP m56 (I used a fauxnad plate)
One Coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, a coat of Seche Vite Top Coat, and Done!

Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle boasts 30% longer nails in 5 days. I have definitely noticed an increase in the length of my nails, so maybe this stuff had something to do with it. But I don't use it enough to say with confidence that it has.

Enjoy!

SmokE

Color Club Revvvolution

Hi!

I recently got a little bit stupid and purchased 21 bottles of nail polish: The China Glaze Poolside Collection, Awakening (Halloween) Collection, Wizard of ooh oz Collection (except Dorothy Who which I have, and Ten Man which I didn't want), Jolly Holly, Midnight Kiss, Neon Blue Sparrow, Neon Flying Dragon, And Color Club Wild at Heart, Fashion Addict, and Revvvolution. Whew. Ive been like a kid in a candy store with all the nail mail coming in. And I'm still waiting for 9 of those bottles to get to me. Revvvolution came in the mail yesterday, and I couldn't wait to see what it looked like on the nail. I was feeling a little lazy, so the nail art is pretty simple. But this color is great even without art on it.

Enlarge pics to see it in its full glory!

Silver Dots: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep

Revvvolution is a charcoal colored holo. In the light you can see flecks of green and gold/copper. The holo effect is quite noticeable, which I love. It applied so smoothly and flawlessly.

I only used one coat on my ring finger and thumb, and didn't see too much of a difference from the other fingers that got 2 coats. So you can get away with one coat of this, but for a richer color, use 2. I personally don't own Opi My Private Jet, but I've read that the two are pretty similar.

I used a large dotting tool to make the silver dots, and a smaller dotting tool for the Revvvolution dots. Simple, yet cute!

Viva La Revvvolution!

SmokE

Lightning Bolt Pedi

Hola!

Not long ago, I came across a blogger that does beautiful nail art with scotch tape. When I saw her Double Lightning Bolt Tutorial, I knew I had to try it. The name of the blog is Nailside, and I recommend taking a look at some of her tutorials. Good Stuff!

This my take on the Double Lighting Bolt:

Base Color: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Presto Pink
Silver Bolt: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep
Purple Bolt: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lively Lilac

 
For some reason, I only took one picture. Probably because I don't ever photograph my feet. But it came out so well, I may have to incorporate it into a mani sometime soon.

Enjoy!

SmokE