Rainbow Reptiles and Drawer Inspired Fuxnadicures

No Words...... Just pics......

Union Jack & Punk Rock Manis

Union Jack Mani: OPI Swimsuit Nailed It + striper nail art

Union jack mani

Hi guys! Long time, no post, huh?!

Sorry 'bout that! I've been SUPER busy and have lots of news!!! =0)

Most exciting news first,

I have an iPad!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it!?!?!? I still have trouble remembering that it's real. I swear I never thought I'd have one! =0) I've had a flip phone for the last, let's see... 5 years? MORE!?!? So, yeah. Technology doesn't find me very easily much to my dismay...!

So when I was gifted an ipad recently, I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY with how cool it is. Seriously loving it and catching up on tons of lost time- downloading apps, taking pics, etc. Living the mobile life! Lol

Next coolest thing is that MASH sent me a new plate set to review. I've not ever received any products for review until then (or...well...now?), so it's s pretty big deal to me. I have been playing with it for sometime now so I have lots of pictures to share with you guys! Which is the reason I wanted to wait to do the post- I like regular blogger reviews that show an example mani, but I thought it would be AWESOME to wait on the review until I could show a TON of example manis. So that was my strategy... =0)

Next next, I should be receiving a set from CHEEKY very soon to review for you guys, also. Yes, I am super freaking out excited!!!!! Lol. I know we all (well,many of us, anyway!) have been waiting for what feels like FOREVER for CHEEKY to release their "Summer Set." Well, they are doing a short pre-sale right now, and will release the set "for real" very soon! YAYYY!!!

Now, the pic you saw at the beginning of this post was a mani I did a few weeks ago. The base isOPI Swimsuit Nailed It, and I painted the UK flag with polish stripers. I kinda suck (I think, anyway) at painting nail art by hand. However, the union jack is a pretty forgiving patter to do. I kinda just winged it and I thought it turned out pretty cute!

=0)

Pretty Pink & Black Polka Dots

I have a pretty dotticure for you all today.  I modeled this mani after a little makeup pouch I got from Target for like a dollar or two.  I always loved the color scheme and the design.  So, of course I wanted to translate that into a mani for like EVER!  haha!  But it took me some months to get around to doing it.  Also, this was my very first dotticure where I cover my nails with dots and don't just do a random pattern on a portion of the nail.  Mama is proud!  ;0)
 

 For this mani I used a bunch of colors!  I actually could NOT believe that I had in my stash colors that worked PERFECTLY for this and matched the bag like, exactly!

 The colors I used are as follows:

• White - Wet n Wild White
• Black - Wet n Wild Black Creme
• Light Grey - China Glaze Recycle
• Dark Grey - Zoya Kelly
• Light Pink - Color Club (unknown, unmarked from Ross set)
• Medium Pink - Color Club Poptastic
• Dark Pink - Color Club - All That Razz

I loved this mani.  I really enjoyed wearing it for a couple days and I hope you like it, too! =0)

Sick of Tiger Yet?

Here's nother iteration of the tiger mani.
This time with holo.

China Glaze Spin Me Round with Tiger from Essence stampy plate

 I love this polish. It's a great palette cleanser but with flair!  haha, especially when you add my FAVORITE IMAGE FROM A STAMPY PLATE EVER!  lol.  Yea, kidna obsessed with this tiger print now.  I had a comforter years ago that I got for xmas that was tiger print.  It was from Delia*s and it was the coolest tiger print faux fur blanket EVER!  haha!  miss that thing.  I used it till it was ragged, of course!  And my bed looked like a pimped out pimp bed for that time....  =0P

Magnetic Tiger Mani Tutorial

So a little while back I had posted this mani on the boards and got *quite* the reaction. =0)

Magnetic Tiger Print Fauxnad Mani

Sure, me and the SO thought it looked cool, but when the rest of the world notices, it kinda feels nice.  Ya know, the rest of the world that is my online nail polish friends.  haha! Cause what other world is there?!

Anyhoo, I got a lot of questions about it so I though I'd do a little tutorial for it on the bloggie-blog.

So here we go, the Tiger Mani Tutorial begins...

Feeling Nautical

ok, ok.

I know I used the star image last time, but I just couldn't help myself!  Having too much fun with these new (to me) plates!

I wanted to practice getting the design in the center of my nail by the cuticle and I thought the continuity of having all nails the same was a nice change of pace (from having an accent nail).

Plus, I mean, come on.  Who doesn't love the nautical look!?  AND china glaze First Mate IS a pretty awesome blue (a one coater on most nails)!

Exhibit A:

China Glaze First Mate stamped w/Konad white & Image Plate BM206

 More pix after the jump!

Holy Holo Leopard, Batman!

I went a little crazy the other day. 

And did an all holographic mani that included leopard print!  =)

Wanna See...?

Konad M57, Gosh Holographic, CC Revvolution, ChG DV8

See?  Do you SEE that RAINBOW!?!

 More pix after the jump!

2012....GET HERE ALREADY!

omg. I think I might be the last to find out about this but here goes anyway!

China Glaze is coming out with a magnetic collection!?!  




AND THERE'S GOING TO BE A STAR MAGNET!?!

OMG I'm so excited!  lol
I hear there's going to be 12 colors and it looks like maybe just the 2 magnets- the "line" pattern we're all used to seeing (ie layla magneffects) and a star magnet (which I've been dying for ie lancome). yay!

Wow. And my Sally's is probably already sick of me calling every other day asking about the Finger Paints Special Effects Collection.  I feel a repeat of this situation coming on whenever these will be released! 

 XD
I hope you all had a great xmas or holiday whatever you celebrate!  We took it pretty easy here with our kitties.  But it was a good day filled with yummo food and lots of furry love and kisses.  
....on the count of three.....AWWHHHHH!   
;0)

Comparison: Ski Teal We Drop v. SK Taunting Teal

Can you guess wish is which?

 Today I have for you lovelies a quick comparison.  OPI Ski Teal We Drop verus Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal.  Both are lovely polishes!  The SK is a cheaper alternative to dropping the dough on an OPI. But honestly, I like the OPI better...  =0P

OK. So middle and pinkie are the SK and pointer and ring fingers are the OPI.  STWD just has a *bit* more life to it.  Which translates to= it's not quite as dark as Taunting Teal.  Here's a couple more pix for you to see:

L-R: STWD, TT, alternating

Similar, though, n'est pas?  Maybe a shade or 1.5 shade difference between the two?

Ahem.  In conclusion I suggest you go out and buy both of them like I did.  I totally heart wearing the OPI.  It's a FAV of mine in the fall.  BUT- Taunting Teal is an awesome stamping polish!  I only use it as such now that I own STWD.  Let me illustrate:

China Glaze DV8 stamped with SK Taunting Teal.

AAaahh... Teal holo + teal zebra stripes = yes!  Love this mani!

What do you guys think?  ;0)

Lisa Frank Inspired Mani + Blogsale Update

Hi girls!  I'm still working on those Lynnderella franken swatches.  I've swatched most of them- I even took video of them for you!  LOL  But my computer is ancient and uploading them is going to be MAJOR, I'm sure. SOO not looking forward to it.

I'll try to bite my lip and get them up in the next week or so though.

But for today I have for you an awesome lisa frank inspired mani!  I've seen these around mua and the web and of course had to try it out for myself!  It was SO EASY and the results were AWESOME!  If I do say so myself... ;)

Chocolate Zebra (ChG Ingrid + FYI Konad)

I love China Glaze Ingrid.  I really love it.  It's brown, but it's almost taup-ey. It's NOT a red based brown. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
I just like this kind better!  ;0)
Well, what do you think?

See how it's kind of a neutral brown?

Look at that golden shimmer!

Ingrid is definitely my favorite brown polish!

So, yeah. I started out with Ingrid. 
Then, as happends to me all too often, I got bored.

Shortly thereafter, this happened:

China Glaze Ingrid and China Glaze FYI from the OMG collection.

I LOVE FYI!  It's a pretty neutral holo polish and it was my first Dusty find!

So there you have it.  I may even get bored of this accent nail thing and go all the way with the zebra stripey goodness.  We'll see. 

For now, anyway, I'm in love with my Chocolate Zebra nails!  Waddya think?

Etsy Inspired Snow Leopard Konad Mani

For this look, I was inspired by a set of fake nails I saw on Etsy.  Click here to check them out!

I loved that they were matte instead of shiny and I loved that they used one of my favorite color combinations, blue and grey.  So, of course, I had to try this look out for myself! 

Good thing I had the right Konad plate on hand (m57)!

Here's what I did:

Snow Leopard mani inspired by Etsy nails

Topped with Essie Matte About You!

I LOVE this look!  I opted not to do the accent nail like the Etsy seller did.  She painted the ring fingers the opposite way and used a blue base with grey accent dots. (Honestly, I just forgot to do it. haha!)

OK. First, I did my usual Nail Magic treatment coat.  Then, 2 coats of China Glaze's Strong Adhesion Base Coat.  Then I did 2 coats of China Glaze Recycle for the base.  Topped that off with Konad Special Polish in Black for the leopard print using the m57 image plate.  And finally, the baby blue polish was a franken I made by mixing China Glaze Flyin' High with a bunch of white.   I added those dots with a toothpick dipped in polish.  Et, voila!

Mais, non.  That's when I ran into trouble.  I tried to put a coat of Out The Door on top of it to get everything to dry faster, and this happened:

Holy streaking polish, Batman!  That's one stripey pinkie!

Yeah, the OTD topcoad did not play nice with the Konad Special Black polish.  I'm sure it was totally dry, but it still smeared like a mother.  So....

I had to resort to using my goopy bottle of Seche Vite. If you apply it carefully in a glob and just push the glob around without touching the brush to the polish underneath, it doesn't streak (usually). 

After I waited for that to dry, I applied the Essie Matte About You and all was well in the world of polish for me!  ;0)

One more shot- you can't really see the streaking from normal range, anyway.

Yeah, you bad.

Lemme know what you think...and as always,

Love and nail polish, ladies!

Patchwork Nails Mani

So, my friends at MUA have inspired me once again.  I finally tried a patchwork mani.  Here's the original tutorial.

I tried it with tape like she suggests (even Scotch brand!) but it didn't work out so great. I had some polish slip under the edges so the lines didn't look perfectly straight.  I used OPI Ski Teal We Drop, and China Glaze Flyin' High and Recycle.

I thought it looked OK, but I knew I could do better...

If you know me at all, you know that fudged lines just won't do for me.  I HAD to re-do this mani and do it right!

So I tried again.  This time, Mr. Lacquerish let me use his airbrushing supplies. Something called "Frisket." It's for masking off areas you don't want the airbrush paint to get to.  Seemed prefect for my application and it WAS!

Check it out:

This time worked a LOT better!

 I used OPI Suzy Skis in the Pyrenees, OPI Suzy Says Feng Shui, OPI Lucern-tainly Look Marvelous (for the ring finger accent only) and China Glaze Awaken.

My ring finger has OPI Lucertainly Look Marvelous instead of the blue (accent nail).

I think I like this version better anyway.  Also of note, the first time I used Seche Vite as my topcoat. My bottle is getting near 1/3 of the way gone and is pretty goopy at the moment as a result. It was kind of hard to work with and made this mani very thick when done.

The second time around I used Out The Door top coat.  It's similar to Seche in that it's a quick dry.  It doesn't dry quite as fast, but it's much thinner than the goopy mess that is my Seche Vite right now.
I think it worked a lot better in the end, although I did need to wait a bit longer between colors for it do try completely.

So, waddya think, guys?  Have you seen the patchwork mani's popping up, yet?  What would be your favorite color combo?

I broke a Nail, not a Heel with China Glaze Lubu Heels

OK. So, I am not a person who is easy on her hands. In fact, I clean out 8 litter boxes a day.  Plus vacuuming.  Yeah, I know...

So, I'm not surprised when I break a nail.  But it still sucks.  =0P

This time it was my thumb on my LEFT hand.  My LEFT hand?  Really?  Honest to god.  How a person who is right-handed breaks a THUMB nail on her LEFT hand is beyond me.

It's all good, though. I fixed it right up using the Tea Bag Method.  If you have never seen it done before, check out the video.  It's an awesome way to keep the lengh of your nails so you don't have to cut them all down to nubbins!  I used 2 layers of tea bag and glue in order to feel secure with the repair.

Now she's good as new!  =0)

After that whole debacle I was ready for some color, people!

I chose China Glaze Lubu Heels. It is a vampy dark color (again almost black) with red glitter!  Very vampire / Halloweenie. Well, check it out for yourself:

OPI Suzy Skis + China Glaze Awaken = LOVE

Here's a fun mani!  I asked my friends at MUA what color to pick for my mani- I couldn't decide what to wear and the consensus was Suzy!  So I went ahead with it.

I LOVE this color.  It's a super dark blue?  Kind of?  Well, it's not quite black, anyway.  It's more like a very dark charcoal color that leans slightly blue sometimes. Plus it has a VERY subtle shimmer to it.  As in, I didn't even notice the shimmer until I took the brush out of the bottle and held it up to the light real close subtle.

There's an interesting picture, huh? Me squinting at a polish brush half an inch from my face going, "Oh, LOOK, babe!  It's got shimmer!" Am I the only one who does that? ;)

Anyway, I couldn't leave well enough alone so I Konaded it with China Glaze Awaken, a chrome metallic silver with purple tendencies. Not like suicidal tendencies. Haha!  All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi...anyone? Anyone?  I love that song. 

Ok, on to the pix:

Please, Sir, may I have another...?

That's Awaken in my hand. I LOVE it for Konad stuff!

OOOhhh, petty...

In conclusion:
China Glaze Awaken is a gorgeous polish for Konad stamping.  Use it!  haha..
And Suzy Skis... is also my new favorite polish instead of black.  It's just not quite as harsh looking.

PLUS, when I got bored a day and a half later, I put a coat of Essie Matte About You on top and BAM! The hotness.  Seriously. I LOVE matte about you.  It really keeps my interest in any mani I'm bored with but too lazy to change. You know what I'm talking about!   XD
Till next time, Love and NP, ladies...

Hello World.

Hello.  My name is Sarah, and I paint my nails.   A lot. . .

Now you go, "Hi, Sarah!"

Good. Thanks for that.  I feel better now.


And now that that's over, we can get to the good stuff.

This is a grey gradient mani I did a few weeks ago with a couple of my grey polishes.  It happens to be my first gradient manicure attempt and I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

 I used China Glaze Recycle for the darker polish (my middle finger), and Sally Hansen Wet Cement is on my ring finger.  The other fingers are those two polishes with either white or black added.

After I was done with that, I whipped out the only full nail sized Konad plate I own (#57) and slapped on a black zebra design.  I think it's the cutest thing on earth. What do you think?

I LOVE gradient manicures!  I heard about them on MUA (makeupalley.com) via the nail polish message boards.  Those girls are GREAT for when you want to learn about a new technique or acquire a new lemming! ;0)  I highly recommend you go register and check it out.

Anyhoo, welcome to my blog!  Please comment, subscribe, and follow me! I don't want to just talk to myself here... =0)

And definitely stay tuned... there will be plenty more to come.