Hi Everyone! The week is starting to wind down and I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend. I am looking forward to it for sure--we are supposed to be in the 30's so a veritable heat wave for us dontcha know?!
Just like yesterday where I followed a tutorial by the fab Jacki from Adventures In Acetone today I followed one by the super talented Sarah of Chalkboard Nails. I know I have told you all before I knew Sarah way back when she was just starting out! Her freehand is amazeballs and it isn't too often at all I can copy one of her mani's. Thankfully this tutorial made it pretty easy for me to create this cool looking distressed grunge mani!
It's a totally new look to me and I think I love it so much because it reminds me of shatter/crackle polish. And if there's one thing Sarah knows about me it's how much I love Crackle!
Here's the mani I did. I used a base of white and then China Glaze For Audrey, Zoya Mira and Reagan and then Sinful Colors Black On Black
I wish a bit more of the For Audrey showed up, but since this was first time trying this cool technique I wasn't sure how much was too much LOL!
This is a wicked cool base!
I really like my thumb
I think stamping might be totally awesome over this. We'll see if I do it again and stamp something over it!
If you like this look and haven't done it check out Sarah's tutorial I linked at the top of the page, it's easy! If I can do it, you can do it!
Hi Everyone!! Happy Hump Day! I have a lovely mani to show you today and it's from a tutorial I followed from one of my favorite bloggers--Adventures In Acetone. Jacki did this AHmazing criss cross textured striping tape mani awhile ago and I've been doing them ever since! I love it when I can copy something of hers because she is crazy talented and really too hard to copy lol! But a striping tape mani, now we're talking!
I started with a base of Nails Inc Victoria Street and then did my criss cross striping tape and sponged on Zoya Vespa and Kiko 646
I super love, love, LOVE this mani!
Some of you might be tired of the textured nail polishes but not me! I cannot get enough of these babies!
Jacki does a lot of tutorials! She has a Tutorial Tuesday where I first found this tutorial. Make sure you check the link at the top to check it out and look into all her other fab tutorials!!
Hi Everyone! Still pretty bitter cold out there this morning. Starting my day off at -14 with a wind chill of -35 BUT we are supposed to get to positive temps today. We have a heat wave coming as this weekend we will be in the 30's. And don't you just know some fool is going to come out in shorts when that happens! I'll be sure to report back if I see anyone doing it.
So today for following a tutorial week I have the bane of almost all nail art lover's existence. The dreaded water marble. You know how it starts out, you see pics all of the internet of these super cool water marbles and you go wow just put some nail polish drops into water, swirl, stick your fingers and BAM! you have a great mani! Then you try it and it is a MAJOR fail. And you sit back and shake your head and wonder why didn't this work. So then you Google "hey why didn't my water marble mani work--what are some tips and tricks to water marbling" and the internet Gods direct you to Colette--aka My Simple Little Pleasures YouTube Channel.
Oh my stars it's like a gift from heaven when you find yourself there. You watch every single water marble she does completely mesmerized. But then you actually try some of her designs and low and behold you start to get one or two that work. So you practice, practice, practice and suddenly you got this!
Today I just did a simple little water marble, that totally worked out and I didn't have to redo a single finger. Just two colors China Glaze's Don't Make Me Wine and WetnWild Black
it's simple but still looks so pretty!
So if you haven't checked out Colette--you need too! If you haven't tried to water marble yet--you need too!
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all have a great day!
Hi Everyone! Happy Monday! This week my friends and I are doing mani's inspired by a tutorial. When I first started stamping my nails I was pretty voracious in following tutorials and searching the internet for pics of mani ideas. Tutorials are so helpful when it comes to mani's especially when it's a new to you technique.
But sometimes a tutorial is just about an incredibly beautiful manicure and that's why I've chosen this tutorial from Ashley at Ashley Is Polish Addicted
She did a great mani with the Zoya Summer Pixie Dusts. I didn't have all of them so I had to switch out the light purple I got from Forever 21. This really does look like a snow cone!
I really love the textured polishes and love gradienting with them!
I tried to mimic Ashley's hand pose but I can't quite get it LOL!
Thanks for such a great tutorial on this AWESOME mani you did Ash!!
Hi Everyone!! Happy Sunday! Today is the day the Packers host the 49ers in the playoffs. We are gladly welcoming all the boys from San Francisco to the frozen tundra! As I mentioned yesterday we are bracing for some very cold weather over the next 3 days. Schools are already closed for tomorrow and some businesses in the area are talking about closing early. I'm not sure why they close early as it's colder in the morning than midday LOL!
In any case it's going to be cold, cold, cold and MOAR cold!
We did not get much snow yesterday which was great. I braved the elements today to grab some snack stuff for the football line ups today. Tonight during the Packer game we are having steak and brussels sprouts sauteed with bacon and onions and a smidge of soy sauce. Yes even if we lose that's a winner meal!
I did a Packer waterfall mani for today. Just something simple. A bit hard to capture the pretty gold foil of Zoya Kerrie but I tried my best!
While the Packer colors are green and gold our jerseys are definitely green, yellow and white LOL!
So I did my mani to match our jersey colors.
Here's a shot in the shade to try to catch some of Kerrie I used
I'm looking forward to a great game day and spending time with my son. Hopefully this cold front will get in and get out pretty quick.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a fantastic day!
Hi Everyone! Happy Weekend! Here in Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest we are buckling down and bracing ourselves for the coldest weather we've had in decades. Starting Sunday and going into the week we are expected to see record low temperatures--Monday and Tuesday we are looking at a negative number norm with an even higher windchill negative. They are talking up to 40 degrees below zero with the wind chill
Why this is bad--HOLY COW this is cold! Temperatures this low cause frostbite to skin if it is exposed for ten minutes. Temperatures this low cause damage to your lungs if you aren't breathing in the air from something covering your mouth and nose first
Why this is good--we play the San Francisco 49er's on Sunday in the wildcard play offs! Woot! Come on up boys we'll show you some weather you'll never forget in our OUTDOOR (cuz only real men play football outdoors and not under a dome) football field!
Today it's not super cold yet, it's actually quite warm out there for almost 10 am with a temp of 28. I'm going to be venturing out today in search of the new Maybelline maple kiss lipsticks and possibly a trip to the bakery for some good rye bread to go with my spinach dip I have made up. But after that I'm buckling down for the duration.
My sweet friend Gina from Red Dog Designs sent me an awesome Christmas package this year and in it she had a polish that's been on my wish list for a long time! The delicious dark blue metallic Rodeo Fanatic by China Glaze. I decided to do a cute little holiday sweater mani with it using my MoYou Festive 06 plate. I think it turned out super cute!
Here's a nice pic under the kitchen light and then this one with the flash
As you can see Rodeo Fanatic is just a gorgeous blue! The best part about it is how much Gina knows I love cowboys so I'm all about the rodeo anything!
If you are in the path of this cold weather front PLEASE BE CAREFUL! Make sure you are prepared for anything and everything that could occur during this time. And honestly don't go out unless absolutely necessary UNLESS you are a Packer fan headed up to Lambeau--then you may go out and enjoy the game! I'll be watching you having a blast there from the warm comfort of my home as we root on our boys! Go Pack, Go!!!
Hi Everyone!!! Happy New Year's Day! Today in Wisconsin we are ringing in the new year with snow, snow, snow and then some more snow! Nice to be able to sit it and watch it come down from the outside! We are still having our bitter cold weather too. I'm spending my day reading, working on some nail art ideas for the weeks to come and watching my beloved Discovery ID channel!
I recently bought A TON of nail polish so I want to make sure I'm using it and not socking it away. I really want to make 2014 the year I don't just carelessly buy and not use the polish I've bought. It happens to a lot of us in the nail polish community we buy and buy and buy when we already have enough polish to last a lifetime so we end up not even using the polishes "we just had to have".
I'm also going to focusing on using the plates I have as well. I have bought a lot of plates as well and I find I get them and don't use them. Seriously, I just bought 4 Messy Mansions but haven't used the 12 MoYou I got, or the Pueen Love Element Set nor have I really used the last 2 Bundle Monster sets! This just needs to stop LOL!
My vow for 2014 is to use the polish I buy and not set it aside and buy more; to use the plates I have and not keep falling back on images I've already used or have used time and time again. I'm letting you all call bull on me if you see me using something tried and tried over and over again.
I did want to showcase and highlight some of what I think were my best mani's of 2013. I tried to narrow it down to ten and that was just a ridiculous concept considering the fact I do my nails just about every single day! So in no particular order let the pics begin!
I did 2 butterfly mani's this year I loved, this gold sparkle one and this gradient blue one
I went a little wild with some animal print, doing 2 zebra looks I really liked
I did a couple mani's to match my clothes--or someone who I worked with lol!
I had a super fun french tip neon gradient this year too!
Sometimes I went really simple and it turned out stunning
Sometimes I didn't do anything simple at all and it turned out stunning
I went crazy a few times with studs and spikes this year and each time I loved it!
Remember when I matched my friend Jen's shoes and purse?
or when I did this totally impractical collar recreation?
I also did this one my first sugar spun mani with some black studs
I feel in love with textured polish!
I did a lot of mermaid and dragon looks!
I had to survive an entire year without my dad, and it sucked
Many of my friends call me the Gradient Queen
of gradients both bright and dark
Through it all I just love to stamp
Thanks so much for being with me in 2013--I hope 2014 brings you all my love, happiness, joy and success!
