Surviving St Patty's Day!

Hi Readers! Sorry I was MIA yesterday but I was recuperating.  I had a birthday party to go to last night and there was too much good food and sparkling moscato to be had.  I'm not a young chicken anymore either so trust me when I say couch and I were good friends all day yesterday.  BUT that didn't stop me from dragging my butt over to the mani table for a pretty nice manicure!  My polish wifey Lori got me some really nice polishes in a little swap between us recently.  She snagged me OPI's Take The Stage and Rising Star and I decided to do a nice little gradient with them.  I love these metallic foil like finishes that OPI does.  I wish I had every single one of them!  I decided to go back to my primal roots with this mani and hauled out the leopard!

I made a few foil rings too readers.  I ordered a few lucite rings from ebay and then transferred foils onto them.  It's not easy but they do look pretty cool.  Check out my Aztec Foil ring

Obviously it was made a bit ago hence the green nail polish LOL! BUT I didn't leave it like this I stamped over it--check it out!

I really like the stamping over it.  I've done a few of these foil rings so I'll make sure to show you what I've come up with.
Now here's a nice flash close up of today's mani--SO sparkly!

To do this mani I did two coats of OPI Rising star and then sponged OPI Take The Stage on the tips and half way up the nail.  Then I pulled out my trusty leopard image plate M57 and stamped using China Glaze Unplugged.  I really like how it turned out and finally the green streak is over!
Here's a picture of the polishes I used left to right Take The Stage, Rising Star and Unplugged

So how was your St Patrick's Day readers?  Did you celebrate with good food and friends and family?  I hope you did!


Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!

You can lead a horse to water II

Hi Readers--remember the you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink water marble failure?  Well guess what--if you lead him there kicking and screaming and threaten him no carrots or sugar cubes for treats he WILL drink!  Chatting with some of my nail polish facebook friends today the shamrock water marble by Colette was making the rounds.  But before even seeing this youtube tutorial I had seen one done by Jodi of Captivating Claws.  I love Jodi and I love her ability to water marble.  I don't not love Colette it's just that I don't know her personally the way I do Jodi.  Checking out Jodi's blog here.  To see Colette's youtube tutorial check here.  I already had my mani done for St Patrick's Day.  I decided to just do a nice needle marble with Viridian and Sally Hansen Ivy League.  It even turned out here's a picture of it

I guess it just wasn't good enough for me.  Either that or I just didn't want to be beat on the water marbling!  I sat down and said okay horse this is it--it's crunch time and BAM it's like my horse won the Kentucky Derby!

Yes success! Not only did I manage to water marble I managed to marble shamrocks!
Here's the right hand!

Here's close up of the left hand

My favorite design is my left thumb

Sorry clean up isn't the best but water marbling is messy as all get out!


So today is St Patrick's Day readers--do you celebrate it?  Do you know why it is celebrated?  St Patrick is the most commonly recognized patron saint of Ireland.  St Patrick's day was made a feast day in the 17th century and it's usually celebrated by wearing green and lifting Lenten eating and drinking restrictions for the day.  It is believed that St Patrick used the clover aka shamrock as representation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit to the pagans.  St Patrick's Day is basically a day for all to celebrate the Irish culture.  Today we're ALL Irish!  


I wish all of you a happy and safe St Patrick's Day--wear green so you don't get a pinch!  Don't eat too much corned beef and cabbage and don't drink too much green beer.


Erin Go Bragh readers!

Franken Friday--Rigger

Hi Readers!  A couple of days ago I did some frankening and came up with a Tristam dupe--this is not what I'm showing you today though lol!  I had wanted to try my hand and duping both Tristam and Lady of the Lake and succeeded with Tristam but not Lady.  My Lady dupe is too pinky purple I still love her but she's not the exact dupe I was going for.  I was pretty much on a duping Tristam high then got to thinking about St Patrick's Day right around the corner and why don't I try to come up with a forest green scattered holo.  So I did just that! OMG readers this one is a beauty!  I named it Rigger after one of my favorite books by  Kelly Jamieson--it might actually be my favorite book of hers.
Here's a nice bottle shot

Check out this gorgeous close up under the lamp light

HOLY COW I cannot begin to express how much I love scattered holos!  To me they have the most depth of any finish--truly, truly gorgeous
Since it's almost St Patrick's day I decided to add a little shamrock

How cute is that???!
This franken was easy readers believe it or not.  I simply took a bottle of NYC Flat Iron Green which is a deep dark green and added some Nfu-Oh 65 to it.  I know people think it's crazy to franken with Nfu-Oh but I've done if a few times now and always have STUNNING results.  I'm sure I'll be showing off my Tristam dupe in the future too so stay tuned!


Are you ready for St Patrick's Day???? It's tomorrow readers!  I wonder what mani I'll be sporting???!!!

Robin Moses I'm not!

Hi Readers!  Today I'm showcasing my first ever nail brush art.  Don't get too excited--it's not that good lol!  I recently bought of a couple of the LCN croco tops and I really love them.  I mean of course I love them they are crackle and we all know how I feel about crackle lol!  But these are just so cool because when they crack they gives the appears of dried earth--I guess you could say they look crocodilish as well lol!  I used my black over the delicious China Glaze Cha Cha Cha and then decided to hand draw a celtic cross on the accent nail.  IT WAS NOT EASY!

The light is shining on this such you can't see the top of the cross has green in the middle of it as well.  I just don't get how Robin makes it look SO easy!  Here's a cool close up--focus more on the way cool croco crack rather than the not so cool Celtic Cross

Isn't the croco top cool???? I LoVE this look and can't wait to use it with some different colors underneath.  I wish I could find a glows from within red like this Cha Cha Cha--that would be totally awesome.


Only 2 more days til St Patrick's Day!  We are chomping at the bit for some corned beef and cabbage here how about you??


Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!

You can lead a horse to water . . .

Hi Readers!  You know that saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink?"  Well I am that horse readers!  After seeing Jodi's weekly water marbles and then a few others this week and I thought hey why not try an Irish colors water marble?  What I should have said to myself was hey why not shoot yourself in the head??!!  UG this marble I did is AWFUL! Just awful!  But I promised I would show all my mani's good or bad so here you go reader's--you might need an air sick bag handy before you check it out

Where is the beauty in this baby?  If I had to say something nice about it all I can say is the pinkie is pretty good LOL!
Here's a scary close up!

My internet daughter agreed with me and says it's awful.  She wants me to try a China Glaze shimmers one so I may try to marble again in the future.  Only time will tell.


How are you at marbling readers?  And holy cow if you're looking at this Jodi don't even try to say you're just okay at it because you're freaking fantastic at it!


The only thing to make me feel better after this mani is some colcannon!  For those of you who aren't Irish or who don't know what colcannon is, it's a wonderful comfort food of mashed potatoes with cabbage.  I like to add cooked onions to mine as well--so delish and comforting.  I'll need a bucket to help me get over this monstrosity!


Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day! 

Move over Brittany Spears!

Hi Readers!  Today's mani is TOXIC!  But definitely in a good way!  I received Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed as a birthday present from my sweet friend Marissa.  She is a really wonderful friend and I love her DESPITE the fact she is a New York Giants fan UG!  With the addition of Toxic Seaweed to my polish stash I now consider I have the trifecta of Cult Nails beauties--Captivated, Clairvoyant and Toxic Seaweed.  Maria really knows how to do glitters and flakies!  Next up for me from them will be Iconic, Time Traveler and Vicious.
No stamping on this mani today readers, just some gorgeous greens!  I did two coats of the lovely Zoya Veruschka and then sponged Toxic Seaweed on at the tips.  I love flakies matted and since I started with a matte I wanted to keep that look so a topcoat of Essie's Matte About You finished the look

I love Zoya Veruschka it's so rich!

Here's a nice closeup of the flakie goodness!

When you matte a flakie it just traps all the shine and shimmer and I love it!


So there you have it readers, a nice, easy but beautiful green mani for St Patrick's Day!  I'm actually thinking of attempting a water marble mani!  My friend Jodi over at Captivating Claws marbles like no other and she makes it seem so easy so you never know I may just surprise her and try one of my own!


Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Tie me up or tie me down either way I'm in!

Hi Readers!  Today I'm featuring one of my very first A Englands--Dragon!  It is a GORGEOUS murky olive green scattered holo.  I know everyone seems to love the linear holos AND they love the brighter summer like holos but Dragon is neither.  He is stunning!  Keeping with my St Patrick's Day theme I stamped using the Celtic Knot design on my DRK-A plate.  My wonderful friend Wendy got me the DRK-A for my birthday and honestly I'll turn 49 every year!  I got the best stuff this year! China Glaze Metallics to stamp with, Black Cherry Chutney, DRK-A plate, XL Cheeky plates, Cheeky round plates set and oh yeah--CLARINS 230!  But enough of turning older than dirt a month ago and onto the mani!

I just love this non traditional murky holo!
Here's a nice close up of it

Here's a nice shot with flash!

The Celtic Knot is a beautiful design, one who's meaning is no beginning, no ending, the continuity of everlasting love and binding together or entwining two souls or spirits.  How lovely!  I hope everyone feels they have someone in their lives who warrants a celtic knot.  


Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantastic day!