Classic French

It has been so long since I have done a french manicure!  I just felt like something simple.  So, I decided to do an old fashioned french. 

I will tell you what I used for this look.  As I have mentioned before, I get annoyed with Color Club because they don't label the bottom of their bottles all of the time!  So, I got these in a bundle pack and will tell you what I think their names are.

I used 2 coats of Oh Naturale and one coat of Pardon my French for the tips.  I cheat when it comes to doing my tips because my freehand is not so good.  After I put a layer of Seche Vite over the pink color, I did the tips.  I added a coat of Wet 'n Wild Hallucinate for the glitter effect.  I used some sequins to accent a couple of the nails.  I was mostly playing around with them to see what I could produce.  It's not to shabby.  I really like my flower.  LOL.  I then topped everything off with another layer of Seche Vite.

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Winter Wonderland

It is Winter Wonderland this week for the Let it Snow! Challenge group.  I am getting pretty tired of winter.  I live in Buffalo, NY.  It is normal for this time of year.  I know this week is going to be fairly quiet at work because everyone is on vacation since their kids are out of school this week.  They are all off to nice warm climates, while it is expected to be quite "stormy" here this week.  UGH!  I wanted to do this week's manicure with a little bit of cheer while still remaining "wintry".  I love my purples so that is where I went.  LOL!

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Hard to Get as a base coat.  I added one coat of Seche Vite to get that sealed.  Then I used a make up sponge to do my gradient.  Here is what I used for that:

• Zoya Tru
• Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings
• Sally Hansen Lilac

I have snowflakes stamped on my ring finger, but you can't see them very well.  I used Cheeky Jumbo Plate "L".  One is using Sally Hansen Celeb City  and the other is using Sally Hansen Golden-I.  Those colors are also used for a tree on BM-321 on my pinkie.  Yeah, you can't see those too well either.  I used a dotting tool to make "snow" on my forefinger and thumb using Zoya Gaia. 

I put a layer of Kleancolor Silver Lining on all but my thumb.

This stamp is also on my Cheeky Jumbo Plate "L" (it is the same as SH207 - don't get me started on that disappointment).

Alright, on to the Right hand...

This side is pretty cute - in theory.  Again, my choice of stamp color wasn't the best as it doesn't show up as well as I had hoped.  I used Sally Hansen Celeb City to stamp a sleigh (BM-213) on my pinkie.  Then I wanted horses to pull that sleigh so I used Mash-42 and Sally Hansen Golden-I on the next two fingers.  Then I just added the Kleancolor Silver Lining to the forefinger and thumb.  I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I like it!  Just the gradient with the Silver Lining is beautiful. 

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Take a look at the other awesome "Winter Wonderland" mani's!

Valentine's Day

While I loved my pink & purple rendition, I really wanted red for Valentine's Day.  Whenever my hubby is home, I like to have him help me pick the colors and designs.  This one ended up being a skittle mani.  How did I do that again?  I think it is my inability to choose just one design.  Crazy, but I love it.

Here is what my left hand looks like this time:

My favorites are my ring finger (pink w/glequins) and my thumb.  Here is my thumb:

Here are the details:

• Thumb: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Red Red; People stamp = CH29, Love stamp = BM09 using Zoya Purity.
• Forefinger: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious; lips stamp = SH205 using Zoya Purity & Wet 'n Wild Red Red.
• Middle finger: 2 coats of Zoya Purity with Kleancolor Red Sparkle sponged on the tip and used to stamp the hearts CH16
• Ring finger: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious with multi-color glequins
• Pinkie: 2 coats of Zoya Purity with Kleancolor Red Sparkle (2 coats) on top

Right hand:

The white base looks awesome here!  The "LOVE" stamp has a weird wiggle to the end of it but because my hubby loves that show The Walking Dead, I left it.  It looks zombie-esque to me.  :)  I do have to brag a bit about the heart stamps - I lined those up perfectly! 

My right thumb:

Kisses anyone?

Right hand details:

• Thumb: 2 coats of Zoya Purity stamped with BM-303 and Wet 'n Wild Red Red
• Forefinger: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Red Red stamped with CH5 using Zoya Purity and Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious
• Middle finger: 2 coats of Zoya Purity stamped with SH205 using Wet 'n Wild Red Red and Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious
• Ring finger: 2 coats of Zoya Purity stamped with BM09 using Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious
• Pinkie: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious stamped with cupid from Cheeky Jumbo plate L using Wet 'n Wild Red Red

My hubby loved this one.  He doesn't like the glequins, but I love them.  He helped design my left thumb with the people holding hands and the "love" below them.  That one is special to me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Valentine's Day Skittle (pic heavy)

I am so glad that we are doing something extra cheerful for this week's Let it Snow! challenge.  I do love my pinks and purples.  When looking at my swatch wheels, I have 10 pink wheels and 9 purple.  Lots to choose from!  I was so excited to see a youtube video from soguesswhat11 that had a pink/purple mani tutorial.  She is one of my faves!  I love her little nails!  Since I try to keep mine short, I can typically do the stamps she chooses.  Here is her video if you want to look at it.

It wasn't planned to do a skittle but, while working, things sometimes just take a life of their own.  Here is my left hand:

I used 4 polishes total.  The stamps and embellishments are different though.

• White = Pure Ice Superstar! I used 2 coats of this for the sponged nails.
• Purple = Sally Hansen Good to Grape
• Pink = Wet 'n Wild Tickled Pink
• Silver = Revlon Silver Dollar
• Seche Vite as the top coat

I am going to break it down by finger too...yay!

Here is my left thumb:

• This is a gradient with the purple & pink (duh) and the stamp is BM317.  I am pretty proud of how I got the opposite colors lined up on this one!

Here is my left forefinger:

• Same Gradient, different direction.  Also stamped with BM317 using Revlon Silver Dollar.

Left middle finger:

• Stamped with Mash-48

Left ring finger:

• Same gradient different direction.  LOL

Left pinkie:

• Stamped with BM02

Time for the right hand:

Right thumb:

• A little blurry, but it is stamped with CH15 using both the pink & purple.

Right forefinger:

• Stamped with BM317 using Pure Ice Superstar!

Right middle finger:

• Different gradient!  Used the pink & white and stamped with the purple using RA-110.

Right ring finger:

• Stamped with BM317

Right pinkie:

• Stamped with CH9 using the silver.  The purple heart addition is thanks to my Niece, Ashley.  She is 5 and this made her so happy to see her idea come to life.

I love how similar all of the nails are but they are all different too.  Here is to a happy Valentines Day to every one of you.

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Please take a look at the other Valentine's Day manicures:

Hot Chocolate

Let it Snow! Challenge - Hot Chocolate

I had my idea for this one a few days before I was going to do it.  When I drink hot chocolate (which isn't too often), I like to put marshmallows in it.  I mean, who doesn't?  I am still trying to perfect my water marbling skills too.  I really struggle with having the patience to do it and even more challenging for me is the design portion.  I had seen a tutorial on making a swirl pattern by simplelittlepleasures (here) which was my inspiration for my marble.  I can't tell you how time-consuming this process is!  At least for me.  Perhaps it is just because I haven't mastered the technique.  I mean, this took over 4 hours for me to do.  That is ridiculous.  But, because of my state of mind at the time, I didn't mind.

Here is what I ended up with:

I used a lot of colors with this one.  Ready?

• base color: Sally Hansen Duchesse Lace (2 coats)
• marble: China Glaze Ingrid, Barielle Misbehaving Mistress, Zoya Pasha, Essie Adore-a-Ball, Sally Hansen Duchesse Lace, Wet 'n Wild Break the Ice.
• top coat: Seche Vite

I love this!  I totally looks like cocoa with marshmallows swirled in it.  For how labor intensive this was, I am very pleased with how this came out.  Only one bubble?  That is amazing!  LOL

Here is my thumb:

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Check out the other wonderful looks for this week's challenge.

My Dear Friend

This post is not easy to write.  Last week a dear friend was lost in a tragic accident.  This woman was the most genuine soul I had ever met.  She was a key player in helping me find my way in my career.  She helped me gain the position I currently have at work and I love it there.  She was always so kind and lovely.  She was a pleasure to speak to everyday and always caring.  Words cannot completely describe what a light she brought to our day.  We loved having her around so much and we can only imagine the grief her family is enduring.  Her children and husband meant everything to her.  She is greatly missed by everyone.  Being part of her "work family", we will do everything we can to keep her memory alive and help out her family where ever possible.

She looked so pretty in purple and we ordered her memorial flowers in purples and pinks.  This is what inspired  my nail look.  In her honor, purple (royalty) is what I needed to do to show how much she meant to me. 

This is what I chose for her memory:

I used 2 coats of China Glaze Spontaneous on all of the nails.  The glitter overlay is Sinful Colors Purple Diamond (1 coat).  The cross stamp is BM13.  I used Sally Hansen Pink Satin.  I put a rhinestone in the center of the cross.  The dove stamp is SH206.  I used Pure Ice Superstar! and just put 2 doves next to each other.

It is simple but this is my craft.  This is how I can show my feelings.  It is still a very somber time. 

 

 

We will miss our dear friend.

Thank you for visiting
Brandy

Elmer's Glue Test - Round #1

I have read so many blogger posts about this technique that I really wanted to try it.  So, I bought some glue a while ago but didn't have an empty bottle to put it in.  I managed to finish up some Seche Vite so now I had a bottle - well sort of...  Have you ever tried to clean out a bottle of polish?  It is really challenging!  I put some acetone in it and let it sit for a week.  It clumped up nice in the bottom and I could remove the gunk with a Q-Tip.  But, the sides I couldn't reach very well.  I had the bright idea to put warm water in there and swirl it around.  Well, that was a BIG MISTAKE!  It made it so much worse!  It made everything that was left in there completely gelatinous and impossible to get out.  So, I put more acetone in it and let it sit for another week.  That did what it could.  I decided to just move forward and fill it with the glue.  That was easy enough but the brush had solidified into a stone!  Ok, some more acetone to try and fix it.  It did ok.  I left it in the glue for a while then just used water to soften it up.  That worked well.  Now, at least everything is usable.  Ok, on to the manicure...

I used a pretty thick coat of the glue (at least I thought so).  I didn't take any pictures of that because it dries clear and that just isn't very exciting.  It does take some time to dry thoroughly.  You can tell when it is dry because the sheen changes to a matte finish - it is pretty obvious.

I used 2 coats of OPI Excuse Moi! and 1 coat of Seche Vite.  I didn't worry too much about how rough the texture still was as I wasn't planning on wearing this too long.

So, on to the real test.  I was very optimistic because the combo of the glue and the Seche seemed to help with chipping.  I didn't have too much after 3 days of wear.  I was very eager to see what would happen. 

This is what we all hope for when trying this technique:

This was pretty easy to pull up.  The disappointing thing is that this was the case for only 2 nails.  That is a 20% success rate.  Not too good. 

This is what the other 8 looked like when trying to take the polish off: 

I had to really chip at them!  The good news is that the glue acted as a great protectant and my nails came out of it looking just fine.

So, I am not giving up on this technique.  I will try again and I will master it!  Someday!  I will keep you all posted to my efforts on this one...

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy