Elf-like!

I ended up spending 7 hours doing various church-related things today, so I'm too tired to be terribly clever. Tomorrow morning I'll do the last two manicures, and I'll be done with the challenge. I'm going to miss having the inspiration and fellowship of my challengers. I hope I can join another challenge group soon!

I google imaged a lot of Christmas elf pictures, and the main cohesive theme I saw was their stripey green and white tights, so I did a base of NOPI Lights Kim-era Action, and striped Kleancolor Green Grass. I have craft scissors that are zig-zagged and so I masked off my tips and painted them red with OPI The Spy Who Loved Me (which I love, and should get a full-size of soon, because it's such an interesting red). The zig-zags don't show well - my craft scissors have a wider zig than I really envisioned, and real pinking shears might have worked better. I used my NYC Matte Me Crazy topcoat, and I really liked the effect.

Still, I had multiple compliments from total strangers, although not one could guess I was aiming for an elf theme. Ah, well.

Go see what my other challengers did!

Frosty the poorly proportioned snowdude...

For this challenge, I looked for some snowman ideas, and I saw, and really liked, this one:

While I didn't have the exact same colors on hand, I think my version isn't bad...but I made his head too small to be able to fit on decent sized features, and there's no way a scarf will work since his mouth sorta covers his neck-al area.

The turquoise base is Sally Girl Dumped and the nose is Amped. The snowman and ground are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, the black is Sinful Colors Black on Black, the silver is Elle Dancing Queen, and the shimmery white is NOPI Lights, Kim-era, Action.

I got dotting tools (straight from scenic Guangzhou!) and used a bunch of them. Unfortunately, the biggest one fell out of the tool within 10 or so dots. I'm going to try to epoxy it back together. I'm pretty sure the epoxy will cost more than the entire set of tools did, including shipping. I know, I shoulda ordered from bornprettystore or ... not China, but we've been poor lately. Maybe Santa will bring me some cash. And I won't feel obligated to spend it on "bills" or "living indoors".

I can't wait to see what my fellow challengers did! Check it out here!

Sparkly French Blue-ness

I'm working on a light box, as budget and time allow. And then I'll be like a REAL blogger. Me and Pinocchio, with our senses of inadequacy, make a great pair.

Anyway, I knew when I got Dandy Nails' Caught in the Crowd that I was in love and wanted to use it really soon, but I thought it needed to be over a deep blue for true perfection in manicuration. I hereby declare manicuration a word. Work with me. The deep blue came in the form of Finger Paints' Cerulean Seascape, which went on like a dream.

My original plan was to have "Caught in the Crowd" as a gradient going from bottom to top of the nail. It turned out to have a thicker base than I expected, and I didn't have sponges handy to do a gradient that way, so I ended up painting my thumbnails and then dabbing on french-ish tips on the rest of the nails. I really loved the effect.

A couple of things about Caught in the Crowd. It's got aqua and silver microglitter and small aqua hexes. It feels REALLY smooth to the touch, almost like a creme. I don't know how that was possible, but it was really lovely. I want more; it feels that good on the nail! Also, it wore like a champ. I painted my nails Friday night and took the pictures this afternoon. No chips, no tipwear, and I type for a living. No clean-up, either, and I know you can tell. I'll do better, I promise.

I'm trying to think of more ways to use Caught in the Crowd. And more ways to budget lots more Dandy Nails' polishes. Lovely.

Glittery Layer-y Frenchy Mani

I did another glue base coat, so I was committed to using glitter. Committed, I tell you! I pulled out my un-swatched "Aquanet" by Hot Mess, which is a lovely amethyst-y jelly with big hex and smallish square glitters. It was pretty in one coat with no underwear, but I thought it needed something...more. So I threw on a layer of "Across the Trailer Park" by Hot Mess, too. It made a lovely purple, with lots of variety. But I wanted more big glitters, so I threw in another layer of Aquanet, and sat and looked at it for a while.

That's never a good sign for my manicures. It needed something...more! Yes! What would complete this manicure? Why...a poorly-free-handed french tip in WnW's "Precious Petals!" It was exactly...too much.

It reminds me of something. I suspect it might be a bedspread I had in high school. Or perhaps my eyeshadow/lip gloss combination of choice back then. NO! I know what it is it reminds me of... my mom and I frankensteined a pretty velvet dress for winter formal in my junior year of high school.

See?

(I'm the girl on the left. With the bad roots. Ay yi yi.)

Matte French

So first, let me apologize for the state of my cuticles -- you can see a lot of residue from my clean-up attempt. It washed off later. Hmph.

I bought a matte topcoat the other day ($1.74!) at Target and wanted to do something with it. I had grand ideas but a simple french manicure seemed like a good idea. So I painted two coats of Sally Hansen's CSM "Haute Chocolate" (I really love the deep brown with red and gold undertones), and let it dry. Then a coat of NYC "Matte Me Crazy" topcoat. I've been using Seche Vite for so long that I really wasn't used to it being tacky as long as it was. I free-handed SV on for shiny tips, and I really liked how it looked. Minus the cuticle mess.

A few hours after my mani was done, I grabbed lunch, and taking a burger out of the bag, I barely touched the side of my thumbnail to the bag and half of the polish slid off.

I think I'll try a coat of SV before the matte topcoat next time I feel like going matte, which will likely be soon. :)