No Clean Up Splatter

Doing a traditional straw splatter can not only be super messy, but can waste a lot of polish.  Why not paint it on?I know, this looks totally different from a straw splatter.  This is a little more cartoonish.  I’ve actually done a mani very similar to this before.  I must have liked it to almost duplicate it.

My base polish is one I just picked up; China Glaze Moonlight.  It’s pretty sheer and needed a good three coats to get decent opacity.  I love the color though.  It’s a very muted soft white.  Really, it is the color of the moon.  The other colors are acrylics.

Twinsie Tuesday: School Colors

When I think of school spirit my mind immediately goes back to high school. But maybe that’s because my post high school education consists of graduating from a trade school that didn’t have a mascot and colors.

I was a T-Bird and as you can see, our school colors were orange, white and blue. According to our fight song the official colors were orange and white, but we got the blue worked in there somehow. Not very original school colors. I’d bed that there’s at least one of my fellow twinsies that is sporting the same colors.

I got brave and tried the explosion again. I think this is the third or fourth time I’ve attempted it. I used painters tape this time. The lines aren’t perfect, but it’s by far my best explosion yet.  Of course as soon my top coat started to set, I gouged my ring finger nail with my other hand.  AAARRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so mad!!  It was completely lifted and rolled up.  I attempted to unroll it with a toothpick then smooth it out with my wet finger.  It actually looks pretty good compared to what I started with.  I used Jordana Orangsicle and Smooth Blue and Sally Hansen White On.

Be sure the check out all the other manis today:

Amanda of Amandalandish
Anna of Going to the Showing
Anne of Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley of Art Evolve
Brandi of The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea of Nailed Blog
ChiChi of I’m Just Me…ChiChi
Cordia of Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth of Did My Nails
Jamie of Polish, Please!
Katherine of Haul of Fame
Maribeth of Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa of Polish Obsession
Meredith of Polish and Charms
Nory of Fierce Make Up and Nails
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Tara of Polishy of Truth

Spun Sugar Birthday Candles

It’s my birthday!!  Yahoo!!  Hubs is taking me out for a night on the town (so to speak.)  I know I did birthday candles last year, but nothing says birthday to me like birthday candles.

To kick them up a notch this time, I did them spun sugar style. Doing the spun sugar technique vertically was more of a challenge than horizontally. The strings just didn’t want to stick to my nail as much.

I love the melted wax look that resulted. They look very abstract. Love ’em! I used Essie Power Clutch as my base. My candles were done with OPI Do You Lilac It, Zoya Robyn, Milani Pink Hottie, and Zoya Mitzi. My flames are Sinful Color Pull Over and Jordana Orangesicle. I finished this off with Chill Zone top coat.

What do you think of this take on spun sugar?

OPI Spotted

I’ve been wanting OPI Spotted since it came out. Reading different posts about how it was difficult to apply and sometimes gave disappointing results made me feel a little better about not being able to get my hands on it since it’s not available here in the United States.CutePolish’s recent water marble video eliminated OPI Spotted from my wish list.  I would love to know how she figured this out.  It’s genius I tell you.  If you haven’t figured it out, this is not OPI Spotted (the fact that it’s grey may have clued some of you in).

I love this look. It looks like the top layer of your polish got eaten away by acid and this is what’s left. Such a cool look that really would be difficult to achieve any other way.

For this look I used Sinful Colors Timbleberry, Zoya Robyn and Arizona and Color Club Edie for my base colors. I just randomly painted them on in blocks (as is demonstrated in CutePolish’s video tutorial). I used CND Ashphalt for the top marbling color on most of my nails and just out of curiosity, I used China Glaze Liquid Leather for my pinkie. I can’t decide if I like the grey or black better. I think I like them equally and for different reasons.

What do you think of this technique? Do you like this look?

Spring Flowers

Oh how much I’m wishing for spring. I’m sick of the cold and the dry itchy skin.This isn’t the first time I’ve taken my inspiration from a tissue box. I’ve had a bit of a head cold, so I’ve been spending lots of time looking at tissue boxes. I started with a base color of Julep Alyson. The rest of my colors are Zoya Robyn and Arizona, Color Club Edie, Sinful Colors Timbleberry and CND Asphalt.