Beetle...Juiced!

This is my #18 and #19 in Plasma Plays in 21 Ways:  "18. Wear a Purple" and "19. Add a Chevron to Your Purple".  I was sick last week when I did these mani's and only took a pic of the finished product:

This is Hard Candy "Beetle" under China Glaze "Liquid Leather", and I added little purple rhinestones too!  Yes, I'm counting "Beetle" as a purple, even though it's green and gold at certain angles.  I free-handed the chevrons.  I was going to cut tape with my fancy scrap-booking scissors and use those, but I couldn't get the tape to cut cleanly.  So, this is Plan B.  Not too shabby for a back-up plan, right?  I loved how this one came out!

P.S. - Rhinestones don't last long on your fingernails when you golf! :-/

Zoya Girly Girl Mani!!

These are the next two mani's in Plasma Speedo's Plasma Plays in 21 Ways:  "#16 Wear a Pink" & "#17. Add Flowers to That Pink". 

Well, since I'm obviously in love with my new Zoya's, you should not be at all surprised about what I've got on my nails:

This is "Reagan" (dark pink) and "Shelby" (light pink) topped with Seche Vite.  This mani is actually 1 1/2 days old, and had gone through 10 hours of typing at work, and then a couple sinkfuls of dishes and kitchen duty, and the various other daily stuff we working moms do.  I didn't even paint the edges like I'm supposed to, and it's still gorgeous!  YAY for Zoya!

Ok, so then I had to add flowers.  But what kind?  Well, this whole challenge for me is about trying new things, so I figured no dotting tool flowers.  I've got cute rhinestones I've been wanting to use, but none of them seemed to do it for me, so I turned to my stamping plates.  I've got a Red Angel set, and a Shany set, and haven't really used them because I suck at stamping.  But I've seen such cute mani's all you other bloggers create, so I had to try!

This is an image from Red Angel plate 121 stamped with "Reagan" and China Glaze "White on White".  Even though there are some wonky spots, I love how this came out!  Very Hawaiian-y.  I had to double-stamp each nail since this wasn't a full-nail design.  I learned that I have to totally chillax when stamping, that I need to SLOW down, and NOT press so hard.  Taking my time prevents the horrible smearing and helps with placing the images where I want them.  After I figured that out, stamping was actually FUN!  Imagine that....

So, that's that!

Zoya Paint Splatter Mani

So, my next Plasma Plays in 21 Ways  are "14. Today we will wear blues", and "15. Grab a Straw and do Some Paint Splatters Over that Blue".  OK, then. 

Although today is Tuesday, I'm calling it "Wednesday", har har har!  Anyway, this Zoya polish is very different.  It's actually a little more green than in the pics...kind of like the color of copper when it starts to turn green...that vintage-y, tarnished, Statue of Liberty greenish aqua.  Very unique.  This is 2 coats with no top coat.

So, now I'm to do paint splatters on top of these with a straw.  Crazy lady say what?  Here's the video to show you how.  So, I figured I'd just stick to the Zoya Summer collection I just got since they look so awesome together.

 Left

 Left

 Right

Right

Ok, so I used Zoya "Arizona" (orange), Zoya "Shelby" (pink), and China Glaze "White on White".  This method made such a mess!  And I got dizzy from a combo of blowing through the straw, and breathing deeply of the polish fumes.  And, even though I coated my skin with Chapstick prior to the splattering, clean up was extensive.

But, it was cool to see what design would blow out next.  And also frustrating when nothing came out, or just a big blob splattered on the nail (e.g. Right-hand pinky).  I would have liked the colors better had the base been white and then had the colors splattered on, but I still think they're super-cute and spring-y. 

So, I'll definitely do this again, because it's such a different look.  But probably with less colors, and maybe a dark background w/a light metallic.  Oooooo. 

Are you going to try this method?

A Zoya / Plasma 2-fer

So Plasma Plays in 21 Ways says that for my next mani's, I must "12. Pick a Green" and "13. Add a Layer of Polish Over That Green You Think Doesn't Go with It".  So I looked in my stash for green:

Sorry the pic is crooked!  Anyway, the point is that I had a bunch to choose from, right?  But I really wanted to try one of my new Zoya's, so I went with "Shawn":

How pretty is that?  This is 2 coats with no top coat.  It was super-shiny, and I love this military green color.  I had to get used to the consistency...it's kind of thin, but not really (it doesn't pool at the cuticles), but the more I brushed it on, then I would get bald spots, like the polish was already drying, but it wasn't dragging or clumping.  So I just stuck to 2 thin coats & it's marvelous.

So, what will NOT go with this?  I figured everything would, but then I saw Zoya "Opal", an aqua-ish flakie top coat.  And even though they are both "green", I think they totally do not work together.

So, after 1 coat of Opal over my lovely "Shawn" nails, here's what I got:

Well, not the best, and not the worst either.  I would love to see "Opal" on a dark teal, or light aqua!  It's not great on "Shawn".  But I got to try my Zoyas, and I love them!  Mission accomplished!

So, check off #12 and #13!

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "11. Pick a Color You've Never Worn"

This way to play was an easy one...or so I thought!  I have sooo many gorgeous polishes that I haven't even tried yet, I was really excited about this one.  And then I had to decide!  Ugh!  So, I figured I wanted to try some of my lovely Indies, but I couldn't pick just one... 

This is Pretty & Polished's "Black Swan" and Darling Diva Polish's "Divalicious" tipped with Lacquistry's "And Miles to Go Before I Sleep". 

In the sun!!!

OMG, right!?!  I love holographic polishes!  This is two coats of each, and they went on so smoothly!  And I haven't met a Lacquistry polish I didn't absolutely drool over!  I really think this looks like light reflecting off snow, which is exactly how she described it.  LOVE!!

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "10. Ombre"

As I mentioned in the post about #7 in Plasma Plays in 21 Ways, I'm still not clear on the difference between a "gradient" and an "ombre".  So, I'm going with "gradient" is with different shades of the same color, and "ombre" is different colors. 

As I also mentioned previously, I'm not so crazy about the whole sponging process to get the polishes to fade into one another.  It results in TONS of layers that don't dry.  WELL, in doing my research (aka drooling over gorgeous nail art pics on the net), I found two things that made me feel better about this whole process:

1. I saw the Eastern Night Cocktail's pic
2. I figured out that the sponge should be WET

That last bit of news was a total "DUH" moment.  My sponge kept soaking up my polish, rather than patting onto my nail like everyone else's, and I couldn't figure it out.  Thank God for YouTube!  :-)

So, that mani is like, totally gorgeous, right?  And I am loving the matte finish more than I should.  So, here's my version:

The first and last are without flash.  I really like the gradient effect under the matte finish!  This mani looks waaaay better in person.  I used China Glaze "Seduce Me" and Sinful Colors "Let's Talk" topped with NYC Matte Top Coat.  After I added the normal top coat dots, I regretted them, and I should have left them off...I need more dotting practice!  Live & learn!

Speaking of learning, this time after I polished my nails with the red, I polished a layer of purple on the top part of my nail and let it dry.  Then I sponged (with a WET sponge) purple a little further into the red.  Then I took a little polish on my polish brush and "pounced" on the obvious line between the polished-on purple, and the sponged-on purple to even things out.  This technique worked MUCH better for me, and made the whole process bearable.

YAY for matte ombres!!

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "9. Ruffian!"

My friends recently sucked me in to Pinterest.  So I was looking at the Zoya pics, and found this gorgeous Ruffian by the Girlie Tomboy.  I really don't like the Ruffian look, much like the half-moon mani, but I really liked this one.  So, here's my version:

I used NYC In a NY Minute "MoMa" and "Pier 17" and Pure Ice "Silver Mercedes".  This was actually my second attempt, as the first was total fail.  I say it's cute, but not worth the effort. 

Do you like Ruffians?

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "7. Do a Gradient of 2 Colors or More"

I've never done a gradient, although I've seen some on YouTube.  I've tried sponging before, and I didn't like it because it seems as though the sponge soaks up all the polish, and I have to tap forever to get any results.  Not worth it.

So, I figured I'll try it again.  I watched videos, and I was all ready to try my gradient.  But then I noticed that "gradient" and "ombre" were sometimes used interchangeably in a lot of the videos.  And "gradient nails" and "ombre nails" look suspiciously similar.  Hmmm...Well #10 on Plasma Plays in 21 Ways, it says "Ombre Nails".  So what's the difference? 

I couldn't figure it out.  So, I'm going with "gradient=same shades" & "ombre=different colors".  So here are my nails:

Cult Nails "Sandbourne" & "Tulum", tipped with Sinful Colors "This Is It".  I know the gold doesn't look like it's part of the same shade, but it is!  "Sanbourne" & "Tulum" have golden shimmers in them! 

I still don't like this method.  My tips took FOREVER to dry, even with Seche Vite...I guess that's because there were at least 8 layers of polish there!  And they still got a little ruined cuz I had to use the restroom when they weren't completely set!  Ugh!!!!

So, if you know the difference between gradient & ombre, please share!!!

Plasma Speedo's 21 Ways to Play: "6. Stamp Some Metallic Polish on the Dark"

So yesterday I made some really bad choices.  I washed my car.  By hand.  My hands.  And I Armor-All'd everything.  And I also made a turkey dinner with all the fixin's, which of course means a lot of cleaning up along the way.  Which all equals wear and tear on the tips of my dark mani.  :-(  So I had to touch up the tips a bit before stamping.

This was my first real stamping foray, and after a few false starts, I got the hang of it!  This was really easy and fun!  The hardest part was finding a metallic polish that would show up against the black.  Take a look:

I LOVE how the flowers came out.  Check out the Lacquerologist's Springy Flowers Mani, which was my inspiration!  I used a lavender Wet n Wild metallic, and a Sally Hansen's Raspberry Chrome polish for the stamping, and they stamped very well and look really cool!  The best part is that they looked good messy-style.  I was super-excited about how it came out.  Then I tried adding silver butterflies with Pure Ice "Silver Mercedes".  But some butterflies came out better than others, and at the end of the day, I think I should have left well enough alone.  Well, live and learn!  

I'm still happy with this design, and will try something like this again.  Stamping is fun!  Thanks to Plasma Speedo for inspiring me to try different nail stuff with her Plasma's 21 Ways to Play!

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "5. Go Dark"

I have a bunch of dark colors that I haven't yet used, so had to go through a few before I settled on one.  But I was also thinking ahead to #6 in the Plasma Speedo's "Plasma Plays in 21 Ways", which is to stamp a metallic color over the dark mani.   I've got some metallic purples & pink, so I colored my nails with this:

This is a polish I picked up at Forever 21, and sadly, it has no name. But it is a beautiful dark black with subtle purple shimmer and I had full coverage after 2 coats.  Sorry the shimmer is hard to see in the pic, even in sunlight, but it's there in person.  I've been very happy with these Love & Beauty polishes so far!

I got my stamping inspiration/idea from The Lacquerologist's "Springy Flowers" mani.  It's sooo cute, but I'll be doing it in a kinda bizzarro way, since her's are on a white base and mine will be on black.  I hope it works out!

In other news, on my way home from dropping off the boys at school, I HAD to stop at CVS to see what they had:

My aqua-ish little haul.  I know they all look the same, but they're not!  L-R: Spoiled's "First Class Only", "Use Protection", "Deeper Dive", "Good Karma", and "The Parking Meteor Expired" - you have to see the little purple/teal flecks in this in person!  These are all beautiful and totally remind me of SCUBA diving in the Mexican Caribbean.  Ahhh, que nice!

And I'm totally blaming The Crumpet & her friggin' awesome Blue Mosaic mani for my recent acquisitions!  I loved her mani so much, I was instantly jealous of the range of teals she had.  So, now I've got my own! :-P

OK, so #4 here is only going to last till tonight.  I've got to puruse my stamping plates now...

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "4. Execute a Half-Moon Mani"

I am totally diggin;' the light spring pastel colors that are out right now!  I didn't think they would look good on my darker skin, but I found some I really like.  So I figured it was time for #4 in Plasma Speedo's 21 Ways to Play, Execute a Half-Moon Mani:

I should have cleaned up the cuticles before the pic, but I wanted to take it in this last little bit of sunlight so I could capture the sparkly top coats of China Glaze's "Fairy Dust" and Sally Hansen's "Disco Ball".  I must admit, I'm not a fan of this style of mani, which is why I decided to really try to go different with the shatter layer.  Meh.  I actually liked it better before the half-moon:

Well, this one will be on today & tomorrow, and then I'm moving on to #5 Go Dark.  Oh yeah!  Speaking of dark, my toes got a couple of new coats today too:

The base is a no-name black shimmer polish from Forever 21.  It was actually nice and thick, and was opaque in 2 coats with lots of silvery shimmer.  Not too bad for $1.  The crazy glitter on top is "Endangered Blue Loon" from Windestein.  This Etsy shop is really cool, and their prices are amazing.  "Blue Loon" is $5 for a full bottle, and I picked up "Into the Wild" and "80's Deco" for $6 each.  And shipping was super-fast.  Click that link!

Have a Happy Easter!

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "3. Polka Dots"

Easter is around the corner, so I HAD to do a cute mani for it!  First I saw this You Tube video from CutePolish: Cute Bunny Nails.  I LOVE her cute, short, simple tutorials!  I've got a few more on my "to try" list.

So, I also have a bunch of new polishes that I have not yet tried.  And I got new dotting tools too.  And I've got #3 of Plasma Plays in 21 Ways I still need to do.  Here's what I came up with:

How flippin' cute is that?  Yes, I know my bunnies are kind of lame, but for a first try, I'm calling it not too bad at all.  That Cute Polish girl really knows how to make this stuff look waaaay easier than it really is.

Here are the polishes I used:

I also got some new nail mail, but I'll share that another day.  Soooo, what do you think???

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "2. Add A Layer (of something) to That Nude"

Well, that's basically what #2 says.  Check it out yourself here: Plasma Plays in 21 Ways. 

I looked through my shimmers/glitters/flakies/holos, and found what I think is PERFECT with my nude mani:

Lacquistry's "Tepes"

I LOVE this!  The "Dress Me Up" is the perfect pale backdrop for the glittery gorgeousness that is "Tepes".  I need a bit more practice with my French Tip free-handing, but I'm likin' it!

I've already got grand plans for #3, which is "Polka Dots", but I love this mani so much, it's gonna get to stick around a while.  Have you started your 21 ways to play?

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "1. Rock a Nude Shade"

Here are my "nude" nails for Plasma Speedo's "Plasma Plays in 21 Ways".

This is China Glaze "Dress Me Up" from the Hunger Games Collection.  It's a perfect pinky-beige, and I'm calling it a nude :-)

Gorgeous as this is on its own, it's kinda tame for me, which is why I'm already thinking of the 2nd way to play: "Add a Layer of Shimmer/Glitter/Anything You Choose, To That Nude". 

Excuse me while I go stare at my polish stash to figure this one out... :-)