"Watermelon Candy" Franken Nails

Yes, another post in the same day!  But I couldn't resist trying out my new Watermelon Candy franken! 

So, here it is over Zoya's Rory (which is soooo gorgeous on its own, and practically paints itself on!  I only had to use 1 coat)

And with flash:

Lovin' it!  I added 1 & 1/2 coats of my Watermelon Candy franken, and the 1/2 was just to make sure I had enough seeds on each nail.  YAY!

But what watermelon is complete without a rind?  Enter Zoya's "Ivanka"

Sun shot w/camera phone:

I can't stop staring at my nails, they're so sparkly in person!  I'm in love with my polish, and of course the Zoya's always blow me away!  This mani's gonna be on for a while! :-D

First-Time Frankening!

My Indie drawer is super-full!  I have my faves: Lacquistry, KB Shimmer, Darling Diva Polish, Windestine, and Pretty & Polished, and I have collected quite a few of these ;-).  Then there are others I order from to try based on pics, reviews, or just browsing Etsy.  I usually order 2 or 3 of their polishes at a time, and have fallen for Rainbow Honey, Utopia's Polish, Lacquer Convention, All that Glitters, Lush Lacquer, Feenix Polish, Whimsical Ideas by Pam, Aphrodite Lacquer, and Amy's Nail Boutique.  And I have 1 Dollish, and 1 Nailventurous, but that's because they're so hard to get a hold of.

The top box is where my Indie's live.  It's kinda full :-/

Anyway, I still browse Indie stores, but I'm starting to say "hmmm, I think I already have one like that" a lot more often.  So, of course, I figured I'd try my hand at making my own, since I could then customize my polish.

So, I ordered some supplies:

To begin my foray into this uncharted territory, I started pretty easy:   I added some Spectraflair powder to bottles of "Out the Door" fast-dry top coat.  I've got 14 & 35 "fineness".  Sorry, no pic though.  Just looks like a grey polish, but it's magic!  So far, so good!  :-)

But then I got down to the business of making polishes I've been wanting.  I made a matte black & white polish, with different sizes and shapes of glitter, including bars & squares (sound familiar?)  There are a TON of different versions out there, but none that I really loved.  I'm so happy with how mine came out.

I then needed to see how glitter behaves in the bottle, and how much I need, etc, so I figured I'd just add some pink, blue, & silver along w/silver bars for interest.  In the end, I added more blue than pink, and more bars than I thought I had needed.

Ever since seeing Lacquisty's custom "Watermelon", I've been wanting a glitter polish reminiscent of that sweet, summer fruit.  I started with pink glitter & added enough small black matte glitters to make it happen!

I also got some flakie-like pigments.  I had no idea how these would look, so I threw in equal parts blue, violet, and green.  I think it's fantastic over black.

I'm really happy with how these came out, especially since they're my VERY first tries!!  It was super-fun, too!  I'm sure as I go along I'll have some serious fails, but maybe I'll have some serious outrageousness!  I already want to order more glitter!! ;-)

Frankening looked so fun, my boys wanted to try it out too!

They came up with "Glitter Bomb" and "Glitter Party"

Have you tried Frankening?

4th of July Mani - MoDiddie Style!

So this is the weekend immediately preceding 4th of July, which falls on a Wednesday this year.  So, I figured I should do the patriotic thing, and color my nails red, white and blue.

I've seen lots of really cool designs peeps have entered into nail art contests on FB for the 4th, and I did some image searches too for some inspiration.   I was really excited about the water marble American Flag mani by MoDiddie.  Click HERE to see her YouTube tutorial...she's got other cool videos too!  HERE is her blog, too! ;-)

 Indoors

 In the sun

On the car dashboard ;-)

Please excuse the poor clean-up...hubby was rushing me cuz we were leaving on a trip to San Diego.  Unfortunately, in his rush, he forgot the suitcase at home, so we are here for 4 days w/out even a toothbrush, let alone clothing!!!  The worst part is that I had packed some nail stuff so I could change my mani up.  Time to go shopping!!

Anyway, I like how this came out!  It took me a few times to get the striping right in the water marble, but it was fun.  Biggest tip I can give you for water marbling:  PUT A TOP COAT OVER YOUR BASE COLOR BEFORE YOU DIP YOUR FINGER IN.  I use a cheap fast-dry (NYC) top coat to not only help cut the time between prepping and actual dipping, but if your marble doesn't come out, just lightly swipe your nail with remover, and you're ready to try again...no need to re-prep!  Ask me how I know ;-)

Also, do NOT down a Cinnamon Dolce Latte right before trying to precisely place little white dots on your nail.  My hand was shaking like a leaf, and I came out with interesting stars on my flag ;-)

The glitter is Pretty & Polished's "Freedom Calling".  This is 3, strategically-placed coats.  You can visit her Etsy shop HERE, although you should also follow her on FaceBook HERE for updates about her stocking schedule.    

I like this one, but I have plans for another RW& B mani before the actual big day...

Lacquistry Custom "Sand & Sea"

If you have followed my blog or FB page at all, you know that I absolutely adore Jenna @ Lacquistry!  She is a freakin' polish-making goddess, and is a total sweetheart to boot!  So, when I had the opportunity to request a custom order from her a while back, I jumped on the chance!  

I have already posted about one of my customs, "Hawaiian Sunset".  Next up is "Sand & Sea".  

Jenna says, "First up, you asked for something involving the beach and sand. I came up with something for you combining 9 different shapes, sizes and colors. We have the ocean represented by a "salty" cool oceanic blue (hey that rhymed!) sprinkled with mini holo sea green hexs' and light blue holo hexs'. The sand meets the sea with an "un-gold" true shimmering sand color- achieved by blending 3 different fine sand colors and a sand colored mini-hex for size interest. I kept it more of a cool-toned, misty day as opposed to a bright sunny day, if that makes sense."

 I think it makes PERFECT sense!!

I mean, look at that freakin' BLING!!  And it is totally the SAND & SEA.  Well, technically, this is the Ocean (Newport Beach, CA to be exact), but whatever!  These are the cool colors of the Pacific, as opposed to the bright aqua's of like the Carribbean, and I LOVE it!  I am totally amazed that she was able to get the color of the beach into a bottle!!  

The other polishes in my mani are Zoya's "Charla" and a water marble fail of a gold & silver Pure Ice polish (I'm too lazy to find the names, and I'm too bitter to care).  I actually painted "Charla" over the other failed water marbles, since I've heard she stains like a beeotch, so hopefully this layering will help avoid that.

Here's another pic in the sun, cuz that's how I roll!

For a little more drama to this story, this is actually the 2nd version of "Sand & Sea".  The first exploded in the mail, and arrived like this:

We think it was due to the heat, since it was like 110 degrees in Arizona, and about that here in Cali during the transit time, and it actually had to bake in my metal mailbox all day until I got home from work.  It was obviously well-wrapped, so it doesn't seem likely that was the culprit.  At any rate, Jenna promptly made a replacement one, which made it home safe & sound (obviously, duh!).

Sorry, it seems like I gush whenever I have something to say about Lacquistry, but I've loved every single polish of hers I've gotten (I'm up to 20).  She's also the one that got me hooked into this nail community; I accidentally stumbled upon "Autumn Flurries" in an Etsy treasury and the rest is history.  Also, Jenna is a true artist who really cares about her craft, and I deeply admire her talent.  Did I mention she's also like the coolest person ever?

Jenna is currently finishing up her custom orders (she's not taking any more at this time), and has announced that she will start stocking her Etsy Shop soon.  Keep an eye on her Facebook Page for updates, and to also check out the other custom polishes she's made for other lucky customers.  I can't wait to get me more Lacquistry!!  

Strawberry Toes & Flower Nails

This Saturday (yesterday), I actually had time to do my nails.  So I spent almost an hour soaking/scrubbing glitter off my toes & fingers, and then, coincidentally, decided to do a glitter-less mani & pedi.   ;-)

Here are my strawberry toes, and I think they came out soooo cute!  I made the leaves with a striper, and dotted the yellow seeds on with a pointy dotting tool.

I also had a really cool vision of a pastel flower mani in my head.

I was less than impressed with this, so I didn't even bother taking a proper "mani" pic...this is the only documentation of that total fail.

But, I do have a new mani on, and it also didn't come out the way I wanted it to.  So, I'll be re-doing that one too!  If at first you don't succeed...plus, it gives me a chance to try out a bunch of stuff! ;-)

Elixir Lacquer "We Sisters Three"

I've been wanting to change my mani all week, but I've been soooo tired when I get home from work that I can't bring myself to do go through the whole ordeal of acetone, cuticle removal, filing, buffing, moisturizing, base coat, etc, etc.  So I cheated and swiped a coat of an untried Indie I've had for a while over my old mani:

This is Elixir Lacquers "We Sisters Three".  It's a super-holographic glitter with a faint  greenish-aqua sheen.  Very cool in person...I couldn't quite capture that sparkle in my pic.  

I am wanting to try so many techniques and colors, I can barely decide what to do next.  But I need to do my toesies, too, so I'll have double the decisions for tomorrow.  Can't wait! :-)

"Try It On Tuesday" - Zoya Edyta & Trixie

So Jillastic Nail Design is sponsoring a super-fun "Try It On Tuesday" for those of us who may have a few "untried" polishes languishing and frustrated, their beauty bottled up in their...er...bottles ;-)

But enough melodrama!  I have been wanting to try these beauties together for a long time:

These are Zoya's "Edyta" & "Trixie".  And they are so much more gorgeous in person than in these pics!  They went on sooo smoothly, as per usual with Zoya.  Edyta's shimmer is kind of gold-ish green-ish...very beautiful.  And Trixie is just pure bling!  These are 2 coats of each over base coat & topped with Seche Vite.

And my favorite shot:

Who says short nails can't be cute?!?  

I totally feel the need for stamping coming on...I wonder what I'll come up with ;-)