Hot Mint Marble

I was planning to show my lovely readers this manicure next week, but I am unexpectedly at the airport without my notes and this is the only manicure I have in my queue that I can remember the names of all the polishes used.  The reason I remember the names so well is that I am totally in love with this combination!

I've had it in my mind to try the marble technique for a while, but it is a very intimidating process that I feared would require tireless hours of practice before I could possibly achieve anything worth posting.  I watched many video tutorials on YouTube and came across this talented lady, who seems to be the authority on nail polish water marbling - and rightfully so, she creates some truly magical looks.

On my first go at water marbling I came up with this...

...not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

The polishes I used are Essie Mint Candy Apple, and Essie Smokin' Hot.  In the bottle Smokin' Hot looks like a dark aubergine, but in the water marbling it came out brown.  While I typically steer clear of anything close to brown, whether it's nail polish, clothing, or shoes, this combination totally floats my boat!

I am quite fond of the water marbling technique and am anxious to try it out as an accent nail.  That is my way of saying expect to see more marbling in the future!

I am excited that I will be back in North Dakota playing with my nieces and nephews before too long.  Any fun excursions or manicures planned for your weekend? 

Toodles!

Inspiration Thursday: Rosie the Riveter

Yesterday I was agonizing over what to do for this week's Inspiration Thursday - my BFF sarcastically suggested that I do the American flag, to which I respond with a resounding, "I don't think so!"  I continued to poke around online and brainstorm when for no apparent reason Rosie the Riveter came to mind. 

Now let's me honest, who doesn't think Rosie is one of the coolest female icons?  As I began to design a manicure inspired by her fabulous-ness I realized that I was creating a manicure that could have just as easily been inspired by the American flag - I guess my BFF got her wish after all.  Sigh.  ;-)

I started out with one of my favorite polishes - OPI Russian Navy, on my thumb, index, and middle finger.  I then used Cheeky plate CH26 on my thumb and added a silver star stud for some three-dimensional texture.  My index finger got three gold star studs, and my middle finger was topped with dots and a french tip in OPI Oy - Another Polish Joke!. 

To pay homage to Rosie's iconic bandana I painted my ring finger with two coats of Orly Monroe's Red and used Konad White for the polka dots.  My pinky was finished off with a combination I have shown several times before - two coats of OPI Oy - Another Polish Joke!, topped with one coat of Butter London Westend Wonderland. 

This look is a little more over-the-top than I typically sport, but it was tons of fun to create!

It's almost the weekend - yay!  I can't wait.  Toodles!

Sun Moon Manicure

Ever since I did my first Ruffian manicure I have not been able to keep it off my mind - I am constantly thinking of all the amazing combinations I can try.   

It seems that a traditional Ruffian is done using a soft neutral shade against the cuticle, which I was unsure about on the outset but I wanted to give it a try.  Here's what I came up with...

This look started out with two coats of Zoya Megan, a soft, creamy lilac purple.  Once that had completely dried I went in with two coats of Zoya Adina over the top.  While those two colors were lovely together and could easily stand on their own I felt like the look was still calling for a little something extra.  I slapped on a few round metal studs and immediately knew it was kismet.  Perfection.

Happy hump-day, Ladies!  Toodles!

Wedding Idea #1

In case you haven't heard, I'm getting married in less than four months!  Yay!  Naturally, I have been thinking about how I will paint my nails for the wedding. 

Here is my first idea - a subtle white on gold manicure.

I started out with two coats of Ciate Sand Dune 085, and stamped that with Red Angel plate RA-102.  I love Sand Dune because it is a beautifully subtle gold that won't grab too much attention on a day that is all about the dress.

I had envisioned something a little more fancy for my wedding but I think this is a good start.  What do you think, Ladies?

 

I can already hear the wedding bells ringing in my ears.  Squee!  Toodles!

Purple Feather

I’m running out of not-so-brilliant names for my blog posts.  I’ve never been one with words, so pardon me if my titles are less than entertaining.

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Who doesn’t need an injection of purple at the beginning of each week?  Certainly not me!  It’s funny – I used to HATE purple, like wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole hate.  Now, I can’t get enough of it.  Light, dark, pinkish, blueish, I love purple in all of its purple-y forms!

I started this look with two coats of Zoya Storm on my pinky, two coats of Zoya Perrie on my ring finger, middle finger, and thumb, and finally, two coats of Zoya Kendal on my index finger.  My nails polished with Perrie are stamped with a design from Cheeky Jumbo Plate A, using Konad Black special polish.  Also using Konad Black, I stamped my index with a feather from Red Angel plate RA-116. 

For a little extra flare I adorned my index finger with a purple rhinestone, and topped that with two coats of Essie Matte About You.  The rest of my nails were finished with a coat of Essie Good To Go.

I hope everyone's week is off to a splendid start.  Toodles for now!

Aztec

I'm not sure what to say about this manicure other than I wanted it to be colorful and fun.  I think I accomplished my goal.

From pinky to thumb I used two coats of the folowing: OPI Are We There Yet?, Zoya Wednesday, Zoya Robyn, OPI Don't Mess With OPI, and Zoya Lana.  I then stamped each finger with Pueen11, and placed a few dots on each nail in the colors I had used for base colors.

TGIF!  Toodles!

Inspiration Thursday: Rothko

A few weeks back when I started Inspiration Thursday and dear friend of mine suggested I try a manicure inspired by Mark Rothko.  I've long been a fan of his work, but I was trying to wrap my mind around how I could execute the perfect imperfection of a Rothko painting, on my nails.  Then I remembered that I just needed to be inspired by a Rothko painting not replicate it to the most minute detail - again, the perfectionist me was trying to take over, but I beat it back with all of the strength I could muster.

If you know me at all you know that I love green, and I LOVE pink, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that my favorite Rothko is Green Red on Orange.  While the title of the painting indicates it is red, not pink, I see pink when I look at it, so pink it is!

To achieve this Rothko-esque manicure I started out by painting my nails with two coats of Zoya Farah.  Once that had completely dried I cut a wedge makeup sponge into five small rectangular pieces.  I then placed a generous drop of Zoya Midori, and Zoya Katy about 1/16" apart on the sponge and dabbed it onto each nail.  I repeated the dabbing step twice to achieve the opacity you see here.

Any suggestions for next week's Inspiration Thursday?  Toodles!