I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to win that? I know I would! So quick, time is running out. Go enter!! Run!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Holy Moly, munchkinland!
Wow. Kellie Gonzo over at Also Known As is having one of the biggest giveaways I've seen yet! Ok, so I've only been looking for a little while, but still! This is a huge honkin' pile of stuff!! Just look at it!
I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to win that? I know I would! So quick, time is running out. Go enter!! Run!
I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to win that? I know I would! So quick, time is running out. Go enter!! Run!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Disembodied Nails on Sticks...
Sometimes I worry about myself...
I'm finally finishing up my first set of artificial nails. They're a really fun pattern, and I love love love them. But as I was putting the final coat of topcoat on, I realized that as they were all drying that they reminded me of when tyrants in the dark ages would line the streets with disembodied heads on pikes, warning anyone coming into town that crime would be dealt with swiftly and harshly.
So tell me, wonderful readers (all three of you!! Hi!!) ... just what would a row of disembodied rainbow zebra-striped nails on bamboo sticks warn people of? Because for the life of me, I simply don't know!
I'm finally finishing up my first set of artificial nails. They're a really fun pattern, and I love love love them. But as I was putting the final coat of topcoat on, I realized that as they were all drying that they reminded me of when tyrants in the dark ages would line the streets with disembodied heads on pikes, warning anyone coming into town that crime would be dealt with swiftly and harshly.
So tell me, wonderful readers (all three of you!! Hi!!) ... just what would a row of disembodied rainbow zebra-striped nails on bamboo sticks warn people of? Because for the life of me, I simply don't know!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Magenta-to-Orange Gradient Nails
OMG, I so love what I did to my nails tonight! I've gone with a gradient again, because gradients are seriously making my day! This time, I went with a gradient from magenta to bright-hot orange. It's so pretty and summery! Pics soon!
Edited to add: OMG, best manicure mess-up ever!! I smudged the heck out of my middle finger on my right hand, so I removed everything on that finger and repainted, and decided to flip the gradient on both middle fingers. SO CUTE!! This totally needs pics!
Edited again: Grr. Managed to destroy the mani without taking decent photos. Gave up, cleaned the mess off, and painted nails with Pure Ice Hot Tamale. I'll try again later. =/
Edited One Last Time: GRRRRR! Bungled the Hot Tamale. Apparently, I am too worn out from my road trip to attempt to polish my nails. I'm taking the whole shebang off and going to bed. Here, enjoy pics from before the blog.
Pretend I did this tonight. It may be a fail, but at least it was a technique fail, rather than a clumsy "omg, I destroyed it" fail. *frown*
Edited to add: OMG, best manicure mess-up ever!! I smudged the heck out of my middle finger on my right hand, so I removed everything on that finger and repainted, and decided to flip the gradient on both middle fingers. SO CUTE!! This totally needs pics!
Edited again: Grr. Managed to destroy the mani without taking decent photos. Gave up, cleaned the mess off, and painted nails with Pure Ice Hot Tamale. I'll try again later. =/
Edited One Last Time: GRRRRR! Bungled the Hot Tamale. Apparently, I am too worn out from my road trip to attempt to polish my nails. I'm taking the whole shebang off and going to bed. Here, enjoy pics from before the blog.
Pretend I did this tonight. It may be a fail, but at least it was a technique fail, rather than a clumsy "omg, I destroyed it" fail. *frown*
Continuing to set up LaynieFingers blog...
Wow. I'm still going through the various options for the blog. If I'd waited until everything was perfect, I don't think I'd ever have posted a single entry! There are so many options, and so many things I'm not sure if I want or not!
Expect changes, folks. I'm not sure what things will look like for a few days, but there are posts coming that have to do with nails! :D
Expect changes, folks. I'm not sure what things will look like for a few days, but there are posts coming that have to do with nails! :D
One amazing contest!
Oh, wow. The girls at Concrete and Nail Polish are hosting one heck of a giveaway! Seriously, this is a sweet collection of goodies that anyone would be happy to get, myself included! I'll quote part of her blog about this:
Do I even need to tell you to head on over and sign up? Because really... even if I don't win, if you do you're still spreading that happiness around! Ok, so that didn't quite make sense. Does it matter?
Go! Enter! And while you're out there doing my bidding, hug someone. Make someone smile. Do something happy today!
I want to have another giveaway that's open internationally and I can always do that when I don't have a company sponsoring the giveaway. Everything is brand new. Some are items I've won but can't use or don't need since I already have something similar. Some items were purchased just for this giveaway.
One lucky follower from anywhere in the world will win:
* A set of Kiss Mix or Match Nails
* Cream Perfume Company Rose de Rosee Body Moisturizer
* Olivia Care Olive Oil Verbena Soap
* OPI Tiny Takeouts Hong Kong Collection
* 2 Tic Tac Polishes
* 3 Maybelline Express Finish Polishes
* A Sally Girl Polish
* 2 Sally Hansen Salon Polishes
* A Nubar Polish
* 4 Sinful Polishes
Do I even need to tell you to head on over and sign up? Because really... even if I don't win, if you do you're still spreading that happiness around! Ok, so that didn't quite make sense. Does it matter?
Go! Enter! And while you're out there doing my bidding, hug someone. Make someone smile. Do something happy today!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
A first post? Really?
It's finally happened. It started out easily enough. I've always loved color, but nail polish would never stick to my nails. I would paint my nails carefully, taking the time to make it as perfect as possible, but by the end of the first day my polish would be peeled up in giant sheets. No matter what I tried, polish just wouldn't stay on!
I tried for years, off and on. I'd see a new kind of polish that guaranteed to stay on for a week and I'd buy a bottle, usually a deep sparkly red. I'd try again, and soon be devastated because it just didn't stick. finally I gave up, realizing that it just wasn't meant to be.
I'm not sure what made me try again. I'm older now, and my skin has gone from being incredibly oily to actually being dry for much of the year. I don't know why, but I picked up a bottle of polish again and did my nails, not really expecting anything. I waited, and waited, and waited...
Finally, after 8 days, I gave up and bought a bottle of nail polish remover. It's the first time I ever removed a color before it mostly came off on its own! And with that, I was hooked.
My name is Laynie, and I am addicted to nail polish. My friends are sick of hearing me talk about it, my husband thinks I've lost my mind, and every time I pass the cosmetics section of a store, I have to go drool at the pretty colors. I look at my nails when they're done with a sense of giddiness that makes every day just that much brighter, and I spend entirely too much time surfing through nail polish blogs, devouring other people's pictures and pretty stories.
And so here we are- I've started my own nail polish blog, and it's all about my ups and downs with nail polish, the weird stories I have (like how I wind up with nail polish in the strangest places when I get distracted), the manicures that make me want to sing with joy, and the disasters that make me want to bang my head into the wall. I'm also a photo freak, so while I don't have the prettiest hand or nails, I will have much-photographed ones. Also, I'm hoping to do some videos, both tutorials and just plain pretties, like how my holographic nail polish sparkles in the sun.
For now, I'll leave you with some photos to show what I've done and where I'm going. I've got a serious love for rainbows and bright colors. You should get that idea when you see what I do...
This was an idea that was better in concept than in execution. I may need to get some dotting tools, or make some better ones than I'm using at the moment. I used a bright, deep pink and Gosh holographic polish.
I used bamboo skewers to make the dots. Unfortunately, they came out all different sizes, and I'm just not happy with the dots overall. They're too random, too... I just don't like the way they're done. Maybe next time...
This was fun! I'd seen a drawing of a cupcake that really simplified the lines, so I wanted to try it. This particular nail is pretty tiny, so there's not a lot of room to work, but even so! The cupcake is basically the width of my pinkie fingernail.
I wish I'd used better colors on it, though. These don't say "cupcake" to me, but again, it was more a test to see if I could do it. The result? Yes, but it's gonna take practice. That's ok. I like cupcakes enough to practice. :D
This set is love. Just a random set of practice nails I did, trying to get used to my brushes. As you can see, I'm figuring out how to paint gradients that look pretty. I've got one more gradient nail to photo, but these give you a nice idea of what I've been playing with.
I'm using acrylic paints, not nail polish to get those gradients. I wish I had that many colors, in a way, but then again, I'm kind of glad I don't. This way, I can mix any color I want, just about, other than fluorescents. I may look into additives for acrylic paints one of these days, just to get more interesting effects. But right now, we don't have a lot of disposable income (read- any), so I'm making do with what I have. It's still more than enough to have fun with.
That's one reason I'd like to do some tutorials. I know I'm not the only one who needs to save some money these days, and acrylics are so much easier to use in some ways. This way, maybe I can inspire some people the way other people have inspired me!
Finally, there's this- this is what I'm wearing right now. This came about because I'm absolutely fascinated by the sky. I love the daytime sky with the blues so vivid that they hurt your eyes and make you feel so happy that your chest feels like it's going to swell and burst with joy. I love the nighttime sky, deep and mysterious, filled with the magic of the universe. I know it's sappy, but I really love the sky.
So, I may make a tutorial on the various ways I make these gradients. They're really pretty easy, and the resulting look is pretty spectacular, I think. Best of all, they don't take a million colors of polish. I've got three blues, two reds, a pink, a yellow, black and white. With those few colors, I can make any color I want, just about.
So stick around- things may get interesting! :D
♥ Laynie
I tried for years, off and on. I'd see a new kind of polish that guaranteed to stay on for a week and I'd buy a bottle, usually a deep sparkly red. I'd try again, and soon be devastated because it just didn't stick. finally I gave up, realizing that it just wasn't meant to be.
I'm not sure what made me try again. I'm older now, and my skin has gone from being incredibly oily to actually being dry for much of the year. I don't know why, but I picked up a bottle of polish again and did my nails, not really expecting anything. I waited, and waited, and waited...
Finally, after 8 days, I gave up and bought a bottle of nail polish remover. It's the first time I ever removed a color before it mostly came off on its own! And with that, I was hooked.
My name is Laynie, and I am addicted to nail polish. My friends are sick of hearing me talk about it, my husband thinks I've lost my mind, and every time I pass the cosmetics section of a store, I have to go drool at the pretty colors. I look at my nails when they're done with a sense of giddiness that makes every day just that much brighter, and I spend entirely too much time surfing through nail polish blogs, devouring other people's pictures and pretty stories.
And so here we are- I've started my own nail polish blog, and it's all about my ups and downs with nail polish, the weird stories I have (like how I wind up with nail polish in the strangest places when I get distracted), the manicures that make me want to sing with joy, and the disasters that make me want to bang my head into the wall. I'm also a photo freak, so while I don't have the prettiest hand or nails, I will have much-photographed ones. Also, I'm hoping to do some videos, both tutorials and just plain pretties, like how my holographic nail polish sparkles in the sun.
For now, I'll leave you with some photos to show what I've done and where I'm going. I've got a serious love for rainbows and bright colors. You should get that idea when you see what I do...
This was an idea that was better in concept than in execution. I may need to get some dotting tools, or make some better ones than I'm using at the moment. I used a bright, deep pink and Gosh holographic polish.
I used bamboo skewers to make the dots. Unfortunately, they came out all different sizes, and I'm just not happy with the dots overall. They're too random, too... I just don't like the way they're done. Maybe next time...
This was fun! I'd seen a drawing of a cupcake that really simplified the lines, so I wanted to try it. This particular nail is pretty tiny, so there's not a lot of room to work, but even so! The cupcake is basically the width of my pinkie fingernail.
I wish I'd used better colors on it, though. These don't say "cupcake" to me, but again, it was more a test to see if I could do it. The result? Yes, but it's gonna take practice. That's ok. I like cupcakes enough to practice. :D
This set is love. Just a random set of practice nails I did, trying to get used to my brushes. As you can see, I'm figuring out how to paint gradients that look pretty. I've got one more gradient nail to photo, but these give you a nice idea of what I've been playing with.
I'm using acrylic paints, not nail polish to get those gradients. I wish I had that many colors, in a way, but then again, I'm kind of glad I don't. This way, I can mix any color I want, just about, other than fluorescents. I may look into additives for acrylic paints one of these days, just to get more interesting effects. But right now, we don't have a lot of disposable income (read- any), so I'm making do with what I have. It's still more than enough to have fun with.
That's one reason I'd like to do some tutorials. I know I'm not the only one who needs to save some money these days, and acrylics are so much easier to use in some ways. This way, maybe I can inspire some people the way other people have inspired me!
Finally, there's this- this is what I'm wearing right now. This came about because I'm absolutely fascinated by the sky. I love the daytime sky with the blues so vivid that they hurt your eyes and make you feel so happy that your chest feels like it's going to swell and burst with joy. I love the nighttime sky, deep and mysterious, filled with the magic of the universe. I know it's sappy, but I really love the sky.
So, I may make a tutorial on the various ways I make these gradients. They're really pretty easy, and the resulting look is pretty spectacular, I think. Best of all, they don't take a million colors of polish. I've got three blues, two reds, a pink, a yellow, black and white. With those few colors, I can make any color I want, just about.
So stick around- things may get interesting! :D
♥ Laynie
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