Hello Kitty Loves Pink Confetti

Hello there! I hope the weather is treating you better than it's treating me. Honestly, it's bizarre to have snow in Louisiana in February! I've been snuggled up in my fuzzy socks, trying to keep warm while I dream up new things to do to nails.

Speaking of nails, I finally got around to testing the Confetti polish I bought a few months back. I know, I know, I'm so behind on things. I'm getting there, though! I chose a sweet pink glitter polish with multicolor transparent glitter in multiple sizes called Pink Confetti. I know, it's an original name, but it fits!


I wanted to see just how much color this polish had, so I put it over a white base. I put one coat on, then added two more coats to the top half of the nail. As you can see, you wind up with a lovely sheer pink with tons of glitter. Looking at it now, I think I'll have to test it over some dark colors next to see if I can bring out the colors in the glitter.

However, that's for a future post. Instead I decided to try out some decals I made a while back. You may or may not know this, but I absolutely love Hello Kitty. Since I couldn't find any HK decals that I liked enough to buy, I decided to experiment a bit and see if I could make some.

So, how did I make these? Easy enough, if somewhat fiddly. I went online and searched for Hello Kitty images. I saved several of my favorites, then resized them in Photoshop. Once I had them at a size I thought might be appropriate, I decided I needed to do a test print to see if they really were a good size. It's so hard to tell on the computer!

I saved the image then printed it on regular white printer paper with my laser printer. Once I had the test print in my hand, I realized that hey, I might be able to cut these out and use them as they are! I spent a few minutes cutting with my teeny manicure scissors, hoping I could cut them neatly without losing any details. Sure enough, I wound up with the tiniest little Hello Kitty wearing her cute glasses! I added a dab of clear nail polish and pressed the paper decal onto the nail, then topped it with a thick coat of clear polish, and what do ya know... I had Hello Kitty on my nail!

Then I remembered my Fing'rs nail gems. That set has lots of shapes of gems- hearts, teardrops, and one that looks like a dog bone... or a bow! I pulled the set out and realized that it would fit perfectly, so I quickly pressed it into the wet nail polish, and you see the end result! Hello Kitty has a sweet, dimensional bow.

What can I say, I think I love this look. Once my nails grow out a bit, I'll definitely have to try this on my own nails!

It's weird to see a celebrity you like, but not talk to them because you don't want to disturb them.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Rainbow Flowers After Showers?

Wow, long time no blog! What can I say, it's been chaotic around here. Lots of weather changes going on, lots of weirdness. Plus, I managed to break every nail on my swatching hand, so I'm down to nubs. Oh yea, that's pretty to photograph! However, I've been experimenting on some false nails, so I have things to show you.

Today's nail art is a revisiting of a nail I'd made earlier. You may remember my acrylic paint rainbow I did a while back. While I love the look, I still wanted to try and experiment with it, see if I could come up with one more look for it.

I think I managed? It's different, at least. I'm not sure if I like it, though. I used a black acrylic paint to block out everything but the flower petals, and then added a single rhinestone in the center from the Fing'rs Flirt Nail & Body Jewels. Once the stone was in  place, I covered the whole thing with a layer or two of my Sally Hansen topcoat, just to secure everything in place and make sure I get that glassy look I love.

So, pros and cons. I love the bright color against the deep black gloss. It's really an interesting look. The stone gives it a nice pop, and I think this look has massive potential. Unfortunately, I think my petals are extremely sloppy and that I put so much black that I've lost the beauty of the rainbow on this nail. It's not awful, but it's certainly not good.

Ah well, I know I'm a perfectionist. One thing I did love is the Fing'rs gems I used. They come in a weird little clamshell container that is absolutely awful- the gems stick to the top and go everywhere if you aren't careful. For example, I was working with these one night and accidentally dumped them in my lap not once, not twice, but three times in a row. And because I'm OCD, I had to sort them back into their little cubbies properly. However, if you can get past that, the gems themselves are absolutely GORGEOUS!!

Seriously, look at these! They're so colorful, and they're small enough to look pretty and dainty on the nail. I also like that there's a range of colors and shapes. Overall, I think this set is totally worth the money, and you'll be seeing a lot more of these in the next few weeks!

So, what do you think? Is this nail a win or a fail?

The nail gems were provided by Fing'rs for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Laynie Wore a French Manicure!

Winter is an interesting time here in Louisiana. You never know what the weather will do, especially in the winter. The temperatures will be in the 80s one afternoon, in the 30s the next night, then back into the 70s a few days later.  Unfortunately, every time it gets really cold (and sometimes really rainy) our internet becomes really unreliable.

It's been really cold here, and really rainy. As a result, I'm currently sitting in CCs coffee with a turtle mochasippi at my side, trying to hammer out a blog post before I fall asleep. It may or may not happen. I have fear that I'll end up falling asleep with my face on the keyboard, accidentally posting a blog filled with random letters and drool.

Not that I drool when I sleep. Nooo, not me. Besides, drool doesn't travel over the internet. :D

Anyway, I did something totally out of character for me today. Nothing bad, just something I've never done. I've had a packet of Fing'rs Flirt french tip artificial nails sitting in my review box for over a month while I kicked around the idea of wearing them. It's not like I didn't have anything to post... I was really enjoying posting holiday nail art, but I think we've basically exhausted that topic for the year.

So I pulled out my review box this morning and started pulling goodies out, and I realized that hey... I felt like wearing some pretty nails! I didn't want to have to deal with filing and gluing, or damage to my nails. I didn't have a lot of energy either, so I figured what the hell, I'd try the nails. It was a learning experience, to say the least!!

I'm not sure how you're supposed to apply them using the adhesive tabs. I first tried applying the tabs to my fingertips, then pressing the nails into place onto the tabs. That failed miserably! I got three nails sort of on, then realized they felt really wobbly. I pressed lightly against the nail tip and was surprised to see the nail just flop off my finger as if it were almost unattached! I tried the other two as well, and realized that I'd totally wasted the first 10 tabs.

I'll be honest with y'all... I said a few bad words then. Just a few, but still... they were pretty rude. I packed the nails back up and had decided I'd leave them for another day when I realized that no... if I gave up now, I'd be irritated for the rest of the day. There's no way I could let a few little pieces of plastic get the best of me! I couldn't let them win!

Now, I'm almost positive that my technique is so far from right that I'm not going to tell you exactly what I did. Let's just say it involved getting the adhesive on the nail first, and then sticking the whole shebang onto my nail. I used lots of tools, too... the plastic cuticle pusher tool included in the kit, my little scissors I keep in my purse, bamboo skewers... it looked amusing, and probably kind of dangerous.

It's best if you don't think too much about just what I did. Instead, look at the pretty pictures. Aren't they pretty? We took my mom to run errands after I got the nails on and she thought they looked really natural, very feminine and delicate and pretty. I also saw my stepmother who seemed to think they looked nice.

The part that surprised me most is just how pretty I felt wearing them. The nails themselves reminded me of my mom's nails, which made me so happy. My mom always had the perfect hands, the perfect nails. Her nails are so gorgeous, the perfect shape, strong and healthy. She's had people ask her for years if they were her natural nails, and I've seen her prove it more than once by letting them see the underside of her nails. Mine have never looked as pretty as hers, so to look down and see nails that resembled hers totally made my day.

Even though I'm a serious color girl, I absolutely loved the natural, simple look of these. Ok, the sort of natural look, or the natural acrylic look... whatever! They looked really pretty, and they could have been my own with a french manicure. For whatever reason, I didn't miss having sparkles on today, I didn't want bright color or holographic polish. I was happy with a basic french manicure.

Who'd have ever believed that?

As much as I wish I could rave all night about the beauty of these babies, they aren't perfect. I don't know if it's because of how I applied them or if it's just a problem with the adhesive tabs, but if you expand the photo you can see bubbles in the adhesive. There are tiny ones and large ones, and although I'd love to blame the flash, they were visible with regular light as well. If you can't handle that, then you'll hate these.

However, I'm now really, really intrigued by these nails. I think I may end up actually using the glue to attach them, since I know how to get them off now without destroying my nails. We'll have to see. I have a feeling they'd look a lot more natural if I used a brush-on glue. We'll see.

As for the adhesive tabs, they ended up breaking down from what I assume was my body heat after the full say of wearing them. I could have stuck the nails back down for a few more hours without removing them, but I wasn't that worried about keeping them on. They came off with no problems, and although one section of splitting on one nail got lifted, it had already lifted and was just hanging on by sheer force of will. My other 9 nails have absolutely no damage.

I removed the glue residue from my nails with a cottonball and some acetone, then moisturized thoroughly. Although my nails are now deep purple (H&M Goddess On Stage, which you may see tomorrow!), I have to admit... I'm missing the french tips. I never would have imagined I'd enjoy it this much!

So talk to me- what are your thoughts on french manicures? Do you love 'em? Hate 'em? Have you never tried 'em? Are you a funky french girl, or strictly natural? I want to hear all about it!

Until next time...

Fing'rs Flirt artificial nails was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Little Fing'rs "Girlie Nails" Nail Art Variety Pack

I think I'm in love. For years I've had a massive obsession with penguins. Big ones, small ones, real ones, stuffed ones... I don't care, I love them all. So when I saw on Scrangie's blog that Little Fing'rs has penguin nail decals I went nuts! Every time I went to a store that might carry Fing'rs products, I'd check out their cosmetics department, digging through the decals, hoping to find the penguins.

I kept failing.

I found awesome punk rock decals, I found lots of the typical floral decals. But I had checked 5 or 6 stores and still no penguin decals. That is, until I found them. It turns out I'd actually passed them by on more than one occasion, simply because they had cheerleading decals on top. Unfortunately, I'm not sports-inclined, and the idea of doing my nails up to support some sports team just didn't interest me. I never thought to look at the stickers under the top sheet!

But I finally found them, and my husband didn't even complain when I stuck them in our shopping cart! He knows how I am with my penguins...

I love this set even more because of the monkeys. My husband loves monkeys almost as much as I love penguins, so the idea of monkeys and penguins living happily together on the sticker sheet and later on my nails feels like an omen, a sign that we truly are destined to spend our lives together blissfully happy. (Because clearly 17 years of happy marriage isn't enough to show me that!)

The surprising thing is that I really like the other sheets, even the cheer sheets! There are lots of decals I can see myself using, which makes me really happy. (Now to see if I can convince myself to actually USE the decals!) Check them out!

I can't wait to use them and see how they work on. I'm curious- what do you think of them?