A sketch from last night...

Hi everyone! Good news, my doctor has been absolutely fabulous and given me 2 sample packets of sleeping medicine to help me both get to sleep and stay asleep. Last night I did... I wound up going to bed around 9:30 and sleeping through, mostly. I woke up twice, but was able to go back to sleep and that was such a wonderful experience. I woke up this morning feeling happier than I have in weeks, and managed to take my mom to the doctor and actually be useful there.

It was a very good day. To share this, I decided to post a quick sketch I drew the other night. This was a 3am, spur-of-the-moment sketch, and I am so, so content with it. I had no idea I could do this!

It's just pencil and blending stump, but I think this is the first time I've managed to draw a face with expression, a nose that looks like a nose. It feels good!

Also, have a fishie. She's cute and sweet. ♥

One More Experimental Nail, A Halloween Treat!

Good news! I spoke with my doctor and I've got meds now that should help me sleep tonight. I love my doctor and her office staff. They get back to me in a reasonable amount of time, they work with me and they're always super nice. I got really lucky to get into this clinic.

So, one more sparse post and tomorrow may be a post-less day due to RL constraints. Then I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things with the blog. I've got some fabulous photos to share with everyone if only I can stay awake and focus long enough to prep & post them! Thanks for being patient with me!

I did this sample nail a few days ago while I was feeling in a halloween-y mood. I wanted something purple because... well, because I've been almost obsessed with purple lately, and the "blood" matched nicely. Because it was such a cute manicure I decided to name it something cute- My Bloody Eggplant! Sort of like My Bloody Valentine, only with eggplant!

Hey, I haven't slept in days. Cut me some slack already! =P

Because the flash photos sort of blocked the images, I wanted to take another set of photos to show the design that much more clearly. As you can see, the blood drips seem three dimensional, with a nice shadow underneath the edges. I absolutely love the way this nail has come out! I may need to do an entire set of nails in this style.

So what do you think? Would you wear them? Let me know in the comments!

More experimental nails...

If you've been following me on Twitter, you know I've been fighting with insomnia. I still am, and so I'm going to make today's post short and sweet. Yay for experimental nails!

This is a very strong graphic print. I used black, white, and silver to keep the tone monochromatic. I like the look, it's sort of edgy with a 3d pop thanks to the studs and stars.


This one includes basic white polish from Fantasy Makers (woohoo for $0.49 clearance sales!), a black Art Deco striper ($1 at the Dollar Tree!), silver Sally Hansen Salon Pedal to the Metal, various silver glitter stripers (Art Deco Silver Glitter, KISS Rock Star), and a silver Art Deco striper. It also has iridescent white/pink cutout stars and black studs from Viva la Nail to add a bit of dimensional pop. It's all sealed and topped off with a couple of coats of China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat.

KISS Rock Star, white stars and black studs were provided by the manufacturers for evaluation.

This nail was an experiment using various stripers over a metallic base. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but it is fun. I did the animated gif so that you could see the entire nail. I think it has a grafitti feel to it, rather funky and fun.

I used one coat of Sally Hansen Color Quick Chrome Pen in Metallic Turquoise as a base, then topped that with one coat China Glaze Fast Forward just to protect it. Then I added stripes and dots using various stripers. Stripers were Art Deco in white, bright green, yellow, and pink and KISS Nail Art Nail Paint in pearl blue and red.

The Sally Hansen Color Quick Chrome Pen and the KISS Nail Art Nail Paints were provided by the companies for evaluation.

Finally, I did a nail I called the Golden Princess look. I wanted to play with the idea of using glitter pieces as a tile to cover sections of the nail for a glamorous, truly blingy look. I used a s

Unfortunately, once I got them to this point, I felt as if they weren't quite finished. I spoke with a friend who gave me an idea on how to finish it.

I simply added a spaced line of the glitter sequins down either side of the glitter stripe down the center of the nail and it emed to finish the nail. Unfortunately my camera didn't quite capture the color truly on the second photo, but you still get the idea.

Supplies used: Zoya Tiffany, Sally Hansen Salon Gilty Pleasure, KISS Gold Glitter, Viva La Nail gold sequins.

Zoya Tiffany, KISS Gold Glitter, & Viva La Nail gold sequins were provided for consideration.

So, the question now becomes do I create any of these as full sets... what do you think? :D

Tips & Tricks- How to Restore Your Seche Vite!

If you're a fan of nail polish blogs, chances are you've read rave reviews about Seche Vite, the super-amazing quick-dry topcoat that smooths out bumps, dries your nail polish in 5 minutes flat, and makes your polishes look super glassy. I'll be honest- I didn't think a topcoat could be worth $10 when I read the reviews. Once again, I thought polish was polish, and didn't see a reason to spend $10 when I could buy a topcoat from Love My Nails for $1.

Like I said in my last post, I'm frugal.

Then I worked on a set of nail tips that needed to be leveled out, so I splurged on a bottle. I figured hey, once I sell them I'll get the money back, so it's worth it. And I was amazed at just how different this top coat really is. Then I used it on my own nails as an experiment and was astonished. It really is that good!

Unfortunately, as I continued to use it, I found out what everyone else already knew: as you use it, it gets thicker. And thicker. And thicker. It gets so thick that eventually you can't use it, and it does it quickly. By the time I'd gotten halfway through my bottle, it was like trying to paint my nails with molasses!

I was absolutely disgusted. What's the point of spending $10 on a bottle of topcoat if it's going to be unusable halfway through! It's a total waste, I thought. I decided to use my nail polish thinner to try and salvage what was left in the bottle, and while it's usable, the magic is gone. It's no longer the amazing topcoat it was.

Then I learned something amazing. This morning I was chatting on twitter when @the_asian_girl told me her secret: Seche Restore. This isn't a solvent that thins polishes. Instead, it actually replaces the volatile chemicals that have evaporated from the bottle of Seche Vite, restoring it to its original magical state!

Do I even have to tell you how excited this made me? Seriously, I am absolutely giddy. This means I am once again willing to buy Seche Vite because I'm not going to be wasting half the bottle! I have no idea how I managed to miss this information, but I'm so glad I learned when I did!

Test Nail- Crystals and Mermaids and Dragons Oh My!

I'm absolutely exhausted tonight so I'll let the photos do most of the talking. I've had several sleepless nights in a row now, and I'm managing maybe an hour or two at a time before I'm awake and miserable again, so my brain is sort of melty at the moment. But the photos rock.









I was kicking around ideas in my head, and this is simply one of the ideas I've been toying with. I think I'm happy with it...

Taking photos inside didn't work that well. The color really didn't show, although you do get an idea of how it looks in low light.

So I took things outside and fastened the nail to my poor dirty car with poster putty. It was late afternoon and there was no direct sunlight, but you can still see the color much better.

So now I think I'll make a full set to put on Etsy. I love the way they catch the light. They make me think of shattered crystal shards, of mermaids, of dragons. The cool thing is that I can make them in multiple colors... I can see these in red, green, black...





So that's my post for today/tonight. Hardly my usual, but I hope the photos make up for it. Now I get to sleep, and hopefully to stay asleep for more than an hour. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think: should I make a full set of these for Etsy? Should I make them in different colors? What color would you like to see?

Do You Love Minx Nails? You'll Love These As Well!

Some of you may have noticed by now- I'm pretty frugal. I prefer the term frugal over cheap, because I like to think it's a positive thing. I mean, I'm disabled and don't have a job, so it's probably a good thing that I can make my money go far.

Unfortunately, this means when I see a trend like Minx, two things happen. First, I start thinking of how cool they are, and how much I want to have them myself. Then reality kicks in and I realize that 1- I have no where to wear them, and 2- even if I did, my nails are too short to look worth a darn with them, and 3- even if I had someplace to wear them and the nails to make them look good, I don't have the money to get them. Then I'm sad, because you know... no Minxy goodness!

You can imagine my excitement, then, when I found these Fashion Diva chrome nails from Broadway! Actually, when I first saw them I was a bit unsure... they seemed sort of cheesy to me, sort of fake. I assumed they would be silver all the way through and would look like you stuck plastic nails on your hands. I just wasn't really feeling them.

"Those are cute! Where can I buy those?"

Lots of places, actually! Major drugstores carry them- WalMart, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, CVS, and the like carry Broadway nails. Just look in the cosmetics section where the other artificial nails are!

I decided I needed to try them for myself. Instead of using the pink glue that came with the kit, I used Kiss Mega Hold Press-On Tabs, which are so convenient! They're a glue alternative for full-coverage artificial nails that are much more gentle, and they don't require filing your nail bed before application! Removal is super-easy as well: simply soak your nails in warm water for a few minutes, then gently lift the nails off starting from one edge.

The down side is that they only last one day, but I'll definitely take that for the ability to wear gorgeous artificial nails without damaging my natural nails! I was really impressed by not only how easy they were to apply, but also at just how strong they are. I haven't yet tried to wear these all day, but I don't think I'd have much problem, other than trying to get used to suddenly having long nails. :D

Speaking of nails, let's get back to those, shall we?

These nails are freakin' hot, people. I had problems photographing them because of just how shiny and chromey they are, but believe me when I say these are like having mirrors on your fingers. There's no way you could get a polish that's this shiny, it's just not possible. They look like Minx, except that instead of spending $40 for a set that can only be worn once, you're spending around $6 for a set of nails you can wear over and over again!

"But Laynie," you ask, "sure they're gorgeous on top, but what about underneath? Won't they look silver and stupid and cheap, like kiddy nails?"

 Please, like I'd not tell you if that were the case. No, the people at Broadway thought of everything with these, and thankfully they're a nice natural-looking creamy off-white underneath, just like a natural nail would be. Now, obviously they won't pass for your own if someone takes your hand and studies your nails mere inches from their own nose, but truthfully? Who does that?

"But Laynie, they have square tips! What if I don't like square tips? Or what if they're too long? I can't handle nails that are too long!"

What do you do if your own nails are too long? You file them down into any shape you like, and you can do that with these nails too! Ovals, square, or even stiletto nails (although they'd be really short stilettos!), it's entirely up to you. Honestly, I can't even begin to explain how much I love these!

And because these are simply too gorgeous, and because I had such a hard time photographing these, I had to take more photos than usual to share with you. I know, this blog is photo-heavy compared to my normal ones, but can you blame me? Look at them!! They're almost hypnotizingly beautiful... I couldn't stop looking at my nails! It was like they were calling to me. "Laynie... look at us... looooook at usssss.... we're so shiiiiiny... we're so beauuuuuuuutiful!"

For approximately $6 you get a pack of 24 nails in 12 sizes and 2 patterns (plain chrome and zebra print) and a small container of pink nail glue. Kiss Mega Hold Press-On Tabs are approximately $2 for 48 tabs in multiple sizes. That's enough for 4 manicure applications, which means you can wear these nails 5 times for $8: four temporary wears for 1-3 days and one semi-permanent wear for up to 7 days! You can't do that with Minx!

These were provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.

I Love the Way Chrome Polishes Stamp!

I had a few extra dollars a few days back, so I decided to splurge on a stamping polish. Hee, I say splurge like it cost me $30 or something... I spent $2 on a Pure Ice polish from WalMart!

But let me tell you, these Pure Ice chromes stamp like nobody's business! I was actually really impressed when I saw the pigmentation of this one. This is definitely a one-coat dream!

I know, so what did I get? I got Pure Ice Pussy Cat, which is a very pale silvered blue chrome (or perhaps is should be a blued-silver? I don't know...). It's absolutely lovely for stamping, although it left little dried strings of polish on the edges of my nailbed.

 I chose to wear this stamped over a Wet n Wild polish I won from KittyPolishnBags. Deep Wine is just that, a gorgeous shimmery deep wine that just works beautifully with my skin tone. I could have worn this alone but I was really in the mood for some stamping. The fun thing about these colors together is how they interact together.

Although Pussy Cat is clearly blue in the bottle (and if you were to wear it alone), when stamped over Deep Wine it loses almost of the blue, becoming a very beautiful rich silver. I can't begin to explain how much I enjoyed this combination!

So, if you're looking for an affordable, gorgeous stamping polish, head for the Pure Ice display at your local WalMart. The chromes are fantastic!