Happy Holidaze the sixth- Laynie loses her mind with glitter!

I'm taking a break from the batch of nail tips I decorated, but don't worry. You're still getting the holiday nail art, but today it's more of a cautionary tale, although I'm not quite sure what I'm cautioning you against. I think it's a simple Don't do this, because it isn't pretty!

But first, let me show you yesterday's adventures! I finally sold the monster nails, so I treated myself to a sample pack of glitter! Unfortunately, it came packaged in cute little baggies, which doesn't work for me. I debated for quite a while in Michaels, trying to figure how I was going to store this stuff so that I could use it!

Then it hit me. I saw a set of paint pots for $2.75 hanging in the section with palettes and containers and things for painting. Have I mentioned I'm frugal? Yea, I don't want to spend $10 on something to store my $4 glitter, so this was just right for me! The only issue would be transferring the glitter from the packets to the pots, but I could be careful, right?

Right. The thing I forgot to take into consideration was that this is microglitter. It's so incredibly fine that it can waft into the air like a dust cloud, gently drifting and lazily gliding on air currents in the room. How do I know this, you ask yourself? Lemme tell you...

Because I'm so frugal, I wanted to get every last speck of the glitter out of the packages. I spent good money on that stuff, and I don't want to waste it! I cut the edge of the first bag off (emerald green, ine you were wondering, and haven't seen me since the incident!), gently tap-tap-tapped it into the pot, being careful not to spill any. Then, I lifted the bag up with the cut end pointing up, intending to tap it on my finger to pull down the glitter stuck to the edges of the bag. It worked perfectly while the bag was closed!

Unfortunately, I didn't think this through carefully enough. When I tapped the bag on my finger, instead of this causing gravity and inertia to pull the glitter on the edges of the bag down to the bottom it turned the bag into a very small bellows, sending a tiny mushroom cloud of green glitter directly into my face.  It felt like it was in slow motion, this tiny cloud expanding toward my face, enveloping my head in its sparkly green goodness. Except it wasn't quite goodness that enveloped my head. It was glitter, and glitter never goes away.

I won't waste your time with the tales of how I finally got all the bits of glitter picked up and shaken out of my hair. Let's just say it included lots of masking tape, lots of cursing, and lots of my family pointing and laughing at me. I deserved it, clearly, but really... how was I supposed to know this was going to happen?

I finally got the glitter packed away and most of the random glitter fallout picked up. What am I saying... I know I'm going to be finding glitter in random places for the next 15 years. Glitter is like herpes- once you get it on you, it never goes away.

And on to the nail art, since I've shared my secret shame. Unfortunately, this isn't much less embarrassing. I had visions of a cute, sassy Konad look that would be fun to wear. What I ended up with was more like the 80s threw up all over my nails. It's not horrible, granted, and it's better than I could do when I first got the Konad stuff. But still?

This isn't good. Not by a long shot. And the more I did to it, the worse it got.

It all started with the package I won from Scandalously Polished over twitter. I had no idea what to expect, so I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY when I saw it was 10 polishes and 4 nail foils! CRAZY! She is super awesome, and if you haven't seen her blog, then scoot over right after you read this and say hi!

In that package was a polish from H&M called Bella's Choice. I'm going to assume this has something to do with that vampire thing going around... Dusk or Nightfall or Twilight or something, yea? Whatever... it's an absolutely gorgeous turquoise creme that I couldn't wait to put on. I was hoping it would look wonderful on me!

In truth, not so much. It made me look somewhat ill. My husband looked at it and called it "that puke polish you're wearing." I wore it grocery shopping and the cashier caught sight of my nails, did a double take, then quickly looked away with a strange look on her face. I think she didn't want to ask if I was feeling ok, but you could tell she didn't think it looked good. I like the color, though, so I figured maybe if I stamped over it, I'd be able to wear it.

Enter the second color she sent- H&M Goddess on Stage. This polish is magnificent, y'all. I really don't even have the words to describe how amazing this is. Creamy, gorgeous, just luscious. I thought it would play nicely with Bella's Choice and make something wearable for me. But it actually stamped sort of sheerly, and in my stamping ineptitude I ended up missing spots and stuff.

No big deal, I thought to myself, I can just fix those spots with a brush. Sure, except that I couldn't copy the consistent thinness of the stamped image, leaving me with heavy purple spots on the edges of the print. Oh yea, that looks GREAT.

Maybe I can add some color to the spots, to draw the eye away from the dark edges, I continued thinking to myself. I pulled out my pink and white creme polishes and added some to the dots, but that wasn't enough, in my opinion. My husband did think it made everything look better, even better than the stamp alone. "It covers the puke nicely!"

Thanks hon. I feel much better now.

As a finishing touch, I added lime green and yellow creme dots to the remaining spots and covered it all in Seche Vite. And you know what?

It wasn't horrible, but I don't think I'll be wearing this one again. There are just too many things here that just didn't work well together, and I'm just... no. No. Never again!

Do you have any horrible stories about manicures that just didn't work as well as you hoped? I'd love to hear them to make me feel better about this one!

Happy Holidaze the fifth- Five Golden Rings!!

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did a bunch of nail art in advance. I had to cut my nails back tonight, and I'm back to nubbins, unfortunately... they're so short they aren't even close to the tips of my fingers. *sighs* Stupid breaks and splits. Hopefully they'll be healthier because of it, though...

So, I don't know about you, but sometimes when I go to a holiday party, I have no desire to paint my nails in red and green. Sure, it's a Christmas party, but the red and green can stay on the tree! Instead, I'm going to show you an easy Konad design that I absolutely love!

Ok, it's dots instead of rings, and there are more than five. But they ARE gold!

First, I painted my nails with a basic black creme polish. Pick one, any of them will do. Two coats, then once they dried I pulled out my  Maybelline Express Finish in Matte Gold for stamping. Doesn't it do a great job? Unfortunately, I don't remember quite which Konad plate this image is from, but really you can pick one you like.  I chose this one because of the blank space at the top and the bottom.

First I used a tiny paint brush and a dot of the Matte Gold to take the lines all the way to the edge of the nail at the top and the bottom. It's not quite perfect, but that's ok- nobody is going to be looking that closely at your nails. I'm just too obsessive to leave them unconnected.

Once the edges were tidied up, I then pulled out my Sinful Colors All About You, which is an absolutely delicious gold-toned glitter that has multiple sizes and multiple tones of gold. I absolutely adore this glitter, because it's sparkly enough to add a kick, but still small enough to stay sort of subtle, at least as far as glitter goes. :D

I added All About You to the top and bottom sections of the nail, adding to the look and sort of making things look finished. I feel like it really did take a design that was pretty and make it pretty awesome! Then I finished things off with a coat of Seche Vite to protect everything and I called it DONE! Easy as can be.

Now, if only I had somewhere to wear it to! Ah well, soon.

10,000 pageviews giveaway WINNER!!

Hi! Very quick post to share the winner of the 10,000 pageview giveaway- congratulations, Cheryl! She's won the generous prize package from Broadway nails.

There were almost 100 entries into the giveaway! I have to say though, I'm a bit disappointed. I was very frustrated while I was going through the entries and verifying entries. Not only did some people say they'd followed me on Twitter when they haven't, there were even false links and people who weren't even following via Google Friend Connector.

Running a giveaway like this takes hours of sorting through entries and verifying. It's just not cool to fake entries, hoping whoever runs it won't notice. I guess it's a risk you take, but know that at 3am while I was up to my ears in entries, I was grumpy as heck.

I just needed to get that out of my system. It won't stop me from hosting more contests and giveaways, though. :D

Prize package was provided by Broadway Nails.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Happy Holidaze the fourth- it's all about the glitter, baby!

Wheee! My contest ended this afternoon- I hope you got your entries in before it closed! I'll have the winner announced very soon. I can't wait to see who wins!

Until then, it's time for more holidaze fun! Today's look is a very simple one that's just tons of fun to do, and super easy! I painted my nails with 2 coats of a base color (red in one case, gold in the other) and then took glitter in shades of red, green, and silver and basically blinged them to heck and back! Look how sparkly they are!

One thing that's kind of hard to tell in these pics is that the glitter isn't just spread on in a mix. Instead, I would paint a small section of the nail then press on a single color of glitter. Then I would paint another small section and press on a different color. This gave me sections with mostly red, mostly green, and mostly silver. It really does look gorgeous when the lights are sort of low and the glitter sparkles.

This isn't one of my favorite looks, but I think it could be fun to play with some more. I would like to find a more efficient way of applying the glitter so that it can be both neat, smooth, and yet filling in most of the spaces.

Ah well, one day, yes? Now I'm off to verify more entries in the giveaway. But I'll post more about that when I announce the winner! Have a great day/night/afternoon/whatever it is where you are! :D

Blah blah was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Happy Holidaze the third! A simple snowflake design...

EEEP! The night got away from me, and I totally missed posting the blog tonight. I feel so guilty, but I had a lot of fun going out with my husband and my son, so I guess it was worth it.

It's a simple design today, one inspired by the weather up north. Living in Louisiana, we don't often get snow. Instead, we have weather that bounces back and forth, often seeing 85° one day followed by 35° the next. That actually happened last week, and let me tell you it's NO FUN! How can you get in the holiday spirit when you're in shorts and a tee shirt, sweating your tushie off?

I decided I wanted something pretty to remind me of the first snow we saw while living a bit north of here. We'd gone out in the night to watch it fall- enormous fat, fluffy flakes lazily drifting down to dust the grass. It was a slow fall at first, with huge flakes scattered in the night, standing out starkly against the dark sky. Later that night, the snow fell hard and covered the world with a soft blanket of white, the night absolutely silent as the snow muffled the sound. It was magical, and waking up that morning was so memorable. We walked outside and just looked around, feeling as if we'd been transported to a magical winter wonderland in the night.

This gives you a hint of where my mind was when I did this design, yes? I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, then let that dry. I then pulled out my stencils that came with the limited edition Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint three pack. It's got such adorable stencils for the holidays- a candy cane, a christmas tree, snowflakes and gingerbread men... lots of holiday-themed cuteness! I chose this snowflake, and as you can see they're reusable! I then added a small rhinestone in the center of each snowflake from a pack of adhesive stones by Kiss, then topped with a coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out and protect the art.

The stencils are super-easy to use. Make sure your polish is dry, then pull the stencil of your choice off the plastic sheet it comes on. Place it carefully on your nail, making sure to press it down thoroughly. If you don't, there's a chance the polish could seep under the edges, ruining your stencil. Apply your polish, then while it's wet lift off the stencil. (I haven't tried letting the polish dry before lifting the stencil off- I'll try that tonight!) Let the stenciled area dry completely, then add a layer of topcoat to protect it.

Once I pulled the stencil off, I'd place it back onto the plastic it came on, then clean off the wet polish with a cotton ball soaked in polish remover. Then I'd place it onto the next area again and start again! The stencils really are lots of fun to use!

Now... let's see if I can get some sleep before tomorrow. I hope your Saturday night was as much fun as mine... what did you do for the evening?

The Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint set with stencils was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Happy Holidaze the twoth!

Wow, I am absolutely blown away by the response to yesterday's post! You guys really like this nail art thing, don't you? Since you don't seem to mind me doing a single nail along with a demonstration of how it's done, I may try and see if I can do more nail art, even when I'm showcasing new polishes or whatever. I think that could be doable... what do you think? Worth the effort? :D

Today's holiday nail art is something for Hannukah. I have so many Jewish friends, and I absolutely love how blue and silver look together. That made today's nail art almost do itself!

As always, you can click the picture to make it bigger, if you'd like to see more detail. One thing I've found myself worrying about while doing nail art is the need to make things perfect. But if you look closely, you'll see that this is far from perfect- the dots aren't all perfectly round (I still don't have a dotting tool- shhh!), my stripes are irregular and sometimes overlap. But it's still pretty, and the whole look works well together as a whole.

So don't be afraid to try something like this. It really is a lot easier than you would think. Be patient, don't try to go too fast, and remember to brace your hand with your little finger while you paint. That step alone can make painting so much easier!

Also, like yesterday, I have an animated gif to help you visualize the steps of putting a look like this together. I'm trying something a bit new with it- I've labeled the steps to help you see what's going on, because there really is no good way to paint glitter. :D

To recreate today's nail, you'll need a few supplies:

• base coat
• a blue polish of your choice
• white and silver stripers OR
• white and silver polish & a skinny brush
• clear polish to adhere glitter pieces & rhinestone
• dotting tool
• a manicure stick (for placing glitter & rhinestone)
• silver glitter
• a rhinestone
• top coat

1. Base coat. Always do a base coat.
2. 2 coats of your background color- blue, in this case. For this nail, I used Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, but feel free to use any deep blue you like.
3. Once your background is dry, paint white four slashes across the nail starting from the bottom corner. They fan out like a flower, almost. I used my Art Deco Illustration Nails paint in white.
4. Use your dotting tool to paint white dots between the slashes. Do as many as you like. At the outer edges, I only had room for 2-3, but I did 5 on the inner sections.
5. I decided the design needed a bit more punch, so I added silver stripes along the bottoms of the white stripes. Just use your striper (or your striper brush and your silver polish) to paint slashes along the bottoms of the white ones. I used my Art Deco Illustration Nails paint in silver.
6. Once the white and silver are dry, sprinkle a tiny bit of glitter onto some paper. Paint a small amount of clear polish onto the first silver stripe, then place single glitter pieces in a line along the edge. Use the manicure stick to pick up and place the glitter pieces one by one. Repeat along all the silver stripes.
7. Use a bit more clear polish at the base where all the stripes begin. Place a single rhinestone on top, covering the junction and dressing up the look.
8. Let everything dry a bit, then coat with your favorite top coat. I used 2 coats of Seche Vite.

Repeat this for as many or as few nails as you like. It's a bit tedious, but it really isn't difficult. The main thing to remember is that you can do it if you practice! And even if it doesn't work out (believe me, not all of mine are keepers!), it's just nail polish!

You could customize this in several ways. First, you could change any of the colors and still have it look gorgeous. I can see this being downright amazing with black, silver, and red! You could also skip the careful application of glitter pieces and instead use a glitter striper. Instead of the rhinestone, you could put a big dot of glitter, or a nail decal. Nail art is endlessly customizable, and you should never be afraid to change things up.

I hope everyone has had a great week, and that you're heading into an even better weekend. Give someone something to smile about today! ♥

Happy Holidaze the first!

 Hello, my name is Laynie and I'm a nailartaholic.

Knowing the holidays were swiftly approaching, I sat down over the weekend to make a few nail art designs on nail tips. I figured I would do 3 or 4, maybe 5 max, so that I would be a bit ahead for the blog. Then I got carried away.

I was having fun. I was absolutely bursting with ideas, more than I could keep up with, truthfully. I jotted down some ideas on paper, so I could get to them before I forgot them. Then, I started to work.

By the time I had finished, I had 30 different looks. Like I said... I got a bit carried away. There's everything from subtle to in-your-face bling. So keep an eye out, we'll be doing lots of holiday nail art!

First up is a look I think is appropriate for everyone, no matter what winter holiday you celebrate. This nail art takes the lights from your tree, your house, or your decorations and puts them on your nails!

It's silly, it's fun, and I can't look at this one without smiling. I showed it to a friend of mine who immediately thought it was complex, so I decided to do an animated image to show you the process. It's time-consuming, but not complex at all.

You'll need to gather your supplies together before you start, so you don't wind up digging for bits halfway through with wet nails. You'll need:

• base coat
• the background polish color
• a black nail art pen (or whatever color you want the cord to be)
• striper polishes, nail art pens, or an art brush and various polish colors for the lights
• top coat to protect your art

First, put your base coat on. This is standard no matter what you do.

Next, use a nail art pen (I used my Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in black) to draw a meandering line across my nail. I then drew shorter wiggly lines to fill in the blank spaces. These black lines will be the cord of the lights. I made sure to leave room for the various lights.

Then, use various striper polishes to paint lights around the nail, making sure the fat end of the light was against the "cord." I used red, blue, green, pink, yellow and silver. You can use whatever colors you want, as many or as few as you want.

Finally, add a coat of top coat to protect the art you just made. It really is that simple!

If you want to jazz it up, you could use individual nail art gems for the lights, or you could use various colors of glitter polish to add some sparkle to the lights. You could also do this on a different colored background- sponged greens to resemble a Christmas tree, black to resemble lights at night, or white to look like lights against snow! You could use a single meandering line that makes its way across all of your nails, or do a single nail for accent. You could even do the black line across the tip of your nail and make a french tip of lights! You're the artist, you can do whatever you like!

Happy Hannukah for those of you who celebrate, and happy Thursday for the rest of you!

EDIT: I worked up a few examples of variations in Photoshop. Hope you enjoy!

 

Some polishes were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.