Steampunk, Take 2

I was anxious to try another Steampunk mani and we have a Steampunk meetup to go to, so I figured that would be a great way to show our support!  I also wanted to see how it would turn out with the plastic wrap method and using matte top coat.

First, I put on a couple coats of Maybelline New York Color Show Blue Freeze.  After that dried, I used the plastic wrap to put on a layer of Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Plume.  I love how this color looks when it is used in this manner.

Later, I stamped on the cogs with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep and a plate from Vivid Lacquer, VL 003.  There are two different images of cogs on this plate and you can separate them out a bit more by just using polish on the one you want and scraping the excess in the right way to keep it off the others.  Lastly, I used plates BM-301 with Essie Good as Gold and Mash-32 with Essie Penny Talk for the keys.

After all was dried, then I used the Orly matte top coat.  I really should have taken a few pictures of the layers and of the mani before the matte top coat so you could see it all.  However, I was super busy yesterday taking care of things for my sister's wedding that is coming up.  Consequently, that left me less time to take individual pictures.  But that's ok, because it gives me something to do later if I run out of creative juices.
 
This one turned out better than the last one, I think.  The plastic wrap effect makes it look more like a tinker's collection of items, than a mish-mash of items.

Please comment below and tell me what you think?  Do you like this one better than the last? Do you have any suggestions that could make this look more steampunk?  I know there are a lot of people out there that don't like the idea of just placing cogs and such on an item to make it look more Steampunk.

Until later,

Chess

Pixie Dust

This weekend was fairly relaxing, even with the snow.  Once again, we had snow around spring break.  I'm hoping it will be the last snow of the season.  Summertime warmth is what I'm really dreaming of now.

So, due to these dreams of summer, I decided to try out a new polish I just picked up.   I seem to go through periods where I favor one color over all others, and right now that is minty greens.  I picked up a couple of the new Zoya colors recently, and decided to use Vespa this week, in anticipation of finally moving into spring.  I know everyone is probably innundated with pictures of this, but I hope mine gives a little more dimension.

I used three coats for this mani.  The first picture shows the color and how glittery it is.  The second one gives a better idea of the texture of this polish.

  

This one is relatively simple again, but the color is fabulous.  I, however, am not exactly looking forward to removing this one.  I'm thinking it will be even worse than basic glitter polish.











The next one I plan to do is another steampunk mani with the matte top coat.

Until later,

Chess

Quick Post

Life has been stressful at work.  We have lots of audits coming through that we can barely keep up with, let alone much of the other normal work.  Luckily, I've been given the chance for a bit of overtime, and I always do what I can to make a bit more money since I'm on a quest to get out of debt.

Consequently, that means my nail creativity and posts are a bit lacking.  This week I did something extremely simple, but since the polish was a gift from a co-worker, I didn't mind so much.  I was able to show my co-worker how great the color is, in all its glory.  This is Wet n Wild How I Met Your Magenta.  The color in the bottle seems much more pink, with a light gold shimmer.  However, when it dries, it turns a bit more of a coral color.  I absolutely love it!  Originally, I was going to use a purple polish, that was also a gift form the same co-worker, to do some stamping.  Once the base dried, though, and I could see the true color, I fell in love with it the way it was.

What do you think of this color?  Any suggestions for next week?

Until later,

Chess

Shamrocks!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!  I know it has been a while since I posted, and I apologize for that.  My computer decided it really hated me this time.  I got the blue screen of death for what seemed like the billionth time and I couldn't do anything.  I finally loaded windows in safe mode, which worked, and removed my documents and photos and such.  I reloaded Windows, so I then had to reload my programs.  So far, so good, but I know I should start saving and looking for a new laptop.  Quite literally when it was acting up, my husband came home to me crying over the darn thing, as I was just so fed up with it.  Needless to say, I will never buy a DELL again!

So onto the fun, right?  Partly because of the holiday and partly because it took a while to get back to posting, I have three different manis to show you wonderful reader who are still with me.



The first one is what I did last year.  The photo was
taken with my cell phone, which is why it doesn't look quite as great.  I started with a base of white.  I really wanted to stamp the shamrocks with holo polish, but it wouldn't work for me.  So, I ended up painting the tips in holo green polish.  I think it was one of the HITs holos.  Then I stamped on the shamrocks with Konad special polish in green.



This year, I reversed it a bit.  I started with Icing Mr. Right Now.  I stamped on the shamrocks using plates BM03 and RA-116, with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White.  I like this one a bit better.  There is more green with a little white.  I love white nail polish, but because I'm very pink instead of tan, I feel it doesn't look that great one me.



Last,  I started with a basic white tip using Orly Pointe Blanche.  Once that was dry, I used another of those Icing glitter polishes I got in a four-pack.  There is no name on it.  I played around with the silver glitter to get it spaced out more evenly, because I'm a little obsessive about that.  I topped it off with my favorite Diamond Dry to keep the glitter from catching on things and scratching.



Which one do you like?

Until later,

Chess

Feathers

This week has been an extremely long week.  It seemed like we had a lot of odd situations at work compared to most weeks.

This week I decided to use another blue polish from my stack of challenge polish.  I wanted to try out a new black polish I picked up for stamping as well.  Also, my thumb makes an appearance this week.  I had a little issue with my nail and I ended up having to cut it down quite a bit, so I shortened the rest of my nails to fit better.  I'm really liking the shorter length, even if it is a smidge shorter.

I started off with a base of China Glaze Man Hunt.  Then I stamped on the feathers with China Glaze Liquid Leather.  I am very pleased with how well that one stamps.  Most of them are too thin and don't work well.  My Konad special polish is getting really thick and I'm having a hard time using it.  The plate I used for this was  BM15.

Please tell me what you think.

Until later,

Chess

Magnetic Purple

This week I have a quick little post for you.  Remember how I said I moved some polish into this group that I've been working on because my coworkers gave them to me for Christmas?  Well, this week I decided to use one of them.  One of my closer coworkers gave me Sally Hansen Magnetic Polar Purple.  I wanted to use it as soon as possible so that I could show him what I did with it.  I tend to show the three people in my office what I do each week.

I decided to add a layer of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top for a little something extra.  I find the magnetic polish a little boring now that every brand has them and they pretty much all have the same design.

Until later,

Chess

Peacock

So as promised, I am giving you all a peacock design.  I tried one version on my left hand and one on my right.  As you are about to see, even some of my designs don't really come out all that great.  I will show you the one I like better first, as you can see the colors better.

I started with a base of Brash Green Machine.  This is another polish I found at Payless Shoes.  Once that was dry, I sponged on the three different colors Sinful Colors Envy, Brash Green Machine, and Icing I Like The Nightlife from base to the tip of my nails.  After all that, I stamped on the image using Sinful Colors Rich In Heart.  I think this look could be changed up a little for an ocean/water look.

On my other hand, I continued on from there.  With the outline of what looks like the eyes in a peacock feather, I filled in the oblong shapes using Rich in Heart.  After that, I put dots in the center using China Glaze Ride The Waves.  This is the one I don't like as much.  It looks messy and you really can't see the blue dots for the center of the eye.  It doesn't look very peacock feathery at all.  I think my next plate purchase will just have to have a peacock feather image.

I hope you like the first one, and I hope you like my little fail try on my left hand.

Until later,

Chess

Royal Blue and Gold

Since I've had a little time off form work, I figured I would do an extra mani this week.  This one was inspired by my newish 25 yard belly dance skirt.  It is a gorgeous royal blue with gold sari trim at the bottom.

I started off with a couple coats of Maybelline New York Color Show Sapphire Siren.

  Once that was dry, I stamped on the detail using Maybelline New York Color Show Bold Gold and plate m24.  Then I put a clear coat over the top to even it out.

This one is fairly simple, but I had a bunch of blue polishes on my desk and I decided it was time to play with some of them.  Someone on my facebook pages suggested I do a peacock mani, so I think that will be my next one.

Until later,

Chess

Happy Valentine's Day

I know this is a little early, but I wanted to get it up while I had time.  First, I wanted to show you what I did last year.  I know it is a little blurry, but it was taken on my cell phone.  It was a base of Hits Atena and then white stamps of hearts on top.  I was really interested in the holos back then, not that I'm uninterested in them now.  I'm actually excited for the China Glaze collection that will be coming out soon.

Instead of doing something with pink this year, I opted to try something a little different.  I know a lot of people detest pink.  I love pink, but I wanted to challenge myself a little.  Also, since I'm working on this pile of polishes on my desk, I wanted to use something from there and I really only have a super bright summery pink.  The inspiration for this look can be found here.  Instead of recreating the look, however, I changed it up a bit.

I started with Icing Bite My Lip.  I then stamped on the different lips with Konad Red special polish and plate BM-303.  The other stamp is with Konad Black special polish and plate BM-311.  I decided to use the little bit of stamp that was left over from my middle finger on my pinky to make it look like an old newspaper where the letters are fading.

Happy Valentine's Day all!

Until later,

Chess

Another Zebra Print

I hope everything is going ok for all you readers this week.  My time off for my birthday was relaxing, and I'll be taking some more time off this month to get things done around the house (I'm looking at you, the ginormous hole in the bathroom wall.) and to work on things for my sister's wedding that is coming up in June.



This week I decided to try something similar to other manis I've done in the past, but I wanted to play with my matte top coat again.  I started off with a few coats of Icing Forget You.  Then I stamped on the Zebra print using Konad special polish in Black and the m57 plate.  The first picture shows the glossy top coat and the second picture shows the Orly matte top coat.  The only real issue I have with the top coat is there was tip wear so the tips of the mani began to look shiny after a couple days.

I hope you like this one.  Now I just have to come up with something for Valentine's day.

Until later,

Chess