Metallic Green Gradient

This week is a shortened week because I'm taking off Thursday and Friday for my birthday.  The craziness of last week seems to have subsided some, and this weekend was relatively relaxing.  My creativity returned a bit here, as I was looking through the colors on my desk that I haven't used yet.  I'm pretty excited about this mani and I hope you like it too!

 I started off with a couple coats of China Glaze Unpredictable.  This color is more thin than many of the other polishes I have, so it took a bit of work to get full coverage.

Once that was dry, I sponged Unpredictable and L'oreal The Muse's Attitude.  I found this color at my local grocer, but I also saw it in a few other places at one point.  I found the L'oreal color to be thin as well, so I sponged on a second application of both colors.  Even then, the tips just weren't right, so I sponged on the L'oreal color on the tips to get the deeper color to show.

 Usually, when I do gradients, I like to add a top coat to make the colors look more shiny.  I wanted to play around, so I used a matte top coat on one finger, and I didn't like that.  I tried my Diamond Dry top coat and it was too shiny.  So in the end, I sponged a little more color onto that nail to bring it back to the original design.  I love the way the texture of the sponged colors adds to the effect.

What do you think?

Also, any suggestions for the next set I do?

Until later,
Chess

Purr-fect Plum

This week has been abnormally psychotic. Work was so crazy I ended up staying until midnight one night to get everything done.  So, I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this up, and I will keep it fairly short this time.

 This week I ran a little short of creativity once again.  I started with a base of China Glaze Purr-fect Plum.

I wanted to play with this color, but then I decided that would be too boring with just the color.  So I was looking at my stash that I'm trying to work through and found the perfect match.  I put an icing glitter polish, that I received in a four pack, on my ring fingers.  Unfortunately, there is no name on it.  However, if they are still selling it, I'm sure you won't have any problems finding it.

I love this a lot more than I thought I would when I was thinking it up.  What do you think?   This is definitely the perfect color for fall/winter.

Until later,
Chess

Keys

This week has been rather cold with today being the warmest so far.  I'm certainly ready for summer when I don't have to wear ten layers of clothing to try to stay warm.

This week I wanted to play with a very blue color and then couldn't figure out what to do after that.  My inspiration came while reading a new book.  The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross has a bunch of keys at the beginning of each chapter.  So I went through my plates and found a couple with keys.

 I started off with a base of Sinful Ciao Bella!  There is a bit of tip wear on this one, but it is extremely glittery.  I'm hoping it isn't a pain to remove.

Then I stamped the keys using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep with plates BM-301 and Mash-32 for the keys.

This one is fairly simple overall, but everyone loved this one as well.  I think the people I work with just like all the different things I come up with.  A gentleman that I work with said he was watching one of the morning news shows and they stated that this type of nail art is going to be the "in" thing this year.  It's interesting to be ahead of the times on that one, because most of us in the nail design community have been doing this for a while.  And while I didn't start posting to this blog about my nails until recently, I have been doing different things with my nails for quite some time.

Mostly, I'm working on the photo aspect of things now.  Trying to make my photos look more professional and cleaner overall.

What do you all think of this mani?  Maybe some suggestions for next week?  Any colors or themes?

Stay warm everyone!
Until later,
Chess

Kitty Cats

Back to the grind!!  I had to go back to work this week after having last week off.  It's been a little tough.    I decided to forgo yoga tonight for a few reasons, one of which was to get this posted.  Also, it's the first of the year and all those people that made resolutions for this year are all going to yoga, it seems.  I don't mind being friendly, but I draw the line when I can barely move without hitting someone or falling on someone (one of my goals is balance).

So I decided on this mani last week, knowing that I might not have time to get much of this done.

 I started with a base of Elle Dancing Queen.  I saw this polish at Kohl's and thought it would be fun to try.  I saw the duochrome, but figured it would be much like the others out there where you get one color unless you hit the light just right.  I was amazed, and even more amazed when I looked at my pictures, where you can still see the duochrome.  I haven't looked that the cosmetics in Kohl's for a while, so I'm not sure this is still available.  If it is, I highly recommend it.  I had a number of complements from the different people I meet at my job with this color.


After the color dried, I added the cats and paw prints using Konad special polish in black and a couple of the plates from Vivid Lacquer.  The cats are from VL 003 and the paws are from VL 001.

Also, I had my sister over last night and we were working on ideas for her nails for the wedding.  I grabbed all the colors and when I had them sitting on the floor, I decided to take a picture and show you what my collection looks like, minus some that I have sitting on my desk, waiting to play.

I think I need a better system, but the problem is space.  I can't put up a shelving unit because I don't have any wall space.  If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.  It would be fabulous to have a display of some sorts so I don't have to dig around all the time trying to find a specific color.  I know my husband thinks I have too many, but I could easily say that about many of his things.

Finally, my quest to use the polish on my desk is coming along.  I now have 42 bottles that I need to use before this challenge is over.

I hope everyone has a really great week!!  I know I can't wait until the weekend.

Until later,

Chess

Happy New Year!!

2012 has come to a close and we are onto the next year of adventures in 2013.  I'm hoping that this coming year will be much more kind than last year.  Maybe 13 will be lucky for me and my family.  I decided to write out a few resolutions to go along with this mani.  Supposedly, by writing them down, we are more likely to actually complete our goals.  I have a few easier ones and a few harder ones.

1.  I want to continue doing manis here for the next year, but also continue researching photography a bit so my photos look more professional.

2.  I plan to continue my quest in weight loss.  During the holiday season, I gained roughly two pounds and then maintained that.  I'm pretty happy with that as it's been too cold for me to want to go on a quick walk on my breaks at work.  Along these same lines, I'm going to continue making healthier meals, trying to lessen my sweet tooth, and lots more batch cooking this year to make those really rough mornings and some evenings a little easier.

3.  Finally, I am going to work on sticking to by budget better this year.  I now have to pay my student loans and I managed to get them changed over to a graduated re-payment plan.  This means my monthly payment will increase every year, so I need to get some of my other debt under control.  I managed to make a huge dent in my credit card debt this year, so I'm aiming to do better this year.  I'm looking into a different car, as the one I currently have is not quite right for me.  So I need to get everything in order before I can really do anything about getting a new car, as I'm still paying this one off.

Ok, enough blathering about resolutions and such.  You came here to see the new mani.  My sister said it reminders of Sweden, and knowing her, these are their Hockey Team colors.  I'm sure when she reads this she will comment one way or the other. Onto the photos!!

 I started with a base of Sinful Colors Rain Storm on all my nails except the ones on my ring fingers.  For those, I used a base of Sinful Colors Pull Over.


Once all those dried, I put on a tip on my index finger with Pull Over, and a tip on my ring finger with Rain Storm.


I know these are a bit simple, with no stamping, but I liked the way they came out.  Something a little more subtle with a little flair.



What do you think?  Do you like the more basic look, or are you hoping to see more stamping involved?

Happy New Year everyone!!

Until later,

Chess