Purple halo

This week so far has been busy, but the audit is finally done.  Thank the Gods!!  Unfortunately, that means that the next set could show up as early as next week.  But I'm not going to worry about it, because I get two days off next week.

For my mani this week, I decided to play with another of the China Glaze Holos.  I started with a couple coats of Get Outta My Space.  The I stamped on the image using China Glaze Liquid Leather and plate Mash-35.  I topped of my pinky and ring finger with my Diamond Dry.  I wanted to see if it would help reduce the wear at the tips.  It is a little hard to see, but the index finger has a lot of wear at the tip.

I love this color and I think it is better suited with a top coat.  The top coat doesn't diminish the holo effect.

What do you think of this polish?  Let me know here or find me on facebook.

Until later,

Chess

Green texture

This week I spent quite a bit of time at work.  We are getting closer to finishing the audit, and I am ready for a little time off come the next holiday.

As some of you may know, and the rest of you will now, I like to belly dance in some of my spare time.  The style I dance is American Tribal Style® (ATS) which was created by Carolena Nericcio.  Carolena and her troupe, Fat Chance Belly Dance®, host a wonderful show in San Francisco, and this year I contributed to their Kickstarter project so they could make it even more grand.  My charm and a signed post card came from them today.  I'm so excited!  I can't wait to see how awesome the performances were.  I'm also very proud to have supported them in such a fabulous endeavor.

This week, I really wanted to play with the texture effect that I can get with sponging polish onto my nails.  I really liked the look from my previous post.  The textured effect in the advertisement is really nice.  I was seriously disappointed in the polish the company was advertising, but I remembered how my nails look when I do gradients, before I put the top coat on.  So, I decided to play with that, and this is my result.

I started with a base of China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On.  Then I sponged the gradient using the base color and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri S-teal a Base.  Both are shimmery colors, so I thought they would go well together.

It has been a few days, so the effect was more textured earlier in the week, but you can still see it isn't extremely smooth like when I use the top coat.  This one didn't bother me as much as the special Sally Hansen Sugar Coat polish.  It didn't catch on everything and frustrate the heck out of me.  So all in all, I think this is a great way to create texture without the frustration of a special polish.  Not only is it not as rough as all the special polishes out there, but it will be far easier to remove.

Also, I apologize for the pictures.  There was a lot of smoke out when I was trying to take these, and even with my photo editing software, they turned out a little dark and a little more red than I would have liked.

I hope you like my experiment.  What experiments have you tried with your nails?

Until later,

Chess.

Pink Flakes

This week in Colorado has been crazy.  A number of fires that thankfully did not affect me personally, but I wish I could do more about.  My husband ended up working one night protecting a neighborhood that was evacuated, making sure there were no looters and no new fires starting.  The rain finally helped the firefighters out in our city today, allowing for them to get a small handle on the fire.

I have spent quite a bit of my time at work.  The audits are driving me insane and I am working overtime to get them all completed.  At least because my husband took the extra shift for the fire, I was able to get more hours in without feeling guilty.

For my mani this week, I really wanted to do something with pink.  I started with a couple coats of OPI You're a Pisa Work.  After that dried, I put on a coat of Icing Rave Royalty.  I topped that off with my Diamond Dry to smooth out the flakies.  They have a tendency to stick out and catch on things.

This color is so perfect for summer.  It stands out great on the feet for a perfect sandal pedi.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

Until later,

Chess

Wedding Flowers

This weekend was my sister's wedding.  She was a gorgeous bride and both the wedding and reception were wonderful.  I'm so glad she found a wonderful man to spend the rest of their lives together.

This week, my mani is based on one from Let Them Have Polish.  My sister wanted us to do bright colored accents for the wedding, and my color was bright blue.  I saved this mani on Pinterest a long time ago, and thought it would be perfect for the wedding.

I started with a couple coats of China Glaze Hanging in the Balance.  After that dried, I stamped on the flower image with Sally Hansen Inst-Dri Whirlwind White and BM12.

Then I used toothpicks to put on the green, pink and blue for the flowers using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Just in Lime!, China Glaze Beach Cruise-r, amd  Hanging in the Balance.  That part took the longest.

After all that, I used a coat of my favorite China Glaze Fairy Dust and topped it all off with my Diamond Dry.

While this is a recreation of a previous look, I really am happy with how it turned out.  The colors were perfectly vibrant.

Until later,

Chess