Trying to keep up

Lately I have been rather busy at work and working on a few projects.  I have also been feeling so overwhelmed and tired, that I have only managed to paint my nails with single colors.  I am providing three swatches for you today.

The first one is China Glaze History of the World.  This one is from The Giver collection.  It is a fabulous grey blue, though the picture makes it look more purple.  I would highly recommend this one if you can get your hands on it.

The second is ORLY Darkest Shadow.  I think this one is from their Halloween collection.  It is a black polish with red glitter mixed in.  The glitter has a slight duochrome to it as well, making it look more coppery. It's a great color for Halloween.

The final one is China Glaze Well Trained.  It is a great teal color, perfect for fall.  I would have loved to have stamped a silver feather on this one, but didn't have time.  For whatever reason, I am completely obsessed with feathers right now.

I hope you find these useful.

Until later,

Chess

Wild Wisteria

This week has had some ups and downs.  However, I'm confident that my new project is headed in the right direction.  I'm really excited about it, and it feels like it is changing my life.  Maybe all I've needed was a good project.

I did this manicure a while back, and it is one of my favorites.  I used a couple coats of ORLY Wild Wisteria.  This is a fabulous purple polish!

 I used plate BM-419 to stamp the feather image.
At first I tried the Kleancolor polishes Metallic Aqua  and Metallic Green first for the image, but it didn't show up well.  So I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep, then the two Kleancolor polishes on top. Of course, I used the Diamond Dry top coat on top. I think this may be my favorite look so far.

Until later,

Chess

Rock-On Red

After my fabulous week of dance, I needed a few days to recuperate.  I once again didn't feel terribly creative so my manicure is a little more basic.  Some times you just need to throw some glitter on it and be done.

I started with two coats of ORLY Rock-On Red.  This one is a bright pinkish-red.  The formula is great.  It's not too thick or too thin.  Then I used a coat of OPI Which is Witch? for the glitter top coat.  I had to strategically place the larger round pieces to make it more even, rather than clumped together.

A simple mani, but still colorful and bright.

Until later,

Chess

Purple Butterfly Wings

This weekend I was busy vending at an event, trying to sell some things that I no longer need.  I spent a fair amount of time getting everything together, and most of the day yesterday sitting at the table.  It didn't really net me much.  Consequently, I am just now getting this post up.

I started off with two coats of China Glaze Spontaneous.  Then I placed one coat of ORLY Purple Poodle on top.  Purple Poodle was too thin to use alone.  It is a great fushia-purple with blue glitter.

Once all that dried, I used plate BM-424 and konad special polish in black to stamp the butterfly wing image. I then placed the white dots using a white polish toward the tips with an improvised dotting tool (a straight pin shoved into the eraser on a pencil).

I absolutely love the color and the way that this one turned out!  I hope you like it too!!

Until later,

Chess

In Prompt Blue

This past weekend I had my belly dance sisters over to work on coin bras and other costuming items.  We had a great time and we managed to get a fair amount accomplished.

Sunday was Father's Day and we spent the whole day with our families.  My husband's aunt passed away the night before, so that was difficult to deal with as well.  My husband didn't know her very well, but obviously his father was hurting.

Needless to say, it was a long weekend.

My most recent mani was one I tried to a while ago, but had significant difficulties with.  I tried using a white nail art pen, but it washed away before I could get a top coat over it.  This time I started with white tips in ORLY Pointe Blanche.  Once that dried, I added the blue layer on the tips using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri In Prompt Blue.

I love the differentiation between the two colors.  For a different take on the french manicure, I received a lot of complements on it.

I hope you like it as well!

Until later,

Chess

Elation Generation

This past week has felt a little more busy than last week even.  We have an audit at work that is putting us behind in regular work.  I had my first Monday night yoga class, but no one showed up.  My husband helped me utilize that time and took pictures for my website.  You can view that here if you want.  Wednesday evening I had a doctor's appointment, then last night I had a rehearsal for a belly dance performance coming up on June 7th.  Tonight I have my Friday night yoga class to teach, and am trying to get this out before that.

Because I was busy this week, and I knew I would be, I went with just a swatch.  I used one coat of ORLY Elation Generation.  It is a bright pink jelly with glitter.  I love the color, and had I more time this week, I probably would have done a second coat to see how that turned out.  It chipped and wore away at the tips some.  You can see it well on my middle finger.  Overall, I love the color, but not the wear and tear it took.  I would probably do a second coat and top it off with a clear coat to protect it more.

Until later,

Chess

Teal Unreal

This week has been extremely busy.  We have been gearing up for our final teach out tomorrow in my yoga teacher training.  I'm excited to be finished, and of course I am a bit nervous.  I have really become close with everyone in my class, and I will miss seeing everyone each weekend.

Sometimes you just need a really simple manicure.  I decided to just go with a color and no design.  So this week it is just a swatch for you all.

I used three coats of ORLY Teal Unreal.  The color is deeper than in the picture, but nothing I did would make the color stand out properly.

Until later,

Chess

Pink Flakies

This week went by pretty fast.  I was finally able to Skype with my sister last night, so even though she is in another state, we were able to connect some.  That made the end of the week so much better.

Also, I had my usual belly dance class this morning, and it feels like I am finally beginning to get somewhere with dance.  I have been dancing at Bravo Belly Dance for about two years, but it has taken that long to learn enough vocabulary that I feel like I'm able to really create a flow while dancing.

This week I did another modified french manicure.  I found the ORLY MatteFX Pink Flakie Topcoat at Sally Beauty and knew I had to do something with it.  So I started with three coats of it, despite that it is called a topcoat.  This first picture shows the flakies a bit, and the matte effect.  The picture really doesn't do it justice, but the flakies are extremely hard to capture in photos for me.

Later, I used ORLY Pointe Blanche for the tips.  When that dried, I topped it off with my Diamond Dry to give it more shine.

Overall, the matte effect was ok, but I liked it better with a shine to it.  What do you think?

Until later,

Chess

Travel in Colour

I hope everyone is having a great day on the longest night of the year.  It is another cold day here, and I am welcoming the coming warmth.

This week I went with a relatively simple french manicure.  I started off with white tips in ORLY Pointe Blanche.  Then I put on a coat of China Glaze Travel in Colour.  This one has a pink shimmer to it.  The photo does not show the pink color of the shimmer well.  Try as I might to change the color in my photo editing software, the color just wouldn't show through.

I hope you like this one.  Sometimes it is nice to go with something a little more simple.

Until later,

Chess

High on Hope

This week flew by.  The beginning of the week was a little rough at work, but by midweek, we had extremely cold weather and snow on the ground.  Things slowed down a bit, with more people staying home.

This week I decided to try some more stamping, and I really like what I came up with.  I started with three coats of ORLY High on Hope.  After that dried, I stamped on the image using plate Mash-39 and Konad special polish in black.  Finally, I topped it off with Diamond Dry.

I like the fish scale image, and during the week I thought of a couple other things I could have done.  I could have used a different color than the black special polish for the image, to make it look more natural.  Also, I would like to see what it looked like with a matte top coat.  The pink glitter in this polish might show through better with the matte top coat.

Let me know what you think!  Do you see any other possibilities for this one?

Lack of Creativity

This week I really just didn't feel creative.  I couldn't think of anything to do with my nails.  Earlier, I bought a few ORLY colors, and I wanted to play with one of the them this week,  but I didn't have any ideas.  So I have a swatch of this color for you today.  This one is ORLY Terra Mauve.  It is a great red with a pinkish hue.  The color really is fabulous, I just couldn't think of anything to do to it.

Also, to give you a little more to look at, I pulled out a mani I tried out a bit ago, but never posted.  I started witha few coats of Sinful Colors Ocean Side.  After that dried I used some glitter polish from Icing on my ring finger.  It came in a four pack, but there is no name on it.

I hope you like these,

Chess

Leopard Print

This week, work went by fairly quickly.  I made a couple monetary decisions about bellydance and yoga that make me feel good about my future.  I'm excited about these opportunities next year.

Last week I saw this pin on pinterest, and knew I had a couple colors that I could use to recreate the look.  So that's what I set out to do.  To top it all off, the base color I used was given to me by a close friend, so it felt good to finally use it.

I started off with two coats of ORLY Rage.  After that dried, I stamped on the leopard print image using Konad plate m57 and Konad special polish in black. Then is used Sonia Kashuk Two Cent to place the darker dots on some of the leopard spots.  Finally, I used two coats of my Diamond Dry to smooth out the mani.

This one turned out beautifully, and everyone who has seen it in person has loved it.  It really did not take that much more time than any of the other manicures I have done before.

Until later,

Chess

Tongue & Chic

My co-worker has been on vacation in Florida all week, so it has been a little difficult keeping up with the workload.  However, I have taken on a new mantra at work.  I can only do so much, and the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.  It feels good.  I'm not as stressed as I usually am.

I decided to do something a little bit different for my mani this week.  I wanted to do a matte polish again.  So, I started with China Glaze Tongue & Chic.  Then I stamped on the peacock feather using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep and plate VL 006 by Vivid Lacquer.  Then I used ORLY top coat to save the image, and ORLY Matte Top over all the nails.

For some reason, the matte top coat didn't work for all the nails, and I decided to take pictures so you could see it.  Some of it wears off anyway throughout the week, but two of my nails just wouldn't take the matte top coat.

Despite the issues with the top coat, I really like this mani.  I love the color and the way the silver contrasts it.

Until later,

Chess