Hidden Gems

This week, after the time change, I feel a little more like myself.  I'm not sure if it was the extra hour of sleep, that my husband was away for a few days, or things slowing down a little at work.  I managed to get more done this week and feel more accomplished, if not more rested.

For the full moon this week, I decided to do a more celestial manicure.  I started with two coats of  L'Oreal Hidden Gems.  In the bottle it looks like a beautiful blue that shifts to purple, with small silver glitter.  Like most duochrome polishes, it doesn't shift as well on the nail as it does in the bottle.  I was surprised to find that it is actually a sand textured polish as well.

Then I stamped on the moon image using plate Mash-32 and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep.  I loved the look so much that I didn't bother putting on a top coat to smooth it all out.

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

Expresso

I have been on vacation all week. It has been fabulous to not have to do anything.  I spent the week with my husband, as well, and it was nice to spend so much time with him. We did a little work around the house, worked on our Christmas presents for some people, had a fabulous dinner for our anniversary, played a lot of WoW, helped his family with a couple issues, slept a lot, and stayed up late.  I have jury duty Monday, so while I won't necessarily return to work, I will be spending the day bored out of my mind.  I'll just have to take a good book.

Due to my lack of motivation, I didn't any blogging, and didn't do a manicure this week. Sometimes you just need to take a break from everything.

 I am working on getting caught up on this and am starting off with a swatch.  I picked up this color a while ago, but it turned out a little different when it dried.  I used two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Expresso for this picture.  It has a pink tint but turned out closer to a brick red than I prefer.  It is not one of my favorite colors. Like usual, the formula is good.  It is thick enough to not require a lot of coats and it dries quickly without being streaky.

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

Mauve It

This week I had an interview for a new job, so I decided to go with a more neutral mani for the week.  I was torn between doing another french manicure and using a simple color.  I had problems with the french manicure that I did, which I will post about later, and finally determined that one color would work better after my frustrations.

I used two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mauve It.  I love this brand.  It is thicker than some, so you don't have to put a bunch of coats on and it dries quicker than others.  This is a gorgeous neutral pink, and I felt it worked well while trying to remain conservative.

I think I could do a white lace design of some sort in the future to give it a modified french manicure look.

Until later,

Chess

Mint Chocolate Chips

My sister named this mani.  I showed it to her earlier in the week and she said it looked a bit like the ice cream.

I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet.  After that dried I used two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pixel Perfect.  I used the brush to help strategically place some of the "pixels."

I love the look and received a lot of complements on this.  The only issues I had was the glitter top coat tended to get bubbles in it as I was applying it and it was definitely not a quick dry polish.  It took forever for the glitter polish to dry.

What do you think?

Until later,

Chess

Taunting Teal

This week has been so long that when I woke up this morning I had to look at my phone to be sure today was actually Friday.  I'm so glad the weekend has finally arrived.

This week I decided to go with a blue color for my manicure, and to try out one of the new bundle monster plates I received recently.

I started out with two thick coats of Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal.  Then I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Gone Grey and plate BM-419 to stamp on the feather image.

The blue is a great fall or winter color, and the grey/silver is perfect for stamping.

Let me know what you think!

Until later,

Chess

Peach and Pastel Purple

This week I found some inspiration on pinterest for my mani.  You can see the original here.  The original was done with two pinks, based on the description, but the lighter one looks more purple to me.  So I decided to raid my stash and see if there were a couple of colors that would work well together.  I think my picks worked very well.

I started off with three coats of Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy.  I forgot how thin this polish is.  Once that dried, I sponged on the Essie color with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Peachy Breeze.  Over the top of that, I used China Glaze Fairy Dust.  It is getting a little old and goopy, so I used Diamond Dry on top of that to smooth it all out.

I absolutely love this combination and how it turned out.

I am still trying to figure out what I am going to do this coming week.

What do you think?  Do you like this one?

Until later,

Chess