Penny Talk on Mauve

This week has been decent. The weather has been nice and I was able to walk to work a couple of days. I spent an evening with my mom for her birthday.  I was able to Skype my sister last night so we got caught up on events some. My belly dance troupe is performing tomorrow evening and I am excited about that.

This week I was lacking inspiration so I went to pinterest to find something to do.  I decided to replicate this look. I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Mauve.  It is a greyish purple and the formula is decent. Then I painted on the tips using Essie Penny Talk.  This one is a thicker formula and it tends to dry quickly. Consequently, it is more difficult to work with. After it all dried, I topped it off with China Glaze matte top coat.

I forgot how much I like the look of matte polish, especially over a metallic polish.

What do you think?  Do you like the matte polish?

Until later,
Chess

X-Ta-Sea and Liquid Crystal

I've mentioned lately that I have been really busy and feeling overwhelmed.  I'm trying to determine how to back off from some things so I can focus on what I love.  I want to get back to my manicures and blogging them each week.  I  have lost my creativity, I think mostly due to being overworked and overdrawn.  Hopefully I can figure something out so I can get back to my usual routine some.

This week I have a couple more for you.  The first is another swatch.  I loved the color so much and didn't know what else to do with it.  It is three coats of China Glaze X-Ta-Sea from the most recent summer collection. The color is a fabulous plum purple.  One of my friends liked it so much I lent it to her.  I would highly recommend this color to anyone who loves purples.

The second manicure is fairly simple, but also more than just a swatch.  I really wanted to do something with white polish, and decided to do white on every nail with a glitter accent nail.  The white is three coats of Sinful Snow Me White.  Then my ring finger has two coats of China Glaze Liquid Crystal. The glitter is a blue base with hints of pink to it, though the pink didn't really show up well in the photo.

I hope you like these.  Do you have any suggestions for future manis?

Until later,

Chess

Mesmerize

My sister is now on her way to her destination with her husband.  It seems weird knowing that we will have to use all the technology at our hands to keep in contact now.  I truly hope things go smoothly for her out there.

This week I was inspired by this pin, though my manicure didn't quite turn out.

I started with two coats of OPI Vant To Bite My Neck?  Then I sponged on a gradient using the same color and Sinful Colors Mesmerize.  The distinction between the two colors wasn't quite enough.  You can only barely see the difference in the pictures.

After that I put on a coat of OPI Which is Witch? while trying to keep the glitter thin.  The coat was uneven, so I topped it all off with Diamond Dry.

I really would have liked the colors to be a little more definable, but overall, I love the look.

Until later,

Chess

Merry Christmas 2013

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season, wherever you are.  We will be heading to his parent's house, then my grandparents' house, and finally to my parents' house, so we will be rather busy.  I wanted to get this posted early today so that I don't forget with everything else that is going on today.

I went for a non-traditional manicure this week.  I didn't want to do the typical red and green.  I have also been eyeing a very special polish from the Essie winter collection.  I received a coupon for Ulta, so I used that to get that special polish at a slightly better price.

Without further ado....

I started off with three coats of Sinful Colors Hot Spot on all my nails except my ring finger.  This is a nice metallic royal blue, that doesn't leave brush strokes.  On my ring finger, I used Essie On A Silver Platter.  This one is a gold glitter with a couple different kinds of blue holographic glitter in it. I used the Essie polish on the tips of the rest of my nails.

After it all dried, I used Diamond Dry on top of everything. This helped cover the glitter on my ring finger so it didn't feel so jagged, and helped to smooth out the rest of the nails some.  I had to layer on the glitter polish more on the tips so it would show better.

I hope you all love this one as much as I do, and you have a wonderful day today!

Until later,

Chess

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