Flowers and Vines

I am glad the holidays are over and I can get back to my somewhat regular schedule.  I have been spending more time with my family, especially my sister, as she will be leaving with her husband at the end of next week.  They are moving to Mississippi for his pilot training.  It is a rough transition for me, as she and I have spent the last 26 or so years together.  It will be hard not seeing her every week, but I am proud of all that she has accomplished so far, and know she will soar to new heights.

This week I took some inspiration from this pin.  I love the color and the stamp image.

I started with three coats of Icing Lilacquer.  Then I stamped on the image using plate m73 and Konad special polish in black.  After that dried, I painted the black on the tips using China Glaze Liquid Leather.  Finally, I used the Diamond Dry top coat.

Unfortunately, the Diamond Dry causes shrinkage at the tips.  That isn't tip wear in the photos, but the Diamond Dry pulling the color back some as it dries.  Aside from that, and the slight smudging on a couple nails of the image, I thought this mani turned out very well.

Let me know what you think!

Until later,

Chess

Best of 2013

Overall, this year has been rather frustrating.  However, I have a lot of hope and bright prospects for the next year.  So to close out this year properly, I am posting about some of my more popular posts from the year.  These are listed from most popular to least popular.

1. Steampunk, Take 2

2. Two-toned

3. Royal Blue and Gold

4. Green Texture

5. French Sparkle

6. Mint Mojito

7. AnomalyCon 2013

8. Cloudy Skies

9. Pixie Dust

10. Beads and Jewels

I hope you all have a happy New Year!!

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

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

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

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?

Merino Cool

Once again I felt no real urge to do much with my nails.  I had some good news at work, so hopefully things will begin to return to normal.  For so long I have been terribly stressed out, and I haven't felt normal.  I am ready for a change.

This week I wanted to try out a new color I picked up by Essie.  So this mani is two coats of Essie Merino Cool.  It is a fabulous color, a mix between grey and purple.  Absolutely perfect for fall or winter.

Until later,

Chess

Chic Reloaded

Last weekend I had a work meeting on Saturday, that left me dragging all week.  I had no real ambition this week, and really just wanted to sleep all day.  Consequently, I did not do much with my nails, either.  However, the polish I choose this week I think spoke for itself.  This is one of the only color I have found that has a true duochrome that one can see in most light.  A lot of others I have tried don't really show more than one color.

This is three coats of Essence Color and Go Chic Reloaded.  I found it for only a couple of dollars at Ulta.  The only downside is it tends to wear at the tips more than some polish does.  You can see it some in the picture, on my middle finger.

I do wonder if a top coat would have changed the duochrome any, so there would be less tip wear.

Until later,

Chess

Custom Kicks

This week, I tried very hard to make my mani match a teal green shirt I own.  It is one of my favorites.  I came pretty close, though the pictures just don't do it justice.

I started with a couple layers of China Glaze Custom Kicks.  Then I added a layer of Icing Peak A Blue.  Custom Kicks is a green teal and Peak A Blue is a light blue with micro sparkles.  The color matched the shirt  almost exactly.

After that dried, I stamped on the lotus image using plate BM05 and Mash special polish in white.  I topped it off with the Diamond Dri.

Until later,

Chess

Another Favorite Color Combination

I am very glad it's Friday.  This week was rather frustrating again at work.  It seemed like the week would never end.  I have been trying to work on my novel for NaNoWriMo, but have been rather busy, so haven't been able to get far.  I am planning to work hard this weekend on it.

This week, I put two colors of polish together that I love.  Right now, I really love a blush pink color and I love pairing it with navy blue.  So that's what I did this week.

I started with a couple coats of OPI A Butterfly Moment.  When that dried, I used OPI Incognito in Sausalito for the tips.

It is relatively simple, but it's my favorite color combination right now.

I hope you like it,

Chess