Fruity Tooty and 3 Untrieds down!

Was feeling the need for something summery after doing all these light artworks for my daughter and darks for me. This makes me want to order something fruity in a pineapple and put my feet up on the railing overlooking the beach- China Glaze Lemon Sour topped with Zoya Manhattan Mixer (sounds like cocktails have already started) then the new China Glaze Riveting from the Hunger Games collection finished with Cherimoya Emerald 3. (nasty stuff to apply, foamy and bald spots- I kinda had to dab it on) but I love the shimmer! Out the Door topcoat. btw Riveting is my new favorite polish.

FCAT Manicure for Paula

If you're not from Florida, you probably won't know about the FCAT. It's an annual exam taken by grade school students age 6-15 in Florida designed to punish the teachers and kids each year. They teachers spend most of the year trying to teach the kids to pass the test (instead of, oh, say, schoolwork?) because the grades are used to allocate funding to or from the school. What this means is that if, like my daughter, you teach in an inner city school with in inclusion (special ed, kids held back 1-2 even 3 years, 100% on federal free lunch program) those kids' test results are held to the same standard as the magnet schools that get to pick and choose who they allow in their classrooms. And the schools in the wealthy parts of town. And so on. Needless to say, she was a bit stressed and needed a cheerful happy mani to help her thru today's round. (there are three parts spread over a couple months) She found one she liked but it had been stamped so I tried my best to copy using a striper white and yellow. The base is Sinful Colors Cinderella over Kleancolor Pastel Teal.

PCFC February 29- Magical!

So, I wasn't feeling the whole Monday water marble thing in PaA, nor the "fav lilac or peach" for PCFC so I jumped to Wednesday-Unicorn Magic- make your mani magical! I just recently swapped  a lovely German lady for three Essence duos- Colours3 and decided the deep green "Walk in the Park" with the topper "Stopping for Ice Cream" was pretty magical- nice opacity- two coats with very very little drag, the topper is a bit chunky, miniscule pastel glitters with small shimmering white flakes-but layered over the already shimmering base it seemed kinda magical. But wait! There's more! Being the fortunate owner of the tiny bit of heaven known as MaxFactor Fantasy Fire, I put two coats of that over a couple accent nails and poof! Unicorn magic! Seche Vite over but the shrinkage is abominable.

Birthday Party Nails!

So Paula is turning 25 on Sunday and we're having a party for her tomorrow. I decided to celebrate with three untrieds: China Glaze Ingrid,  a dark mushroom with fine gold glassfleck, Persian on the tips, a deep creamy dreamy teal from Leighton Denny and a gift from my friend Debbie Crumpet, and a new Jordana Glitter in Copper Blaze sponged over the ends. Lots of Gelous and Seche Vite and they are glassy as can be!

Love Yourself Manicure!

I was getting a bit stressed trying to do at least a FEW of the weekly/daily challenges, and was under a bit of condemnation when Claire from Purple Fairy Dust wrote about doing your nails just for yourself- (here) So I took a deep breath and forgot about the challenges- if I get there, I get there, otherwise... meh. This one makes me very very happy- Zoya Yara, a multi-faceted olive green with golden and green and maybe a few red or copper glitters in it. This polish made me smile from the first nail! It went on like a dream- everything I love in a polish. I put it over Seche Rebuild and Seche Clear. I had just gotten some nerdlacquer so I did a single coat of Aurum over one nail then added my favorite color, orange, dots to the others. OPI Roll in the Hague from their new Holland collection is amazing. Dense, creamy and a perfect bright orange cream. Seche Vite and Gelous over the glitter nails with Out The Door over the others.

And Matted- I prefer this actually!

The Crumpet: 500 Follower Giveaway - Who Is As Mad As A Hatter ...

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Spring Flowers on Short Nails

Tutorial and all credit to Robin Moses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sytLEYLaNhU&list=UUmQ_NsMT0OPNbp_PNw0u2tA&index=2&feature=plcp
Paula likes flowers, so I had pinned this to my Pinterest recently and she was smitten. She prefers polish to acrylics so the only part done with paint is the leaves, the rest is various China Glaze and Zoya polishes. The base is three coats of Revlon Matte Suede in Powder Puff, a slightly sparkly white that looks like fine porcelain with a topcoat. Base is Seche Clear and top is one of the new Revlon Colorstay TC and one Seche Vite.

Orange you glad it's Friday?

Actually, it's more of a tangerine- My pics are terrible at depicting this color, Zoya's Jancyn- go see ALU here http://www.alllacqueredup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/zoya-jancyn-swatch-flash-summer-2010.jpg
I was attempting small flowers for  the Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge and this was what I came up with. I didn't want green on orange- too Halloweenie, I don't care for orange and blue, too UF Gators, so I mixed it up a bit with a soft griege-lavender Zoya Caitlin and blue-gray Zoya Kristen. Silver dots are aEngland Excalibur. Here is the challenge if you'd like to play along :

"Thank You"s sent

Just mailed off a couple "thank you" gifts to two long time followers/posters, Lydz and Shally. I appreciate your comments and suggestions. Thanks for sticking with me, even if I usually wear green :) j/k. Maybe. Not really. well.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

So, unlike a certain Crumpet-that-will-not-be-named (DEBBIE) when I wear a color I don't care for, I give it some respect- here is Bettina Flip Flops from the resort collection, gentle enhanced with a sprinkling of Icing's After party. I did NOT slather orange stuff all over it, nor red crackle, nor any of those other horrible things SHE does to orange! :::::shudder:::: Applied over Seche Rebuild, Seche Clear and 2 coats of Seche Vite over. Pretty enough for purple, I suppose. :::runs off to take it off:::::

Hits No Olimpo Hera

The Anti-Valentine Manicure! I don't do pink, rarely even in nail art, for me at least. After the love affair I have going with Hits Demeter, I wanted to try its teal cousin, Hera. Bamm in your face holo yumminess with with color of the sun streaming thru the ocean. I layered it over Revlon Ocean, aptly named, the teal metallic matched Hera's color exactly. And I couldn't wait to try my new Lippmanns,l so I added an accent of ATU over one nail. The Hits has Poshe as a topcoat, the DL has Gelous and Seche Vite.

OPI Shim Merry Chic

Gosh this polish is gorgeous! I got it in a swap for a red Deborah Lippmann (yeha, like I would EVER wear that, right?) and I think I got the better deal. This is a foily-golden brown with what looks like crushed Unicorn Puke flakies in it- here is a review that shows the flakes http://miranniesnails.blogspot.com/2010/11/opi-shim-merry-chic.html
I wish I had a better camera, but it is fascinating IRL to see the different colors flash. I did a quick accent with Barry M Gold and Nubar Earth.

Lippmann Today Was A Fairytale

Multisized silver holo in a grayed-blue jelly base. This is over two coats of Jordana French White and Gelous and SV over.

Bettinas for everyone!

Did a group buy for my birthday girls- these are mainly Bettina Disco polishes- slightly duochromes that change color over black.

Nail Mail!

Forgot to post this- they came a while back from the wonderful Crumpet- Royal Mail, no less!

Not exactly a winter design

So..... I was looking over some untrieds and attempting to picture various configurations and permutations of colors, textures and designs and happened to spot (in my nearly 100% China Glaze drawer) Lemon Fizz. I love yellow almost as much as orange and green, but the pale chalkiness of it just kept me turning away time and time again, so, after screwing up my courage (and googling a bunch of swatches for strength) I laid down three coats over Seche Rebuild and Orly Bonder. I was careful after the second coat, to let it dry pretty well before the third, and  still had a bit of the cuticle drag we all know and come to expect from pastels. Overall though, the texture and leveling was, say, 8/10. After some spots with CG Tree Hugger, Caribbean Blue and Custom Kicks, I was pretty happy with the result. Out the Door topcoat AND Seche Vite over that to level the dots. Inside and outside shots.

Love this girl!

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Purple Fairy Dust's Secret Garden: On this day God wants you to know...

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