7th Wedding Anniversary Nail Art

Ok, so I couldn't get to sleep the other night. Enter iPhone. I never thought I'd use my phone so much but that was before my husband got me this mini-computer. It's actually faster than my 4 year old macbook.

Anyway, I was looking up symbols/gifts/colors for the 7th wedding anniversary since mine is... today!

7th Wedding Anniversary Symbols

Traditional: Copper/Wool
Modern: Desk Sets
Flower: Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Gemstone: Onyx/Yellow Sapphire
/Golden Beryl 

7th Anniversary Color:

Yellow or off white 

Well, I was stumped on what to do for a special nail art, but not for long. 

I decided on grey for the wool, and off white for the complementary color.

The other day, I bought some Milani (BOGO 1/2 off) at CVS.  One of the polishes is Charmed. It's a black glitter polish.

Polishes:

Milani Charmed, Confetti I<3 U, China Glaze Jitterbug

Charmed is a gorgeous black with silver glitter. I <3 U is a very pretty pearl, and Jitterbug is a striking silvery-grey.

I wasn't sure how elaborate I was going to get with the nail art and enhancements, plus I wanted a little more length on my nails than where my natural nails are right now.  So I reached for these:

I knew I wanted french tips and these are my favorite.

I used the lace from this sticker package.

The half pearls from this package.

 And white flowers from this.

I first lined up my nails and painted pearl slants with I <3 U. It took 3-5 coats to get to opacity. (I added 2 more coats after I had painted Jitterbug)

Without flash

with flash

2 coats of Jitterbug here. Then one coat of Charmed.

Once everything was dry, I added the flower and lace stickers along the I <3 U edge and pearls to the grey area on the thumbs and ring fingers. I went back later and put clear top coat over the entire nail.

I added a line of black with Kiss Nail Art paint to define the grey area better.

I was going for grey wool jackets over silk and lacey blouses.

I have to say, I haven't felt this good about my nails since before I went on vacation. I know my natural nails are growing and are mostly healthy. But I missed having them all the same length and shape.

I wanted to show you a close up of my thumbnail. I used 2 over sized nails for my thumbnails because I didn't want to waste them. I cut them down on the sides and across the cuticle edge with regular scissors and rounded the square sides on the tips. Cutting larger nails down worked better for my flatbed thumbnails with horizontal cuticles. The nails, because they were bigger, are less curved, and lie flat against my natural nail.

And here are closeups of each nail.

 The floral/lacey sticker is different on each nail on both hands, but identical to the finger's opposite.

We're going on the aerial tram today and eating lunch on top of the mountain. 

Something we did for our first wedding anniversary.

End of Summer Harvest Fimo Nail Art and Nailene Ultra Adhesive Tabs Review

Here's another mani with the fimo veggies and fruits.

 I applied the artificial nails to my nails with Nailene Ultra Adhesive Tabs

Nails I used:

This kit has been in my nails box since 2009. Back then, I was trying so many different types of nails to find the perfect french tip full cover nails for me.  The nail beds are very opaque. I think I paid $2 for these on clearance, and I couldn't pass them up for that price.

When I opened the box, I found a drugstore sensor pad inside, and this...

It was folded up very small and taped shut. The tape was yellow with age. The coupon expired in December of 09. I've never seen RED by Kiss on the shelves. Have you?

 The nails are still good, but the sizes are crazy. There are more size 6 than anything else. I may be able to get 2 manis from it. Not sure though.

Polishes:

China Glaze 931 Foxy, Sinful Colors 832 This Is It

I picked up the China Glaze in the clearance bin at Ulta awhile ago. I haven't used it yet. The Sinful Colors was an impulse buy at Albertsons. I paid $2.49 for it. I know they're only $1.99 at Walgreens, but I figured for .50¢ more, get it now because I don't know when I'm getting to Walgreens again or if they'll have that color.

I started by filling in the french tip curve with Lavender Cloud (not pictured). Once that was dry, I brushed This Is It over the Lavender Cloud. It's really not that light yellow.

After this dried, I sponged Foxy over This Is It 2 times. I brushed Foxy on the tips of the nails. Finally, I brushed on some more This Is It adding to what was already there.

After adding the veggie and fruit slices and rhinestones, I made dots on the nails with Piggy Polish Mystic.

From my "Garden":

Apples, Corn, Pears, Tomatoes,  Mushrooms, and Zucchini

Now to the Nailene Ultra Tabs, initial review...
The packaging

 The tabs are clear and sit on pink background paper so you can see them.

Before applying the tabs, I took the polish off my nails, and scrubbed my hands with this.

H20 Spa Hand and Cuticle Scrub

With tweezers, I selected tabs sized to my fingers. and peeled them, one by one off the backing paper. 

Clear Tabs on Nails

I thought I could put tabs on all my natural nails, then peel the plastic off the tops and put on my fake nails. The plastic coverings start to lift off after the tabs are placed on the nails. One on them came off my thumb tab, and it's so sticky, it grabbed another plastic covering, somehow. I had to remove that tab and get a fresh one, because the plastic covering would not come off. It was stuck to the tab.

The directions say to smooth down the tabs, pressing out air bubbles. Then remove the plastic covering and place the nail on the tab.

So far, they feel very snug. The packaging claims the tabs are water resistant. They are guaranteed up to 5 days of wear. I'll do an update in a few days, and let you know how they go.

Have you tried these Nailene Ultra Adhesive Tabs?

Daisy French Tips

 (This post was scheduled while I am away)

A little while ago, I posted my Robyn Moses inspired Daisies nail art. I really loved how they turned out, but those nails are medium length, and sometimes, I have trouble doing things with such long nails. I wanted to see how the daisies would look on real short length nails as a french tip manicure.

Nails:

Tools:

Polishes:

Confetti Silver Slippers, Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, China Glaze Swing Baby, Wet n Wild The Wonder Yellows, Kiss Nail Art Paint White, Piggy Polish Mystic

I used the same techniques and polishes as before with one change. I subbed China Glaze Jitterbug for the the Confetti Silver Slippers.

China Glaze:

• With Lavender Cloud, I filled in the curves on the french tips.
• After that dried I painted 2 coats of Jitterbug
• Once that was dry, I painted the daisies with Lavender Cloud.
• While the daisies were drying, I added the centers with Swing Baby, using the larger dotter.
• I went over the tips of the daisies with the white nail paint, using the small brush.
• With the smaller dotter I dabbed The Wonder Yellows over the Swing Baby.
• When everything was dry, top coat each nail entirely.

This was another one that was hard to photograph.

I really liked how they turned out.
(And I wore them *click here*)

What are your impressions of this nail art?

Update: Here is a pic of me wearing the nails.

Sea Nymphs

I am not here.

This is a post I wrote earlier because I'm "getting the heck outta Dodge" for the day! 

Yay!!!!

These are not the nails I'm wearing. I'll post those tomorrow.

I've had this picture for a very long time. Actually, it's a card. I loved the poem and image so much I framed it. The sentiment helped me many times when I was divorced and a single mom.

HOPE is a THING with feathers

That perches in the SOUL

and SINGS the tune

Without the WORDS

And never stops at all. ~Emily Dickinson

The nails I designed are based on the colors in the art work on the card.

They've changed the design some. The smaller nails in the pack have a tab now. That's handy.

 Polishes:

L-R: LA Colors Gold (Chunky) Glitter, Revlon Mint, Revon Gold Coin, China Glaze Going My Way

I started by taking a small piece of cosmetic sponge and sponging on Going My Way, covering and moving the french tip line down. Then I sponged Gold Coin, followed by Mint. I allowed the polishes to dry slightly between coats. When the nails were dry, I dabbed the gold chunky glitter over the Gold Coin. 

I added lacy, and flowery stickers and clear rhinestones. On the thumbs I used some larger colored rhinestones. One thing I've learned with the these stickers to use tweezers to peel them off and place them on the nails, so I'm not messing up the sticky.  The clear rhinestones were stuck to a sheet. They were a bit tedious to work with. I finally figured out it was easier to use the pointy end of the orangewood stick to get them off the sheet, and onto the nail. Because I didn't have to use clear polish to hold them on the nail, I was able to manipulate them easier into place.

I hope everyone has a great day! Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.

See you soon!

Nail Polish Collection and Storage

My nail polish collection was taking up too much space in the bathroom I share with my husband. He didn't mind it, but it was driving me crazy. I took all the polishes out, and will store them in my craft room. While I was moving everything, I figured it would be a good time to chronicle what I have.

Well, here's everything laid out on my craft table.

These are the Sephora, OPI for Sephora, Nicole for OPI, China Glazes, Essie, Ulta, Barielle polishes.

There are some Sally Hansen polish pens too. I didn't pay full price for any of them. The Essie was free when I signed up for something on Facebook.

Cover Girl glitters

I just love this brand, Confetti. It's exclusive to CVS I believe. If you google Confetti you'll read they were involved in a lawsuit. I haven't seen any new colors on the rack at my local CVS. They are just $1.99/pc. I usually pick up another color every time I go in. 

LA Colors: Some I found for $1 at the Dollar Store. A set of 7 I found at Marshalls for $5.99. Better than the Dollar Store!

Bought these at ULTA in the clearance section and sale rack.

Revlons

Sinful Colors from Walgreens

.69¢ sale Wet N Wild Shines from Walgreens

Wet n Wild Nail Pail colors (used CVS coupon on it)

Wet n Wild Craze (bought on clearance at Albertsons)

$1 at Dollar Tree and Big Lots

This was my first nail storage box. Scented drawer paper liners come in this box. I got it at Crabtree and Evelyn. I really liked it because it's narrow and fit on the ledge in the bathroom. I outgrew it though, and now I only use it for polishes that are separating. The only con about this other than size, was the fact I couldn't readily see the colors when I wanted to paint my nails.

I sort my polishes by color group, and then size. I still needed something narrow to fit on the ledge in the bathroom. One day at Big Lots, I found these small, clear Ball plastic food containers. I bought 3 thinking it would be enough. Yeah, right!

I eventually bought another container at a different Big Lots. It's not the same height. I store the very short bottles in there along with the nail pens.

I can quickly see what I need to grab.

But I have more polishes. Right now, I'm using the Wet n Wild Nail Pail colors a lot. So they live inside the pail. I didn't remove the cardboard insert inside so the polishes are very easy to reach.

Poilsh paints, glitters and polish remover in this box

This is where the polishes live now. It is not a huge collection compared to some, but it works for me. As soon as my daughter takes those books behind them to the Goodwill, I'll put my boxes of artificial nails behind them.  But that's for another day, and another blog post.

If you want to know the name of any of the colors, just ask.

How big is your collection? How do you store it? Are you happy with your polish storage solution?