Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Fairytale nails, layered fauxnad

Hi Kids!
I created this layered, fauxnad mani a couple of weeks ago. Base color is 3 coats of BB Couture, Love Bug. I had all the plates used for this set aside to account for them when I had more time. Unfortunately, they were shuffled through and placed back on the shelves when I had a co-worker over for a set of nails and stamping art.

With the exception of black, all stamping polishes used are frankens. Love My Nails, Angel Baby was used to bring some iridescence into certain areas within the mani. Unlike a lot of my layered manis, I wore this one for a whole weekend, and got lots of compliments (and the "fairytale nails" title idea) from customers.
As always, pictures are clickable...

















































Monday, May 16, 2011

I'm back!

Hi Kids!
Although my new mani/make-up/jewelry making area was completed weeks ago, major changes in my life kept me from getting back to my Blog. My dd, Amber, left several weeks ago to move in with her boyfriend, who lives 3 hours north of me. While I'm really happy for her that she's in an area where she has more opportunities, I was hoping  expecting she would stay with me forever. It hasn't been easy for me, and truthfully- I'm pushing myself to Blog today in order to snap myself out of feeling so empty.

That said, I didn't have any trouble picking what I was going to Blog about even though I had 4 things in que...
Crack Polish.
I wasn't a fan of it the first time it came around years ago, and I'm still not. The look is just too deconstructed for my taste, especially if the cracks are large. Today, I'm wearing Color Club Tangerine Scream with Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Vintage Violet. I can't decide which is greater;
How much I hate the crack effect of this mani...or
How much I love the color combination the effect produced.

I sure all of you have been witness to a multi-colored Autumn sunset that includes purples, fuchsias and oranges all glowing with the same intensity all at the same time. I have always been drawn to that color combination. For the last 11 years, they have been the decor colors (with a little aquamarine thrown in) of my studio and of my daughter's bedroom...walls, furniture, treatments...everything.  When visitors come to my house, they always comment on how surprised they are to find so much color work so well at being peaceful and calming. The truth is- I'm not the color wizard they think I am... my color combination was stolen from a reliable source, a place where everything works well together- nature.

Sunset Crackle
All pictures were altered with a heavy hand. Please ignore skintone.































I've been out of the loop for a while now, so I'm not sure if the following is old news or new news...
I found that Vintage Violet worked better over polish that was not fully dry. Any area that has not cracked CAN be manipulated to crack. Once the crack polish has skinned over enough to touch, gently place your finger on the patch and daub it in different directions until a fine crack appears. Continue daubing to make it crack more. Fingerprints may be smoothed out with some gentle rubbing.

That's it for today Kids. Still in the editing stage, the next mani to be posted will be a multi-layered fauxnad.