SIMPLE SUNDAY: Blood Splats

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

So, remember yesterday when I was worried about my being hung over today? GUESS WHAT.

I'm posting from the past again! The point of my inebriation levels of last night are totally moot! How smart is this? I should post from the past more often.

It's not a Hallowe'en season without some blood splats. Now, I need to have a word with you all, here. It's of critical importance, and should be known in a post-Dexter world. It's not really blood splatter, it's blood spatter. I know, I know. It's a bit like how the Classicist in me flinches whenever somebody calls them pottery shards instead of pottery sherds. Drives me nuts! Thank you for listening to this mini-rant.

This look started with a staggering four thick coats of Naked. It doesn't even give me mannequin hands! All that work for nothing! Needless to say, especially given its price tag (I got it on clearance, thankfully), Naked does not come recommended.

The accent finger is two coats of Chyna. This polish reminds me of Dorothy's shoes and does come recommended. So classic-looking in spite of the texture!

The blood splats (it's not really spatter, it's much more haphazard splotches, I think) were done first in Fire It Up, and then in JS42 for depth. The whole thing took about a half-hour for both hands, making this Simple Sunday appropriate.

Polishes used:

Deborah Lippmann - Naked

Zoya - Chyna

Layla - Softouch 08 (Fire It Up)

Nfu Oh - JS42

medium liner brush

Have you done any Hallowe'en manis yet? This feels so out of my comfort zone, haha!

xo,

J.

Galaxy Nails

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

I cannot lie, I'm pretty happy with today's nails. I did them while half-drunk last night, which would usually portend abject failure, or hilarious hijinx, but in this case: success!

Today's ABC Challenge prompt is G for galaxy. Galaxy nails have a long, honourable tradition in the nail art world. They're fun and low-pressure; usually you just sponge on various colours, have at it with a dotting tool and some white polish, and voilà! But noooo, Jolène had to go all realiiiiistic.

Here's my source image: 

Save this photo if you want an awesome galactic background for your computer. Oooh, aaaah!

Obviously, I didn't try to replicate the source photo exactly, but I did try to keep my design sort of in line with the spirit of the thing.

I used so many polishes for this. I've listed them all below, but I can't really get into the process of painting this. It kind of went: black, dark colours, medium colours, lighter colours, turquoises, white. That's as descriptive as I can get. I was really feeling this one through! I'm really pleased with how it turned out, though. :)

And, frankly, I'm also super-pleased that I did it all with nail polishes. Woot woot! Sometimes polish is actually more appropriate a painting medium than acrylic, and galaxies are one of those instances.

This photo can be super-zoomed to see all the detail, including the faintest starts that are a combination of Galinda and black + acetone (the only thing that doesn't come across is the faint holo from Greatest Treasures):

Polishes used:

A England - Camelot

OPI - Germanicure, Rally Pretty Pink, Funny Bunny

Maya Cosmetics - Smolder

Nfu Oh - JS42

Pretty Serious Cosmetics - Nightmaren

Literary Lacquers - Greatest Treasures

Nubar - Stardust

Modha HD - Ousada

American Apparel - Moon

Cirque - Galinda

Liquid Sky Lacquer - Still Waters

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaid's Dream

Cult Nails - Tempest

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

Have you ever tried galaxy nails before? (Fun, hey?!)

xo,

J.

I scream! You scream! We all scream for ice cream!

... I used to say, back when I could also skip in double ropes. (I can barely single skip with a single rope now. Oh, the halcyon days of youthful coordination.)

No tutorial for these, because the only real process was "screw around with acrylic paints in the general shape of ice cream". From left to right, we have mint chocolate chip, a banana split, some kind of berry sunday, and a peanut chocolate parfait that looks poop-ish because using dark brown tricks my camera into thinking things are solid black!

But the BASE of this manicure, which you can regrettably see little of, is another of the custom Tryst Lacquers I ordered -- Confection (aptly). It's a very pale nude/peach with super-pale green satin hex, purple micro holo, and tiny iridescent glitter. It's lovely and I'm sure you'll be seeing it again. It also applied like a dream in 3 thin coats.

The cups are made with polish, in a page I've taken from @glitterfingers' cupcake manis. From left to right: Jinx, Lil Miss Sunshine, Mermaid's Dream, another (!) custom Tryst Lacquer which is called Calypso and which you'll see more of soon.

Polishes used:

Tryst Lacquers - Confection (custom), Calypso (custom)

OPI - Jinx

CrowsToes - Lil Miss Sunshine

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaid's Dream

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter A-Peel (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paint
detail brush
fine-nibbed pen with watered-down acrylic paint for the outlines

I think I'll be doing a watermarble next, because I bought a GOSH polish today that is SUPERB -- if only my photos will end up doing it justice!

xo,

J.

SWATCH SATURDAY: Forget You

Many moons ago, Deborah Lippmann came out with a glitter topper called Happy Birthday, and it went on to become a nail blogger darling (well, at least the original version; but I think the new version to be prettier). To me, though, while it was nice, it was missing something. It turns out that something was a black jelly base.

Suh-WOON. A rainbow jelly sandwich in a bottle! When I was in high school, I went through a phase of being what I could only describe as a 'glitter goth'. This appeals to exactly that part of me.

For this, I used two coats of Glitter A-Peel, three coats of Forget You, one coat of Glitter Food, and one coat of Seche. In spite of the coats, it isn't very thick. That's because Forget You, in spite of being very glitter-dense (no dabbing needed for this polish!), is suspended in a miraculously smooth, relatively thin jelly base. It was a real pleasure to work with, almost no clean-up required.

Look at all those layers! I love the glitters peeking through the black jelly. SO MUCH.

Polishes used:

Deborah Lippmann - Forget You

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter A-Peel (base coat), Glitter Food

Seche Vite (top coat)

Still trying to decide what to do for Simple(r) Sunday tomorrow! AAAaaaahh.

J.

World Water Day 2013

Today is World Water Day! Which, in light of all the attempts to privatise water, rampant pollution, major oil spills, and the general business of catering to humanity (hello, agriculture!), is super relevant. Super important.

EWWWW FLASH (I'm so sorry!)

The theme for this year is water cooperation. For this mani, I tried to put two hands underwater, reaching for each other. Interestingly, this works just fine in person, but the darker of the two skin tones refuses to show in my lightbox, which explains the use of flash photos (yuck). I've included a couple of crappy photos to try to give you an idea of what this looks like, but I remain mostly dissatisfied with the outcome. I'll have to do better next year! ;)

This was the only way to get the other hand to show up!!

I did all of the painting with nail polishes, on a base of Across the Universe, one of my favourite polishes ever, for obvious reasons:

 I hope we all put our heads together to make sure that we keep water as safe, as available, and as protected as possible. It's so critical!

Polishes used:
Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe
NYColor - Fashion Safari
Revlon Brilliant Strength - Dominate
Nfu Oh - JS29, JS34
OPI - Funny Bunny
Revlon Top Speed - Spirit
Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food
INM - Out the Door (top coat)
Poshé (top coat)

J.

Distressed Patchwork Nail Art

Hey there!

I have a simple but extremely effective mani for you today. The 'patchwork' look has been around for a long time, but I was finally prompted to try it by Jeanette's gorgeous take on it over at The Swatchaholic. Hers is way, way, way, way³ more beautiful than mine. Her skill is as perfect as her nails are as perfect as her photography-- go check it out!

In the meantime, here are my efforts. :)

The colours show up best in the shade.

For this look, I started with a base of one coat of Filthy Rich, and then dabbed on the remaining colours in a way that seemed to make sense/balance everything out. I used all foil polishes with the exceptions of Filthy Rich (microglitter), Mermaid's Dream (microglitter in a frosty base), and Smolder (shimmer). I went over the dabs twice for texture and opacity.

SPARKLY

It involved a bit of clean-up at the end, but nothing serious. It's an extremely easy technique since it requires no tools other than the brushes that come with the nail polishes themselves!

Here are close-ups of Smolder and Mimi because I felt like the patchwork didn't really show their true awesomeness. Smolder has a deep beautiful shimmer that is actually duochrome (goes golden at sharp angles, could not capture it on camera). Mimi is a royal purple foil that has a hidden bright turquoise shimmer that caught me totally off-guard!

L-R: Smolder, Mimi.  Sorry about the crap clean-up, these were painted & tidied with my non-dominant hand. :)

Finally, I leave you with a purposely blurry shot to show you the shiny glory of the foil polishes. Even though you don't use very much for this technique (it works best when you take off almost all of the polish on the brush), it still packs a lot of colour punch!

Polishes used:

Quo by Orly - Filthy Rich

Zoya - Ivanka, Mimi

Spa Ritual - Conduit, Rusted Lux

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaid's Dream

Maya Cosmetics - Smolder

Poshé (top coat)

Have you ever tried this look? If not, you really should. It looks super-lovely in jewel tones, brights, pastels... any given colour family. Just keep an eye out for light/dark and colour balance!

Until next time!


J.