SIMPLE SUNDAY: Fire Alarm!

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

Today's look came about because I painted my nails with this gorgeous colour, Rusted Lux, and then had no idea what to do with it.

One of my Instagram lovelies suggested fire, and I kind of ran with it. In the direction of the absurd.

I took a look at my studs and thought, "Hey, these kind of look like exclamation points." And from there I decided on a fire signage kind of idea thing. You know, one of those idea things. Right-o.

Rusted Lux is a weird polish, it's a very sheer base with opaque flakes in it. The coverage of the flakes is what gives the polish opacity. I used three coats, but it could have used a fourth. It is amazing, though. Even my boyfriend grabbed my hand and exclaimed about how pretty it is. Glowy beauty.

Zoom this one in and you can see all the flakes in action!:

Polishes used:

SpaRitual - Rusted Lux

KONAD - Special Stamping Polish in White

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

rectangular studs from The Nail Room

round studs from Born Pretty Store

medium detailing brush

xo,

J.

Fall Houndstooth

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

I hate doing gradients and I hate doing patterns that are finicky, so today's venture was interesting, to say the least.

The ABC Challenge prompt for this week is H for houndstooth. I rather like houndstooth, actually. It's probably my favourite pattern. BUT. When I do it in large quantities, things tend to get out of hand. They go wonky. They're subject to entropy. You get the idea.

In this case, my squares kept getting closer and closer together. Dagnabbit!

I began with a base of a gradient using Coney Island Queen, Martian Sea, and 347. (I hate gradients, I hate cleaning up after them, oh heavens it is The Worst Thing after water marbling clean-up.) I then painted on the houndstooth with the KONAD polish. If you need a questionably useful refresher on how to do houndstooth, please click here. (And while we're revisiting the past, why were my cuticles so much happier then than now? Now they're like overgrown brambles! Augh!)

The claw! Haven't seen that one in a while.

Polishes used:

Pahlish - Coney Island Queen

Pretty Serious - Martian Sea

Inglot - 347

KONAD - Special stamping polish in white

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

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat; sort of smudged things in places, boo...)

medium and tiny detailing brushes

make-up sponges

cotton swabs and swear words for clean-up

I have the BEST holiday nail idea. Isn't that frustrating? Useless for the next almost three months... But I can't help it! The season makes me think of being cosy, not creepy/frightening as Hallowe'en deserves. So it gggoooeesss.

xo,

J.

Gradient Gingham

I COULDN'T STAY AWAY

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have a problem. I probably have a problem, but I definitely don't care.

Now... what to call these? I don't know what these are. Reverse plaid? Regular plaid? Gingham? None of the above? Whatever, I'm going with gingham because then I've got an alliterative title.

It's a super gross, rainy day here today (which is good, it's the first good rain of the season, I can pretty well hear the plants heaving a sigh of relief). As such, I wanted something colourful! And then I couldn't leave a gradient well enough alone.

Turns out I can't use a liner brush worth a damn. Look at that middle finger! For one, it's missing a line (!!!), and for two, it's on a slant! Holy jeez.

For this look, my gradient was made with the Sally Hansen colours over a base of French White to make them pop. I did the lines with Funny Bunny and the KONAD polish. It's a pretty straightforward look!

Polishes used:

Nina Ultra Pro - French White

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Fuchsia Power, Coral Reef, Sun Kissed, Green With Envy

OPI - Funny Bunny

KONAD - Special Stamping Polish in White

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Poshé (top coat)

two sizes of liner brushes

a questionably steady hand

I will still give it a few days between manis for the time being, while my cuticles continue to heal-- they are still nowhere near where I'd like 'em!

J.

Retro Spaceships! (Kind Of.)

I have a fun one for you today! Unfortunately, it is irredeemably cloudy out, so my photos aren't their best, but hopefully it's possible to get the gist of it.

I had this idea in my head as a pure exercise in geometry, but my partner saw them upon completion and announced they looked like old school space capsules. Which is, I guess, kind of true! So I added some dots to the background at the last minute, to resemble stars, and called it a day.

I love this thing.

I started with a base of Cape Liz (3 coats to opacity); lovely formula, unfortunate that I couldn't get a photo that shows its beautiful multi-coloured glass fleck finish. I then sponged Marble on the top halves, and learned the hard way that it is IMPOSSIBLE to clean up this particular polish-- it just disintegrates into a million little sparkles that stick to your skin forever (augh).

I then cut out the shapes in tape and stuck those pieces of tape on my nails, followed by two coats of Euphoria and the swift removal of the tape while the polish was still wet. Lastly, I glued on the little studs, made the little white dots with a small dotting tool, and covered the whole thing in Glitter Food and topcoat.

And a super-overexposed photo to show you the holographic goodness of Euphoria. (It also shows up in the sun, but is too subtle for cloudy conditions.)

Polishes used:

Cirque - Cape Liz

Spa Ritual - Marble

Wonder Beauty Products / Superchic Nail Lacquer - Euphoria

Konad - Special Stamping Polish (White)

Born Pretty Store - 1.5mm silver studs (affixed with Orly nail glue)

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

OPI - Nail Envy Matte (base coat)

New York Color - Grand Central Station (top coat)

Hoping to do something really awesome for the end of this week, stay tuned!

J.

PS: DUN DUN DUNNNN: