DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Monochrome Teal Floral

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

Today's venture into photography land was, as you can tell, far more successful.

I had three teal polishes stacked side by side and had zero idea what to do with them. So, true to form, I did a floral. (There is no going wrong with a floral.)

I began with two thicker coats of Willow, which is stunning in every way, and then painted on random blobs of Still Waters for the petals and 1977 for the leaves. I then used Ski Teal We Drop to outline everything, deliberately going for a sketchier/messier look.

These are my second favourite look of the week! I am, of course, saving the best for last. >:)

Polishes used:

Arcane Lacquer - Willow

Liquid Sky Lacquer - Still Waters (LAST CALL! GO BUY IT NOW!)

la couleur couture - 1977

OPI - Ski Teal We Drop

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

medium detail brush

tiny detail brush

I've got something kind of similar on the docket for tomorrow, so I hope to see you then!!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES OF THE DIGIT-AL DOZEN ARE UP TO:

Purple One-Stroke Flowers

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

My title today is sort of unimaginative, but I'm running down to the wire on getting this out today (well, MY today), which is when I said I would! Also I'm suspiciously and mysteriously tired. I think I overslept. There are worse things in life.

I still can't one stroke to save my bloody bloomin' life. Truly cannot. But I keep trying! Maybe I should borrow a book from the library or something. I watch YouTube videos with eagle eyes and I still think it's pure unadulterated magic.

The base of this is three coats of Still Waters, followed by one coat of Happy Anniversary. The rest are all acrylic paints, done with a flat and an angled one-stroke brush.

There is a winter storm warning in effect for this weekend, with additional snow dumps of up to 30cm (1ft) and gusting winds and temperatures down to -30˚C (-22˚F) by the middle of next week and why yes I am in fact distracting myself with flowers, how astute of you to notice.

Polishes used:

Liquid Sky Lacquers - Still Waters

OPI - Happy Anniversary

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paints

flat one-stroke brush

angled one-stroke brush

complete ineptitude

I'm thinking that, nonetheless, my next design will be more wintry. It's hard not to be influenced by my surroundings. How's the weather where you are??

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.

SWATCH SATURDAY: Comet Tail

Hello lovelies!

A very quick Swatch Saturday for you today. Having used Still Waters yesterday, I wanted to use its blue sister, Comet Tail.

What I could not capture in my photos is the pinkish flash that Comet Tail has, which makes it look lavender in most direct light. The lavender glow mixes with the red microglitter for an amazing look. Depending on your light source, the polish looks totally different: in this light, it looks blue; it direct light, it looks lavender; in the shade or indoors, it tends to look silver. A very pretty polish. It does dry a bit gritty, so you will need whatever glitter topcoat you typically use. You also want to let it fully dry between coats, as the formula has the same sort of marshmallow thickness as Still Waters.

On my accent finger, I used Full Spectrum. I cannot hope to convince you of what a sparklebomb it is based on these photos-- but it is a full-coverage glitter, a mix of coloured microglitter and super-microglitter in an astonishing pink-to-green duochrome. Zoom this photo to see everything in action:

Polishes used:
Liquid Sky Lacquers - Comet Tail
China Glaze - Full Spectrum (Scrangie's review, as she does a MUCH better job than me)
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food
Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri


J.

Violets

I'm sorry I've been quiet these past few days-- this one gave me trouble! I had to restart it 4 times before I was satisfied. This is my second entry to The Nail Artist's contest: violets!

For this look, I started with a base of Still Waters. Ignore the bubbles!! They are my fault; I was in a rush so I painted my nails too soon after giving the bottle a very vigorous shake. This remains one of my favourite polishes. It's golden-glowy aqua green perfection.

I then painted the violets with acrylic paints. I wish I could remember the colours to tell you. I had two palettes and a ton of brushes in action... I'm sorry!

This one is less colour-accurate; too blue. But adjusting it gave me lobster hands. Loooobster haaaaands.

Polishes used:
Liquid Sky Lacquers - Still Waters
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri (top coat)
acrylic paints
detail brushes

Swatch Saturday tomorrow! I have no idea yet which polish I'm going to do, but I'm looking forward to it. Then I have something special planned for Sunday for a very special IG lady! (She'll know who she is when it happens.)

If you're in the Edmonton area like me (HEY SUNSHINE HEY), are you going to the Royal Bison craft fair this weekend? I'm broke but thinking of going anyway...


J.

Spun Sugar Gradient

I'm sorry this didn't go up yesterday! I finished these quite late at night and didn't have it in me to edit photos and write up a post. But I am doing so right now (hiyah).

For these, I started with a base of Still Waters-- it's a lovely colour deserving on its own post, and its incredible glowiness is a big part of why the jellies light up in the sunlight as above. It also applied like a dream in 2 coats; because the shimmer is almost (but not!) frosty in its intensity, you need to work your brushstrokes a bit to get them evened out, and Still Waters is probably the most indulgent polish I've worked with in months. It has an almost marshmallow squishiness to it and it stays smooth as butter for as long as you need it to. Superb.

I then dusted the tops of my nails in the turquoise glitter. Once done, I did the spun sugar technique with the three jellies, going from light green at the tips to dark green in the middle to dark teal up top. I left space for the glitter to shine through. I then topcoated it all to make it last until I could take photos today, but I won't do that next time. It takes away from the spun-sugariness.

Getting the colour balance proper on these was nigh impossible. Sorry for kinda leprotic hand colouring.

Purposefully blurry to show the glitter shininess.

Polishes used:
Liquid Sky Lacquers - Still Waters
Nfu Oh - JS34, JS35
Zoya - Frida
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
INM - Out the Door (top coat)
Martha Stewart micro iridescent glitter in Wintermint

I think I'll do a painting next! I have some ideas, but it seems all my pre-planning goes off the rails lately...


J.