Lady Luck

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

Sorry about the not-posting thing. Things in Real Life have been problematic lately. For instance, today I was fired! Well, not fired. I've been on medical leave for the past... numerous months... and now that I'm ready to go back to work, there is no open position for me. Hence I get a severance and sent on my way! FUN TIMES Y'ALL. But I saw this coming from a mile away, so while I am definitely hitting the wine as we speak (well, I put it down to type, I cannot type with my toes), I'm not unconsolable.

It's more that I'm choosing to see this as Lady Luck giving me the opportunity to get myself on a different path. I'm not sure what that path is, yet, but I've been working for the same one company for 8 years now (pretty well my entire adult life), and maybe a change is a good thing.

So to you, Lady Luck, I dedicate these nails.

Method on these was kind of tricksy. I began with regular base coat and ridge-filling base coat to give myself a good canvas, then I used Liquid Palisade to draw the shapes on (I did two coats for extra sturdiness). Once the shapes were dry, I painted on the white with Tempest and peeled away the Liquid Palisade. I then used my detail brush and my black and red polishes to draw on the outlines. Not my best work, but I find larger curved lines like this the hardest things to do cleanly with polish. :)

Polishes used:

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

Essie - ridge filling base coat

NYC - Grand Central Station (top coat)

Cult Nails - Tempest

A England - Camelot

Layla - Softouch Effect 08

Liquid Palisade

detail brush

I have a really neat and detailed idea for what to do next, so I hope to have awesomeness to show you tomorrow or Saturday. And if you're good and eat all your veggies, I may even water marble.

xo,

J.

PS: I am currently extra-glad that all of you read this blog. This hobby has brought so much positivity and sweetness into my life, and I'm especially appreciative right now. And no, this isn't the wine talking. <3

Watercoloured Floral

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

You thought I disappeared, didn't you? No no. I have been exceptionally busy, though, because we're listing the house next Monday (we found out this Monday), and I have been in hyperdrive to prepare!

All that aside, I DO have nail art to show you. ;)

It's been a rare event, lately, that nail art turns out in a way that pleases me, but that's just what's happened here. I had a rough idea of what I wanted, going in, and it turned out pretty well spot on!

I began with two coats of French White, with two coats of In A New York Minute over top. I then dabbed on Def Defying, Sunset, and Charisma, dabbing pure acetone over each colour before proceeding onto the next. Once done, I did all the outlines in black acrylic, using my tiny detail brush.

I've tried to take photos in a few different lighting conditions, but of course the NEON doesn't really come through as well as it should! I think I'm in love with Sunset. Actually, I'm sort of in love with all three colours -- but if you could only pick one, pick Sunset. Put it on your toes if you must. It's gorgeous.

Polishes used:

Nina Ultra Pro - French White

NYC - In a New York Minute (top coat)

China Glaze - Def Defying

piCture pOlish - Sunset

Zoya - Charisma

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

black acrylic paint

tiny detail brush

It may be a while yet before I get to do more nail art, but I'll try not to abandon you altogether! I do have one mani completed recently that I haven't posted about yet, that will go up either tomorrow or Saturday. Wish me luck with all this cleaning!!!

xo,

J.

Garden Party

Nothing to Disclose

Lovelies, it's a whole twelve hours before my usual posting time! I might be getting a high from all the sunshine that's out right now.

The base for today's manicure is Garden Party, with a gradient of Hellebore on top. I then drew on the bunting (because what's more garden-party-ish than bunting?) with Jacqueline, Tallulah, and Tempest.

Sunshine photos make my cuticle oil look EXTRA OILY. Sorry about that!

Here I have taken a proof shot with a plant (technically they are many carrot plants), to prove that I was in the garden when I was taking these Garden Party photos.

What I feel I haven't conveyed about this polish in these photos is its complexity. I love the pale green and bright blue circle glitters, but there are also white hexes in three sizes, teeny lavender hexes (and squares?), and these small iridescent hexes that flash blueish and are totally awesome. (My love of all things iridescent is probably evident by now.)

Polishes used:

Tryst Lacquers - Garden Party (it may be batch variance but mine is much pinker than it looks here)

Cirque - Hellebore

Zoya - Jacqueline, Tallulah

Cult Nails - Tempest

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

NYC - In a New York Minute (top coat)

I hope you have sunshine where you are, too, my lovelies! And that you get the enjoy it!

xo,

J.

Main Squeeze

Nothing to Disclose

Another of my multitudinous Tryst Lacquers today -- Main Squeeze!

Main Squeeze is described as a blood orange jelly with white satin hexes and squares (in two sizes), plus orange iridescent mini glitters. In these photos, that description is pretty bang on, but in real life, the colour leans more coral than it appears here. I actually love it in photos and in person, but it tickles my coral-love bone more than my orange-love bone in reality. (That sounded awful, didn't it?) I should note that it's almost impossible to get the satin hexes out, and I'm not sure why (they aren't huge or anything). I think they just really like the sides of the bottle. Your only hope is to shake the bottle vigorously every nail or two, and I was too lazy for that. I think the polish looks lovely even without them.

Simple look tonight; started with My Vampire is Buff as the lightest, followed by Kalahari Kiss, followed by Sun Kissed, followed by blending Sun Kissed and Kalahari Kiss a bit with some Action. Doing circles with tiny brushes is a huge pain in the arse.

I am now going to continue my pic spam. These were more photogenic than some of the nails I've done recently, so I kind of went overboard.

And finally, a simple swatch of my other hand, with Main Squeeze on its own. This is more colour-accurate than the above (I think there was some attracting going on with the orange, er, oranges-- this isolates the polish better). Wouldn't it be cool if all my swatch photos turned out this good? Something was working well tonight...

Polishes used:

Tryst Lacquers - Main Squeeze

Cult Nails - Scandalous (1 coat as undies just for some added opacity, didn't change the colour)

OPI - My Vampire is Buff

China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss

Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed

Essie - Action

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

NYC - In a New York Minute (top coat)

Hey, here's a fun fact for you: my left hand poses so much better than my right hand, which is tragic. Why? Because, in Grade 7, a kid named Ryan was teasing my friend Allie and keeping some book or other away from her and I went to punch him in the stomach for it, except I missed and hit his hip bone and broke something in my hand. It only occurred to me that I broke something many years later, when a nail tech was massaging my hand and asked if I ever broke it. I guess Grade 7 Jolène assumed that being unable to close her right hand for a whole month was standard post-punch process?

xo,

J.

Waistcoat Wednesday!

Hello lovelies!

I have a friend, Laurent, who wears a waistcoat to work every Wednesday. They are what he has christened Waistcoat Wednesdays. I appreciate the concept (I'm a Fancy Friday kind of gal), and I came across these little bows in an Essence nail art kit, so I thought I'd give the idea a whirl. :)

I did this by first painting a base of Grey-t to Be Here (I may be obsessed!), followed by the little heads in Fashion Safari. The white is all acrylic paint, as white nail polish got too gloopy. The vests are Vertigo (accent Grey-t to Be Here), Nero (accent JS03), Big Smoke, and Dominate (accent Temperance). I mattified everything before affixing the little bow ties.

The index is my favourite. :) I like the brown plaid + green.

On my thumb, I painted two lovely coats of Builder's Tea, which went on fantastically and is so beautiful I couldn't ever capture it on camera properly, but here is a close up just in case:

Polishes used:

Essence - Grey-t to Be Here

NYColor - Fashion Safari

Revlon Brilliant Strength - Dominate

Elevation Polish - Temperance (limited edition, get it now before it's gone!)

butter LONDON - Big Smoke

GOSH - Nero

Nfu Oh - JS03

Chanel - Vertigo

Tough as Nail Lacquer - Builder's Tea

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

Essie - Matte About You

black & white acrylic paint

tiny bows from a random Essence nail art kit

I love dressing in full business wear on occasion, it brings out my androgynous side for sure. :) You? Worth it or too much hassle?

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.

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:

Subtle Springtime Fishtail Manicure

It isn't spring yet. Not quite yet. But the week of the 18th, it'll warm up a bit! And then we'll enter Slush Season, which is the precursor to Spring! (I will admit, I am not fond of spring. I'm fond of early summer. Spring is more of an exercise in mud, defrosted dog poo, dead lawns, half-decomposed leaves, garbage everywhere, and potholes that can blow your tires.)

That aside, I thought a muted appreciation of the soon-to-be change in season was in order.

Na naaaaah!

For this manicure, I used the fishtail manicure technique, as devised (or at least perfected) by Sarah at Chalkboard Nails. I love this look on square or squoval nails; the combination of straight and curved lines is very aesthetically appealing. It's also pretty straightforward to do-- check out her video tutorial-- so, a laid-back manicure with visual punch!

I started with a base of Jacqueline, which is a polish that is a strange mix of thick and streaky. BUT it's also gorgeous, and worth the effort. I might thin it for next time; in general, though, leaving time between coats should avoid cuticle drag. I then painted on two coats of The Way I Am, which is stunning and I think I'll need to buy the full size of it (I only have the mini right now). After that, I painted on two coats of Hellebore, which is perfect for this use because it's very glitter-dense, so it gives major impact without having to goop it on. I chose to pair these two greens because they're fraternal twins! The Way I Am is the introvert and Hellebore is the extravert; both are greens with fuschia accents. (It's hard to see the pinkish sparks in Hellebore from my photos, but trust me, they're there). I then topped it with Glitter Food to smooth out the layers, then topcoat, and done!

And now, because I took a butt-load of photos, I will leave you with all of them! Think of new spring grass and itty bitty wildflowers. :)

And I leave you with this cell phone picture; I found that the reduced quality / slight blurriness helped to better show the sparkle smorgasbord that is Hellebore.

I think I'm going to try a Real Life Floral next! Lucy's Stash has me all fired up about it (though I am nowhere near her skill level, holy moly). We'll see!

Polishes used:
Zoya - Jacqueline
Contrary Polish - The Way I Am
Cirque - Hellebore
Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food
New York Color - Grand Central Station (top coat)

J.

Guest Post by Kate!

Today I have a special guest: Kate! Kate and I painted her nails this evening. Here's what she has to say about it:

Sparkles and a heart!

"My favourite colour is pink. I like sparkles and I try to make them pop out on my nails, so I like it when it has a background to it. I also like little sequins, and making little scenes out of them, like connecting the dots. I like polka dots, that's why I like sparkles on my nails, because they're like little dots."

Both hands together!

And a close-up!

Kate and her adorable nubbins may well show up sometime in the future as well. We will see. ;)

Polishes used:
Piggy Paints - Pocketful of Posies
Happy Hands - Motherboy
Some unnamed Ardene polish (pink/blue shimmer on accent fingers)
Orly - Hottie (heart detail)
New York Color - Grand Central Station (top coat)

J.

Staticky TV Screens

So, remember when I said I was next going to be taking it easy? Lies.

Still with the winter thing. The street is so deeply rutted with ice that driving IN the ruts is a death wish for your car's undercarriage. I've considered hiring a Sherpa for all my travelling needs.

I was taking a look at the LeaLaC plate I ordered from Llarowe last month and was struck by the rounded rectangles (3rd row from bottom, 4th column from left). They kind of reminded me of a bank of TVs, and my mind wandered to horror tropes of static-filled TV screens, kind of like this. (Note: I don't watch horror movies, I am the least qualified person to being mining them for inspiration.)

AND THEN I thought of something much happier, which is Persona 4. I think Aegis from P3 remains my favourite Persona character of all time, but Kanji from P4 is a close second. What a dreamboat.

Soooo anyway, the TV screens! The Midnight Channel! The static! The swallowing up our brave protagonists!

The steely hair of our unnamed hero, to match his steely will! Ok I'll stop now.

Depressingly, this took about as long as the Valentine's nail art I did, except the results are nowhere near as impressive. And it was a huge pain in the butt. HUGE PAIN IN THE BUTT. There is, however, one upside-- and I will get to it in a little bit.

I'm getting more consistent with hand position, which is a small victory I suppose.

The first step was getting the static going. A full 7 steps went into building it up. I started with Nfu Oh JS03, followed by a heavy dose of the spun sugar technique (I did it MUCH thinner than XOXO Alexis Leigh is doing it in the video, but same principle) with GOSH Nero, again with the spun sugar in Revlon Spirit, then spent a dizzying amount of time dotting Nero and Spirit all over the place with my tiniest dotter, followed by another coat of JS03 and a coat of American Apparel Moon. Then NYColor Grand Central Station to get it all to dry so I could SLEEP.

DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE STATIC

This afternoon, I stamped the shapes over my nails with the LeaLaC plate using Nero again, and then whipped out my tiniest brush to fill in the in-between spaces with the black polish, add teeny silver dots to represent the TV knobs, and little reflection marks in white to try to give some dimension to the TV screens. Then two more coats of topcoat to even it all out, and a bit of clean up, and finally done.

You can see some of the neurotically thin spun sugar effect going on at the edge of my nail.

But, in a way, this was a worthwhile endeavour, because I got to use Moon. (My partner has been bugging me to use it since the day I bought it and, if nothing else, this mani makes him very happy.) Because Moon DOES THIS!

This photo involved tenting a blanket over me, a self-timer, manual shutter speed, manual focus, and a slapdash process of charging up the nails by lamp, hitting the shutter, shutting off the light, and stopping breathing.

So there you have it. A mani for all of us with a soft spot for horror films and/or Japanese RPGs.

Polishes used:

Nfu Oh - JS03

GOSH - Nero

Revlon Top Speed - Spirit

American Apparel - Moon

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

OPI - Nail Envy Matte (base coat)

New York Color - Grand Central Station (topcoat)

J.