DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Vintage Polka Dots

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Hello lovelies!

TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY! I was so chuffed after my last post that I immediately took to Google and found something else vintage-y to produce for you!

This was inspired by this polka dot pattern I found on DeviantArt. I started with a base of Rue (which took three coats to opacity, and was mysteriously sort of lumpy?), and then did dots with Crescent Heights, Where Did Suzi's Man-Go?, and Blowing Raspberries.

After that, I did two coats of top coat to protect the base, and did the 'watercolour' technique with Chelsea Physic Garden and Moody Blues. I then sealed everything in another coat of top coat. And then bumped my index and thumb badly while opening a bottle of wine. (This is, in a nutshell, everything you need to know about me.)

Polishes used:

Zoya - Rue

American Apparel - Crescent Heights

OPI - Where Did Suzi's Man-Go?

butter LONDON - Blowing Raspberries

nails inc. - Chelsea Physic Garden

piCture pOlish - Moody Blues

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

dotting tool

square brush for 'watercolouring'

I like this effect, it's like a kind of verdigris... I look forward to doing it over more complicated patterns, probably using jellies next time for optimal ageing.

AND I FINISHED! AND IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY! I'm so pleased. Thank you, Dionysus, for all that you do.

xo,

J.

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An InLinkz Link-up

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Vintage/Shabby Chic Floral Wallpaper

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Hello lovelies!

Lookit this! An on-time post!

Debbie did a floral wallpaper-type design yesterday, and I had recently seen Katy's invention of this design over at her blog, and I was inspired to give it a shot! It is something of a "second-class" design for me because I didn't invent it myself, but I'm trying to give myself a break this week. :)

For this design, I started with three coats of Don't Bossa Nova Me Around, from the new Brazil collection. It went on pretty smooth, but needed 3 coats for opacity. I then painted the roses with Poco a Poco and the leaves with Crescent Heights (I wanted to use CG's Budding Romance but my bottle won't open and I'm an impatient human being).

I then took my tiniest detail brush and went in with Camelot to do all the lines. In retrospect, I should have used Revlon's Dominate (my go-to dark brown) because it would have added to the vintage feel. I'm kicking myself over it a bit.

Polishes used:

OPI - Don't Bossa Nova Me Around

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Poco a Poco (no longer in production)

American Apparel - Crescent Heights

A England - Camelot

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

medium detail brush

tiniest detail brush

Today I was called into the office of the place I'm trying to work for, to meet the other admin assistant who currently works there. It was super nice, she's a total sweetheart. I know they have yet to call my references, and I'm hoping that goes well... but I'm otherwise feeling a bit better about my prospects now. :) Yay!

xo,

J.

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

An InLinkz Link-up

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Vintage Cutouts

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Hello lovelies.

Oh my goodness. Before we dive in, let me just apologize for my absence. Since I returned from San Francisco, my work situation (by which I mean lack of work situation) has been preoccupying me in the extreme. I'm anxious all of the time, and am sleeping like a sloth because of it. I have little creative energy, and therefore little of myself to apply to nail art.

But it is Digit-al Dozen week this week, and if nothing else, I'm going to try to complete the week as part of my commitment to my fellow ladies, and to you, my lovelies. So, let's do this! This week's theme is vintage.

I decided to start off simple, to avoid committing myself to something overwhelming. I was struck by inspiration while visiting Nory's look for today and saw the leftmost dress here. Cutout necklines! Super cute and vintage-ish.

I used Nail Vinyls for the moons, and actually did these twice, because the first colour I used (a bronze) didn't have enough contrast with my nail bed.

I still think I should have gone darker, for even more contrast, but there was no way I was going to do these a third time! These are also my R for my (abandoned-too-long) Follow the Devil ABC Challenge: reveals!

Polishes used:

OPI - Jade is the New Black

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

Nail Vinyls in half-moon

medium detail brush

I have zero idea what I'll be doing for the rest of the week, and I can't promise I'll get them all done on time -- I'm waiting to hear back from an employer in particular with whom I had a third interview last Thursday, and I'm on pins and needles for some resolution. All my emotional energy is going there. But! I will get the week done however I can, bit by bit. :)

And do you like the new nail shape?!

xo,

J.

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

An InLinkz Link-up

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Monochrome Mehndi

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Hello lovelies!

Last day of Digit-al Dozen Week! With the exception of Tuesday's madness, I think this one was a success. :) And to end off the week on a high note, here are some mehndi designs for you!

I had this idea a long time ago, but never did anything with it because I wasn't sure I'd do it justice. I still haven't really done it justice, BUT I'm nonetheless happy with the outcome.

I started with two coats of Don't Pretzel My Buttons to ask as a nude base, and then painted on the designs using Temperance. 

I then went over only some parts with Tettegouche to darken them up and make them stand out more, to give a look of henna before and after the paste falls off.

Polishes used:

OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons

Elevation Polish - Temperance, Tettegouche (limited editions)

medium liner brush

I hope you've enjoyed the week! On the 'good and bad news' front, I won't have any nail art for you next week, as I'll be visiting my tattoo artist and his wife over in San Francisco, exploring the city, hanging out with their pups and chickens and orchids, getting tattooed on my right hip, and generally having an awesome time! I'll report back upon my return. ;)

xo,

J.

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DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Monochrome Teal Floral

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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.

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DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Monochrome Honeycomb Ombre

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Hello lovelies! Whew, what a mouthful today's title is. And it proved to be the hardest-to-photograph mani I've ever done, too! I had to set the white balance WAAAY off to even get the differences in the colours to show up at all.

Waugh! It's a shame, because it's a lovely mani in person. (You'll just have to take my word on it.) It's an ombré of pink/orange/coral tones. I started by painting my nails with, from pinkie to thumb, 1963, Generally Hazzardous, My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours, 724, and Jinx.

I then 'bumped' each colour over by a finger (e.g., used 1963 on top of Generally Hazzardous) in order to draw the honeycomb shapes. It turns out I'm crap at honeycomb, so I'll have to practice that more. :)

This is as close to a colour-accurate photo of the polishes as I was going to get:

Polishes used:

la couleur couture - 1963

Pretty Serious - Generally Hazzardous

OPI - My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours, Jinx

Inglot - 724

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

medium detail brush

I love love love this colour family but it's impossible for the differences to show up on camera, or at least, on my camera. Any experiences like that before, for you? So frustrating! Come back tomorrow for a look that at least didn't elude my meagre photography skills...

xo,

J.

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DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Monochrome Oranges

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Hello lovelies! So begins another week of The Digit-al Dozen! This month our theme is monochrome -- varying values of the same colour (including black and white). I cheated ever so slightly for today's simple look.

How did I come about doing a summer look in the middle of winter? I asked my beau to name a colour, he chose orange, this is all I could think of. True story.

I started with two coats of White On, and then filled in the oranges starting with the peel (1964 and Y'all Come Back Ya Hear), then the pith (a mix of Streetside NYC [this is how I cheated; used yellow] and White On), then the flesh of the orange (Y'all Come Back Ya Hear with highlights of Funny Bunny and White On).

Polishes used:

Sally Hansen - White On

OPI - Y'all Come Back Ya Hear, Funny Bunny

la couleur couture - 1964

Elevation Polish - Streetside NYC (discontinued)

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

thin liner brush

medium detail brush

Don't forget to check out the giveaway we've got going on right now! I'll be back tomorrow with more monochromatic madness. ;) I've got a couple really nice looks for you this week, so I hope you'll stick around!

xo,

J.

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DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Red/Green/Gold: Christmas Skittlette

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Hello lovelies! Day 2 of Nubbinses, and the final day of Digit-al Dozen Week, is upon us!

I decided to keep it simple today, with a red/green/gold Christmas skittlette.

Thumb and index are two coats of Chyna, pinkie is two coats of Filthy Rich. Middle and ring fingers are two coats of Shawn, followed by designs in Filthy Rich and some Just Nail nail art fluid that I didn't like enough to keep using (haha).

I regret now not incorporating red into my middle two fingers, but I guess that's kind of the point of skittlettes? And I wish I'd used Filthy Rich for the design from the beginning, I think I would have gotten better lines using it instead of the nail art fluid.

Polishes used:

Zoya - Chyna, Shawn

Quo by Orly - Filthy Rich

Just Nail nail art fluid in gold

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

OPI - Matte top coat (on middle two fingers)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat; on pinkie only)

medium detail brush

GUESS WHAT! We found a house to rent! I won't be homeless come January! It's a really nice house, too, all updated and stuff. I'm really excited about it. It'll be me, my friend Andrew, a couple named Josh and Alyssa, their two young boys, and my cat. A rambunctious house. :) Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words over the past little bit. Now if we could all refocus our positive energy on finding me a job, I'd be all set... ;)

xo,

J.

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DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Red/Green/Gold Poinsettias

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It wouldn't be a holiday season without some poinsettias, would it, lovelies?

No, it would not. (Look at how glorious and long my nails are here! I weep for you, my pretty nails!)

For today's look, I began with a base of two easy coats of Shirin, which is way more gold and way less yellow-orange than it appears on the Mentality website (which is a good thing, for my skin tone). I then painted on the poinsettias with Fire It Up, Tomato, Nightmaren, and St. Petersburgundy. The leaves were done with Recycle and Shawn. The little dots were done with Streetside NYC and Mellow Yellow.

I didn't like these once I'd done them, I found them sloppy, but I think they've grown on me.

Polishes used:

Mentality - Shirin

Layla - Souftouch 08 (Fire It Up)

Joe Fresh - Tomato

Pretty Serious - Nightmaren

OPI - St. Petersburgundy

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Recycle

Zoya - Shawn

Elevation Polish - Streetside NYC

Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

medium detail brush

My adventures in nubbiness start tomorrow! I really can't get over it. I've broken nails before but it hasn't ever really been this bad. It'll take at least a month to get any reasonable sort of length back. But I'm trying not to give up hope! Or, not hope, but resilience. Or something. You know what I mean? Sure you do. *whistles*

xo,

J.

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Purple One-Stroke Flowers

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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.

Catching Fire

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Hello lovelies!

Today I decided to be topical. I also wanted a bit of a break from detailed work like my last polar enterprise, though this ended up being more of a hard case than I anticipated.

Sorry about the smudging! Topcoat can be a real bitch when it wants to, hey?

My aquatic mani from a long time ago was very popular so I thought that, with the new Hunger Games movie coming out today, it might be nice to try it with fire. It was sort of a bad idea? I mean, it all got smudged and the white unders are peeking out and bah! BAH.

Anyway. I started with two coats of Don't Pretzel My Buttons, followed by painting on the fire shapes with French White. I then painted on the fire bits with the rest of the colours, going from yellow to red.

Polishes used:

OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?

Nina Ultra Pro - French White

Revlon - Electric

Essence - Fortune Cookie

American Apparel - Lopez Canyon

Inglot - 724

Layla - Fire It Up (Softouch Effect 08)

Sally Hansen - Cinna-snap

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

Next up, Outrageous Ville. I'm thinking of something Effie Trinket inspired... makes sense, goes with the theme, might be impossible, you know. The whole shebang.

xo,

J.

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Pond Skittle

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Hello lovelies! Another skittle for you today, and this one's kind of Skittle-coloured!

For this mani, I whipped out my... trusty jellies. YEAH. JELLIES.

This technique is called a 'pond mani' because you sandwich layers of designs between layers of jelly polish, making it look like there is a lot of depth to the manicure. It was invented by someone very clever, and that person was assuredly not me.

The order of polishes, thumb to pinky, is: Guy Meets Gal-veston, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?, JS34, JS29, and JS28. 

My favourite is JS34. That shade of green makes me go weak in the knees. One might even say that it is particularly... pulchritudinous. *wiggles eyebrows*

There is a fluff in the above picture. You have my apologies for the oversight. But the bows are cute, aren't they??

Polishes used:

OPI - Guy Meets Gal-veston, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?

Nfu Oh - JS34, JS29, JS28 (all of the JS are discontinued now-- insert sad face here-- you'll have to find jellies elsewhere. I know that Twee & Honey make some!)

Cult Nails - Tempest

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

My favourite skittle is tomorrow! Favourite one! I am excited! Watch me deploy my exclamation marks!!

xo,

J.

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Basket Weave

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Hello lovelies!

Sorry for my absence lately, my sweethearts. I've been working on some secret stuff for next week and then wore the base colour for today's mani for three days unadorned (gasp)!

For this weekend, my ABC Challenge prompt was I for iridescent. I had zero clue what to do with it.

So, I totally took it the easiest way possible. Hah. Whoops?

For this look, I started with two coats of Germanicure, which is my single favourite polish of all time. I topped than off with a coat of Iris, which is comprised of tiny iridescent flakes -- how I snuck in the theme for this week! I then painted on the basket weave first in Nightmaren, then in Stardust, and finally used Funny Bunny as an accent.

The below photo shows how Stardust is duochrome; it looks pink in the centre of my thumb and golden at the edges.

Polishes used:

OPI - Germanicure, Funny Bunny

Cirque - Iris

Pretty Serious - Nightmaren

Nubar - Stardust

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

detail brush

I've been going through some rough times in the past week, my friends. (You can tell because my watermarking on these photos is kind of wonky-- I'm definitely spacey.) I'm sure I'll be back to my chatty, somewhat batty self soon. In the meantime, if anybody has any leads on teaching in Korea next year, send 'em my way! ;)

xo,

J.