DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Black & White Music Notes

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Hello lovelies!

SO BEGINS DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK #2.

This week, we're doing black and white manis. This is exciting to me. I love constraints like this, I find it helps me to imagine nail art possibilities better than being told to do anything.

For Day 1, I opted to combine my Digit-al Dozen prompt with my ABC Challenge prompt, which was M for Music. This mani started with two coats of White On and one coat of HK Girl on all fingers.

I then put two thick coats of Moonlight on my thumb and ring fingers as accent nails. To be honest, this is one place where I rubbed against my Digit-al Dozen prompt a bit. This would have looked so BOSS with a brightly coloured glitter topper, and I had just the one in mind (Moosh by Happy Hands). Argh! Oh well.

The designs were all done with Camelot and my trimmed-down long liner brush and tiny detail brush.

Polishes used:

Sally Hansen - White On

Indigo Bananas - Moonlight

A England - Camelot

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat -- trying it out, have heard good things, will report back soon)

tiny long liner brush

tiny detail brush

I'm really happy with how the lines came out in this mani! They would have been even better if I'd used a fluid acrylic paint, but for something done with nail polish, I'm quite pleased. :) Come back tomorrow for another black & white mani!

xo,

J.

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

Green Lace Moons

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GUYS. I might have a problem. I can't stop doing lace moons.

These are a little messier than I'd like, but they're killer from a distance!

These are done in the style of Tenshi no Hana -- a queen of nail art, as far as I'm concerned, and the one who (above all else) makes me want to learn how to one-stroke. Go follow her blog. Don't worry about it being in French; if nothing else, go to drool over the images.

For this, I began with a base of Earthshine. (Whoa, Google tells me that's a real word! I had no idea!) It's a beautiful and complex polish. It reminds me of a green version of my beloved custom Tryst Lacquer, Aqueous, but also of a darkened sister to Cirque's Hellebore because it's green with silver flake shimmer and faint but noticeable fuchsia microshimmer. That said, Earthshine requires major patience, as it's a four-coater. You might be able to get away with three thick coats, but then I'd worry about it never drying. As it was, with four thin coats and my trusty 2013 top coat, it still took a while to fully harden up.

The design was all done with white acrylic paint and my omniuseful tiny detail brush. Here is a zoom in on Earthshine on my unadorned Cinderella hand, just in case you needed convincing that it's worth the four coats:

Polishes used:

Indigo Bananas - Earthshine

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

white acrylic paint

tiny detail brush

I have my Follow the Devil ABC prompt still to do tomorrow (but I don't want to take these off!!! HELP). Then it's Digit-al Dozen week! I still have one mani to do for that one, so I'm thinking of maybe combining the two prompts... am I a terrible nail person if I do that? Maybe, hey?

xo,

J.

Megamendung Mani

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Hello lovelies! Told ya I'd be back today. ;)

After the strenuousness of the last mani, I thought it'd be nice to do something more relaxed. So we have clouds à la Indonesian batik. Rainclouds, specifically -- or, in their native language, the megamendung motif.

These were easy to achieve. Paint on broad bands of watered-down acrylic paint, then line the outsides with a liner brush in full-opacity paint. In an ideal world, this print would be perfect one-stroke practice. But I cannot one-stroke to save my life.

I've included the below photo of my left thumb under direct light so that you can see the holographic shards in Dream, the base polish, sort of in action (it's very cloudy here today, no chance of sunlight):

Polishes used:

Zoya - Dream

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

white acrylic paint

flat brush

liner brush

I've actually put in an order for special one-stroke brushes and acrylics from France, which I will talk more of when they arrive in a couple of weeks. It's a technique I really want to master, and the only way to do that is to practice! ;) Until I want to bang my head against things! ;) ;) Yeah!

xo,

J.

Blue Lace Moons

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Hello lovelies! I told you I wouldn't be gone long! ;)

Today I have a look I'm rather proud of.

I missed my Follow the Devil ABC Challenge prompt for this past weekend, which was L for lace. So I decided to revisit a look I'd done a while ago and try my hand at some more lace moons.

I feel like I've come a ways since then, though it's also because I used my tiny detail brush for these instead of a nail art pen nib. I find I have much better control that way.

Base is two easy peasy coats of Erudite Charm. Zoom the below photo to see the black speckles and blue microglitter in action, plus the wee copper/pink shimmer particles (which are quite hidden on the whole; I wish they were more present). This is a wonderful denim blue and I will probably use it in a jeans look in future.

Lace was done entirely in white acrylic paint. I sourced an image of lace trim from the Internet and went to work. :)

Evidently I took lots of photos of this one.

Polishes used:

Arcane Lacquer - Erudite Charm

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

white acrylic paint

tiny detail brush

I'm still woefully behind on my Digit-al Dozen manis. I hope to have another look for you on Friday, and the rest of my time will be spent playing catch up. See you soon!

xo,

J.

Puffball Floral

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Hello lovelies!

I present to you today a look I've been wearing for the past few days, and which I only just took off rather begrudgingly...

I took a lot of pictures of it.

It was inspired by @celinedoesnails on Instagram, though her flowers look a lot more like flowers and a lot less like some sort of Dr. Seussian fluffball, as here.

The base for this manicure was three easy, beautiful coats of Kryptonite. I tried a photo in direct light to try to catch the holo particles, but it didn't work so well. Just know that all the little flecks of white are in fact rainbow in real life:

The rest of the design is acrylic paint.

Weird puffballs they may be, but I kind of like 'em!

Polishes used:

piCture pOlish - Kryptonite

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paints

tiny detail brush

Hopefully I'll have something more seasonal for you tomorrow (I am posting this from the past-- ooOOOooo -- and I therefore have no idea yet how hungover I'll be tomorrow). ;)

xo,

J.

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Hallowe'en Skittle

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Hello lovelies! It's the last day of my very first Digit-al Dozen week! I SURVIVED.

Today I have for you a Hallowe'en-ish skittle. I saved it for last because, A) I think it's the most accomplished in terms of what a skittle manicure is really all about, and B) it means it's closer to Hallowe'en proper.

Where do I even begin with these? Okay, okay. Thumb is two coats of Lopez Canyon with Xixabangma detail. Index is one coat of Streetside NYC with Camelot detail.

Middle finger is one coat of Xixabangma with Lopez Canyon / Streetside NYC / Camelot detail. Ring finger is two coats of Camelot with studs. Pinky is two coats of Lopez Canyon with two coats of 205 layered over top.

Don't even ask what the middle finger is; I have no answer to that question.

Polishes used:

American Apparel - Lopez Canyon

Elevation Polish - Streetside NYC, Xixabangma

A England - Camelot

Inglot - 205 (flakie)

1.5mm studs from Born Pretty Store

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

detail brush

dotting tool to pick up studs

Do you have any Hallowe'en plans? I went out and bought a pair of plaid satin pyjamas and a grey satin half-robe today, because I am going as Hugh Hefner. That's right. And my older boyfriend will be outfitted with bunny ears. :) We have three (THREE) Hallowe'en parties to go to, all of subsequent weekends! Phew!

xo,

J.

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

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.

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

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Bathed in Light Skittle

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Hello lovelies! We're onto Day 2, woohoo! (Hey that rhymed...)

For today's skittle, I opted to do the opposite of yesterday's skittle: I chose three colours and used them on each nail, but in different permutations.

I'm not sure how successful I was. I do really like the index and middle fingers, though!

The base colour is Bathed in Light. The main accent colour is Stardust, and the detailing colour is Smolder. Everything was done with my medium striper brush, and freehanded (no tape).

I simply adore using Stardust in manis-- look at the colour difference between above and below! What a gorgeous pink-to-gold duochrome. :)

Polishes used:

Dandy Nails - Bathed in Light

Nubar - Stardust

Maya Cosmetics - Smolder

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

medium striper brush

I go back to my initial tactic tomorrow, in a really colourful way-- stop by tomorrow and see!

xo,

J.

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

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Skittle Tips

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Hello lovelies!

OH BOY OH BOY HERE WE GO

Day 1 of Skittles week! To be honest, throughout this endeavour, I've learned that I'm crap at skittles. I just don't think disjointedly like that. The gestalt of nail art requires some ability to think of the greater whole in a whack of differences (i.e. every nail must be different), but there is some leeway to be found in doing something similar on each nail and tweaking it slightly. Hence, today's mani.

Say goodbye to that thumb, you're never seeing it again.

So, here's a funny story. I did all of these manis in advance, and patted myself on the back, and then completely did not write down what I used for any of them. I'm going to do my best to guess at the polishes I used, ok? But don't hold me to them.

This was a super-easy but super-effective look. Paint nails in No Way Tawdry, paint tips in various colours, and top with top coat and studs. Na naaah! But I really liked how this looked. I will revisit this in future.

I failed to get the rectangle stud in the middle of my middle finger and, no gonna lie, it's driving me nuts. But see, SEE the flakie goodness in No Way Tawdry?! It's a beautiful beautiful polish:

Polishes used:

Arcane Lacquer - No Way Tawdry

Lime Crime - Pastelchio, Parfait Day

Cult Nails - Tempest

la couleur couture - 1977, 2013 (top coat)

studs from The Nail Room

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

See you tomorrow for yet more Digit-al Dozen Week fun! I'm kind of giddy!

xo,

J.

CHECK OUT WHAT THE OTHER TALENTED LADIES ARE UP TO: 

Breast Cancer Awareness

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Hello lovelies!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. This weekend is also J for Jellies in our ABC Challenge. I decided to mix the two together. I present it here because I feel like it's an opportunity for me to address something that bugs me every time this month rolls around: pinkwashing.

"Jolène," you are saying, "what the heck is pinkwashing?" Well, it's the pernicious way in which many companies and organizations pretend to care about breast cancer and breast cancer awareness without, you know, actually doing anything useful about it. Here's a website for you, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. And here are two excerpts from the Advertisements section of the Breast Cancer Awareness article on Wikipedia:

Business marketing campaigns, particularly sales promotions for products that increase pollution or have been linked to the development of breast cancer, such as alcohol, high-fat foods, some pesticides, or the parabens and phthalates used by most cosmetic companies, have been condemned as pinkwashing (a portmanteau of pink ribbon and whitewash).^[25]Such promotions generally result in a token donation to a breast cancer-related charity by taking advantage of the consumers' fear of cancer and grief for people who have died to drive sales.^[9] 

and

Two significant campaigns against pink consumption are the National Breast Cancer Coalition's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign, and Breast Cancer Action's "Think Before You Pink" campaign. NBCC's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign sought to focus awareness efforts onto substantive issues such as genetic discrimination, access to cancer treatment, patient rights, and environmental breast cancer research.^[26] "Think Before You Pink" encouraged consumers to ask questions about pink products (e.g., to find out how much of a donation was being made).^[27]

A good example is antiperspirants. Companies continue to manufacture antiperspirants, whose active ingredient has been proven to increase the risk of breast cancer, all while pink-ribboning their overall product line to seem like they care. Here is an article a friend sent me on cause marketing (which covers breast cancer awareness as well as other causes). Stuff like that drives me insane. But I'll stop ranting now. I just firmly believe in conscious consumerism.

This skittlette was done using Flamingo Kisses on the thumb and index (three coat), as well as pinky (two coats). Two coats of She Walks in Beauty were then applied to the pinky. The middle and ring fingers are a pond manicure done using Vitral *** and Tempest, and took a good 5 coats to achieve the opacity you see here -- definitely not meant for that.

She Walks in Beauty is a pink and gold glitter, two colours that are totally unlike me, but I love the polish to bits. Vitral *** is too hot pink for me, but Flamingo Kisses (a polish created by Dandy Nails in memory of Sandy Hook) is beautiful, a cold pink with pink and purple flake shimmer. Really nice, and an easily smooth three coats.

Polishes used:

Dandy Nails - Flamingo Kisses (I do not believe this ever went to market; I won it in a contest)

A England - She Walks in Beauty

Colorama - Vitral ***

Cult Nails - Tempest

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

medium detail brush

Sorry to ramble away on ya! But guess what tomorrow is: DIGIT-AL DOZEN DAYYYY!! Well, the first of five. I've got four of my five manis done, and photos taken and edited, but man oh man am I stumped for the last one. That's my project for today. ;)

xo,

J.

*** IMPORTANT NOTE: A good friend brought this to my attention. I can certify that all polishes used in this mani are, at the very least, 3-free. EXCEPT FOR VITRAL. Brazilian polishes are all switching over to 3-free formulae as far as I know, but I do not know the status of Colorama polishes. Please be aware that non-3-free polish has ingredients that are linked to cancer (I don't know about breast cancer, but cancer in general). While I promise I am not profiting off the back of breast cancer awareness, lest I appear hypocritical, I wanted you to know!