Nostalgia

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

I've been largely without inspiration for the past few days. Which is an issue, with Digit-al Dozen week coming up (that was a FAST month)! I did produce a simple floral look, which I posted to Instagram and Facebook. But today I do have something for you!

Yes, more lace moons. But on a multichrome polish called Nostalgia, how could I do otherwise?!

The hair on my nail in this photo and the next drives me bananas. BANANAS.

This look began with three easy coats of Nostalgia, which I did without using black undies. (You don't need them for I Love Nail Polish multichromes, though using them would let you get away with one to two coats of the polish instead of three.) Multichrome polishes can often be underwhelming, taking all kinds of weird hand poses to show a colour shift. NOT THIS ONE. Look at these photos! Swoon!

The design was done using white acrylic paint, which I should have thinned with water but did not, and a combination of a liner brush, a script brush, and a tiny detail brush. It was inspired by this image, which I found on Google. I didn't want to do a more complicated lace pattern, lest I cover up more of the beautiful base polish. Seriously, this one takes my breath away.

Polishes used:

I Love Nail Polish - Nostalgia

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

white acrylic paint

liner brush

script brush

tiny detail brush

Today we finally got a break in the frigid cold we were having; yesterday it was down to -39˚C with the wind chill (-38˚F). Are you in the part of North America currently being walloped by the huge winter storm? If so, I hope you're keeping as warm as possible! Protect those fingers and toes and noses and ears!

xo,

J.

Green Lace Moons

Nothing to Disclose

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.

Blue Lace Moons

Nothing to Disclose

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.

Neon Lace... Typa Thing?

Nothing to Disclose

No idea what to call this one, lovelies.

I haven't done 'real' nail art in a while, it felt good to hammer something out in less than 2 hours! I consequently have something of a picspam for you today.

I started this look with two coats of French White, followed by 2 coats of Clowning Around and 1 coat of Freckles on the ring finger. On the rest of the fingers, I busted out the colours I used for my Watercolour Floral and started with a similar base, then opted for some kinda floral-ish lace-ish pattern overtop, done in black acrylics.

If you need a refresher on how to watercolour with nail polish, please click through to this post here.

Interestingly, I definitely prefer the look on the accent finger instead of the rest of the fingers. The crispness of the black lines against the white background is just too excellent -- I'll have to revisit this in future.

Polishes used:

Nina Ultra Pro - French White

Zoya - Charisma

piCture pOlish - Sunset

China Glaze - Def Defying (this one stains, be careful!)

Lush Lacquer - Clowning Around, Freckles

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

black acrylic paint

tiny detail brush

I'm hopefully going on a MAJOR hike this weekend (45km in 13 hours, because I'm a nutjob), so there may be radio silence until early next week. I'll be sure to make it up to you! And I may have a bit of a surprise in the next day or two anyway... ;)

xo,

J.

Lace Moons

Hello lovelies!

Today I've done some crochet lace moons over a beautiful, complex base polish.

I could not get a colour-accurate photo of this polish to save my life. Love Letter to Bea Arthur is lovely polish, more dusty pink in person versus the mauve that's showing up, filled with golden flakes, dark brownish flakes, golden shimmer, and these intriguing electric violet micro-flakes that just tie the whole thing together. On top of that, I've used watered-down white acrylic paint and a pen nib to create the lace patterns. I opted not to be anal retentive about my perfectionism today, since I was going for something homier. I hope that came through?

A candy manicure has been requested of me by Kate. I may tackle that one soon, though it'll require some thought...

Polishes used:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Manufactory - Love Letter to Bea Arthur (this is a much more colour-accurate photo)

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Seche Vite (top coat)

white acrylic paint

very fine pen nib in holder