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.

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

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

NAIL FAIL: Quilted Nails

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Hello lovelies! Today's post is a rant post: I hate quilted nails.

I had to do quilted nails for the Follow the Devil ABC Challenge, for the Q prompt. They're soooo messy looking! It seriously challenges my perfectionist streak! But I can't skip the prompt, so up they go...

I started with 4 coats of Mirth-- a number that surprised me (I was hoping for fewer), but works in this case because it meant the polish on the nail was thicker. I applied a coat of HK Girl, and waited about 5 minutes. When the polish was dry to the touch but still indentable, I used one of those individual flossers to make the quilting indentations, which was the frustrating part -- not perfect enough! I then painted on the stitching with Passport Blue and dotted on Shirin.

Polishes used:

Mentality - Mirth, Shirin

American Apparel - Passport Blue

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Glisten & Glow - HK Girl (top coat)

individual flosser

dotting tool

liner brush

I've got some important news stuff to let you know: I'm going on hiatus until January. This is because I'm moving to the new house tomorrow and we won't have Internet there until early January. I will still have cellular (on my phone and iPad), so I'm sure to get little snapshots up for you here and there on my Instagram. (If you don't have an Instagram account but would like to follow along anyway, try my Facebook page-- I will be trying to cross-post everything.) But posting to the blog will be essentially impossible without Internet at home, so I'm taking a holiday break from all of my yammering! (You're welcome. ;) )

xo and happy holidays,

J.

DIGIT-AL DOZEN WEEK: Red/Green/Gold Abstract Christmas Tree

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Hello lovelies! It's that time of the month again! (Not THAT time of the month... but that time of the month.)

Digit-al Dozen Week! Yaaaaay!! This week our theme is red/green/gold, which is very seasonally appropriate. I've started with these abstract tree typa things.

I am a terrible blogger. I did these a good month ago and forgot entirely to write down which polishes I used. Augh! The worst! So the "Polishes Used" section today is going to be comprised of my best guess at things. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

I do remember how I did these, though! I started by painting my nails dark green. I then took a lighter green and started dry-brushing in all directions on top of the dark green before the base was fully dry (that's what gave it that texture). I then did dots in the red, and outlined them in the gold.

Polishes used:

Zoya - Shawn

American Apparel - Crescent Heights

Layla - Softouch 08 (Fire It Up)

Quo by Orly - Filthy Rich

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

no top coat, to preserve the texture

dotting tool

liner brush

I think this is my favourite mani of the entire week. I have so much Real Life stuff going on, and have had for what feels like an eternity now, that my nail art has been suffering. To date, I haven't even broken out the acrylic paints! Unheard of!! Please to be sending me your most fervent "please don't be homeless and jobless" vibes, thanks in advance...

xo,

J.

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

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.

Polar Bear

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Hello lovelies!

Let me start this post by apologizing for my cuticles. Holy whoa are they awful in these shots. It looks like I went up to the Arctic to paint these nails plein air by watching an actual polar bear. (I did not; it was inspired by this photo.)

In fact, he is something of a poor specimen of a polar bear, isn't he? But he was fun to paint, if a bit frustrating to position on two nails.

Water, ice floes, and bear are all acrylic paint. All painted on a base of two coats of White On so I had something opaque to work with.

POLAR BEAR IS GLARING AT YOU (don't take it personally, he's just kind of a grump):

On my thumb, I layered a whack of blue polishes, including Passport Blue, Jungfrau, 204 (a purplish flakie), and Pitaraq:

Polishes used:

Sally Hansen - White On

American Apparel - Passport Blue

Elevation Polish - Jungfrau, Pitaraq

Inglot - 204

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paints

tiny detail brush

I have received so many beautiful polishes over the last week, and no idea what to do with them. I'll try to think of something before the weekend, when I have my O for Outrageous prompt for my ABC Challenge and not the foggiest clue what to do about it. Will try to get something tasteful in before I take a leap into the great void of outrageousness!

xo,

J.

SIMPLE SUNDAY: Holiday Lights

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I lied about avoiding holiday things. But I was seriously stumped, lovelies, I was!

You see, my prompt this week for my Follow the Devil ABC Challenge was N for Neon. NEON! There's a foot of snow on the ground outside (no, not exaggerating) (there may in fact be more than that) (it was -15˚C/+5˚F out today). How the bloody hell am I supposed to use neons at this time of year??

This was my answer. Holiday lights, loosely inspired by Sarah at Chalkboard Nails. (Hers are way nicer, naturally.)

I started this look with two coats of my trusty Camelot, followed by one thick coat of Masquerade for interest. I then dabbed on the white circles with White On (diluted in acetone) and a cotton bud, and dabbed Moon overtop of that for the glow effect (seen below). I painted the bulbs on using undiluted White On and my Nina Ultra Pro neons, used Seraphina for the wire, and topped it all off with top coat.

If I were to do this again, I would bother to dilute the neons with acetone and daub them onto the circles as well, for lighting congruity, but I didn't want to get overly complicated with a Simple Sunday design. I'd also recommend just using white acrylic paint and a tiny brush to do the wire, using nail polish made it way too thick.

Polishes used:

A England - Camelot

piCture pOlish - Masquerade (no longer available)

Sally Hansen - White On

Americal Apparel - Moon (glow in the dark)

Nina Ultra Pro - Punki Pink, Orange Flame, Solar Flare, Lime Light

Zoya - Seraphina

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

cotton bud

acetone for diluting nail polish

medium detail brush

tiny detail brush

I will try to make my next design less holidays-ish, more just plain wintry. Because, I assure you, I have plenty of inspiration in that department. Maybe I'll even do a mani for all your crazy Americans and your way-late Thanksgiving! ;)

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:

Denim

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Hello lovelies!

Today's mani is my attempt at denim nails.

This is another one of those looks I could do over with acrylics and just go bananas on the fabric's weave and the stitching. It's probably best for my sanity that I opted to do this with nail polish and a fan brush.

I started with one coat of Passport Blue, then used my fan brush to brush on Skylar and then Marble. The stitching was done with a detail brush using Passport Blue and Streetside NYC (because it is optimally opaque).

While I'm not convinced these look like denim, I do find the overall effect really pleasing. I would love to do this with other colours of 'fabric' and 'stitching'. IDEAS. MOAR IDEAS. I should actually write these down.

Polishes used:

American Apparel - Passport Blue

Zoya - Skylar

Spa Ritual - Marble

Elevation Polish - Streetside NYC

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat) (did 2 coats to prevent staining, FYI)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

fan brush

detail brush

It turns out I'm still not caught up! Gotta do my E prompt next. I think I'll leave these on for a day or two before tackling that one. :) I start exercising again tomorrow morning after three weeks of inactivity, wish me luck (I will sorely need it) (that was kind of a pun)!

xo,

J.

Simple Purple Floral

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Hello lovelies!

This past weekend was pure madness. We got the house ready on time, and it looks great, and now our lives revolve around showings. I had to reassemble and then disassemble my light box just for this post! In case you were questioning my love for you.

Because I never have time for nail art with all this constant tidying (it's like I am trying to work against three individual forces of entropy, each on their own path of slow destruction), I went for something very simple today.

I began with a base of two coats of Beauty Never Fails (creamy and amazing like all A England polishes; a blackened base with golden green flecks that mean it shimmers and glows even in low light!), and then painted on the flowers etc with my tiny detail brush. The whole thing might have taken about 15 minutes. I think these would look lovely in a one-stroke kind of style, too, and I may try that when I know I can dedicate more time to it. :)

Polishes used:

A England - Beauty Never Fails

la couleur couture - 1972, 2013 (top coat)

Elevation Polish - Streetside NYC

American Apparel - Crescent Heights

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

tiny detail brush

More riveting stories about the age-old process of selling houses no doubt to come! In the meantime, send me all of your most organized thoughts. Maybe they can help me reign all this madness in. ;)

xo,

J.

Sideways Rainbow Braid Nails

This was going to be SO GOOD. Like most things I've tried lately, it didn't quite work out that way. It's not a total disaster, it just isn't the awesomesauce I was expecting.

I've been seeing a lot of braid nails around, so I thought I'd give it a shot, but sideways, and rainbow. All things are usually better when rainbow. A lot of the colour variations aren't showing up in the photos (especially the pinky; those are 3 very distinct colours of purple, not that anybody would ever know!). This was terrible to clean up, so please don't examine my cuticles-- they're a war zone. :P

And then I bumped my ring finger and pinky while making dinner. Sadpanda.

Polishes used:

Layla - Softouch Effect 08

Inglot - 724

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Pronto Purple, Cinna-Snap

Essie - Action

American Apparel - Lopez Canyon, Sunshine State, Crescent Heights

OPI - My Paprika is Hotter than Yours

Zoya - Shawn, Sylar, Mira

Revlon Top Speed - Electric

Pretty Serious Cosmetics - Blue Gums on Boxing Day

Elevation Polish - El Cap

Girly Bits - Arctic Sunrise

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (top coat)

Dior Gel Coat (top coat)

Until my next outrageous and unfulfilled adventure, my darlings!


J.

Sunbeams!

Hello! Today we have sun (though it is still cold), and to celebrate the sun after about a week of snowy dreariness, I did up a cloud mani in which the tips are actually clouds:

This manicure refused to photograph properly in the lightbox, so I don't have my usual picspam for you. (Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you!) To do this, I began with a base of Grey-t to Be Here. Once dry, I used my striping tape to mark off the lines you see, and painted in the beams with a variety of jellies. Once all the tape was removed, I painted the sun (it's actually 4 separate colours, of which you can see all of 2 in the pictures, weep) and then cloud tips, followed lastly by the little birds.

I despise flash photos, makes my fingers look all shiny, but this way you can see the shimmer in the base colour peeking through the jellies. This was more noticeable in person and very pretty!

Lastly, a close-up of Grey-t to Be Here, so you can see the flake shimmer more clearly. It's predominantly pink, but technically duochrome, going golden at acute angles. Because the shimmer is small-particle, however, that shift is pretty well imperceptible on the nail.

Polishes used:

Essence - Grey-t to Be Here, Fortune Cookie

Nfu Oh - JS20

Zoya - Katherine

OPI - Houston We Have a Purple, Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?, Funny Bunny

American Apparel - Sunshine State

Revlon Top Speed - Electric

Quo by Orly - Lemon Drop

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Lavender Cloud

Contrary Polish - Hallelujah (limited edition mini; sent out with the full set of Love Lyrics minis)

GOSH - Nero

Back to the polish with me!

J.

St. Patrick's Day Nail Art: Nyan Pot-O'-Gold!

I had ZERO inspiration for St. Paddy's Day nail art until I was lying half-awake in bed this morning. And of all things to find inspiring, an outdated meme is a weird one. I probably ate too much sunomono last night (noooo, not possible!).

May I present: Nyan Pot-O'-Gold.

I dunno guys, it seemed appropriate.

I started with a base of Passport Blue, which I coated with my 20-grade Spectraflair topcoat to give it some pizzazz (yeah, I used 'pizzazz', deal with it). I then used white acrylic paint to draw the 'shadow' of the rainbow and the pot of gold. The blacks/greys are also acrylic paint, as are the little star details. The gold is nail polish, as are all the colours of the rainbow.

I tried to make the rainbow segments shorter at the end to denote them 'fading away' (kind of), but it didn't work.

On my thumb, I kept it simple with two (amazingly easy, gorgeous) coats of Liquid Leprechaun (HOW PERFECT?!). It was smoothed out with one coat of Poshé pretty well-- I'm noticing just the tiniest bit of texture now, about an hour later, so it's probably a 2-coater, which is excellent considering how much glitter it packs.

And I leave you with this purposefully blurry double-shot to show you the sparkly goodness of the Spectraflair topcoat and Liquid Leprechaun:

Polishes used (rainbow colours are in italics):
American Apparel - Passport Blue
Indigo Bananas - Spectraflair topcoat (20-grade)
Quo by Orly - Filthy Rich
Nails Inc. - St. James
Essie - Action
Revlon Top Speed - Electric
American Apparel - Crescent Heights
GOSH - Blue Balloon
Zoya - Mira
Pretty Serious - Liquid Leprechaun
OPI - Nail Envy Matte (base coat)
Poshé (top coat)
Black & white acrylic paint

Set in Lacquer has a contest going for St. Patrick's Day nail art, so I'm thinking I will submit this there. I can't expect it'd win (good grief, it's a riff on Nyan Cat, let's be serious), but it can't hurt to try to branch out and meet new people!


J.