SUPER HUGE GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

I've recently hit a number of milestones; 100+ followers on Bloglovin', 100+ followers on Facebook, and 4000+ followers on Instagram. I was going to hold out for 5000+ on IG, but I just couldn't wait for someone to win these pretties, so I present to you my most fah-bu-lous giveaway yet!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All you gotta do is have fun with the Rafflecopter widget above! Don't forget to read the Terms and Conditions!! Giveaway ends in 9 days, 3 hours, so GO GO GO!

xoxoxoxo,

J.

Gradated Ikat

Helloooo lovelies!

Today's mani is my attempt to mash together the gradated dots look and the ikat look, inspired by a pair of shorts I bought recently.

The writing on my finger is because these are a contest entry. :) I figured this was a lot easier than awkwardly holding a small scrap of paper!

For this look, I began with a base of My Vampire is Buff. This is an excellent pale nude shade, but it's also a bit of a PITA as it requires four thin coats to reach opacity and uniformity. Boo, hiss! I wouldn't do it if the results weren't worth it, though. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my experience with 2013 (the top coat, not the year) have been AMAZING so far. This is my first time using it, and it goes on so well (more liquid than Seche Vite), the brush (as with all lacc colours) is my favourite thing ever, and no shrinkage!!! Glory hallelujah! I'll keep testing it, but this may be my holy grail top coat. :O

I then mixed up some ultramarine blue acrylic paint with white and/or black to make three different shades of blue, and dotted them on using my smallest dotter, starting with the lightest and ending with the darkest. It was a time-consuming process but very easy.

Polishes used:

OPI - My Vampire is Buff

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat)

acrylic paint in blue, white, black

smallest dotting tool

something to distract from the monotony

I had a post planned for tomorrow but I've deemed it sub-par. Now I'm plotting out what the heck to do! I'll keep you all posted. Literally. Haha! Dum-dum-TSCH.

xo,

J.

EDIT: Here's a pictorial if you'd like!

Tattoo-Style Chrysanthemum

I love chrysanthemums. They're so complex looking, like little floral nesting dolls, and they unfurl their long fine petals so delicately. They're like the peony's more restrained sister. :)

I did these up for an IG contest with a theme of 'tattoo style'. (Yes, the same one as my one-stroke roses of wallpapery questionable success!) I haven't been feeling my nail art mojo these past couple days -- a lot of Real Life stuff is weighing on me, I think -- but I was browsing through Google Images and was moved to at least try this out. And while it isn't as elegant as the drawing I based it off of, I think it's still a pretty eye-catching result!

I began with three coats of Flushed, followed by a coat of Wicked Fast. The flower and leaves are all acrylic paint. I loooove Flushed, but am not yet sure about Wicked Fast. It seems to be producing shrinkage on me (and I'm noticing dents in the fingers of my other hand long after Seche would have prevented them from happening). I like its thinner consistency for most purposes, but I find it best to stick with a thicker topcoat when putting it on top of nail art, so as to not disturb the art underneath (which is why I used Seche in this case).

Polishes used:

Cult Nails - Flushed, Wicked Fast (top coat)
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Seche Vite (top coat)
acrylic paint in green, yellow, red, white, crimson, black
detail brush

So, worth the effort? Or at least better executed, as an idea, than last time?? :P

Don't forget my giveaway! Enter enter enter, it is so lonely without you!!


J.

CELEBRATION TIME! Nail Art Contest / Giveaway!

Hellooooo lovelies!

I have reached 1,000 followers on Instagram-- my unending appreciation to each and every one of them (and you, if you are among them)-- and wanted to celebrate! But how?

I thought that, well, nail art is what got me into this delightful, fizzy, exuberant mess, so it made sense to continue the tradition of loving nail art. That said, many IG nail art contests can be frustrating (at best) and demoralizing (at worst). So my solution to this is to have my nail art contest winners be chosen randomly!

Here's what to do:

1) Do up some nail art. It can be anything, so long as it isn't just a plain French manicure. Use your imagination! Glitter? Sure! Striping? Why not! Dotticures? Totally! Fancy-pants florals? Yes! You see where I'm going with this. It can be anything, and your skill level doesn't matter. Just have fun!

2) Post it to your Instagram, if you have one, or your blog, if you have one, or else upload it using a service like Imgur. Just so long as you get a link so that I can see it, because you'll need it!

3) Use the Rafflecopter widget below to submit your information and collect extra entries. The only mandatory ones are your email (so that I can contact you) and the link to your nail art. IG hashtags will not be used for this contest-- only the Rafflecopter widget. Here's the short link for you mobile folks, in case the below isn't showing up properly.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Some important terms & conditions stuff:

- Contest runs from 27 May 2013 00:00 MDT (= GMT - 7:00) to 15 June 2013 00:00 MDT.

- There will be two winners! First prize and second prize, as above. Both winners will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter.

- I will contact the winners ASAP; if they don't get back to me within 48 hours, I will use Random.org or whatever other means I have to pull new winner(s). Hopefully this doesn't happen!

- Open internationally! However, any shipping above $10 (for the polishes, obviously) is the winner's responsibility; I will send a PayPal invoice for the amount once I know it.

- Must be age of majority or have parental permission to give me your mailing address (only for the polishes).

- No drama! I love each and every one of you, I promise.

I am so excited to see what you lovelies come up with!

Major hearts,

J.

Deconstructed Patterned Mani

Lately, there has been a resurgence of what is being called "tribal" nail art. It's a beautiful technique, characterised by dividing the nail up into sections with horizontal lines and then filling in the sections with different patterns, often with a gradient background. To my mind, there is nothing 'tribal' about it, and I try to stay away from words like that, anyway.

In light of all that yammering, here is my deconstructed take on the trend.

This did take as long as it looks like it did. I started with a base of two coats of Guy Meets Gal-veston (which is actually a neon pink jelly; so, not the red that appears here!), taped off the lines, and then sponged on two coats of a gradient of Electric, Aciiied, and Green with Envy. I coated that with Seche and then went to town with a fine detail pen to get all the designs. In a way, using a pen is cheating, compared to a detail brush, but I really wanted to use small shapes. Plus, the time, effort, and necessity for a steady hand all remained the same. ;) Another coat of Seche to seal everything and it's done!

Polishes used:
OPI - Guy Meets Gal-veston
Revlon - Electric
Models Own - Aciiied
Sally Hansen - Green with Envy
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Seche Vite (top coat)
striping tape
fine-point tweezers
Pigma MICRON .005 pen
makeup sponges
microscope eyes

I think I'll leave these be for a day or two before I move on to the next thing. (My left hand currently has only the lines and gradient, gotta work on that one slowly!)


J.

Grain Elevator

This was a lot of fun to do, improbable-looking clouds included. (Colour theory? What's that?)

Unfortunately, it was awful to photograph, so you only get one snap. And, for the first time ever, I've blurred my cuticles. It's for your protection. They're up to some kind of mutiny and I'm not clear on why. I think next week will be a Nakey Nails week while I try desperately to cajole my fingers back to presentability.

This will be entered in a couple of contests, and for some reason I was feeling more Prairies than usual, hence the canola and grain elevator and what have you.

All acrylics, sealed with Seche!

Polishes used:
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Seche Vite (top coat)
acrylic paints (all of the colours!)
size 2 and size 0 square brushes
teeny detail brush


J.

One-stroke Roses

Hey, guess what! One-stroke is harder than water marbling. By several orders of magnitude. I used up a whole nail wheel only to end up with a mediocre result anyway. Those who can do one-stroke well are MADE OF MAGIC.

@seizethenail is having a contest based on 'tattoo style', and I've always found that one-stroke roses look like tattoo roses. Of course, I ended up with wild roses, not red roses. And I can't one-stroke to save my life. And this looks like wallpaper. SO IT GOES.

These are all acrylics on a base of Black Expressionism. (What a weird-ass name for a polish.)

Polishes used:
Finger Paints - Black Expressionism
Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter A-Peel (base coat)
Seche Vite - top coat
acrylic paints
one-stroke brush
detail brush


J.

Pretty Serious Turns 1! And so does Daphne!

Today, 14 May 2013, marks something momentous: the first anniversary of Pretty Serious Cosmetics. Excellent work, Kaz and the gang! To many more fruitful years! Χρόνια πολλά!

It's also therefore little Daphne's first birthday. To mark the occasion, Pretty Serious released a special edition glitter topper called Daphne's Birthday Party. It's a very fun mix of small glitters in various colours. To me, it reads more Mardi Gras than Christmas, and that's a good thing!

For this look, I did a gradient over Calm & Clear (I painted Calm & Clear over the first coat of glitter for a jelly sandwich effect), then painted on Daphne's name with Hallelujah. I finished it off with a little blue holo heart (not that the holo shows in the lightbox).

Polishes used:
Pretty Serious Cosmetics - Daphne's Birthday Party
Spa Ritual - Calm & Clear
Contrary Polish - Hallelujah
Layla - Ocean Rush (holographic)
PVA glue for base coat
Seche Vite - top coat
detail brush

I promised you a contest entry for yesterday, and I did indeed get it done, but I haven't taken photos yet! It'll go up this afternoon for sure. :)


J.

Violets

I'm sorry I've been quiet these past few days-- this one gave me trouble! I had to restart it 4 times before I was satisfied. This is my second entry to The Nail Artist's contest: violets!

For this look, I started with a base of Still Waters. Ignore the bubbles!! They are my fault; I was in a rush so I painted my nails too soon after giving the bottle a very vigorous shake. This remains one of my favourite polishes. It's golden-glowy aqua green perfection.

I then painted the violets with acrylic paints. I wish I could remember the colours to tell you. I had two palettes and a ton of brushes in action... I'm sorry!

This one is less colour-accurate; too blue. But adjusting it gave me lobster hands. Loooobster haaaaands.

Polishes used:
Liquid Sky Lacquers - Still Waters
Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)
Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri (top coat)
acrylic paints
detail brushes

Swatch Saturday tomorrow! I have no idea yet which polish I'm going to do, but I'm looking forward to it. Then I have something special planned for Sunday for a very special IG lady! (She'll know who she is when it happens.)

If you're in the Edmonton area like me (HEY SUNSHINE HEY), are you going to the Royal Bison craft fair this weekend? I'm broke but thinking of going anyway...


J.

Golden Poppies

Hello lovelies. :)

I've been cogitatin' about a tattoo design for a very dear friend of mine and she loves Mucha's poppies, understandably so, which put me in mind of poppies in general. The unbelievably talented Nail Artist (IG: @riddhisn) is having a Floral/Brand/Sport contest, so I thought I'd enter these, even though they didn't come out even remotely as wonderfully as they exist in my head. As usual.

For this, I began with a base of Tallulah (for opacity-- one coat wonder!) and Order of the Garter (for the shade of blue I wanted). I then did the poppies in acrylics, and outlined it all in Filthy Rich very painstakingly with a nail art fountain pen. I then gave it glitter food and a coat of matte top coat. To make the poppies stand out a bit more, I went over them with shiny topcoat. (This effect is more noticeable in person.)

Polishes used:

Zoya - Tallulah

A England - Order of the Garter

Quo by Orly - Filthy Rich

acrylic paints in a variety of colours

one-stroke brush, detail brush, nail art fountain pen

Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter Food

Essie - Matte About You

Poshé topcoat (only on the poppies)

Here's hoping you guys like these more than I do! I'm allowed two entries to the contest, so you'll probably have another floral coming your way in the next couple of weeks.


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.

Harlow & Co. Valentine's Day 2013 Contest Entry

A great many moons ago (ok, I suppose a month ago), Harlow & Co held a Valentine's Day nail art contest via their FB page. I decided to enter and came up with the below:

This is an extremely uncomfortable hand position, just in case that wasn't obvious.

More after the break!