Mermaid nails

Hello to anyone out there paying attention.  I didn't post anything over the summer for two reasons.  1) I don't typically do my nails much in the summer 2) I lost my dad to cancer this summer.  Grief is hard and I am trying not to be debilitated by yet go through the normal progress of emotions.  It's a balancing act.

I'm just going to get right into the nails.

My first attempt at mermaid nails!  I used Yodel Me on My Cell from OPI as the base and Ivanka from Zoya for the scales.  I had a really hard time getting my camera to focus on Ivanka so there's only one pic.  I made decals with the vinyls on my Ubermat.  It took a little longer but was so much easier for me than applying the vinyls to my nails.

I got my vinyls from Stickit nail vinyls.  

Enjoy, have a great day, hugs the ones you love, Namaste.

Hello out there.  This mani is brought to you by the OPI color tints. 

 I wanted to see what it would look like by itself and over a silver.

Meh, I don't love it, I don't hate it. 

 I guess I do see the potential for artwork, but meh.

Sorry, this pic is awful. At least it doesn't show what an awful job I did free handing those silver chevrons.

The formula was just fine though and it did look pretty cool over the silver.

If I was to wear it again I would just put it over the silver.  

This was 3 coats over an LA Colors silver.

Anyway...Have a fantastic day, hug the ones you love and Namaste!

NWP - A Dolly For Sue

Hello and happy Thursday!  I LOVE this polish.  It came in the December Native War Paints mystery box.  The theme of the box was The Island of Misfit Toys from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. 

It's a white crelly with white and red glitters of various sizes and shapes and then some bigger red heart glitters.

So, a lot of times I will absolutely love a polish in the bottle but then I put it on and maybe love it a little less.  Not because it isn't magical gorgeous goodness, but because on my little nail beds it might not be as flattering as I want it to be.

Sometimes though, the opposite happens.  Now this one I thought "Oh, that's cute" ,BUT... when I put it on I loved how it looked on me and I couldn't stop staring at my hands.

This is three coats and the formula was lovely.  It looks the slightest bit pink on the nail.  I'm thinking maybe it's just picking up the pink in my nail?  Look how it whitens up the tips of the nail though.  So cool!  I know that a visible nail line is a no no, but I like to think of them as the poor man's french mani. I do not mind a VBL at all.

I only got a heart on one nail, but I don't mind.  I don't usually dig for glitter.  My philosophy is that if I didn't get it this time then eventually I'll hit the jackpot without trying. 

You can find Native War Paints online and on instagram, I haven't been disappointed in any of their subscription boxes yet and it's an amazing price.  I highly recommend checking it out.

Have a great day, hug the ones you love and Namaste!

Happy Sunday out there! This is a mani I did a few weeks ago.  Obviously I'm a little behind.  Anyway, I totally solved my stamping issues.  The solution was to get stamping polish from Mundo de Unas.  

My base polish is a Franken that I absolutely love.  I made it years ago and don't really remember what is in it.  I stamped using Old Pink from Mundo de Unas.  It stamped like a dream.  Absolutely no trouble whatsoever. 

While this is not a spectacular mani, I got more compliments on it than I have on any mani ever.  

(My nail beds are small so they just don't demand attention like ladies with nice large nail beds.  Not to mention that most of the outside world is not as nail obsessed as I am and probably doesn't make a point of checking what someone is wearing on their nails.)

So, if you are stamping handicapped like me check out Mundo de Unas.  If you've read any other reviews about them, yes they do stink to high heaven, I recommend working near an open window.  Yes, they take awhile to get to you - they come from Mexico so they have to sit in customs for awhile.  They are very affordably priced though so you can place a decent sized order and not spend too much money.

That's it for today.  Have a great day, hug the ones you love and Namaste!

I've started experimenting with watermarks and so far I have tried ezy watermark lite.  You can see how successful I was.  I got the watermarks on, but after I loaded them it rotated all my photos.  I guess I have some more tinkering to do.  

 Anyway, on to the polish.  This is Winchester from the wonderful Frenzy polish.  Gray with what looks to be like a bit of holographic and a scattering of silver and red glitters.  This is 3 thin coats.  A heavier hand could easily get away with two.

This was a really pretty polish.  I love everything that Frenzy makes and I love that this was inspired by the show Supernatural.  I love me some Jensen Ackles!  

I hope you enjoy this.  Have a wonderful Sunday, hug the ones you love and Namaste!

So today's mani was so much better in my head.  This shimmer polish is one of a set from Wet n Wild I got at Christmas time at the 99cent store.  I think there were 5 in all and they were somewhere between 3 and 5 dollars.  They were all really similar with just a slight color difference in each and no labeling to differentiate. Obviously they are meant to be worn over a darker polish, I just always like to see what these types of polish look like on their own first.  This one shifts from white to pink to blue.

The accent color I wore under is a Franken I made ages ago out of some polish that was mostly used up.  

I love this polish so much and it was just a freak happy accident.  It started out as Ponce de Lilac from OPI and clearly some sort of darker burgundy color and possibly a gold.  

Anyway, it was much prettier in my head.  Thankfully you can't see how badly I jacked up the tips.  Note to self - no coffee before attempting a funky french.

I hope you have a great day, hug the ones you love and Namaste!

Hello all!  Today's mani is brought to you by what I consider to be a "sleeper" polish.  This is Sally Hansen's Sand Lots.  I got this in a 4 pack at Ross, and got the pack for only one of the polishes - not this one.  In fact I didn't even think I'd like it.  

 It's not really a color that reaches out and grabs your attention.  It's a peachy, shimmery nude and in the bottle looks like something that would have been big in the 70's.  However, it sneaks up on you.  It's really pretty when you have a good tan and so elegant when you stamped with black.  I'm wearing 2 coats here, some people would probably prefer 3.  Mine is a very thin formula and has a tendency to get little air bubbles, but I don't mind.  I did a quick search and did find it on Amazon, but for about $30.  There are enough similar ones out there that you don't need to pay that much.

 I layered Kite Island from A Rhyming Dictionary over the top.  I love this glitter topper.  It's no longer available on her Etsy shop though, sorry.  It's a very summery orange and blue glitter, with orange micro glitter and the occasional white.  

 I like this best when it's just a thin coat.  I've even worn it just by itself, with one thin coat and really loved the simplicity of it.  I have come across it in a destash (don't remember which one) so it is still out there, but again there are tons of glitter topper combos out there to play with.  

I hope you like this!  Have a great day, hug the ones you love, and Namaste!

Hello all!  Today I'm wearing a lovely prototype the amazing Melissa from MDJcreations sent me with an order.  She is one of my favorite indie brands and no one appreciates her customers (and shows it) more than her.  

 This is so beautiful.  Pink with microglitter, diamond shaped glitter, bar glitter, some fuchsia glitter and a scattering of some other glittery goodness.

 In some light it's almost a purply pink.  Just love.  It will definitely be in my top faves of the year.

While you may not be able to purchase this she did just add some other beautiful newbies to her shop you should check out.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/MDJcreations
Have a great day, hug the ones you love and Namaste.

Hello there.  Today's mani is using a polish that no longer exists (sorry) but I love it so much.  It's the first indie I ever bought.  It's Moss from Chick polish.  The formula is so perfect.  I like thin coats but you could easily get this opaque in one if you were more heavy handed than me.  

 This was my first attempt at reverse stamping.  It's not perfect but it also does not represent the frustration I felt while trying to accomplish it.  I recently purchased a couple new stampers, a big squishy one and a couple of clear ones.  For whatever reason I can not get any of them to work.  So I ended up using my Salon Express one that I got with my basic kit.  I'm sure I'm doing something wrong but so far haven't been able to figure out what it is.

 Regardless, I ended up loving this so much.  It was so elegant and pretty.  Again, I apologize for the quality of my pics.  I'm still learning.
Namaste, hug the ones you love, and have a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I don't have a V-Day mani to show.  I've taken all those pics but need to get them on the computer and am trying to figure out how to watermark my photos.  I have zero skills computer wise and we have the most rudimentary tools for that sort of thing so wish me luck.  

  Here is a swatch for today anyway.

Actually, I guess it is a little Valentine's ish.  I actually did this for Christmas originally.  I used one of the Festive plates from MoYou and stamped with the Sally Hansen gold foil polish.  I just used my basic "as seen on TV"  Salon Express stamper kit to stamp.  I have tried that polish with squishier stampers and it didn't work.  

The top coat is one of my fave's.  It's from CND (obs) and leaves like this awesome sweater like finish. It has these teeny tiny filaments in it.  It will make your mani look like a fuzzy sweater.  I apologize because I don't know if you can even get it any more.  My sis gave it to me years ago when you could only get CND at Cosmoprof . 

I hope you like it and I hope you have a great day.  Give hugs to the ones you love!  Namaste

Hello out there!  For today I'll going to show you a polish from iamcustomcolor.  I don't think it's available any longer but it does attest to the beauty of her creations and you can always keep an eye out for it in a destash.

This is Eau De Krumm.  A goldish nude with some multichrome flakies and a bit of a holographic shimmer.  So, so pretty.

It went on really nicely.  This is two coats with no top coat.  Namaste and have a great day!

Hello and happy Tuesday.  Today's polish fall's under the "I'm a sucker for" category.  I can't seem to get enough red's and dark greens. I have more than I need but then I see another and I feel like I have to have it.

So, I made the mistake of wearing this right after I wore Zoya's Ivanka.  I know, I know.  It's a pretty green, but after Ivanka it was a little underwhelming.  This was two coats with a good formula.

This is Sage it Ain't So from Finger Paints.  I probably got it at Sally's Beauty.  It looks well loved but not because I've worn it a lot.  This is the first time.  It's because I keep all my polishes stashed in bags in a cupboard so my hubs doesn't see how much I have.  

If you're wondering what's up with my ring finger I had done a gel mani and couldn't for the life of me get that stuff off, so I was lazy and painted over it.=)

Namaste and have a wonderful day.

Hello and happy Friday!  Today I'm going to show you a polish that I have had in my stash for years, moved across a couple state lines twice and FINALLY decided to wear.  ZOYA Ivanka.

I'm not sure why I waited so long.  I mean I obviously loved it when I bought it, I remember buying it thinking I can't wait to try it and it's truly stunning.  I couldn't stop staring at my hands.  This is two coats w/ a top coat.  I checked and it is still available, I saw it on Amazon.

(note to self:  make sure I put some cuticle oil on before pics, my hands look so dry. yuck)

Have an amazing day! Namaste!

My first blog post!  I have wanted to do this FOREVER!  I actually started once a couple years ago under a different name, but chickened out.  Why? I have no good reason other than thinking no one would want to hear what I have to say and maybe I thought I was too old for this.  Weelll, I have been struggling with trying to claw my way out of a major depression ( I have struggled with that all my life but am usually able to maintain on my own).  This has been a particularly brutal episode and it knocked me on my feet.  One of the things prescribed to me was to find something I love to keep me busy and accountable.  So I thought, now is the time to truly follow my bliss.  Not everyone will understand my obsession with nail polish but those of you out there who are like me will get it.  So, here I go!
  On to the Polish!!!!!
My first post will be for one of my new absolute favorite indie brands MDJ Creations.  This is my very favorite polish from her (so far).  It's called Enchanted Air.  My pics really don't do it justice (I know I have a lot to learn in that department).  It is a beautiful soft light blue with flakies and this amazing green shimmer running throughout.  The shimmer is subtle but I love that because it doesn't detract from the main gorgeousness but then you'll get in the sun and look at your hands and be like  "wow, what is that magic happening on my fingernails!"  It's really good, I promise. You can get it here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/MDJCreations

What are you waiting for?  Go get one now.  If you don't trust my pics try looking up some on Instagram  there are much better pics there.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I hope you  like what you see in spite of how much I know I need to learn about this.  Have a great day and namaste!