SNOW!!!! ……finally

Jan12 by Cheryl Cheryl

I couldn’t wait to get snow again…. like REAL snow…. so-I-can’t-drive-to-work snow; need snowplows and boots snow; may have to leave work early snow!!!

And even though they aren’t forecasting a blizzard or a very large accumulation…. I’m still crossing my freshly manicured fingers – well, nails – in the hopes of the forecast just being WRONG, and flakes blanketing this place into halting.

Snow is so calming to me. And at the same time, excites me. I might even like it more than sunny days…. but that race is definitely neck & neck.

There was obviously no question about what theme would cover my nails…. it was more a query of how the interpretation would play out….

I went with the typical, and with shimmery silver….. but I tried my first “gradient” and “sponging” manicure. There. will. be. repeats. TRUST. ME.

It turned out to be much easier than I expected and I love the look.

I used OPI “Moon Over Mumbai” as my base.
Then sponged on:

Color Club “Sheer Disguise”
OPI “What’s With The Cattitude”
Essie “Coat Azure”
China Glaze “Sky High-Top”
Sinful Colors “Midnight Blue”

I used a white nail art striper (and a silver glitter one to add to one snowflake on my ring fingernail) to create my snowflakes. White polish with a tiny dotting tool for random dots of snow falling, and Sinful Colors “Queen of Beauty” for some shimmer over the snowflakes.

Sounds like a lot, and I definitely didn’t need to use that many blues…but it was still faster than some of my “regular” manicures!!

Polka Dots always win

Jan3 by Cheryl Cheryl

Shamefully, this has become a sort of “go-to” design when my brain cells go blank.

Drawing a blank is the worst for any artist, I’m sure.

So sitting there with random-sized dotting tools rolling across the desk in front of me, and my latent desire to just use acrylic paint ALL OF THE TIME…..

of course, dots came. I let them happen whatever way they happened this time. Had no clue what my nails were going to look like.

China Glaze “Concrete Catwalk” w/ acrylic paint dots

My sister would say my nails look like they have leprosy or something… and for several moments I thought “Why did you basically hide that beautiful charcoal gray polish?” But the Dotter in my spirit won out… and I love these dots even more than the dots that have come before.

Automatic Nail Polish Remover

Jan3 by Cheryl Cheryl

I am falling in love with my new Automatic Nail Polish Remover machine.

Maybe for the wrong reason today.

I happened upon these Kiss Nail Art Stencil sets with striper polishes while traversing the aisles of CVS on a break from work. Nope, had no business even going to that section of the store.

Geeked is an UNDERSTATEMENT! I was like Woot! Woot! This might be a great alternative to purchasing a stamping kit…. which I have certainly been considering while perusing the zillions of nail polish blogs out there in the blogosphere with amazing nail designs. I’ve been extremely hesitant because for some reason I feel like a purist with nail design and want the “graphics” to be organic. *shrugs* I don’t even know what that really means…SMH. The stamps somehow seem contrived to me. (Watch, I’ll have a stamping kit next week – with ALL plates available, will be singing the stamping praises and have the best rebuttal known to mankind to explain the contradictory behavior and mindset. I should be a politician!)

I rushed home from work to create a work of art!! -_- NOT. I ended up with this horrific blue monstrosity and raggedy stencil designs that weren’t worth the dot of polish I dabbed onto my nails.

China Glaze “Sky High-Top”

Super underwhelming, ugly even.
And I can’t even blame the polish color. I think it was brought down by the flat color choices for the design. In the bottle, the color was really rather attractive. Still fell completely flat.

These stencils: ONE TIME USE ONLY! No I don’t mean “use for multiple nails” for one time. I mean, you can effectively use ONE stencil for ONE nail for ONE time and that’s pretty much the life cycle of the stencil. Unnecessarily difficult to work with. And though the material is decent for the first application, they don’t hold up. The design easily stretches out of shape and is therefore no more good. There is also no credible way to clean the old polish from the stencil. I tried both acetone (which really I should have known was going to nearly melt the poor stencil – I mean, that’s what is used to remove acrylic nails and glue. LOL) and polish thinner. I paid approximately $8 for this stencil set. At least I got 3 nail art stripers (which would have costs me about $2 a piece) and 24 stencils out of it.

THIS is where my super crush began on my new automatic nail polish remover machine. LOL.
I can personally attest to this machine’s efficacy. See for yourself:

**Disclaimer: “NO COTTON SQUARES WERE HARMED IN THE REMOVAL OF THIS HEAVILY TINTED NAIL POLISH.” lol.

I got these results after having already removed the past 2 manicures’ polish which included acrylic paint dots AND 5 coats of glitter polish. I did NOT change the remover solution before removing this polish. I was WAY too anxious to get this mess off my nails!

Go ahead and click the picture… link to the www.transdesign.com website and get one. You know you want one. Winking smile

Over Christmas

Dec26 by Cheryl Cheryl

I loved the Christmas polish adventures…. but being happy that it’s over, I don’t really want to see anymore red and green polish for at least a couple of weeks!!

so I ventured as far away from Christmas as I could when I painted my nails this time.

…but just some little freehand dotted flowers.

China Glaze “White On White” – acrylic paint dot flowers

As many others have reviewed “White On White”…. they are all right. It’s a very pretty and creamy white polish…. once you get enough coats of polish on. It’s a streaky polish, but I only had to use 2 coats to achieve these results. I had initially planned on purchasing OPI Alpine Snow… and actually, next time I will. #NoDiss

Dre’s Holiday pick

Dec16 by Cheryl Cheryl

Yep, ‘tis the season. All things sparkly and shiny… red and green…. and gold. 🙂

Seems to me that the best folks to ask for nail polish suggestions are men! I was talking to my brother André as I was pondering over what color/design to adorn my nails… he sarcastically replied “that should be hard”…smh. I had to explain how difficult it is to choose when there are so many options. Then I asked for his suggestion…… Twinkle Lights with Black tips… (no he did NOT know the name of the polish. hahahahaha)

the result was quite nice! I would have been more surprised, but he actually has good taste. so……..

China Glaze “Twinkle Lights“ as a topcoat over “Passion” was the bow on the “holiday feel”. Like candy sprinkles on a sugar cookie in the shape of a Christmas Tree. The glitter was sparser than I would have liked, so I ended up using three coats. Nonetheless still festive. The topcoat alone would be adorable for little kiddie nails during the holiday.

Deviating from the widely held belief: This “Twinkle Lights” glitter is NOT of the devil. lol

I decided to use acrylic paint for the tips instead of polish because there would have been SIX layers of polish on the tips of my nails….. NO SIR!

China Glaze “Passion” w/ “Twinkle Lights” and black acrylic paint tips

I might have to ask André next time I can’t decide on a polish choice Smile .

Sexy Silhouette

Dec5 by Cheryl Cheryl

China Glaze. Pretty deep vibrant shimmery pink. Magenta-ish. Definitely in the red family, but more pink than red.

This color made my hand feel very sexy. *wink wink*

China Glaze “Sexy Silhouette”

Snow!

Dec4 by Cheryl Cheryl

When I saw the snowflakes “falling” on the main page of the blog site (yay!), I immediately got excited. I LOVE snow. Love is an understatement.

Now mind you, I’ve been practicing good snowflake designs for like two weeks. And still no presentable snowflakes in sight for my nailbeds. 😦

Now this one from cutepolish vids is adorable….

…. and though I love her designs, and I love using my dotting tool – it seemed too simplified for my lofty expectation of my artistic ATTEMPTS… As I still haven’t mastered even a “neat” snowflake.

then I found this snowflake tutorial. I liked. More dots, but it was a tiny bit more complicated.

I ended up with a sort of in-between snowflake from the two… and I could only withstand the painstaking task on the fingernails of my ring fingers…. this nail art is work! Smile I used the appropriately named “Avalanche” for the base color, and white polish with a very skinny nail striping art brush for the snowflake. I used a glitter polish with a dotting tool for some sparkly spots. When it actually snows here in Chicago [I wish it would hurry up and snow!!], I’m doing a snowflake design – again. (does this one count?)

China Glaze “Avalanche”

China Glaze–“Turned Up Turquoise” (neon) (matte)

Nov25 by Cheryl Cheryl

I’m starting to believe that nail polish companies do what they can to keep top coat polish makers in business. Matte colors should NOT bother me…. but they do. I like the brilliance and shine on a freshly painted nail. I attempted to purchase a mattifier top coat… but I couldn’t make myself purchase it. Maybe one day… *shrugs*.

…So, I added a brilliant topcoat shine with Seche Vite to this color too….

At any rate…. This China Glaze “Turned Up Turquoise” is beautiful. I think this is supposed to be a “summer color” but why limit yourself? Life is too short not to have fun…whenever you want!

This color looks so much “greener” to me in real life. Photos seem to only pick up the blue.

China Glaze “Turned Up Turquoise” (Neon)

acrylic paint dots…. Smile

China Glaze–“Trendsetter”

Nov23 by Cheryl Cheryl

I needed a cute design to brighten my day because I feel icky. I think I’m fighting the flu and I am not a happy camper. Found a video on nail art created with toothpicks….. came home and tried it:

China Glaze “Trendsetter” with acrylic paint flowers nail art

The little flower seems like the highlight, but this China Glaze color, in all it’s drab undertone, has a BEAUTIFUL shimmer. Little eensy weensy, tiny flecks of gold meandering all through the liquid.