SNOW!!!! ……finally

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.IMG_2684
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!!

IMG_2685IMG_2687 IMG_2688IMG_2690

IMG_2686                IMG_2689

Shelle’s dots

My sister finally let me do her nails.  She’s more conservative in her approach to color…. I run on the “loud” side of the color spectrum.   So we had to have a pre-manicure conversation.  I had to remind her that if she didn’t like it……… she could always just take it off…That speaks clearly to how different our tastes are, lol.

She chose a more subtle and cool color approach to her polish color and dotting choice:

OPI  “Moon Over Mumbai w/acrylic paint dotsIMG_2327

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Newspaper Nails

My friend Natural Hair Styling by DiAnneB. (<—link to her page) sent me a wonderful link…

Newspaper Nails

I had to try it IMMEDIATELY….. I was so excited to see if I could make it work.  This was my first attempt:

OPI – Rumple’s Wiggin’ with the Trader Joe’s marketing circular
  312831_10150884331840383_877095382_21374406_902028794_n[1]     309583_10150884376355383_877095382_21374571_726115577_n[1]

 

I wasn’t 100% pleased with the results, so I had a do-over!  That’s one of the wonderful things about nails…. you get to try again. I liked my second try much better:

OPI – Moon Over Mumbai with The Chicago Reader
newspaper nails

Next time I’m going to try Comic Strip Nails as explained by cutepolish!  http://youtu.be/B4FaidUlSbA