Quick Shot: Game Day Nails

As I mentioned, I got to go on a trip I've always dreamed of this weekend--to see Green Bay play at Lambeau Field! I of course did a manicure for the occasion. I did similar nails not too long ago, so I won't go into exhausting detail. Just a quick peek :)

Thumb and ring finger: Zoya Solange
Index and small finger: Base of Orly Pointe Blanche (white), a coat of BadAss Polish Go Pack Go! (green and yellow glitters), and a thin coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! (sheer white jelly)
Middle finger: Gradient with Zoya Darcy (yellow) and China Glaze Starboard (green), coat of Rainbowgasm (my holographic frankenpolish topcoat), and a Green Bay logo nail tattoo from WinCraft.

Topcoat of Seche Vite for all but the textured nails.

the holo shining in the sun :)

what a memorable trip it was! <3

See you tomorrow for a real nail post ;) xoxo

Mint Manis for Talia

Hello. Pardon the break in the Alphabet Challenge, but today I have a very special post. I am a bit late getting this up, but I couldn't not participate in such a special dedication.

On July 16th, the world lost a beautiful girl called Talia Joy Castellano.

Talia was only 13, but had been battling two rare and dangerous forms of cancer for years--neuroblastoma and preleukemia. Despite that, she ran a wonderful YouTube channel dedicated not only to her amazing talent with beauty (makeup, nail art, etc) but to sharing her experiences with cancer, chemotherapy, and the other treatments and how they affected her. She was frank, honest, mature, and thoughtful well beyond her years, and got so much attention that she got to meet one of her idols, Ellen Degeneres, on the show--and was made an honourary Cover Girl. I get all teary every time I watch the video! :')

Talia was a beautiful, sweet, talented, and inspiring girl and has touched millions of hearts the world over as she shared her life with us (and her makeup tips... that girl had more talent for makeup in her pinky than I'll ever have). The last Instagram photo she posted was a photo of her, her mother, and her friend's hands, all wearing matching mint-coloured manicures. So in her honour... #MintManisForTaliaJoy.

Joy is the perfect name for this sweet little soul.

I used one generous coat of Orly Halo (fitting, isn't it?), the bottle shown in the photo. Atop that is one coat of NYC Nail Glossies #241, a shimmery mint/teal colour. It's very sheer and hard to wear alone, but perfect for a "jelly sandwich" look like this. With the fine gold and silver glitters, and the shimmer, the pale blue sparkles.. I think it is a very ethereal and heavenly look.

As for the angel... first I stamped with the wings from Bundle Monster plate BM-310 and Konad white, but the image is too thin and delicate to really show up against the glittery background. So I used it as a guide, and with my white striper, carefully drew in the body, dress, and made the wings fuller. A rhinestone for the head, and the white striper again for the tiny halo. Topcoated with Orly Sec 'N Dry.

Rest in peace, Talia. You may be gone, but you will never be forgotten. xoxo


(please see the other dedications below)

Birthday Nails! Sprinkles & Balloons

Hiya everyone! Short and sweet post because today's my birthday! Couldn't let the day pass without a special manicure, of course. :)

festive!

Hooray! LOL. Lots of steps in this one, but nothing too complex...

Base is one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On. It isn't quite opaque in one coat, but its very close, and was sufficient for what I knew I'd be putting on top of it :)

Next I added a layer of Milani #530 Gems, a rainbow-coloured glitter. (Said to be a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, so I had to use it!) At this point, it looked like this:

shiny :D

I then added a coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, a super sheer white jelly that was just made for jelly sandwiches :D

Doesn't it look yummy?

Finally, I painted on the balloons with a dotting tool and some different polishes: OPI A Roll In The Hague (orange), China Glaze Starboard (green), Revlon #280 Bubbly (pink), and Orly Blue Collar (blue). Not pictured, because all the photos including it were rubbish, is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri #280 Rapid Red on the thumb.

Used black and white Stripe Rite striping polishes to add the outline and shiny details :)

The balloons covered up most of the 'sprinkles', but they still reminded me of these!

And now I'm off for more fun :) See you all next time for a new set of challenges I'll be taking on! xoxo

Peppermint Wrapping Paper Nails (mini-post!)

Hiya! As promised, quick post after I got all experimenty and stamped over my previous manicure! Just grabbed Konad special polishes in black and white, and used the candy image from Bundle Monster plate BM-306 to do some alternating-accent-nail-goodness.

Yum!

I was told it looked like Christmas wrapping paper. I agree! I did the other hand in reverse colours:

I cannot take clear photos with my non-dominant hand, apparently.

I couldn't decide which colour would look best, but I think I'm leaning towards the white--what about you?

(kinda wide--click to enlarge)

Back soon with a real post and new mani! See you then! xoxo

Peppermint Bark Nails

Good day, everyone!

Well, today it finally decided it was going to start acting like winter. It was so warm last week, but today it barely got above freezing! Brr! Do not want. But it does make wearing festive holiday manis feel that much more appropriate :D Like this one I'm showing you today. I wanted a soft look with red and green glitter, and what I ended up with was a jelly sandwich mani that looks like peppermint bark. Yummy!

omnomnom

Man, my nails are getting long.

Anyway, yeah. That lovely soft white base colour is OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!, from the same collection (NYC Ballet) as the sheer squishy pink I used in the last post. It's very sheer, and I started with three coats before I had something you could remotely detect with the naked eye (ha). I then painted one coat each of Orly Mermaid Tale (small green + larger green holo glitter) and Milani Jewel FX Red (uniform-sized red glitter). At this point, it looked like this:

Shiny! (no flash)

Shinier! (with flash)

It was pretty like this too, but I had the idea kicking around to jelly-sammich-ify it, so although I initally topcoated (Cult Nails Wicked Fast, btw) and left it for a while, I was itching to add one more coat of the sheer white, and so I did. And loved the results!

After one more coat of Wicked Fast. It was still a wee bit bumpy even after a total of 3 smooth coats over the glitters! Oh well.

Festive and Christmasy! I think I may do one more thing to these before taking them off... so expect a mini followup post if it turns out well :D xoxo

edit: I did!