Man, those are OLD!

Hey, I'm still alive...well, for now. Things have been crazy, but I don't really want to get into it. I hope you guys can respect that :) Just know that I'm ok and hopefully will be for a long time to come.

Ok, I've had these water decals for years. Now when I say years, I mean years. I want to say I got them around 1988. How I've kept track of them all of this time, I'll never know, but I have. And, although you can't really tell from this angle, my nails are really long. Here's where this comes together...I came across these designs in my thousands of nail things again the other day and though, hmmm, I wonder if my nails would be long enough to actually USE them. To my surprise, they totally were! So I painted a base of Essie "Bikini So Teeny" and went with the surfer girl crashing waves you see here :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Mary Ann

Ocean Floor

OMG! Can I tell you how much I love this color combo?! I had done a similar combo before, but not on my nails. Go figure! Ok, so I love to paint things in general and I had the idea to make refrigerator magnets out of the clear decorator river rock looking things. I forget what color I used for the sea green/turquoise color, but I think it was OPI "Stranger Tides", so a little more green and a little more of a murky color. Then I used OPI "Last Friday Night" which was the glitter topper from the Katy Perry collection. This is what resulted from there.

It reminds me of looking through the water to the ocean floor. Clean, calming, refreshing like being at the beach on a super calm day.

I got my monthly shipment of Square Hue polish yesterday and the June batch is inspired by SoBe drinks. There was a grey, "Lincoln Road", an orange/bright peach, "Collins Avenue", and the lovely sea green, "Ocean Drive". See here:

I had been using neon and brights lately, so I wanted to steer away from the orange for now. Also, the grey seemed a bit blah for me today, but for another day, it will be awesome. But I really liked the sea green. So I decided to recreate the magnet look with this more bright color. Again, the glitter topper was OPI "Last Friday Night" from the Katy Perry collection. Hope you like it as much as I do! Makes me want a beach and some fruity umbrella drink :)

Blazing Sunset

Hi guys! I wanted to try ombre nails again, but when I did, they kept being not quite right. I kept at it again, and came out with this. I don't think it came out too bad! :) I used a cheap brand, California Colors, which I got at the Dollar Tree, in yellow. I painted the whole nail with yellow and let it dry. Then I used the makeup wedge sponge ombre technique. Seriously, this technique is everywhere, so if you haven't seen it, google it :). I used 3 colors to sponge: California Nails yellow, OPI "Atomic Orange", and Sephora OPI "Pushing Your Luck". I like the way it turned out, and hope you all do too! Have a great Tuesday!

Minnie Mouse Liquid Sand

Hi! I always have the decision of when to do my nails. I work afternoons and usually do my nails in the morning. Then my problem is do I shower before I do my nails, or do I wait until they are dry and then shower. I like to shower after because any residual cleaning of my cuticles or skin can easily come off. But then I run the risk of them being dry, but not all the way dry. This was my problem today. They were dry, but then after I showered, they had a few dents and then the tips wore off. WELL, I had to touch them up. I don't know which way is best, but I never seem to do it right, you know?

Anyway, this is the new OPI Minnie Mouse collection Liquid Sand color "Magazine Cover Mouse". It's a nice pink-y red color with lovely gold glitter mixed in. The picture doesn't do the color justice, but it shows the texture nicely! Have a great Friday and 3 day weekend, if you're lucky enough to have one!

Bogota Blackberry and nail catastrophe!

So, I broke a nail at work. Why? Why does this happen?! I had gotten a replacement bottle of OPI "Bogota Blackberry", which is a wonderful, yet old OPI classic. I went to have my toes done and did them in this color, so I thought, why not match fingers and toes? This is something I rarely do. So I painted them just plain. The color is so pretty, I didn't even put anything fancy on them. So then, I bend a nail and bam, tiny fracture about halfway down my length. I guess I should be happy it wasn't to the flesh! I filed them down, and left with stubbies. But because I filed them, the edges were If-fy. I did the french tip with China Glaze "Liquid Leather".  Now it looks like a brand new mani!

Brattlesnake...

My parents are on vacation in Texas. In honor of that, I did a lazy manicure with Sally Hansen Salon strips. These are called Brattlesnake. Have a great Monday!

Foot Hubris

I believe I have nice feet. I am able to shop in the kid's department because they are small. Bonus is I am able to wear obnoxious little kids shoes like this. I mean, they are hideously adorable in my opinion. My toe color is "Deviantly Daring" from China Glaze. I have been wearing a lot of neon colors on my hands lately, which are so pretty, but you can't get a true to color photograph of them at all! So, I resort to my feet. I know feet gross some people out, but I took a chance on posting mine anyway. Besides, I think they're pretty cute!

Finger Paints "Warhol Wannabe"

 Below is a more accurate representation of the color, but man, that's blurry!

This one is much better, but the neon color doesn't look neon. At first, I chipped the corner of my thumb nail like an hour after I had painted them. I was pissed and thought WTF? But, I think where is was raining and such, the edge was a bit fragile. Ok, the formula...it was a bit thin and thick at the same time. I don't even know if that makes sense, but it has that crelly feel to it, not a creme, not a jelly. I had to use 3 coats to get it to even out, and still, in the light, (you can see in the blurry photo) there is still a visible nail line. I did get a good 5 days out of this polish though, with minimal tip wear. However, it's SO neon, you can't even focus on it long enough to see the tip wear.

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He Went to Jarred

Ok, this is not spring-time polish. I get that. But damn the norm!!! :) I got this polish a while ago and hadn't worn it. Then I said something to someone about it this weekend and was like, I should wear that! And what way to show off a nice flakie of any kind than on a black background? Anyway, I used OPI "Black Onyx" for the base, and the flakie polish is 12K white gold flakes in a clear base. It's from Ninja Polish (which you can get online http://www.ninjapolish.com/home.php, I'm not sure about international shipping or anything though) and it's called "He Went to Jarred". How hilarious is that?! I am more of a silver-type gal rather than gold, so I was happy to find a silver version of this kind of polish. Although, sometimes it depends on the color of the base polish to determine if yellow gold is better or the white gold. You know, red and gold seem to go well, while blue and silver compliment each other nicely. Anyway, Happy Monday!

OPI Liquid Sand

This is one of the OPI Liquid Sand Bond Girls Collection. It's "Pussy Galore". How did they get away with naming this color that? Pink and named "Pussy Galore"? The 12 year old boy inside me giggles. I found this formula to be a little thin, I needed 4 coats to make it opaque to my liking. I also found it difficult to clean up the edges, but not too badly. Have a great Friday!

Orange Slices

You ever think too many options of nail polish is a bad thing? I had that sort of weekend. I couldn't decide what to put on, and then how to jazz it up, so I sit there and just look at the copious amounts and feel overwhelmed. Then, I realize that I love that I have this many options! Anyway, this is a nice neon orange Sally Girl "Amped". I used Konad special white polish (even though it looks pink for some reason) and Bundle Monster plate 308. Have a great Monday!

Tiffany's Copycat

I have been seeing this all over and thought, why not? This is China Glaze "For Audrey". Have a great Friday!

Lilac polish

Quick post today. This is Layla Magnetic in "Changing Violet". I used the China Glaze magnet for the diagonal stripes. I added a Fugi water decal in a Fleur de lis for a little flair! Happy Friday!

Square Hue Yellow Submarine

I am torn with this polish. This is part of the April shipment of Square Hue and the polish is called "Yellow Submarine". This yellow actually works with my skin tone! However, it took 4 coats to even out and not look all streaky. I put some stickers on it to jazz it up, but that was a bad idea. They smooshed into the polish and made visible ridges that top coat could not even out. I think it looks ok, kind of like a quilting pattern or something. Next time I may use a white base under the polish. Have a great Thursday!

Stella!

I had to get this discontinued color from China Glaze "Stella". I love it! And I really just want to yell STELLLLLLAAAAAA! Simple design with a water decal from Fuji.

This is a better view of the color. Have a great Monday!

Rainbow water marble

I have been on a water marble kick lately. My sister was interested in learning in how to do it, so now I'm all about it again. This is actually 6 colors, but the blue kind of fades into the purple. Oh well. I used Sephora OPI "What Aura Gonna Wear?" (pink), Sally Girl "Orange" (scented orange), OPI "Candlelight" (yellow), Sally Girl "Lime" (green lime scented), Sally Girl "Coconut" (blue coconut scented), and Sephora OPI "It's Hippo to be Square" (purple). Also, with the combo of the scented ones, my fingers smell like a bag of Skittles...and that's not too bad! :) As all water marbles turn out, I think my thumb was the best!

Hope you all have a great Easter weekend!

Easter egg nails

Hi guys! I have been wicked sick and off of work for 2 weeks. I mean, if you've ever had too much to drink and went to lay down to sleep and the room spins, this is what I have been feeling for these two weeks! And not even with the fun of the alcohol before hand. Really, I don't think I've had even a beer in 3 months. Anyway, since I sat here and did all sorts of nothing for that time, I thought I would do some water marble nails. I started with the base of OPI "Alpine Snow". Then I used Sephora OPI in "How Cute is That?" and "What Aura Gonna Wear?", and Sally Girl scented polishes in "Coconut" and "Banana". So not only is this very Easter egg looking, but it smells like suntan lotion too.

St. Patty's day nails #5

Today's nails are much better than the last ones I had. I used China Glaze "Paper Chasing". You know, I thought this color was called "Paper Chase", and I think that's what it was named that when I ordered it too, but the label says "Paper Chasing"...whatever. :) I stamped these with Konad special polish in white with Konad plate M22. Have a good Tuesday.

Sub-Par St Patty's Nails....

I had a grand manicure planned. Then I messed it up. Not once, but twice. And it was not the I could touch it up kind of messed up, it was the take it off and start over again kind. I had limited time before work to do it this weekend anyway, especially with losing the hour for daylight savings. I did my basecoat and thought, screw it, this is just not going to happen right now. I stamped my MJ plate that I used a few mani's ago, but used my Konad special polish in Green instead. It's not perfect, but I hope you can forgive me :)

St. Patrick's Day Mani #3

Today, I went for something simple as I ran out of time. This is Sally Hansen X-treme Wear in "Emerald City". The stamping plate was GCOCL A02, and I can't remember where I got it, or what set is was from. I used Konad Special polish in Pastel Green. Have a great Friday!!!

Second St. Patty's Day Nails

I love this magnetic polish. I have posted it before, and in this magnetic pattern. Some things you just like, you know? :) It's Nails Inc in "Spitalfields" and I used my China Glaze magnet. This polish actually comes with a fishnet pattern magnetic, but I'm not a fan. It is very weak and just looks blah to me. So, I go back to what I know works, and what I like. Is that bad? Then, I bought a ton of water decals on Amazon...the seller, I can't remember. I bought them before xmas and bought like 3 sets. They were dirt cheap, like 48 for $5.99 or something. They had all sorts of holiday themed metallic designs...snowflakes, shamrocks, easter eggs, stars and stripes, etc...so I went with one of the shamrocks just as an accent. The brand of decals is Fuji. Again, I have no idea of the seller or if this is a retail brand, or that sellers brand, or what. The packaging only has the directions on it, no distributor, no "made in" whatever country, nothing. I love water decals though. So easy to work with, they can have multiple colors in one design, and they don't smear like Konad-type stamps. Now I still love Konad stamps, don't get me wrong, but you gotta love the simplicity of water decals. Have a great Wednesday!

Square Hue Polish

I am going to try to do only St. Patrick's day manis until St. Patrick's day. We'll see how my plan works :) This is Square Hue polish. It's a polish of the month club that I was turned onto by The Polishaholic. Every month you get 3 polishes that, thusfar, has been month/holiday themed. In January, the colors were two blue hues and a shimmer white. Then February was pinks and reds. Now, for March, a hunter green, a copper, and a gold. This green is called "Patty's Pint." The polish is made in the USA, if that matters to anyone, and has pretty good wear. I used my MJ plate and Konad Special polish in gold for the design. This is 2 coats...for the most part. I had a few nails where I painted a little thin, so those have 3. Hope you all have a great day!

Illamasqua Speckle

Hi ladies! I've been gone for a while! I am getting my Master's in makeup artistry and have been a bit wrapped up in homework lately. Also, I broke some of my nails into the meat, or the quick if you prefer. It was so painful and hideous I didn't want to subject anyone to that! Onto the polish... This is the new Speckled Spring collection from Illamasqua. I got 3 of the 5 available. This one is actually called "Speckle". It's a beautiful lilac color. I don't think the picture does it justice, but this is the best one I could come up with. I also got the tan and the robin egg blue one. I may have posts for those at some point. This applied very easily, but needed 3 coats to even out and not streaky. Hope you all have a great week!

Water Marble!

I have been wanting to do a water marble again for a while now. I would put on the white base, then get sleepy or distracted, and inevitably mess something up. Well, I finally got around to it! I think by NOT using a white base, I had better luck. That's what I'll tell myself anyway :) Here's what transpired in a round about way.I bought the Ciate set called "Colorfoil" which comes with a base polish, and then foil to put on the top. I did the base polish "Cream Soda" which is the grey color. (Cream soda is not grey, so I feel a bit let down by the naming of the color that Ciate did. Was someone on crack? Were they color blind?) Then I tried some of the foil. The foil effect is AWESOME, but once you put a top coat on, it gets horrid! It puckers and shrinks and wrinkles. I am going to try different top coats on top of it and see if there is any difference. It seems like if you are going to sell something in a kit, you should include a top coat that works for the finish you need. There is no top coat included at all. Anyway, I repainted the grey and thought, hmmm, I could marble on top of this, the color is light enough... so I did! For the marble, I used Ciate "Cream Soda", Finger Paints "Cerulean Escape" and Essence Colour & Go "Ultimate Pink". I like the layering the swirls did, the blue and pink to create a unique purple color. I will try the foil kit again, and hopefully have better results! Have a great Wednesday!

Nails Inc Leather Effect

Hi everyone! So this is Nails Inc Leather Effect in "Noho". It is a texture finish polish, which seems to be the trend right now...like the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. This is a black on black finish. Even though it comes in one bottle, it seems like a regular polish with a matte glitter finish. The "base" color is like a smooth and shiny black, and then the "top coat" is totally a matte black glitter. Of course you are not supposed to use a real top coat on this polish because it would remove the finish. The kit with this color also has lots of rhinestones and 4 awesome skulls that are metal and encrusted with rhinestones. The only drawback is that the skulls are a little large, and my nails are WAY too curved for them to lay flat on the nail. Seriously, it's like I had a two-by-four laying on the surface of my nail. I think you could very easily make a Franken like this. Take black polish and add black glitter until the finish is that of a super hungry glitter. The kit was $19.  They also have one in a beige/taupe color. I got mine online at Sephora. Have a great Thursday!

Cinderella nails

I bought this blue because it looked SO amazing in the bottle. It is Finger Paints "Cerulean Seascape". I'm glad it translated well on the nail. I almost didn't want to cover it up with the stamps! Cinderella is a water decal, because I do not have that good of painting skills like some folks do. It seemed too plain with just the white polish, so I added the light blue stones around her. Then I used one of the MJ plates, and Konad Special Polish in silver for the slipper motif. Hope you all enjoy your day!

Hello dear readers!
I have been away for what seems like forever. I have dealing with Seasonal Affective Disorder. SAD is when the weather changes and there is lack of sunshine and it wears on you mentally. Anyway, there was almost a week where I had no nail polish on. How gloomy was I? Now I have been lazy because this disorder makes you very unmotivated. I have been using my Sally Hansen strips, and those are not interesting enough to post for me. And, I couldn't get a good picture of them if I wanted to as it has rained here for weeks straight. When it's sunny, I try to get out of the house as to not feel like I will kill someone (I don't mean that literally, just the figure of speech) and feel a little more at one with the world instead of dark and alone. Being outdoors/not in the house is not condusive to nail polish. I know I know, how dare I say such things!?! In reality, we know this to be true :) I will be back with some sort of goodness soon. Hang in there with me :)

In the meantime, here is my snotty, stuck up cat. She was not impressed via the rabbit ears my husband was giving her.