So... I'm digging these plates. 😃

So... I'm digging these plates. 😃 They are clearly designed so that you layer the images and that gives the pictures so much detail. It's awesome. Even when you don't line the images up perfectly (or when you roll one and stretch the outline like I did on the leaves of the larger flower) it still looks adorable.

Unfortunately for me I don't yet have a ton of colored stamping polishes so that means a lot of trial and error with regular polish. I'm not into that tonight so I only did a few nails. But I'm super happy with all of this. My new stampers are so clear that you really can't see them once you are close to the nail. They stamp pretty well, but my polish kept drying before I could pick it up. I'm sitting under an A/C vent and being too lazy to move. Also, my stamping polishes are old and probably need thinning. But anyway, it is all working. I'm super pumped today! 😃

There are not enough stickers...

There are not enough stickers in the whole of the Internet to properly express my excitement right now. MY ORDER NOT ONLY ARRIVED TODAY, BUT IT HAD FREE PLATES IN IT, TOO!!! AND CHECK OUT THAT FUCKING PRECIOUS PACKAGING, OMG. 😳

These probably look a little more fancy than they actually are...

These probably look a little more fancy than they actually are, but I don't mind that. LOL I did not want to go through the week with naked nails, so I sat down to paint them pretty late last night. Aside from the time issue, I used my new peel-off basecoat, Ready for Takeoff by UNT. I wouldn't have used that, BUT, I've been doing some damage to my nails lately. I don't know why, but I've been picking at them. Must be nerves or something, but anyway, this was an attempt to minimize the damange I'd do by picking my polish. So, since I wasn't sure how long my nail polish would actually stay on using a peel-off basecoat, I didn't want to put too much work into my paint job.

I got this glitter from Sally's. It's by Bitzy and it is called Funky Melon. Since the glitters are huge and neon and there was no purple in it, I decided to try it over purple. But first, I topped my purple with Fairy Dust by China Glaze, because DUH - everything is better with glitter! I wasn't planning to stamp over the glitter, but I really did not like the way it looked just plain. So I stamped this pattern, which was picked out by my son. I thought it would look horrible, but I actually kind of like it now. Funny how you smush a bunch of ugly things together and it sometimes turns out really cool. LOL

Anyway. My stamping is a little off on my pointer finger and thumb. I'm still using the second stamper I ever bought, back in 2011. It's a squishy eraser-colored one that I ordered from Germany, because I was having no luck with my Konad stamper. I have some nice clear stampers, but they don't always pick up well, so there is no point in that. I have a few coming from Ali Express that I'm pretty excited to try, but we'll see how that goes when they get here. Maybe I won't be stamping crooked for much longer. Here's hoping! 🙂

Tried something new this weekend.

Tried something new this weekend. Instead of water marbling and dipping each finger I made one design, let it dry on the water, carefully took it out, and then cut it up and used them like decals. I don't know if I would always be able to make that work, but my nails are so short and nubby right now that it went just fine. I liked doing it that way because you USUALLY waste less polish, and it's USUALLY much less messy.

However, this time it was a huge mess. I spilled not only hot water on myself, but 3 open bottles of nail polish. EPIC FAIL. I was sitting there saying to Shadow (in an attempt to elicit help from him) "HOT WATER! NAIL POLISH!" Those are about all the words I could manage for a minute because I could not believe what I'd just done. He just looked at me like I was crazy until I screamed for him to get a towel.

I'm usually much more calm and prepared when doing my nails, but I had a "dying vole on my porch" type of situation to handle so I found myself suddenly chatting with Wild Mammal Care in the middle of my nail-doing. They asked me if she'd moved and when I got up to check I spilled everything everywhere because I am awesome. Also, my little porch vole didn't make it. 🙁 I'm not super surprised, though, because you don't see them out usually unless something is wrong.

So yeah. Nubs for now. That is what happens when I go a month without polish. My new nail / cuticle oil is doing a great job on keeping my nails from peeling, but having some layers of polish on is really what protects mine from breaking.

Also, pardon all the bubbles in my topcoat. It was getting too thick, but I gave my polish thinner to a friend so I just had to deal with it. LOL I gotta put thinner on my list of things to buy ASAP. Those bubbles drive me crazy!

I've been trying for several days...

I've been trying for several days to get a photograph of these to put up.  This is not the original manicure - I had more stones and one more finger full of hearts, but because I took so long to get pics a few fingers were starting to look crappy.  I decided to take them off and accent them in other ways since I don't have time to make more decals at the moment.  It's really ok with me - I'm digging these.  I usually have have pretty predictable "accent finger" patterns, but this time I think it's harder to tell what's an accent or not.  Maybe they all are!  Woohoo!  😂

Now I'm off to study.  Probably can't do nails again until after finals on Tuesday, but then I'm gonna go nuts!  THE END OF THE SEMESTER IS IN SIGHT!  😃

This pink / purple / red glitter...

So I've been studying super hard for tests lately and two of them were yesterday.  When I got home from class - late though it was - I painted my freaking nails BECAUSE I DESERVED A TREAT!

This pink / purple / red glitter is a polish I bought on clearance from Sally's.  It's an Orly called "Explosion of Fun."  It's layered over some kind of bright pink L'Oreal that I will go look at and write the name of if anyone actually cares.  😛

Since I was so tired last night I used whatever was at hand.  The new Orly was within reach (as was my box of pinks), so I went with it.  I thought it looked kind of bright and tropical so I went with flowers as decoration.  I filled them in with white because it, too, was close at hand.  I probably could have been more creative with colors if my brain hadn't been fried from both a Biology and Trigonometry test in the same day, but it is what it is and I'm ok with how it turned out.  🙂

The kitty cat nails didn't last long.

The kitty cat nails didn't last long.  The collar glequins and bowtie started coming off so then of course I started picking at them and just had to take all the polish off so that I didn't do actual damage to my nails from picking at them.  I'm the worst about picking.  Once I start it's all over with, so they just had to go.

So I did these last night.  I showed them to my guy today and he was like, "What made you do that?"  He looked truly baffled.   😂  Honestly, I saw something very similar in a blog and I liked the way it looked, so there you go.  They used totally different colors and no stones, but as you know I can't just leave well enough alone.  😁

I imagine that I will have the same problem with these as the kitty cat nails because of the stones, but that's ok.  I don't mind doing one last awesome mani before spring break ends.  😃

I was in the mood for something silly and fun

Ok, I guess I was in the mood for something silly and fun.  And also big because my nails are long enough to accommodate these big old kitty stamps (but just barely, as you can see from my ring finger).

I wanted a background that wasn't too crazy since I wanted the kitties to pop so I went with pale blue stamping over gray.  I used a few different cat-themed plates for that.  There are various paw print patterns, etc, and the middle finger says things like "Meow" and "Hiss."

All I really knew when I got started is that I was wearing these damn cats one way or the other.  😂  I had no plans for collars and bow-ties, but it just wasn't done until I added those touches.  How's that for spring?  They look quite dressed up for some reason!  Maybe they have a date!  😃

PSA Time:  Everyone make sure to spay and neuter your Ms. and Mr. Kitties because too many animals are killed in shelters.  It's a totally preventable problem - so don't be part of it.  There is no excuse.  Help is out there!

The lace and butterfly nails are coming off tonight.

The lace and butterfly nails are coming off tonight. The polish is starting to lift where I chipped the thumb earlier this week. If I don't remove it I'll start peeling my nails - which is terrible for them. Other than that they still look great - much to my surprise. As rough as I am on my hands with all of the cleaning and everything else I do they usually only last 4-ish days. I did the lace / butterflies on Thursday last week - so that's a record. I really don't mind when my polish starts coming off because I enjoy painting them as much as looking at them so it's no surprise that I was starting to get impatient with these. 😂😂😂

Anyway. I have no clue at the moment what I will do next. Gonna play with my plates and see what I come up with. I might be too tired to really do my nails tonight, but maybe I can at least settle on what I'll do at some point this weekend. We'll see.

Spring and Butterflies

I felt like I deserved it so I treated myself last night.  I painted my nails!  Woohoo!  😃

I didn't go with the whole "butterfly on each finger" thing.  I just can't.  It feels so wrong to try to match my nails.  And when I inevitably fail it will look dumb, too because they won't be perfect, so... there's that.  😂

I wish this lighting would have captured the beauty of my base coat, Demure Vixen by Essie.  I know it's not the best match to my skin, but I love the pink / lavender undertone.

I also meant for one of my butterflies to turn out blue (the one on the thumb), but the way I layered the colors it didn't work out that way.  Oh well.  At least it is somewhat different than the green and purple on the ring finger.

Anyway.  I did it.  And I like it.  But I wish I could take it off already and paint something else now.  😂  I'm terrible.

Just a test decal I started.

Just a test decal I started. I saw the idea of a butterfly over lace on a YouTube video. The person was using a different method, but I think I can make it work in decal form. All of the previous decals I made only required stamping once, but doing it this way will require stamping twice. 

Biggest mistake? Not using holo pink and purple on the butterfly because holo makes everything better. 😃 The polishes I used on the butterfly were actually too sheer, but that's the purpose of a test. I'll know better when I actually start making these for real. I think it will look nice over a nude pink. 

You can see a glimpse of my new mat and ever-messy work space. Also, check out the rainbows on my thumb - even in indoor lighting. Woo! 😃

I am not even about to admit how late I stayed up doing my nails...

So this is definitely not my most fabulous photo.  I know that you aren't really supposed to take pics in full sunlight, BUT THE RAINBOWS.  😳

I am not even about to admit how late I stayed up doing my nails, but I was having a lot of fun.  I finally ended up getting the nail art mat I wanted so I was dying to play with it.  The holo swirls are actually more stamping decals, but instead of being made on a stamper - they were made WITH a stamper - ON the mat.  Which for me, (since I don't have quite a thousandy stampers yet), meant that I could make enough decals for all of my fingers at one time.  And I did.

So why only 3 on this hand?  Well, the time was getting ridiculou, and since it was my first go at making them not all of them turned out perfect... and that's just not gonna cut it.  😂  On my best days I have perfectionist tendencies, but in times of stress it gets worse.  MUCH worse.  I have a ton of homework this weekend so I couldn't be using some ugly, janky decals on my right hand.  😂

So my left hand is fully adorned in decals, but mostly because I was making sure I was doing a great job at getting them put down without messing them up.  These were a little thicker because you had to start with two coats of clear, (unlike the ones made on the stamper where you start with the stamp only).  I used some of the less-great ones on that hand (because it's the test hand!  😂), but it's ok.  Lefty is allowed to be janky for some reason.  I can't explain it.

Anyway.  I used 8 different holo polishes to fill in the swirls and I love how in the sunlight the holo-ness sometimes makes them blend - like you can't tell where one color starts and the next stops.  Might be a thing that only happens in person, but dang - I'm really happy with these.

So the stars?  Yeah, I can't even fathom the idea of having all matching nails. I can't.  I just can't.  I mean, with all of the choices of things you can do it almost seems wrong to make them all the same.

Finally got around to putting on my other stamping decal...

Finally got around to putting on my other stamping decal.  This isn't the one you saw before - it's actually rather crooked on the ring finger of my left hand.  😛  I put it on my left hand because I had to clear it to soften it back up since it had been sitting for so many days.  That actually worked for this even though it didn't for the glitter decal.  Maybe that's the difference.  Anyway.  Since I cleared it rather than top-coated it (topcoat makes it tougher), I accidentally smudged the kitten so I banished it to my left hand, which often looks like crap and weirdness in comparison to the right.  😂😂😂

Anyway.  Crap-tastic, rainy, cloudy day - not great for wearing a beautiful holo polish that makes rainbows in the sunlight, but I didn't check the weather before doing my nails the other day. Oh well.  It's still pretty and though I normally hate wearing white polish this was ok.  It's probably coming off soon, though.  😂  There is only so much I can take.

Confession Time:

Confession Time:  Shaun had to damage my scale nail before I could bring myself to take it off.  😂  I had all of my other nails naked and ready to be painted - EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE.  I guess I was making a big deal about it so he said "Let me see it." and then proceeded to dig a chunk of it off me with his big, hard, man nails.  😳  I mean, I guess that was an effective way to make it easier to take off... at least I didn't have to murder it with polish remover for no reason.  😂

Anyway.  I wanted to use my succulent decal before it dried out since it was more work to make than the cat.  If I had waited any longer I would have missed my chance.  It was already very brittle and the application of it did not go smoothly.  😕

First of all, I had to apply a clear polish to the back of it to soften it up.  Secondly, I dropped it on a fuzzy blanket right after applying the clear polish.  THEN, when I was trying to shape it to my nail, it cracked.  Thankfully, I had the good sense to use the same base color as the background of the decal; otherwise, you'd probably be able to spot the crack.  It was almost a huge nail fail.  🙁  But lots of patience, acetone, and topcoat saved it.  🙂

Overall I think it looks nice, but I'm not as in love with it as I was with the scales.  I'm glad I could make it work, but I'm bummed that my decals aren't storing so great.  I knew they wouldn't last forever, but I didn't even get a solid week out of that.  I guess I can't make them too far in advance for now.  I read that one polish blogger stored hers inside sheet protectors for 10 days.  I was thinking that surely a closed-off stamper would be more air tight, but I guess not.  😕

For anyone who's interested - my pointer finger is FingerPaints Nail Color Ink-Cognito, my middle finger is China Glaze Nail Lacquer Below Deck, and my pinky is the lovely Barry M. in Dusky Mauve.  I wanted that polish for ages before I finally bought it.  I know that the shimmer isn't showing in that one on the nail in photos like it is in the bottle, but I promise you it's there.  It is SO pretty and I'm so happy to finally call it my own.

This will be the third picture that I've posted of this ONE FREAKING NAIL...

This will be the third picture that I've posted of this ONE FREAKING NAIL, but seriously JUST LOOK AT IT.  😳  I finally got her in a sunbeam!  LOOK AT THE RAINBOWS!  I guess it's no secret that I am a HOLOSEXUAL!  (<--  If you don't get that reference then you're not watching the best nail art channel on YouTube right now.)

So my beautiful scales are coming off today because I've had to re-paint all the rest of my nails save for her and the pinky.  I don't know if it's just that the decal is, (for some reason), very tough or what, but it's lasted all week.  It would probably last a few more days, too, but if I'm having to re-paint the rest of my nails anyway then I really want to put on another one of my decals - if they haven't dried out too much by now.  I have no idea.

Anyway, I made a 92 on my history test so I deserve a treat.  Off to paint my nails!  I have to spend most of my weekend studying and doing Trig homework so I might as well have fun now if I can.  

(I don't even know if I can because I really don't want to melt this prettiness off me.  /sad)

I made a couple of more decals last night.

I made a couple of more decals last night. I just really really wanted to - and like I said - it relaxes me, which I need x1000 lately.

Since I never have time to do super cool things to my nails during the week I'll use these decals when my current polish starts chipping in few days... assuming they hold up. We'll see if they do. I hope so. 

There is a really cool nail art mat that I want SO BAD that would allow me to make more decals at a time instead of storing them on my stampers, but I'm not buying it yet. For one I don't actually have extra money for now and two it's not like I have a ton of time to devote to this right now anyway. But one day... 🙂

Thankfully, these two awesome clear stampers were SUPER CHEAP and came with lids that protect the sticky heads from lint, etc, so they are great for storing the decals for now. They keep them safe from being damaged and also stop them from drying out. Unfortunately I only have two, but I have other stampers I can use for nail-doing for a while.

Anyway. I guess I'm off to do Trig homework. Can't play all weekend, unfortunately. 😕

I know this is yet again not my best photo...

I know this is yet again not my best photo (yay for cloudy days and crappy house lighting!), but check out my freaking decal.  I made it by myself with only nail polish and stamping plates.  I don't know if every stamping plate would allow me to make a decal this well, but I'm betting that most of them would work - meaning that I have a binder full of images just waiting to be filled in and worn in a whole new way.  😳

I'm really missing this thing called "free time" right now because I want to do this about a thousandy more times.  😂  The filling in of something so tiny is really tedious, but I think it's kind of meditative for me.  And right about now I think that's something I need.

Anyway, I read that decals can be stored for about 10 days before becoming too brittle to use so IN THEORY I could make decals for you guys if I have something on any of my stamping plates that you'd like to wear.  Best of all you could probably stick these down yourselves because that was the easy part.  🙂

To stick it down I put down a clear polish on top of my base color, let it dry a little, then stuck the decal down.  I trimmed as much of it down as I could with cuticle scissors, then buffed it off the tip of the nail, then used a thin brush dipped in acetone to clean the edges and seal the sides down.  Threw on a nice topcoat after that and I was good to go!  (I know that might sound like a lot, but there was really nothing to it.)

Anyway.  I felt like that was pretty freaking neat.  Jamberry ain't got nothing on me!  😃

Sally's was having a great sale, but my heart just wasn't in it.

As I'm sure most of you know by now it's been a very tough week, but I'm finally starting to feel a sense of "normal" creeping back in.  Not "normal" enough to buy nail polish today, but normal enough to look at it.  😂  Sally's was having a great sale, but my heart just wasn't in it.  Shaun ended up buying me 3 polishes - he got one for himself.  There was a BOGO on FingerPaints Nail Color so that was pretty awesome.  🙂

I used one of my new polishes called Ink-Ognito on my middle finger and also on the decal that is on my ring finger.  I haven't had time this past year with work and school to really try this before, but I've wanted so badly to successfully make my own nail decals using my stamper and just nail polish.

As much of a mess as this might appear to be it actually turned out pretty amazing after clean-up and topcoat.  I'll post a nice photo tomorrow when I get into better lighting with a real camera.  I just thought this looked kind of neat and I was really happy that I was up for taking a few hours to just do something for myself - for no other reason than that I wanted to.  I feel like that's a sign that my stress levels are starting to drop.

Anyway.  Goodnight, all.  Or good morning.  In any case - see you whenever I wake up!

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to do Valentine's nails...

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to do Valentine's nails to go with this ring, but I didn't.  Life isn't working out like that right now.  Maybe next year.

Might share a few nail pics from when I had time in my life.  😂  I used to look festive... on my nails - at least.  😛

I am Grumpy Cat this week.

I am Grumpy Cat this week.  Oh well.  😂

I was getting ready to chop my nails off yesterday, but then I remembered this plate and thought "I bet I could fit Grumpy AND her "NOPE" on there if I do this now."  I just barely got it all on there, but that's ok.  Since I was too tired and brain-dead for homework I painted my nails.  It cheered me up so it wasn't a waste of time.  🙂

My nails are almost long enough to make my nail beds sore.  I generally don't like them to be too far over the ends of my fingertips because I type a lot and I'm clumsy.  😂  But I figured I could live with them for a few more days to wear this.  🙂

Grumpy's pattern that you can't really see around the edge of her is a triangle pattern that is the same (but a smaller version) of what's on the rest of my nails.  I didn't really think about it not showing up because I have small nails, but that's why the rest of my fingers are done in a triangle pattern.  It's not like I have triangles on the brain or anything.  😛

Pardon my blinding whiteness...

Pardon my blinding whiteness, but I had to shine a light on this polish BECAUSE RAINBOWS.  😳  I did manage to sit down and paint my nails yesterday, but I will admit that it took WAYYY longer to decide what to do than it took to actually do them.  I have too many choices between stamping plates and colors and other embellishments.  I'm so out of practice and haven't been following the blogs since last year so I'm out of the loop and even doing something simple like this was a struggle to come up with.  I guess if I don't use my creativity it will get rusty, too.  🙁  Unfortunately, I don't see this year being any easier than the last.  Or the next two after that.  Boo!  At least they are freakin' pretty, though.  🙂

Mario Brothers Stamping

I've had a pretty good weekend, so yay!  I got to see my friend Shauna yesterday.  We see each other so rarely, but it's always nice when we can manage to get together.  I got to paint her nails which I've done so little of lately, but that made my day.  I probably talked her freaking ear off, but maybe she'll hang with me again one day.  😂

In the meanwhile check out Shauna's Mario Brothers nails!  🙂

THESE ARE ABOUT TO BE MINE.

THESE ARE ABOUT TO BE MINE.  I am gonna have so much animals on my nails and probably on jewelry, too.  😳