These are the nails I tested on Shaun...

These are the nails I tested on Shaun - chrome powders over magnetics.  They look really neat!

I tested out using gel polish to make stones for jewelry.

I tested out using gel polish to make stones for jewelry.  I'd say it worked.  :D  The stone on the left is just the holographic chrome powder Lust by JReine over black.  I definitely need to make sure my sticky coat goes down smooth.  You can see some brush strokes in that one.  It was the first one I made so the second one came out smoother.  The stone on the right was made using the same method as my dandelion nails, except thatw I didn't put the dandelions on it because it was just an experiment.  It turned out so well that I kind of wish I had, but I'll know better next time.  Now that I know this works I'll probably make some jewelry using these methods.  I'm excited to once again have more to paint than just my nails.  I am slowly but surely working towards re-opening my Etsy and I'm really excited about that.  I definitely need a creative outlet in my life.

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These are the nails I did...

These are the nails I did after seeing a new layering technique on the 'Gram. The bottom layer is a sheer purple, then over that is a silver cat-eye magnetic, then it's topped with a chrome powder, and finally sealed with topcoat. The product of that layering reminded me of a summer sunset, so I added the dandelions blowing in the wind for good measure.

I played with this technique on Shaun's nails over the weekend and found some really pretty combinations. I'll bother him for a photo (or video!) at some point soon.

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👀

👀

I learned a new polish-layering technique...

I learned a new polish-layering technique on Instagram and I am OBSESSED. Shaun likes his nails done, so he's volunteered as tribute to let me experiment with more combinations. I'll post my nails probably tomorrow. They have a summery, sunset vibe. 😁❤️

Me all day:

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I never did anything else to these.

I never did anything else to these.  I just haven't been energetic lately, and that's probably because I'm not allowed to exercise.  So this is what I'm wearing this week.  No complaints.

Taken in direct sun to show the holographic flame

 Taken in indirect light to show the chrome shift

Work in progress.

Work in progress. This is a holographic chrome powder over black. It's GORGEOUS on its own, but I would at least like an accent nail. Currently trying to decide what to do...

Suggestions welcome.

It's been such a long time since I've done any nail art for myself.

It's been such a long time since I've done any nail art for myself.  As lame as it may sound my one and only goal for this weekend was to do nail art on ME.  Before this the most I could manage was to put on a pretty color (there is a reason for that).  It's nice to have a pretty color to look at, but it's not the same a being able to flex my creativity.

Since the polish color I used (Sakura by Ethereal) was kind of sheer I decided to put down a couple of layers of a milky white gel polish by Beetles.  Then I painted my pinky, pointer, and thumb with Sakura.  I used stamping plates to get the outline of the floral shapes onto a stamper head.  I let it dry, then took a super tiny brush and filled in the colors of the flowers.  After that dried, I put a clear coat on it to make it into a decal and let that dry.  After THAT, I put down the same clear coat on my nails, let it dry just until it was tacky, then placed the decals onto my nail using the stamper.  I cleaned my edges and topcoated, and this was the final result!  I am pleased with how it turned out!

There are so many other techniques I want to play with and try, but since I'd already spent basically all day on my nails (removing hard gel and putting down polygel) I decided to keep it simple.  This nail art was (obviously) inspired by spring.  I'm so into the flowers and plants right now.  Everyone is showing out and I love it, so this is my tribute to spring. 💮💗

Boyfriend picked out my nail polish.

Boyfriend picked out my nail polish. Now let's see if I still got my nail art skills.

Between last night and today...

Between last night and today I swatched all of my burnishing powders that are used with gel polish. I swatched them over both black and white polish because they look dramatically different depending on the base over which you put them. I have ~50 powders, so x 2 colors, that's ~100 swatches. 😳

This wasn't a huge "need to get it done" type of task, but I rarely use my powders because I didn't have an easy way to see what they would look like. The powders usually come in little pots with an eye-shadow type brush to apply them, and those two things usually come in a small bag so they stay together. At one point I'd starting swatching them on an old nail wheel and snapping off the nails to go in the bag, but the bags weren't always clear and the nails would sometimes be turned around where you couldn't see them. And if I ever wanted to take the nails out to compare one powder to another, there was always the risk of getting things mixed up. It just wasn't effective.

You would think that in the years I've been messing with nail polish that somewhere along the way I'd have finally started using swatch sticks with labels, and you'd be wrong. That is a thing I started doing literally YESTERDAY. But it makes so much sense and it's so much easier to compare colors without worrying about getting things mixed up. I'd love to eventually swatch my whole nail polish collection, but that's not a task I'll be starting anytime soon. 😅

Anyway, this is my drawer of powders, and my swatches over both black and white, with and without flash. Now that that's all organized and lovely and satisfying I have no reason not to use my powders and I'm pretty excited about that.

This is the state of my nail stuff currently:

This is the state of my nail stuff currently:

The stack of drawers to the left contains things like files, gel tools, fake nails for swatching, magnets for the polish, different kinds of tape for nail art, brushes, etc.

The 12 helmers in the middle contain my polish. I have 3 empty drawers at the moment, and that is with all of my polish in there. My polish is a mess; it's sorted into drawers by color, with things like magnetic and multichrome and topper polishes (mostly) separated. The drawers are just in there every which way at the moment. I do plan to re-sort by color and arrange the drawers better, but it's a process since I have the physical storage of my polish to contend with as well as the digital storage for my database (swatches, color descriptions, collection, event, release date, which drawer it's in, etc). According to my database, I have a little over 4,200 polishes.

On the right, those drawers contain things like my gel lamp, my chemicals, my stones, studs, and other small embellishments, as well as powders (the kind you buff into gel), my hard gels, and my stamping polish.

Not pictured:  My binders of stamping plates and my binder of decals, vinyls, and stickers.

Nail polish these days. 🤯

Nail polish these days. 🤯 I am not good at writing descriptions, but this darker one is definitely AT LEAST a holographic multichrome with reflective glitter. These two photos are of the same polish - the only difference is that one photo was taken with flash and the other was not.

That blue jumping out is the reflective glitter, and it's going to be CRAZY on the nail in bright light. I opened the package it was in just now and it stopped. me. in. my. tracks.

Edited to add in this green; it's magnetic with reflective glitter.  Not my swatches; they are by Christian Gillespie, but I just want to spew a bunch of cursewords because it's so pretty.  It also came today with the other one pictured.

The things that independent makers have done with nail polish over the years have never ceased to amaze me. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. 🤩

If you have nothing more fun or interesting to do...

If you have nothing more fun or interesting to do this fine Friday evening, feel free to browse through my nail polish swatch folder. According to my spreadsheet I have around 4000 nail polishes, so this is far from all of them. I'm hoping to finish gathering swatches, descriptions, and collection names over the next few months, so the folders and photos found at this link will be updating while that happens.

The folders that are most complete are Bee's Knees and Tonic. Sadly, they are both on hiatus for now, but they make up some of the largest numbers in my collection and if you look at them you'll definitely see why. They made some beauties.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-1FdO7iQBsyidgnZNggHySOs4xIOsCyG

I don't know how many of you have a bunch of small things to sort through, but with my nail art collection I have a good bit of stuff. A couple of years ago I thought I'd make an app for storing nail stamping plates, but then I found the "Color My Life" app and changed my mind. "Color My Life is a mobile cataloging app designed exclusively for Paper Crafters." It's not meant for me, but it actually works quite well.

I have all of my stamping plates stored in there, as well as stickers, vinyls, nail wraps, water slide decals, etc. It has space for photos and brands and barcodes, as well as a field for listing where you stored your items. You can tag things by color and search by pretty much anything. I should probably give in and use this for my nail polish, but I've been too invested in making my own database to give that up. 😂 I'm nothing if not stubborn.

I thought I'd share this piece of my nail art organization for any of you who might be interested. I've got more Helmers on the way so it'll be a bit yet before I get my actual polish straightened out. That is a much bigger job. 😂😂😂

Today Shaun and I built 7 Helmers from Ikea.

Today Shaun and I built 7 Helmers from Ikea. Then we moved 58 small totes of nail polish downstairs. I got 36 of those totes put away into the Helmers. The rest of the polish is sorted by brand (easier to put into my database) rather than color (how the rest of my polish is sorted), so it's slower going putting those other 22 totes away. And I think I'm going to need a few more Helmers, anyway.

I sure wish I had Janet here to help me sort the colors! 😂❤️