This is really super not my style...

This is really super not my style, but I try with holidays sometimes because my stamping plates often have holiday images and when else am I going to use them?  😂

The candy hearts were a stamping plate image and usually they would be all one color, but I used the image several times with several different polishes, top-coated them while they were on my stamper, then painstakingly cut them apart and applied them to my nails.  Totally kicking myself after the fact for not using a pink, but it's too late now.  😕

I really need to make a collage of my Valentine's Day nail photos.

It's been ~1000 years since I've posted a nail pic.

It's been ~1000 years since I've posted a nail pic. Enjoy this beautiful color on my short little nubs. Gosh, I have missed this like you wouldn't believe.

Currently fighting Facebook about my page name with plans to combine Happy Nails and Polish ALL the Things. I'm hoping to be done with that soon and begin posting there again. Until then, I'm only sharing with you lovely folks.

Please don't judge my nail art or camera-wielding skills too harshly. I'm a rusty, crusty mess right now. 💜

So these were the other nails I did last month.

So these were the other nails I did last month.  Tonic SLAYS. ME.  These are the most beautiful and shifty polishes ever.  If you're interested in owning some I'd head on over to the Tonic Polish group and see what they are releasing on Sunday because I promise you it's pretty.  Some of it is limited edition due to lack of pigment and some of it will be back.  This is how it goes when you're a single-person indie polish maker and you've suddenly (and rightfully) become one of the most sought-after indie polish brands.

Pardon my claw hands and wonky angles, but I just needed for y'all to see the color changes and the flakies in this ONE. SINGLE. POLISH.  I also stamped on it with a shifty stamping polish so in certain lights it blended in and in others it popped.  I remember staring at my fingers a lot when I wore this.  I've got several Tonics that do that to me - including my proposal set that I hoard like treasure and rarely wear.  😂  I'm so bad because I love them so much that I never want to run out, but you just can't enjoy them the same in the bottle as you can when they are on you and with you all the time.

Anyway I just popped in to show these off.  Even though I felt pretty rough yesterday I have a little bit of energy today so I'm gonna get up and use it instead of sit here at the computer.  I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  🙂

Painted my nails earlier this week.

Painted my nails earlier this week.  It's been MONTHS since I've taken care of them at all so of course they are nubs.  But that's ok!

This paint job was to celebrate spring.  Bugs and flowers and all that.  🙂

I haven't posted anything on my Happy Nails page in ages, but when I went to upload this photo I found that I have over 2000 followers there now.  😳  I am not sure how that happened, but it's SUPER COOL.  Here's hoping I'll have more time now that my schedule has changed to keep up with all this stuff.  🙂

I literally haven't painted anything...

For the first time in what feels like ages - I relaxed.  I didn't do ANY WORK yesterday whatsoever.  Didn't clean the house, mow the lawn, do schoolwork or study; worked no craft shows or festivals...  It was SO NICE and I NEEDED it.

My skin is far from beautiful, but man, it looks and feels a LOT better.  I am so thankful for that.

So what DID I do this weekend?  Friday I played Rock Band because I have missed drumming so bad.  I also danced like a fool because I had the house to myself and I just needed to.  I don't get much in the way of exercise anymore and that is what I used to do for entertainment back before I had the Internet.  I have always felt so much better after dancing myself to exhaustion.  I'm sure a good workout would make me feel the same, but where's the fun in that?  😂

Saturday I sat down and painted some stones.  I think they are mostly pretty - I used these really amazing flakie polishes that I bought myself (on sale!) for making all A's, but there are a few stones I'm not too keen on.  I don't like the bottom 2 pink ones so I may remove the paint - I am not sure yet.  Opinions welcome, but go easy on me. I literally haven't painted anything (not even a fingernail) in months.  🙁

Ok, so I am not usually one to just knock off someone else's manicure, but when I saw this I knew I had to do it.  I already had the image plate so I was going to use the trees eventually, but when I saw the way she used it I just had to have the same on my nails - at least once.  I LOVE THIS!  So the idea credit goes to Chit Chat Nails.  😃  And I can't think of a more appropriate time to wear it!

I'm also not usually a huge fan of glitter polish.  I don't know why - it's just never been my thing.  BUT, Loaded Lacquer has some crazy neat glitters so when I found out that their polish, 40 Below, was the base for this mani I had to get it.  I've been holding on to this for a couple of months now waiting for the time to be right for me to use it.  And that time has come!

So this was pretty easy.  It took about 3 coats of the base to get the it as blue as I wanted.  Then I stamped on the trees and then dotted "There's Snow One Like You" by China Glaze at the bottom of the trees.  Topcoat dried it and made it all shiny as shown in the left photo.  Matte topcoat softened and matted it as shown in the right photo.  As always I can't decide how I like it best so one hand is shiny and the other is matte.  😂

I think it's really pretty and I hope I get a couple of days of wear out of it.  Sometimes too many coats will make it peel up, but maybe I'll get lucky.  🙂

This is a paint job I just threw together...

This is a paint job I just threw together kind of at the last minute when my blue flakie started peeling.  It had so many layers that I wasn't quite prepared to take it off and do something fancy, but I knew I had to remove it or I'd end up picking at it and damaging my nails.

So, this happened.  I kind of wanted to see if I would have any better luck photographing my flakie polish, but I didn't really.  Oh well.

I don't understand...

I don't understand how I should be photographing a flakie nail polish to make the colors show.  I look at my nails and they are colorful and pretty... and I take a picture of them and they don't look like what I see.  Am I crazy?

I am not a photography person, but I would assume that since all the nail blogs can swatch them and show the colors that it is not rocket science, right?

My thought when I did these nails was "cold winter night."

My thought when I did these nails was "cold winter night." I think that's pretty accurate!

This paint job is a lot of layers. First the base color, then sponged glitter on the tips, then put my flakie coat down, then stamped on top of that.

I hate it when I have to say this, but these REALLY look a lot better in person. I couldn't get my flakie coat to photograph worth a crap. Below there is a swatch by polishallthenails that really nails it. My flakies look nice and colorful IRL, but I couldn't capture it in a photo for anything.  🙁

Mermaid nails!

Mermaid nails!

I've had the stamping plate with the mermaid on it for a while, but she's long so I had to wait until my nails were kind of long to fit her on there. I usually keep them a bit shorter than this because they start to get in the way.

Anyway, I'm really digging these. I hope I don't mess them up for a few days. I really like my scaly ring finger. I put some layers of flaky polish under the scale stamp to make it more realistic. I don't know if I did enough layers, but it looks pretty when it catches the sunlight. No complaints here! 😃

These make me think Mermaid-y thoughts.

These make me think Mermaid-y thoughts.  Or fish-y thoughts.  🙂  Super-shiny and sparkly - with scales!

Nails with a Big Ruby tattoo.

Nails with a Big Ruby tattoo.  I've only used these twice - I really like both packs of tattoos I have, but every time I use them I do something completely stupid and get several more wet which makes them unusable.  So far I've wasted more than I've worn and it's all due to being doofy.  🙁

Anyway this was one of those instances where I had a new polish and wanted to use it, but didn't really know what would look nice so I just went for something that would stand out.  💥  I used a flaky polish over the color but under the tattoo and it's got more orange in it when the light hits it better, but I guess you can only see it a little.  I thought the orange and blue / green flakies would tie it all in.  I guess it does - when you can see them.  😛

5/32

Did these last night with Mary Beth and Nancy. Just some cheapy mushroom color from Wal-Mart with my new SUPER-FLY flaky polish on top. I didn't want to stamp my whole nail with the pattern I was supposed to use because it would cover up my pretty flakies too much so I taped it off and did a section. I like it when my nails don't match totally so I thought this was pretty cool. 🙂