Pallet Cleanser

As I nice little pallet cleanser after all those heart and sugar manicures, I give you skulls.

Lets be honest I will use any excuse to do skulls, but Nail Art Ideas Linkup provided a nice one.

The polishes I used were China Glaze Liquid Leather, Flying Dragon, Finger Paints Movie In The Park, and Konad Special Black.  The stamping was done with Cheeky CH49.

I love the look of this, but I hated the staying power. . . or lack there of.  It lasted two days before it started chipping.  I don't know what it is with some neon polishes, but they chip like crazy on me and FD is a perfect example of that.

Well, I hope you liked this.  See you soon!

Tootles!
Fitz

An InLinkz Link-up

Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat!

The title is a bit of Gaelic expletive that means, "May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat!"

I thought some good Irish cussing might be a great way to start off my next batch of posts that are all centered around St. Patrick's Day.  I am not a big drinker, actually I don't drink at all, but I always thought this was a fun Holiday, so I will be celebrating it with some nail art designs.

This is the fist one.  This was done with Butter London Wallis and Konad Special Black.  The stamping plate is Cheeky Jumbo L.

Wallis is a really gorgeous color, my only complaint is I didn't realize it was a bit patchy until I got out on the sun and took pictures.  This is two coats, but obviously I need I third.

It still is a pretty design and the color is gorgeous!  It is more of an elegant St. Patrick's Day design.

I hope you like what else I have in store for you.  Till then!

Tootles!
Fitz

I hope you find this design a-peeling!

Q: What is yellow on the inside and green on the outside? 

A: A banana dressed up as a cucumber!

Today's Sunday Stamping challenge is plates that end in the number 2.  For some reason I had this plate in my head and really wanted to do something with the banana image.  So when I went through my collection of plates and saw that Cheeky CH42 did in fact end in a two I knew it was kismet!

I used the stamp decal technique to basically create my own sticker for the bananas.   I really like how they turned out.  They are very bright and and stand out nicely on the blue background.  The polishes I used were Konad Special White, Special Black, China Glaze Sunshine Pop, Essie Butler Please, and Beyond Cozy.

I am not sure how I feel about the yummy nails, I think it was better before I stamped those nails, but that was my design concept and I stuck to it.

I really do love this design.  It is fun and whimsical.  Not to mention bright and eye catching!  I hope you all like it too!

Tootles!
Fitz

Oh Say Can You See!

I live in the United States if America and with my residence comes a Holiday known as Independence Day or The 4th of July.  On this day we are supposed to remember and celebrate the day the Constitution was signed in 1776.  So in honor of this day and as a prompt from Sunday Stamping (I know I am late, I just didn't get pictures taken) I give my 4th of July Manicure.

I really love how this came out!  The design came from ellandish.  I recently found her on Youtube and am loving her designs.  Plus the quality of her videos is excellent!  I did change a few things due to lack of a particular plate, plus I wanted to stamp the red polish in order to use a sparkly white.

I used plates Winstonia W107 and Cheeky CH51.  Now comes the polishes, there are a few. . . OPI Mad As A Hatter, Essie Butler Please, Konad Special White, Special Red, China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around, Hey Sailor, and Millennium.

I love that this design is stamping and freehand.  I need to do more freehand.  My roots are there and I am getting rusty.

I forget how much I love MAAH!  It is so colorful and sparkly!  I have no idea if you can still find it, but if you do jump on it!

Well my lovelies, I must be going!

Tootles!
Fitz

Can't get enough of your. . . Stamping

Today's theme in Sunday Stamping is the 70's and I used the above fabric swatch as inspiration.  I am so proud of how this turned out, however this is an instance where up close, as in a picture, isn't as good.  Still I love this manicure and I hope you do too.

To do this I made decals with my stamp pattern from Cheeky CH44 just as I did in previous posts (there are two links there).  I am getting better with the technique and it is nice to let things sit and really prepare for a manicure.  It also makes doing the non-dominant hand so much easier.

I used China Glaze Life Preserver as my base color.  I then filled in the decal in random ways using Kalahari Kiss, Chocodisiac, and Budding Romance.

Time really is your friend doing this technique.  You need to make things are dry before going to the next phase of the design, just like any manicure.  The nice thing is it isn't on your nails, so you can do other things while you wait.

Well I hope you like this.  I really do and I hope it lasts a little while. . . although I did get some new matte glitters to play with. . . Oh the temptations of being a polish-a-holic!

Tootles!
Fitz

Pretty little penguins

I believe I mentioned I moved.  Well, in moving I have acquired an extension to my family.  There are two girls and a boy who run around this house we call home.  For the sake of privacy we shall call one of the girls Sue.  Sue has some trouble at school and her Mom asked me to paint her nails as a reward if Sue had a good week.  This is the second time I have done this and they turned out so cute I had to share.

Doing nail art on a four year old is no easy task.  Not only do they squirm, but their nails are so tiny that getting an image on them is intense.  So when she asked for penguins I was a little concerned.  Different ways to approach this ran through my head and then I remembered the cute little penguin on the Cheeky Plate CH43.

The idea of stamping on a four year old seemed harrowing so I made my own nail stickers using the method from Gnarly Gnails.  Preparing them made things easier, but there were still mess ups, one tore a little, but she didn't mind.  Sue didn't mind the smudges either.  What can I say, I am still learning.

So I used China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le (the base color), Life Preserver (the beak), Recycle (the wings), Konad Special Black, Wet n' Wild French White Cremè.

Her thumbs.  The one on the right in the perfect penguin.

She looks so cute with her nails done.

I also did her toes in China Glaze Textured Itty, Bitty, Gritty.  She went around saying her toes were bumpy.

Tootles!
Fitz

A day to celebrate the Earth

Today's prompts from Adventures in Stamping is Earth Day.  I like how this evolved.  I started with knowing what I wanted my ring finger to be and then when looking through my stamping plates and polish all the other fingers came together.

I used all China Glaze  polishes except for Konad's Special Black to stamp with.  The other colors were Kinetic Candy, Gaga For Green, Sunday Funday, and Water You Waiting For.  The plates were Cheeky CH33 and Wistonia W104.

I hope you liked it!  I am sure it is not that original, but I still had fun.

Tootles!
Fitz

Spring Colors

Today's Adventures in Stamping challenge is all about spring colors.  Now, I know what you are thinking. . . "Oo!  Thank of all the pretty colors Fitz can do!  This will be so colorful and pretty!"  You are perfectly right, that is what I could have done and what I intended to do.  However, I got lazy and decided to count the simple easy manicure I did during the week as good enough for this challenge.

Like I said, easy.  I used Hard Candy Gummy Green and Konad Special White.  The plate was Cheeky CH44.

I really like GG and want to get the other colors in this collection.  They are so different than anything I have seen in traditional stores.  I would like to support independent nail polish, but I don't have the money to.  This collection gives me the uniqueness of the independent brands with a price I can afford.  One I day I will own Floam though!

I know that wasn't too exciting and I am sorry, but I have an awesome idea for my next manicure. . . I hope it works. . .

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 29: Money

“This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.” ~Douglas Adams from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So for today I give you money.  Yeah, I think this is the only way I will get more of it, to put it on my nails.  That's okay.  It is rather fun to wear it this way.

I only used two colors!  Can you believe that, two!  I used OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me and Sephora By OPI I'm With Brad.  The pattern was done with Cheeky Plate CH55.  Here comes more photos.

I hope you like them. Don't forget to look at the other participants' designs.  You can bet on them being amazing.

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 28: Education

Today's them is education.  I thought about doing pencils or paper (I had done that one before and thought I could do it better. . .).  I saw some cute chalkboard nails. . . but honestly I wasn't excited about anything, until I saw someone do a design that was specific to their education.  I don't remember who it was or even what they did, but they did inspire me to my education.  I was a theater major in college and did a lot of musical theater.  I have been in choirs since I was in 4th grade and have been taking voice lessons since I was a sophomore in high school.  Music has been my eduction for a long time.

I thought I had a sheet music stamp, but I didn't.  I did have Cheeky plate CH31 which I stamped with  Orly Mysterious Curse.  The background color is China Glaze Sweet Hook with Snow Globe over the top to give it all some sparkle.  Then I did the stamp.

My thumb all alone.  I had fun using the sheet music as a prop and background.  Heehee, it was easy to pull from my collection.

All the other designers are sure to teach you a trick or two.

Tootles!
Fitz

31 Nail Art Challenge Take Two Day 27: Movie

What is your favorite movie?

I hate that question.  I love movies and it is really hard to narrow it down to one.  I have a cluster of favorites and depending on the day determines what that cluster is.  Lately I have been thinking about The Princess Bride.

Do you know this movie?  If you don't, drop what you are doing and go watch it.  It makes me so happy.  It has love, sword fighting, and don't forget comedy.  Plus it is a feast for the eyes!  This movie has it all!  Seriously, why have you not seen it?

So my inspiration was the two main characters.  Princess Buttercup and Westley a.k.a. The Dread Pirate Roberts.  Buttercup is a flower and I decide to see what they look like and I even found someone who did nail art using them.  It looked challenging and I wanted to see if I could do it.  So I used a red background for all my nails it honor of her iconic red dress.  Then on my right hand I used a stamp of swords to represent Westley.

I did a lot of blending on my left hand with the buttercups and grass.  That meant mixing colors, which I haven't done much of.  But I am so thrilled with how it came out!  I used China Glaze Happy Go Lucky as the base color for the buttercups and then used various mixing quantities of Chocodisiac for the shading.  For the highlights I used Lemon Fizz mixed with White-on-White.  The Grass base was Gaga for Green and mixed it with either Holly-Day or White-on-White for the shadows and highlights.  The swords were stamped with Cheeky (which I just got!  Eep!) CH49 using Midnight Kiss.  Not to forget, the base color which is Red Satin.

The two different thumbs.  Now you can see the partial giant buttercup.  The reason the coloring is so different is the swords photographed better in the shade.  That does give you a chance to see RS in different lighting and how gorgeous it truly is.  I am not a big red nails gal, but I really like this one.

 One last look.  I am really proud of those buttercups!

Have fun storming the castle!

Tootles!
Fitz