Tickled Pink

I don't know what is wrong with me.  I don't have much to say.  I will try my best.  I blame it on the rain, it has made me lazy today.

There is a prompt by Brijits Digits for each week of  February, so I thought I would try.  Plus one week is skulls and I will use any excuse to do skull nail art.  So this week is hot pink.  Not my favorite color, but with Valentine's Day and all.  Well, when in Rome.

I tried to do something a bit more off kilter.  I didn't want to be too typical,hence the green hearts.  The polka dots aren't perfect, but I love how it breaks up the pink and makes it not quite so shocking.

The polishes are Finger Paints Lucky in Love Lime, Nina Ultra Pro French White, China Glaze Sugar High, Liquid Leather, and Konad Special White.  The stamping was done with Bundle Monster plate BM-412.

I think the hearts come out okay.  I really like the lime green, however it took several coats over the black. . . Eh, it works.

Well I hope you all like it.  Have a great weekend!

Tootles!
Fitz

An InLinkz Link-up

Pop! Six! Squish! Uh uh, Cicero, Lipschitz!

I have a co-worker and friend who loves is obsessed with Elvis Presley.  She gave me a CD of her favorite Elvis song.  I was looking at the list and when seeing Heartbreak Hotel and Jail Hose Rock, this design of a heart behind bars came to mind.  But I was missing how that fit into a theme and when talking to my Mom, she brought up Cell Block Tango from Chicago.  So I thought of blood splatter on my other nails.

The colors I used were Nina Ultra Pro French White, China Glaze Red Satin,  Merry Berry, Concrete Catwalk, and Elephant Walk.  I tried to highlight and shadow a bit and mixed colors to get the light and dark.

So the blood splatter nails. . . The first time I did them was with a Bundle Monster stamping plate and Konad Special Red.  It didn't turn out.  So I tried again trying to splatter it with a straw.  Well, the straw didn't work at all.  I think I needed to use a stir-stick straw, rather than the regular one I used. . . So I ended up dry brushing it on.  I am still not happy with it, but I had no other ideas.  Eh.

I am really rather proud of this.  I know the highlights on the bars could be a bit more subtle, but I still love it.

I am not sure if this constitutes a Valentine's Day design, but will just it does.  You know the extreme negative Valentine manicure.

Tootles!
Fitz

He Sees You When You're Sleeping. . .

Did anyone else find that slightly creepy as a child?

The prompt for Challenge Your Nail Art's 12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge is Santa Clause or Elves.  I decided to re-create the first nail art design I ever did which was a design by Cutepolish.

I had been admiring nail art for a while and felt like I could never do the amazing things others were doing.  When I saw this design I knew I could try it and a passion was born.

For this design I used Nina Ultra Pro French White and Julep Karmen.

It is a rather simple design that anyone can do, so if you are thinking about taking the nail art plunge, give a try.  You know you want to.  All the cool kids are doing it!

Tootles!
Fitz

An InLinkz Link-up

52 Week Challenge: 3 color Gradient

I was going to use a design from the vault for this, but decide I wanted to do something new.  I had an idea in my head and wanted to see if I could execute it.  I know for Halloween time and being a three color gradient this isn't that original, but I still wanted to do.  I mean it is candy corn, what is more Halloween than that?

While trying to find the right polishes for this design I found I don't have a lot of orange polishes.  It is not that I don't like orange, I just don't seem to have a lot of them.  My favorite orange polish, Orly Crush On You, is a jelly. . . but it was the only "true orange" without any shimmer I own.  I need to fix that.  So started sponging the colors over white, but that was just a disaster!  So I removed everything and started again with COY as the base color and that worked much better!

The other colors are Nina Ultra Pro French White,  Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Butter-fly Stroke, and China Glaze Glitter Goblin.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the manicure until I put GG over everything as I had intended.  It seemed to soften the gradient and make it much more wearable.

I really like this design.  Of course the pictures don't do it justice, because it doesn't capture the sparklyness of GG.  I hope you like it anyways!  Don't forget to check out the other participants!

Tootles!
Fitz

An InLinkz Link-up

Cool Happinin' Ghosts

Bundle Monster is doing a Nail Art challenge to win their yet to be release 2014 Create Your Own Nail Stamping Plates.  You follow the theme for the day and include some kind of Bundle Monster product.  Today is supposed to be inspired by ghosts.  I mostly have plates from Bundle Monster, but I do have some stickers.  One of the collections I own has hats, glasses, and mustaches.  I thought those might be rather adorable on the sheet ghost shape.

I know this similar to a design I had previously done, but I think it is a bit grown-up and definitely executed better.  I know the background color, China Glaze Want My Bawdy, looks blue in the pictures, but it reads more purple in real life.  I don't think blurples were meant to be photographed. . .

I also used Nina Ultra Pro French White, China Glaze Liquid Leather, and Maybelline Color Show Clearly Spotted.

I really like how these little guys turned out.  I am not sure which one is my favorite.  If you have a favorite, leave me a comment and let me know.  Any suggestions if I visit this design idea again?

Tootles!
Fitz

Edit*  I won Bundle Monster's nail art challenge for this day and this design!  I am over the moon excited!!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

This is supposed to be a teal galaxy.  I was really proud of it, unitl my Mom asked if it was supposed to be inspired by the movie Frozen!?!  What?  Clearly those are stars and not snow flakes.  *Sigh*  Well, it is a good base idea for December. . .

Seriously though, I am really proud of how this looks.  I really love pastel galaxies and I think the teal is a solid idea.

The colors are Nina Ultra Pro French White, China Glaze The Outer Edge,  Essie Where's My Chauffeur?, Julep Lissa, Liz, Misti, and Esmerelda. 

TOE isn't as apparent as it is in the pictures.  It really is a cool glitter and I like the effect it gives in this manicure and another I wore, but didn't snap picks of. . .

Well, I hope you all like it and don't think too much of Frozen when you see it.

Tootles!
Fitz

Don't Let Awareness Fade

Okay, this is what I did last night and I am really rather proud of it!  The design is based on one by Nail Polish Anon.  I saw it on a Pintrest board and had to try it myself.  Luckily I had teal loose glitter in my stash. . .

So I used Julep Lissa, Essie Where's My Chauffer?, and Nina Ultra Pro French White.

To help with cleanup I used a technique that has been going around on the web for a little while.  You use Elmer's Glue around the nail and a little farther up your finger (I tried to find the original person, but there are so many.  Google it if you need clarification).  After I sponged my design and everything dried I just peeled off the glue for clean-up!  This made it so much easier to do this technique and I am much more likely to do gradients in the future!  (In fact I have an idea for later. . .)

This is what it looks like in the shade.

I really love this design!  Remember to spread awareness for Ovarian Cancer!  Be aware of the symptoms as there is no screening test for it.  You have to be proactive and aware of your body.

Tootles!
Fitz

Painting The Roses Red

Hi.  Ummm. . . I haven't seen you for a while.  How is it going?  Anything new?  Me?  I'm doing okay.  I have been a bit busy, and have been enjoying my summer break.  One of the joys of working in education is summer break.  I have been doing nail art still and taking pictures, the blogging about it seems to be where I get stuck.  I am not going to claim a renewed vigor on my part, but I do want to try and blog again.  Plus I am just so proud of how this turned out that I had to share it.

So the design idea came from @lovessweetas.  It is almost an exact copy, but it is so cute I couldn't pass it up!  The main difference is I used black crystals and she used clear.  I don't have clear, but I do like the edge the black ones give the design.

The colors used were China Glaze Liquid Leather, Nina Ultra Pro French White, Julep Emerald City, and Tamara.

I am in love with Julep right now.  I really like their colors and being a Maven makes things very conveniant.  I also am rather impressed with their customer service.  I added a box to my monthly box and they sent the wrong one.  I called them up and they refunded me what I had payed for the extra box (due to it being out of stock now) and said I could keep what was sent by mistake!  So awesome!

The reason I bring up Julep is I used the Plie Wand to apply my polishes and to do the roses.  Can I say that thing is awesome!  It is a must for anyone who loves doing nail art!  *Shamless plug almost over* If you are thinking about becoming a Maven, click my link on the left and it will take you straight there and give me a little credit for recommending you.  Okay, I am done.  And for your patience, one last picture.

I hope you like the design as much as I do.  I love this hobby!

Tootles!
Fitz

C'est La Vie

Another Sunday another stamping challenge from the Adventures In Stamping Facebook group.  Today's challenge is to combine another nail art technique with stamping.  I decided to do the water marble technique I used earlier this month.

I am not as happy with the marbling this time around and I blame China Glaze Pink-ie Promise.  It spread out really well, too well actually, and left some thin spots which tended to break.  Oh well, you win some, you loose some.

The other colors I used were China Glaze Life Is Rosy, Nina Ultra Pro French White, Julpep Andrea, and Gianna.  The stamps are Winstonia W114 and Bundle Monster BM-419.

From a distance and conceptually I like the design.  It is a twist on the Paris manicures people have been doing for a while, I just wish the marbling had turned out better, oh and that my thumb nail had royally been broken.  Ouch!

Tootles,
Fitz

Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de cnámh do dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn

And the translation is, “May the devil make a ladder of your back bones while picking apples in the garden of hell!”  I love how colorful these sayings are.  You really can get a good visual!

Here is just a simple little rainbow.  I know, not too fancy.  I had the idea in my head and figured it was an excellent St. Patrick's Day manicure.  Although, if you decide to do a design like this and want to do all of the colors of the rainbow, make sure you put them in the right order the first time or that you are not a perfectionist and can live with mistake.  Otherwise you end up doing the rainbows again!

This may look simple, but it did take a lot of colors.  The background is China Glaze Kinetic Candy and the clouds are Nina Ultra Pro French White.  The sparkle is provided by China Glaze Fairy Dust.  Now to the rainbow colors in no particular order Finger Paints Spun Sugar, China Glaze Electric Beat, Lemon Fizz,  Def Defying, Papaya Punch, and Wicked Style.  My KC, one of my go to light blues, is getting kind of thick and low which means I may need to hunt down a new one.

I am sure there are many designs like this out there, but it was nice to do some hand painting again.  I have been doing so much stamping that it is nice to know I can still do hand designs.  Also please ignore my broken thumb nail.  It breaks like this sometimes and I didn't want to completely cut it off. . .

Tootles!
Fitz

Another One

I am unsure of what to call this post.  I just did a slew of nail art recently and decide I needed to another one (perhaps that will be my post tittle).  I did like the mustache manicure, but I just wasn't feeling all sunny and yellow.  I didn't want to stamp, although that is what I did, so I took to the internet for some inspiration.  You got to love Pintrest!  I found a design by Carlysisoka and decided that it was what I wanted to recreate.  (I am going to look more at her Instagram photos as she has got some really cute nail art ideas)

Obviously I made it my own.  I went with a darker gray and I stamped the chevron pattern, Bundle Monster BM-423, and I am pretty sure she used tape.I also don't like solid white nails.  I I know you see a solid white pinkie nail, but when I did my original design it was gray, but it didn't look right and when I continued looking at Pintrest I saw Fortheloveofnails_'s design and decided to compromise.  Hence the white pinkie.  I think is looks much more put together this way.

I know this been a lot of talking.  I guess I feeling a bit chatty, but I will get on with it.  I used Konad Special White, China Glaze Immortal, Nina Ultra Pro French White, and Sephora by OPI If You've Got It Haunt It.  I always love a good excuse to use IYGIHI!  I think it is one of my favorite polishes.  I love how it shines in the sun!  I actually saw a swatch of this, I don't remember where, and knew it had to be mine!  I thing I paid more than I have for any polish, but it was totally worth it!!

Well I guess that is all for now.  I want to do another design soon.  I am really itching to do more, but I will try to hold off for at least another day.  I also need to start posting some from the vault designs.  There is a lot to do since I have been more lax on my blogging.  I hope I am getting better at. . .

Tootles!
Fitz

P.S. Aren't hands looking better!  Go Julep Cutticle oil and Bert's Bees Hand lotion!

Valetine Stripes

I bought a couple new colors at Sally's Beauty Supply the other day and this design immediately popped into my head.  And I love it!!

First of all I must apologize for the shape of my hands.  A dry winter will do that to them.  I am using a new product that seems to be helping, although I started it after these photos were taken.  The new colors I bought are Finger Paints Minimalistic Mauve and Sculpted Carnation.  Then I accented designs with Nina Ultra Pro French White and the accent finger is Julep Love over FW.

I feel like I got back to my roots doing this all free hand. I am really proud of those stripes.  They are a bit shaky, especially when you look at them super up close, but they look really cute.  My right hand was pretty good too, although I didn't snap a picture of them.

Soft and feminine with a touch of quirk.  I really love this design!

Tootles!
Fitz

Favorite Flower

It is the magical time of the week we in the nail art community call Sunday Stamping.  It has been some time since I participated in this blessed day, but I will try to get on with the festivities!

So, today's challenge is favorite flower.  My favorite flower is a sweet pea, but I don't have a stamp that even remotely resembles one.  So I decide on the hibiscus.  This flower reminds me of my old childhood home in southern California where they grew in the front yard.  We had red ones, but I always thought the white ones were lovelier, plus red would not have gone with this color scheme!

To achieve the gradient French manicure I sponged Nina Ultra Pro French White, Essie Need A Vacation, and OPI Sparrow Me The Drama onto my nails.  Then smoothed them out with Julep Shoshanna.  The stamp is Bundle Monster BM-313 stamped with Konad Special White.

My thumb with its sad little chip in the polish.  I framed a picture before I took this picture.  Grrr!

This is definitely a very girly manicure and will be removed rather soon.  I like the effect, but this is just too much pink!  There is something to be said with how a French manicure makes your nails and fingers look longer.

Tootles!
Fitz