Teal Tuesday: Freestyle...I am here, I promise!

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I have been kinda well...relaxing. Weird feeling! I have my thesis done outside of any edits from my committee (who I meet with next week) and I defend on the 25th of June. I could, you know, fix my resume and apply for jobs, but somehow relaxing is more fun, lol.

Oh and I got a package from my bestest German pal!! Some of you who purchased from my blog sale got some of the samples. I am too afraid to use them most of the time, afraid that I will be addicted to something expensive O_O Like that dang Jurlique rose hand cream, I love it so much but $45 for a tube, no thanks!

It is pretty much an epic haul. I told her I was getting into white polish so she sent me some haha

Off to the Teal Tuesday mani!

I used Essie Turquoise and Caicos as a base and KBShimmer Proud Peacock on top. This is two coats of each polish. I should have stuck with one coat of the glitter!! I recommend only one coat. I was watching The Tudors and I got distracted and only noticed the difference in one coat over two as I went to do my right hand ><

I am holding a mini Estee Lauder Pleasures perfume, hehe

It is a pretty bright turquoise over a turquoise polish. The base color is a little cloudy so that's why I am recommending one coat of this glittah.

I love this more than any Nerd Lacquer :P

Even if my gap is HUGE and I still have a little glitter on my pinkie skin.... ><

So since I held one of my perfumes, i figured I would show you my newly organized collection. The Pacifica Avalon Juniper perfume in the bottom right is my husband's! He loves juniper berries. I have a lot of indie samples and 5mL perfumes (Well not a LOT but comparatively). I bought most of these with my graduation money. No one got me a present they just handed me cash or gift cards. JUST HOW I LIKE IT!

Check out these other Teal Tuesday blogs:

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Rhonda at Nails Beautiqued

Kirsten at Geeky Owl

Amanda at Mandy's Polish

ColorSplash Nails

Simple-and-Beautiful

Aimee at Persistently Glittery

Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges

Teal Tuesday: Water Giraffe (Bonus Franken!)

I love my mani! Teal Tuesday's theme this week was Animal Print. I kinda figured most people would have a cat/zebra kinda print and I had not tried out my giraffe print from my DRK-A plate yet. I had to practice before my mom, a HUGE giraffe lover, gets here. 

I used Essie Turquoise and Caicos with an aqua shimmer tc (no name) and Konad Special White polish.

Bonus franken photos!

What I used is:
NYS Hot Baby Blue
NYC High Line Green and Blue Water Street (both new colors in the In a NYC Minute line)
LA Girl Glitter Addict in Nostalgic and Flash
$OPI in Traffic Stopper Copper (just a lil bit)
for the large copper pieces, Kleancolor Chunky Copper
Also added some Pure Ice Heartbreaker for extra sheen/sparkle

I am gonna wear this sometime this week! I also need to schedule my thesis defense....eeek

Some recent frankens

Hello all! I have recently putzed around with some indie polishes (top coat glitters) and wanted to share my results. I got some new glitters and New York Summer jelly polishes (LOVE these for frankening) so I had some fun.

First up! I call this one "Choke on my Eleganza!" after a line in RuPaul's Drag Race, one of my absolute favorite shows. Sorry for the hairs in the photos, I moisturized and I have 2 cats. O_O

Yes, I love this polish! 

What I used:

LA Girl Glitter Addict in: Euphora, Aqueous

A teeny bit of Jordana Celebration and Celestial

LA Colors Silver Glitter

Wet n Wild Black Creme (for the jelly base)

Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope

Pure Ice Once Again

Now for some franken swatches!

Left: One coat over Sa-Greena, Middle: Two coats, Right: Three coats

Polishes used

L to R: Wet N Wild Sa-Greena the Teenage Witch and The Gold and the Beautiful, Essie Going Incognito, Kleancolor Gold Tiara and Chunky Copper, LA Girl Glitter Addict in Flash and Flamboyant, franken bottle.

More!

Here, I messed around a bit with Essie Candy Apple, All that Glitters Spottie Dottie Light and Dark, Dollish Polish Puttin on the Ritzzzzz, and Spoiled Shuffle the Deck (which is a horrible franking polish! so sparse!)

The middle is a jelly franken made from NYS Amaranth and Hot Sky Blue. The purple franken was made with a $1 holiday Hard Candy mini as was the one on the right. The purple is kinda indigo and was colored with Nails Inc. Belgrave Place and NYS Hot Sky Blue. The one on the right was the same color combo as the middle franken but with some of the Hard Candy silver sparkle base.

This one is fun. I used NYS Hot Purple as the base and added LA Girl Glitter Addict in Euphoria, Sephora by OPI in Indi-Go with the Flow (light indigo glitter), some bits of pink and purple glitter from another franken (not much), and All That Glitters Spottie Dottie Light for the white glitter. 

The blue on the left: 2 coats (thick coats) NYS Hot Baby Blue and NYS Hot Sky Blue with Dollish Puttin on the Ritzzzz, Dollish Random Dancing, and Spoiled Trust Fund Baby. I LOVE THIS ONE!

The coppery gold: LA Girl Glitter Addict in Flare and Flamboyant, China Glaze Blond Bombshell, and...that is it! A simple but dense franken (That is one coat!)

Hope you liked them!

Plastic Baggie Technique for Nail Art

Are you bad at painting your dominant hand? I am. That is why I found the plastic baggie technique to be very helpful!

This technique requires:
1 plastic sandwich baggie (they stay more flat than saran wrap)
Nail art brushes (I use modified paint brushes)
Nail polish
Creativity!

First, you need to decide how detailed your nail art will be. If there are a lot of thin areas or detail, I suggest laying down a coat of clear nail polish on your baggie before you begin. You only have to coat the area that you will be painting on.

It is not easy to see the clear under the design in this photo but it is there! Here, I am working on a paisley design. 

Next, you just paint until you are done. There is one caveat though! You should let them dry for a long time (overnight, preferably) so that they are not as apt to bleed when you put them on your nail. 

For individual designs: Carefully peel off the design (I usually move the plastic rather than moving the design) and place it on a wet, or for best results, tacky nail. Typically, this means that you've put on some clear top coat. GENTLY press the design until all the edges are down. I work from the inside out, to get rid of any bubbles that might form!

Here is my example of a design where I pressed each one individually onto the nail. The base is Essie Jelly Apple and Hello Kitty Sparkle Red. I pressed the bears, honey, and salmon on one at a time, sealed them, and then QUICKLY covered each nail in quick dry top coat (I use NYC Grand Central Station). 

With a more complex design, it is easier to peel up a small part and cut off the design, placing it on the nail and trimming the corners off by either using acetone and a clean-up brush OR by using an orange stick and quickly pressing the outline of the nail and then cutting with cuticle nippers. I prefer using the acetone method. You can also easily cut the design to the shape of your nail to avoid any trimming. 

Sorry for the poor quality! Working on a light box.

This is my finished paisley design. 

I put the design over a base of China Glaze Turned up Turquoise

I had to do two cleanups on this mani, but it was worth it. This is a REALLY fun way to do nail art because you can make both hands look the same! This has always been my problem with nail art.

I hope this helped you or inspired you to do some sandwich baggie nail art!! Please let me know if you have done this before :))