Day of the Dead Mani

I was scheduling appointments in my daytimer yesterday and seen that November 2nd had a notation that it is Day of the Dead. I don't know much about Day of the Dead to be honest....all I really know is that I've seen some really cool tattoos and makeup with this theme! So I do apologize in advance if I've offended anyone if I've done something taboo by doing this mani as its not really a holiday/tradition I'm familiar with! Anyway, I thought, why not try out a Day of the Dead themed mani?...this is what I came up with.



Here's mani in progress. Colours used are OPI Bride's Bouquet (white), Misa Hanging with the Girls (yellow) and WetnWild Black Creme (black). Two coats each.

Stamped using black and white Konad special polishes using Big SdP B (middle finger; full image plate of flowers), D03 (skulls on ring and index fingers), S8 (tombstone on thumb) and H12 (skull on pinkie).

Then just added a series of dots to make flowers and dots.

Polishes used were Konad special polishes in yellow, apple green, black, blue and CND Raspberry Parfait.

Until this morning, I only had one implement to use for dotting...the end of a brush I use for cleanup. I usually make small and large dots just by adjusting the pressure when I'm applying them...well, this mani proved I have no dotting skills (!) when I needed to do more than one or a few so I went out and bought a dotting set so hopefully will have more uniform dots when and if needed! (or it could be just that I was getting tired as I started this around midnight!)



This mani took me about an hour and a half. Looking back, I have no idea why it took so long...I mean, its just a couple of stamps and a few dots!

Lastly, added a coat of SV after about 10 minutes of applying my last dot....wanted to make sure they were all dry so I had no SV drag!



Thanks for looking!

'Moves Like Jagger' Mani!

Lately, I've been obsessed with this Maroon 5 song. The first time I heard it, I actually thought it was a little lame with that whoo-ooo-ooo-ing. The next time, I thought it was so so, then after a while, I thought it was a little catchy, but when I seen the video, I decided I loved it...especially all those clips of Jagger and the those imitating him! LOVE!

So I decided to do a 'Moves Like Jagger' tribute mani last night and this is what I came up with.



If you've seen the video, you'll understand the pinky finger as otherwise, it may not make sense...and I really wanted to add a big old floppy hat to incorporate Christina, but couldn't find one in my plate stash.

Here's mani in progress. Base coats are OPI Brides Bouquet (white-three coats), Illamasqua Boosh (black-one coat) and OPI Red My Fortune Cookie (two coats).



The very first thing I did before I did any amount of stamping or even painting my right hand was free hand the flag....and my apologies to anyone who I've offended in my bad interpretation of doing it! lol! I thought if the flag doesn't go well, I'll have to resort to starting over and doing another mani so didn't want to invest a great deal of time painting my nails if I was going to take it all off anyway if it was a fail.



This was first attempt at freehand nail art...I had a hard time putting dots on manis initially and have no idea why I thought I could freehand something, but oh well, I tried. I think my downfall was using a too large brush from the start when I did the red lines. I moved to a smaller one when I was doing the blue lines and in hindsight, should have used the smaller brush from the get go....lesson learned for next time! The red used for the flag was OPI Red My Fortune Cookie and the blue is CND Anchor Blue.

When I was done, while not terribly happy with the flag, I thought it was decent enough, especially for my first time, so decided to proceed with the rest of the mani.



First placed the main images using fauxnad D08 (Mick), fauxnad E (hot dancing girl), H12 (black stripes) and SdP D-1 (Stones logo; chez delaney D series also has a similar logo) using Konad red, black and white special polishes.



Then added a few random stars and the music skull notes from the Hot Topic image plates using the same special polishes, as well as the CND Anchor blue for random stars.



Lastly topped with coat of SV. I was really disappointed that I got SV drag plus it terribly faded the white stamping of the skull music notes on the pinky...I normally take pix of my mani's before applying SV in case of drag, but forgot this time. It was really disappointing to have SV drag as I wait a little while for the stamping polish to dry plus I had just thinned it earlier in the week...oh well, what can you do...except more of a reason to change your nails again! But I'm actually going to keep this on until I see a friend Saturday night who loves the Stones...I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it!

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Edit: My friend loved this mani when he seen it! He frequently rocks old vintage Stones concerts tees and I was hoping he had one on when he seen it (but didn't). My DD also requested I replicate it for her nails, which I'm going to do soon!

100 Follower Giveaway! Plus China Glaze Anchors Away Collection

I was very surprised to sign in to post my Christmas mani to discover my little blog had 100 followers! What a nice Christmas present to me! Thanks so much to everyone who is following me as well as anyone who has stopped by on occasion!

Now, as a present to those who are following me, I'm going to give one lucky follower six polishes of their choice of the new China Glaze Anchors Away Collection! This collection is scheduled to be released in February 2011 but I was lucky enough to pick up 8 of the 12 colours a couple weeks ago. (I only picked up the ones I was liking the most-left the other 4 in the store! But the winner will be able to pick any 6 of their choice and they will be purchased new and sent to you!)

Here's one of my favourites of the collection, Ahoy! This is two coats. I love this raspberry colour polish with glass flecks that shimmers oh so subtly!



Then stamped with China Glaze 2030 using fauxnad IP h12, hb16 and amisy f05.

Here's a close up; hopefully you can see the flecks better!



It really is lovely in real life; my camera doesn't do it justice!

Here's the rest of the ones I picked up:

Sea Spray

Pelican Gray

Below Deck

Knotty

First Mate

Lighthouse

White Cap

I think White Cap is going to be very versatile, especially for those who like to do topcoats or layering to add shimmer/glimmer/effect!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, these are not 100% colour accurate, especially First Mate and Ahoy due to camera quality/lighting. Hopefully this will be one of my last posts before I get a new camera, which should be within a week or so...just have to figure out which one to buy now that Santa was good enough to leave enough gift cards in my stocking to pick one up!

Now onto the giveaway! The rules are simple - just be a follower and follow these instructions!

To receive one entry, leave a comment below with the name as you follow as well as your email address so I may contact you.

To receive a second entry to the giveaway, comment about the giveaway on your blog or note on the sidebar and provide the link in the comments!

Also, let's have some fun and see if there are any standouts in the collection so please note in the comments with your other info the six polishes that you like best of the collection...and don't worry if you change your mind; whomever is the giveaway winner will have opportunity to change their mind as I will confirm the six polishes with you! (And if you don't want to leave your six faves of the collection, that's OK-you won't be disqualified-it was just for fun!)

And as I love to stamp and hope you do to, fauxnad image plate H12 (with the anchor!) will also be mailed to the giveaway winner!

As I don't have all 12 noted, you can take a peak at the full collection below!

It's that simple! Contest will be open internationally until January 22, 2011. Once a winner has been chosen and contacted, they will have 48 hours to reply to my email or another person will be contacted.

Last but not least, thank you, thank you all so much again for following my little blog!

NOT Snowflakes!

Not too long ago, I wore OPI Smitten with Mittens and for this mani, I decided to wear its sister, Dear Santa. These two polishes are similar-Smitten with Mittens is slightly darker...but I prefer the brighter Dear Santa.



Stamped with Konad IP M12 using red Konad special polish for the candy cane and fauxnad IP HB12 and green Konad special polish for tree.

Here's before stamping...the white polish is OPI Alpine Snow Matte, topped with SV.

Lastly...just before I took this polish off, I thought I'd try to stripe it...unfortunately, the white polish didn't pick up that well...plus I neglected to remember which way I put the stripes on so each time they were a little different...the perils of doing your nails at 2 am when one is tired! This image plate is H12.


Thx for looking!