My Second Halloween Mani

Glow in the dark ghosties! I got this idea from Sarah at Chalkboard Nails. She did a whole mani of these cuter-than-scary ghosts. But I wasn't so confident in my abilities, so I decided to just do an accent on my ring finger. 

First I painted a base of Sally Hansen Wet Cement on all nails. Then I used a dotting tool and Sally Hansen French White to draw the ghosts freehand on my ring fingers. I had just picked up a mini Sally Girl Glow In The Dark polish at Sally's, so I dabbed it on top of the white ghosts. I also painted it over the Wet Cement on the rest of my nails, hoping it would show through the crackle, but to the naked eye it didn't glow. Then I painted the eyes and mouth on the ghosts with a dotting tool and Sally Hansen Black Creme. Sadly, they got smeared by my top coat (Damn you Seche Vite!), but since it's a Halloween mani, it kinda works, right? : ) Since I didn't want to paint ghosts on all nails, I wanted to try out Sinful Colors Black Crackle I had just bought at Walgreens, and even though I am a little over the crackle phase, I actually like it with this mani. And I think Halloween is probably the most appropriate time of the year to use black crackle, don't you? Oh, and I did try one more coat of Glow In The Dark over the black crackled nails, just to see if it would work. It didn't glow in the dark, but it did add the slightest sparkle to the black crackle. You can see it more in the pictures than in real life. 

 With the Camera Flash you can see more of the Glow In The Dark sparkle over the Black Crackle.

In the Sunlight it looks a little like fresh asphalt.

 Here it is glowing in the dark! And with the Twilight setting on my camera, you can actually see it glowing under the Black Crackle!

One more glowing shot where you can actually read the Sally Girl bottle.

These are so cute and so much fun! I'm loving Wet Cement so far this fall, more than I thought I would. And the fact that I can use it for Halloween makes it even better!

Thanks for reading!

Crystal

My First Patchwork Quilt Mani

So this weekend I had plenty of time to play with my polish and try out some new techniques. Recently I had seen a few blogs about patchwork manicures. It seemed fairly easy using scotch tape, as long as I could get the tape to come off clean this time! : ) The only thing is, all of the pictures I saw labeled as patchwork looked more like color block to me. Remember some of those rad ‘80’s and ‘90’s fashions?

I actually had a color block leather jacket back then! So trendy, ha! While all of those patchwork (or color block) manis look awesome - I’m looking at you, Chloe’s Nails : )  – the word “patchwork” makes me think of quilts, more specifically, my grandmother’s quilts. My grandmother made some of the most beautiful hand sewn patchwork quilts. Each piece of fabric had a different design on it, and when the patches were sewn together they made the prettiest patterns, like my favorite, Grandmother’s Garden. When I thought of trying a patchwork mani, I wanted to pay homage to my grandmother and her beautiful handmade quilts.

I wanted each “patch” to have its own little design, and yet blend together with the other “patches.” Originally I planned to use three base colors, like most patchwork manis I have seen, but I ran out of time before I could add a dusty green “patch.” So this patchwork quilt mani is just dusty blue and grey. Not bad for my first try though, if I do say so myself!

Sally Hansen CSM Gray by Gray stamped with Wet Cement m21 & Sally Hansen Wet Cement stamped with Gray by Gray m62

I will definitely try this again when I have more time to add a third color. And will, of course, post pictures!


Thanks for reading!
Crystal

Welcome!

Welcome to my very first blog! I’ve only been aware of nail art blogs for a little less than a month now, but I’m already so addicted to looking at all of your wonderful posts that I decided to start my own.

First of all, thanks to Hey, Nice Nails! for unwittingly introducing me to this world. I first saw a picture of their Jill Sander sweater-inspired striped nails on AOL, which led me to check out their blog on tumblr. That’s where I caught my first glimpse of water marble nail art and thought, “I have to try that!” They had a picture tutorial, and in their comments they included a link to My Simple Little Pleasures’ YouTube channel and Colette’s amazing video tutorials. I watched several of her videos that Sunday night and, after much trial and error with my (then) small nail polish stash, I did my very first water marble mani! Of course I had my fair share of mistakes, but overall it turned out way better than I imagined. Sorry the picture’s a little blurry, I took this one with my cell phone and it looked clear on the smaller screen.

Sally Hansen CSM Plum Luck & Iced Coffee

Initially I just became addicted to My Simple Little Pleasures, I couldn’t stop going back and looking through all of her archived posts. I swear I hardly got anything done that first week! I was just admiring her art and techniques and making notes on what products I needed to buy for myself to get my nails looking as good as hers! Then I started checking out some of her favorite blogs, and some of their favorite blogs, and now it’s an addiction that just keeps growing! There’s so much terrific nail art out there that I never even dreamed about a month ago! So many techniques and products that I can’t wait to try! I plan to chronicle my journey here.

And because that picture of my first water marble is pretty God-awful, I just have to share a picture of my second water marble! I did this one just 5 days after my first try, and it’s 1,000 times better! It also helps that I took this picture with my camera.

Sally Hansen CSM Gray by Gray, Pedal to the Metal, HAN Xtreme Wear Gunmetal, Wet Cement, and WnW Gray's Anatomy

So, thank you to everyone who inspired me to start playing around with my own nail art, and now posting my own blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Thanks for reading!

Crystal