Bruce

Hey Everyone! I am not having a good week. It is only Tuesday. I didn't have time to edit pictures and I just filled out the lunch form and am quite bummed as I don't think I will qualify. I am just not in a great mood. I do have a picture of Bruce Kittlee Master Ninja Warrior for you!!!

and some pretty glitter I got recently

That's all I got for today though.

Partly Cloudy Changes

Hey Everyone! I totally forgot that I had pictures of the Le Chat Partly Cloudy changing colors when I posted yesterday. I realized this last night and since Denise asked me what color it changes I figured I would do a quick post for it. Seeing as we have Tropical Storm Issac heading toward us I am not sure if I will be able to post the next couple of days. The storm isn't big and doesn't seem to be headed for a direct impact but we will get tons of wind and rain and nasty weather. I thought with the storm coming and the cloudy, rainy weather we are having today this polish was perfect to post today lol.

This is the mani when it is normal temperature. The polish doesn't change unless you come into contact with something pretty cold. Ice works, so does sticking your hand in a cold drink. If you are preparing chicken for cooking that also works.

This is after sticking my hand in some ice water. It turns a really pretty blue.

It stays blue for quite awhile before is starts fading back to normal.

I wish it was more sensitive and easier to change. Walking around shoving my fingers in drinks is not really widely accepted by drink owners.

The polish is really fun though.

I like the gradient look that occurs.

Captain Neileon the Chameleon says HI!

That's all for now :)

Partly Cloudy Circles

Hey Everyone!!! I have a quick post for you tonight. I have a fantasy football draft in a little while and a wet purry kitten on my lap. Captain Neil just got a bath and I need to get him dried off before I leave. He is all bundled up and quite happy apparently.

Sorry it is sideways. For some reason I can't get it loaded correctly. I have been fighting with it for 10 minutes and I give up.

So today I have a simple stamping mani for you. I don't have pictures of the base mani but I used Gelish top and base coats with Le Chat Partly Cloudy. Partly Cloudy is a gel polish and one of their new mood polishes that changes colors with temperature. I kept sticking my fingers in my drinks to watch the polish change. It couldn't be helped. 

I used one of the new Bundle monster plates for the stamping. I used plate BM-322 and the full nail design on the bottom. 

I also used this bad boy! The XL stamper that I purchased from Ebay. The stamper is a dual ended stamper with a very large stamping surface. It came with two plastic scrapers. 

I must say that there is a bit of a learning curve with this stamper. The white marshmallow piece kept falling out and it was possible to push it too far in as well. I finally got it to stay put mostly but if I stamp too hard I have to readjust it. It is nice and squishy which provided me tons of entertainment. The two plastic scrapers are great as they don't scratch your plates however I had issues with them. The small one was giving me fits. I don't know if it was because I used it on a full nail image or what but no matter how many times I tried I could not get a clean image when I used that scraper. I finally got the hang of the bigger one, it only took a couple of tries. I have to use the set a few more times before the verdict is in but right now I am on the fence. I do like that the stamper is larger and I like the squishy factor though that is probably just because I like to play with it. There are drawbacks though. I am not sure about the scrapers. I don't think the small one and I will be friends.

I used one of the Sally Hansen pens for the stamping. This wasn't my first or second choice for stamping color but it works. I kept changing stamping colors because none of the colors I chose wanted to be picked up by the XL stamper. Since I KNOW this polish stamps well I went with it. I still couldn't get it picked up at first and I realized it had to be the scraper. I was using the small scraper and as soon as I switched to my normal Konad scraper everything worked fine.

I love the way it turned out and think this was actually a better color than the ones I first picked.

My stamping wasn't perfect but I was still getting used to using the big stamper.

I loved the image and the plate and can't wait to try more of my new BM set.

That's all for now :)

Liebster Award

Hey Everyone! I was just getting ready to post a mani for you when I realized that photobucket did not upload the pictures. Grrr! I think it might be time to pay for the Google storage lol. So since I can't show you a mani I will do something different. I was recently nominated by two super cool chicks for the Liebster Award. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy. THANK YOU GIRLS!!! I was first nominated by Kristi over at Hap Hap Happy Hands then the awesome Angie at Polish and Patience nominated me as well. You should definitely go over and check their blogs out if you haven't already!

So let's get this party started.

THE RULES:

1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.

2. They must also answer the 11 questions the "tagger" has set for them.

3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.

4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.

5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.

6. There's no tag backs. 

   

Ok 11 things about me.

 

1. I am currently trying to figure out if I want to finish school and the logistics of all that. I STILL don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

2. I am a football FREAK and I have my fantasy football drafts tonight, tomorrow night and another one coming up next week. I am slightly a football fanatic.

3. Unlike most normal engaged chicks I have not even thought of a date or wedding plans yet. I am not in a big hurry at all.

4. I am HUGELY into 80s hair metal and rock music lately. I can't get enough of the 80s.

5. I just discovered the Alice in Chains song Poison and listen to it every time I get in the car. It has been stuck in my head for days.

6. I have a great memory, I remember conversations and details and everything BUT where I leave things. I am always misplacing something, I lost a whole bag of yarn in the house this week. I finally found it this morning.

7. I have tons of project ideas but so little time to actually complete them all.

8. I love tracking hurricanes during hurricane season. I usually have the hurricane map and track it though this year I don't have one.

9. My son starts high school next year and I am totally in denial about it. I refuse to acknowledge it, I would like to shrink him back to a baby.

10. I change guitar strings better than df who has played for 15+ years. I am his official guitar tech.

11. I do not like potatoes. I am ok with fries but do not enjoy them in potato form.

 

Since Kristi tagged me first I am using her 11 questions (sorry I am too lazy to answer Angie's too lol):

1. When did you start getting into nail polish?
Hmmm, I wasn't allowed to wear polish until 9th grade when I started public school. It was then that I REALLY got into polish but I always loved it and wore it when I was young. I had that peel off polish when I was really little.

2. What was your first (or favorite) lemming fulfilled?
My first lemming fulfilled was Deborah Lippman Across the Universe which I swapped for.

3. What's your favorite color of nail polish, and is it different than your favorite everyday color?
Blue and Green are my favorite polish colors and my favorite everyday color is blue.

4. What other hobbies/interests do you have?
Oh my, tons! Music, crafts, crochet, baking, writing, reading, football, and tons more. I am all over the place lol.

5. Do you have any pets?
I have 2 cats Bruce Kittlee Master Ninja Warrior and Captain Neileon the Chameleon. 2 dogs Newey and Mr. Charleston Chew. Our zoo has been downsized a little sadly :(

6. Why do you blog?
I love writing and rambling and figured this would be the place to keep all my mani ideas together. It is amazing to correspond with people all over the world that share the polish love.

7. Are you Team Helmer or Team Melmer? (Or Team Something Else?)
Team Helmer. I need another one since my two are already full. I think I need an intervention actually.

8. What's your current stash count (not including treatments)?
Uh, A TON! I don't have an exact count but I am overflowing 2 Helmers so you get the idea.
9. What's your favorite nail polish finish? Creme, jelly, shimmer, etc.
I am very into jellies lately. Glitter and creme and matte and shimmer. Pretty much everything but frosty.

10. What's your favorite drink?
A&W Diet Rootbeer. I should actually go check the one I have chilling in the freezer now that you reminded me.

11. What's your favorite TV show?
Oh gosh. I don't know that I have one that I HAVE to watch all the time. I do very much enjoy Big Bang Theory, Law and Order SVU the repeats on USA, NCIS the original one also repeated on USA, ummmm I think those are the ones that I watch most regularly.

Ok this is where I fail guys I went through a chunk of my blog list and can only find a few that meet the 200 follower requirement. Since there are no tag backs I can't use the girls that nominated me which further cuts my list down. So I am just going to nominate one person because she totally rocks, I LOVE her blog and she meets the requirement. If you don't follow her you totally should because she is a sweetheart and always creates more lemmings for me with her pictures.

Mihaela at http://www.lacquerbuzz.com/

My Questions for you:

1. What first got you into nail polish?

2. Do you have any pets?

3. What is your favorite brand?

4. Are you into the Indie polishes?

5. If you had unlimited funds what 3 polishes would you buy?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. If you never had to work again what would you spend time doing?

8. What is your favorite finish?

9. What is your biggest lemming?

10. Why did you start blogging?

Now I better get back to work.
That's all for now :)

Do You Think I'm Tex-y?

Hey Everyone! Today is the first day of school for the young ones YESSSS!!!!!! I was excited until I found out about some of the drama going on with the band program. Now I am just anxious to get it resolved. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well with that. My son is majorly bummed about the turn of events so I have been dealing with trying to get him to think of it positively. We will see how well that works.

Today I have for you a polish from OPI. I did this mani over the Gelish gradient I showed you a few days ago. It didn't have the jelly sandwich look because there was no bottom part of the sandwich but it still looked pretty cool.

OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y? from the 2011 Texas Collection.

OPI calls this a sorbet polish but I call it a pretty, squishy jelly. Either way it is awesome.

I used three coats for this mani. You can still see the glitter sparkling through.

I am not a huge pink fan but I love the jelly finishes and I absolutely love this polish.

It is quite sheer but evens out well. I could have stopped at two coats but I wanted it just a bit more opaque. 

I need all the jellies now!!! 

Aw nuts, I just remembered I need to make tomorrow's breakfast and lunch sandwiches. It has been a hectic night. I also filed all my nails down tonight because *gasp* they were getting too long. I have NEVER had that happen before lol. I have a ton of tears on the sides though so I am silk wrapping like a fool trying to save them for a little longer. I am very much loving the Gelish!

That's all for now :)

Limelight gets Cheeky

Hey Everyone!!! Today I have some stamping I did over my Essie Limelight mani. If you can believe this df told me this was his favorite mani I have ever done. Jaw drop bug eyes. I was floored because this was a pretty simple mani and usually he is all critical about neons. Such a strange boy.

I ordered the Cheeky XL plate A from Amazon not long ago. It shipped fairly fast and arrived in an overly roomy box but it was packed well. Unfortunately my plate had some defects on a couple of the images. There were visible defects where you could see that the image was not completely etched. Amazon was cool about me returning it and sending me a return label but I actually had to reorder and pay for a new plate to get that one shipped out. It bugs me greatly when companies can not exchange an item for me without me having to shell out the price of the item twice before getting my refund. They did offer me free next day shipping on my item so I could get the "replacement" item quickly however it took two days to get it. They did refund me for the first plate and I did get my second plate but I was not thrilled with the whole situation.

I used the wavy pattern for the stamping on this mani and a black striping polish.

I know what you are thinking, that is NOT black! No, it is not. I had a neon coral striping polish that I intended to do the stamping with to give it that extra neon vibe but it came out like this. I didn't like it. At all. I actually left that one thumb with the coral color and did the rest with black. Df made fun of me for that.

There is a wayward glitter that somehow attached itself to my middle finger. I don't know where it came from but it wanted to stay.

The image stamped really well and I was happy with the plate even after all the trouble I went through getting it. There is actually an image that still looks like it is slightly defective but I am not going through the hassle of another return. I haven't tried that image yet.

I was a little rusty in the stamping department so this isn't perfect and then my topcoat smeared the design a bit. I always have issues with my topcoat and smearing my stamping designs.

I love this pattern and think it looks really cool with the neon.

As a child I had a huge obsession with neon everything and find that I am all grabby hands when I see neon things even now. I loved looking at this mani.

I kinda want to go put a neon again after looking at these pictures.

That's all for now :)

Essie Limelight

Hey Everyone! I am back. It is a bit late but my son was working on his project then df hopped on the computer and I was left in the corner painting my nails. 

Tonight I have a Gelish glitter fade that I painted over. 

This was Gelish Medieval Madness with a silver glitter faded in. 

I loved it! Super blingy and yet subtle.

I went from subtle to completely bright by adding 3 coats of Essie Limelight.

I love neons! 

It was kinda cool because you could see some of the silver glitter through the neon.

My son swore it was neon green but to me it looked like highlighter yellow so I took pictures with the highlighters I had at work.

Obviously with the name Limelight you would think I would have picked up on the green leaning of this color but I didn't until I saw it next to the yellow highlighters.

I still loved the crazy bright neon green leaning yellow color though.

I need all the neons! I loved them when I was a kid and I love them now.

That's all for now :)

Just an Update and Ramble

Hey Everyone!!! I don't have a mani post ready for you yet because I uploaded the wrong pictures. DUH for me! What I did want to tell you about is my plan for posting and my big experiment that I have been doing lately with my nails.

As you may notice by following my blog my nails are not quite what I would like them to be. They are pretty weak and can be peely and break a ton. I decided that I was going to give gel nail polish a try to see if I could get them protected and possibly help them grow out strong. I have been playing around and trying to get the application and process of DIY Gelicures down before I started to add that to my blog. I started with the Nailene Sensationail kit that you can find at CVS and Walmart. I didn't love the color or the top/base coat but it was a great price for the light when I used my CVS magic coupons and extrabucks. I then picked up the Gelish starter kit and have been loving Gelish since. I do have a Red Carpet Manicure polish and a Le Chat polish so I am also experimenting with other brands. There is a pretty big learning curve and I still don't have everything down to a science but I am researching and getting better with each manicure.

My nails are crazy long and the gel polish is giving them some strength. Unfortunately not even the gel polish could save my pinky nail the other day when I bent it completely backward. It tore on both sides and was hanging on for dear life with just a little bit in the middle. It hurt and was beyond saving with a silk wrap so now it is reduced to super mutant nubbin. I am really happy with my nails now though and one of the great side effects is that they are no longer crypt keeper yellow!!!

The gel manicure should last 14 days for someone who has healthy nails. Since mine are weak, bendy and peely mine manicures last anywhere from 7-10 right now. They will get better as my nail issues grow out but right now I totally find the process worth the time. My point for this whole ramble is that my manis are going to be applied over whatever gel manicure I have going on at the time. It won't change much in regards to the polish I am showing you however it does create a problem with the crazy glitter bombs because I can't remove those with non acetone polish remover. I have devised a plan though. I have so many awesome Indie polishes I am dying to show you all as well as nail art with the tons of stamping plates I recently acquired.

My whole plan is to do the gel mani then do some stamping and nail art and various regular polish manis. Toward the end of my wear time for the Gelish mani I will show you the Indie polishes and various other glitter polishes that are going to be tough to remove. I think this will allow me to show a bit of everything and make me stamp more. There are so many awesome Indie brands out there now and I want to make sure I show off the ones I have been lucky enough to get. I am going to put a poll up on my sidebar so you can vote on which Indie I am going to use next. Any suggestions or undie ideas are awesome and I would love for you to leave me a comment if you have ideas. I am going to make a rotation through the Indie brands I have so that they get spread out and I can share the love. I have my first two Indies ready to go so the Dollish poll that is up now will determine what polish is used after these two.

Since I babbled endlessly and went on and on I figure a picture of Bruce Kittlee Master Ninja Warrior is in order. I got that box that he is sitting in from Walmart.com. They sent ONE Essie polish in that box. You can see the polish in the box with Bruce. They could have fit a whole Bruce AND one Essie in that box. INSANITY WALMART TOTAL INSANITY!

Oh yeah, I will totally have a polish post up for you later this evening too :)

That's all for now :)

Olympics Wrap Up

Hey Everyone! I had a much needed and enjoyed lazy weekend where I didn't turn on the computer and didn't really do much of anything. I was totally not productive but it was wonderful. I thought about posting this mani yesterday so at least it was on the last day of the Olympics but I was lazy. I did enjoy the Spice Girls performance at the closing ceremonies. I made the mistake of telling my df and brother that my friends and I went to see the Spice Girls movie at the $1.00 theater when it was out. Lol they will forever make fun of me for that I am sure. Hey, we were broke, bored college students what can I say.

My last Olympic mani should have probably been my first lol. 

I obviously free handed the rings. Some of them look ok and others look like soggy cheerios.

Back in 96 when I was really into doing nail art I did a killer version of the rings for the Summer Olympics. I had a stamp that I used to indent my almost dry polish so I had the perfect ring and only had to paint it in. Yeah, I wish I had that stamp now.

I think it came out pretty good overall though. 

I used the same flag tips and just removed the medals. I didn't get all of the purple from the ribbon so you can still see the hint of that in some spots. I was afraid I would wipe off the flag if I messed with them much more.

Ok seeing as I have itchy trigger fingers and just published this before I was ready I better wrap it up. I can't wait for the Winter Olympics in 2014 (the nice man on tv started my countdown 18 months to go). I will have some different nail art ideas by then I hope.

That's all for now :)

Gold and Silver and Bronze

Hey Everyone!! I am super excited right now. When you are from the US or China medals in the Olympics seem to just keep adding up and though it is exciting it is easy to forget that not all countries have the medal count that we do. One of the Irish girls on one of the forums I am on just posted about Irish Lightweight Boxer Katie Taylor who won gold for Ireland. GO KATIE TAYLOR AND IRELAND!!! She was so excited and proud of Ireland's first gold medal of this Olympics. I remember when watching men's gymnastics last week they showed one lone Irish guy competing on the floor exercise. I think it was his only event and he didn't do well enough to advance and I was so upset because I was really hoping he would make it through. I really have no point other than it is so amazing for these athletes to make it to the Olympics and they represent their countries and people so proudly. When we watched the parade of countries at the opening ceremony there were so many countries with small delegations and I always hope that they medal in something. Now that I have rambled on and on I should just show you the nails.

I used the same flag tips and painted gold, silver and bronze medals on them.

I was so excited that Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings won gold in Beach Volleyball last night. I have been watching those two for a long time.

I only have four pictures for you today. Sorry, they are kind of repetitive too. I used the new Essie Mirror Metallic Collection for the medals. They were perfect for the medals. I used a dotting tool too. My circles were not quite perfect but they didn't come out too bad.

The colors I used were Good as gold, No place like chrome and Penny Talk. I used a random Wet n Wild for the purple ribbon.

I am so loving the Olympics though not so much my attempts at the manis. I have one more Olympic mani for you tomorrow and then I am done with them for the next two years. I am going to have to try and do something different for the next Olympics that is more themed toward the events. I should probably start thinking now lol.

That's all for now :)

Flag Nails

Hey Everyone! I am exhausted, again. I didn't sleep well last night at all. I think I have been mostly awake since around 3-4am with a snooze here or there. I finally FELL asleep probably around 7am but then my alarm went off. Captain Neil was of course up three times between 3am and 8:45 when I finally rolled out of bed WAY LATE! I would really like to be sleeping right now. I am not feeling well and I am tired. Unfortunately though I have to work so here I am.

I love the Olympics but I am so tired that I am finding it hard to want to do extravagant nail art for them. Thus far I have stuck to the American Flag type manis and red, white and blue type stuff. I should have probably done more event themed manis and had planned one for the Gold Medal Beach Volleyball match today but then I got really tired and didn't execute it. It was really nice in my mind. I love beach volleyball and I love Misty and Kerri and hope they win their 3rd Gold this year. This mani is from the other day.

I don't know why I didn't do the cleanup before taking the pictures but for some reason I didn't. Smack me with a shoe.

I smudged my pinkie finger a bit. I did this freehand which explains a lot.

I am pretty much ready to move on to other colors at this point. I am on my second day of what I believe will be my last Olympic mani. I need to wear a different color stat!

I kept these tips for my next two manis so you will be seeing them with some added designs in the next couple of posts.

I really liked how they looked with the nude nail. I very much like that look.

I have a plan for showing some nail art, colors and indie polishes coming up. I think I worked out a way to make it all work and flow so I will be experimenting with that idea soon. If it goes according to plan I will be able to show you stamping and more nail art.

That's all for now :)