blue

 This was a super simple paint job for a reason.  As soon as I got home from the Thanksgiving road trip, I headed back out to spend a couple of days out of town visiting family and friends.  My cousin/aunt has a 7th grade daughter (my cousin I guess) and she is into nail art.  She just has some of the simple kits from Urban Outfitters, etc.  She saw my nails at Thanksgiving and I told her I would show her some other simple nail art things.  I think I might have scared her a bit with so many options (rhinestones, studs, stickers, stamps, dotting, etc).  She picked up stamping really quickly.  Then I showed her how to accent the stamp polish job with some rhinestones.  It was a lot of fun and I think I have got her hooked.  But while waiting for her polish to dry before stamping, I painted my nails.

french dots

Someone bought this Estee Lauder polish and didn't like it so they gave it to me.  It is so pretty in the bottle but such an odd color when on my nails.  It is sort of apricot brown pearl.  It might look great under a gold glitter polish or as a base under a stamp job.

crimson & gold

Before I even start, I need to say that this polish job was not photographed until after a round of golf.  It is not pretty but I am not really careful with my nails when playing golf.  That being said, on to the paint job...

 

It is basically the same paint job as before but with different base color and the gold studs.  I was also limited by what I packed for Thanksgiving out of town.  Overall, it wasn't that bad considering it was done the night before Thanksgiving in a hotel room, using the in-room-info binder as a table.  It was a bit nurve racking because I was freaked out about spilling the polish or polish remover.  Mind you, I haven't spilled at home, but it would be 100 times worse at a swanky hotel.  I can't even imagin that room charge.  How would you even remove nail polish from carpet?

silver studs

In the Born Pretty order I got a month or so ago, I got some larger silver studs.  They have scared me because they always seemed so big.  I tested a couple out to see how they work on my nails.  Well, they are pretty flat and thin, so they even work on my tiny pinky.

halo stripe

First before getting to this mornings paint job - MAC's Everything That Glitters was amazing.  It did not chip at all.  Since I paint my nails so often, I am not nice to them unless they are for a specific reason.  This paint job was rock solid.  And it wasn't that hard to remove.  Guess there is something to nice polishes.  Okay, on to the new paint job.  Sorry for the awful clean up and dried cuticles, I have not slept in two days and my hand-eye coordination is a bit wonky.  So, they are just going to be a little messy until they come off, which I am guessing will be later today.

everything that glitters

This was a whimsical polish job.  I wanted to use a new polish and play off of the glitter in the polish.  My left and right hand are the same since it was such an easy application.  I haven't used shaped rhinestones before, even though I have two wheels of them. **I promise that there are no bald spots on my nails or with this polish, it is the outside light reflecting off the nails**

stars

I knew I could last long with just a one color polish job.  Stamping it would have to be since rhinestones and/or studs wouldn't work with GoldenEye.  GoldenEye is just so vibrant, glittery and matalic, it would be hard to find a rhinestone that would work (oh no, I now have a new mission).

The stamping polish would have to be something rich and deep as well to hold up against the gold.  I also wanted something within the same sparkle family (I don't think that term would work or be understood anywhere outside of the nail art world).  My new China Glaze color would be perfect.  I currently have it on my toes, a perfect pedi fall color.

goldeneye

Well, like many other movie goers this past weekend, I saw 'Skyfall'.  I loved it.  I see very few movies in the theater because tickets are so expensive, other people that act like they at home on their own private couch, it just isn't worth it for movies that don't utilize the big surround sound.  Don't get me wrong, I love going to the movies.  Especially big action types, like 'Skyfall'.  I also know about the OPI Skyfall collection.  I am guessing there weren't many other people in the massive theater paying attention to all the actors nails.  The main Bond Girl (the poster girl for the OPI collection) had amazing nails.  They were long, the deep red from the collection with what looked like a golden stud in the middle.  After thinking about it, I am guessing it was a dot of GoldenEye.

I only have one color from this OPI collection, GoldenEye.  I was really excited about this color, it looks magnificent in the bottle, rich and deep golden, borderline bronze.  After seeing the movie, I was determined to do a paint job with GoldenEye.  I decided not to do a base color, just layer up the GoldenEye and do a deep red/purple stamp on top.  After 1 coat of GoldenEye, I started to get worried.  Here is after two coats:

When directly in the sunlight, it is very nice and gold.  However, when the light hits it at a side angle...

glitter glitter glitter

So after such a subtle paint job on Friday, I went for something totally in the other direction.  The feather job is still on the burner, I just felt like doing a simple paint job this afternoon.  Simple meaning no tools (stamps, plates, dotting tools, etc) needed, just polish.  I am going to go in reverse here and show you the final product first.

 left

right

matte & gloss

The blue ocean/swirl paint job lasted till the pumpkin pie was done and 1 episode of Park & Recreation.  I wasn't feeling the blue nails anymore.  I knew I wanted to use the same stamping plate and use a matte finish somehow.  Looking through my polishes, OPI Lincoln Park After Dark was calling to me.  I have not used it in a long time, I would say over two years.  All nails got two coats of the color.  All fingers except the middle got two coats of matte finish top coat, with the middle finger getting normal top coat.

right - gloss

left - matte

middle - gloss

rest - matte

subtle stamping

I really wanted to do a paint job yesterday because I found a bag of fushia feathers in my house the night before.  I wanted to do a peacock/feather paint job, I saw it a while ago and have been wanting to do one since.  But life happened.  I went on an awesome hike to a very remote beach.  I found whale bones on the beach.  Holy smokes batman, whales are HUGE.  I know they are big, I have seen the skeletons but have never seen one up close.  Both jaw bones and a rib bone were there with a couple other pieces of bone and baleen (their 'teeth').  Each jaw bone was about 12 feet long.  I took some of the bone pieces and baleen to bring to the local science center.  It was a vast more extensive hike & exploration than I was planning on.  When I got home I was exhausted and the weather was crap.  I just didn't have the energy to paint my nails.  The good news is I might be able to go with the local science center to collect the jaw bones.

nautical nails

I finally got my nautical stamps!!!  Even though I picked up some great new polishes, I knew I had to do something with the nautical theme.  Plus, I wanted to use the new metal studs.  Nautical theme it would be.  Overall, I think this paint job could be better but I was just having fun.  I loved how the middle finger (the stamped ones) turned out.  I also love the look of the studs.  I need to work more on them being straight in line.  I do love the white, silver and blue.  This blue is a bit more mellow than the blue I was going to use (it was closer to m&m blue).

store & mail

The whole-sale store was great.  The prices were crazy.  They had all the major brands (OPI, Essie, China Glaze, etc) plus some other gel ones.  Not only having every color OPI makes and all the different collections for the past two years, they have all the other products OPI makes.  OPI makes a lot of different things for nails, feet, spas.  I didn't get that much since I already have a lot, but I am happy with what I did get.

OPI - Golden Eye (I have been coveting this color since it was announced but was hesitant to pay full retail for it, but now I have it and I can't wait to use it)
China Glaze - Sugar Plums, Techno, Glittering Garland
products - cuticle remover cream, cuticle oils, scrubs, brushes, decals, etc

naked nails

It has been over a week since I have been home.  My last polish job lasted only a couple of days.  Nail polish does not fair well when you are hanging out with two very very active young nephews.  Decorating the front yard with spiders, ghosts, webs, etc makes polish run far far away.  They really did like the eyes and the candy corn.  Also, my toes are glow-in-the-dark and they thought that was really funny.