Fourth of July stripes and flowers

Happy 4th!! It is that red-white-and-blue time of year again. Last year I did a skittlette mani. After a year of practice and learning I feel a bit more creative and ambitious so did stripes and blue flower "stars". The mani definitely looks better from a far. The macro settings just makes the stripes look all wobbly!

The base is the gelicious French White gel polish that I wrote about in the last post. Since this is basically dry and finished after curing I started with the tape mani for the stripes. Two pieces of tape on each nail. The tips were then painted in Color Club Ruby Slippers, tape removed immediately. The great thing about the gel base is that I could go in with non-acetoner remover and clean up the stripes if a smudge went over the tape, or the tape line was not super clean. They still look wobbly, though. Ruby Slippers is a glitter based red, so the flecks of glitter get in the way sometimes.

Using acrylics and the one-stroke method I painted dark-light-blue flowers randomly on the lower part of my nails. I added some random Ruby Slipper dots in the middle of the flowers. I applied OPI Which is Witch? in the white stripe and also dabbed some glitter in the flowers.

Out the Door sealed the deal. Any acrylic work really pops after top coating. I did wait awhile, though, as didn't want to smear the stripes. So this is what I will be wearing at the market this Saturday and into next week. This afternoon I have a Glammy Mani birthday party for seven wee seven year old girls - how fun! They have asked for a rainbow colour selection, the birthday girl's fav colour is "magenta". How cool is that? Probably can't even spell it, but she knows what she likes!

right hand

Now that this is totally dry I have added a cured gelicious top coat to the mani. I did not file or scuff up the surface. I just totally cleaned my nails with alcohol - another tip: when you do this also press back the cuticle so that your cuticle line is freed up with a smidgen of space. That gives the gel some place to grip.
My reasons for this is that at the bday party I will be using polish remover on the wee girls and if I go to the market tomorrow (giant rain forecast, boo!), the same applies. This way I can use non acetone remover and have no worries that my nails will still look great!

Valentine's 2014: a bit of Gwen love

Confession right off: this mani is really difficult to photograph. It doesn't help much that the skies have been overcast. Don't know why, but the gold reacts weird with the black and the photos are not capturing the satiny finish of the gold..... at all. This is my take on Valentine's this year and I can't include it in GOT as these are obviously not old polishes. Not really as black as it appears (ha! - so, anti-Valentine....). Relationshipwise I am in a very good place. Though the Mr is all bloke Kiwi and not even interested in the day, apparently. Time will tell on that one.

Visually this is a pure OPI Gwen Stefani mani. But I cheated on the red as I did not buy her "signature" red. Looked like a lot of other reds to me. So I snuck (i.e. substituted) in Zoya Sooki for the red. I'm pretty sure the mani would look exactly the same with her red. I used L.A.M.B. as the beautiful gold, and 4 in the Morning (with a dab of Zoya Storm) for the black.

I started with a coat of red on that part of my nail that was to be taped. Waited. Then I taped off using thin nail art tape and applied two coats of L.A.M.B. Took the tape off immediately after coat two. Then I waited again. I freehand drew hearts and filled them in using my dotting tool with 4 in the Morning and Storm. I added a couple of red hearts for good measure. I purposely didn't fill in perfectly, wanting to leave a very freehand aspect to the hearts.

The top coat pretty much cancelled out the matte of the polish. If you get it in just the right light, you can see that the gold is full of satiny pearly bits. Really, really pretty. And application is super smooth, like velvet.

right hand

Now, if I can get my act together I may be able to do another V mani, this time for GOT challenge. I have the perfect red for that. But tomorrow night is movie night (currently a non-event in regard to attendance) so won't be able to do nails in the eve.

George has been trying to get Harvey's attention. Look at me, Harvey!! It's me, Harvey! Harvey doesn't care. I took off today. Wasn't feeling 100% and Monday was such a terrible day businesswise that I decided to stay home two days instead of just one. I managed to get a lot of jewelry finished and designed and created, so that is good. Back to work tomorrow, hoping for better business and a successful film night.

And..... made a pendant to match (more here)!!

TPTjan1: red with orange and yellow stripes

Right off, don't know if I will be doing four TPT a month. I am also interested in GOT, but won't be doing that weekly, either. That just leaves no time for anything else in the nail art department. I think I will do two of each in alternating weeks. I love Crumpie's challenge ideas and want to take part as much as I feel like it - how's that for commitment!!!

TPT = tri polish Tuesdays (and... GOT = golden oldie Thursday). Each month has three (tri) selected colours and you are to do different manis with the colours through the month. January is red, orange and yellow. At least one of the manis has to include all three colours (rules are a bit nicer this year!), I decided to start with the three today as I may only do one more of this particular tpt.

I started with one and half coats of China Glaze Sunshine Pop (the half was on the top half of the nail) and a coat of Orly Holla. I don't like Sunshine Pop much. It has that 70s shimmer to it and looks cheap on me. Must have too much blue tones or something. My (mini) bottle of Holla got a nice big squirt of Seche Restore. Imagine that, new polish! I really don't like it but it is a great orange and the only other ones I have are either very pastel or neon. I top coated this before moving on.

baby george and the tri polish

Used nail tape to section off a stripe in both the yellow and orange areas. This was covered with one generous coat of Zoya Sooki. I only used one coat but did have to make sure it covered the yellow thoroughly. I did two nails at a time but let them sit a bit before top coating. I like Sooki, it is a nice tomato red. A good summer red. The true colour is somewhere between pic one and two way above. Late afternoon lighting, sun had just come out after the rain.

right hand

I like the colours of this mani but don't enjoy the mani. This is usually true with any tape manis. I just feel that my nails are so heavy with polish. You know how sometimes you paint your nails and they feel light yet sturdy. Today, my nails now feel heavy with polish.

Above my super bonus Georgie shot. George is our new kitten, he is just shy of seven weeks. Very cute, very loud, very lethal (in regard to arm scratches). He started out as all black but I notice a bit of white creeping in! Big brother Harvey cat is still pretty unimpressed, though he does occasionally say hi.
I am not alone in my TPT challenge days, so check out the girls below, too!