Easter Manis, Day 3: Hatched Chicks?

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today's mani comes from an odd place of inspiration!

Mugs!

Yup!  Mugs.  Mom has these absolutely adorable egg shaped mugs that are a flat, slightly egg shell textured white, with cute little chicken tracks running over them in bright, glossy colors.  The inside of the mugs match the bright color of the tracks!  I LOVE these mugs!  And I thought I'd do an Easter mani based on them!  Here's where my sleepiness last night shows...Apparently I totally forgot to put the picture of the mugs on my thumbdrive!  GRRR  So I'll update this tomorrow with the mug picture!

Are ya buckled in?  Here goes the LONG explanation....

I started with painting on 1 coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Whirlwind White".  Then I took a square of sponge, the kind with a regular sponge on one side, and a green scrubby pad on the other, and using the rough green side, I sponged 2 more layers of the White.  Then I topped it off with a layer of Essie "Matte about you".  This toned down the bumpiness.  I did try sponging on the matte top coat on the pinkie, but didn't care for the way it looked.  I did leave it that way though, so you will see the difference in the pictures below.

I then picked out 4 bright yet pastel colors and painted on the chicken tracks (poorly).  I was working at Rob's work bench in the shop and the garage doors were open, making the polish dry too quickly on me, so excuse the messiness!

 (excuse the horribly dry cuticles in all the pics, acetone clean-up is tough)

See...not so hot on the pinkie!

I then painted the underside of the nail with the same polish the tracks were done in:

Then I figured I better show what made all those feet prints!

So I painted both thumbs with China Glaze "Lemon Fizz".  Then using the spongy side this time, I very lightly sponged on BB Couture "Cruisin" to add depth and a "fluffy" look.

Using the back of a paintbrush, I dotted on eyes and painted in a beak.  I added highlights to the eyes on 1 thumb but not the other, and also sponged heavier on one, so you could see two different options.

I MUCH more preferred the way my test nail came out:

I think the smaller face is cuter!

Well, that's it for today!

Hope you guys have a GREAT day!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Easter Manis, Day 2: Pastel Tie Dye?

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today's Easter Mani is kinda tie dye, but also kinda not...I'll let you judge!

I liked the Tie-Dye mani I did for Valentine's Day so much, I figured I'd recreate it with more colors for Easter.  But the polish just wouldn't cooperate with me the day I did this, so it's far from perfect.  It kept drying on me too fast, well the top layer would, so then the polish would drag and skip into the neighboring color and create bald spots, rather than just flow into it behind my tool.  I also left my nice thin dental pick I used last time at home, so I would up using something thicker, which also didn't help (I cant even remember what I finally used!  a bobby pin without the rubber tip maybe?)
Colors I used were as follows:
Yellow - China Glaze "Lemon Fizz"
Pink - Massini "Vintage Couture"
Purple - China Glaze "Light As Air"
Blue - Franken made last year, not sure what polishes though.
Green - China Glaze "Refresh Mint"

I REALLY wish I woulda put the blue between the yellow and pink on my pinkie!  

It woulda looked WAY better!

This looked way better in person.  

The pic makes it look almost dingy!

As to the question from Jackie S, which was about how long to wait after the polkadots are done to put on topcoat to avoid drag....I start with doing my left hand, then I do my right.  Once I am done, I can usually go back and apply top coat.  I do however use Seche, and I don't wipe off the brush as I pull it out.  I let it deposit a ton on polish on the nail, and use the brush to wipe the excess to the end of the nail and off.  

Also be sure that you keep a fresh puddle of polish to dip onto with whatever your using to make the dots.  As soon as it starts to dry, replace it, or you'll get strings coming off the dots, like I had on my middle nail at the tip.  It also keeps the dots flatter and less bubbly, and therefore faster drying!

Hope that helps!

Have a great day everyone!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Easter Manis, Day 1: Polkadots! and Friday's Shoes

Good Afternoon Lovelies!

( I woulda had this up earlier but as many of you probably know, Blogger was having picture issues, so none of my pics were showing up, sorry)

Today, again, is a crazy day, so I'm gonna rush through this...

Base is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Whirlwind White".

Then I used a toothpick to make dots using Diamond Cosmetics "Tranquility", OPI "Do You Lilac It?", and China Glaze "Secret Periwinkle".

Index nail had to be cropped out cause of a weird fuzzy looking thing that was stuck to my nail when pics were taken.  Didn't notice til I was editing them, and it looked weird, so I just cropped it out!

I got more compliments on this mani, than any mani I have every worn!

For those of you who wanted my tattoo-ish (bird) shoes from Friday go HERE
I recommend Googling the shoes brand and name though, I think I got mine way cheaper somewhere else!

And for ShortNails who wanted to know about these:

They are Bongo brand and I got them a few years back from Kohls.
Hope that helps!

That's it for today guys!

Have a great day!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Multiple Fashion Personality Disorder

Good Morning Lovelies!

This has proven to be a ridiculous week, and it's just getting worse!  So bare with me...

I set out this weekend with the intention of taking a pic of my outfit each day.  Well I failed!  You really only missed jeans and a plain black tee on Saturday, and jeans and my work polo Monday, and an outfit similar to one I'm gonna show you anyway, so it's not a total loss.  Problem is, I tried to make up for it last night by adding another fav outfit of mine, and our camera decided to be a brat!  All the pics I took last night came out too dark, orangey, and grainy!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING CAMERA!?!?!

I know most of the pics you've seen me post of myself on here are in pin-up/retro stuff, but that's just one of my many personalities, LOL  See, I have an illness....Multiple fashion (if you can call it that) personality disorder!  My clothing mood changes day to day, so I dress according to that mood.  Be it punky, pin-up, urban, or just comfy.  So here's an array of stuff I sport. 
Warning, I have no desire to follow current trends, I simply wear what I like, so if you are the fashion police, I apologize now! 
LOL

 You only get a waist up pic, cause our camera, we just discovered, distorts pics occasionally, and from the waist down I look like I should live in munchkin land, LOL

Rob always would say "I don't get it, I look at you, then look at you thru the camera, and you look 30 pounds heavier!"  Well, at least I finally had proof he wasn't just tryin to make me feel better about cruddy pics!

If you turn our camera sideways to take a "tall" shot, it distorts something terrible!

Just picture jeans on the bottom half!

Love this outfit!  Mom got it for me!

This was yesterday's outfit.  The shirt is black, not blue.  

See what I mean about our camera being a brat!

I wear alot of Jeans, heels, and a dress shirt-over-a-tank.

And the bonus outfit:

I just LOVE that shirt!

The spiked collar gets some interesting looks, especially in the little town my father-in-law lives in.

Then again they look at me weird there if my eyeshadow is anything other than neutrals!

And a few of my favorite things:

FAV belt!  Rob got it for me 2 Christmases ago!

LOVE these shoes (sorry for the yellow tint!)

These ROCK until your walking on pavement and step on a loose rock, then you get a bit teeter-tottery!

the bottoms are totally flat, no tread for that little rock to go!

Last but not least, my favorite boots!

I call 'em my butt kickin' boots, LOL

When I got these is when I finally realized I was almost average sized!

I hadn't been able to wear knee high boots, due to thick muscley calves, with extra fluff over the muscle!

Well, That little exploration into the strangeness that is me, is all I have for today!

I'll be back next week with a new Easter Mani everyday!

Have a great weekend!

{{{HUGS}}}
Christy

Rainbow eyes!

Good Morning Lovelies!

I have another makeup look for you today!

I found this hiding on my computer!!!


To apply:
I always start with Urban Decay Primer Potion, my lids crease in just a few hours if I dont, plus colors come out way brighter with it!
I then applied a thin layer of white cream shadow to the upper lid, to the crease, and lower lid.

Starting on the upper lid, apply Yellow to the inner 1/4 of the eye, followed by a Yellow-Orange on the next 1/4, a Pinkish-Orange on the next 1/4 and a bright Pink to the outer 1/4.  Blend gently where each color meets another, applying more shadow as needed to keep the color bright!

In the very outer corner of the eye apply a pink toned bright Purple, and use that in the crease.  Blend this up.  Make sure the purple blends into the outer edge of the pink and barely covers the outer portion of the lower lid. 

Next grab a nice Lime Green and apply it to the inner half of the lower lid.  Apply a medium bright Blue to the outer half and blend where the blue and green meet as well as where the blue and purple meet at the outer corner. 

Apply a nice white shadow to the very inner corner of the eye as well as under the brow.

Finish with black liner and mascara and your done!
(Using a nice rich black liner and mascara, seems to make the colors pop more!)

As many of you might have noticed, I don't often wear lipstick.  I always feel like my lips enter the room 5 minutes before I do when I wear it!  LOL  I opt for a clear sparkly gloss most of the time, Unless I'm going Pin-up, then Red Lips are a MUST!!!

That's it for today!

Have a great day!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Warning: This blog post has the potential to be Scandalous!

Good Morning Lovelies!

OOOOO, I am so incredibly excited I'm dancing around here!
Today, I have my very first guest post on my blog!!!!

The absolutely wonderful Ange-Marie, A.K.A Scandalous, offered last week to help me out since I'm fresh outa stuff to show you, and do a guest post!  I was absolutely blown away and honored!
If you are not a follower of her blog, seriously, go now and check it out and follow!  I'll wait..........Ok back?  Great!

If you don't know this chick, let me tell ya a little bit about her!  This girl is spit-your-coffee-out-through-your-nose-at-your-monitor hysterical!  She tells it like it is, no holds barred, but yet is a total sweetie!  And this girl is the franken QUEEN!  Seriously people, she made a polish that matched Certs!   Now THAT'S Talent!

So, Without further ado...HERE'S Scandalous!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eek eek! Hi y'all! Yay so its my first ever guest blogging appearance and I want to take a quick moment to say THANK YOU to the AWESOME Christy for giving me this opportunity.  Her blog is what got me into Konad, so this is a real honor. (note from Christy:  AWWW!  Now I'm blushing!  Thanks Hun!!!)

I had something sooooooo cool lined up for this.  And then, on the trip to my parents house, I shattered, yep, shattered 3 nails.  Boo!  Hiss!  Luckily, I did some nail foils last week right after Christy and I talked about guest blogging.  I had a creepy feeling I needed a backup.  I just was expecting a nail-fail, not the most god-awful break I've had in a year. 

These foils are SO PRETTY!  I have to give another shout out to Andrea of Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss for hooking me up with these.  They're called peacock, and I'm sure I don't know why, because, uh, clearly they're all blue.  And not even peacock blue!! WTF? Crazy foil naming people.  I still think I need to start naming things.  Except Cheeky Monkey beat me to it, lol.  Seriously. Best.Names.Ever!  You should def check 'em out.

I used Milani Neon teal as my base.  Isn't it preeeeeeetty on its own?? 

I kept screwing up my nails foils but I found the magic non-crinkly combo for topcoats!  A layer of Zoya Armour (since its Non_FDTC) and then a layer of FDTC (I used Seche.  We're hooking up again.  Shhh! Don't tell Diamont!).  Anyhoo, that seems to work great and not screw up the foils.

Well, I don't wanna take up too much time since some of y'all may not be used to my 800 page posts ;)  Thanks again to the amazing Christy for this opportunity!  Catch y'all on the flipsies

Xoxo

Scandalous

Ange-Marie

Scandalously Polished blog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many MANY thanks to the ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS Ange-Marie  for being so AWESOME!

I'll see you all tomorrow!  Have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Pink and Teal Eye Look

Hey Guys!!!

I'm SUPER busy, and have been for the last 2 days...

So...

I'm gonna go ahead and post a makeup look I wore this weekend, but not gonna go into detail with application.  You guys are smart, you know what you're looking at!  BUT, if you have questions, please feel free to ask.


This turned out, ok, I guess.  Not great, but it's something.  My eyes look so puffy (they didn't in reality)  and my full faced shot is blurry, and I look like I'm drunk(I wasn't!)  LOL

Have a great day guys!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

My St. Patty's Makeup Look

Good Afternoon Lovelies!

I know it doesn't do you much good to see this now, but I figure I'll show ya anyway.  I was pretty pleased with how this turned out!

I forgot to take pics of the colors I used, does that really surprise you?  But, basically, I just used a Medium Forrest green in the crease and blended up toward the brow bone.  Then I decided it was a bit too bright for the office, so I added a touch of black to the crease and very gently blended it up.  I did the same for the lower lid, getting gradually thinner as I went from the outer corner to abotu 2/3 of the way in.  I then used a nude color on my lid, from lashline to crease.  And highlighted just under the brow, and in the inner corner of the eye with just a touch of white shadow.  Apply liquid liner to the upper lid, pencil liner to the waterlines and mascara and there you have it!  And before I get asked, nope, no false lashes were worn. 

 

 

You'll have to excuse the weird hair...I hadn't done anything with it yet!

I realized the only green clothing I own is a dark green sweater, and it was too warm for that!  So eyeshadow and nail polish were my festive accents!

Now, I have a dilemma...

I plan to do a week of Easter Manis week after next, and I love the ideas I've come up with so much, that I want to be able to wear them and enjoy them.   I also don't wanna come up with ideas, do them, take a pic and take them off just so I have something to post...I wanna wear 'em and enjoy 'em!  Problem is, I have nothing in the vault to post for you next week.  I have a few ideas on things I could do but thought I'd get your input...

I have been thinking about how every time you guys see a pic of me, I seem to always be in retro/pin-up stuff, and thought it might be fun to take a pic of my outfit everyday and post that, so you can see my many fashion personalities!

I could also post a few different makeup looks...

or

Would you rather me take a week off and spare you the randomness

So here is my question to you....

Do you want... 

Outfits?

Makeup?

Or to be spared my weirdness for a week?

LOL

Your allowed to choose the last one, I wont be offended!  :)

cast your vote in the comments section!

That's it for today my wonderful readers!

I hope you have a marvelous day!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

Happy St Patricks Day!

Mornin' Lovelies!

Today I am gonna be boring...very very boring!

I changed up yesterdays mani a teensy tiny bit and figured I'd share with you guys.

So here's 2 tiny variations of yesterdays mani.....

Here she is topped with Essie "matte about you"

As soon as this dried I thought "WHY don't I add matte top coat more often???"  

I LOVE this!

and the other hand, sporting a different variation:

Please disregard the messiness of the middle nail.  

My top coat dripped under my cuticle and I messed up the polish fixing it last night...this was pre-cleanup.

Here I added a coat of Sinful Colors "Call You Later"

Well, yeah, sadly that's it for today!

I'll be bak tomorrow to show you the makeup I'm sporting today!

(I gotta spread out the posts cause I'm runnin' out of things to show you guys!)

Have a great day!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy

My St. Patty's Day Mani!

Good Mornin' Lovelies!

I had this awesome mani planned for St. Patty's Day!  I was going to do a base of Zoya Tangy, and then get out 5 or 6 of my favorite greens and freehand clovers all over them!  It's looked AWESOME.....in my head.  To say that the nail art force was not with me last night is pretty much the understatement of the year.  I already had Zoya "Tangy" on so all I had to do was add the clovers.  I even knew exactly how to paint them on easily (like how i make free hand hearts, using dots) but no....no such luck.  Maybe it was cause I was tired.  More likely it was because we had just finished doing a massive arm workout and my tris, bi and forearms were not functioning properly! the clovers came out liking like vaguely cloud shaped blobs and flowers.  POO!  After doing 3 of them, off they came.  I sat, fuming, trying to come up with something fun to do, and trying to convince myself a green skittle mani was NOT the answer....so not creative enough!
Then it hit me!  "Do a green version of that 'pink tie dye' mani you did and liked so much"  SWEET idea self ...  :::pats self on back:::

So I start...First nail looks great!  SWEET this is SOOOOO gonna ROCK!
second nails sucks......
take it off, starts over....still sucks.....
I try once more and still no!
It's like the polish didn't want to stick to the base color, and they were all Zoyas!
So I took it all off and started the skittle.
Got the first coat on one hand and hated it!
The colors so did not go well!


:::insert me silently screaming:::::


Then it hits me...."I bet I have a clover Konad image and dont even know it!"

Yup, you guessed it...I did!
Thanks to the Lovely Nihrida!  It was on a Fauxnad plate she sent me!  THANK YOU!!!!

So I start with my base, Rimmel "Camouflage" and while the second coat is drying, I drip a drop of polish on the chair I'm sitting in....which totally sucks cause it's my Mother-in-laws old chair, so I know Rob will be disappointed if it gets messed up!

So I dive for the Q-Tips and the remover and bump into the cotton balls and get bits of fuzz all over a few of my nails!  GRRRRR

I got almost all the spot off the chair, there's just a barely there ring from where the remover and thinner bled the polish out.

By this time I'm so tired of things going wrong I just wanna cry!  But I keep thinking.."I gotta have something to post tomorrow for St. Patty's Day!!!!"

So I pick out as much fuzz as possible, redo 1 nail and hope that the Seche takes care of the rest.

I stamped the clover fauxnad image (a similar one can be found on Konad plate M22, a plate I dont have) using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Lickety Split Lime" on each ring finger.  I just didn't have the patience, energy, or sanity to do anything else!

Camouflage looks way too emerald here in the pic!

It has a emerald base, but then has olive and gold shimmer bits in it that really show!

If you love green, go get it!  I have a bunch of greens and don't have any quite like it!

Well, that's the saga of the St. Patty's Day Boring Mani!

It shoulda been better, the original idea "coulda been a contenda".....but alas, it was not meant to be!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

Giveaway Rundown EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Mornin' Lovelies!

This weekend really got away from me and between that and Rob leaving the camera at work, I got nothing to show ya!  So I thought I'd take this opportunity to make sure you were all aware of some great giveaways going on right now! 

Claudia of Chromatic Misadventures is having an awesome giveaway!  Revlon Streetwears and Colorama Flakies WHAT?!?!  AWESOMENESS!!!  Check it out HERE

Tiffani of Yardsticks 4 Lunatics is having a NYX giveaway!  I LOVE me some NYX, so go HERE and check it out!

AllYouDesire is celebrating 500 Followers (congrats girl!) with some SWEET prizes, check 'em out HERE

Painted Lady Fingers is giving away the 8 new Konad plates...Pardon me while I go die from excitement!  Click HERE for your chance!

NailJunkie musta lost her mind, cause she is having one insane giveaway!  So...Many...Pretty...Things!!!  Go LOOK!

InsideOfMyPurse is also having one heck of a giveaway!  Just LOOK at all this loot! 

Sawan Heaven is giving away 5 Claire's Mood Polishes!  YES 5!!! I don't even know if these would work with my acrylics, but oh would I like to try!  Go HERE to enter!

Trincess of Emerald Sparkled is having an awesome giveaway too!  What up with all these uber generous ladies???  Check out all her goodies HERE!

And finally Toxin of Toxic Lipstick is having an AMAZING giveaway!  If you don't follow this girl, then all I gotta say is "SERIOUSLY???  GO FOLLOW NOW!!!"  Go HERE to check out her awesome prizes!

MISSED 1...
Sorry L!!!
The beautiful L is having a favorite things giveaway!!!  Pretty Polish, Yummy Smelly things, and Chocolate...does it get any better???  Check it out HERE

Well That's it for today!
I'll be back tomorrow to share my St. Patty's day Mani!

Have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

The HAUL

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today I figured I'd finally show you what I got while in Ohio!

But first I just wanted to note that the kitty picture from yesterday wasn't very good!  I took probably 2 to 3 dozen pictures trying to get a good one of the little sweeties eyes, and the only one that cameout was that one!  And sadly she looks like a little meanie in the pic!  She is such a sweetheart though!  Make me wanna keep her, but I'm afraid Macy would have a cow!  I'll try to take more pics here soon, to show you what a lover she is!

Also, Sadly I think this is gonna be the lats post for this week.  I haven't even put nails on yet, so I got nothing else to show you!  Lately, our gym time has been lacking, only actually making it down there 2 or 3 times a week!  We both know we just can't make progress with 2 to 3 1-hour sessions.  And we both have big plans for packing on more muscle and getting way stronger, and leaner in my case (Rob's got the metabolism of a humming bird, little snot can eat anything, as in 3 to 4 thousand calories a day and still have a 6 pack!).  We've done great so far this week, getting down there for a hard core Bench workout Sunday after we got back, and hitting Tri's, Bi's and Forearms for 2 and a half hours Monday!  Feels good to be so sore!  So I just am not sure at this point if I'll get my nails done before the weekend!  But I will be back Monday with something for you at least! 

On to the goodies!!!!

L to R:

Emerald Depths, Vintage Couture, Lightening Blue, Slamming Red

Bought at Forever 21, for $2.80!

Looks just like "Punk" from L.A. Girl Rockstar Collection!

Even the bottle is the same!

The purple color shift does show up on the nail!  YAY!

L to R:  Tapping Nails, Bali Mist, Let Me Go

Closer look at "Let Me Go"

WAY prettier in reality!

pink toned lavender with blue, green, and gold color shift shimmer

Closer look at "Bali Mist"

Again, pic just doesn't do it justice!

berry color with darker wine/purple undertones and gold and green color shift shimmer

L to R: Irish Green (neon grass green), Happy Ending, and Green Ocean (which I got 2 of!)

My only regret was not going to another Meijer to look for the Massini spring collection :(

But I am quite happy with all I got!

I got big plans for alot of these, including a layered look that makes a color I've been searching everywhere for!

That's it for today....maybe even the week!

If I don't see ya, dont just have a great day, have a fantastic rest of the week and weekend!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Manis, Scenery, and Randomness

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today's post is a mash up of lots of random bits!

First, I'll show you the many I wore for the Arnold!  Obviously, I wasn't going with a pink, flowery mani.  It had to be tough!

I started out with 1 coat of China Glaze "Millennium", and using black special polish, I stamped the fishnet design from M57 over it! 

In the Shade:

In the Sun:

Next up is the gorgeous scenery we saw on the way to Ohio.  We always go two different ways....a longer, more scenic rural route way to get there, and a faster, interstate way to get home.  The following were taken on the way there(click to make big):

Getting ready to cross into West Virginia:

I always love this road!

These were all taken at a little pull off, as we were going through the mountains in West Virginia:

Isn't it just gorgeous!

We were very shocked to see that long stretches of the road was still covered in snow!  We hadn't had snow in a few weeks!  Needless to say, my car left home jet black....Here's how it looked upon return home:

Yeah, it's gray now!

Time for a wash!

Two other random things......

First...I want to show you all why I wear acrylics!  Alittle backstory....On the way home I noticed that a bunch of my nails were lifting pretty badly.  I decided I'd take them off and reapply fresh ones once we got home.  Well, I was out of tips, so I took them off anyway, and let my nails breathe yesterday.  I had a very long (for me naturally) index finger nail.  I sit at a desk and type and do "Office Manager Stuff" all day, yet somehow alittle after lunch, I discovered this:

GRRR!  And ow!  cause of course the split had to go into the quick.  

And after that horribleness, I thought I'd leave you with some cuteness!

There is a cat that roams around our street.  She is GORGEOUS!  Pure white, always smells freshly bathed and looks freshly brushed, and is obviously well fed, but I feed her anyway, just in case!  She has something very unique and beautiful about her, so I thought I'd nab a picture yesterday when she came to greet us home:

Isn't she Gorgeous?  Just look at those eyes!

And yes, she is dirty in this pic, cause she was rolling around while I was petting her.

Well, that's it for today my wonderful readers!

I hope you have a fantastic day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy