Blue Ice Bling

My friend V wanted some beautiful nails when she was heading down to Texas to visit with her family for a week over the holidays, so we decided on a cool snowy shimmer. We started with a base of Wonder Beauty's Diamond Dust, and then did various curling stripes with Sally Hansen White On and Cover Girl Electric Blue. 

The addition of rhinestones was the needed final touch to make this manicure look flowing and alive. V was really hesitant as I was painting this. She'd look at the swirls and look at the manicure picture we were emulating (a manicure by Eye Candy Nails in the UK), and make worried comments about how it didn't look right. I would point to a spot and tell her the rhinestones were going here, or there, or along that line, and she'd back down...but it wasn't until I actually started applying the rhinestones that her eyes lit up. "Oooh I will never doubt you again!" she claimed. Hah! I'll believe that when I...well, don't hear it! :)

Marbled Ice

V loved her last water marble so much that she wanted to do it again. And this time, she wanted to try it for herself! Since water marbling is one nail art technique that I do that doesn't require steady hands, she thought she might be able to do it on her own this time. But of course, she wasn't going to attempt her first solo nail art without a spotter, so she came over to my nail salon ::cough-living-room-cough:: to attempt her first masterpiece where I could help if she got stuck. (Not to mention that all the nail polish is at my house, anyway. ;)

Like much of the nail art I do, she started with a picture for inspiration. V is a big, big anime fan. Not that I've got anything against sitting down for an anime marathon, myself, but I'd just as soon read fanfiction based on the anime as watch it, myself. (It doesn't get much better than a well-written Harry Potter/Gundam Wing crossover, in my opinion...and yes, I know I'm a geek, and proud of it! :) So here's the picture V was going off of: 

Don't ask me who the characters are, as it's not an anime that I watch, and I don't try to keep track of what V's watching these days. She'll spout off a dozen Japanese names and tell me all about them like I know which one's which. The silly baka knows the only two anime I've ever watched with enough interest to remember who's who were Slayers and Gundam Wing.

So, blue, lavender, and white, with an icy look/feel is what she was going for. I pulled out Sinful Colors Snow Me White, China Glaze Agent Lavender, and Cover Girl Electric Blue for her water marbling. Most of her nails came out excellent, though a few of them weren't what she was going for, so she described to me what she wanted - lines, rather than flowers or stars - so I showed her how to manipulate the colors to get that effect, and then I helped her with the last few, but most of these nails are actually 100% her work.

To top off that icy look, we added a layer of China Glaze Luxe and Lush over the top. It added just enough flakes to look like shards of ice across her nails, and we declared this manicure experiment a complete success!

Vacation Nail Haul & Mani

I just got back this weekend from a week's vacation - my first actual, full vacation as an adult! (Yes, I'm almost 42 and I've never taken a vacation. I've had days off, lots of maternity leave, but no *vacation* where you take a full week off work and actually go somewhere as a family.) Well, my newly-adult daughter, Grace, is staying with us for a month this summer, between graduating high school and heading off to University this fall. So what better time? We spent three days visiting my dad and sister in KC, then headed down to Branson for a day and a half at Silver Dollar City, and then a day at the beach on Table Rock Lake. Despite the heat wave (thank goodness for water rides!) we managed to keep hydrated and thoroughly enjoy ourselves.

While we were at my Dad's place, one of my sisters decided to get rid of the last of her polish stash, so Grace and I split it between us. Here's my half of the haul! ::insert evil laugh here - Bwahahahaha!::

From left to right, that's Cover Girl Electric Blue, Sally Hansen Chrome in Gilded Pearl, Opal, and Black Pearl, then Avon Nailwear Pro+ (the glitters) and Nailwear Pro (the non-glitters) in Ruby Slippers, Lucky Penny, Absinthe, Vintage Blue, and Jade.

I also gathered Avon Mosaic Effects (otherwise known as crackle, duh!) in black and white, and two Avon Mirror Shines in Peace Ice and...well, the label says "Polish" but I don't know why they'd name a polish "Polish". WhatEVAR, moving on! Color Trend Refreshing Pear and some unnamed mini Lisa Frank Nail Magic. Is pretty, though!

And now I need to buy more swatching sticks, can you believe it? I think I have two or three left. Maaaaybe four. But I have 141 polishes on my shelf! (I bought 150 swatching sticks, and of course a few were cracked/broken.)

Last, but not least, lots of stickers/rhinestones/pretty things to stick on my nails!

I am sad to say that my right-hand middle finger was a casualty of war, though. It broke off at the quick while we were camping. Bad Ro for having nude nails for two days! If I'd taken the time to put a coat or two of basecoat on them, at least, it probably wouldn't have happened. But we had fun-filled days and we were TAHRED! (that's Texan for plumb worn out, by the way) when we got back to camp each night.

I did put on a basic manicure once it had broken, though, to ensure no more nails would go the way of my poor middle nubbin. I put on a couple coats of my wonderful Haken Nail Magic, then a couple of coats of my brand-new gifted polish, Avon Ruby Slipper, and then I added a gradient of Windestine Star Bright to the top half of my nails, and added a full accent nail of Star Light to my ring fingers.

At least I stayed with the patriotic theme for the week, yeah? ^_^ I mean, look, there's stars and bars right on my nails!

Would anyone like to share their tips or techniques for taking care of their nails while away on vacation? I'd love to hear them!