May Polish Days - The Number 5

THE NUMBER 5!

The theme for May's Polish Days is, as you can see, the number 5. Any interpretation of 5, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with! Being who I am, my mind immediately went to the five elements: earth, water, air, fire, and spirit. 

The fire element is on my index finger, with a base color of Ulta Eye Popping Poppy. Air is in the middle on top of Sinful Colors Unicorn. For Water on the ring finger I used Avon Vintage Blue, and Earth was done with Avon Jade on the pinky finger. For Spirit I used a base coat of Sinful Shine Wisp and a single coat the indie polish Wonder Beauty Diamond Dust to highlight the airy, ethereal nature of one's Spirit. All of the symbols were done in Sinful Shine Dark Room on a layer of top coat on a piece of plastic, then cut out and transferred to my nails after they were dry.

For the other hand I used the same base colors, and then drew a star on each finger. The five points of the star, in paganism, also represents the same five elements, so I thought that tied the two hands together nicely without me having to do the same intricate symbols twice. I'm so lazy! I used Dark Room to draw most of the stars, though I drew one of them in Wisp for an accent, then topped all five of them with Sinful Colors This Is It. I honestly wasn't careful about putting This Is It on any of the stars - they all went over, but it only really showed on top of Wisp. They look actually outlined in the black ones, but it just ended up looking messy on the white one. Ah well, we learn something new from each manicure, yes?

This picture is slightly blurry and it really shows how beautifully the Diamond Dust shimmers on my thumbs. I don't remember whether I purchased my mini bottle of Diamond Dust or if someone gave it to me, but I wish I could find for sure where I got it so I could purchase a larger bottle. It's been a go-to polish when I want to just add sparkle to any polish without affecting the color. But while my stash list has it labeled as a Wonder Beauty polish, the only label actually on the bottle is "Diamond Dust" (hand written, round label, on a mini bottle), I've never purchased anything else from Wonder Beauty, but I can't find it on their website or on the other company I might have gotten it from, Spooky Bones (Strange Polish). So if anyone knows who made/makes Diamond Dust, I'd love to know. I need more. :)

In general, it's not one of my manicures that are just pretty on their own, but I'm really happy with both the symbolism and the rendition of this month's theme.

Now it's time to check out what the others came up with for "the number 5"!

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! :)

Week 34: Bling!

Good morning hobby lovers! This week in the Year's Challenge is BLING! I keep wanting to do a manicure with rhinestones, but I never seem to get around to it. I can't help but be intimidated by the gorgeous rhinestone art manicures I have pinned from Sarah ❤'s Pretty Little Things, but sometimes you just have to muddle through!

You think that's enough bling? My co-workers all thought so. :) I started with two coats of China Glaze Man Hunt, from the new On Safari collection. I then did french tips in a V-pattern with my new favorite glitter, Wonder Beauty Diamond Dust. Then there was a layer of Gelous, followed by lots and lots of picking up rhinestones and bullion beads with the pointy tip of an orange stick. A final layer of Gelous to seal it all, and voila! I'm all blinged up!

Seriously, though, this is one of my favorite manicures lately. It came out exactly as I had envisioned when I worked up the design on my nail wheel, and that's something I really can't say very often. Be sure to go over to JennaFroggy's page to see who else is participating in the Year's Challenge! There's lots of gorgeous nail art to oooh! and aaah! over just waiting for your click!

Lazy Luster

What is a nail artist to do with their fingernails, when they don't feel like making an effort? Pull out your newest glitter, of course, and make a gradient! :)

Please pardon the lack of clean-up. As the post title declares - I was being lazy! I started with two coats of China Glaze Jungle Queen, from the new On Safari collection. I've seen some awesome swatches of this polish showing a beautiful subtle shimmer, but alas, I did not see this shimmer myself on my nails. You actually can see hints of it in some of my pictures, especially this next one, but I didn't see it with my eyes!

After my nails were Pretty In Purple (since I'm definitely not a pink person!), I added a gradient of my newest glitter, Diamond Dust from Wonder Beauty Products. There could be no other name for this polish than Diamond Dust, because that's exactly what it looks like: thousands of tiny little diamond particles dusted across my nails! Don't you just love that gorgeous sunlight twinkle on my index finger in the picture above?! This is one of those manicures that I keep having to stop typing from time to time and just wiggle my fingers to watch the sparkle. :)

I used a very simple technique to make this gradient - I wiped most of the polish off the brush, and then put a very fine dry layer from about 2/3 back to the tip. Then I repeated it, with slightly more polish on my brush, from about midway on the nail, and finally I added a solid layer of polish on the final tip, from about 1/3 of the way back on my nail. Made for quite a bump on the tips of my nails, but it only took a single layer of Seche Vite to smooth out the surface. But as you can see here, there is a fair bit more polish on the ends of some of my nails! Although, to be fair, it looks huge in this picture, but it hardly feels like a bump at all when I run my fingers across it.

What do you do with your nails when you're feeling lazy? Leave them naked, paint with a single color, or just a simple art effect like this one?