Wherever the Chips May Fall

My nails are FUZZY!!!

I can't take credit for the fuzzy part- I was inspired by Jen over at The Polishaholic blog! The rest of the inspiration for this nail art came from being homesick, and from being bummed about missing out on CosmoProf North America right now in Las Vegas with all my other blogger friends!! *BUMMED*

In honor of all the lovely bloggin' ladies in Vegas right now, I made Vegas poker nails!!  I used green flocking for the felt, and poker chips to make the half-moons!

I used:

Green: CND Green Scene

Yellow: American Apparel Manila

Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor

Blue: MAC Breezy Blue

Black: American Apparel Hassid

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

Topcoat: Seche Vite

Next year.

Instant Gratification

I decided to something simple today- just a plain silver, satin-finish manicure. Im not sure how well it turned out- maybe this is why I do crazy nail art- I mean- look at it...it's horrible. Bumpy, uneven, and I mean, look at those brushstrokes. UGH. 

HA! Just kidding. While today's design/technique didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, I still thought it was a fun enough idea to share. 

I dunno about you folks, but I can't resist a good instant lottery ticket—my weakness? BINGO or crossword scratch-offs. :-D (I feel like I'm getting more entertainment for my money) Since they don't have lottery in Nevada, and obviously not in India, I only get to buy them when I'm visiting my home in Michigan, and I totally have to set a limit for myself. :-D They say that lottery is a tax on the poor, but I don't really play with the expectation of winning, it's more like a slot machine handle pull or a hand of blackjack for me... purely entertainment. When I was reminded the other day on Pinterest of a tutorial I saw a few years back about making your own scratch-off tickets, I knew that I had to do a scratch-off manicure! :)  To make the scratch-off finish- all you need is 1 part dish soap and 2 parts silver (or any metallic) acrylic paint. 

Granted, this is kind of a single-use and VERY impractical manicure, but you know me....

I used:

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

Blue: American Apparel American Denim

Dark Grey: Nubar Stronghold

Topcoat:  Seche Vite

Scratch off 3 nail polish symbols and you're a winner!! 

We Can't Stop Here...This is Batman Country!

Holy mix of pop culture, Batman!  For those of you wondering WTF I'm talking about... yesterday was Hunter S. Thompson's birthday (if he were still alive), and I'm sure anyone with a pulse and TV knows that tomorrow is the release of the latest and greatest Batman flick–The Dark Knight Rises. To understand why these two events work so beautifully together, one must read (or at least WATCH) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. From the book:

The car suddenly veered off the road, and we came to a sliding halt in the gravel. I was hurled against the dashboard. My attorney was slumped over the wheel. "What's wrong?" I yelled. "We can't stop here. This is bat country!"

–Raoul Duke, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson

You NEED to read the book.

Anyway, I've had this Ralph Steadman (the artist who illustrated Fear & Loathing)—slash—Fear and Loathing idea on my list forevvvvver (Chris is a major major major fan), and I figured what better way to do it than a Bat Country/Batman mashup, much like my Dexter/Dexter mani named He's Got a Way With Murder. In that manicure I took the Dexter (the beloved serial killer) logo, and an illustration of him in the style of Dexter's Laboratory (the cartoon) and combined them to celebrate the beginning of a new season of Dexter. (Speaking of Dexter, could you believe the Season 6 cliffhanger?! Season 7 premiere can't come soon enough!)

If you're not familiar with the art of Ralph Steadman, it's messy and well... slightly psychotic. (and creepy awesome) The best way to understand it is by seeing this:



I did the Ralph Steadman bats on all the fingers except the middle finger, where I did the batman logo in the style of Steadman, with splatters/drips.

So there you have it. An explanation of WhyTF I  did this manicure. And now, without further ado, the manicure you've all been waiting for...

And who could resist doing a Fear and Loathing manicure without taking a picture of it WITH the book. This is a First Edition of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the first gift I ever gave to Chris!

I used:

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

Black: American Apparel Hassid

Topcoat: Seche Vite

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold...

Martian Molecules

Ever had one of those days where you start with one idea, and end up with something else? This is definitely one of those days. I started off with an ombre ombre! (Meaning that I did an ombre on each nail, and an ombre across the hand!) Now don't get me wrong, I totally liked how it looked, but I felt like it was missing something...so out came the teal. I'm not sure where this design came from in the depths of my brain, but it looks like some sort of alien DNA or space molecule structures or something. (Hence the post name) :-P

I'll be honest, I did that snazzy technique for doing sponge gradients, but this one was a bugger. The green wasn't quite opaque enough over the cream, so I had to go over and over and over and over it. (and over it again one more time) I DO like this idea of an ombre ombre though. :-D (plus it's fun to say)

I used:

Cream: American Apparel Cotton
Dark Green: American Apparel Hunter
Medium Green: Zoya Shawn
Light Green: Zoya Shawn mixed with American Apparel Cotton
Teal: American Apparel Peacock
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Richly Indian

So yeah, not sure if you've heard...but I currently live in India. (you know, that country you call for tech support?) I know that I haven't done a lot of India-inspired nail art, so I decided to do today's design for you! I'll admit, I first did this design on my friend Ruby, the most adorable girl that used to work in my office (I'm so sad she doesn't anymore). She's 24 years old, but looks about 14, and unbelievably to me has 2 kids!! She would always joke with me and say things were supaaah. (super). She's honestly one of my favorite people in India, she cracks me up! (and I'm not the only one- everyone likes Ruby!). She was going to her 'native' (this is how people here refer to their hometown) for her birthday, and wanted me to paint her nails, so I did! This was the design that I did for her, and I liked it so much, I decided to do it on myself.

I used:

Brown: OPI Suzi Likes Cowboys
Gold: China Glaze 2030
Coral/Orange: Lotus Herbals Orange Alert
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Jailhouse Rock!

I think I could do an entire year of black and white nail art and never get bored. The possibilities are really endless. After yesterday's manicure, I still had all the grey polishes as well as the white and black polishes on my nail table, whom I affectionately call Dave. (OK, IKEA named him Dave, but I didn't change it, because who wants a nail table with an identity crisis?!) I guess I probably could've pulled out some colors and done something different, but this idea popped into my head as I was doing some things around the house, and I couldn't seem to shake it!

I decided to try my hand (again) at a tape manicure (I generally suck at them!). Well, I discovered why I always had such a hard time with them before- SHITTY TAPE!  When I was in the US, I grabbed a roll of real Scotch tape, and it seriously worked beautifully.... and then I messed it up by splattering it. (On purpose, I swear!!)  I'm actually pretty pleased with this manicure- yeah, the lines aren't perfectly straight and even, but I think that along with the splatter, it works.

I used:

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Black: American Apparel Hassid
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Something I learned tonight that I want to pass on to you: never mix box Mac n Cheese, hot sauce, and ketchup... it's a recipe for disaster (and heartburn).

50 Shades of...

...grey?  more like 9. (At least in this manicure)

No, I haven't joined the 50 Shades of Grey craze, and am still undecided whether I want to bother. I hear good stuff and bad stuff, but more people that hate the series than people that love the series. I know that eventually, like all the other 'crazes', I'll end up reading them out of sheer curiosity. (Twilight, I'm looking at you) I'm so weak. WEAK. Why can't there be a craze over historic biographies? or maybe books full of bread recipes? I'd be on top of that shit. (I'd be a total book hipster and love that shiz before it went 'mainstream', ya know?)

Anyway, I digress. This manicure is dotting tool-riffic. As in, besides the base coat and cleaning up my cuticles, it's the only tool I used. I wanted to do a dot gradient manicure, and I originally planned to do it in color, but decided to scale it down... grayscale, that is. I figured after my Jagger-icure, I should do something a bit easier. Surprisingly, though technically 'easier', this took far more time than ole Mick. Funny how that works out, right?

What do you think- do you like seeing simpler manicures on here from time to time? Sometimes I feel 'weird' doing that, because I've set a precedent of doing wacky, weird, and detailed stuff for so long. Let me know, because I'm curious what you guys think!

I used (from lightest to darkest):

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On!
butter LONDON Billy No Mates
Zoya Dove
Orly Mirror, Mirror
FingerPaints Stunning Stilettos
Barielle U Concrete Me
American Apparel Factory Grey
Nubar Stronghold
American Apparel Hassid

Seche Vite topcoat