My DIY Cameo Decals

Hey! !  I’m psyched to show you this mani… it came out so cute!

I’m wearing Zoya Dove (grey), Orly Jealous, Much? (my mom’s FAVE mint color) and some cameo  decals I made using my MoYou London Pro 04 stamping plate.  If you wanna know how to make diy decals make sure to check out Chanfie’s tutorial here.

I don’t feel like typing much today.  So here’s another pic!

I hope you have a great remainder of your weekend.  <wiping a tear>  Do you get sad on sunday nights too?  😦

On the bright side, the premier of Sherlock episode 2 is on Masterpiece Theater tonight. 🙂  Oh…. and I almost forgot!  I had a productive/busy weekend and still managed to set up a nail station for myself!  I used to have all my nail stuff located in one spot (well, maybe it spread out a lil bit)… and even though it was organized, I still I had no dedicated place to paint my nails.  Sometimes I’d be at the counter, other times the couch, or the computer desk.  But now I have my own well-lit work space!  It’s tucked away in a little corner of the hub of the house… so that means I won’t feel isolated or far away.  I look forward to painting many a nail there!  

Copycat: Evanora’s Nails from Oz

2 copycat posts in a row?  I’m really on a roll!  So, I finally went to see that movie Oz the Great and Powerful.  All the hype from the OPI Oz Collection really piqued my interest and I was hoping to see some awesome nails in the movie.  Well, I totally loved it- but suprisingly, there was not much nails to look at.  There were only a few main female characters and Rachel Weisz’ character Evanora was the only one with a real mani!  So today I’m copycatting her!  I found the image of Rachel Weisz here at this source.

The one thing I noticed about her look was the very drab base color.  It was a dull murky grey, but still very sheer.  I think it’s closest dupe would probably be a coat of OPI My Pointe Exactly.  Since I don’t have a sheer polish like that I had to mix one up myself!  I really wish I had a paint palette or something to mix paint on… in the past I have used soda bottle caps.  But since I have none left I used a plastic spoon… which worked fine.  I mixed a sheer topcoat, a grey polish, and an off-white polish and stirred it up with a toothpick.  Then I used an old artist’s paintbrush to paint one coat of this concoction on each of my nails.  The result was pretty good- my basecoat was dismal and eerie.

For the black accents I decided to not use tape since that would make the shape too triangular.  Evanora’s black strips aren’t too exact so I decided to free-hand them.  I used NYC Nail Enamel in Black Lace and a nail art brush.  Then for the dark green/gold sparkly outline I had to mix up another franken in a spoon.  Hmmm maybe I need to buy more polish lol?  I mixed up some China Glaze Smoke and Ashes and Julie G My Private Palace.  I striped that on with a nail art brush along the rim of my black triangle.  I didn’t want to make the sparkle too evident, because honestly, I could barely see the glitter in the movie.  Then I topped it off with a nice thick coat of Seche Vite to give it a smooth and even surface.  Lastly, I buffed all my finished nails with the medium side of a nail buffing square just to tone down the glossiness a bit.

Now I have long and pointy wicked witch claws! Come here my dear… would you like an apple?  Buahahahahahaaaaaa!

While googling for Evanora images I found this simple tutorial by cutepolish.  If you’re tempted to try this creepy look check out here video here.

a mani makeover just for me!

Today I’m wearing one of my new spring polishes from the Zoya Lovely Collection called Jacqueline.  I just had to have this polish since it’s my namesake.  Jacqueline- that’s me!!

I applied my 3 coats (whenever products say they only needs 2 coats,  I always need 3 for some reason) and wore it for 24hrs.  The light yellow/nude shade is subtly beautiful… but it was missing something.  It just wasn’t quite Jacqueline-esque enough for me! So while watching the season finale of The Bachelor (woot!)  I fancied up my manicure and gave it a crafty touch.

On top of Jacqueline I painted on some chevron tips with Orly Faint of Heart.  This grey is one of my absolute faves- it looks like smooth wet concrete with the faintest dark specks hidden inside.  For a creme grey it’s very unique and the formula is superb.  Also, there’s something about yellow and grey together- I just love that combo!  I added some metal studs from Claire’s Boutique as a final embellishment to top it off.  Et voilà…..

This studded mani is sooo Jacqueline!  I hope you like it too!

Sparkling Leg-Warmers

Sephora by OPI – Sparkling Personality from the Betsey Johnson collection

I love waking up to find snow on the ground!  Now it really feels like the holiday season in NY !  That inspired me to do a wintery design. I’m calling this mani SPARKLING LEG-WARMERS!  I used two Sephora by OPI polishes- Sparkling Personality and Break A Leg-Warmer. (It’s kinda fun to name your manicures, don’t ya think?)

Sephora by OPI – Break A Leg-Warmer

I taped off my nail using little pieces of blue painters tape.  It worked pretty well!  If you’ve never tried it before- you should experiment with some!  Its really easy to work with and peels off like a dream.

I’m groovin on the color combo- I like how the grey base color really showcases the different pigments of the glitter.

Now that I’m done beautifying myself- I might go outside and shovel.  What would a mani be without a few well-earned dents and smooshes?!

snakeskin magnet swap-out

This is a follow-up to my snakeskin post from a few days ago! That green Sinfully Magnetic Snakeskin mani came out great! I really love the magnet that came with it. Ever since then I’ve had the urge to test out that snakeskin magnet on other polishes from my stash! Here are the two I chose….

Orly Magnetic FX Paint On Electron: This silver/grey polish was a little meh for me since the snakeskin design came out very subtle.  If you want to see more pics of this polish here’s a nice post by thePolishAholic.

Magnetic Force by Color Club Hipnotic: This magenta polish never disappoints.  I like the bright pink undertones that pop up when the magnet hits this polish!  Just a side note- this color is a dupe of Finger Paints Hipnotic.  Somehow I ended up with both bottles and they are identical!

That was a fun test- those polishes only needed one coat and also dried super quick.  Now I feel like mis-matching my magnets and trying them with all my different polishes!