Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tuesday Tutorial: Peter Pan Collar Nail Art

 Hey guys- I found another great look on pinterest and I put together a little tutorial for you to achieve this super cute manicure:


So we're going to complete this look in 6 easy steps:

1) First cover all your nails in one coat of your favorite strengthening base coat.  Then paint each nail two coats of your base color.  I chose a forest green cream, the example I found used plain old black- I think a dark shade will serve you best- but like always- make it your own :)  The base color I used was Green Machine by e.l.f.

2) Taking a q-tip and your nail polish remover, take off the polish in the shape of a half moon up at the cuticle area.


3) Using your dotting tool and white cream polish, paint two dots here on each nail.


4) Using your detailing brush and using the dots as the curve of the collar, extend the collar up to the neckline, or where the polish meets the bare portion of your nail.  You may need two coats to get this portion even and smooth.  The polish I used is White on the Spot by Milani.


5) Now take the smallest tip on your dotting tool and a gold metallic polish and paint three tiny dots down the center of the nail/shirt to emulate buttons.  I used Winter Affair from Color Club.


6)Finish up with your favorite top coat to smooth out the paint and add a nice finished look and there you have it.  Aren't these sweet?





There you have it :)  One of my favorite pieces in my closet is a little shirt featuring a peter pan collar and an tiny apple print.  It's such a sweet look.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you try it for yourself.

Have a great day! and remember your worth ladies!

Song of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBsRvthVhdw

Over and out.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Color Blocking with Striping Tape

I think this one was pinterest inspired, I forget where sadly now because it was a lovely design, but basically the only change I think this one has from it's inspiration is that I switched up the color placement on a few of the nails instead of keeping it consistent throughout.  It's all preference isn't it after all?



The colors used here are e.l.f. teal blue as the base, and China Glaze Tarty for the Party, Fancy Pants, and Sunday Funday over top.

Hope you enjoyed this look and that you try it for yourself.

Song of the Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GkKahJOCRs

Over and out.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Different Paths

Here's a quick look for you.  When I look at this mani on my hand I see paths crossing and it reminds me that we all have hiccups in life that can suddenly take us off the path we're on and in a completely different direction.  That has been the theme of my life these past 2-3 months for sure.




There is a gentle moving stream sponged on as the base of the nail art, but over top there is a jutting clear path taking a sudden change of course.  This wasn't the original intent of the mani- I just just playing with shapes and colors, but given my life the past bit it's easy for me to see that theme in the paint :)



This color combination was calming and beautiful on the nail and I enjoyed wearing it for a few days or so.  I hope you give it a try and find some peace even in the midst of the crazy ups and downs of life.

Colors used are Sinful Colors Nude, Sugar Rush, and Pistache; also Milani White on the Spot.

Song of the Day
Get up and get your groove on!!

Over and out. 

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Saturday Random Swatching: 4/27/2013

Ten more little treats today.

Sinful Colors Thimbleberry is a dark salmon/coral and is perfect for summer.  I can see sporting this on my toesies.  This is two creamy coats with easy application. A.





Sation You're My Laquer Charm is a sweet coral/pink with a subtle shimmer.  This collection from Sation had a lot of jellies and this was more of a cream/jelly combination- or "crelly."  This is three coats for opacity...almost. Super sweet and fun.  A.




Color Club Sparkle and Soar is from the Take Wing Collection full of glass fleck polishes that are absolutely gorgeous!!  I love me some orange polish and this one is so multi-dimensional- just look at it! :)  The only bummer about these fleck polishes is they are a messy clean-up.  They leave your fingers all sparkly, which isn't altogether horrible of course, but it does make it hard for swatching because your fingers are rather gleaming all over your cuticles and such.  Even with the lingering shimmer I can't give this polish any less than an A.




Milani Good Morning Sunshine is a frosty medium gold polish.  This is two coats, but could probably have gone with three to get it completely opaque.  I found this in a clearance bin so I'm not quite sure if it'll be easy to track down if you just have to have this one- but there are plenty of great golden frost or metallic polishes that I would probably grade higher than this one like from Color Club and Barielle.  I give this polish a B.




NYC Apple Fizz is a real beauty.  Creamy spring green, and fresh out for this 2013 Spring, this green applies evenly in two coats and has been great for nail art so far.  Loove it!  A.




Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Co-Bolt Blue is to die for.  This is one gorgeous coat.  That's why this brand is brilliant.  Look at the dimension and you get it all in one little coat.  Easy peasy, fast n lovely for days when you really don't have too much time but you still want showstopping nails. A.




Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Lav-endure is a new brand to me.  For the price, the bottles weren't as big as some brands so I hadn't tried them yet, but I picked up two and here's the first look at it.  This is two coats and the dainty pale lavender was smooth and easy to apply.  Still not really in my favorite ten brands, but I wouldn't balk at trying it again :)  Besides, this color is so lovely isn't it? A.




Sation I'm So Ogre It is a delicious gray cream from their Candylandia collection that I picked up almost in entirety because it offered such a wide, fun range of shades.  This is two creamy coats, less jelly than the rest from the collection which suited me just fine.  A.




Sinful Colors Stardust over Sinful Colors Sweet Tooth was such a delicious combination!  Swatched by itself, Stardust is rather obnoxious I think because it doesn't have a clear base but put over the right purple or even blue maybe, and it was stunning.  I didn't take it off for a few days which makes glitter hard to remove, but it was worth it.  I simply love this one.  This was almost my A+ polish, but since it's not too great on it's own, I downgraded it slightly.  A.




AEngland Tristam is a polish I had on my wishlist for a while.  Do you find yourself getting lost in the gorgeous abyss that is Tristam?  AEngland is such a fabulous brand, and you do pay a bit more for the quality, but I have never seen a polish swatch of one of their polishes I didn't love- so you run a pretty good bet with them.  I loove loove this one and hope to aquire more of it's sisters before too long... A+

Here's hoping you get some polish out lovelies!  Show off your gorgeous long fingers that do so much for everyone else!

Some music for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCIaj-oLi28

Over and out.






Friday, April 26, 2013

Zip It!

Another look for you featuring some super short nails from a couple weeks ago right after the bad rip I had.  Normally I like a little more canvas to work with, but I was bound and determined to show you ladies that you can still have a lot of fun with your nails when they're nubbins.

What we have here is a zippered mani :)





Pretty self-explanatory- I was basically just messin with colors and shapes and came up with this look.  It was fun to wear around and every time I looked down at it I wished I had either done every nail and made the zipper opening up on one nail :)  I guess that will have to be another day.

The polishes used here are Orly High on Hope and Sinful Colors Cotton Candy.
Let me know if you try this look out and I hope you do!

Here's another sweet jam for you. Enjoy! 
Listen through til at least 00:44
This song exhilarates and motivates me.  What do you think?

Over and out.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Movie and a Mani: Pretty in Pink

Hello again :)  Coming at you with another movie review and movie-inspired nail art.  This is another film that I had never before seen and since we've done a comedy and an action/adventure, I picked a romance this time.  Pretty in Pink is somewhat still in the romantic/comedy genre- so you can expect some humor, but mostly it's a teen, coming of age, first love, very 80's romance.  So this is a John Hughes film, released in 1986.  Some of it's brother and sister films are Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, Mr. Mom, Sixteen Candles, Some Kind of Wonderful, Christmas Vacation, and Curly Sue!  I mean, Hughes is a powerhouse!  Some of those films are definitely classics for me and I was really looking forward to this one joining the mix.



Cast
So as you can see, this film stars Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, and Jon Cryer.  They are joined by a great supporting cast including Annie Potts and James Spader.  I have to tell you that basically the best thing about this movie for me was Jon Cryer.  If it weren't for his fabulous role in this film I probably would never be interested in watching this film again.  Actually- no probably about it- the only reason I'd watch this film again would be for Annie Potts at 7:45, 59:44, and 1:01:45 and for Jon Cryer at many moments like at 36:50-38:34, but that being the best scene of the film, if you're going to watch any of it- don't miss that part. In fact, I didn't know Jon Cryer before watching this film, but his performance in it actually makes me want to check out a few episodes of Two and a Half Men to see if it's as excellent.

Overview
This movie is centered around three main elements: prom, first love, and social class distinctions.  A girl and boy from opposite sides of town fall in love and what ensues is their struggles with making a relationship work that their peers don't approve of.

Manicure
So there are some major fashion influences in this film.  Molly Ringwald's character is into making her own clothes and her scenes always have a lot of lace in them, weather its in what she's wearing or how her room is decorated, but I felt I had to incorporate that factor into the nail art.  Of course it had to include some pink, and I chose a really flushed pink, not too dainty, not too neon.  Finally I loved that Annie Potts character was rockin' some great black leather so I included that in the manicure as well.  Here's what I came up with:




The polishes I used for this look are Nicole by OPI Find Your Passion, Cult Nails Fetish, and Sinful Colors Easy Going.

Nail Art in the Movie
So once again, there's no nail art in the movie, but there is plenty, plenty of fashion.  Oh, the good old 80's, you bring us so much stylish brilliance! Actually...the incessant accessorizing and pattern upon pattern really gags me, but hey- our past is always with us :)

Conclusion
So, this film isn't as family-friendly as I was hoping it would be.  It seems like so often in the 80's they snuck in way too much language for even a PG-13 rating.  I would have had a much higher opinion of this movie had it left out the swearing.  Maybe the writer felt like since it's a movie about high school there had to be a significant amount of foul language to be truthful...but eh, it didn't benefit from it's inclusion.  That's the first thing I wanted to point out because had I known that before I watched the film, I probably wouldn't have.  Other than that- this movie was really only ok.  Like I said before, if it weren't for the some of the supporting cast the movie would have been rather dull. Sorry to say I can't recommend this movie whole-heartedly, but if you are a hardcore John Hughes fan then you may love it.  The themes of Pretty in Pink are good- including but not limited to- friendship, first love, believing in your own worth, ambition, and family.  So look for those elements in this film, but also be prepared for the language, sexual and drug allusions and waaaaay too much 80's crazy :)  This movie is on Netflix for instant streaming right now, and here is the trailer if you want to watch it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8vzL9Xdm_o.  Actually- this trailer has all the best parts of the film in it(including most of the best Jon Cryer scene) lol...so I guess you could just watch the trailer and be done with it =p

Unrelated Song of the Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp-YTDDyrNI
keep listening til at least 00:59 Dad :)

Hope you enjoyed this movie and a mani.
Over and out


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Weekly Wrap-Up: 4/23/2013

Well this last week we made a new residence home sweet home and so it's been crazy but we're definitely happy to be here.  A few views from inside our place:



Here's a close-up of the painting pictured in one of the above photos- an anniversary present from my honey-boo-boo who knows me so well.  This pic I took of it is in poor lighting and positioning and does not do the painting justice.  Was finally able to get it up on the wall so I can stare at it all day :) *Happy Sigh*


And a few of the little monkeys "helping" with all the unpacking and organizing that's slowly taking place :)












Big girl using utensils...time is flying too fast for mommy!  You feelin' me on that one ladies?



One of the only pictures mr. energy would hold still enough for me to take this week.

Here's mid-acrobatics on the couch again per usual... His elongated position over the couch makes him look like Smeagol- according to his brother- but don't worry, it's just his sweet Cirque Du Soleil-like skills and positioning makin' his ribs look that exaggerated.   



A real trendsetter...always coming up with new ways to incorporate undies into the ensemble.


That's us this week!  Hope yours has been truly blessed.  We are blessed for having you in our lives =D  Love and peace to you.  Until next week,

Over and out.