HANDS, NAILS, ETC.

A Tiffany-blue shade came in the mail today, will try on the weekend. :)

Wearing Butter London Chimney Sweep with Nails Inc. Electric Lane top coat. Sparkly!

And Illamasqua's Phallic (lol) on my toes.

Wow, only the best for you! I have not yet succumbed to any Illamasqua polishes but their "rubberized" finish is extremely tempting.

I should say, today's polish job is China Glaze Desert Sun, with China Glaze I'm Not Lion on the tips. Finished with two coats of SV topcoat to seal the glitter in.

I am intriguied by LLLamasqua's polishes too but have never tried any. I saw a gorgeous Nail's Inc shade on a blog earlier.

I am in love with Berlin there done that from the OPI Germany collection right now. It's the perfect shade of grey.

I keep thinking I want to buy more Illamasqua polishes but then when I'm at the store I think "these shades are so similar to ones I already have." They do last a decent amount of time though.

I like the names of the Nails inc. polishes.

Dotting tools on a slow boat from China (literally) so I used the tip of a bobby pin for this. China Glaze "For Audrey" with Essie Blanc and a crappy mini of bargain yellow.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Dots_zps28f92695.jpg

i am really envious of all you ladies and your prettily shaped nails

I organized my polishes today. How did I get so many? Yikes. Half are those mini ones, but still.

Can't take credit for the shape of my nails, the lady at the salon does the cuticles and cleans them up for me. In between visits, I just change the polish.

The best manicurist in the world couldn't make my nails look like that

My nails are so messed up. THANKS, WORK.

ooh those dots are so fun!!

i didn't have time to paint my nails all week, but i painted them yesterday afternoon and then went to a little dinner party at a new friend's house. she was like 'omg your nails! you should be a hand model!" i told her that the brightness of the orange polish was obv doing its persuasive job.

My first attempt at leopard print! I am less than fully convinced by it, I need to look at more actual leopards to get a better feel, but it's a nicely showy option.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/Glitterleopard.jpg

The pinky especially did not turn out, I need to space that one differently in future. I think you have to experiment to know how many spots there is room for on each nail and still make them look "random."

Looks pretty good to me!

I want to use these pink and black damask print nail decals I got SO BAD but I have a client meeting on Monday and that seems like a bad idea. I can totally get away with them when it's just a normal work week, though.

I've been so tempted by the decals in the stores lately! They come in some very nice patterns.

They can be a reward for surviving your client meeting at your New Job(tm). How awesome is it to be a Real Lawyer who can still wear nail decals??

just free-handed some grey tips on dark plum nails - sweet colour combination!
my left-handed job looks 'charming.' practice practice...

UGH my nails and toes are DISGUSTING because I haven't been able to get to the salon.,. and I won't for some time because I am broke(ish). How can I make these hideous raptor claws look okay without spending too much money?

Oh nooes! A manicure here is only $12-16. Is that not possible where you are?

I am in love with Berlin there done that from the OPI Germany collection right now. It's the perfect shade of grey.

Bought it and totally in agreement with this.

Am thinking might soon go with a bare nail and red tip. Because...because.

All red at the moment.

Laurel - I'm so glad you like it! I really think it's just the best grey I've found. Speaking of grey, I got a Shellac mani last Saturday and here it is just now. This is therefore day 5 and it still looks totally brand new:

http://i.imgur.com/9OBcR.jpg

You can't tell the color because I can't get it in good lighting but it's a very light grey that I like a lot (tho obv not as much as Berlin There Done That). Got Shellac because I'm goign away for 5 days starting tomorrow and it's longevity is good for trips. I heard that you can paint and do nail art on top of Shellac so when I get bakc next week I'm going to try to do BTDT tips. I think the grey on grey might be pretty neat.

please excuse typos and incorrect "it's" and whatnot - I am multitasking and all caffeined up right now

I guess I always get Shellac manis so I forget a regular one is pretty damn cheap.

painted my nails for the first time in...well a long time...purpley black with silver crackle over top

dunno that I like the crackle. Out of the corner of my eye it looks like nail fungus, lol.

but I'm going to pull out my polishes and play again this weekend.

No photos bc I am terrible at nailpolish and my nails look like a 5 year old's lol

ooh but any recommendations for good low-price nail polish brands are welcome.

Bang for my buck, I really like the Sally Hansen ones I've got! I forget which particular line I purchased but I can check at home.

Crackle coats are cool, and you don't have to worry about the surface quality! You can put a nice gloss topcoat over them to bump up the shine & make it look a little less chalky/more professional.

Right after I said I would go bare nails, I scrabbled them across a hardcover book and broke one. Crazy-glued back together and buffed it down but I can't expose the broken part now. O well.

:/

I'm really not into crackle. It just looks strange to me and not in a good way.

yeah I'm not convinced

I've got a few essie polishes and the colors are good but not very opaque--can take like 3 coats to get full coverage. Not very effective.

In love with China Glaze and OPI tbh.

OPI seems p good, I've seen quite a few on blogs that are one-coaters which is v appealing to moi

krazy glue?!

"Hard as Nails XTreme Wear" is the one coater that I got for $2.50 (on sale) - I forgot I could GIS!

Yeah! It didn't totally break off, it just cracked on one side, so I glued the crack together and smoothed the surface and painted over it.

must paint:

http://www.blogto.com/upload/2012/10/2012103-nail-art-toronto.jpg

o

m

g

AAAAHHHHH@@@!!!!

how do you even do that? <--- nail-art challenged

Right?? RIGHT??

VG they sell tools that you can use to make tiny lines.. I've also seen suggestions you could use a mechanical pencil or toothpick.. pour some black polish onto tin foil, dip nib in, pretend you are old timey person with quill and ink? I'm not great at it.. this girl must've had someone else do it IMO.. or is just amazing

dayum

Yeah looking at it I think it's free-hand! I thought stencils, because the hard part is getting the ends of the narrow lines squared off, but the letter shapes are SLIGHTLY too irregular to be stencils. Like the A. Being freehand painting makes it even cooler!

It's pretty masterful! A stencil is not a bad idea though - an exacto knife and masking or painter's tape could get that job done, I bet!

Pre-made stencil and nail pen, I'll bet.

The image was from the top of an article about nail salons in Toronto, but they didn't say if it had been done by one of them. I found this - not a bad idea tbh: http://manicures-pedicures.wonderhowto.com/how-to/make-nail-art-stencils-0132784/

Those nails...so badass!

xpost wow that's a cool technique! That'd be harder to do with letters though - less 'real estate' to pick up with the toothpick