Coral and Gold....

Just another mani Monday

Just Another Mani-Monday!

Hey! Hi! Hello!  Oh MY!  I have missed blogging so much.  I cannot believe that it has been a month since I last visited my own page! I have neglected it so much.  Over the past month, I have not been in my right state of mind, and have taken some much needed time off.  But I'm "BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN"!  Que cheesy music here :) 

So, what better way to come back swinging than........Another Mani Monday!?! 

 

Yes, there's my sneak peek!  Before I could get here, I had some MAJOR damage control to attend to!  You see...about 2 weeks ago my adorable daughter Izobel asked me to take her life jacket off.  Her little mouth chattering away.  I reached down as I always do, and.....SNAP!  Broken nail.  Not just a little broken, broken off down to the quick, then partially down into the nail bed itself!  HOLY CRAP that hurt! 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of her after I got her all cleaned up as best I could.  Oh sweet mother in heaven how this one hurt!  After I had pulled myself together from the flood of tears the poured out of my eyes, I had to figure out how to fix this!  Calling on my girlfriends for support all I was told was something about layering nail glue and an empty tea bag and somehow it's mended.  Off to the Internet I was!  Fortunately I was told how to fix it, relatively the same way on every site I visited.  Easy enough, off to the surgery room!

 

 

 

I have gathered my supplies for this procedure :)  My 3 sided file, Sally Hansen's clear for take off, Kiss brush on nail glue, a tea bag, small scissors, and tooth pics to flatten down the tea bag.....you'll see in a moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Cut the top off the tea bag, and empty the contents.  Cut a shape to match your natural nail leaving room to trim excess to get a precise fit.

 

 

 

 

Coat your entire nail with the glue.

 

 

 

Now apply the tea bag and press down.  Now trim away any excess paper from the tea bag so you get a snug fit.

 

 



 







 Quickly apply another coat of the glue, and press down firmly using the toothpicks to push down any air bubbles.  I tucked the ends under my nail to provide extra support and applied an additional layer of glue under the nail as well. 

 

 

 

 

There ya go!  She's all mended!  Now from here I really babied my nails.  I wore rubber gloves to do the dishes, and I didn't use any nail polish at all.  Once the nail had grown out a bit I did feel a bit more comfortable.  As soon as the breakage was away from the nail bed I was finally able to pain the lil' ladies again!  It had been so long.

 

 

 

 

 

I knew I was on the look out for something super girly, and found this combo inspiration via Pinterest.  I had to customize my polishes a bit, which I have been experimenting with.  I had a bright pink, so I added a bit of white to tone it down a bit.  Then for the glittery gold.....now there is always my troubles.  Glitter always looks far better on everyone else, than it does on me. I can never seem to get it right.  This time I tried something new!  I started with my base coat, once that was dry I applied a layer of clear polish.  Immediately I dunked my finger into a bottle of gold glitter from the dollar store and pulled it out.  Using a tooth pick, I scraped away the loose glitter, and pushed down any flakes that looked loose.  After it had dried, I applied a layer of top coat in clear.  Viola! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty happy with these ladies if I do say so myself.  Now if I can just stay onto of my blogging obligations better.  Self Discipline!  I must get better!!

 

 





 

 

Turquoise Nails!

Turquoise Nails!  Not long ago I made a vow to myself that I would spend a little more time on myself.  One of the ways I do that home Mani's.  It's nice to take the time to do it myself.  I don't have to worry about the nail tech cutting my cuticles to short, or digging the file into my finger. 

I start by removing my nail polish.  Personally I use non acetone remover, and I think it's just personal preference.  I use a homemade hand scrub that I will share with you later.  I use my four sided file to buff and shape my nails.  I always have one that gets chipped through the week.  I'm horribly careless with my nails, and tend to use them as tools.  I give them a quick rinse under warm water and pat dry.  ON TO THE FUN PART!

I love natural stones!  All of my favorite pieces are natural stones.  As a child, my father wore two rings, his wedding ring, and this sterling silver ring in the shape of a horse shoe, with a large turquoise stone in it.  I would sit on his lap and run my fingers over the silver and the soft coolness of the stone.  As I grew up, my mother loved diamonds, and I remember going into her jewelry box (sneaking I should say).  I would open up her maroon snakeskin jewelry box, where she kept her rings, and they were always diamonds.  As an adult, I keep the diamond for my wedding ring (even though we are considering changing that as well) and fill my other's with some of my favorites.  My large turquoise knuckle ring is what inspired this weeks nail makeover!

I always start with a base coat.  I really like Sally Hansen's Clear for Take Off.  It leaves a really adhesive base coat for further layers.  Then I put on my base coat, I used Wet N' Wild's I need a refresh-MINT.

 

 

 

 

 

After I finished laying the base coat, I allowed it to dry and applied a clear topcoat.  I like Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails.  Once completely dry I laid out a piece of wax paper, and gathered several pieces of plastic wrap.  I rolled up the plastic wrap in balls, and applied a layer of Forever21's Emerald Green.  I dabbed the excess on the wax paper before stamping it over my nails. 

 

 



 

 

 

 

After that layer was completely dry, I used the same technique only using Finger Paints Cerulean Seascape.

 

 

 

 

I finally dabbed a q-tip into nail polish remover, removing as much of the polish from my skin as possible.  I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails and called it good! 

 

 

 

 

I'm really happy with how these turned out, and was excited to share!  My nails have taken a serious beating because of all the home renovation we have been doing. I've been considering trying out a shellac at the local salon, but truthfully don't seem to have the time to do that.

 

What do you think?

Nuts for Nails!

"I believe in manicures.  I believe in overdressing.  I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick.  I believe in pink.  I believe happy girls are the pretties girls.  I believe that tomorrow is another day, and....I believe in miracles." Audrey Hepburn

I simply adore Audrey, and Hollywood's "Golden Age".  And cue Asteroid Galaxy Tour's  "Golden Age" now! Ah, I'm getting sidetracked before I got started again! You'll have to excuse me, I took an extra long weekend with the kids and Chris so I've been lounging around, and may or may not have had a tad to much wine tonight.  I may have said this before, but I am a big Pinterest fan!  Recently I have given in to those pins.....those pins that are nail art!

I consider myself a reasonably crafty lady.  I love crafting, and seeing other people's creations inspire me to no end.  I have never felt comfortable experimenting with nail art.  I love polishes, and wearing bold colors and have tried those press on polish designs that have flooded the market.  I wish that i had the time to get manicures all the time, but I don't see that happening any time soon.  I don't want to go through summer with boring ol' one dimensional plain Jane's!  I want "SPECTACULAR NAILS"!

Here's where pinterest comes in.  If you are a "pinner" then you are welcome to check out my nailsNailsNAILS!!! board or follow me!  I listed some of my favorites!

These beautiful nails I found over at thebeautydepartment.com I love her tutorial, and it seems simple enough....now I just have to find that perfect blue color!

How hot are these, ultra-feminine nails!  I love the pink with the white glitter SO PRETTY!  Nicole over at Nail Polish Wars put these together, and I am really excited to try this out!

I really love this technique, I'm not sure where this pic is from, I found it on Pinterest, but the link was broken.  If it's yours please e-mail me your link and I direct all credit where it's due!  I am really excited to see what combo's I can come up with!

 

These look absolutely amazing to me!  The amazing gals over at Hey, Nice Nails! have put together an amazing photo tutorial!  After reading through it myself, there were a few points that I needed to see done, so I was able to find a video put on YouTube.com uploaded by SimpleLittlePleasures of an amazing neon water marble nail video here.   

WOW!  I cannot wait to try this!  The Nail Buff always creates amazing designs and I am really excited to give this one a try!!  I think it may take some time but could really be worth it! 

Well these are my inspirations as I take on the new adventure that is Nail Art!  What do you think?  Is it worth it to do your Mani at home compared to paying $30+ to have it done somewhere else?  Who knows, maybe I'll start a new trend.....Mani Mondays!