Pastel Snake Skin

For this manicure:

2 coats Pure Ice Superstar!

Sponged areas of various pastel colours

Image plate: BM-215

Stamp Polish: Claire's Black Hole

1 coat Essie Shine of the Times

Top: Seche Vite

Things are insanely busy on out little acreage this summer.  The boys are very active.  Lots of general upkeep.  Gardening and keeping my nails pretty is a big deal!  I just love watching all the perennials burst into bloom!  Still waiting on the Peonies (my absolute favorite).  They are so lush, voluptuous and heavy...

I also have a show of my inkle woven and tapestry pieces at a local gallery/coffee shop and am preparing for the reception! Very cool!  I am doing some weaving demonstrations.

What's your favorite summer pastime?

Thanks for peeking!
♥
JQ

Fishy Experiment

For this manicure:

Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat

1 coat Essie Vermillionaire

Sponge gradient: SH Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed and WnW French White Creme

Stamped using Essie Good as Gold (Image from XL B)

1 coat Essie Shine of the Times

Seche Vite

I am really loving adding a coat of sparkle/flake-y on top of stamping.  Here I was hoping I could add to the fishiness of the manicure.  I still want to work on this idea, because it holds multiple possibilities! I was aiming for a Koi fish manicure but hubby didn't go straight to fish scales, just saw "vintage", so I'm not sure if this translates.  I might try with a more scale-like stamp next time!

Thank you for taking a peek!  What's on your nails?  

♥

JQ

TGIF Rainbow Gradient

 OMGRAINBOWSPARKLYGOODNESS!!!!!

It is SO obvious that my cuticles just plain angry with me, and on top of that, the blue stained them, but I couldn't NOT post this manicure win. This one makes my heart go boom every time I look at it.  And the shimmer adds a real kick that I couldn't capture completely in the photos.  

DRIVING HAZARD. 

I wish I was more pro-star at the care and maintenance of my hands.  I have taken to using cuticle oil morning and night so see if that helps.  So far no flare ups with this Orly Argan Cuticle Oil!

Base: Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat

White underlay: 1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On.

Sponge (cuticle to tip): duri cosmetics Kinky Pleasures,SH Xtreme Wear Going Green, SH Insta-Dri Lightening, SH Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed, Essie Lacquered Up

Stamp:SH Hard as Nails Black Heart

Plate: Cheeky XL B

Sparkle: SH Diamond Strength  Diamonds

Top: Seche Vite

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!  
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

JQ

NOTD: Barielle Mint Ice Cream Cone and Nail Art

For this manicure I used a base of Seche Clear, and 2 coats Barielle Mint Ice Cream Cone, then a wide stripe of Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Sun Kissed and a thinner stripe of Essie Little Brown Dress, then once it was dry I masked off all but a thin strip of brown and stamped using BM 214 And GOSH Metallic green.  Topcoat: Seche Vite.

I aimed so that one stripe of the full nail design transferred onto the brown.  Definitely more successful on my left hand.  My right looks smudgy! 

My camera doesn't do yellow tones well, so this is not an accurate representation of Barielle MICC.  These look a bit washed out, to be honest.
 

Thanks for checking out my blog!  Happy painting!

♥

 JQ

Cheeky Image Plate Review

GUYS. I got some seriously CHEEKY mail a week and a half ago. ;p

I splurged and ordered these fabulous rectangular nail plates from Cheeky.  AND THEY ARE SO BADASS.

I am a Bundle Monster gal.  I have 6 Konad plates from when I first started and the rest are all BM. I LOVE THEM. 

But a good friend and fellow nail head let me in on the fact that you could get these other image plates through amazon.ca  And that they had pretty much a whole plate full of PAISLEY. I got 8 plates. The price has even gone down slightly from when I bought these, but my order averaged to less than 10$/plate, which I think is pretty reasonable.  I did the math, counting all the images over 8 Cheeky plates. There are 563.  In the 3 BM sets there are 440. I also took the average images per BM set.  (140, 150, 150) which is about 146.5.  Then divided the number of images in the Cheeky set by 145.5 to see how many BM sets it is the equivalent to. 3.84.  Anyways.  I'm not a math wiz by any stretch, but that was enough to tell me I got a pretty decent deal. SO. PICTURES.

The packaging was great.  Inside the bubble wrap lined envelope, each plate had a little sleeve of bubble wrap.  I got a cute little card congratulating me.  It's a party!  A nail art party! 

 

They all had that nice protective blue film that just peels away, and a really cool touch is that each plate is backed with pink plastic and it extends beyond the plate, so it gives a really nice finish, while keeping your paws, the table, and the other plates from getting scratched.

Shiney!

 

Another thing I really appreciate is the size of the full nail images.  They are nice and big! Big enough that I can select the area to paint and transfer to the nail. Every full nail image has one concave edge that makes them very versatile;  It eliminates the need to have separate images for french tips, and gives me the option for a moon manicure effect as well.I have decent sized fingernails, and I really dislike trying to double stamp.  It's so hard to get a good seam. 

For reference here is a picture of the large Cheeky images next to a larger BM image and the original BM full nail image:

I also like that a lot of the images have reflections so you can stamp the other paw, or mess around with mirroring.



Not only do they do reflections, but also a few different sizes of the same image.  So you can do that darn pinky finger the same as the others, or give the thumb a big one.  :)

 

 Thanks Cheeky!



I'm a fan!



Here are a few pics of the manicures I have done so far:

 

The very first one was the celtic image.  I absolutely HAD to find out what that looked like.

Base: China Glaze Concrete Catwalk 

Stamp: GOSH Metallic Green.  

Plate: Cheeky D

Top: Seche Vite



Manicure #2 kinda reminded me of circuit boards.
Base: Finger Paints Go Van Gogh
Stamp: Essie Good as Gold
Plate: Cheeky B
Top: SV



 Manicure #3 was subtle. I only got a quick shot in the evening, but irl it looked way prettier.
Base: Sally Hansen CSM: Wet Clay
Stamp: Billie Cosmetics Reign
Plate: Cheeky B
Top: SV



Currently!

Base: Sponge gradient OPI Off With Her Red, CR #89, Billie Cosmetics Orange
Stamp: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart
Plate: Cheeky A
  Top: SV


Thank you so much for popping by!  Happy painting!

♥
JQ

Golden Kisses Valentine Mani

 Happy Valentine's Day!

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 Base: 2 coats Orly Decades of Dysfunction

Sponge tips: Sinful Colors Vacation Time

Full nail: 1 Coat Sinful Colors Glass Pink

2/3 nail: Cover Girl Pink Twinkle

Stamp Polish: Essie Good as Gold 

BM Plates: BM02, BM03, BM-303 (large thumb Kiss)

Top: Seche Vite

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Thanks for stopping by!  May your Valentine's Day be filled with the loving company of your friends, family, and partners.

Give yourself some TLC today!  You deserve it!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

JQ

Halloween Skittles

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Thumb: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White with bat images from BM-213 and BM13 stamped using Gosh Nero. Dots are Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar.

Pointer: China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, stamped with BM-223 and SH Whirlwind White, dotted eyes with SC Sugar Sugar, and outlined with a black striper so that only a thin line of CG Concrete Catwalk is visible around the ghostie.

Middle: CG Concrete Catwalk stamped using BM-225 and SH Whirlwind White. Holo sparkles in the eyes taken from a mini bottle of Kleancolor 188 Black Out.

Ring: Essie Vermillionaire, stamped using BM-222 and Gosh Nero. Dotted Eyed With SH Insta-Dri Lightening.

Pinkie: CG Concrete Catwalk, stamped using BM13 and SH Whirlwind White. One large silver hex glitter for the abdomen.

Top Coat: Seche Vite!


Guys. My camera is falling apart. I am sorry for this grainy quality. A new camera is on my Christmas wishlist.


My son and I went nuts yesterday making cooOOOooooOOOkies. He's particularly pumped about the punkins.


I have been gone for so long! Things have seriously been CRAYZAY BIZZAY.
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Cheers!

♥

JQ

Suit Up!

Hello Jellos!

Sooo I had to file my nails down to super nubbies. I am--in a haphazard way-- learning how to play guitar! But the really nice thing is that most of my full nail images will fit my nail now to that's a plus. And the guitar is coming along nicely! I hope to be able to play and sing my first song (Wheat Kings by The Tragically Hip) before the end of the month!

Lately I've been really expanding from just my nails to a bit of make-up and a fancy suit. I got all dressed up the other day and painted my nails to match my new outfit! It's a super cute brown casual skirt and jacket. There is a slight woven look to the fabric that I thought I could mimic with a stamped plaid.


And you get a good idea of how the plaid matches the texture of the fabric here:


Also my accent finger is painted to go with my shirt!

BM03 and Konad M60 were used to create this manicure. For all fingers except the ring finger I used 2 coats of Essie Little Brown Dress, and for the plaid, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Wet Clay. For the ring finger 2 coats of a frankened ivory creme, sponged on a bit of Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta, and Sinful Colors Vacation Time in opposing corners of the nail. Then stamped the flowers using Essie Little Brown Dress over Vacation Time, and OPI Off With Her Red atop Like Butta. Did a few criss-crossed with Wet Clay, and filled in some areas with tiny dots of Off With Her Red and Little Brown Dress to tie the nail in with my shirt.

And...okay this is a picture of my feet. 2 coats Sinful Colors Vacation Time and a coat of KleanColor V.I.P. (ooooh sparklies) and my Shooooes lalala...


I wouldn't really consider myself a fashion blogger, but I do enjoy making manicures to match my outfits, and have been dabbling in *gasp* makeup. :P What does everyone think if I do a post here and there to show the complete look?

Thanks for stopping by everyone!
Hearts off the charts!
JQ

Fish Nets, Pink Skullies and a Guest Mani!

FISH NETS:


2 coast Essie Lacquered Up and stamped using Gosh Nero and Sally Hansen Chrome Sizzlin' Gold with image plates bm-209 and bm04. One red rhinestone for the fish's eye and a coat of Seche Vite.


If I remember correctly the fish caught in the fishnets was at the behest of my friend Naomi. :) She's got a whimsical side.


PINK SKULLIES:


2 coats of Revlon Orchid and--forgive me--I don't remember for sure, but I think it was Sally Hansen HD Digital to achieve the pink on pink skully action (bm-211). Then I went over the skull on my ring finger using OPI My Private Jet. One coat Seche Vite.



GUEST MANI:



My friend Naomi came all the way down from the Yukon last month just to visit Moi! I felt so special! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ...sooo we painted her nails in skittles with polishes that matched the colours in her camouflage pants. Then we tied them all together using pink retro flowers made with dotting tools and a toothpick.


Again, forgive me, but I don't remember FOR SURE. I'm pretty sure the thumb=Essie Little Brown Dress, pointer=Joe Moss, middle=Essie Sew Psyched, ring=franken pale green, pinkie=franken ivory. I think the flowers were Revlon Orchid and a franken lighter pink. I then meticulously placed five or six bullion beads in the center of each flower and sealed everything with a coat of Seche Vite. It was fun spoiling her with a really time consuming manicure. The results were awesome.

We also did a Harry Potter manicure for her the last day she was here, because she was on her way to Vancouver to watch HP and the Deathly Hollows part 2 with some friends...but alas I forgot to get a photo. It was inspired by this manicure by Emerald Sparkled. She makes AWESOME manicures ALL the time. Check her stuff out!

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry it's been so long since my last post!
♥
JQ

Orange Crush

Greetings Earthlings!



For this manicure I used 2 coats of a frankened cream colour, except on my ring fingers--2 coats of Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Sun Kissed.


For the stamps on the cream nails I used BM02 kiss image and Essie Vermillionaire. For the Accent fingers I used BM-209 fishnet image and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White. I used a dotting tool and Color Club Si Vous Please! on a few of the fishnet holes for a scale effect, as well as in between the kissy lips for a bit of pow.

Thanks for stopping by! I was recently tagged to show some images of my stash and how I store it all! I took the pics today and hope to post it soon!
♥
JQ

Essie Limited Addiction

Hey all!

Just a quick post of my NOTD from about a week ago (I am so so behind and busy with crafting stuff) but I found Essie Limited Addiction and Orly Naughty or Nice on super duper sale at a local drug mart. I barely got home and peeled the orange sticker off of the Essie before I had to apply it. I just feel sooo sexy when the nails are red red red. :P


In the photos the cuticles look pretty red but in RL there wasn't a hint of it. I was quite pleased with how cleanly I applied it, not getting any onto my cuticles as I SO often do with red polish.


Of course the sun has been behind clouds for ever here. So this is the brightest pic I got. It looks like a cherry red jelly in the bright light but when you get indoors or into shade it becomes this deep rich vampy red. Great deal. I'm in love.

I promise to be back soon with some more nail art pics!
Thanks for stopping by!
♥
JQ

2 Christmas Manicures before I catch my flight!

Joyeux Noel!

This was last week's festive manicure! My take on Christmas holly and wreaths. I painted a white base, then stamped using my new Apple Green Konad special polish, then painted around it all with Essie's Lacquered Up. A few red dots for the holly berries!



My new friend Alikat came over for a manicure Monday and we had a nice evening visiting and painting and stamping. :) This is the Chrismtas mani I'll be wearing for the trip home! Hopefully it will get the gals in my family inspired for their own manicures! There are a few slumber parties in the works. :)


I was inspired by PHD 's red manicure with snowflake so I used it on my ring fingers. :)

Merry Christmas everybody! I'll be back again with blog posts in mid-January!
<3
JQ

Black and Red Reverse French

With rhinestones! :P


Base - Essie Lacquered Up 2 coats
Tips - Claire's Black Hole 1 coat
Detail - Kiss Nail Art striper polish in white plus Claire's Snow Ball with dotting tool for flower and a dot on each tip. I used the toothpick technique to draw down the petals. I finished off with red rhinestones.
Top Coat - Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip



Thanks for stopping by. And thank you for all your comments!
Later gaters!
JQ