Manicure refresh: Pure Ice Free Spirit

Greetings fellow earthlings with nail blings!

Manicure refresh!

 

This is a manicure from a few months ago, when I picked up a bottle of Pure Ice Free Spirit.  I wore 2 coats of Free Spirit alone for 4 days and then repaired the manicure with a sponge gradient using Orly Shockwave, Revlon Heavenly and---it was either Cover Girl Boundless Color City Lights or China Glaze Fairy Dust.  (I love them both and want to paint them all over EVERYTHANG).

Topped with Seche Vite!

  

I LOVE THAT GREEN.  I have a thing for green.  I really enjoyed wearing this manicure and I always find it so satisfying when I can revive an old mani and make it last a few more days.  

Have you ever refreshed a manicure?  How did you do it?  

I am having a giveaway! Have you checked it out?  Bundle monster 2013 CYO plate sets, Sinful Colors, Kleancolor, Joe Fresh...

Thanks for peeking!  Happy polishing!

&hearts:

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

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

Blue Veins

Hi everybody!

For this manicure I used 1 coat of Sinful Colors Cream Pink, and sponged on a very pale frankened pink at the tips to look a bit like spray paint. I then stamped using a gradation from Revlon Royal to Sinful Colors Love Nails (a pretty pale shimmery sheer blue) in the hopes that it would show up more on the lighter pink. It did actually. The pattern is more washed out than it appears in reality.


I used Konad Image Plate m60 paisley again for this manicure. It really is one of my favorite designs. I promise I'll do a different one next time. :)

This is sunlight:


I didn't capture the really pretty shimmer in the dark pink or much of the shimmer in SC Love Nails. I was really happy with this manicure, although it was a WEE bit bright. Just a wee bit.


Thank you for stopping by! I hope everyone has a really nice weekend!
♥
JQ

Two Christmas Manis!

Feeling the Christmas spirit yet? I know I am. I've been having more fun with sponges and Konad. :)

This first one I used 2 coats of Claire's Snow Ball for the base color, then sponged some Revlon Emerald City matte suede polish onto 3/4 of the nail towards the tip. Then I went over the whole nail using the plaid pattern from image plate plate m60 and Konad special polish in white. This made it look like the white at the base of the nail turned plaid over the green. Then I made little poinsettia flowers with Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar and I used some of my new gold bullion beads for the first time! When the topcoat went on all the hidden shimmer in the matte green polish popped up under the white plaid. Too bad I couldn't take a good picture of the glimmer on the nail but the macro on my camera is seriously lacking.



This is the mani I am currently sporting. I used 2 coats of Claire's Rain drops as a base color, then sponged on Sinful Colors Show Me The Way (pretty grassy green shimmer) 3/4 of the way up the nail. Then sponged Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar onto the tip of each nail, so the nail fades from grey at the base to grassy green to deep red. After this was dry I stamped using Konad image plate m60 with a plaid pattern. I used Sally Hansen Chrome Crystal so it pops. The photo doesn't do it nearly enough justice.




I wanted to leave everyone a note to say that I am getting ready to fly home to the Yukon for Christmas and won't be back until mid January. I hope to be in with at least one more post before the New Year but things might get too busy. I do hope to be doing a bunch of guest manicures while I am home for the holidays so I promise I will take photos for posts in the new year. Wishing you all the very best during the holidays and all year round. Merry Christmas! Peace be with you.

<3
JQ

Dusky Rose Paisley

Hi everyone!

Is it just me or is Christmas approaching at nearly the speed of light? Well this manicure wouldn't reflect that at all. I'm not sure why I didn't try a nice Christmas mani using this stamp, because I think it would look pretty stellar, but I have this addiction to Sinful Colors Vacation Time right now. There's probably all kinds of similar pinks out there but that's the only one of it's kind in my collection currently and I just adore it. It's my dirty dirty pink. :P


For this mani I used Sinful Colors Vacation Time as the base and sponged on a couple layers of Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl at the tips.


I used Konad image plate #m60 for the paisley pattern, stamped using Konad special polish in Black pearl. I apologize for the blur in some of these photos.


Once I was done stamping I used Sally Hansen Intsa-Dri Anti-Chip top Coat to seal it up, and I didn't experience any smudging fo the stamped polish. Awhile ago I switched my Insta-Dri polish into a different empty polish bottle because the brush was wider and softer and I hoped this might help with the blur. Either I had magic touch this time or the brush is actually working. Any blur you do see is because I wasn't careful enough with my stamping and it moved a little before I drew away or because my stinkin' camera wasn't stable enough when I took the shot.


You might be able to see from some of the photos a hint of what the Tokyo Pearl does at the tips. It really got some depth when the top coat went on and it shimmers beautifully under the stamp. I can't wait to try this again with steadier hands! I really have to lay off the java.

Cheers!
JQ

Snowflakes

Happy Sunday! I'm a day late and it's more like a general winter themed mani rather than a Christmas themed one, but I'm diggin' it. :) When I go to my Christmas happy place it's almost always blue first.



Base colour: Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau
Sponge tips: Sinful Colors Love Nails and Revlon Top Speed Royal
Stamp polish: Sally Hansen Chrome Crystal
Image plate: BM14
Accents: I placed royal blue hex sparkles in the center of each snowflake and Cover Girl City Lights on areas around snowflakes for a little subtle glimmer.

Thanks for stopping by!
<3
JQ

80s Kisses

Hiya!

I'm sorry this post is very brief. It seems like things just won't calm down for us until after Christmas vacation. I had hoped to be able to set aside more time for the nail blogging, but as it is I spent a few hours on this mani yesterday and it was a bit too much time. I wound up botching my nails on my right hand because I thought it was dry enough. Oops. These were just taken this morning and even my left hand is a bit gummed. But I really like the effect and it reminded me how much I miss sponging. I think there'll be more of that through the holidays. As you can see winter is still having a drastic effect on my skin and cuticles. Ick.


I used Sinful Colors Cream Pink base colour, then sponged on SC Bali Mist at the tips. I stamped the kisses using BM02. The stamping polishes were Sally Hansen Chrome in Crystal and Konad Black Pearl.



Hopefully I'll have a new Christmas themed manicure on Saturday!

<3
JQ