Gradient Nails

Well, hello all! I've got some exciting news - my blog has been viewed 1,001 times. Since I'm not some big time blogger, but do this just for the fun of it, seeing that people have looked at my nails and writing 1,001 times is pretty exciting. Okay, nerd gushing is now over.

Today the hubby and I had our pictures taken. We've been together 5 years, married for 6 months, and we have not had any professional pictures taken. Ever. In his words, "I thought the roller coaster pictures from Sea World were a nice touch." This is what I am working with ladies and gentlemen. There is never a dull moment in our home.

I've been dying to try a gradient nail after seeing tons of tutorials and I thought today's photo shoot was the perfect occasion. The dress I found for today's pictures has a fuchsia, blue, white and black pattern that swirls together. I wanted to incorporate those same colors for my nail art. I've never done gradient nails before, so I was not sure how the end result would look. Here is what I got.

I like how it came out. Next time I try this technique out I will use more contrasting colors. It would  be fun, possibly bold. Today, however, did not call for a bold look. I wanted soft, demure, and romantic.

I even took a picture of the colors I used so I could remember them. I decided to do my nails around 10:30 p.m. and once I took pictures and edited them, I was dead tired. Taking a bottle shot was the only way to remember all of the colors. So here they are in all their glory.

From left to right: A-England Order of the Garter, China Glaze Strawberry Fields, Zoya Cristina and Pandora

 I started with two coats of Pandora as my base. Then for the gradient look I used Order of the Garter, Strawberry Fields and Christina. It was all topped with Seche Vite. If you are interested in gradient nails just search "gradient nail tutorials" on Google or any search engine. I got tons of hits and then used the one that made the most sense to me. I like simple approaches so I followed a tutorial that uses a make-up sponge for the color application. Find what you like best.

I can't wait to see how my nails look in the pictures . The photographer took some nice shots of us holding hands and she spot lighted our wedding bands. I'll have to  post those pictures when I get them.

Well that's it for tonight. Ta-ta!

Hugs and love,
Karen

Summer!

Hello, hello, hello! Once again I am back and ready to bring on the nail fun. After posting about my nails for the parade, things just got really busy. It was my first time ever ending a school year as a teacher and it wore me out. I could barely stay awake long enough after work to eat let alone do my nails. And any polish I did put on my fingers didn't last long enough so I could take a picture. I'd always chip my polish off during the school day. Anyhow, like I mentioned, I'm back. I have the entire summer off (to job hunt) and so I'll be polishing with pretties again.

I did manage to do a quick and bright mani for the last day of school. I figured some bright colors would lift my mood. This year was my first time saying good-bye to a class that was mine. It made me pretty bummed because my students were awesome and I don't have the luxury of seeing them next year in school because I was only a long-term sub. Usually pink and orange will make me happy and so that is the color combo I used

I went with a polka dot design because a) they are easy to do, b) they are cute, and c) I would love to own a bathing suit like this. I used two coats of an Ulta orange as my base and mixed the orange with China Glaze Strawberry Fields. I used the mixed color for my polka dots. I'm sorry for the horrible picture, but I took it right before work and I did not have time but for a few fuzzy shots before heading out.

I really want to enjoy bright, fresh shades for this summer. I think this is a good start.

As always, hugs and love.

Karen

The Bead Parade Nails

Hello ladies! Well last night I had an adventure. A friend and I participated in a local parade last night. What was going to be a promising night turned into a rain-soaked story to grumble about when reminiscing on old times. We got POURED on for about 15 minutes before the float we were on had a chance to actually make in the parade; and then at the end of the parade my friend, myself and five other USF parade participants were stranded in no-man's land for an hour and a half before we were picked up from the end of the parade route. My nail design should have been an indicator of how the night was going to turn out.

The original idea was to use dots so that it looked like the beads we throw out to the crowd were also stranded across my nails. I wanted them to match my shirt that my friend made for me (white, green, gold)The idea did not translate to my nails. The dots look so random and weird. I tried, haha.

Also I dislike, with great passion, Zoya's Christinna. I used it as my base coat because it is the only white I own. It's streaky, I always make a mess out of it and I have to call it quits on this polish. Time to invest in a good white cream polish. The other colors I used for my "beads" were Zoya Midori and a gold China Glaze color that I cannot remember the name of. I would check it out, but my kitten is curled up on my lap and it would be a shame to wake him up. :-)

Overall, the design worked for the event The other girls there liked it a lot. I like the color combo of white, gold and bright green. I'll have to use them again for another day.

Me on the left and Danielle on the right. This is just before we were rained on.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Hugs and love,
Karen