MoYou London 31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 12 OOTD

Hey lacqueristas,

Who thought of OOTD as a challenge? Ugh I am seriously not one to complain about my work attire because I love what I wear everyday on the other hand nothing is inspirational about scrubs.  I mean nothing.  It's like wearing pajamas to work everyday comfy, but certainly not fashionable.  I was a little at a loss unfortunately then I decided to take my two most frequently alternating scrub colors and create a gradient and a nautical theme to match my gym bag that gets carried to work.  Lol. What a mess but whatever works right?

Mani-louge

Gradient: Sinful Colors Savage and Color Club Age of Aquarius

Glitter accent: Butter London Scallywag

Stamping polish Mundo de Unas #30 and Orly Rage

Stamping plates: MoYou London Pro XL 01 and Sailor 01

One thing I have to say about this challenge is that my Pro plates are getting a workout.  Of all the plates halfway through this collection I would say the Pro are the most versatile hands down offering you lots of combos to create a very of nail art.   This came out like gangbusters! In short it ended up being a lot cuter than I thought it would given all my dismay and hemming and hawing about how my daily outfits are nothing to write home about lol.  What I got were some awesome #nautical #nailart!

So what do you think? Not bad for a set of scrubs and a gym bag right? I got style I got class ;) ;)  Note to shelf must use more of my Butter London polishes.  Isn't Scallywag divine!!!  Thanks so much for reading and see you next post...

#nautical #nailart #MoYouLondon #stamping #lacquerlockdown

Why H8 Is Never GR8...

Hello polished prisoners,


Today or rather yesterday was a special day for the nail polish community.  In an effort to eradicate negativity and hatred in our very big and yet oh so small community women everywhere were donning their purple polishes and just saying no to h8.  I couldn't agree more so here I am.    I had the unfortunate or fortunate fate, depending on how you look at it, to be a bullied kid.  Ah the days when I was chubby, buck toothed, four-eyed, unfashionable, poor, and unpopular.  I didn't have a friend on my side (not counting my brothers), and so all the way from 5th grade of elementary school up until mid-way through high school I was very much alone.  The bus rides home were torture.  I'd be teased mercilessly, rocks would be thrown at me, and I can even remember one occasion where I was knocked down into a huge puddle of mud and my mother had to come to school to bring me a change of clothes.  Those days were so horrible and something that plagued me for years, but I was blessed to have a mother who always believed in me and encouraged me to be myself.  Despite all of the ugly things that happened my confidence in myself never shrank and I was able to stand up and continue standing up and say, "Damnit! I am who I am and you can either take it or leave it! I won't bow or bend for the sake of approval from anyone."  I owe my mother a lot.  She helped me become the woman I am today and never once let me feel like I was anything other than special when others told me I was everything but.

BM317, BM311, Essie Nothing Else Metals, Essie Play Date & Boxershorts, Butter London Knackered, Konad Special Polish in Pastel Purple and Purple

Bullying is ugly and a behavior driven by mob and crowd mentality.  Better to be the one accepted in a group tearing someone else down than be the one being torn eh?  Wrong!  It takes one person to open their mouth and stand up for what is right and possibly change the scope of someone's world.  I cannot abide the seemingly strong picking on the weak or disadvantaged nor the tearing down of someone else's esteem to build up my own.  I don't want to be involved in a community that does such things and I'm glad to see bloggers stepping up and taking an active role in making this community a more positive place.  And here I am to do my part as well - purple polish and claws up!  For all the Jake's, Tom's, Mr. G's, and Sandra's out there this is for you!  Always always be proud of who you are and let your actions toward others be the measure of your own virtue.  My last name may not be Lannister but Hear me Roar!

You can find other bloggers who participated in the No H8 movement HERE  as well as resources to anti-bullying sites and support.  Thank you so much for reading and I'll see everyone next post!

LDTTWC Day 2 - It's Vintage Darling!

Hey polished prisoners,

This was supposed to go up this weekend, but things happened.  Alas here we are now! I realized that I neglected to describe what this challenge is all about so let me rectify that now.  The Let's Do The Time Warp Challenge is sponsored by Neverland Nail Blog in conjunction with Nail Polish Canada, and is dedicated to a love of all things nostalgic.  There are two challenges per week for 4 weeks going according to Lindsey's schedule, and it's pretty much a my pace kinda challenge as long as I get the posts up within a week of Lindsey's.  It's pretty chill so I feel I can manage this one better than something as demanding at the 31 day nail art challenge.  Now today's theme is all about using something vintage as inspiration for a mani.  Whenever I think of vintage one thing pop's into my head - jewelry.  Yup!  I love vintage jewelry particularly things from the Victorian mourning period and Art deco pieces, but one of my favorite pieces has to be a vintage owl brooch that my grandmother owns.  I used it as inspiration for this challenge.

Mani-louge

Base: Revlon Quick Dry Base (I'm not loving this at all)

Top-Coat: IMN Out the Door (also still not loving this one either)

Base Color: Butter London Trustafarian

Owl Detailing: Nail Art Pen and Brush (no name), Cm Nail Art Brush in Black, Orly Liquid Vinyl, Dandy Nails Look Around, 2mm rhinestones in various colors, and 3mm black pearls

Indoors- shimmer shimmer.

Did you know I could freehand?  Lol it's been a minute since I've done it and I'm rusty.  I definitely want to gain more skills so I'm thinking of freehanding from now on at least once a week to improve myself.  Freehand Fridays????? Well in any case this is another challenge that almost killed me.  My perfectionistic tendencies and type A personality were out in full force - cringe.

I love the bejewled owl the most and the owl on my index finger the most.  So here we are day 2 coming to belated finish.  Stay tuned for the next one which should be out quicker!  Thanks for reading and toodles...

What's a Jewel To Do? On Sundays I Stamp!

Hiya lacquer ladies,

I hope your weekends are going well!  I've got a bit of news on my end as I've recently joined a nail art interest group called Adventures in Stamping - yay! I'm sure several of you have heard of it or are participants yourself.  We take a theme every week and then create nail art around it using stamping of one kind or another.  I love this concept so much and it's a great way to expand out on ideas, meet other lacquer ladies, and share helpful tips and cool techniques.  This means every Sunday I'll become a tramp, a stamp tramp that is (wink wink).  Lord save us from the Jezebels hahaha! Now onto the art...

The theme for this week is Precious Stones, i.e. designing around the concept of precious stones or using jewel tones.  This concept for me was oddly easy.  My birthday is right around the corner (August 1) and my birthstone, peridot, has been on my mind quite a bit lately as I've been thinking of buying a pair of solitaire earrings in the stone.  I will admit peridot is a tough color to pull off.  It just doesn't have that "classic" appeal I that I so love in stones such as pearls or sapphires (at least not IMO).  Nevertheless, I have endeavored to embrace myself and in so doing the stone of my birth lol.

Look at all this bling! Well it's my birthday stone so I'll bling as I want to...

I started by taping off my nails at a diagonal and painting with Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Ivy League for the majority of my nails.  The accents are painted with Zoya's Jules and Butter London's Tart With A Heart.  What I love about TWAH is that it has so many small flecks of iridescent glitter including those that throw back a peridot colored green which made it perfect for the theme.

I love the effect of TWAH layered under Ivy League! Green and gold is one of my favorite combinations.

Next I stamped on lace, leopard, zebra, and grid accents using Konad Special Polish in black from plates SH21, M57, CH11 respectively.

CH11, SH21, and M57 plates

 I added several pearls, microbeads, and yellow, clear, and green colored rhinestones to each stamping, and I also used my LA Colors nail art stripper in gold glitter to add little accents throughout each nail.

Lol I promise not all of my mani's are blinging, but I mean come on Shelly it's precious stones themed.  How could I NOT bling it up?!?

So what do you think? I wonder if I hadn't said that my stone was peridot you would have known anyway? Do tell because I really would like to know.  In any event this was so fun I can't wait to see what next week's theme is!  Thanks for reading and see you next post! Toodles!