Crumpet's 31DC: Recreate One of Your Own Old Manis

This was a tough one for me!  I originally started this blog for 2 reasons: to earn extra entries in giveaways by sharing the information and remembering/documenting polish looks I tried and liked.  I've felt a lot of pressure NOT to recreate old looks. which is really why I liked this--silly, huh?
There were plenty of designs or color combos that I LOVED and thought about wearing again, as well as looks I...butchered, for lack of a kinder word...that I'd like a second chance on.
With so much to think over, I went simple and obvious.  This is the first mani I ever posted:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya Zuza
*2 coats Icing Lemme See Your Peacock (accent)
*1 coat Out the Door

This was actually a combo I loved then and love now.  The glitters work well with Zuza, which I never get tired of wearing.  (The whole Surf collection was gorgeous and remain some of my favorite polishes).  Zuza is 2 easy, thin, perfect coats, just as it was then.  Lemme See Your Peacock got super thick, so I dumped polish thinner in.  While it revives, it's still a little difficult, so I had to dab a bit.  No biggie!
So there it is--where this blog, though DEFINITELY not my love of polish and nail art, started.

What have you revisited that you love better/improved upon?  What do you think I should give another try?

New 31DC: Tape

Now, tape is something I feel much more at home with.  I have gotten better at using it for clean lines (when I rally my patience) and like the help it give.  My big problem was settling on a design using tape.  As I browsed through my nail board on Pinterest I remembered this look from My Vanity Basics that I fell in love with and had to make my tape mani.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Zoya Storm
*Cover Girl Boundless Color City Lights
*Wet 'n Wild Stars & Stripes and Icing Written In The Stars
*1 coat Hoof Lacquer
*1 Coat Out The Door

I used Storm for the first time after admiring it in the bottle for so long. A-mazing! I used 2 easy coats of this for my night sky. The black is loaded with tiny silver holo particles. My only regret is that this takes away from the star tails in the photos, but in real life it's perfection!

City Lights is a fine silver holo in a clear base (sorry, I forgot to snap a picture).  This bad boy dates back to high school!  I had to work pretty hard to open it and then dumped quite a bit of thinner.  Voila!  I used Scotch tape to tape off the edges of my star trails and then striping tape inside.  When I do this again (not "if," because it's amazing and I am dying knowing it has to come off tomorrow) I think I'll lay down the two pieces of striping tape first, then the edges to make sure that I have enough space for my little wedges.  Other than that, these are just as awesome as I hoped they would be!

I used a paint brush to scoop out a star for each nail, using the silver ones from Stars & Stripes for all but my ring finger.  Because I couldn't figure out which stars I liked best, I used a little blue one from Written In The Stars on my ring finger.  These little glitters were perfect (though if I ever get start rhinestones I can't wait to try them!) and are holo too!  This is just one awesome, glittery holo-fest.  LOVE it!  What do you think--is there such a thing as too much holo?  I think my feelings are clear...

"I'm feeling very Olympic today!"

"How 'bout you?" (Major kudos if you can place those words with Sanka in the classic Cool Runnings!)

So, to start this off, I love the Olympics.  I didn't have cable for Beijing.  I work two jobs now, so my days are spent trying to survive retail until I can make my escape and my nights are spent hunched over my laptop working with writing classes for an online university.  Me time is hard to come by. 
Luckily, by a twist of fate, I have a new class that does not have papers due until the end of their second week.  This means my nights are free for two weeks--Olympic weeks!  While I should be getting to bed earlier and resting, I can't turn off the games. 
I did not do an Olympic-themed mani for the opening ceremonies because it was the night of my friend's wedding, and I decided to opt for something more sedate.  Now I can embrace the girl who swoons over the gymnasts' uniforms and hair plastered with glitter!  I took this as a great opportunity for a skittle:

The Olympic Rings.
There is an obscene amount of polish on my nails now:
*All nails: 1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, Petites 24k Gold on tips, 1 coat Out the Door fast-dry top coat and 1 coat Healthy Hoof Lacquer
*Pinkie:

There is an obscene amount of polish on my nails now:
*All nails: 1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, Petites 24k Gold on tips, 1 coat Out the Door fast-dry top coat and 1 coat Healthy Hoof Lacquer
*Pinkie: 3 coats China Glaze Dorothy Who?
*Ring finger: 2 coats Color Club Almost Famous, 1 coat Confetti They Call Me Mellow Yellow, 1 coat Savvy Touch of Glitter
*Middle finger: 1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, 2 coats Icing Twilight
*Index finger: 2 coats Color Club Holiday Splendor
*Thumb: 2 coats China Glase Ruby Pumps

I looked for the most glittery colors I could find because last week was rough and I need some sparkle in my life. I tried out 2 of my new Wizard of Oohs and Aahs polishes (I love the Wizard of Oz and needed this collection in my life!). Dorothy Who? is so pretty and such a different blue from anything I have right now. I could have stopped at 2 coats, but the 3rd added even more depth to the glitter and color. It is such a prety medium blue--not quite her dress color, but lovely anyway. Ruby Pumps is also quite beautiful and will do for a stand-in until I can get my hands on a new Color Club Ruby Slippers. It is close, but not quite the same. If I had not loved Color Club first, I'm sure I would be compeltely smitten with this!
I used Almost Famous as a base. This is a nice, bright yellow that covers better than most in two coats. I added Confetti They Call Me Mellow Yellow over the top for the soft shimmer that it brings. This is a really delightful yellow, but very thin. Even with the shimmer, though, it did not quite match the intensity of the glitter that the others brought, so I added Savvy Touch of Glitter to it. This is a clearance find of mine from Sally's Beauty Supply. It is a small, sparse, silver holo that adds sparkle without overshadowing the polish base. Love it!
I used Sally Hansen Black Out for a base to Twilight. The polish looked too sheer, so I had to build it up. I used two coats of this one over the Black Out. It is a black base with small silver glitter and really cool when you have full coverage.
I love Color Club and can usually find it at a decent price, so I favor the brand when I can. Holiday Splendor is what I do that. It. Is. Gorgeous! This bright green holo is squishy and amazing and I make any excuse I can to wear it! My words and photos do not do this justice. If you can get your hands on it: DO!
I thought about stopping there. The skittle was awesome and I was really pleased with the colors. But I have plenty of time on my hands this week, so I kept going. I was worried I would hate the tips and have to redo all of those layers, but I really liked the gold! 24k Gold is a warm gold glitter with good coverage and sparse red flecks throughout. Some thick topcoating was needed to even out all of these glitters, but I was surprised at how much I liked the tips! My lines and nails could be straighter, but I really like the outcome!

 

Are you rocking some patriotic colors? Loving the games? Missing Doug E. Doug?

Diving in!

Welcome!
It is with a little trepidation that I start this blog.  I know that I am new to the world of nail art.  I am not nearly as talented as most of the girls out there who are doing this.  I am not especially artistic or creative and will never freehand art like the blogs I swoon over.
But I love nail polish!  I have always done my own nails and have loved polish since I was in junior high school.  I've loved bright, funky colors, loved glitter, loved layering and shimmer.  I like the way that polish makes me feel a little girly and a little artsy, even when I am not particularly either!  I'm at home in jeans and a tee shirt, but feel naked without some sparkle on my hands!
More than anything, this is a scrapbook of sorts for me.  I try combinations that I love, and then later forget what they were.  This way, I will have a running list of what works (and maybe doesn't!).  This will also let me support and connect with other polish-addicts out there who do awesome work--I'm excited to have a way to show some love for your art!
So here goes nothing!
I'm working two jobs and sleeping whenever I can, so my nails don't usually get more than one mani a week, but I still want to give this a go.  Here's what's going on today:

(Another reservation I have is my lack of photography skill.  My little camera cannot do what many can, and my unsteady hand cannot get pictures too sharp, so be kind and use a little imagination when looking at the pictures!)
I've been thinking about a peacock colored manicure for a while now.  I recently nabbed some of the gorgeous Zoya Surf line in their Pinterest giveaway, so Zuza is taking center stage here.
 
*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (my go-to base)
*2 coats Zuza
*2 coats Icing Lemme See Your Peacock
*1 coat Healthy Hoof Lacquer (awesome top coat--shinny and thick to even out glitter)
*1 coat Seche Vite for a quick dry

I keep my nails down short because something is bound to break them working in retail.  I LOVE this glitter!  Zuza is the perfect base for it and I can't stop staring at it when I'm outside.  I'd love to put it on all 10, but chunky glitter can be such a beast to pry off, so I restrained myself to an accent nail.
Zuza covered so much better than I expected from such a shimmery blue, that I almost could have eked by with one coat. 
Lemme See Your Peacock is a beautiful mix of medium-sized hex glitters in a teal, kelly green and magenta.  It's decent coverage for one coat, but I wanted a little more sparkle so I went with two.  It lays relatively flat for a chunky glitter. 

So there it is: my first nail post!  I hope to get better at this--both the painting and the blogging.  Until then, this is a nice little record of my "me-time!"  If you enjoy it too, or feel like talking polish, well then, that's an added bonus!