Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Fairly Odd Parents

These were suggested by Laura. :)
I chose to just do the three main characters because they will become part of the "Full" mani project if you know what I mean. I like that I'm not forced to do all 5 or 10 nails.
If you'd like a specific nail tutorial, just let me know in the comments and I'll post it.
Have a great night!
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Dexter's Laboratory

Just two quick cartoon nails along with the logo for Cartoon Network.

Thanks to all who have kept suggesting different cartoons! I've taken note of all of them! Some were already on the to-do-list, while others are now added! So be patient! I'm working on them all. :))

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Hanging with my Girls

I invited my young gal pals over for an afternoon of polishing. I've set it as a personal goal to regularly have these girls over. They're a lot of fun, and it makes me feel like a role model! Lol (All three of these girls are early teens, btw). I don't know what was more fun for them, picking out nail polish or playing with my iPhone apps & camera. I'm cool with it as long as they had fun.
You even get to see their faces this time!
Here is the link to the post when two of these girls made their first appearance on my blog.

Cali-G is back!
 Cali G and Coco Puff both got a full set of acrylics about a week ago, so we jazzed it up with new polish and fresh pedis.
Her advice? "Go with bright colors, because it shows you have a bright personality."

Coco Puff
She took inspiration from my recent post of pink leopard with jagged black tips, and changed the colors up and wanted to go with "goopy drips" and not "jagged tips."
The end result? "It's very Nicky Minaj vs. The Flintstones" Lol
She wanted toes to match my Toes Like Rebecca post.

Last but not least is Wonder Woman
She couldn't like of any other strong, powerful woman to serve as her alias. :)
Fingernails were gradient sponged, kind of ended up looking like easter eggs though...
I had a proud moment when she was deciding on her pedicure. She asked for a "beautiful tiffany blue color, you know?"
Like this? China Glaze For Audrey (bonus points for her as a young person understanding the pun of the name!) Then she said that it would be really cute "if only you could do little bows like the ribbon the boxes are tied with..."
Like this? Konad image plate m56.
I love it when I can amaze people...
 They are simply adorable.

 I got the girls presents of a Konad stamper & scraper and Wet N Wild Black Creme. Then I let them pick a few each from my stamping plates that I rarely use (there was a forbidden pile of my precious plates) for them to practice and learn to stamp themselves. Stamping is the first thing I learned to master with nail art, so I hope to pass that torch to them!
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Monday, May 30, 2011

The Jungle Book

"I wan'na be like you-ou-ou"
How many great songs came from The Jungle Book! Old school Disney is the best.

I'm just posting the final look in these pictures. But if you are interested in learning a particular character or characters in a tutorial form, just leave me a comment and I'll post a tutorial!
I'm always accepting of any suggestions for future cartoon manis. Just leave it in the comments!

  1. Bagheera
  2. Unnamed baby elephant - Son of Colonel Hathi
  3. Baloo
  4. King Louie
  5. Mowgli

This little guy deserves extra pictures. He turned out sooo cute! You just must see him from all angles. :)

If you ever want to kill some time on the internet and actually learn about something interesting.... google some stories about real "feral children." Some of it is just incredible. The psychological effect on these children and how their development is altered. Some manage to fully integrate into society, while others have struggles. It'll touch your heart but the psychology lesson is really amazing.
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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Captivated by Coral

This was my simple mani I was sporting the other day. I used Essie Carousel Coral on all of my nails, then accented with 2 coats of Cult Nails Captivated. This is of course, my left hand. On my right hand I mixed it up by moving the accent nails to my index and pinky.
I love this bright coral color for spring!
(Of course it's already summer here... 98% humidity and 95 degrees! Bleh!)
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Aaahh!!! Real Monsters & Angry Beavers

Nickelodeon came out with some wacky concepts for cartoons when we were little, am I right? These were two shows I definitely remember and really enjoyed painting!
Top row are characters from Aaahh!!! Real Monsters:
1 = Krumm
2 = Ickis
3 = Oblina

Middle row is the classic Nick splat logo. 
(In the background of all these nails I tried to recreate the lime green and bright orange splats that were typical of anything Nickelodeon.)

Bottom row is the two main characters from The Angry Beavers:
1 = Norbert
2 = Daggett

For this set I just did the finished product in the picture. It is certainly much easier than taking all of the pictures and collaging them for the tutorials.... If y'all are ok with this method, then I'll continue simplifying my posts. Let me know in the comments if you would rather me continue including the tutorial pics. And I will try to oblige. ;)

OR- I could just post the simplified posts with finalized pictures, and if you want to see how I did a particular character I could go back and post a tutorial? I don't know, what do you think?
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Saturday, May 28, 2011

SciFi Toes

I only change my pedicure every week to two weeks. I hate that awkward position you have to be in, and I can't get a close as I can with my fingernails, so it never looks as good as I want it to. Up until last night I still had my M&M toes, but there was new growth and they had to go :( 

I wanted to pack them full of my Love & Beauty Disco Nights holographic glitter, the painstaking removal will be for future Leslie to worry about. I applied a base of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Silver Sweep, then three coats of Disco Nights.

-blurry holo glitter goodness-
 They make me think robotic, futuristic, science fiction.
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The Aristocats

I didn't care too much for this movie as a kid. And I don't really know why.... I'd be willing to bet that it has something to do with Edgar the butler who is the villain of this animation. Even my innocent little girl brain knew that a guy named Edgar was bad news... (Refer to number 9 here if you're confused)
But enough with past regrets! Let's look at some cute nail art!

I chose to focus on the main cat characters. The background polish is OPI Teenage Dream because I felt
like it helped pull Duchess and Marie out to the forefront. ;) All the rest of the colors are acrylic paint.

  1.  Thomas O'Malley
  2. Duchess
  3. Berlioz
  4. Marie
  5. Toulouse





What do you think?
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Friday, May 27, 2011

The Life of a Construction Worker

Basically I went slap nuts buying stuff I needed to reorganize my polish room... It started out being just two things that I "needed," and then morphed into a spring cleaning fiasco of that entire room and closet. When I woke up earlier and walked into my hallway to find this mountain of garbage... I actually startled myself. Lol. "Ah! I've been robbed! ....... Oh yeah, I did that"

Two of the pieces that I bought required assembly, so that's how I felt like a construction worker. I only have one piece done so far, but it's the most important, so here it goes:

I got a Melmer! Or Michael's Craft Store - Helmer!
(It was 40% off in store if you go before Sunday!)
I was sick of looking at all of the massive overflow and disorganization of everything. I don't want to store all of my polishes in this, but I did want to put a few unruly bottles in here. I thought that if I bought this now, it will benefit me down the line if I do decide to store my polishes that way.
All of the pieces can be a little overwhelming:
Hahah! 15 minutes!? Who do they think I am? Al Borland from Home Improvement?! It took me more like an hour, but you'll see why at the end.

Wally approves of a new hiding place halfway through.

It took me a bit longer because I decorated the fronts before attaching the handles! While in Michael's I picked up some scrapbooking paper that I liked the look of and felt matched somewhat. In hindsight, I wish I had matched it closer to just blue and brown. The purple kind of overwhelms the other two colors in what I did pick out. Whatever! It's still cute!
How I did it: While the drawer fronts were still flat before applying the handles I cut the paper to fit. Then applied them to the drawer fronts with "Mod Podge" which is a decoupage medium that I already had. (If you don't have this, you can water down regular white glue and it works the same). Once the paper was in place and smoothed down, I applied another coat of Mod Podge over the top to seal it in. Waited for it to dry and applied the handles!
I realize this has been done before. I got the idea from reading someone else's blog, but I don't recall where it was, and frankly I'm too lazy to google it right now because my second construction project is still in the box! I want to get to work on it right away. It's a cute "gaming table" from Pier1Imports. It was on clearance, I plan on using it for when I have a friend over to do their nails, not games. That way I can face them with a small table in between us and the few supplies I need. The table is convertible from a standard decorative tray top table, to a backgammon board, to a checkerboard. Here's the pic from the website.
Here is to hoping that mine ends up looking remotely like the above picture! Lol

*edit* SCORE one for me! Here's to opening the box and finding it already assembled! Apparently the box was the exact dimensions while I thought it was bulkier! It's the perfect size! I'm very pleased!

*edit #2* Harri of TrailerHood Chic was kind enough to point out that she recently did a post on her Melmer that she decorated here. So check it out! While I did remember her post after looking at it a second time, the one I'm thinking of was this girl that covered the front of her Helmer drawers with paint or paper, here.
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Nubar - Reclaim

This polish was on my wishlist for a while. My favorite color of all time is green, and it's holographic. No more explanation needed, right? It dawned on me to check e-bay and I was able to get it for $7 or $8! Why hadn't I checked there sooner? So I bought it the other night and when it came I was thrilled! I have found a green nail polish that for once looks good on my skin tone! Hooray for a mission accomplished!


This picture is color accurate for my skin tone as well. I'm super pale. I've embraced it though, and proud to say that I've never been in a tanning bed, and don't plan to! While others are leathery and old, I'll still have good skin in my old age! Hah!


This picture pretty well represents what it looks like when indoors. It's a luscious emerald green with a glow to it. And the holographic effect is strong enough that it is definitely noticeable indoors. Unlike Milani 3d holographics.
Money well spent!
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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Aladdin - Part 2

Thank you for all your positive comments about my cartoon nails! It gives me the added confidence to keep going with this massive project in mind. (I mentioned it here). And besides, it's nice to have a complete stranger tell you that your art is good compared to only hearing it from your mom up until now! ;) Something tells me she might be a bit biased? Lol

Ok, so here are the other 3 guys that got left out of this morning's post.
1 = The Sultan (Jasmine's daddy)
2 = Iago
3 = Genie





 I started to just use a glittery red polish for the Sultan's jewel on his hat, then I realized "d-oh!" I have rhinestones the right size. So I put that on at the end.
 The Genie is my least favorite. He turned out a bit scary looking in my opinion. But he's still recognizable, that's all that counts! lol
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Aladdin - Part 1

Yes, this is only part 1. I have 3 more characters that I painted. I'll post them this afternoon, I'm just exhausted right now and tired of editing.
This was another favorite movie of mine as a child. I hope you enjoyed it too. Shouldn't every little girl fantasize about being a princess with a tiger as a pet?
 1 = Abu
2 = Aladdin
3 = Rajah
4 = Jasmine





 Base of China Glaze Spontaneous, all else is acrylic paint.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

English Roses

For once I actually wore pink on Wednesday! I'm usually too random, that's why I haven't joined "On Wednesdays We Wear Pink" I loved the movie Mean Girls, but I would have trouble sticking to a rule like that! Lol
I finally got around to using some more of my Dollar Nail Art supplies I'd ordered a while back. I want to get a lot more of the brightly colored metallic foils..... My first order was a lot of silver and just a few patterns. What was I thinking? 
This is "English Rose" which is very dainty and feminine. I really it, but I'd read other bloggers having trouble with the pattern on any of the foils not transferring completely. I thought it might be better to start with a base coat of a similar shade, that way any bare spots would be less noticeable. It did help!
 My base color was 2 coats of China Glaze Something Sweet. It's my favorite opaque, pale, baby pink.
Then I used the foil glue that Dollar Nail Art sends you with your order. Applied the glue and let it dry (just a few minutes), then press the foil down on the nail careful to burnish all the edges smooth. Gently pull up on the foil and it should leave the transfer on your nail. Topcoat to seal it in.
The "white" looking areas on the foil itself (you can see best in the first photo) are actually a pearly finish when transferred to the nail. It adds a nice little shimmer to the base color!
 There were a few areas where the foil wouldn't lie down flat and the pattern skipped, but you really can't tell! That leaves me a very happy girl.

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