Throwback Thursday - Cafè Nails

Today I decided to do a throwback, with a re-creation. Before I even had a blog, before I was good at doing my nails (I tried, it counts), I did a nail art creation using a Konad plate and two nail polishes. H&M - Brown, and Depend - 188.

I intended to post this on the blog 2 years ago, but something kept me from doing it, firstly it's not that well done, it looks rugged and my cleanup is not the best. So it never went live. Just been sitting in my "draft" folder for these 2 years. And now I am going to post it. Excited?

This text is taken from the original drafted post:

First I started off painting my nails with Depend - 188, an old favorite of mine. But seeing it as a full mani, I felt it was boring, and needed some fun. I picked up my H&M mini - Brown, and used it on two of my fingers, then I reached for Konad stamping plate M14 and stamped a cupcake on it, using Depend - 188. 

Depend - 188

H&M - Brown, and Depend - 188, cupcake from Konad - M15 stamped in Depend - 188.

Yeah, it's not that great, but we all started somewhere, and this was one of my first stamping nail art looks.
I acknowledge that I was once a complete noobie, and I still consider myself pretty new at these things. We all started somewhere, and that's okay.

So I decided to take this mani, and do something new with it. I kept the stamping plate, added another image, swapped out those terrible polishes, and made it new and fresher.

For this look I used W7 - Buff, and W7 - Royal, Konad - M15 (using the cupcake image) and Cheeky - Jumbo Plate 7 - Home Sweet Home.

It turned out a bit more sheer than I thought it would, but in the right light (under not too bright, artificial light) you can see what it says.

If you where wondering, the stamp stays Tea Time and Cupcakes.

I don't think this is the last time I am doing this. I really enjoyed the lookback, and a bit sad that my hands looks so dry in the picture even though I mosturised them right before taking the picture. Darn you Spain for being so warm and drying me out. 

Cheeky Girls Challenge: Ship o'hoi

It's time for another Cheeky Girls Challenge. Summer hit in an a ship loads of other challenges so we completely lost track of this one. But we are back. Today me and Mishka from Lacquer or Leave Her! will be showing you two different ways of using this plate.
We selected the ship image on this plate.

To be honest. I did one ages ago (03. may), but wasn't very happy with how it turned out, so I got two for you today.

Let's start with my fail manicure.
I used Sinful Colors - Kissy, it took three coats for full opacity. Then I stamped with Mash - 50, using Wet n Wild -Black. I finished it off using various versions of Cheeky plate - CH49. Two full stamps and two isolated pictures.

Taken and edited 3rd of May, so still with the old watermark.

That's just too messy. Can't use that. I was thinking. See those tiny black spots on my skin? That's thorns. I was gardening like crazy, and had loads of tiny thorns all over my dinky little hands. I feel so sorry for them.

So, when I chatted to Mishka recently, we agreed to take this challenge up again, and really stick to it, and finish the series. We are on CH49, not that many plates left. If you are interested to see all the manicures I have done using the Cheeky Summer Collection you can either enter Cheeky -> in the search box over here, or you can visit my FB page, and there is an album there with all the pictures. 

And now for the second manicure made using the CH49 plate from Cheeky Summer Collection. Let's make this one count shall we?

I started out with two coats of Depend - 246. I think this is the second time I use this polish. Kid you not.
I then grabbed a handful of different colors and got a palette out for some mixing. The colors where as following (I don't have a step to step guide for this).
Sinful Colors - Exotic Green
Beauty UK - Glam Nails Nr. 67 - Bon Bon (sheer orange)
Claire's - 152 (sheer sheer bright yellow)

Since all the colors are somewhat sheer, they work great for this kind of projects.
Mix mix mix and look what we get.
Then I stamped using W7 - White.

And there we have it. A fresh, summer-y pirate manicure. For Mishkas manicure head over to Lacquer or Leave Her!. 

I is for Incognito

This is the manicure I made for my date this weekend.
I wanted something subtle, yet pretty. Classy, but not over the top, when it came to nail art, and still not a normal french.

Funny enough. This manicure reminds me of a dice-set I have for RPG's. Its the same shimmer in it.

For this manicure I used Depend French manicure set, for the white tips, and Misa - Candy Girl as base coat. I used two coats of that.

Twinpost: I'll be wearing my Flip Flops

YaY! Its Friday!!

This weeks Cheeky Girl Challenge, we are doing CH37. The image we selected was the Flip Flops.
Shoot me now.
I hated this image.
It didn't stamp well for me, at all.

But after a few hours of banging my head against the wall, I managed to get it to look somewhat decent.


I used Misa - Working hard, hardly working
Makeup Mekka - Strawberry Daiquiri
Makeup Mekka - Green and Tonic
Depend - 124

Twinpost: Itty Bitty Monsters

Hello girls.

So this is a fun one. Originally my plan was to make cookies, make a cookie-monster-mani, and have some fun with it. But it felt too classic, and I wanted something fun, childish, and playful.

Todays Cheeky Girl Challenge with Mishka from Lacquer or Leave Her! , is here!
Friday!
Woohoo!
Glugg down some Cider.
Over to the mani again.

CH32.

I took Essie - Mojio Madness, as a base color. Used random stripes with Barry M - Emerald Green, and Depend - 259. With this I created a kind of grass at the tip of my nails, and stamped over with ESSIE - Licorice, and finished with drawing some randoms lines on the pinky, and made a tophat for one of my monsters.
I call em the "Exploring brigade".

I just love his little tophat, I am sure he talks in a deep voice, and has a cane.. hehe

What do you think?

Remember to head over to Mishka, and see what she did with the CH32 plate.

Summer Challenge - Mermaid

Sorry I am late with this post. But here you have it.

I <3 mermaids, one of my biggest wishes is to get a monotail from the Mertailor in USA. He is such a good tailor! Sadly they cost like $ 2000 (!!) but they are SO gorgeous.

Anyhow... back to nails.

Base

1 coat

2 coats

So thats my mermaidtails. 

Depend - 223

Today I have all sparkly nails. They are silver.

I`m rather fond of my Depend polishes, and I think the bottles are really cute. 

I am starting to feel that I havent bought nailpolish for a while. I am waiting for my Cheeky-plates, and it looks like they wont get here before I go on my vacation on Friday.

I will update my blog as often as possible, I am bringing my nail camera, and a laptop. So I will keep you updated on all my purchases, and designed I do as I travel. :)

Summer Challenge - Needle drag

Good morning ladies.

This challenge post has taken a while to get out there. But here it is. 

I am calling this mani; "Toxic Pink Love". I think you will understand why, in a while. 

Depend 201

Depend 201 is a flamingo pink color. 

Sorry about the nick on my little finger there, I hit it, trying to get to my camera. 

This is two coats.

Orange-a-peel with sunspots

I just got my first Indie-polishes, and I had to try Orange-a-peel. It reminds me of a close-up picture of the sun with sunspots. I know I'm a nerd. Haha.
Don´t know what I am on about?

Picture showing AR1339, from National Geographic.

No its not a Claude Monet, this is actually the surface of the Sun. Cool, right?

Anyhow... Back to polish. 

I wanted to to and create something like this with my new polish. 

I used two coats of Depend - 124, and one coat of Orange-a-peel. 

And now for the sunspot effect I sponged some black at the tip and base of my index finger.

Orange-a-peel is a fun polish, I am interested to see how it layers over other colors.

As for drying time. You should not use Out The Door topcoat on this one, after 1 hour it was still gooey. Sally Hansen Double Duty (that I happened to have in my bag), dried it in a few sec. (I have to remember to get a new one soon, cause its almost out. !!)

Summer Challenge - Day at the Seaside

Back and being cheerful. Today I have been at the Farmers Market, and bought some Honey. I get my honey from the same farm every single year, and its so good (!!). They live a few hours away from Oslo, so I cant really get there and buy whenever I am out of it. So the Farmers Market is my only shot at getting it. I was so excited!

I also had burger that was made with venison from Red Deer from "Løiten Gård", I visit them every year, and its the best burger I have ever had. Happy belly, lets get over to some polish.

Lets start out with an aqua color, by go to aqua is Depend 246. As seen bellow.

Lets add some waves to create the sea. BM - 209 has the perfect image.

I love this color, its amazing. Its so bright!

I left some space at the tips for a french, I used China Glaze -Blue Iguana. 

Makes me dream of going back to Spain, where my hubby's family has a house. Just lean back and relax. 

Depend - 146

Just doing a quick post, of this lovely aqua blue, that I got. 

Its from Depend. 

On the picture below I am using it with one coat, there is some VNL still, so I would suggest using 2 coats.

Summer Challenge - Cocktails

Hi girls, I am so glad its finally weekend!
Its been a long week, for sure.

I have been filing documents, and working in the archive all week, and my cuticles are starting to feel it. I had to swap lotion, and have been using Hemp protector from Body Shop since Wednesday, my hands are just so dry. Usually I don`t swap to the Hemp Protector until winter arrives, but it was needed. They feel a bit better, but they will be needing a lot of love and care.

Tomorrow there is going to be a market, close to where I live. A Farmers Market. I love those. And my favorite supplier of Honey is going to be there, and that's good, cause I am almost all out of my lovely honey. And I would die, without my honey in the morning tea.

So, that's why my manicure today, kinda looks like my Hony-mani, I did last month. haha!
I better stop talking now, before I cry over my empty honey jar.

As Michelle from Lacquer or Leave Her, pointed out, I totally forgot to mention how I achieved this look. 

Polishes:

H&M - Yellow

H&M - Lemon Tree

Sinful Color - Neon Melon

Depend - nr. 124

You need:

a plate/sheet of paper, somewhere to pour  polish.

A makeup sponge.

I started with 5-6 drops of Yellow, dabbing it over the nails from the base and upwards. 

Then 3 drops of Lemon Tree, and went a bit higher up, and focused on getting it on the sides. 

3 large drops of Neon Melon and just dabbing all over.  Going in with 124 and the bald spots, and the tips. Some Yellow at the tips at the end. 

I used the same piece of sponge for all of these steps, I wanted it to look like the "muddiness" you sometimes find in some Whiskey Sours. 

To finish it of, I took the wheel I bought at Claire`s in Spain, with Fimo citrus.