Thursday, December 31, 2009

NOTD: Last New Year's

Another blast from the past for you guys, my mani from last New Year's. I believe this is Sally Hansen Sterling, Konad done with Konad Pearl Blue & Pearl Purple Princess Polish & image plate m21:


Sterling is still one of my favorite silvers, although it doesn't quite compete with Millennium. I've got a lot of other stuff for you guys, but this was one of the only things ready to throw up quickly =) Almost time to go make a toast. I've got my resolutions scheduled to post after midnight, and plans to get through the rest of the stuff that's in draft over this holiday weekend.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

NOTD: OPI DS Sapphire (& Matte w/ Konad)

I passed a challenge. I didn't even know I was going to be tested! I went to Walgreens to pick up a prescription - a decidedly painful event for my pocket, as we are in a new plan year & I have to meet my $2500.00 detectable before insurance covers my 'scrips - and I passed no less than 3 brand freaking new shiny pretty & FULL nail polish displays. I was caught off-guard because last time I was there the aisles were packet with Christmas cologne gift sets. But I toughed it out, although I picked up several bottles in admiration I put them all back down. I am on a no buy. I am on a no buy. I am ... well you get the picture. I told myself over & over until I was out of the store & on my way again & then I was very proud of myself LOL.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. You will probably get periodic whining & ranting along the same schedule that you would normally see hauling. Because I may be sticking to the no-buy, but I don't have to be happy about it damnit!

On to nails (finally). Shimmery DS goodness, and I even got a smidgen of sun. Even though it is so low in the sky this time of year I feel like I never get really GOOD sun, even if I were able to go out at "high" noon, the sun is still at a wonky angle. From the OPI Designer Series, this is DS Sapphire:



I didn't have time to redo totally last night, so I added some Konad & then some Matte Magic. Konad is done with image plate m72, stamped once with Misa Toxic Seduction & again with Misa A Sin Worth Committing. They didn't end up as contrast-y as I expected, but the 2 colors together still give this design more depth than it would have with only 1:


Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Snow!

These were all taken on Christmas day, as we were leaving home, once we got to my grandparent's house, and then late that night when we got home & it was snowing AGAIN! Dude loves the snow, so I got him tearing around through the snowbanks =)


So, we had a plenty white Christmas LOL =) Thankfully driving wasn't too bad, the highways were cleared off pretty well & there was not much traffic.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Christmas TOTD

I thought I might as well have red toes for the holidays =) Maybelline Red Aluminum, from my Dollar Tree hauls:


Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Guest NOTD: Rudolph Red + Snowflakes

My aunt requested that I bring my Konading supplies to Christmas & do her nails. Now, I don't normally do other people's nails, but I'll make an exception for family, especially since we had the whole day to fit it in. I packed all of my supplies in a Caboodle (remember Caboodles? Mine still gets love LOL it's perfect for toting a bunch of nail crap around) & after she went through my plates, she decided on a snowflake from image plate m59. Her base color is OPI Rudolph Red, which she said was probably from a Christmas collection several years ago, and the Konad is done with China Glaze Millennium:


She was only going to do like one finger each hand, but you see I talked her into more =) We had quite a bit of fun with this & she said she might have to look into getting her own kit. Another Konad convert LOL

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas! (3 NOTDs)

Well, I'm off to brave the blizzard & make the trip to grandma's house shortly, and I'll take some pics of the ridiculous amounts of snow we got when I go out, but I thought I'd throw up some NOTDs & wish everyone a Merry Christmas before I leave =)

Here is my Christmas NOTD, using China Glaze Emerald Sparkle & Ruby Pumps. As usual, pics don't do justice to either one of these colors:


Here is Mom's Christmas NOTD, one of my Dollar Tree haul polishes, Maybelline Blackened Teal:


And, here's a blast from the past, my NOTD from LAST Christmas! I didn't take too many pics of my nails before I started the blog, but these were an exception. I believe this color is Cover Girl Boundless Color Goldstar, but I'm not 100% positive. I'm not sure what Konad plate this is, I'll try to come back later & edit in the info once I have time to dig it out (EDIT: image plate m59):


Stay safe & be happy everyone =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

NOTD: Holly Leaves & Berries + Tutorial

So, I originally planned on doing a tutorial for this, and then it was late & I was tired so I didn't. Then I got a bunch of compliments at work - one person even asked if they were decals, which I consider a high compliment if they think they look that good =) - so I decided to come home & do a quick tutorial with one of the nails I'd left bare, before I took this off.

I used OPI Dazzled by Gold as my base color, and this is a wonderful gold. It is SO sparkly, but I don't want to call it a glitter because it has a smooth finish. The first coat goes on sheer, but it builds quickly & you could go with 2 coats & be fine with no VNL I think - I am wearing 3 coats because I wanted a wet layer when I did my leaves. It kind of helped the polish flow more when I was painting, instead of sticking to the dry polish. For the leaves I used Finger Paints Evergreen Dream, and the berries are done with OPI Dreaming of Red.

I think this will be the last actual nail art I do for the holidays, as my next plan involves Emerald Sparkle & Ruby Pumps =) Here is my Holly Leaves & Berries manicure:


And here is the tutorial:



Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Christmas Polishes

Well, you guys probably already figured it out, since I used it in the swirl mani, but I did manage to track down a bottle of Finger Paints Evergreen Dream:


I think this is already one of my favorite greens, and I haven't even used it for a full mani yet, although you will see it as a nail art color once I get my current mani posted =) This was on my "allowed" list, so now my no-buy will need to start in earnest =(

BUT! My friend Sam at work got me a Christmas gift a little earlier this week - and guess what it was =)


Top row is Nicole Pink Different & Scene Stealer, bottom row are my very first Spa Ritual polishes Tall Glass of Water & Weathered the Storm. She said she was in a pink mood LOL & I love all 4 of these. Can't wait to give the Spa Ritual a try since it's my understanding they are a really good brand.

I am now almost caught up posting. & I am off work tomorrow & Friday, so I have real hope I'll be caught up with about 2 weeks of comments soon =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Monday, December 21, 2009

NOTD: Christmas Swirl Water Marble + Tutorial

My original idea on this was doing something that looked like a candy cane, then I decided to add some green & it ended up just being kind of Christmas themed. I'm fairly happy with the final product, even though honestly only one nail turned out the way I envisioned. I tried several red & white polish combinations, prior to starting on my nails, and ever single time the red bled into the white - except on the very last nail I marbled, and I honestly don't know what I did differently (excuse the mess, this is about 50% cleaned up):


So if you would, please picture the rest of the nails like that & you'll understand my original vision. But, for whatever reason I ended up with quite a bit of pink due to color bleeding on the others. This is still a great design, but... well you guys know me =) Never happy LOL.

I used Color Club French Tip for my base color, and used that & Finger Paints Evergreen Dream & China Glaze Thunderbird for the marbling:


Here is the tutorial, not my best I think ... I kept stumbling over the words & I did like 4 or 5 takes & still wasn't happy, not to mention to corner of the notebook in the take that ended up being "best" Whatever ... I've never claimed to be more than a talented amateur LOL, and I guess my setup speaks volumes =) You can certainly tell I'm putting out these tutorials from, literally, my desktop:



I have 1 more idea I'd like to get on my nails & on video before the holiday, but I'm not sure I'll have time. We are expecting what they're claiming to be a huge blizzard Wednesday night into Thursday, so we're trying to get everything done by Wednesday now so we can be off on Thursday & not suffer through the commute just for a half-day's work. Anyway, we'll see how that pans out ... thanks for reading =)

~Colette

25 Dozen Cookies Later...

I'm actually not exaggerating here LOL. And that's just the ones I was personally involved with baking, not to mention what the rest of the family made. I counted the sugar cookies yesterday after we frosted ... well, tried to count them, I lost track at 12 dozen. Then there were the 4 dozen PBBs for work, which I already showed you, 8.5 dozen cake balls, and 5 dozen fruity foldovers. I took some pics, so if you're hungry, turn back now & come back in a little bit when I will have nail pics posted & a new tutorial =)

Here are the sugar cookies after frosting ... you can probably tell some of the ones that I did LOL, and they apparently got me in the mood for some marbling on my nails:


My aunt made rosettes - there was another box in addition to this one & she said she'd make more fresh for Christmas Day:


Almond bark with pretzels & peppermint, made by Grandma:


Fruity Pebble/Rice Krispie bars, made by Grandma:


Cranberry walnut bars - also made by Grandma =):


Cake balls =) One of my contributions of course. The green are chocolate cake with mint coating, the red are strawberry/strawberry & my personal favorite combination to date:


Fruity foldovers - kind of a sugar cookie based dough with your choice of preserves inside, this is another of my contributions, and I chose apricot & blackberry gooey deliciousness inside:


Snowballs AKA Russian tea cakes, made by Mom ... I never eat these since they have nuts (I'm allergic):


Cardamom cookies, also by Mom. She had a heck of a time finding cardamom, it was sold out everywhere, and then the sugar sprinkled on top was this super-special kind that was hard to find & as you see not that impressive in the end. To top it all off, the consensus was that these taste pretty much like a snickerdoodle cookie LOL. I think Mom considered these a semi-fail on that account:


Stained-glass cookies, also by Mom. One of her favorites, kind of like fruitcake except it's a cookie ... and another one with tree-nuts:


I don't remember what these were called, but they had oatmeal, corn flakes, peanuts, and peppermint frosting, and this is ANOTHER contribution by Grandma:


So we took all that & made 16 various trays, for family & friends =) Here are a few of them:


Cookie day may be my favorite day of the year, even above & beyond Christmas itself. I literally cannot remember a Christmas without a cookie day, it's always been a tradition =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette
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