Pick N Mix-Purple and Hearts

Hello, this is a busy week. I think this is post #3 for me this week. I guess Valentine week will do that for you. 

Today is the 20th edition of the Pick N Mix and the theme is Purple and hearts. This must be a nod to Valentine Day.

I went for hand painting again. I turned my hearts into notes and added a few dots.

I used one of my favorite Indie Brands, Signet Nails for the base coat. This is one of her new releases, Violet Femme. Violet Femme is a lavender sheer jelly base with flashes of amethyst shimmer.

A closer look at Violet Femme (used in another mani).

My thumb-I wanted to see if I could paint a Treble clef.

The other colors that I used were L.A. Colors Reckless and Stripe Rite Silver.

That wraps this session up and so until I am here again, take care...............................Terri

And as usual this is a link up so check out the other cool Valentine manis below.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Love Is In The Air-Favorite Technique

I am taking part in the "Love Is In The Air" Nail Challenge. Today's theme is our favorite nail art technique. I picked a jelly sandwich. I think I get more bang for my buck when I do this. I can used a lot of different glitters together and can make a subtle but pretty cool look (OK, that's IMO)!

 My main base polish is Kiss Off by Signet Nails. Lauren did this as part of a trio for an anti-love set. 

I almost won the contest naming this one, which is why I have a bottle. Lauren is a sweetie. She sent me this bottle and then took my suggestion (Tainted Love) and created a beautiful blue jelly which I now own!

Kiss Off is a deep pink (three steps away for red to my eyes) jelly. I had a lot of fun with this mani. First, I put on two coats of Kiss Off, then a layer of holographic glitter (a Jenna Hipp mini). Around the top and sides, I added a layer of a-England's Merlin for an extra spark. Lastly, I added a third coat of Kiss Off. 

With just one coat on top, the holo still works great. This has to be one of my favorite jelly sandwich looks I have done. Do you like to make jelly sandwiches?-I guess literally or figuratively? 

Macro Shot 

That's it for tonight, signing off................Terri


 

An InLinkz Link-up

Kiss Off

Hello Everyone,

First up, Kiss Off is the name of the polish-just wanted to let you know that I wasn't telling everyone to get lost!

I hope life is finding everyone pretty good today. I just spent the weekend with my daughter at a veterinary conference (she's the vet, I'm not) and had a chance to sit in on a couple of nutrition lectures. Having both cats and dogs, nutrition is something I am concerned with.

I haven't had to much time to work with nails and blogging. But for today, I am wearing Kiss Off  by Signet Nails.  Kiss Off  is part of a collaboration between Signet Nails, Lou It Yourself and Rica. The polish is part of a trio and will available on January 30th. The ladies are doing a single awareness theme and the set will be available one January 30th.

This is a deep pink (three steps away for red to my eyes) jelly. I had a lot of fun with this mani. First, I put on two coats of Kiss Off, then a layer of holographic glitter (a Jenna Hipp mini). Around the top and sides, I added a layer of a-England's Merlin for an extra spark. Lastly, I added a third coat of Kiss Off. 

With just one coat on top, the holo still works great. This has to be one of my favorite jelly sandwich looks I have done. 

Macro Time

The IG Shot

I almost won the contest naming this one, which is why I have a bottle. Lauren is a sweetie. She sent me this bottle and then took my suggestion (Tainted Love) and created a beautiful blue jelly with holo which I can't wait to get my hands on. It will also be released on January 30th also. 

Signet Nails shop is on ETSY and please go check it out. 

That's a wrap for this one. Take care until we meet again. Terri 

And don't forget to check out Signet Nails on the 30th! 

Bellaluna Cosmetics-Swatches and Review

Hello Everyone on this December Monday. For today, I have three polishes (and some extra designs) from the new Indie Bellaluna Cosmetics. These lacquers are handcrafted by Samantha Garland who has established her shop on ETSY.

I personally purchased these during my Black Friday and Cyber Monday hunting expedition. 

First up, I have Belle Of The Ball.

Belle Of The Ball is an emerald Green with copper shimmer. The green and copper was too hard to resist. Belle Of The Ball is of a thinner consistency. Although two coats probably would have worked, I added a third. It goes on smoothly without any streakiness and dries to a satin finish. And I will make a note here that all lacquers were used with a base-coat. No top coats were used except where specified.

  
Wanting to see what Belle Of The Ball looked with a high gloss, I put a top coat of Wicked Fast (Cult Nails) on it. And it is gorgeous with a high shine. Can we say perfect for Christmas.

I love the way the green reacts differently in this macro. Some of it seems to come across as blue-green. 

And Now I have Cinnamaspice

This one fooled me. When I saw it in the bottle, it was, "well that's nice". But when I got it one, it was,"WOW!". This is hands down my favorite of the three. It just glows!

Cinnamaspice is a brown jelly base with deep gold hex glitters, gold dust and some gold added in for good measure. And, as far as I am concerned,  it adds up to spectacular. 

Cinnamaspice was opaque enough with two coats, but I added a third for the fun of it. 

I need to say nothing about this one

These two seemed to be quite suited for Christmas, so I did a very simple quick Christmas tree and decorated it with a rhinestone and some coppery StripeRite.

Merry Christmas

And finally, I have Winter Blizzard

This is the dark lady of the group but there is so much lurking under her surface. Winter blizzard is multi colored shimmer floating around in a black jelly base.

It can be used by itself, as I have. Or it can be used as a topper. If used by itself I recommend using least three coats. 

Just wanted to do a bottle shot for this one, it is so pretty.

 

I thought a Winter Blizzard called for some silvery icicles.

 I do wish the bottles were labeled. Bellaluna, at this time comes with cute white tags tied on the bottles. They got in my way and I took them off. Knowing me, I will probably lose them.

This is a nice premiere collection and I am happy with my three selections. With the thirteen polishes that Bellaluna offers, I feel there is something for everyone. The polishes are priced at $8.50 which is an average price for Indies. Again, Bellaluna Cosmetics can be found on ETSY.

That's a wrap for this visit. Until we see each other again, take care. And being the beginning of the season, take a few deep breaths and some time for yourself. ............TerriG

Golden Fall Leaves

Hello on a Sunday.

This is a rare one. I usually don't post on a Sunday but today is special. I am hooking up with other members of The Hobby Polish Bloggers for a "Fall Nail Linkup".

We could do anything we wanted. I chose to create a design using one of my favorite brands, Nubar. The base color of my design is Nubar's Wildlife which is a gorgeous duochrome that flashes from green to bronze. 

After applying Wildlife, I stamped simple leaves using Mentality's Prosper,  Konad's Light Bronze and HB21 stamping plate. This provided a base of leaves.

I then painted larger outlines of leaves with my Stripe Rite gold. And that's it.

I love Nubar's Wildlife and had to throw in some extra shots. 

This color is so perfect for Fall. I know it can be found on it own or with the Going Green Set that it is a part of. I will tell you I bought my set off of Ebay. I would give you a link to Nubar, but they seem to be having trouble with the site today. At least, I couldn't get anywhere on it.

The Lineup

The Going Green Collection

 

And now a word about our sponsor. I have been a member of the Facebook group Hobby Polish Bloggers for not quite a year. It's a great group of ladies and I have learned so much from the more experienced bloggers. I am so happy that we are now having a monthly blog hop.  

Check down below to see some other beautiful nail art.  


As usual, until we me again, take care and shine on....................

Black Dahlia's African Violets

Hello everyone. Today I am finishing up the post that I did on Tuesday. This is a couple of shots of African Violets from Black Dahlia's Fall collection.

 African Violet's is "a pale lavender shimmer with a subtle scattered holo finish." In my eyes, if is a very blue leaning lavender. It is probably my favorite of my order. And it is very beautiful in sunlight.

And I couldn't lay off the glitter. Here is my "mystery glitter" in a wave pattern. 

This was just a quickie. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember to check out Black Dahlia on Etsy. They have just started some mystery bags and a subscription. 

Well, that's it for now. Until we meet again, take care.........Terri

Black Dahlia Lacquer

Hello Everyone, I want to show you some lacquers that I picked up from a very new Indie on the block. Black Dahlia is a mother and daughter team that hails out of Austin, Texas. They came on the scene in late September with a full line of polish. And I am a sucker for polishes that are name after flowers. So I knew I had to try some.

Five colors came with my order. Four are featured here. I will show the fifth next week.

I actually ordered four and got a fifth "mystery" polish. I did order minis so I could try more. The only trouble I had was in the photo shoot. I personally think minis are much harder to work with. 

The lacquers I ordered were:

*Lilly Of Valley from the Essential Collection
*Japanese Painted Fern from the Fall Collection
*Queen Of The Night from the Halloween Collection
*African Violets from the Fall Collection

So on with the lacquers...............

Lilly Of The Valley

I am going to quote the ladies on what is going on in this polish. "Lily of the Valley is a light gray shimmer polish with taupe and white flakies and added gold glass fleck. " 

And it is all that. This is two coats. Lilly went on smoothly and is subtle but a complicated blend. This is easily a four season lacquer. 

I think you can see that taupe and gold a little better in this closeup. 

Japanese Painted Fern

Japanese Painted Fern is My favorite of the lacquers I ordered. I love the shade of gray and the violet flecks just really make it stand out. As described by Black Dahlia, "Japanese Painted Fern is a brown-tinged gray shimmer with purple glass fleck." I really could have not described it better.

And A closer view of Japanese Painted Fern

Queen Of The Night

Queen Of The Night, as described by the makers is, "gun metal gray that appears to shift to an off black, is packed with metallic shimmer, giving it the appearance of a scattered holo. Shimmery black and dark gray flakies were added to give this creme polish added depth"

This is a definite beauty. For some reason, I had some trouble with this beauty. But I found if I worked with very thin coats, he worked better. I thought this was a little thicker than the others I used. It really does have the look of a holo. And this one is on clearance right now!

So now to the nail art

Back in mind, I must have had a gradient in mind when I ordered these three.

As mentioned, the ladies threw in a free polish. Mine was a glitter bomb of large and small holographic glitters. Can we say disco ball? I wanted to use them with the gradation but at the same time not taking away from the gradation. I came up with a simple outlined leaf shape. And I personally loved wearing it. But for those who know me, I love my "glitta".

And closing with a close shot of this glitter-it really doesn't have a name.

I hope you have enjoyed this post. You know, I started getting interested in my nails so late, I missed the beginning of so many great beginnings. Black Dahlia was one that I caught before they even released and it has been fun watching them develop their lines. 

As mentioned, I also purchased African Violet. It's a blue and I am going to present it as one of my "One Shots". Artistically, I couldn't see it in with this selection of colors. 

Please visit Black Dahlia's shop on ETSY.

That is for this time. And until we meet again, as always, take care............Terri

Pick-N-Mix #5 Getting Excessive Over The 80s

Hello again. It's Pick-N-Mix Week 5 and the theme is the 80's which were just a tad bit excessive.

My nail design specifically took it's inspiration from the German fashion house Escada which was started and directed by Margeret Ley during the 80s. 

The Escada design that I used, is actually from an Escada jacket that I have collected. I have grabbed a few Escada things from Ebay during the last few years. 

My family dubs this "The Christmas Tree" jacket. And I pretty much only wear it around Christmas. But the embroidery and rhinestones were just to hard to resist. 

And the group of polishes that made this excessive look.

From left to right

1. Mentality's Proper
2. Butter London's Marbs
3. No Miss's Havana Hibiscus
4. Essence's Black Is Back

Oh, Those 80's

Other over the top inspirations 

When Donald and Ivana ruled NYC society. This was Ivana's pre-Cougar days. But I always have liked her but always considered him a jerk.

The Carringtons of Dynasty. All that wealth, all the melodrama, and all those cat fights.

And if you wanted to dress to excess, Margeret Ley of Escada was the lady to turn to.

This ends my contribution to this "Nail Hop". And I sure had an excessive amount of fun doing it. Check out below for all the other great designs by my other nail artists. So, until me meet again, take care...........Terri

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Having A Mai Tai With My Rotten Candy Corn

Hello again. It's time for a new post. I am doing two things with this one. I am finishing up my Signet Halloween polish and I am hooking up with other members of Hobby Polish Bloggers for a "Nail Hop".

I so thought these two polishes were made for each other, in name and color. The red orange is Nailtini's Mai Tai and of course we have Signet Nail's Rotten Candy Corn.

 Unfortunately, this polish is not longer available. We descended on Lauren's Signet Nails site and like some vultures and scooped up her duo in nothing flat.

Firstly, I painted a base coat of Mai Tai. And I did wear it a day by itself. I love this red orange color. After a day going solo, I added the Rotten to create my Halloween mani.

I went with a abstract candy corn shape.
On my accent nail I used the bat vinyls that were include with the Halloween pack as decals. I did hand place the larger glitters around the accent nail.

Here's a shot of Mai Tai. As I said, I wore it by itself for a while.  I love mixing cocktails (here's proof) and can see more Nailtinis in my stash. 

And the Bat vinyls? They were part of Lauren's treat (along with some chevron vinyls).

These vinyls were created by Loucie Paskiewicz of Lou it Yourself. Find her shop on ETSY. 

The bats before I used them

The other side with the chevrons

 Oh, and there was candy-it's gone. 

And the instigator of all of this Halloween coolness is Signet Nails. Check out her ETSY store. 

A close up of all that rotten candy corn

And now a word about our sponsor. I have been a member of the Facebook group Hobby Polish Bloggers for not quite a year. It's a great group of ladies and I have learned so much from the more experienced bloggers. It's a great group. I am so happy that we are now going to have a monthly challenge blog hop.  

A last shot of the polishes. The black was a really cute bottle of black that I found at Sally's Beauty a couple of weeks ago.

Well, that's it for this visit and until we see each other again, Take Care..........Terri

 

An InLinkz Link-up

French Mani With A Bite-Signet Nail's Witches In Stitches

Signet's Nail's Witches In Stitches is the base polish for what is going to be my mani for Halloween night. I decided to keep it simple but wanted something. So the French tips with teeth came into being.

Witches In Stitches was part of a duo (the other being Rotten Candy Corn) that Lauren Swindol offered in a fantastic package a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, this duo sold out in hours. 

Witches In Stitches without the chompers. This shot does not have a top coat. Without a top coat, the polish has a satin finish with a slight texture. 

Close Up of the glitter

Can I tell you how much I love this polish. I can see "Witches" going to Easter too. Cool looking Easter eggs just are speaking to me. 

Lauren's Signet Nails resides at ETSY. 
Please check it out. And take a look at the fantastic Opel Flash. I mean, it has real smashed up opals in it. She only makes it to order. I am think about a special Christmas present to me from me. We'll see. 

Well, that's it for this time around. I have a idea for the other member of this duo and will be back soon with that one. 

As always, take care until we see each other again.......Terri