Putting On The Bells And Whistles With Freshmaker

Hello on a Sunday and Happy Mother Days. Today I have my favorite Tiffany blue polish and one of my favorite silver toppers. The two I am wearing are, Freshmaker from Jenna Hipp's First collection two summers ago and Bells And Whistles from Signet Nails.

Freshmaker is a clean light blue green. By that I feel that it doesn't have black or a complementary color to dull it or make it dusty. That in turn makes it look fresh and my favorite of all my blue greens. It's quality could be better. The first coat always looks pretty ragged but after the second or third, it looks good. 

Bells And Whistles is a metallic silver shard glitter. This polish is amazing. It goes on like molten silver and is as smooth as ice. It had been one of my lemmings for a while and I finally broke down and got it.  As you see from the first and second photos, I first just had it on all my nails tips but finally did an accent nail. And it was so easy to take off, not like usual glitter. 

And unlike gold shards, this silver reflects the colors around it. You can see this in the macro. The silver has a slight blue green tint to it, especially in the lower left hand corner. And notice how the shards lay on top of each other like scales. 

There is a problem with Freshmaker though. It is only a mini and I am going to run out of it someday soon. I will not pay $7 for it on Ebay.  

I have been doing some window shopping and think there are two I might be able to work with. Essie's new spring collection has Blossom Dandy. I will actually take my bottle of Freshmaker to Ulta to compare. 

And Lauren of Signet Nails is coming out with Mind Beach,  a blue green that is slightly darker and not as glossy, but I could easily tweak it to get it the light shade I want and a top coat always fixed the dull. She actually had a comparison of the two on Instagram under lalanail.


And here were just a few colors in the running with Freshmaker for this mani. I just thought it stood out from the crowd.

From left to right: Bells And Whistles, Mermaid's Tears, In De-Nile, Putting On Airs, I have An Herring Problem and Freshmaker

I wore this mani for five days. In fact, it was last weeks Monday Mani on IG and Facebook

That's it for this round. So until we meet again, take care and polish on!

 

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! 

Pick N Mix #15-Pink, Aqua and Dotting Tools

 Hello Everyone, 

Week 15 of The Pick N Mix Challenge is here with pink, aqua and dotting tools.

  

 I used two pinks, two aquas, a inky blue base with a special matte/glitter topper.I love projects where I can use a bunch of colors and brands. This was certainly one of those.

I started out with a big dot of East Austin at the top of my nail and then went from there with contour dotted lines. This is a very straight forward design, just follow the dots!

From Left To Right: Orly's Fancy Fuchsia, Mineral Fusion's Lagoon, Milani's Ink Spot, Color Club's East Austin, My-Stash's Shaken Not Stirred, and Jenna Hipp's Freshmaker.

That's what I did for this round. this link up is a dual one. There are two challenges with this code. So doubly enjoy! Until we meet again, take care.
                                                                                            

 Terri

And here is my IG photo, if you follow me there. I really like rectangles, but squares are the thing over there.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pick Up Sticks

Last weekend I taught a color theory class for fiber artists. I also wore a dress with a digitally printed kaleidoscopic pattern. Every hue in the prism was represented. These are the nails I did for the dress and class.

Polish Notes 

Juleps Bunny-This is the only polish I am going to discuss. The others I will just list. Bunny is a white cream that is infused with gold shimmer. I had never seen a white like it before. I actually purchased it last summer and am now just getting around to using it. It is a fairly thick polish. You could probably us just one coat, but I used two. Bunny was a nice one to work with. Although the gold shimmer shows up quite nicely in my closeup, it doesn't really show up that well on the nail.


Polishes Used For The Lines

Jenna Hipp's mini's from last summers "What's Hot Collection:

• Damage Control (light pink)
• Freshmaker (light blue-green)
• Look Hot Feel Cool (Dark Turquoise)
•  Tweet Me (light yellow)

Orly

• Fancy Fuchsia (hot pink)
• Blue Sky (light periwinkle blue)

Essence

• L.O.L (yellow-green)

That's it for this time. So until the next, take care.  Terri

My First Franken-A Gold Glaze

I also used Stripe
Rite's Gold Metallic for the double lines.

Sooner or later I figured it would happen. There would be something I wanted and didn't or couldn't find it so would concoct it myself. I can't say I wasn't planning to eventually do this. I bought some Luster Base and mini bottles last summer from TKB Trading. 

I had been wanting a gold glaze with just a little glitter for some kakie green polishes I have. They looked great in the bottle but I wanted something just a tad extra for them.

For the mixture I used the Luster Base, Jenna Hipp's ho-hummm gold metallic (Award Season) from her last summer's collection and Wet 'n Wild's The Gold And The Beautiful. I did thin it down with nail polish thinner to get the consistency I wanted.

I will admit that this not that dramatic but I like it and know I will use it a lot. And in my book that is pretty important. Well, that's it for this time around. Take Care............Terri

And The Winner for the three Koco beauty products is Genevieve Clay-Poor!

What I did With BORING Glitter

Last Summer I bought (probably like a few thousand) Jenna Hipp's What's Hot Summer mini collection.

There were three groups of lacquers, a pastel collection, a jewel tone collection, and then there was the Glitz and Glam collection.
 The pastels and jewels were fine. But the Glitz and Glam part, left something to be desired. The two glitters looked like an afterthought and were BORING.

It just nagged at me how I could use these. After all, I did pay for the things. I don't have many jelly polishes, so the jelly sandwich avenue was a no go. But, creams and sheers I do have. So I had a plan and here it is...............

STEP 1 

Notes:
 Cole is a peach cream. It's on the thinner side, but not to thin. The first coat looked a bit uneven, but things straitened out by the second. If I was using it by itself, I might consider a third coat. This was my favorite color from Zoya's Awaken Collection. This color is so fresh and happy looking.

STEP 2

 O.K., So this is probably the most boring photo I have ever done, but this is very boring glitter, so it's appropriate.

Step Three-Topping Off With A Sheer

Notes:
As noted in the picture, the sheer topper is Precious Pink by Mineral Fusion. Mineral Fusion is a brand I have been wanting to try for a while. Ulta started carrying it and has some hard to refuse deals (as in buy one and get one free). Mineral Fusion also carries the Leaping Bunny certification, which for me is a big deal. To have the bunny means that a company has proved beyond a doubt that they are cruelty free.

I think Precious Pink leans towards the peach side and worked well with Cole. This is the first polish I have tried by Mineral Fusion, and it went on perfectly.

Sheers are perfect for encasing glitter and I like the look. It can create a Monet impressionist look.

This manicure looked very Spring like and lasted five days. That was only because I was ready to take it off. 

It never looked out of place with anything I wore. I think light pink has that ability.

Extra

On the last day, couldn't resist and I added Nfu-Oh # 48. 

Well, I think that is it for this time....Terri

September '13 Nail Journal # 4-1+1+1=1

Well, Really 1+1+1=Time To Make A Strawberry Daiquiri

Layer one is Jenna Hipp's Private Getaway from her Summer's What's Hot collection

Layer two is a budget minded old standby-Hallucinate by Wet N Wild

Third layer is Bali Mist by Sinful Colors

Hmmmmm, what do all the layers add up to?

Oh yea, Time To Make A Strawberry Daiquiri!

August '13 Nail Journal #1-Life After A Broken Nail-10 Polishes Of Fun

August '13 Nail Journal #1

Life After A Severely Broken Nail
Tearing Through The Polishes

The next month with be just single colors. With the exception of foils and metallics,  I add some type of topper if possible. I want to distract from the one nail that is incredible short.

Hashtag from the new Jenna Hipp "What's Hot" mini collection. I love this color. It has a brightness and cleanness about it. 

On day 2 I changed the look up with Color Club's Snowflakes from the 2012 Winter Affair Collection. Snowflakes is a flakie top coat. On top of Hashtag it flashed orange and gold. It did not take a great picture but the look was very nice and I got a few complements. So I guess that the Winter Affair can also be a Summer Fling. 

Jenna Hipp's Freshmaker: again from the new Jenna Hipp "What's Hot"mini collection

Changing it up with a top coat of Nfu-Oh #54-I don't need to talk about Nfu-Oh flakies;don't need to say anything, it's Nfu-Oh

Modern Romance by Essence-part of their Colour & go series. I really like this line. The price is right and the brushes are wonderful. The bottle caps match the polish which is another plus. This particular shade was a bit thin but not bad. Modern Romance is a light peach with a pink shimmer, really quite lovely

Changing it up with Sakura Matsuri by Rainbow Honey. Sakura Matsuri is the namesake of the collection.

This is a base coat of Son Of A Gun, the first Ulta lacquer that I bought (in January-probably something psychological about me picking orange at the beginning of winter.  In the end, it is just a average orange cream.

Changing it up with an OPI vintage classic, Man Of La Mancha.  La Mancha was part of their 2003 Holiday On Broadway collection.
This one is not 3 free. Anything before '04 isn't going to be. 

And I wore two single coats. this first one I needed to do something with but it was the first polish on after I broke the nail and I really wasn't in the mood.  The metallic shimmer needed nothing else. 

And I love this shade by Cosmetic Arts. It's a branch of Color  Club and has no name. In my stash I call it
 #14-Deep Lilac Metallic Shimmer

All of these polishes are cruelty free. The OPI was made before December, 2010.

That's it.

Vegan Polishes

I am always investigating what is and is not cruelty free and Vegan.  I ran across this Huffingpost article sometime back and want to share it. It is interesting the Huffington quoted Jenna Hipp who just came out with a mini set of polishes available at Cosco this Summer.

Here is a link to the article.

There is a slideshow of the top ten in the article. How many of these companies do you own?

The ad for Jenna Hipp's mini collection. I am not pushing the collection, but I did get it and it is a wonderfully complete collection. It seems perfect for someone who is just starting out and really doesn't know what colors they want to wear. It really is three separate collections rolled into one: pastels, jewel tones, and glitz.