Pick N Mix #17-3 Greens and a Yellow

Hello again, I hope everyone is having a good day. 

It's time for another  52 Week Pick N Mix. The promps this week were fire and or 3 greens and a yellow. I just didn't want to do fire. And the only answer I came up with was a type of plaid using some of my older colors.

I used Nubar's Primrose for a base yellow. I've had this for a while and added it because it has a very light and soft yellow tone.

It was funny that with all the new greens I have, I went back to my older colors for the design. 

The stripes were done in OPI's Just Spotted The Lizard and Darling Diva's Baroo Barooo. The interior was filled inn with Borghese's Limoncello. Limoncello is one of my oldest but still one of my favorite shades. And Lizard is up there too.

That's a wrap for this round. It turned out to be an Oldie But Goldie mani.

As usual, this is a link up. And for January it is a double group (there are two challenges going on in January with only one link).

Take care and until next time, Terri

An InLinkz Link-up

In The Mood For Gray And Glitter

Last week I pulled out some of my Spa Rituals and an OPI for this mani. I used:

Base Coat: Spa Ritual's Mood

Silver Line: Spa Ritual's Silver Shimmer

Glitter Accent: OPI's Tangled In The Tinsel

That wraps it up for this time.

Tangling In The Tinsel

This is a repost from The Meadowtree Journal. It was originality published 1/6/13.  

OPI's "Tangled In Tinsel" and Hard Candy's Matte-ly In Love

As I was doing some stocking stuffing shopping for my daughters at Beauty Brands, I ran across a rather original idea for a Christmas season polish. OPI and Beauty Brands had a special on for a couple of OPI’s polishes. For $4.98 I could have some Christmas red or Tangled In The Tinsel. Tangled In The Tinsel had to be one of the most perfect examples of additive color theory* that I had ever seen in nail polish. Very quickly, it went into my basket.

This polish has a very dark grey base with green, red, and silver glitter. It looks like glitzy gunmetal and it’s not very Christmassy (well, unless you are the Grinch). New Years, maybe, buy I already had a design going on for New Years.

So this week I decided to get my “Tangled” on the nails. It’s really shiny; to make up for the darkness, I imagine. But, I wanted it for daywear. Something else was needed. Out came the matte topcoat. I now have “Granite Counter-top” for the nails and love it! I did not matte out the tips, so I still have some of the shine left. It does not show up well, in the picture, but my tips are very shiny. 

As you can see, I have a love for gray. It was not hard to find things to wear with my nails. The bracelet is from Vera Wang's collection (2012) for Kohls. The hat, I knitted from yarn that I hand spun from some of my bunny wool.  

*Additive Color Theory says that the more hues one adds, the darker the final hue will be. This is the theory that most artists use. The opposite of this is Subtractive color theory, which is used by lighting artists. This theory states that the mixture of all color waves creates white light. 

I am still having a great time having a "polished" life**.  Have a wonderful week and take some time for yourself. 

 **And this is still true a year later. I still love collecting polish. 

Tangled With Moonraker

This is a repost from the MeadowTree Journal. It was originally published 2/18/2013.

This has to be one of the favorite things I have worn for a while. I really hated taking this one off. Last Fall Narciso Rodriguez did a collection for Kohls. I fell in love with one of the skirts. Finally, I got to wear it and had to have something just for it.

First, I put a base coat of OPI's Moonraker on. Then, painted the bottom half of the nail in OPI's Tangled in Tinsel. A black line that divides the two is a black Stripe-Rite. You could also just use a small brush and any black nail polish. But if there is a Sally's Beauty nearby, these can be found on sale for $2.79 (although, I will say that I have not seen them that cheap for awhile).

From Left To Right: Moonraker, Black Stripe Rite, and Tangled In Tinsel

A small pic of the skirt

I seem to really like to combine more that one polish. It just doubles the fun.

Holiday Compilation Repost

This is a combination of two holiday reposts from The Meadowtree Journal. They were posted 12/18/2012 and 12/24/2012. I remember wearing all of these. 

My simple idea for the Holidays. I had this on last week. It's rich but subtle.
I am wearing C on the below chart.

I really had fun posting about "my obsession" and wanted to show what I've been up to for the holiday nail ideas. I am doing a simple design of one base color and tipping my nails with another. Done in the right colors, it can be worn for everyday. 

The above collage shows the four combinations I am using. I have already worn B and C. I am planning on D for Christmas day and don't know when I am going to get to A. As you probably guess, I really like this style of design. It looks elegant without being overdone. Well, at least that is what I think. 

The combinations are:

A. OPI's Indulgence for the base coat and it is tipped in Revlon's Golden

B. OPI's Vamsterdam for the based coat and tipped in NYC's Topaz.

C. OPI's I'm Not Really A Waitress for the base coat and tipped in OPI's Indulgence.

D. Zoya's Logan for the base coat and tipped in NYC's Topaz. Logan is also on my toes now.

Some of my OPI's are very small bottles. Being just a beginner without much of a collection, I have gotten a few of OPI's mini sets. My favorite has been their TOP 10 for 2012. I found it on EBAY for $20 and like everything in it. You can try a bunch
of different colors without the high price of individual full size prices. 

OPI's Top Ten. A big bottle of Vamsterdam stands in front of it. I loved the color
so much that I purchased a full size bottle and gave the mini to my daughter.
She wore it last weekend and really liked it also.

From left to right: Revlon's Golden, Zoya's Logan, LA Color's Topaz and OPI's Indulgence.

And I couldn't forget about Hanukah. I am not Jewish but very close family members are. There are two different looks. Both base coats are Unfor-greta-bly Blue by OPI.
Again, this is a mini sample and is from the Germany Collection (GER-MINIS). The sample on the left is tipped in Beware by Pure Ice. The sample on the right is a little more understated with the tips being in Hallucinate by Wet n' Wild. Hallucinate is a  multi color glitter and blends more than contrasts.

Zoya's Logan

It's Christmas Eve morning and 20 degrees! Before I start working on our annual family Christmas Eve meal, I want to share what I put on last night for Christmas. 

I used Zoya's Logan from their 2012 Holiday collection. The minute I saw it in an ad last October, I knew that was the one for Christmas. It's my first Zoya polish. In fact, at this point, it is my only Zoya. 

I tipped my nails in gold with Revlon's Golden. Any gold would do. I'm not buying any more Revlon (I have problems with their new animal testing policy) so if I was getting a gold tomorrow, I would probably go to a Milani, Orly, China Glaze, Zoya or Hard Candy. 

Did anyone else pick a color just for the holidays? They sure put a lot of beautiful ones out this year. 

Quite honestly, I don't know if I need any more golds. I'm a sucker for them, that's for sure.

That ties up this repost. To be quite honest, I will probably use some of these colors for this year also. Logan is just really cool and I can't wait to use it. 

Gray Suade Re-post

Here is another transfer from Meadowtree Journal-This was originally published on 2/25/2013

It was symphony time again Saturday night. Here's the nails I did for it. I wore the same LBD. I guess it is my official symphony going dress. Everything I wore with it was either gray, silver, and black. I wanted understated nails to go with it. 

My Holo looks pretty ragged, but it is much used.

I first put on a base coat of Stroke Of Midnight by L'Oreal. On top is one of my favorites Holo by Mentality. It's hard for me to leave the tips alone when I'm dressing up and picked My Pointe Exactly by OPI, a mini from NYC Ballet Petite collection.

At the first glance, my fingernails just look a silvery gray. But, Holo being what it is, reflects a multitude of colors, depending on the undercoat and what kind of light it is in. That's it for this time.

Inspired By Turquoise

This is another post that I am bringing over from the Journal. Last Fall when I finally really fell for nail design, what was new for me was sometimes old hat for others. Crackle polish is an example was this. Although, I now know that crackle is not favored anymore, it has (I feel) laid the path for the incredible textures that are going on this Spring. I think it has value in color layering designs. I think silver on top of certain colors can be beautiful. This is one of my interpretations of that. And I can tell you now that there is a new idea going on in my head about a summer design using crackle. Enough said, here is the post.

It was time for a new manicure. Two objects inspired me; a necklace that I finally got strung and a modern lace bracelet. 

I fell in love with these cubed semi precious stones, but they sat for two years in my bead collection. Last month,  I finally bought a silver toggle and made the necklace. 

As mentioned, the second color inspiration was the beautiful modern lace bracelet that I got for Christmas from my daughter (shown below). She is a fiber artist and makes these on the side. She has a different color combination available for purchase in her Shop.

The Manicure

Base Coat: Teal or No Teal-Wet N Wild-got at CVS for $1.99

Top Coat-Silver Shatter-OPI-got at TJ Maxx for $4

Edge Tip-Sexy In Stilettos-Chi-got at Tuesday Morning for $2.99

The lace bracelet-This color combo is called Atomic Ranch-right up my alley

Have you notice that TJ and Tuesday Morning have their polishes up by the check out? It's like when you have kids and the candy bars. I stand there waiting and find myself looking at polish. One usually ends up in my basket. Fortunately, lately they haven't received new merchandise in the polish department and I have been fairly safe.

Close up of lace

That sums this design up. Usually, the nail designs that I do have a context with something. So I guess, I really don't know where that puts me as a nail blogger. I am not that much of a polish swatcher, except on my reference collection wheels. My family thinks this is probably a tad eccentric.  I record every new color on a color family wheel. I always know what I have without having to rummage through bottles. Does anyone else do this?

So until next time and I hope tomorrow brings you a beautifully polished life.......Terri

  

Sally's Banana Does A Pirouette

Hello, today I have yellow. I have been wanting to try yellow for a while. I was pretty sure I would like it. And yep, I do. After all, I even have a yellow house! This polish is Bananas by Sally's Beauty. I picked up this little Sally Girl while vacationing in Florida (had to get my polish fix) and it does smell like bananas. I think scented polishes are a bit gimmicky, but it isn't a bad smell. It's a mini and minis are always a little harder to work with. The wand handles are always so small. 

To top things off, I added my favorite glitter, OPI's Pirouette My Whistle.  It has small white hexes and very fine silver glitter.  Pirouette was part of OPI's 2012 New York City Ballet Collection. If any of my friends wanted to try a glitter but were worried it would be to much, this is the one I would recommend. Pirouette My Whistle is beautiful, but low keyed. It can go anywhere.

Does anyone else wear yellow? Sometimes I think yellow is a difficult color to work with and feel a lot of people shy away from it. But, I have always loved the soft butter yellow, which this is. 

That's it for this time. Until next time, I hope today brings you a beautifully polished life.-Terri

Poppy With An Art Project In A Bottle

Hello Friends, 

Well, after three days of wearing only black and white nails, I needed some color! I picked Come To Poppy from OPI's 2011 Summer Great Stems collection. It is a wonderful coral pink with just a tiny  bit of shimmer-gorgeous Summer color. At one time, we grew wonderful Poppies and probably nostalgia played an initial part of me wanting this color. 

But being me, I couldn't leave it at just that. A couple of months ago, I ran across Seche's  Collage Overlay. Now I ask you, how could an art teacher pass that up? It sounded like an art project!

Collage Overlay is composed of large white hexes, smaller holographic hexes, and silver bars. For me, the perfect topcoat. And what a surprise. We always think of Seche as the Cadillac of topcoats, but an fantastic glitter?

I decided I wanted four white hexes for my ring fingers, and fished them out and tried to put them where I wanted. Then I just painted on the Overlay. For every finger, it would have been a bit much for me. But, as an accent: Wow!

So, there is it. Fortunately, these polishes are easy to find on the Internet. They are two beauties. 

That's it this time. So until next time, I hope today brings you a beautifully polished life.......Terri

  
Seche Vite is cruelty free. This OPI is not. It was produced after OPI was sold to Cody. The last cruelty free collection produced by OPI was the Holiday Burlesque collection of 2010.

OPI's Black Spotted

Hi. Today I have a quick post. Lately,  a few polish lovers have been getting OPI's Black Spotted from Ebay. I am no different. Today, I have one quick picture for one of the ideas I have on using it. Later in the Fall, I am going to do a longer post with two more color schemes. 

Black Spotted is along the line of Crackle in theory. However, it pools rather than cracks. I like it much better and feel that I can wear this one. Black Crackle left to much black on top for me and it just sits unused. 

For this particular look, I did an underpainting with three shades of blue and blue green. I used: OPI's Just Spotted The Lizard, OPI's Mermaid's Tears, and Essence's LOL.

That's it this time. So until next time and I hope today brings you a beautifully polished life.......Terri

Soft Green Garden

Hello, 

Today I have something that I had for Memorial Day. I know, it's not the typical thing to wear for that weekend but I love Zoya's Neeley and was in the mood to wear it. 

I wanted to try my hand at stamping and decided it would be fun to do it at my daughter's house. She could cheer me on. The results are passable. First thing, if you notice, my designs are going in ever which direction. But I always say, "one time it's a mistake, two times it is artistic accident, three times and it's a design feature. " 

I've seen on other blogs where people have used just plain polishes to stamp with. But, as a beginner, I wanted to start out with something dedicated to stamping. And I didn't have any problems with the polish itself, just the experience of the person stamping. 

White Konad stamping polish, Zoya's Neely, OPI's Alpine Snow, and Konad stamping plate M72

My daughter even tried her hand at stamping. These are the three Julep polishes that I featured last week. she saw them on my blog and decided I needed to bring them with me. I love her skittled effect. 

We like stamping. It is great for those who don't feel confortable using a paint brush. The non dominate hand is less of an issue with stamping. Michelle (my daughter) has already ordered herself stamping plate. 

Zoya is cruelty free. OPI is not cruelty free. Konad stamping polish is unknown to me.

That's it this time. So until next time and I hope today brings you a beautifully polished life.......Terri

Silver, Glitter And Pattern

These are the nails that I wore Friday night to a Bat Mitzvah. For this design, I included a Kiss nail art sticker. There was a free sample with six different designs in the first Nail It! magazine. I  used one for an accent nail. The base coat is OPI's Moonraker with Pure Ice's Be Ware for gradient glitter layer.

One down, five to go. I went to Ebay and got a set of the Bustier (the style I used)

Bee Ware and Moonraker

It was my daughter's Bat Mitzvah and this is her choice of nail design. The base coat is Sally Hansen's Platinum, Milani's Hot Orchid for the gradient, and Rainbow Honey's Sakura Matsuri.

One of my inspirations for my nails that night-this Stella and Dot necklace

I like Nail It! It's targeting the non-professional nail community. 

Cruelty Free Status

Pure Ice (owned by Revlon) and OPI (owned by Coty) are no longer cruelty free. I have ceased to buy Pure Ice and only now buy OPI created before December 2011.