Witch Essentials-101:Hobby Polish Bloggers' Halloween Link Up

What does every good witch need?

Welcome to this months Hobby Polish Bloggers link up. My theme for this Halloween challenge is things that all good witches should have.
Coming up with things that a good witch needed was not hard. In fact, I had to leave one thing out.

It's all hand painted using both acrylic paints and polishes. And I made sure I used a lot of polishes. So you know I had tons of fun.

Essence's Grey-t To Be Here and Finger Paint's Amethyst Accent were the polishes I picked for the gradation on each nail. As you can see by the basket of polishes, I had fun in using everyone of these in some way.

What witch doesn't need a great broom. This one is ergonomic in that the handle is bent. It was hard to get anything on the small nail and the broom was my best bet. The polishes used: Cult Nail's Baker, Cult Nail's Inescapable and acrylic paint.

Nothing like a good shiny black cauldron boiling with squid, eyeballs and a bat wing or two. Nails Inc.'s Embankment made a perfect texture for the cauldron. I used acrylic paint for the ingredients.

I always believe in having a good black cat around, even if you are not a witch. I actually have two. The cat is painted in Cult Nail's Ignite. The moon is Nfu-Oh's Opal Glitter 39 over white acrylic and the grass is Nfu-Oh's Opan Glitter 56 over white acrylic. His eye's are Illamasqua's Radium. The whiskers are Butter London's Bobby Dazzler and inside the ears is Stripe Rite's silver glitter liner. 

You gotta to have a great hat (or hats if you are me) for the occasion. The hat is painted with Dollish Polish's The Witching Hour. The band is Zoya's Pixie Dust Stevie and the buckle is Stripe Rite's Gold striper.

And you got to have a good spell book to brush up on those forgotten recipes. The spell book is done in acrylic paint. I just couldn't see that any polish could be useful with this one.

And the one thing I had to leave out was the wand. But I will have one by Halloween.  Meanwhile, here's a small sign I found for my kitchen...think I will leave it up all year.

Well, that's it for me this time around. But as I mentioned earlier, I am taking part in The Hobby Polish Blogger's group link-up. This is a great group of bloggers on Facebook that are very supportive and always are willing to give help to other bloggers. So check some of their art out below.

So until next time, take care and shine on!

An InLinkz Link-up

All In The Name Of Plaid

Hello, and how is everyone today? I have a very jewel tone mani today. It was created to join the WNAC2015 challenge on Instagram. I have no idea what WNAC stands for. Does anybody know? Please tell me if you do!

So getting back to the challenge. The months theme is jewel tone colors and the last challenge of the month is plaid.

Nail Art Nation's is also having a theme of lines for September. And plaid is nothing but a pattern of lines. So I am also using this as another line mani. Two birds with one stone, as they say!

The base polish is Man Eater by Ruby White Tips.
The wide dark grey/blue stripe is Josephine by Julep.
The small black stripes are Black Ink by Salon Perfect. However I did not use their stripper brush-used my own.
The gold lines are in my every faithful Stripe Rite gold and I did use their brush. I love Stripe Rite's brushes. 
Finally, the glitter topper is Lobster Party by Lynnderella.

The base, Man Eater by Ruby White Tips.

The whole party line up.

Well, that' it for this time. So until next time Shine On!

Terri

Putting Down Lines-Nail Art Nation's September Challenge

For September, Nail Art Nation challenged us to make a mani emphasizing lines. We could make lines anyway we wanted, free hand, tape or vinyls. I decided this was a chance for me to try some of my rarely used nail vinyls. I have plenty, but up to this point, have not had the patience to use them.

After the wide lines that were created by the vinyls I went back to what I really love which is making as thin line as I can with my Stripe Gold.

I also wanted to get in a fall mood and decided to go with taupe, brown and bronze for this mani. I added a bit of glitter with Cult Nail's Blaze because I love Blaze and try to find all the reason's I can use it as possible.

I first started out with a base coat of Orly's Nite Owl. This one has been around since 2011, I picked it up last fall and this is the first time I have gotten around to using it. Nite Owl is a taupe packed with silver shimmer.

Nite Owl

I picked some simple curves from Nail Vinyls. I used three on each nail after I top coated my Nite Owl (Seche Vite).

After putting the nail vinyls where I wanted them, sort of at angles to each other. I sponged a gradient of Zoya's Codie and Cult Nail's Swanbourne. You really can't see the Zoya but it's there. 

Mentioned earlier, I added one of my favorite glitters Cult Nail's Blaze.

There were to many to hold so I did a group shot.

That's it for this round. Hope you enjoyed my post and design. Do you use vinyls?  

So until next time, Take Care and Shine On<3.

Terri

Fall Leaves For Hobby Polish Bloggers

Hello and welcome to my contribution to the August Hobby Polish  Link-Up. This month's theme is Fall Leaves.

I had two polishes in mind for my base. I couldn't choose between them so used both. And they are Caité's Heirloom and China Glaze's Cabin Fever from their Fall '15 collection. I just dabbed a little bit here and a little bit there of both polishes on each nail.

I was going to practice my stamping with this mani, but when I got my polishes from Lynnderella's Labor Day sale, stamping went out the window. I had to have my leaves filled in with Positively East Fifth Street and so out came the gold Stripe Rite and I just painted some leaf shapes on, filled in with my Lynn and then added some lines on top.

I wear a lot of these colors so it wasn't hard to find an outfit to go with this design. I am sad to have to take it off.

Well, that's it for me this time around. But as I mentioned earlier, I am taking part in The Hobby Polish Blogger's group link-up. This is a great group of bloggers on Facebook that are very supportive and always are willing to give help to other bloggers. So check some of their art out below.

So until next time, take care and shine on!

An InLinkz Link-up

September-Ovarian Cancer Awareness

A sweet friend from Instagram alerted us to the fact that it is Ovarian Awareness Month. She has a clean bill of health now, but a few years ago was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer.

My sister is an RN who worked in oncology. She has many times told me that Ovarian is the scary one because it is usually isn't detected until it is to late. We need better screenings for this monster!

I am religious about getting my yearly Mammogram and Pap Smear. But there's nothing for this one. 

I did this for Sarah and all the other lovey ladies who are fighting the fight, those who won the fight, and for those who lost the fight. 

I thought the Butterfly was an excellent symbol for this cancer and I really wanted to hand paint it and not use a stamp.First I drew it with my Strip Rite Stripper and then added detail with a-England's Merlin and my fuchsia Sharpie. There's two, I guess one for each ovary. I don't know how well it came out, but it was heartfelt, I can tell you that. 

Here's the individual shots that I used in my poster.  The base for the Butterflies is Kim Michelle's soon to be released "Teal Me Your Fantasy". The gradation is done with Kim's Teal and a-England's Excalibur on a base of Zoya's Harley.

I then added a small amount of Bellaluna's glitter topper Metanoia.

A macro so you can really see that it's a Butterfly. HaHa

 And finally, the curtain call for all the actors...........

I used:
Zoya's Harley
A-England's Merlin and Excalibur
Kim Michelle's Teal Me Your Fantasy
Stripe Rite Silver Stripper
Belalluna's Metanoia
Jolie's Latex to protect those cuticles

And finally, I wanted to provide a link for Ovarian Cancer Warning signs. 

That it for this time around. So until next time, take care and think Shiny!   (You probably need to be a Firefly fan to get that LOL). 

Terri


 

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

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....................

Pick And Mix #1-Blue/Green (Not Quite Teal) Gradient

Or as like to call it ,"Let's Go Find A Pearl". When I decided to use polishes named Aquadelic and Tahitian Pearl, I became obsessed with having a sea shell on my finger. 

Fall is starting here in the Mid-West, but I figure somewhere in the world people are looking for sea shells at this very moment. 

It is finally here, The Crumpet's Pick and Mix 52 Week Challenge. This is the first time I have ever taken part in anything like this. I am hoping this will get me of my kiester and make me try new techniques. Well, that's what I'm hoping.

Right off the bat, I had to do something I had never done or wanted to spend to much time doing; a sponged gradient. So friends, here were my steps:

1. Painted on a base coat of China Glaze's Aquadelic
2. Using a makeup sponge,  I layered on stripes of Aquadelic and Wet 'N Wild's Tahitian Pearl.
3. @#*∞ª˚√≈∂!!!!!!!!!-you get the idea, I hated it. It was terrible
4. Watched a couple of YouTube videos-ahhhhhhhhh...OK
5. Redid the problem areas
6. Hand painted my seashell using the Stripe-Rite, Klean Color and China Glaze's Rainbow-that I get
7. Added the pearl (left over stuff from the wedding)
8. Added the sparkly for the sun shinning on the water.

 Now I feel better about it. And next week is a three color gradient. That should be interesting for me to tackle.

Here's The line up-It took quite a crew to get this one done.

This was quite the gathering of the clans. From left to right" Klean Color's Blue Metallic, China Glaze's Rainbow, CND's Sapphire Sparkle, China Glaze's Aquadelic, Wet N Wild's Tahitian Pearl, and Stripe Rite's silver glitter stripper.

This is a "Blog Hop" or I guess in the nail world is is a "Link Up". Check out the other ladies efforts below. 


That's it for this time around. So until we see each other again, take care............Terri

An InLinkz Link-up

Tri-Color Tuesday-Tealberry Bush

This is the first of my September Tri-Color Tuesday. Actually, this is my first Tri-Color Tuesday ever. The colors this month are turquoise, lavender and grey/silver. My design started out as a very simple and stark Asian influenced design. It looked great on paper, but I didn't like it when I actually got it on all my nails. So the bushes sprouted a lot more berries!

Simple Lightening Nail Design

The Nail Polish Queens had "Lightening Nails" as their challenge this week. I decided to do something simple and came up with this design. One bolt travels across all four nails so each nail is different. The dark blue jelly glitter polish already looks like the nighttime sky and the drawing was easy to do. 

 The base coat is Ferris Wheel At Dusk by Chaos and Crocodiles.  The bolt was first drawn with a Stripe Rite Silver and filled in with a-england's Merlin.

Ferris Wheel At Dusk is a dark blue jelly with blue, fuchsia and turquoise and silver glitter in various sizes. Merlin is just the best silver glitter I have and Stripe Rite is the work horse of my polishes when I want thin lines. 

Well, that's it for this time.........Terri 

And this is my 100th post-can't believe it. 

Zoya's Reece

Reece is the first of my May Zoya order that I have gotten around to wearing. First, just it as a single color and then with a simple design. This was a time when the polish dictated the style. The day after putting it on, I remembered that we had a reception to attend for a new sculpture in Nelson Atkins's Sculpture Garden. 

Usually I have a fairly modern look when I attend art openings, but Reece is a dark rose/gold duochrome. In my eyes, it called for something else. Out came the rose silk scarf and pearls. I still added a modern touch with a blush pink gold zippered bag.

NOTES

ZOYA'S REECE

Reece, as mentioned above is a rose/gold duochrome. I chose it because I love duochromes. Even with the duochrome, this is an old fashioned color. I am sure this color was even back in the fifties. But it a gorgeous shade and wears well. The duochrome is not that strong. It shows up great in the bottle but not so much once it gets on the nails. That part was a little disappointing.

MENTALITY'S 24K GOLD 

Mentality is one of my favorite Indies. It is now also available internationally. I have had this bottle of 24K for over a year and it still can be purchased. The more it is used, the gold breaks up into smaller pieces. That is fine by me. I noticed that there are some darker pieces now in my bottle and am not sure what that means. It's handy to top out something for a quick look. 

Mentality's polish line just keeps growing. They have one of the best stamping polish collections that I know. The link to their home page is HERE.

STRIPE-RITE-GOLD

If you go to Sally's Beauty, you know Stripe-Rite. This is my go to. I love the stiff long brushes. The metallics stay good, but the other colors will need thinning after a bit. Silver is next on my list to get. 

So here is the whole look. That is how I usually see my polish, as part of the whole and not an entity within itself.

This post is actually continued on my other blog-MeadowTree Journal . Click HERE is see some of the sculptures that we saw that evening.

That's it for this round. Until next time, take care, Terri

p.s., disregard the "read more". It is now the link to Meadowtree. I even took that HTML out, but the page break is still there. 

And the give away starts Friday-stay tuned!

Matte And Gloss From Spa Ritual

 This is one of my more current ideas. I have quite a few Spa Ritual. TJ Maxx had a bunch in last Fall and I indulged. 

 The polishes used were: Spa Ritual's Regal (gloss), Spa Rituals Spirit (matte), and Strite Rite's Gold.

I put the matte on first, then did the gloss section. Finally, I delineated between the two areas using the Stripe Rite gold.

Burgundy, Brown, And Gold

A while back I did this on my nails. Browns will always be one of my favorite combinations. The polishes used were:

Orly-Chocolate Martini (brown-gold shimmer)
Hard Candy-Crush On Lava (a multi chrome foil)
Stripe Rite-Gold

The main nail is done in Chocolate Martini. The tip is in Crush On Lava.

Blue Room Nails

Earlier this month we went to the Blue Room to listen to Eboni And The Ivories. The Blue Room is located in The American jazz Museum in Kansas City. 

I did a blue design for the occasion.  The polished used were:

Base coat-Char by Julep
Lines-Silver Stripe Rite
Accent nail-Merlin by A-England

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.

Sometimes It Can Be All Black And White

Hello again. Today I have something that I put together for a very special occasion. Friday night was the 18th Street Fashion Show in Kansas City. This has turned into Mother/Daughter night out with my youngest and I. The theme of the fashion show this year was Gilded Summer. This show is a combination of art-wear and street-wear. I decided not to compete with all the color and splendor, and went totally in black and white, including my nails. 

I started out by putting two coats of Zoya's Christina which is a white shimmer. I did a test sample with a white cream and decided the shimmer gave me the results I wanted. 

Knowing that I needed really straight lines, I went for my black Stripe-Rite. I do much better with the brush in the Stripe-Rite bottles than a nail art brush when it comes to straight lines. 

I made a dot at the very top center of my nail and dots where my nail plate ended at the sides. These dots gave me compasses to aim when I painted on my black lines.

Once the black dried (and it dries very quickly), I carefully filled in with Hard Candy's Black Tie Optional. It is about the only glitter I like in their new collection, but one this I will use a lot. 

I finished off with a coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go. 

The Line Up: Hard Candy's Black Tie Optional, Zoya's Christina, Stripe-Rite Black, and Seche Vite

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

Just a little something extra