Baby Magic Manicure

Today's manicure is one I did for The Lacquer Legion monthly challenge. The theme this month is "Lucky" and I thought about things that I consider myself lucky to have for possible subjects. I am so lucky to be Auntie to two darling, smart kids. So today's manicure is of my little nephew, Baby Magic. Magic was born just four days before his mom died, and he is a little treasure. I love him so much! Dealing with the loss of my sister in law has been heart wrenching, but I find that being creative makes the pain hurt a little less.

I started with a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff. Then I used a water color technique to add splotches of Morgan Taylor Berry Perfection, Orly Fresh, and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Fairy Teal. 

After I topcoated the watercolor layer, I stamped with BM 04 plate using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes. Then I used acrylic paints to add little Baby Magic on my middle finger. His nick name is Magic, his real name is Will. :D I had so much fun painting in his little dimples, which he got from his dad. 

Here is the photo I used for reference. I will have to do a manicure of my niece Molly, too! If Molls will slow down long enough for a picture, that is. Look on social media platforms today to see more Lucky manicures. They will be marked #LLlucky

Have a great day!

It's All Greek Key To Me

Here is my entry for the Chalkboard Nails Dotting Tool Contest. Sarah's rules are that you can only use a dotting tool (and the brush on your nail polish bottles) to make your entry. No acrylic paints, no tiny nail art brushes. Boo. But it was a great way to challenge myself. Here is what I came up with:

It's a Greek 'key' design! It looks kind of like mosaic. I like it!

I started with a base of Essie Borrowed and Blue. I really love this shade. I've used it before on one of my first blog posts when I did the raven mani. Check that out here. 

I used my smallest dotting tool to make a sort of french mani with dark blue polish and a sort of teal blue polish. This mani on its own would look pretty cool.

Then I did the Greek key design. There was actually quite a bit of counting and plotting to do this. Grrr.... I was told there would be no math! :)

Here is the Greek key design completed. Seeing as this was kind of a pain to do, I just did one more key design on my ring finger and called it a night. 

Even one accent nail is still fun!

Polishes used in this manicure: China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, China Glaze Aqua Baby, Essie Borrowed and Blue, and Pure Ice French Kiss. I used OPI Nail Envy for my base coat and Seche Vite for my top coat. 

You still have time to enter Sarah's contest! Check out all of the fun entries, there's some great talent out there. :)

My Two Cents Worth

Today is Presidents Day in the U.S. and in honor of this holiday, I have created nails featuring a president: Abraham Lincoln. His likeness is on the one cent coin, but a recent news story revealed that our penny costs more to produce than what it represents! The one cent coin actually costs 2 cents to make.

I am an amateur numismatist (aka coin collector). Did you know the little letter underneath the date stamped on every U.S. coin indicates where the coin was minted? D is for Denver. P is for Philadelphia, and S is for San Francisco. The San Francisco mint is pretty much closed now. They only mint proof coins. There is also a mint at West Point, but they only do proof coins and American Eagle coins. 

I started with a base of Pure Ice Fast Lane. It has that shiny new penny color. It is a frost finish however, so I painted one coat, and then used a technique suggested by Leslie of Polish Art Addiction. 

You use an eye shadow brush (a disposable one is best, because you won't be able to use it again) to dab on the final coat. It gets rid of those annoying brush lines! The top nail on this wheel was done with Leslie's technique, the bottom was just brushed on. See? Big difference!

I used bronze, white, and black acrylic paints to do the artwork for this manicure. This was not the easiest design to do. 

So here is Abe all done before I sealed him with top coat. I also added a date and mint marking. I guess I did my nails in Denver. :)

On my right hand I painted some cent symbols on my ring finger. Big Money! I am a high roller, what can I say?

I have uploaded all of the entries for my 500 Followers contest. You can check out the entries on Facebook by clicking here. Please vote for your favorite by 'liking' the picture. Votes will be accepted through Friday, February 24th, 2012 at 5pm Pacific Time. Good luck and thank you to everyone who entered!

I Wuv That Wascally Wabbit

Nothing says love like a rabbit in drag. I thought this would be a fun Valentine's Day mani that was a bit outside the norm. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in LOVE! I present to you, the original Drag Queen: Bugs Bunny!

It's Bugs Bunny all gussied up and batting his cute little eyelashes at a love-struck Elmer Fudd. With little hearts, if it weren't already obvious that Elmer's got the hots for Bugs.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Urgent Orchid. I really like this shade, but it gets a bit goopy towards the end of the bottle. Need to add thinner...

Then I topped them with Pure Ice Busted. I bought this color while I was in Reno over the New Year holiday. It is really luscious, but it needs some kind of strongly pigmented base coat for it to really look nice. This mani on its own was really pretty!

I started with Bugs on my middle finger. I used acrylic paints and a small nail art brush from Sally's Beauty Supply to do the artwork. Find out more about my nail art tools on my FAQ page.

Next came Elmer. He's a little smaller in proportion to Bugs than he should be, but still really darling. 

I think the hardest part about Elmer were the little stars in his eye. They are REEEEEALLY little. And I added some shading to his cheeks to give him that flush of love at first sight (*snicker).

On my right hand I painted a little heart. I could have done more, but I finished this mani at 12:30 last night and was already up way past my bedtime. 

Here is the image that inspired this manicure. Bugs always looked so beautiful in drag. Right on little bunny! Happy Valentine's Day!