nailsandriffs

Surprise! I'm back!

2011-12-31T00:47:00.000-06:00

It has been nearly a month since my last post and I feel terrible about my absence. I do plan to keep this blog running smoothly into the new year, so I thought I would explain my delinquency and try to make amends.

I work 60+ hours a week, so finding time to do anything outside of that is difficult, least of all my nails. On top of that, I haven't been feeling exceptionally inspired to create any new designs. I've found that in these past few weeks of down time I've been able to just paint my nails one color and marvel at the unique aspects of the polish all by itself. It's made me really happy.

And I'd be lying if I left this little part out...I've become completely engrossed in the A Song of Ice and Fire fandom and it's eaten my life. In the short span of two months I've read all the books, listened to hours and hours and hours of podcasts, began helping out with one of said podcasts, reblogged thousands of gif sets on tumblr, made countless friends equally obsessed, started thinking of myself as an actual Baratheon, and participated in a lot of really freaking strange jokes within the fandom. These books have taken over my life like nothing ever before. I love every single character (except Ramsay Bolton), I love every theory (except Tyrion is a secret Targaryen), I love every single fan, and I want to talk about it non-stop. So...yeah, you can blame George R. R. Martin for my disappearance from the nail art community. But I regret nothing. (and if you really feel like seeing how creepy I am, my tumblr is pretty much solely ASOIAF related...so check that out here). I probably lost like 20 followers by giving that link out...from the outside, ASOIAF fans look craaazy.

Moving forward, I do plan on getting back to regular posting here. It might not be daily like before, but my goal is two or more posts per week. Good news...I'm really energized about music again, so those posts will be coming back as well.

And to top it all off, today is my second favorite holiday of the year! New Year's Eve! (As you can tell, I rather hate holidays, unless they involve a party. I pretty much solely celebrate Halloween and New Years). So, I will share with you the nails I will be wearing for tonight's festivities...

China Glaze Blonde Bombshell

This shiny glitter bomb is China Glaze Blonde Bombshell, which I believe is part of the 3D glitter collection that was just released. It is the one with the silver cap. It has micro glitter, small gold hex glitter and bar glitter to give it a very multi-textured appearance. It is both shiny and matte at the same time and I really, really love how it looks. It looks fabulous with my dress and a gold Tyrell Rose bangle I will be wearing tonight. (Yes, I bought jewelry because it reminds me of an ASOIAF reference...I'm a horrible person, but I just really love the Tyrells, okay?).

ooh shiny

To add even more multi-dimensional aspects to this polish I layered it over OPI Designer-de Better from the Muppets Collection. The small copper flakes in that polish shine through just enough to add a really cool effect.

OPI Designer de Better

See you all next year! And thanks for sticking with me during my long break.

2011-12-07T06:10:00.000-06:00

I really don't have a clue what this is. I'm kind of thinking it is a subconscious nod to Cylon Centurians, but let's pretend I'm not that big of a nerd, okay?

I was too lazy to use tape for this, so it's freehanded in about 5 minutes or less. I apologize for any less than straight lines resulting from this.

Winter is Comng

2011-12-06T06:06:00.000-06:00

Bahaha, seriously, I love that I can say "winter is coming" over and over and it is actually appropriate this time of year. (For those that don't know, it is the motto of House Stark in the A Song of Ice and Fire books, as well as the TV show Game of Thrones). I've also taken to shouting "WINTERFELL!" in place of cheers or skaal when taking shots. I highly suggest it.

This design doesn't really hold up to close scrutiny, but it actually looked amazing from a distance. The blue is Zoya Tallulah, and it just glows.

We don't have snow yet in the part of Wisconsin where I live which is actually kind of depressing. I love snow, and I keep writing stories at work about snowfall in New Mexico or North Carolina and it's upsetting. This is freaking Wisconsin...we should have way more snow than all of these places.

I decided to do this wintery design in lieu of a more "Christmasy" one as I have zero Christmas spirit. I think it is a stupid holiday, sorry. I have major problems with the history of Christmas, and I'm kind of (okay...not kind of, more like very much) anti-religion. I also think it is blown way out of proportion and that people spend too much money, decorate to the point of being outrageously tacky, and play the worst music ever created. Ugh, I'm all for giving your loved ones gifts...but it should be about things they really need, or appreciate...not just spending a shit ton on crap to make yourself look good.

So yeah...winter themed designs trump straight up Christmas for me. And yes...I am the grinch, sorry.

Dotticure

2011-12-01T05:59:00.006-06:00

I kind of regret putting this dotticure over a metallic. I think these tend to look better over cremes, and any fun finishes like metallics or holos can be used in the dots. But I REALLY needed to redo my Thanksgiving manicure, and I wasn't feeling very inspired.

I'm not quite ready to graduate to the Christmas season yet, so I'm still playing with fall colors. I live in Wisconsin, so it's not the holidays until we get some snow. And on top of that...I kind of hate Christmas, so don't expect a ton of holiday cheer around here.

The gold is Nicole by OPI Not a Gold Bigger, the others are Stripe Rites or Love & Beauties with no name.

Thanksgiving Nails

2011-11-29T05:49:00.000-06:00

Please ignore my TERRIBLE cuticles...my outrageous schedule has meant that I've kind of given up on proper moisturizing. Let these be a reminder to you when happens when you don't take care of your cuticles. Eww, right?

Anyway, this design was what I wore for Thanksgiving. I really love the colors, and it held up pretty well. This picture was taken after about four days of wear, so besides the ding on my index finger (courtesy of doing dishes) it is still looking great.

The colors are both two old Love & Beauty polishes that have no names, sorry I can't be more helpful on that end.

Zig Zag Accent Nail

2011-11-28T05:47:00.000-06:00

I love this shade of green. It might be more of a spring color, and I know winter is coming (ha, yeah, still not over ASOIAF), but I don't care. Seriously though about Winter is Coming...I snuck that lovely Stark warning into a morning newcast early today (yes, I write the news...you should be worried about America's future). I was very proud of myself.

And I really don't have much to say about this design, thus my ramblings about fantasy books.

The green is Sinful Colors Innocent. The black and white were created with Stripe Rite polishes, and I finished it all off with Seche Vite.

OURS IS THE FURY

2011-11-26T12:25:00.001-06:00

It's about to get real nerdy in here, so all those too cool for fan girl freakouts and hard fantasy can kindly skip forward to the next post. I am currently obsessed with the A Song of Ice and Fire book series (known as Game of Thrones on HBO for those not in the know)...obsessed to the point where it has consumed my life. I am halfway through the fourth book, and I've just jumped on board with the whole "R+L=J" theory, so I'm even more excited than before.

That being said, my two favorite characters kind of bit it early in the series, and I'm beginning to miss them. Especially Renly Baratheon. He was so wonderfully charming and ostentatious. I know I read a lot into him that wasn't actually in the books since all and all he is kind of a background character, but I still freaking loved him. It is part of the reason I cling to Ser Loras Tyrell now, projecting parts of Renly's personality on to him.

I won't lie to you...I didn't initially set out to do this design. I meant to do an ode to all of the houses of ASOIAF, but my Tyrell rose looked like a blob, I basically wanted to cry over the freaking Lannister lion, and didn't even attempt the Targaryen dragon. So I gave up and stuck with the one that kind of turned out, the Baratheon stag. Lucky for me, I adore the Baratheons...okay, Renly, not so much Stannis and Robert.

Thus was born, the ode to Renly Baratheon and his Rainbow Guard. Maybe he isn't the true king, but he will always be the most fabulous. I eagerly await the second season of the television series, because I have a feeling they will delve deeper into Renly and his court. Renly, Loras, Margaery, and Brienne are all such amazing characters, it will no doubt make for wonderful television. Their merriment and tourneys will make a great juxtaposition to the awful crap Jon deals with up at the wall. I know what is coming for Renly, but I hope they give him a few episodes to eat peaches and be generally awesome before they bring about his end.

I love Renly because he is kind, funny, and seems to have a good head on his shoulder. Maybe he doesn't understand war, but he does have honor, and in a book full of horrible, horrible, self-centered assholes he is a breathe of fresh air. Plus, he is fabulously well dressed and ambiguous...and I enjoy that. The fact that his kingsguard wears rainbow cloaks is just too much. Thus my inclusion of a rainbow index nail. From the looks of the preview that was released last week, Loras was wearing Renly's green and NOT a rainbow. I hope this doesn't mean they've passed that detail up so it looks more realistic. But newsflash HBO...that isn't Renly's style. Pomp and ridiculousness is his style.

I know I've basically given no info on why these books are so amazing...or anything other than gushing over Renly's outfits...but trust me when I say these are beautifully intricate fantasy novels written in the same vein as Tolkien...but with more human intrigue and political maneuvering. I'm in love, and I can't recommend them enough. And if you are into cute boys, you might want to check out the television adaptation, because...umm....hello Robb and Jon...

Twilight is Ridiculous...and so am I!

2011-11-24T18:36:00.000-06:00

I have a well documented love for young adult fiction. I read a lot, and they tend to be engaging and quick reads. I have a special soft spot for dystopia and science fiction. Something I don't have a soft spot for...Twilight. Stephanie Meyer is a terrible. She has created something on par with a bad Mary Sue Mormon fan fiction and for whatever reason silly girls seem to latch on to it. Get over it girls, and go read Harry Potter.

Despite my feelings for the phenomenon, I do enjoy bad movies. And Twilight always provides me wonderful fodder in that department. So my friends and I decided to make mocking tshirts, and head out to an opening weekend screening of Breaking Dawn: Vampire Babies! I laughed a lot, and enjoyed the crappy CG wolves that ended up looking like a rifftrax version of itself with it's weird voiceover work. God, it would have been beautifully terrible if I didn't legitimately like several of the actors involved (Michael Sheen, Lee Pace, Jamie Campbell Bower).

To poke as much fun at the series as possible, we all did our nails as sparkly as possible. Because honestly, sparkling vampires? That is patently ridiculous, and I will take up the weakest excuse to use glitter on my finger tips.

These things were outrageously shiny. I think I may redo this for New Years in fact...though I already know what I'm wearing for New Years, and gold might be a better option.

That crappy cell phone photo is all of our nails in the full glory. I wish I had a photo of our tshirts, but let's just say they involved Edward R. Murrow, Teen Wolf, Eddard Stark, and sparkling unicorns.

To get the full sparkle vampire effect I used a base coat of Sally Hansen Celeb City and finished it off with two coats of La Girls Glitter Addict Explosion.

I'm In Love

2011-11-23T05:41:00.000-06:00

What am I in love with? ~~Renly Baratheon~~ This design! I rarely wear manicures for longer than a day, but this one stayed on a full week! The colors went with practically everything in my wardrobe, and it was simple enough while still giving the impression that I have some semblance of skill.

I used my light tan franken again, as well as OPI San Tan-tonio and Finger Paints Black Expressionism. With two coats of Seche Vite this lasted a week and would have gone longer. These pictures were taken about three days in.

Deep Colors and Triangles

2011-11-17T09:00:00.020-06:00

I love how these end up looking like HTML tags...because I'm a nerd. I don't love how messy this ended up, but whatever. The colors are pretty, and in person it is harder to see the sloppy lines and it actually looks really great.

I've been getting a lot of use out of the franken that I used as a base for this...it goes really well with winter color palettes, so I've used it to replace white in a lot of designs. The other polishes used here are Sally Hansen Red Zin, LA Colors Navy, and OPI San Tan-Tonio.

By Request: Frankened Revlon Starry Night

2011-11-16T09:09:00.000-06:00

A little bit of purple polish takes this...

to this...

Dreams of Spring

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

I love winter, really I do. But I'm not a fan of the cold. It is tolerable due to the snow, and all the silence and beauty it brings with it. So the weeks that lay between the falling of the leaves and the first snowfall that actually sticks on the ground are very bleak for me.

This manicure is my attempt to brighten this cold, wet, gross stretch of time until we can finally get some snow on the ground. Wisconsin weather really is lovely...we have all of the extremes of a hot summer, and extremely cold winter...but none of the terrible and destructive weather events like hurricanes, earthquakes, or major tornadoes (we have them, but not on the level of the more central states). I like the polarity of our weather, because I like change, and we have VERY distinct seasons here.

The cherry blossoms were made with a dotting tool and striping brush, and generic black and white polishes as well as Essie Need a Vacation. The base color is Revlon Jaded.

Purple Polka Dots

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is pretty simple. No explanation needed really. The pale pink of OPI Panda-monium Pink didn't go well with my skin tone, so I added some sparkly purple dots (Orly Out of this World) to break it up a little.

Cool Shimmers

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

I have so many pretty shimmers, I really wanted a chance to show them off. I'm kind of in love with this mani...from the design that kind of reminds me of an old theater marquee to the color palette. I have a lot of chevron designs queued up for this week, so if this is your thing do stick around! And yes, I will actually be posting every day this week, I've finally gotten ahead of my mountain of work, so things should go back to normal around here.

The colors I used are as follows:
On my thumb, Orly Lunar Eclipse
Pointer, Sephora by OPI I Don't Bite
Middle, Sephora by OPI Tempted by Teal w/ topcoat of Orly Halley's Comet
Ring, Sally Hansen Deep Blue Sea
Pinky, Zoya Rea w/ topcoat of Orly Space Cadet

I finished it off with a triangle of Finger Paints Black Expressionism and Stripe Rite White Pearl dots.

Simple Tribal Print

2011-11-12T11:44:00.000-06:00

This design was hellish to finally complete. Not because it was difficult, quite the contrary, but because I had so many problems with the tools I used. I had to re-do it three times. I tried it initally on a matte suede with a nail pen. It looked great, and the pen didn't run, which was a nice change. However, because it was a matte, I couldn't seal it with a top coat. Naturally, I didn't take a picture before going to bed and when I woke up the design had worn off all over my face. Next, I tried it with a white nail pen on black polish. It looked to streaky and terrible I took it off. Finally, I ended with this attempt which was made using regular polish and a brush. Success, I should have gone for that method from the start.

More Matte

2011-11-09T06:58:00.000-06:00

I really think the OPI Suede collection is one of my favorites of all time. This manicure features two of them, You Don't Know Jacques and Lincoln Park After Dark. So very, very pretty. I chose to work with these polishes today because I was REALLY short on time...literally, I only had 30 minutes between my producing job and my day job, so I did this in under 5 minutes while watching Game of Thrones. These polishes worked perfect in a time jam because they have zero drying time, so I could be out the door as soon as I finished (well, as soon as I finished watching Robb Stark being declared King of the North, bitches! ((yes, I'm in love with him...also Jon Snow and Renly Baratheon ((((yes I know, he's gay))) ((((yes I'll stop with the parentheses)))).

I plan on reworking this mani tonight as a regular finish by adding some new elements and a top coat...so look for that tomorrow.

Contrasting Half Moons

2011-11-08T08:01:00.000-06:00

This was a fun manicure to design, but in practice it was kind of hard to pull off. The glitter was really rough and despite too thick coats of Seche Vite it still made it impossible to get the black smooth. Still, the contrast of the mirror like glitter and the matte black was really aesthetically pleasing. I very much liked the look of this and hope to play with the concept more.

The glitter is a layered combination of Butter London Victoriana, Revlon Blue Mosiac, and a final coat of Ulta Pinata Yada Yada. I then added several coats of Seche Vite to even it out, and once that was dry taped off half moons. I finished it all off with a coat of Black Expressionism and Essie Matte About You.

Inadvertent Captain America

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

I am a comic book fan, but I am pretty ambivalent to Captain America. He is just too boring of a character for me to care. I need my heroes to do a bit of flirting with the dark side, and a healthy sense of humor also helps. He is just too unwaveringly good to be interesting. The movie was good, but it was really just a set up for The Avengers. I think he will be better utilized there as a foil for the more morally "grey" super heroes like Iron Man, Thor and Hulk.

Anyway..this manicure was NOT intended to be an ode to the First Avenger...it started out as an attempt to spice up a regular deep red mani I had been wearing for a day or two. The stripe is actually gold, and I was kind of hoping the blue would end up more navy to match a Breton shirt I was wearing at the time. It ended up coming out so damn patriotic I felt a little meh about the whole thing. They are all still very pretty colors despite the implications. (Can you tell I am a less than "proud" American citizen?)

Polishes used:

Sally Hansen Red Zin
Sinful Colors Hot Spot
Nicole by OPI Not a Gold Bigger

Bronze and Black

2011-11-06T16:30:00.000-06:00

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Bronze Ablaze with black tips

This is such a simple look to pull off, yet I still couldn't stop looking down at my fingers because it was so pretty. I'm completely in love with this new Sally Hansen color. I used it as part of my Dalek design for the Doctor Who manicure, and I knew I had to do a full manicure as soon as possible.

So pretty in the sunlight!

This started out as just simply Bronze Ablaze, but after a day and a lot of Seche Vite induced shrinkage, I added the black tips to get a few more days out of the manicure. And after another day of that I actually ended up a full coat of black...I've been reading a TON of Song of Ice and Fire and I felt like honoring the men of the Night's Watch (okay fine...I find Jon Snow highly attractive). Oooh...I should totally do a family crest mani in honor of the noble families of Westeros!

OPI Flakies

2011-11-04T06:39:00.000-05:00

I Lily Love You over Dating a Royal

I know there was a lot of excited chatter over I Lily Love You when the Nice Stems collection was released last spring. I picked it up, but never actually tried it...kind of feeling hype burnout or something. Or I just didn't really like pink.

What a huge mistake that was, when I finally decided to layer it over the lovely TARDIS blue, OPI Dating a Royal, I was besides myself with excitement. How pretty is that! The flakies are cool toned and iridescent, it little to no hint of the pink it is in the bottle. I will definitely be layering this polish over more in the future.

I must also apologize for my lack of post yesterday...I work 14 hours a day, and I've been having trouble finding time to fit my nails into the few hours of spare time I have each day (when you add in drive time, I am down to 1 hour that I'm not sleeping, eating, or working). I will try to stock pile so nail art this weekend (though I'm shooting a film, so we'll so how that goes, ugh). But don't fear, if nothing else I can start working on some swatching posts and I'll just share my favorite polishes. I'm not going to disappear anytime soon! I appreciate your readership, and the comments have been lovely, so I intend to keep the blog going strong.

With that, have a lovely weekend! The Packers are back from a bye week...so keep cheering us on to an undefeated season! (which reminds me...I'm putting an NFL mani into my calendar ASAP).

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Winter Collection

2011-11-02T06:36:00.000-05:00

I've reviewed Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail stickers before, but I picked up a few of the limited edition Winter Collection and decided I would post these for you anyway.

My love of plaid, argyle and stripes runs deep...and this collection is full of them. I really love all of the designs, and they were on sale at Target, so I stocked up. Sadly, this particular design didn't wear as well as the Salon Effects I've tried in the past. I think the glitter's last the longest of all the ones I've tested. I've had the glitters last a full two weeks before, but this one didn't last much longer than two days. The wear you see in these photos is from just one day of abuse.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects - Plaid About You

Despite wear issues (which might actually stem from Seche Vite shrinkage), this is a very quick and easy way to get perfectly straight plaid lines in a hurry. The red is pretty, and I could see this looking awesome with a black dress for Christmas parties.

For when you can't pick just one design...

2011-11-01T09:47:00.000-05:00

I don't really know what to say about this design other than it was a product of boredom, and a desire to show off my skills on a trip back to my hometown recently. I always love working with For Audrey, as it is such a beautiful color and it lends itself really well to nail art. So I kind of went a little crazy with this design...it's got everything...zebra stamping, tape mani, freehand cheetah, tips, and natural nail. Each finger could be reworked as a single manicure, so enjoy this large dose of inspiration...

Doctor Who Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone! I conclude my two week Halloween manicure marathon with the actual design I wore for with my costume...Doctor Who Galaxy nails complete with the TARDIS and Dalek accents. I was Kiss-a-gram Amy Pond for the weekend, and though not many people knew who I was supposed to be, every once and awhile we would run into another Doctor Who character, or a fan that would recognize Amy, and it made it all worth it.

The Doctor, Amy, and Rose Tyler

The real Amy

Doctor Who, for those that don't know, is a British sci-fi television show about an alien called the Doctor who travels through space and time in a blue police box called the TARDIS. He brings along human companions to share his adventures with, and frequently meets important historical figures along the way. He is technically a 400 year old Time Lord who can regenerate himself to avoid death, so he has been played by eleven different actors since the show's premiere in the 1960's. But that is just the bare bones of the show's plot, it is so much more than that. It is everything you want in a sci-fi show and more. There is heart, humor, and truly gripping twists of conventional story telling. It's too complex to put into words...those who have watched the show know what I'm talking about, and those that haven't should do themselves a favor and take the plunge...start with the David Tennant seasons, then the current Matt Smith era, and then go back and watch Christopher Eccleston's season. After that, if you are still in need of more Doctor, you can pick and chose your classic Doctor's as you see fit.

River Song, Rory, The Doctor, and Amy Pond

My favorite Doctor and companion are David Tennant and Billy Piper as Rose Tyler, but I do love Matt Smith's Eleven, and both Amy and Rory. The only thing holding them back in my mind is the general convulsion and confusing nature the new show runner (Stephen Moffat) has brought with him to their seasons. I wasn't always completely behind Russell T. Davies' writing, but I was much more enamored with the show back when Tennant was at the helm (err...TARDIS I suppose).

Either way, I adore everything that has to do with this incredible television franchise, and I was happy to be able to pay just a little bit of tribute to it.

Dalek nails...EXTERMINATE!

The TARDIS

To create these galaxy nails I started with solid black nails (Finger Paints Black Expressionism), then I sponged on China Glaze White on White. I then went over that with China Glaze Solar Power. I sponged just a touch of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Presto Pink to the edges of the nebula designs, and then finished with a sponging of OPI Dating a Royal around the edges to soften the look. I then put a thin dusting of a Pure Ice glitter and added white stars with a pin and dotting tool.

The TARDIS nail was made using a base of OPI Dating a Royal and Sally Hansen nail art pens in black and white. The Dalek was a base of Nicole by OPI Not a Gold Bigger and dots of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Bronze Ablaze.

Dang...all of this Doctor Who talk is making me want to go back and watch my favorite parts again (hello end of Doomsday...that scene still makes me cry).

Halloween Nails: Creatures of the Night

2011-10-29T14:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not taking credit for this design, as I saw it on a nail art consortium and instantly knew I'd be stealing it. It's so cute, and really simple to recreate.

I started with black nails and painted the eyes on with white polish. I then went over the white with neon polishs (neon never photographs true to color, these things were GLOWING). Finally, I used black striping polishes to add the pupils.

Subtle Halloween Chevron Tips

2011-10-28T07:01:00.000-05:00

So far the designs I've done for Halloween have been pretty obvious...maybe a bit too oblique for some, so I went ahead and did this more "sophisticated" look that still tips it's hat to the greatest holiday of the year. (Which one you ask? Halloween..obviously, did you have to ask? Are you new?)

Living in Madison means I have access to the biggest, and best, Halloween party in the country...our annual Freakfest event. It has come a long way from the days of riots and tear gas, the last issues occured in 2005. Now it is a rambunctious, but totally safe night of drinking, concerts, and costumes. I look forward to this weekend every year, and always have my costume picked out about a week after the previous years' party is over. This year I will be going as Amy Pond from Doctor Who, and let me tell you...I've already finished my nails for the costume and they look FANTASTIC!! Doctor Who fans MUST come back to the blog before Halloween because I will be posting them this weekend and you will not be disappointed.

For this look I started by painting my nails with a sheer french color (I think it is Rimmel's French Rose from their Ultimate Manicure collection). I then freehanded the orange chevron with Sally Hansen Sun Kissed. I then added a coat of Wet n Wild 9.0.2.1.Orange to add some shimmer. Finally I used a black striping polish to outline the chevron. This step also allows me to clean up the initial lines, which were far from perfect. This can easily be transformed into a manicure for any holiday or theme event by switching out the colors. Cute, and simple!