NOTD: Christmas Reverse Waterfall + Tutorial

Busy holidays, and then busy with snow & cold, but things are getting back to normal & I'm only a few posts behind.  This was my Christmas manicure - I'd been wanting to try striping from the tip rather than the cuticle ever since I did my Harvest Waterfall Mani.  Base color for this attenpt is China Glaze White On White, then the waterfall is done with China Glaze  Red-Y and Willing, Goldie but Goodie, Tongue & Chic, & Gossip Over Gimlets - all from the Autumn Nights Collection:

Here's the tutorial:

I have 3 more posts to catch up with - my Super Blingy Ombre Glitter Mosaic, which was the last mani on my long nails, and then 2 "plain" manicures on my new short nubbins.  Then there'll be a nubbins tutorial up this weekend!

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

New Year, New Look ...

... Same old procrastinating me =)  At first I thought I'd get the redesign done by New Year's.  Then I thought I'd get it done by my 4th blogiversary (back on the 19th).  I finally got it done yesterday.

Now, I only made one resolution this year, which was to sleep more - and which I am not quite failing at but not really succeeding at either.  I should have also resolved not to procrastinate & to ACTUALLY get caught up with stuff online.  I guess I could maybe squeeze it in as a resolution since it's not the end of January - but on the other hand, I shouldn't need a resolution to make it happen.  I DON'T need a resolution to make it happen.  *nods*  I've said it before - hell, I'll probably say it again.  I am going to get back on top of my blog posting.

Let me know what you think of the new look - I always appreciate hearing from you guys =)  I (obviously) don't let it dictate my style, but sometimes there are things glaringly wrong that I'm just overlooking, or issues in other browsers etc.  & stay tuned for lots of good things - so many I think I've probably forgotten a few LOL.  Editing pics & writing posts actually helps me to remember what I've done on my nails, so the last few months is kind of a blur & I think it will be fun to revisit as I dig into it.

Thanks for (still) reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Four Leaf Clover Water Marble + Tutorial

This one was (obviously) for St. Patrick's Day =)  It took some doing to find the right colors, to get a very small inner circle that would fit a whole clover on my nail.  Base color is Orly Wandering Vine, then the marbling is done with WV & Orly Green Apple - I used the darker color as the base because I didn't want GA to be quite as bright as it is in the bottle:

IIRC, I was attempting to place them all similarly - but then I may have given up & just gone for randomness once that failed LOL.  Either way, I was very happy with the final results, and here are a few of my favorites:

And of course here is the tutorial:



I thought at the time that with a little tweaking &  some different colors, this basic design would also work really well to do a butterfly marble - but I haven't gotten around to actually trying it yet.  One more thing on my miles-long to-do list LOL.

Went to the State Fair yesterday - AWESOME time as always, and my cousin joined our family mob this year so we were 6-strong wandering around.  Of course I will have some Fair Food to show you guys - I'm thinking I may turn it into a slideshow this year, but I haven't decided for sure yet.  I didn't quite get to everything I wanted - but that's what trip #2 on Saturday is for!

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: OPI Designer ... De Better +bm221

Mom kept calling this color champagne; and while the final effect is kind of a champagne color, I kept correcting her - it's silver with fine copper glitter.  And I think one of my favorite colors of the year, and became even more of a favorite after stamping! 

 

I started out with OPI Designer ... De Better & wore it solo for a few days, to me this is the best color from the Muppets collection:

 

I don't remember what polish I used for the stamping - either Konad Black Special Polish or Wet n Wild Black Creme ... whichever I found first at the time LOL.  They're pretty interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.  This lovely flower design is from Bundle Monster image plate bm221 & it took me a while to figure out which sides I wanted to match up, but I finally decided to stamp sideways, and match the top & bottom edges.  Some nails more successful than others, I particularly like the way my ring finger lined up, but even those that aren't right on look pretty good:

 

LOVED wearing this a lot =)  Finally getting into December manis with the stamped version.  I've still got pics to edit for my Mosaic Snowflakes, OPI Ali's Big Break, Ulta Into Astrono-Me? & my Candy Cane Water Marble, so stay tuned.  Had a great day of frosting & baking & tray making today!  & plenty of pics to come of that as well of course.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Newspaper Nails - Round 1: QR Codes + Tutorial

I don't know how it got to be almost a week between posts.  I know I am having a bit of trouble getting back in the "groove" but I honestly didn't realize it was that long ... I'll never get actually caught back up at this rate LOL.

 

I've seen newspaper nails all over - and pretty much all trying too look like newspaper, with a light grey background &  newsprint that ends up being backwards on the nails.  I decided to go for a little bit of a different look & while I'm not 100% happy, they still turned out pretty cool.  Base color is Revlon Blue Lagoon:

 

My favorite was my left thumb, it got the clearest design.  I've had lots of helpful suggestions in the comments for the tutorial & I'll be giving it a 2nd go soon with some Chinese characters that I think will look really cool & not obviously backward even though of course they will be.

 

Here's the tutorial:

 

 

Upcoming posts include:  China Glaze Icicle with Bundle Monster stamping, China Glaze Reggae to Riches TOTD, a couple manis (a fail & the mani I actually wore) using Sally Hansen Lady Luck & Butter London The Black Knight, Icing Thunderstorm on Mom's nails, & maybe even the fruit tart vid if I have time to finish it =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

I'm Back! (I think) - An Update (please read)

I make myself laugh, because anytime I see "please read" that contrary part of myself wants to do just the opposite.  But I do have a couple points that are relevant if you've ever left a comment or will ever leave one in the future.

 

I know I've been gone for a while, & I know I don't have to explain myself to anyone, but some of it I felt like needed to be said & I wanted to get off my chest, so I did a vlog & a post to go with it which you can see HERE on my other blog.  If you don't really care, just stay here & keep reading =)

 

In regards to OLD comments - I always read all my comments.  Always.  I love seeing what you guys have to say.  That said, I am a huge FAIL when it comes to answering questions from comments.  When I started my blog, coming up on 3 years ago now, I responded to every comment.  & I couldn't, at that time, foresee a point when that would become more that the 2-3 comments per day or per post.  And when it inevitably did, I fell behind ... got caught up.  Fell behind .... got caught up.  Fell behind ... fell further behind ... fell ridiculously far behind ... to now.

 

I don't think anyone is still waiting for a response on a question they asked 3 months ago ... or longer than that.  Hell, if they were checking the thread, they've stopped checking - if they subscribed they'd probably be shocked to see a response & confused because they'd have forgotten what they asked LOL.  Not to mention the fact that in the intervening time I've answered many of the questions/filled several of the requests, etc.

 

SO - I tried to clean up & respond to about the past month's worth of comments - & direct emails as well.  Anything older than that I'm honestly sorry but it's going to remain unanswered.  I'm admitting I'm past the point of being able to catch up & I need to re-start fresh.  This is something I've been working towards for a couple months, wading through emails, notifications, & cleaning up my inbox from over 10k emails - yes, I'll spell it out, ten thousand emails - to just around 400, which is still a lot but more manageable.  I'm still sorting through those, some of which are reminders I send myself from work.  I'd like to have my inbox say (0) unread emails one day.

 

If you have a question you really need an answer to, post in this thread & I will respond.  Scout's honor =)

 

In regards to NEW comments - to help myself better stay on top of things here going forward, I'm strongly leaning towards installing a 3rd-party comment tool for better threading/easier answering.  I'd particularly love to be able to reply directly from email rather than having to navigate to the post.  So if you have anything to recommend, or anything I should really stay away from, leave a comment.  I don't want to install something & then find out it sucks or that you guys hate it LOL.

 

Well, I think that's mostly it.  I have a backlog of NOTDs to post since from before Halloween, so I'll be posting those in the next few days.  They include one of the new Anise polishes I showed in my last haul, one of the Orly Mineral FX colors, and a sponging on mom's nails that she did herself in 3 shades of blue, not to mention the last Halloween tutorial that made it onto YouTube & never made it onto the blog.  AND my 2-year YouTube-birthday/anniversary is coming up Saturday & I feel like I ought to do something special... but still not sure what LOL.  So we'll see.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

Guest NOTD: Revlon Copper Penny + OPI Baby it's Coal Outside

Mom hiding her tip wear with sponging again =) I would totally sponge away tip wear if I ever had my polish on long enough to get tip wear in the first place LOL.

 

Her base color is Revlon Copper Penny, then the sponging is done with OPI Baby it's Coal Outside:

 

Got a haul to post, got some crackle swatches to do, and just finished a new water marble on my nails - now, to fit all that editing in & actually make posts =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Sunny Yellow in the Sun

So the sun peeked out just long enough for me to get some better outdoor pics =)

 

I've got duo-chromey goodness to show you guys, and the haul post that is taking me such a long time for some reason.  I thought I would have time yesterday, and today, and obviously now the plan is tomorrow ... I certainly hope so LOL.  It's been like a month since I made the purchases.

 

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Sunny Yellow Water Marble + Tutorial

As many of you know, yellow is NOT my favorite color.  Possibly my least favorite in fact.  But that didn't mean that it would be neglected in my Addicted to Color series, and I finally found 5 yellows that worked together & still had some contrast on the nail.  Base color is China Glaze Lighthouse, marbling done with Lighthouse, China Glaze Solar Power, Sally Hansen Hue, Orly Hook Up & Wet n Wild Collecting Pollen.  I wish we had a little sun to go with my sunny nails but although the temperatures have rebounded from the hard freeze, it's been pretty cloudy lately:

My favorite nails are left ring, index & thumb, right thumb:

And here's the vid:



The plan is to edit the haul vid & pic tomorrow after work, so stay tuned for that those of you that like hauls =)  Thanks for watching.

~Colette

NOTD: OPI It's My Year

OPI It's My Year, from the Miss Universe collection, is a gorgeous pinky-mauve with a heavy gold shimmer, that somehow ends up being a little bit coppery-bronzey in some lights:

But wait ... that description sounds so familiar ... all day on my nails I kept thinking ... deja vu ... I've worn this color before - I had to go back & search my blog to find the exact color, I remembered it was a Zoya & finally found that it was Zoya Faye (original post HERE).

Yes, the 2 are definitely close enough to be kissing cousins.  Not dupes but very very close =)  And then!  When I changed my mani I had the same thing happen again LOL, deja vu all day & had to come home & search ... stay tuned tomorrow to see my 2nd in a row nearly duplicate mani =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette