Valentine's Hearts Water Marble + Tutorial

Sometimes it is perhaps not quite so obvious how far behind I am - but yes, these are Valentine's nails, and yes that means I'm about 4 months behind LOL.

I started off this manicure with a base of Zoya Marley, then did the marbling with Marley & Ulta Femme Fatale.  I like these hearts better than the hearts I did the year before, but for something that seems like it should be simple, it's surprisingly hard to get exactly right in the water:

Some of the hearts ended up "cleaner" in the center than others ... shows that even I am not perfect & still have plenty to learn about marbling:

Here's the tutorial:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Happy Valentine's Day!

... I guess LOL.  You want to know what single people call Valentine's Day?  Tuesday.  *rimshot*

Joking aside, still playing catchup, and as I mention in my last vlog I started my "new" postion yesterday (basically my same job but with some additional responsibilities & a new title).  So for now you can amuse yourself if you want with my Valentine's playlist:

If you are someone's Valentine then I hope they hook you up!  & if you're single like me - well, hang in there.  It will be over tomorrow =)  

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Red & Gold Swirl Wate Marble + Tutorial

I meant to post this on Monday.  I've been totally tired & lazy & non-creative all week ... after I took this marble off I have in fact had the same plain silver on my nails for 3 days.  I'm not sick, I'm just ... easily distracted.  I read an entire book on Tuesday LOL, couldn't put it down, Wednesday I just vegetated in front of the TV & somehow still was not in bed early, even though I didn't do a post or redo my nails ...

 

Well.  Anyway ... some nails for all you wonderful patient people =)  This was my Valentine's mani, although it wasn't overly filled with hearts or pink like some of my other manis.  I started off with Milani Good Morning Sunshine as my base color, then marbled with GMS & Revlon Ruby Ribbon - which marbled not too bad for a matte polish:

 

 

Here are my favorite nails - left pinky, right ring, middle & index:

 

And here is the tutorial:

 

 

I'll try to get the silver posted tomorrow - plain but gorgeous =)  Tomorrow evening or maybe on Saturday I will be marbling my mom's nails for her birthday, and I'm considering doing another drag marble for myself, but I'm being reeeaaally indecisive on colors, so I don't know.  We'll see.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Pink & White Hearts Water Marble + Tutorial

I wanted pink & white hearts ... or so I thought.  Once I got this on my nails I was kind of bored with it.  Too pale, too girly ... too PINK.  Pink has to be just right to be on my good side you know =)  Still, it wasn't awful, just not my particular cup of tea.  Base color of OPI Fit For A Queensland, marbling done with FFaQ & OPI Pink of Hearts 2010:

 

& yes, that's a rather large tear on my thumb in the last couple pics.  It's patched now, but it's irritating because I just finished growing out 2 breaks, and now I add another.

 

Here's the tutorial:

 

 

I may get around to a few more Valentine's-themed manis, maybe even another full tutorial, but I'm not sure.  I don't even LIKE Valentine's Day - but I just can't resist the excuse to put cute hearts on my nails =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Red & Black Sponged Hearts - National Wear Red Day

Today is National Wear Red Day, part of the Go Red for Women heart disease awareness campaign.  Just as good of an excuse to have red & hearts on my nails as Valentine's Day =)

 

I started out with 2 different base colors on my nails, Orly Liquid Vinyl on 2 nails each hand, and the rest done in Nubar Fire Sparkle.  After the base was dry I applied heart stickers & sponged the opposite color over top, removed the stickers & ended up with:

 

I am about .... mmm 85% happy with this mani LOL.  I wish I'd gotten a little bit of a sharper edge on my hearts, I kind of wish I'd maybe done just one heart each nail, and a few of the nails ended up with a little too much polish, not as spongey of a texture as I originally intended.  These are my favorite nails; ring & thumb from each hand:

 

 

 

And here is the tutorial:

 

 

Are you wearing red today?

 

Today at grandma's we're going to attempt to make homemade pot-stickers ... I'll take pics & post them up later as long as it's not too much of a disaster =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Valentine's Hearts Red & White Drag Marble + Tutorial

Simple & super-cute =)  I was indecisive which color should be the base & which the heart, so I alternated LOL.  Colors are Orly Candy Cane Lane & Orly White Tips:

 

Here's the tutorial:

 

 

I have several other Valentine's ideas - also this Friday, February 4th, is National Wear Red Day.  I think I forgot last year, but I will be participating with something red this year for Heart Disease Awareness.  Will you be painting your nails red?

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Vday Water Marble + Tutorial

So, I thought I should do a Valentine's Day water marble (a couple days ago ... this was Tuesday's NOTD).  I'm pretty happy with the way the design turned out, but I really was not loving the pink on me.  Really not sure why but it bugged me a little bit all day.

I usually - but not always - stick with the same brand for all colors of a water marble.  It's not that different brands don't work together, more that when you stick to the same brand, they're more likely to have the same consistency, and therefore a more even spread .. but even then that's not always true.  The 2 main rules to great water marbles:  Practice & Experiment. 

For my base color I used Sally Hansen Petite Pink, then I marbled with that & Sally Hanson Beet Stain & Sally Hanson Tassel:

It was late when I finished this & apparently I forgot to take pics like I usually do when I finish under the natural lamp, so sorry about that ... but hopefully you'll forgive me since I did do a tutorial =)  When I polled if people would like to see more water marbles with different colors, or only new designs, the results were evenly split 50/50 ... so I guess half of you maybe don't care about this but for the rest, here you go:



More to come =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: ChG Thunderbird

Well, I chose this color for my Friday National Wear Red Day mani, then I decided since the day is about heart disease awareness, a few hearts would not be out of place - so I think it really could stand in for Valentine's Day also, with the red & gold color combination.

Base color is China Glaze Thunderbird, which is a perfect red, from this past fall's Retro Diva collection.  I just wanted a little bit more, so I used my dotting tool to create hearts on my thumb & ring fingers with OPI Dazzled by Gold (and boy am I starting to wish I had a backup of this LE polish):

It was a really good match for my red boots:

And I also decided to do a comparison swatch vs. Zoya Isla.  Here is Isla on index & ring, Thunderbird on middle & pinky:

They are pretty close, but I think Thunderbird is a little darker (especially in person), so I'm not willing to call them dupes - I'm glad I have both because this is such a perfect tone of red for me =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette