NOTD: Shades of Purple Water Marble + Tutorial

As I said, the pink just kind of rubbed me the wrong way ... so I went for my "safety" color of purple & did another water marble as my NOTD on Wednesday.  I started out with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Forever Lilac, which is a very pink lavender:

I wanted this color to show up more in the final design than it did ... I used Forever Lilac & also Sally Hansen Flair & Sally Hansen Spark for the water marbling.  My favorite, the one that embodies my original design best, is my right index finger =) ... which was right next to the disaster of my right middle LOL, I don't know how that design got quite that messy.  Anyway, here are the pics:

And here's how I did it:

Seems like lately when I start playing with water marbles, they come in 3's - I hope to have pics & video for my current NOTD - a shades of green water marble - edited for posting tomorrow.  Until then, 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: OPI DS Signature

I have no good excuse for being so behind - comments, pictures, posts, everything. But the fact is ... it is a fact LOL.  & one of the ways I keep blogging fun is I don't like FORCE myself to blog when I have other stuff to do.  So I'm sorry I've been a bit sporadic.

It's late, but I'm awake so I figured I might as well get at least a tiny bit caught up - here is my NOTD from Monday.  From the Designer Series, this is OPI DS Signature, Konad done with Color Club Black & image plate s1.  I was tired, so the Konad isn't placed exactly as planned but still a cute little accent:

Upcoming posts include at least 2 water marbles with accompanying tutorials, among other things =)  Until then, 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

NOTD: Spontaneous + MAAH

I'm a bit late posting this, actually it was my NOTD from Thursday, but I've fallen behind with editing pics.  Too busy shoveling snow among other things LOL.

When I picked up these 2 colors I thought they'd go well together & I think I was right =)  I started out with China Glaze Spontaneous for my base color.  I LOVE this purple, it is a medium purple cream & it looked like this with 2 coats:

These pics turned out more accurate than I expected for a purple. it is really a little redder than it shows under the natural lamp, a little darker than it shows with camera flash.  If I hadn't already had plans, I would have been more than happy to leave it this way.

My plans involved some pinking shears & some painter's tape, and although I don't hate the way it turned out, I think my results would have been a little better if I'd applied said tape once my nails were 100% dry.  As it was, I ended up doing polish surgery once I took off my guides.  My original idea was to do like a french tip, with the purple on the tips & the glitter on the nail bed, but then I decided that wasn't out of the ordinary enough.  After all, the glitter I chose is OPI Mad As A Hatter, and I think that deserves something a little more crazy, so I went with alternating zigzags of color:

What do you think?  For me, even though I liked it, it was only OK.  I wasn't sad to take it off LOL.   Pics of my red NOTD from Friday coming soon =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette