NOTD: Green Swirls

I am so far behind ... & I thought I would get caught up today but instead ended up sleeping until 4 in the afternoon.  Still exhausted, this cold seriously kicked my butt.  I thought I was over it, but sleep requirements say otherwise LOL.

 

Anyway, this was my mani from Monday, and I was on a kick with drag marbling all week.  For this one, I used China Glaze Jolly Holly for my base, and marbled with a few drops of Peace on Earth:

 

 

These were my favorite nails:

 

I am, as you all know, a perfectionist =)  So the reason I did 2 more drag marbles after this one was, of course, because I wasn't totally happy with it.  Even though I can't even put my finger on what was bugging me - other than the bald spots, but they honestly weren't that noticeable from arms-length.

 

On another note - I am going to stop kidding myself.  I cannot keep up with comments when I try to say something, even just a thank you, to every comment.  I end up putting it off to the point that NOTHING gets answered.  So going forward, although I do read every comment & I love hearing from you guys, I will be mostly just answering questions.  Hopefully then I'll be able to stay more on top of things!

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Red & Purple Water Marble + Tutorial

The colors showed up better in the vid than in any of the pics for some reason ... Sally Hansen Right Said Red base, marbling done with RSR & Sally Hansen Problem Child:

 

 

Here are my favorites; left ring & middle, right ring & thumb:

 

Here's the tut:

 

 

Cold is finally almost done, though I'm still quite tired.  Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

NOTD: Orly Lunar Eclipse

I don't know how I prevented myself from running out & buying this whole collection when it came out, but I did - and to date only have the half that I found on clearance.  Maybe I will rectify this the next time I do a huge online haul (Tronica release ....).  From the Cosmic FX collection, this is Orly Lunar Eclipse.  It is much prettier in person, but you can catch just a flash of the duo-chrome in the overcast shot:

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

Review: Born Pretty Stamping Plates

OK, so it took me a while to get around to reviewing these, being so distracted with holiday-related nails, but I did use them the other day over Merry Mittens, and although obviously I haven't gone through & tried out each & every design, I want to share my impressions with you guys.  You can find these & more at the Born Pretty website http://www.bornprettystore.com/, and you can enter promo code "COLE10K31" to get 10% through 3/31/11. 

 

The image plate set that I received is the 12-piece that includes the Hello Kitty design =)  You can check out all the sets that they have avaiable HERE in the Nail Art Stamping section. 

 

The image plates very similar to the Bundle Monster plates in that they come with a plastic film & a rather sharp edge that makes it tricky to remove.  I don't think they're quite as sharp as the BM ones though.  They are also unfinished on the back, but a slightly thicker disc of metal.  The biggest difference between these & both the Bundle Monster & original Konad is that they're octagonal rather than round

 

Like Konad plates, they are labelled with M & the plate number - although some of their M's are capitalized & Konad's are lowercase, when I refer to these plates & also for my tagging purposes you'll see an asterisk * following.  But don't think that they're the same designs just because they're labelled the same.

 

Have a look at the completely different m72 vs. m72*:

 

 

And here, m12* has images from both m36 & m40:

 

The designs seem well-etched - deep enough that you get the whole design when you stamp, and all of the details came through cleanly on the design that I used, from plate m71* .  Although some familiar Konad images are included, I didn't end up with very much duplication, most of the designs are original & include some designs that have a mirror-image right next to them on the plate.

 

Overall, these are very reasonably priced at less than a dollar a plate, and worth it in my opinion if you'd like to expand you image plate collection.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

 

(These products were sent to me for review)

Final 2010 Books: 62 - 66

Well, as I said around the new year, I didn't meet my goal of 100 books.  There are a lot of things I could blame this on, from the blog, YT channel, work, etc, etc, but I know the real reason & it is poor time management.  I haven't gotten around to making any official resolutions for 2011, but at least unofficially, better time management is at the top of my list.  I think I'm doing better.  We'll see how it goes as the year progresses. 

 

#62

Harvest Moon

Anthology

Fantasy/Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

 

This anthology included novellas from:  Mercedes Lackey, Michelle Sagara & Cameron Haley

 

Of course Mercedes Lackey has been a favorite of mine for some time.  The other 2 I had not read before, but Cameron Haley immediately caught my attention with a mobster sorceress - does that not just have a cool ring to it?  I requested her full-length novel right away & it was my first book of 2011 that I finished so stay tuned for me to start my next book list later this month.

 

#63

Strange Attractions

Emma Holly

(Slightly Paranormal) Romance

 

Romance plus .... wait for it ... quantum physics.  Oh, and kinky stuff.  Which is kind of par for Emma Holly but she manages to fit in a real story along with all the sexy bits, which is why I like her.

 

#64

The Sleeping Beauty

Mercedes Lackey

Five Hundred Kingdoms Book 5

Fantasy

 

So I realized I'd had this on hold for like, months, after I read Lackey's novella in Harvest Moon (above).  I un-held it, and breezed through in only a few days; I like this series because it puts such hilarious twists on so many traditional tales.

 

#65

Legacies

Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill

Shadow Grail Book 1

Teen Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

 

I thought that this book was either going to be trying to be Harry Potter, with the poor orphan sent off to school to discover their magic - but it didn't give me that feel at all.  Looking forward to the 2nd installment.

 

#66

The Iron Duke

Meljean Brook

Iron Seas Book 1

Steampunk

 

I haven't delved a whole lot into steampunk.  When I first heard the premise for the genre, I wasn't too impressed - but this was at a time when I really hadn't read any good historical fiction.  Since then I have not only read good historical fiction, I've come to appreciate a good alternate history as well, and I like the twists that steampunk ads to the "normal" world.  Taking that "what if ...?" and running with it.

 

Do you keep track of your reading?  & if so how many books did you devour in 2010?  I'm off to a slow start for 2011 (only 2, the second just finished this evening), which is a shame considering how sick I've been - I feel like even if I am too weak to do anything else, I should have picked up a book more often than I did.  I just finished my 2nd book for the year.  I'd like to read more in 2011 than I did in 2010, but other than that I'm not aiming for any particular milestone amount.

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette