TopCoatIt

I didn’t do anything spectacular for my St. Patrick’s Day mani this year.  I wasn’t as ambitious as last year I guess.I really don’t have much by way of green clothes to wear to avoid the dreaded pinching, so my manicure had to serve that purpose.  I polished my nails with Kleancolor Green Grass then added my little “pot of gold” accents with Shimmer Carmen.

Home improvements and potty training are seriously rough on a manicure. I’ve been sanding and spackling and texturing, oh my! My poor hands are sooo dry lately. I’ve been trying to give them a little extra TLC and lots of extra moisturizer to make up for all the not so nice treatment.

While I repair my hands and find some time to paint my nails, I will re-show you one of my favorites from the vault. I should do another constellation mani. I loved it. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past today.

I was eating my breakfast the other morning thinking about what I was going to do with my nails to post today. I was really happy with my franken from yesterday and didn’t really want to take it off. And then it hit me… Constellations. Perfect!Creating the design was pretty simple, but I had to do a bit of research to prepare for this one. I looked at a couple of websites then I remembered about a constellation book I have. I dug out my National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky and looked up the four constellations I’d decided on.

This picture is lacking a bit in quality, I did it on purpose though. I had a hard time photographing this mani because the reflection of the lights kept obstructing the design. It kept washing my stars out, hence, the poor quality. I also decided I would draw the constellations out for you to see them. I’m an Aquarius and my husband and daughter are Capricorn and Cancer. Cassiopeia is a constellation that is pretty recognizable for me. We vacation in “Big Sky” Montana each year and it’s near impossible to look up in the sky at night and not be able to spot constellations. Cassiopeia is just another one that I’m familiar with and is pretty easy for me to spot. I used OPI DS Radiance for my “stars.”

Nothing grabs peoples’ attention quite like a flaming red manicure.Sunday morning getting ready to head out the door and all 20 nails were naked.  Can you even believe that?  No mani or pedi!  And I wanted to wear peep toe pumps so going out with naked toes was unacceptable.  I rushed this paint job.  All 20 digits got a coat or two of Sinful Colors GoGo Girl.  It’s one of my brightest reds.  It tows the line between a jelly and a creme.  It really is a beautiful polish.To add that extra oomph I added some OPI DS Temptation on my ring fingers and thumbs.

I was excited for this week because I hadn’t tried a Saran wrap mani yet.  Just to make sure I understood what I was supposed to be doing I Googled it.  Evidently it’s acceptable to use the Saran wrap to add or remove polish from your nail.  I opted for the remove technique.

I really thought this color combination would have a little more pizazz.  It’s pretty, but it just kind of looks like a stone of some sort.  I do sometimes look at it and think it looks like one of those Hubble telescope images.

My base color was Orly Decades of Dysfunction then I polished on Orly Space Cadet and pulled some of it back off with my little balls of Saran wrap.  This is definitely a technique that I would like to play around with more.  I’m not overly thrilled with these results, but am intrigued enough to keep trying.  I did achieve a pretty neutral effect though.

Have you tried the Saran wrap technique? What do you think?

Be sure the check out all the other manis today:

Amanda of Amandalandish
Anna of Going to the Showing
Anne of Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley of Art Evolve
Brandi of The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea of Nailed Blog
ChiChi of I’m Just Me…ChiChi
Cordia of Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth of Did My Nails
Jamie of Polish, Please!
Jenn of All That is Gorgeous
Katherine of Haul of Fame
Maribeth of Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa of Polish Obsession
Meredith of Polish and Charms
Nory of Fierce Make Up and Nails
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Tara of Polishy of Truth

New Year’s eve is always pretty anticlimactic for me.  I’m not one for parties, so it usually entails watching TV until midnight, watching a replay of the Time’s Square ball drop, then going to bed.  Yeehaw.  I played with the idea of doing a mani that showed my resolutions and goals for 2013, but I’m not even sure what those are yet.
Instead, I decided to play with the new polish that my daughter picked out for me.  Hubby took her to Sephora and of all the polishes she looked at, she picked Nails Inc Bloomsbury Square.  It’s supposedly a 3D glitter.  I don’t even know what that means.  It’s beautiful though!I paired it up with CND Asphalt and topped it off with Chill Zone top coat.  It makes me think of confetti falling in the dark sky.  Fabulous combination.  Happy 2013 everyone!

Be sure the check out all the other manis today:

Amanda of Amandalandish
Anna of Going to the Showing
Anne of Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley of Art Evolve
Brandi of The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea of Nailed Blog
ChiChi of I’m Just Me…ChiChi
Cordia of Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth of Did My Nails
Jamie of Polish, Please!
Jenn of All That is Gorgeous
Jenna of I’m Still Thinking
Katherine of Haul of Fame
Maribeth of Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa of Polish Obsession
Meredith of Polish and Charms
Nory of Fierce Make Up and Nails
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Tara of Polishy of Truth