Week 13 - Ruffian Mani

This will be a quick post. This is my first Ruffian mani and I decided to use some of the new polish I got in a recent haul (haul post next). For this I used 3 coats of Jesse's Girl Midori (so not impressed with the formula on this one - thin & streaky, even after plenty of dry time between layers). Then I free-handed one coat Wet n Wild Black Creme over it in Ruffian fashion. Once this was dry I added Forever Beauty Green. Such a plain name for such a pretty glitter.

Since I am in the process of reorganizing and moving my polish and nail supplies I couldn't remember where I put my french tip guides so I could use those for the ruffian but free-hand didn't turn out too bad. I'll have to try this with different polish and those guides once I find them. Oh and if you couldn't tell...I managed to rip off almost all my nails down to the quick this weekend.  =(

Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Another St. Patty's Day Mani

I liked the pink and green St. Patty's stamping mani I did for Pink Wednesday and as I was looking at it, it hit me! Neon! It would look awesome in neon. Now I didn't want to completely copy my previous mani so I opted to paint the Irish flag on my thumb and ring finger and then used to color for that on the other three fingers. Green on pinky, white  on middle, and orange on index. First I painted all my nails with two coats of my base coats franken (does any one else fraknen their nail treatments?), then two coats of Orly Au Champagne.

Here's what I used for the orange on my index finger and in the flags I used one coat of Color Club Wham! Pow! toppped with one coat of Fantasy Makers Creepy Pumpkin then one coat of Seche Vite.
For the green on my pinky and in the flags I used one coat of Cosmetic Arts unnamed neon green (might be the same as Color Club The Lime Starts Here but not sure since I don't own that one). Topped with one coat of Jesse's Girl Firefly (I know it looks white in the bottle but over this green you really only see the green flash of the glitter) and topped again with one coat of Seche Vite.For the white on my middle finger and in the flag I used one coat of Sinful Colors Smoking Hot over the already there 2 coats of Orly Au Champagne. Topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

Obviously before clean-up. LOL!

I then proceeded to stamp over this once dry with Color Club Wham! Pow! and Cosmetic Arts neon green using the plaid design from m60. The rest of the stamps are using Konad special polish in black using RA-116, SH12, and BM-03. I wish that the plaid had come out a bit brighter but I still love this mani. I think I will sport this one for the day and try to post some more tonight.

Hope you enjoyed this one! Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Day 10: GRADIENT nails

This is my last 31 day challenge post for this month, I am taking a break to play with Christmas and wintery manis. I wanted something wintery as it is technically my first day of winter break. I went for the SNOW-mani, white shimmery, glittery, holo awesomeness. I used Orly Au Champagne (2 coats), with Sally Hansen Diamonds (1coat) as my base for this gradient. I started my second layer of gradient with Orly Winter Wonderland, then Jesse's Girl Firefly, then China Glaze Snow Globe and finally China Glaze Shooting Stars (all 1 partial coat).

I had a difficult time getting a picture that showed the shimmer, the sparkle of the glitter and the holo rainbow flashes all at once so here's several pictures to show the various aspects. I liked how this turned out but I don't think I will keep it past tomorrow.

Sunlight - you can really see the iridescent glitter from Snow Globe in this one

Sunlight

Outside in the shade

Blurry to show holo

Macro

 

I am headed up to my mother's tomorrow to do a Christmas mani for a party she has coming up so I hope to post pictures if I can talk her into something fun. She tends to favor warm, neutral colors and I am trying to get her to experiment with some gold foil and Christmas greens, and some glitter.

Much Love, The Dragon Lady