Now I Know My ABC's.....

It's been a little bit in between posts.  Kinda busy around here...first we were all sick and then The Annoying Pomeranian had to have surgery on one of his back legs due to having a floating knee cap, so they had to deepen the socket and realign a ligament.  He'll have to have the other back leg done as well, but we're planning to wait a few months before putting him through all this again.  He's doing good now, though we had a bumpy weekend cause he was having bathroom issues.  He has 6 stitches that are due to come out tomorrow.  Never fear though, he's almost 100% back to his usual whining, demanding self.  Here's a pic of him with his nekkid leg-

Now, onto the nail stuff!

Once again the lovely Erica of Erica's Nails and More is holding a nail art challenge.  This one is a bit of a marathon.  Based on the ABCs, there's a different letter each week for a total of 26 weeks (duh!).  Either the type of art, brand or color of the polish has to begin with the letter of the week.

The complete rules can be found HERE if anyone is interested.  I've decided to do a blog for every 2 entries instead of writing one each week.

And so...onto the letter A!

I decided to do an 'A is for Anarchy' for this entry.  Polishes used were Orly Liquid Vinyl and Color Club Mamba. I know there should be a circle around/in the 'A', but not putting something that should be there is my own personal form of anarchism.  Last time I checked, anarchists don't follow the rules.

This was quite easy to do.  The base color was half black, then half red.  Added some top coat and once that was dry I applied the striping tape and reversed the colors (black over the red, red over the black).  The most difficult thing was wrestling the tape into position.  Oh, and finding a red that was thick enough to cover the black in one coat.  

For B we have a french manicure, glitter style.  Polishes used were Illamasqua Baptiste, RubyWhiteTips prototype Million Grapes and Models Own Gold Rush.

The heart shaped rhinestone was a last minute decision, as I felt it needed something more.  To be honest, I almost did away with this one completely because, for some reason, I wasn't feeling it.  After putting the hearts on, I fell in love with it. 

Well, this Sunday a C mani is due and since I'm still clueless on what I want to do, I'd better quit writing and get my thinking cap on.  Thanks for reading!

Versatile Blogger Award

Well well well.  The lovely Erica of Erica's Nails and More has nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award!  Thank you so much *HUGS*!

So what does this mean, you ask?  Basically it's a way to call attention to and share blogs from around the net.  The rules can be found Here.  I was nominated, so I in turn will nominate others.  You're supposed to do 15, but I don't follow 15 other blogs (shame on me, I know) so I will nominate those I do follow.  I also have to list 7 facts about myself that others may not know.  So here we go....

1--When I do a manicure, I take photos so that I can find any mistakes/areas that need to be cleaned up   which I may have missed.  Occasionally this has led to me redoing an entire mani because, when I look at the picture, I suddenly hate it.

2--I met my husband on an online vampire MMORPG that we both still play and where I'm a forum moderator at.  No, we aren't Goths.

3--I have 8 tattoos...one on each shoulder and six on my back.  When I win the lottery, I want to get two of the back ones covered up with a black/gray dragon holding a heart made of ribcage bones.

4--Though I've not done it in a while, I enjoy making computer backrounds with a program called Bryce.

5--Any time I start doing something that requires me to think and focus, Annoying Pomeranian decides he needs something and starts doing his squeaky door impression...like he is right now.

6--I used to love Duran Duran.  Yeah, I said it.  DURAN DURAN.  Deal with it.

7--I have to read while I'm eating.  I suppose the habit started when I was living on my own, but most of the time I don't feel right if I'm eating and don't have a book in hand.  Obviously, this doesn't apply when I'm eating outside of my home.

Okay, here's my nominations.  I realize I've probably never spoken to either of you, but rules is rules :D

1-Elise@From Lips To Tips
2-Rachel Marie@Rachel Marie's Nails

I know, only 2??  But when I went to my list of blogs I follow, I saw that several haven't been posted on in months.  My apologies, and I will be purging my list and finding new blogs to follow soon, I promise.

The Annoying Pomeranian

Hiya!  I have a little story for you guys today...

Once upon a time there was an adorable, yet annoying, Pomeranian puppy named Jax.

Jax loved to find many ways to make his owners want to pull their hair out.  He loved barking for no reason, chewing on the plants or mulch in the garden and playing in the mud.  One of his best tricks was his accurate impression of a door, whose hinges needed oiling, being slowly opened.  And he was very good at it too...he could keep it up for 5-10 minutes, until his owners gave in or fled the room plugging their ears.  One day he decided to use his favorite trick while his mommy was on Facebook, prompting her to post 'I need a nail polish called Annoying Pomeranian!!'. 

Well, the more his mommy thought about it, the more she liked the idea.  She remembered that her friend Laura Toff, the owner of RubyWhiteTips, also did custom polishes.  So she sent her a message asking about a custom job.  She was pretty vague when it came to describing what she wanted, because Jax had been going for a world record in annoying tactics that day and her brains had turned to mush.  All she could manage to tell her was that she wanted something on the lighter side of brown that shifted.

Not long after, Laura sent her a message.  Eureka!  She had it!  Excited, Jaxs mommy begged to see it after hearing how wonderful the polish was.  Pictures quickly followed and the mommy was thrilled.  'Do you want to tweak it anymore?' Laura asked.  'NO!' was the reply, for the mommy couldn't think of anyway to make this polish better and it was taken straight to the post office and shipped.

Laura was so thrilled with the polish that she decided to add it to her shop so that others could also wear this wonderful nude holo that was opaque in two coats.  She felt sure that once they saw the pictures of how it shimmered and then would explode with rainbow brilliance when the sun hit it, people wouldn't be able to resist buying it.  However, because of the risk of some trouble-making, PC obsessed, easily offended people possibly taking issue with the name Annoying Pomeranian, it was decided that the polish would be named after his owner and called Kim.  The first of a collection of custom polishes named after the women who ordered a custom job that jived with the types of polishes that Laura sold.

And thus, Annoying Pomeranian aka Kim, was born and made available for sale.  Jaxs' mommy was content and when Jax next attempted to give her more gray hairs, she only needed to look down at her nails and focus on the rainbow shimmer to become impervious to his ploy.  The polish also inspired her to come up with a little payback for Mr. Jax....a bath.

The end!

Random Nail Art

Good afternoon everyone.  Hope you all are coping okay with the clocks going forward an hour.  Here in the UK, ours won't change until the end of the month, which makes things a bit confusing for me when I need to call friends or family back home.

When I was going through some folders on my computer, I decided to put together a blog with some pictures of nail art that I'd done in the past.  First up we have a gradient that was done with A-England Tristam and Excalibur, with Different Dimensions Imitation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery added on the tips.  This was my first 'successful' gradient manicure...

Next we have a skull manicure that was inspired by Professional DQs Sexy Skull Nails tutorial. The base color for this is I've Got a Crush On You, which was a limited edition polish in 365 Days of Colors Valentines Day mystery bags.

 The reason I'm only showing you guys my thumb is because the skulls on the other nails came out a bit too big, with a few other mistakes to boot, and just didn't look very good.  But I'm quite happy with the thumb.

This jigsaw manicure was inspired by a tutorial on Preen Me, which can be found Here .  The polishes were Viridian and Faithful by Illamasqua.  This was a really easy mani to do, so I encourage anyone who's been thinking about trying nail art for the first time to give this a go.  You'll just need something to dot with, whether it's a set of dotting tools (found on Amazon and don't cost much), or if you Google 'homemade dotting tool' you can find all sorts of ways to make your own.

Finally I have a butterfly wing manicure.  This was my first time doing one of these, and I think it came out pretty nice all things considered.  I had a feeling the red wouldn't work very well, but it's still okay IMO.

The base color for this was P-Wagon, from RubyWhiteTips Kill Bill collection. I probably could have done a better job if I'd used acrylic paints, but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't doing something the hard way, so I free handed this with regular polish.  At least a nice coat of Seche Vite smoothed everything out. The black was Orlys Liquid Vinyl, the red is Orlys Grave Mistake and the purple (yes, that's purple on the pinky) is Sexy Divide by Essie.  

In other news, the lovely Erica from Erica's Nails and More will be hosting another nail art challenge starting at the end of this month.  This one is based on the alphabet, and will run for 26 weeks.  The details can be found Here .  Everyone is encouraged to join in and, because this will be a long one, participation in every week isn't a requirement.  I plan to try my best to do them all, but thank God for her 'Wild Card' entries or I don't think I'd be able to get some of them done...anyone know of a polish that starts with X?

Raindrops and Skittles!

Hello hello!  I had a bit of fun at the Illamasqua counter yesterday due to stockpiling my Debenhams Beauty Club rewards and their having a small Mothers Day sale.  One of the polishes I managed to score was the much sought after Raindrops.

 Raindrops is a milky gray with white flakes that, to me, almost seems to have a hint of blue depending on the lighting.  It was discontinued some time ago and was brought back these past few months to much cheering, and promptly sold out both in store and online.  I got lucky that the Illa. counter at the Meadowhall Debenhams still had a few left.

I've heard that some have had problems with the formula....I did have some streaking on the first coat, but after that it was smooth sailing.  Two coats later and you could still kind of see my nails through it.  The first picture was taken with a flash.

Overall I'm pleased with it. I think this is one of those colors that kind of grows on you.  I was a bit 'Meh' about it at first, but then I found myself staring at my hands on and off the rest of the night.  Word has it that Illamasqua is putting a pink version into production after reaching their desired number of Facebook fans.  I doubt I'll be getting that one, but it'll be interesting to see the pictures.

Next up we have what's known as 'Skittles'.  Pretty self-explanatory...just means a different color on each nail.  Since I managed to get ahold of 5 polishes by RubyWhiteTips, it was only natural that I used these wonderful brightly colored gems in this way.

From thumb to pinky: Boo2, Peekaboo, Sugarbush, Poppy and Color Changing Orange to Yellow.

Boo2, Peekaboo and Poppy are polishes that Laura makes to help raise money for Bat World, a sanctuary for bats that have been brought in or found and, usually due to health reasons, are considered non-releasable.  They also do a great deal to educate the public on the importance of bats.  I urge you to check out their web site and see what they're all about.  There's also several uber cute bat videos in some of the bat bios on the Sponsor a Bat in Need page.  50% of the proceeds from the Bat World polishes go to the sanctuary.

These polishes are a pleasure to work with.  The go on smoothly and are almost one-coaters except for Peekaboo which is a lovely sheer lavender that builds to opaque in a few coats.  Boo2 dries to an almost matte finish and there's a 'sugary' texture to Boo2 and Sugarbush.  RWT is also doing a special 'No name, only a number' polish for her Facebook fans, the details of which can be found Here .  So be sure to check out everything she has to offer, including the polishes in her Kill Bill collection!

Well, that's it for now.  Hopefully you aren't falling asleep and I'll see you soon!

So Now What?

The nail art challenge has ended and it was a fantastic learning experience for me.  I am hoping to do more in the future.  But now the question I've been asking myself is....what do I do with this little blog of mine?

I originally created it so that I could talk about our trips to Malta and all my friends could read about it for themselves, instead of my retelling stories over and over.  Then I used it to vent my spleen a little bit after a trip to the mall.  And, finally, the nail art challenge.

I've had a couple friends say I should just keep doing a nail blog.  My reply had been that there's already sooo many nail related blogs out there, why add another? Especially one by someone whose nails rarely look perfect, is an amateur at nail art and doesn't even have all her nails the same length (my nails break easily due to Crohns mal-nutrition, so when I get one to actually grow out I consider it a triumph).

But then again, why not?  I mean, this blog was only supposed to be for friends and family to start with and they're the ones who ask me questions.  Why not answer them and talk about this stuff?  And if anyone else happens to enjoy reading something I've written..hey, bonus, right?

So here it is.  My manis won't be perfect, any attempts at nail art will be hit or miss (not that I'll really be posting my disasters).  But I can talk about what works for me and what I've seen/heard works for others.  And if I don't know something, I can almost certainly link people to the blog of someone who DOES know.  I think I have enough Indie polishes in my collection to talk about them and, hopefully, encourage others to support independent polish makers....likewise, I have more than enough 'main stream' polishes to give my honest opinions on this brand or that.

At any rate, yeah....I think I'll keep it going.  And maybe somewhere along the way others will dabble a bit and find that they like this little polish hobby as much as I do.  There's a community here and so much information to be had if one is willing to look for it. 

Okay, Kim, where should we start looking?

Easy.  The infamous Nail Board of makeupalley.com.  You'll learn a lot if you hang around long enough, plus you'll get to see some awesome creations posted by some very talented people.  There's tips and tricks to be had, and products you've probably never heard of before suggested.  You'll also learn one of the most important words in the polish world.....Lemming.  A 'lemming' is the term for something that you REALLY want. Asking someone to 'feed' a lemming is to ask for others to encourage/support/tempt you into purchasing something.  To 'kill' a lemming is to ask for others to dissuade/discourage you from purchasing.  Most lemmings are killed when others have related bad experiences with a particular polish/polish maker, or if a 'dupe' for that polish is found.  There's another new word for you...'dupe'.  It's pretty self-explanatory.  When someone asks for a 'dupe' of something, they usually mean a substitute that is either cheaper or more readily available.  For example....Orly Smolder is one of the closest 'dupes' for Chanel Malice (I own both and the differences are minor).  Smolder is also cheaper than Malice and, for a while, was a bit easier to get as most dept. stores ran out of Malice almost as soon as it was released.

Another blog you want to read is Loodie Loodie Loodie. This blog is a treasure trove of information regarding nail care, from articles about nail strengtheners/hardeners, right on down to how to file your nails properly to get the shape you want without damaging them.

One last word for your new vocabulary.  MOISTURIZE.  You need to be moisturizing your nails at least twice a day.  What products you choose are a matter of preference, but you want ones with Jojoba Oil in them.  Two fantastic suppliers of cuticle products are:

Simple Nail Art Tips. This stuff is awesome and does exactly what it says it does. Get the starter kit and take Anas 'Get Naked' challenge. And trust me, you'll LOVE how good it smells.  You can see several before and after photos of people who've done the challenge if you go to her Facebook page.

365 Days of Color. Ah, Sunny. How I love her. Her polishes were my first Indies...the Hocus Pocus collection.  All her hand/nail products are homemade and her balms/oils are to die for...and the scents!  Wow.  Some of them will make you want to eat your fingers. Her polishes are beautiful and if you happen to stop by when she's selling some of her holiday 'mystery' bags, be sure to snap one up cause they're always worth it.

Anywho, I think that's enough for now.  I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe I'll see you back again for the next one!

Nail Challenge Day 9

This is the final day of the nail art challenge-Recreate Your Favorite. After checking with Erica, it was decided that we would be allowed to treat this day as a kind of 'do over' if we liked. So my 'do over' day is Inspired By a Tutorial.

The tutorial I'm using for my inspiration is the Dotted French Tip Glitter Ombre by My Simple Pleasures, which can be found Here. In my version however, I've decided to change it up with different polishes than she used and have added more dots. I realize my color choices are more suited to Fall and Halloween, but hey...it's nail art which means anything goes at any time.



Polishes used were:

-Orly 'Flare'
-Orly 'Flicker'---Untried
-Orly 'Smoulder'---Untried

I'd like to take this time and thank Erica for hosting this challenge. It's been my first and I've really learned a lot and gotten to play around with manicure ideas that I may not have chosen to do otherwise. I look forward to honing my skills, such as they are, and taking part in more of these in the future!