Showing posts with label Sally Hansen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sally Hansen. Show all posts

Friday, January 25, 2013

Generally Not Reccomended

Usually, I don't wear yellow, even though I love it. I have an olive complexion and it tends to be a very difficult color for me to wear. My one and only yellow polish is generally relegated to nail art, like for flower centers or stars. For some reason, though, yellow and pink is a color combination that makes me extremely happy:

Two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lightening." Accents in Sally Girl pink.


I love my taping manicures, but this one didn't come out as neat as I would like. Still, no time to re-do it. It's off to work for me!

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As a follow up to my last post, I have begun this, for those who are interested. Also, please don't forget about my blog sale. If you see something you like, make me an offer!

Monday, January 7, 2013

I've got the blues.





Being sick for the past week has put a damper on my creativity. The fact that it's a respiratory problem and that the smell of nail polish aggravates it doesn't seem to help. At all. What's a girl to do?

I decided to break out the nail wraps. These are the Sally Hansen Sallon Effects that came out over the summer. I forgot I had them until we were packing to move.

The last time I used these, I had trouble getting them to stick, so I put topcoat on them. They didn't last very long.

This time, I decided to forego topcoat, even though it goes against all of my instincts.

I've still got a couple of spots that didn't stick so well, mainly on my right hand. The biggest problem with my left was that I had an attack of the static clingies as I was applying, and my ring finger and pinky both went on crooked as a result.

Just as before, I was able to get two nails done per strip, since I don't have tallons. I don't know that I'll be using the second packet that came in the kit, however, since I don't care for this pattern. I think the concept of denim nails is cool, but this just looks fake; I don't like the way the pattern was rendered, but I'm also a textile nerd. Just for the record, this pattern is called "Good Jeans."

I've been wearing these since last night, and took pictures this morning.

ETA: I have been to the doc and joy of joy, I have not just bronchitis, but a sinus infection to boot. I guess this means I won't be buying polish for a while. My meds+doctor visit cost almost as much as my rent this month.


Monday, December 31, 2012

Insert Nail Art Here

I was going to have a winter-themed manicure for you today. I really was. I had my background all set, and was going to do the fancy bits as soon as I got off work. But I seem to have come down with the flu, and while I did leave work two and half hours early, the smell of polish is kind of making me gag at the moment. So later, then. In the mean time, I have a very (VERY!) subtle gradient for you, using Sally Hansen InstaDri "Blue Bye" and Brash "Blue Dream."

Here's hoping that by Friday I'm well enough to finish this one off: 




Monday, December 24, 2012

A Very Important Issue

Clearly, I need to go shopping. I've discovered I'm missing two very important colors in my polish collection: navy and green. Yes, I have navies and greens, but what I need are non-shimmery versions, and the green needs to be somewhere between true green and forest, whereas all of mine are either spring green or leaning more towards teal. Oh, the problems of polish.

For now, I will just have to suffer through with the shimmery navy blue that I got as a stopgap a few months ago, but is really closer to royal blue, which isn't the same color AT ALL.

Yes, I'm being ridiculous. I know. But the color just isn't right.

Which means, of course, that I simply must make my way to Sally's a some point this week. Oh, woe is me.


At any rate, here is the first of two snow-themed manis I have planned, using the substitute color:

For the designs, I used the dotting tools that my roommate got me for Christmas.
Colors used:
Revlon--I have lost the name of this one, sadly.
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Ivory Skull"
Essie "Set in Stones"
Pop Beauty "Metallica"


I was going for a "gently falling snow" look, but I forgot just how densely packed "Set in Stones" is, and I ended up with a blizzard instead! I still like the way it turned out though--it's fun to look at.

Happy Holidays!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Peppermint Sticks


Just another quickie for the holidays.

Colors used:
Pure Ice "Siren"
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Ivory Skull"
I just cut up pieces of scotch tape for the stripes. :)

Blessed Yule and Happy Solstice! I hope everyone is enjoying the "end of the world."

Monday, December 17, 2012

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I can't believe I just used that as a post title. They've been playing that song twice an hour at work, and it makes me want to hurt someone now. Still, it's pretty apt for today's manicure:
 

I can't claim the idea for the Santa hats. Another nail blogger did them last week, and I thought I'd saved the image to Pinterest, but evidently I've been lax in my pinning. I only have one holiday manicure up.





I used Pure Ice "Siren," Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Ivory Skull," and a nail art pen for the black details. Since I used a Halloween polish on a Christmas manicure, does that make this the Nightmare before Christmas?
 

I'm so excited because all of my photos before now were taken in artificial light. But, with our new place we have so many more windows all over the house, and there's even a nice big yard, so I could use natural sunlight for the first time! Now if only our dryer would stop tripping the breaker, everything would be dandy. :)





















Friday, December 14, 2012

Well, that didn't go as planned.

So you might have noticed I missed a couple of posts there. It wasn't intentional. I even had a couple of manicures in the vault so that I could post them even when it wasn't practical for me to be doing nail art. I failed to save the photos onto my computer, however, and in the move my camera ended up in the wrong box. Then the battery died, and the charger was in another, unknown box. And, well, that seems to be the story of this move. We didn't get a fridge until a week and a half after we started sleeping in the house. I say sleeping, because we are still missing at least three large pieces of furniture that have been in storage. Weather and schedules have conspired against us, so we're still mostly living out of boxes. I did, however, find my yarn, my camera, and my nailpolish--those are the most important things, right?

Speaking of things that didn't go as planned, here's the first manicure I did in the new house. This was a case where my topcoat worked against me, turning my careful designs into blurry lumps. (note to self: don't use SV on patterns with small details)



The lighting is dramatic, yes? Well, that's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it. This house actually has much better light than the last place, but I did this late at night (read: missing furniture=limited lamps) and I knew they would get messed up the next day (which they did) so I wanted to get photos taken before they flaked like a ditzy cheerleader at exam time.

This was inspired by the song "My Favorite Things" which for some reason has become a Christmas song. It doesn't say Christmas to me, but there you are. At any rate, I do love the song and used S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa" to create brown paper packages, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and Pure Ice "Siren" to tie them up with string. On my pinky, I had a smudge, which I covered up with a decorative bow--realizing after the fact that it would be upside down to everyone but me. 

This is why I am not Polish Insomniac. I shouldn't be allowed to do creative things after 10pm. I tend to get a little....too creative.

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I have been as active in the nail blogging community lately. It's not that I'm blogfadding or anything, but life has been happening and after a summer filled with nail art, everyone now seems to be focusing on swatches. And swatching primarily the same things. 

Boring. 

So while I may not post as often as some, I do promise that this blog will be swatch free (unless I find something that I'm SUPER excited about, and simply MUST share) and hopefully a little more interesting because of it. 

See you on Monday.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Reruns for a Cause





It recently came to my attention that October is anti-bullying month. I'm not entirely certain how this tidbit managed to slip by me. Had I known, I would have planned an entire month of blue manicures, since that is not only my favorite color, but the color for the whole anti-bullying movement, and this is a cause quite close to my heart.

On my personal blog, I've talked about this several times, though I don't think I've ever gone into detail.

The first time I remember being bullied, it was in the third grade, at our Thanksgiving party. a group of girls I wanted to be friends with intentionally changed the rules of a game they were playing to leave me out. When I realized what they were doing, I cried. One of them asked what was wrong, and I gave a rather nasty response. I got into trouble while they were the "victims" of my foul language.

Fast forward to middle school, and it expanded. I was made fun of for how I dressed, what I read, my grads--be they good or bad--the way I talked, who my friends were, anything they could think of. I kept a lot of it to myself, because when I went to an adult I was always told either that I should ignore them and they would leave me alone, or I needed to grow a thicker skin. On the few occasions they actually listened, they merely chastised the bullies, which only made things worse.

One guy was particularly bad. Not only did he make fun of me verbally every time he saw me--and we had several classes together--he would knock my books off of my desk, or out of my arms, pull my hair throw wadded paper at me, and leave notes in my locker once or twice a day. he was a known trouble maker, however, so the response from my teachers was usually, "Well, what do you expect us to do?" No amount of detention, suspension, or other punishments had an effect.

Do you remember Willow, from Buffy? Season one Willow, I mean. Shy, awkward, just looking to belong. That was me. Most days I wanted to hide or run away. It was hard to concentrate, and I frequently wound up crying in class--which of course only made the teasing worse.

One day, though, I'd just had it. Instead of feeling hurt, I got angry, just like that day on the playground. That guy had been coming up behind me between every class, putting his arm around me, grabbing my stuff, whispering nasty things in my ear.

And I got mad. I snapped.

I'd never once defended myself. I tried to be good. I either ran away and cried, or I found the nearest adult--just like we were supposed to.

But nothing ever changed.

So that day I said, "Don't touch me. Ever. I mean it."

He bounded off laughing. What could I, smallest girl in the seventh grade, do to him?

A few minutes later, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"I told you not to touch me!" I drew back my elbow and drove it as hard as I could into his face.

Except it wasn't his face.

It was my homeroom teacher's stomach.

In today's world of zero tolerance, I probably would have been expelled or at least suspended, especially if I'd hit my intended target. Had I not had the rapport I did with my teachers--and that one in particular--I probably still would have been punished.

I am not advocating violence in any way, but in my situation, it had the desired effect. Once he could breathe again, and I'd apologized profusely and explained the mistake (in the process drawing the attention of another teacher) he was understanding. Both teachers were aware not only of the boy's reputation, but that I was his favorite target. They were not aware of the severity, however.

The two of them told me not to worry about him any more, that they would take care of it. Sure enough, later that same day my science teacher caught him putting a note in my locker. He confiscated it. I still don't know what it said, but from that point on he wasn't allowed to so much as look at me, and within a few weeks was expelled, though I believe for an unrelated incident.

I still got bullied. I was still left out. But it was never again as bad as it was in seventh grade. 

Many years later, I met a girl who had bullied me in middle school at a fast food place. Do you know what she did to me? 

She hugged me. 

She acted like we were long lost friends, and that the last time we'd exchanged more than two words she hadn't tried to rearrange my braces. 

While neither of these two are on my Christmas list, the point I am trying to make is that no matter how bad things are, there's always someone who can help you. Maybe it's someone you dismissed before, thinking they wouldn't listen, or someone who hasn't acted yet because they don't realize how bad things really are. 

Second--it will pass. Eventually, they will move, or you will; you'll graduate, or they will lose interest, or you'll find that person or people who can help you. You'll look back, and their blurry faces won't even matter, except as a small stepping stone towards the strong, wonderful person you were meant to be. 

Bullies will always exist in one form or another. They make us stronger. 

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking for the door when one walks into your life. 


I've done variations on the blue layered mani before (here and here for those interested), and I really like this look. I decided to go skittles style for this one, because the whole idea behind stopping bullying is that everyone is accepted for who they are.

Colors used: 
Pinky: Sally Hansen Chrome "Aquamarine Chrome"
Ring: Finger Paints "Tiffany Imposter" and China Glaze "Dorothy Who?"
Middle: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Calypso Blue" 
Index: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By" and China Glaze "Dorothy Who?"
Thumb: Revlon "Mysterious"

Don't forget to add some glitter. Never be afraid to shine.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Swatch: Vivid


Last week I pulled a really old polish out of my drawer to use as an accent color, and it reminded me how much I loved the color. I thought I'd do some swatches to show you.
This is Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in "Vivid." It's a very dark red shimmer--like crushed garnets in some light. It can almost take the appearance of a dark red layered over black, with a red shimmer on top.

I know I've said I'm not a big fan of shimmer polishes, but this is one polish that I make an exception for. Two, in fact, since it is the dreaded Sally Hansen, which I'd pretty much sworn of.
Other than the color, things I like about this polish: It can hold it's own after a single coat (I did two just for good measure, though). I also really like the brush, which is very long and thin. Normally I prefer a wider brush, like the one found in my Wet n Wild polish, but this one is nice, too.

This was the type of color that I wore in high school to annoy my mom. She had this rule about girls my age not wearing dark nail polishes because "They give the wrong impression." Around the age of sixteen, I just started ignoring that rule. After wearing this one once or twice, my mom asked to borrow it. After that, there were no rules about nail polish.
Did you have weird rules regarding polish use growing up?

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Urk.



I have been a lazy, lazy blogger this week, wearing the same chipped manicure for the past three or four days. I've been either too tired, too busy, or some combination for the two to put together a decent mani. I know the design I want to do next, but I also know that there's a bit of time that will have to be invested in it and I just haven't had it to spare. So in the mean time, here is a quick and easy one I did last week that I got a ton of compliments on:

Colors used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lightening"
Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party"
Claire's Nail Art Pen in black

This was super simple to do. I used tape to mask of the white area after doing the yellow base, and freehanded the rest. It was very attention getting and everyone loved it. I wore it to a car show to the delight of all.

Happy Monday and hopefully on Wednesday I'll be back with something a little newer.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Stamping Spam


Things have been a little rough around here lately. They're getting better, but last week was hard and I was pretty down. To cheer my room, my roommate picked me up a stamping kit that she found at Michaels, of all places.

I've been wanting to try stamping ever since I found out what it was, and I was so excited that I kind of tore apart the kit before taking photos.

The kit is by Salon Express, and includes a double ended stamper, a scraper, a rubber mat to hold the plate, and five plates. One of them has full tail designs, and the other four are decorative images. I think she said it was $10 (US).


I already had a background color on with another post in mind, but I decided to just stamp over it. For this manicure, I have Brash "Blue Dream" as a base, with Wet n'Wild "Metalica" for the ray design (top row, middle). For the flowers, I used Pure Ice "Touch Me Here."

Since this was my first stamping mani, it took a little getting used to the tool, figuring out the right motion to use to get a good stamp on my nail. As you can see on my thumb, the "full nail" images aren't quite wide enough for my nails--in face the only nail they give full coverage to is my pinky. It doesn't really matter which way I turn it--they either aren't wide enough, or aren't long enough, since my nails are naturally long, even when trimmed as short as I can get them.
Kind of disappointing, but I wasn't super thrilled by some of the patterns, anyway. I can do dots, I've done flowers, and I'm not really a big fan of animal print. The stars, however, got to me. That was the first thing I wanted to do, but my polish was the wrong color for what I had in mind. So I faffed around a bit and when I changed manis, I laid out the base for this:

While the star pattern came out fairly clear on the nail, once again you can tell that the pattern isn't large enough to actually cover the nail, and the edges came out kind of rough. I'm sure this had as much to do with my amateur technique as it did with the fact that this is a cheap kit.
One of the individual patterns was a moon and stars. I knew I had to do that one. I used the same colors for all my nails ("Metallica" again, with Revlon's "Mysterious") but obviously the two solid coats on my ring finger are much darker than it came out as a stamp over silver.

And yes, the moon is sideways on purpose. Because I am a geek and just can't do crescent moons the way they are "supposed" to be.
All of these manicures are pretty messy, since I was just playing around with them. Sorry. They were more for practice than aesthetics.


The most recent one I did was this. Here I have Sally Hansen "Vivid" over Finger Paints "Tiffany Imposter" with a little butterfly in "Metallica" (can't tell that's one of my favorite polishes, can you? I also adore the look of shimmery/glittery/metallic polishes stamped on cremes).
It turns out that "Metallica" isn't quite as opaque as I'd hoped. It can handle one color in the background, but not two.
I actually wore this one for a couple of days before I remembered to get photos of it. (Bad blogger! No cookie!) I'm still trying to determine if some of the issues I'm having are my technique, my polish, or the kit itself. Overall the images are printing pretty clear, but not always in their entirety, and sometimes I'll have extra polish around the image, which probably comes down to me not scraping it enough.

This kit has been a lot of fun to play around with, and if anything, it's made me one one of the nicer sets even more. I'll keep messing around with it and posting pictures so that you can see the various images that come in the set.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Black Rainbow






This is the layering manicure I talked about on Wednesday. I wanted to play around with all of the polishes that I use only for layering, because they don't do well on their own.

To start with, I used put down one coat of Pure Ice "Touch Me Here." From pinky to thumb, I added one coat each of:

Essie "Sequin Sash"
Cover Girl 3-in-1 "Rose Quartz"
Maybelline Color Show "Plum Paradise"
Orly "Mysterious Curse"
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear "Night Lights"

I really love the way this came out. There isn't much difference between three coats of "Mysterious Curse" and one coat over black, and it's so much easier to get nice coverage. With "Plum Paradise," I couldn't see any of the streaky, uneven application I had when using it on it's own. The color is richer and more vibrant, and the opacity is perfect.
I was really shocked that "Rose Quartz" turned nearly metallic and silver, whcn it's such a pale pink. It was slightly warmer in real life than it showed up in the photos, but there was barely any pink visible at all.

For once, "Night Lights" gave a nice amount of coverage. Normally I would do two coats of that, but this time I could get away with one. Same with "Sequin Sash."

What are your favorite colors to layer? Any unexpected surprises?

Friday, August 10, 2012

Two Tone Dots

Still fighting with the peelies, so here's one from the vault. Hopefully I'll have this under control soon and can get back to my regularly scheduled nail art!

I love tape manicures. They're so easy, but the results are pretty impressive.

I did this one for a family reunion back at the beginning of August. I realized halfway there, though, that I'd forgotten to take pictures of it! So I whipped out my camera and took photos in the driveway once I arrived.

Something I've started doing (because I'm impatient) is laying down my base color, then putting Seche Vite over top, then adding my details and a second layer of topcoat. The result can add dimension to some designs, and also helps the manicure last longer. This one held up really well, even after tubing (for the uninitiated, this is when you attach a special inner tube to the back of a boat and hold on for dear life while the driver tries to dump you in the water. Great fun!).

I put down Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime" first, then taped off half my nail and used "Blue By" on the other half. The next morning, I used a toothpick to add the dots. Super simple, but I got soooo many compliments--especially since it matched my swimsuit. And my cousin wants me to do her nails now (she's 12).

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Summer Fun: Sea Creatures


It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do for this one, since I'm not much for sea life (partially because I live in Ohio). But, as a cancer, I have an affinity for the crab.

Colors used:
Blue: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By"
White: Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party"
Orange: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear "Sun Kissed"
Brown: S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa"
Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime"
Black: Claire's Nail Art Pen
Red: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength "Diamonds and Rubies"
Topcoat: Seche Vite

For the background, I sponged on a 3/1 mix of the white and blue. The rest is all bottle colors. I used a toothpick to add the bubbles. Everything else is freehand. Start to finish, this took about an hour and a half, mainly because my base color was a quickdry, and that saved a lot of time.

Unfortunately, the weather is pretty crummy today, which is throwing off my lighting. I had to tweak some of these shots a little just to get the details to show up. The crabs are much easier to see in real life.

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Are you looking for something to do after the Summer Fun Challenge is over? Why not join me in the first ever Girl on a Shoestring Challenge?


Week 1: Comics and Animation
My Little Pony? Naruto? Batman? What tickles your geeky bone?

Week 2: Television and Movies
From the Lord of the Rings to Big Bang Theory, celebrate the nerdy side of Hollywood.

Week 3: Games and Gaming
It doesn't matter if you prefer Alice or D&D, or if Trivial Pursuit is more your speed. It's all about having fun!

Week 4: Ultimate Geek
We all have things we love--books, movies, games--but what is it that makes you a geek? Are you a math nerd? A science geek? Or are you just a fan of other geeks? (P.S. Nail polish is chemistry. Chemistry is science. It totally counts for geekdom!)

Since each week has a theme, you can post one manicure on Monday (or Friday, or whenever is convenient) or, if you're like me and having trouble choosing just one thing, you can post seven manicures (one every day!) if that floats your boat.

If you'd like to take part, please leave a comment below with a way I can contact you with the InLinks link.

I'm excited, how about you?



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Summer Fun: Favorite Summer Memory


I want a manicure.

I'm not talking a, "Oh, look, I put pretty pictures on my nails." I mean a hand over hard-won cash so the cute Asian man with the indecipherable accent will massage things that smell nice onto my hands, make the peelies go away and give me pretty nails with pictures on them that I don't have to paint myself and won't break/tear/chip off in twelve hours. That kind of manicure. (Yes, it's a stereotype. Must most of the manicurists in my area are Korean. The one I went to when I had money was an engineer before the economy tanked, and he did lovely work. He's also one of only a handful that I've been to that I could understand more than one word in three.)

I kind of destroyed my hands at work today. I was moving fixtures and merchandise all day, and tore up my knuckles. At the moment, it's not too visible, but I sure felt it when I was washing dishes. My hands are so bad right now that I took that Burt's Bees Lemon Butter I talked about last week and rubbed in all over my hands in the hope that it would help with the dry skin, hang nails, and cuts and scrapes. And the peeling nails I've been fighting for about two or two and a half months have decided to come back with a vengeance, despite all I've been doing to prevent them (cuticle treatments, nail hardeners, conditioners and strengtheners). I actually can't cut my nails any shorter. I've tried. But they just keep peeling.

So I paint them to cover it up.

My favorite summer memory is an internship I did as part of my undergrad. I was a struggling art student, feeling lost and depressed at the end of my second year of school. I didn't like my major and had realized that art--as the administration defined it--wasn't how I wanted to spend my life, but in the back of my head I just kept hearing my dad's voice telling me what a mistake art school was, and what a waste of money since changing majors (and by definition changing schools, since mine only taught art) would mean starting from scratch as far as classes, loans, and grades, not to mention I had no idea what exactly I would major in instead.

At that point, I'd been knitting for about a year and a half. I had discovered knitting blogs, though I didn't yet have one of my own. I'd been designing my own projects, though at that point I don't think any of them were actually written down as patterns. I was scouring the web for more information about knitting--my one creative outlet that didn't involve a critique and a bad grade.

On my way out of printmaking class one day, I saw a flier for the TNNA PiPN Internship Program, which allowed students (primarily fashion majors, but others as well) to intern for various fiber arts companies doing things like sales, making samples, and sometimes even design work. I applied and was sent a list of participating companies. Lo and behold, at the bottom of the list was a single international opportunity: CNS/Mission Falls in Montreal, Quebec Canada.

I'd been dying to go back to Canada since my grandmother's funeral a few years before. I spent several weeks with crossed fingers, waiting to see where I'd be assigned.

The internship began with three weeks of training in Akron, Ohio in knitting, crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, and needle point before we were sent off to our designated locations.

My boss was kind enough to let me stay in his "winter" house, a duplex in the Plateau area of Montreal (very nice neighborhood).

That was my first time truely being on my own and away from home. I fell in love with the city. I learned so much about the world and about myself. I wrote 3/4 of the first draft of what would eventually become my first novel. I picked up sewing and haven't truly put it down since, and I absorbed every knitting technique I could find.

I could time the buses to the second. Public transport was affordable. Produce was fresh and delicious, everything was within walking distance and the things that weren't were easily accessable through the metro.

And then there was the underground city.

Google it. Seriously.

Festivals every week, international culture, buildings from the 1600s, and my favorite uncle an hour away for the only time in my life. I improved my French, met some amazing people, and spent every Sunday on the Mountain, watching LARPers, listening to drum circles, dancing, and shopping handmade goods.

Colors used:
Revlon #460 "Mysterious" (blue, thumb)
Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party" (white)
Essie "Exotic Liras" (pink)
Sally Hansen Diamond Strength "Diamonds and Rubies" (red)
Miliani Neons "Rad Purple" (purple)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime" and "Blue By"
Sinful Colors "Happy Ending" (green, sponged on top of "Just in Lime")
Cityscape done by blending S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa" with "Porcelain Party" and Pop Beauty "Black"
Claire's nail art pen for details (black)
Seche Vite for a topcoat

I tried doing an alcohol transfer like this one for the map, but none of the maps I had were printed using the right ink. So instead, I took the piece of map I'd softened with alcohol, tore off a small portion, and laid it over top a fresh coat of white polish. I sealed it in with 2 coats of Seche Vite. I used manicure scissors to neaten the edges and trim it to shape.

This happens to be the only time I've wished for those ridiculously long talons that are absolutely useless for everything but nail art. I wish I could have printed more of the map and shown a little more detail with the cityscape.

Just a break down:
thumb: Quebec flag
index finger: one of the yarns I was promoting, Mission Falls Tricolor (it's really hard to see with the topcoat, but there's red and purple on a pink base. The yarn is very pretty and I wish I still had some)
middle: map of the city
ring: cityscape and the mountain
pinky: maple leaf
Fini. Merci de lire.