Guest Nail Stamping - Sister Kidnap!

Hey everyone! I recently had the pleasure of kidnapping my two sisters and making them let me do their nails! *insertevillaugh* We are so alike it's not even funny...so of course they both wanted skulls. I was happy to oblige.

This first picture is the nail art I did on my sister Cathy. She wanted black with polka dots...a favorite combination of mine. I used a Misa black because it's the best one coat black I know and a Sally Hansen white for the stamping. The polka dots were on a Konad plate and the skull was from Bundle Monster.

This design was what my sister Gina picked out. The base color was a really pretty Revlon gunmetal gray shade that she had floating around her purse. I'm sure I used China Glaze Millennium for the stamping. The swirls were a Konad plate (one I've used a million times) and the skull was Bundle Monster.

On to the business! If you read this blog...and would like to do a guest look...let me know! You can email me at maria@vaccarino.com or find me on Facebook! I'm currently looking for reviews, makeup looks or nail art. Give me a jingle.

Pretty Pecock and Handmade Present Time!

Hello my little blogletts! This is going to be a pretty big post. I have a few things stored up that I want to talk about. This post is about a week overdue...I know this...but a lot has been going on this week. I started reading The Hunger Games...my fat ass cat broke one of the keys on my laptop and I had to go get an entirely new computer...I discovered Tiny Tower. All things that have kept me from you, and I apologize. But seriously dudes...Tiny Tower. Do it.

So first off...here is one of my latest nail art designs.
I used, in order: 
China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (as always)
Wet n Wild Craze in Morbid
Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Caribbean Frost (stripes)
China Glaze in 2030 with Bundle Monster plate BM-212
Jesse's Girl High Intensity Nail Color in Mermaid's Lagoon (dots)
Seche Vite

 In this picture, you can't really see the stripes...but it gave it this really awesome depth of color effect.

This next picture is of a present from my friend Gina. She is an amazing knitter and we often spend time debating which of our crafts is better. I tell her how I just don't get knitting and she tells me how she just can't get crochet. All this whilst wandering around the Sheep and Wool festival that is thrown every fall in our area. She made this cool hat with a little pocket on the side!

Next up is the custom Kindle case I ordered from my friend Cheri. I had purchased a case from Best Buy when I got the Kindle...but I hate those little elastic bands that hold it in. I just wanted something to keep it from getting banged around in my purse and Cheri makes the most awesome padded cases. I just told her I wanted skulls, skulls and more skulls. She delivered.

You can find more of her stuff at StellarCheri.

This next "present to myself" is made by my friend Destry. She hand paints all of her jewelry, of which I own a TON, and her talent has spilled onto these awesome jewelry boxes. It has tons of little drawers...which I LOVE. I suspect that's because my sister had a giant jewelry box that had like 40 tiny drawers in it when we were kids and I would sneak into her room and open them looking for treasure. I can't tell you how many spankings I got for taking her stuff...too many. Ahh, memories.

More of Destry's awesome jewelry and hand painted awesomeness can be found at Pet Zombie Creations.

And that is all I have for you for now! Stay tuned...I have some guest nail stamping manicures (read: I kidnapped my sisters and made them let me paint their nails!!).

 

Trendsetting Snakes

Hello everybodies!! This week was present week. I got my taxes back...got a bonus for working for my company for so long...paid off some bills early so I had some extra money...so I've been rolling in it for a bit. That's how I was able to buy this computer so I could get back to blogging! I've also purchased an external hard drive and have taken on the arduous task of ripping all of my CDs to it so I can get rid of some of the STUFF I have accumulated over the last 31 years. This is the second time I've moved and it is getting to be a big pain in the butt. I bought a Kindle...so hopefully I won't accumulate as many books as I usually do when I'm living in a comfortable place. I'm systematically getting rid of the paperbacks that I don't need to keep in my personal library. I haven't given up on the printed word just yet...but seriously...nobody needs to KNOW that I read the ENTIRE Twilight Quadrilogy. *serious face*

Ok...enough jibberjabber. On to the goods. The nail polish presents.

First off...since I'm balls deep in Konading again...I decided to pick up the 25 pack of Bundle Monster plates that I've been seeing around. For $21.99 you get 25 plates that might not be as wonderful as the Konad brand but they certainly give you a giant variety (AND THEY HAVE SKULLS!!!!!!). The etchings aren't as deep, so I've been using a thicker polish but I experimented quite a bit last night and as long as you are patient, there are really some great designs...it was totally a worth it purchase. Shipping was reasonable and timely and the website is easy to use to boot.

I also mentioned in a previous post that I ordered from Head2Toe. I mainly got some stamping polishes but I got a couple that were just plain pretty. I will link to some other wonderful bloggers' pictures if I can find them. They are obviously their own work, and not mine...I am just linking to them for reference. These are some of the blogs I frequent and go to when I need to see what polishes look like so I can order them online. Or I just follow them and ogle nail polish...you know...so follow them!!

China Glaze Trendsetter - my picture is below.

China Glaze Adore

Color Club Nothing But Truffle
Orly Country Club Khaki
Orly Lollipop

As always, don't mind the mess...this was pre-stamping so I didn't do anything too neat. I love this color though...it's REALLY UGLY! but it's one of those ugly colors that are so pretty. Click on this picture and look at it closely because it's got these gold and bronze flakes all through it...and oddly enough it compliments my skin so well.

So, last night, on a random nail polish shopping trip to Walmart, I decided to try some of the Sally Hansen Insta-Dry...they run a little thicker than normal so I thought they might be good. I figured, I'd be "that guy" and return them if they didn't...but they were all beautiful. All of the colors I picked up made nice, crisp images. Here's the colors I tested:

Lively Lilac - a light purple
Lightening - yellow
Lickety Split Lime - lime, duh
Brisk Blue - turquoise
Chinna-Snap - deep red
Mint Sprint - not mint at all surprisingly, it's teal

I also picked up Hard to Get, a regular old Hard as Nails white polish because I forgot I had the Konad special white...and that streaks anyhow so screw it.

And now we have arrived at the Nail Stamping part of our blog post. Sorry if it's been a bit long winded...but I love Nail Polish Present time.

I used:
China Glaze Trendsetter - base
China Glaze Hi-Tek - stamping
Sally Hansen Lightening - stamping
Sally Hansen Lickety Split Lime - Stamping
Bundle Monster plates BM-125 and BM-211

I used the snake skin pattern (with all three polishes mixed together)  on BM - 125 and the skull on BM-211. The skull didn't pick up terribly well, even when using the China Glaze metallic polish, but it ended up coming out kind of distressed looking and I like it. I did a few on each hand using the different polishes. Here's a better picture:

Ok! I think I've got that all out of my system. What do you guys think? Let me know if you would like to see something like this as a picture tutorial or video in the future.

The end!!!

Nail Art Super Order!

I bought myself a present. I went to Bundle Monster and got the 25 piece stamping plates. A couple of them are going to be dupes for what I already have but a lot of it is new! It seems that I am on a nail stamping kick again. I get addicted to this stuff...but hey! You get to benefit. I promise I won't show you all the real janky manicures I do...like the one I have on right now...it's just awful.

I also went to Head2Toe and ordered some new polishes that I can use for stamping...and a couple that were just awesome. I know I've talked about this site before...but for any newbies, this is where I get all of my nail polish. They ship fast and everything is pretty cheap. $3 for China Glaze, Misa and Color Club...my favorite brands of polish. Orly is just $6. The Essie polishes are still $8 but there is really nothing they can do about that...it's expensive polish.

I will post an update when I get my packages. It's the first time I've ordered something to be sent to the new address so we'll see how it goes.