Monday, December 29, 2014

My Dogsled is a Hybrid - My Christmas Day Nails - stamping nail art


Hello everyone!



This mani is inspired by the name of this green OPI polish from the fall/ winter 2014 Nordic Collection: My Dogsled is a Hybrid. 

I think it's the best nail polish name ever!!! :-) A hybrid sled would be nice if the dogs were tired. But how can it work? Do you turn it around and it drags the dogs? Or do you put the dogs in the sled and drive it with a gasoline motor? A battery would not last very long in the cold... Or as my boyfriend suggested, the driver would have to drag the dogs and the sled...


This is what I was wearing on Christmas Day. This manicure kind of evolved, so I'll show you the pictures in chronological order.


Step 1. Paint nails with OPI: My Dogsled is a Hybrid

When I noticed that the sun was actually shining, I ran outside to take some photos.

Not sure why my index nail looks strange.



Step 2. Stamp the trees, dogs and birds on. 

Then I hurried out before the sun went down, and I went for a long walk, as is our family tradition on Christmas Day.

winter sunset

It was -14°C outside, and the snow had turned into chrystals some places. You can see a parts of some chrystals on the photo below.

 This nail polish name also brings back a lot of memories from my childhood...



...I remember the Winter and Easter Vacations before I was old enough to go cross country skiing, when my dad used to put me in a pulk, and let his dog drag it. The dog ran like crazy, and never learned that the pulk was bigger than him... so it got stuck between trees, and turned upside down with baby me face down in the snow...



 ... and a few years later...

...our neighbours came with us. Our parents probably wanted to walk fast, so I was allowed to be in the pulk with the other children. We lay there, all four of us, in a pulk made for 1 or 2 kids, but we talked and laughed and had fun. It's one of the happiest moments from my childhood...



...and when I was about 12 years old...

...I took a course in dog sled driving. We only used 3 dogs, and it's a long time ago, so sadly I don't remember enough to do it today, but it gave me enough reasons to buy this bottle because of it's name, even though I had just bought the "little NORTHIES mini nail lacquers" set, and I think I alredy have some similar green polishes... You might remember them from my Summer Vacation haul post.


Here my skin looks pink because of the cold. I couldn't wear gloves, because they would have made my nails look hairy... LOL

Yes, I know it's upside down



Step 3. Add "snow". 

Sadly, I didn't look at the pictures until I came home. So it was then I added the snow on "the ground". I just used the brush from OPI: My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

Ott- Lite


Step 4. Add glitter. 

It was so cold outside that it looked like someone had sprinkled tiny diamonds everywhere. That's why I felt that the mani needed some glitter.

LED lamp

I put a few drops of OPI: My Voice is a Little Norse on a palette and used a tiny brush to apply it. It's from the Nordic Collection too.

LED lamp


Products used:

OPI: My Dogsled is a Hybrid - green creme
OPI: My Boyfriend Scales Walls - white creme
OPI: My Voice is a Little Norse - silver holographic glitter

Stamping plates:
Dashica Beauty Shop: Infinity Nails 75 - trees
MoYou London: Explorer Collection 23 - birds
MoYou London: Princess Collection 03 - dogs

Stamping polish:
Konad SN White
Konad SN Black

Seche Vite


As you see, exept for the stamping, I only used OPI. I don't have a sled image plate. LOL! So I had to leave the actual dog sled outside the design. Any suggestions?


Here's one photo taken in daylight, where you can see that it's shiny:

winter daylight


What do you think? Does this nail polish name give you good memories too? Any dog sled drivers among you?


Lani

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Let it glitter! Golden Star - My Christmas Eve Nails


Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a nice Christmas Holiday!



This is what I was wearing on Christmas Eve. Red with glitter.

The base is 1 coat of a red H&M creme called Dark Red. It's from a 6 pack mini set that's still available on H&M.

The glitter is called Golden Star. It's from a dutch indie brand called Let it glitter!. I had to try this brand after seing some beautiful holos on Maria's blog. The holos and Golden Star are from the Hohoholographic CollectionGolden Star is a clear base filled with tiny gold stars and hexagonal regular sized and small white glitter. This is one coat, and then I dabbed on a little more of the white glitter, and dipped the brush and picked up more stars with a dotting tool. Then I used Seche Vite, but I should have used more of the clear base first or Pochè, because I scratched myself a little. On her web page you can see how beautiful the glitter looks over black.




Look what winter did to my roses:



If you buy something from Let it glitter! remember to also buy O Holo night, or you'll regret it later...Now I wish I had bought big bottles... Do you like this?

Lani

Sunday, December 21, 2014

December Solstice & Advent Nails - stamping nail art


Hello everyone!

LED lamp


I made this today, which is the shortest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere; December Solstice. Every year on this day, even though winter has just started, I always look forward to longer and longer days the next 6 months. It's also the last Sunday in advent. So I felt it was too early for red nails, and purple is the color traditionally used the month before Christmas around here. So that's why I made purple snowflake nails on this Midwinter Day.

Ott- Lite


And I was curious about Kings & Queens, this red toned purple linear holographic polish that I bought when I Love Nail Polish had a sale earlier this fall, when they sold out their round bottles with this I♥ logo. Their new bottles are square.


 I brought a little snow inside for these two pictures.




Unfortunately the sun wasn't shining today, and the winter daylight was low when I was ready to take the photos, so most of these photos are taken in artificial lighting and don't look as shiny as they do IRL.

Winter daylight, shade
 My swatches are too light or too dark, so I hope you can find better swatches somewhere.

LED lamp
Ott- Lite


The snowflakes are stamped on. I used HB 23, my favorite snowflake plate, and Konad stamping polish in White, Pastel Pink, and Pastel Purple.

Winter daylight, shade
LED lamp


Products used:

I Love Nail Polish: Kings & Queens
Stamping plate: HB 23
Stamping polishes: Konad SN White, Pastel Pink, and Pastel Purple
XL stamper
Seche Vite

Ott- Lite


♥ I wish you all a happy Midsummer Night/ Midwinter Day! ♥

If you want to see last year's Midsummer/ Midwinter French, click here!


Lani

Sunday, December 7, 2014

#52WPNMC Camouflage & favorite cuticle oil


Hello everyone!


Camoflage is kind of simple around here now in the middle of winter. It's completely white.



Yes, if there is a military exercise, the soildiers are very well dressed with many layers of warm clothing, but the outer layer of their uniform is white from top to toe. I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls here, a white creme with a hint of grey.



The bottle I'm holding is my favorite cuticle oil from Mi-ny: Mi-ny Therapy Oil + Cuticles & Nails With Vitamine E & F. It smells like lemon, but the smell is not strong. I love the bottle shape. The plastic cap is very comfortable to hold, and the angled sponge on the tip is perfect for application. One dip into the bottle is enough for all the nails on one hand. Dip again, and your other hand is done in no time. I feel I use less time with this sponge applicator than with a brush. I also love how steady the bottle stands on any surface. So when I empty a Mi-ny cuticle oil bottle, I fill it up with other oils (that I've got as a gift), and have one bottle in each room.









Lani


#52WPNMC - Brushstrokes/ Favorite brand(s)


Hello everyone!


This is the brushstroke manicure I made for last weeks prompt. I used two of the polishes from my summer vacation hauls. The black Catrice polish is called: Black For Gold. It's pigmented and nice, but I used 2 coats here. Then I simply wiped off the brush of the red polish and tried to make brushstrokes. This pretty red shimmer is called Alluring Red. I'm very happy that I bought it! :-) It's from the limited edition Metallure collection.


The other prompt was "favorite brand", and with me that changes all the time. I like certain types of polish from certain brands, but from some brands I only have 2 polishes... Right now my favorite brands are probably Darling Diva and Nire's Desire, because I recently bought some polishes from them that I love.


But I do have a few brands that I like because of the diversity of polishes they make:

Dance Legend, Mi- ny, Deborah Lippmann, and Crowes Toes all make a lot of different polishes. I also love H&M for their cheap and good cremes, and sometimes they create something awesome like the blue string/ bar glitter in 2013. I also love their clothes and the cruelty- free hair color. Gina Tricot is also a favorite brand, but I must admit that I love their clothes more than their polish, but it's cheap, and I really like some of their polishes.


If you want to read my favorite brand list regarding types of polish, here it is:

Cremes: GOSH (because they're nearly one coaters), Deborah Lippmann's Spring Reveries collection (pretty pastels)

Multichromes: Enchanted Polish, I Love Nail Polish, Dance Legend, Crows Toes, and Nire's Desire (I haven't tried Nire's Desire Prana yet, but I know I'll like it. LOL!).

Flakies: Nfu- Oh (especially #51 and #56), Nubar 2010 (my most used flakie), Mi- ny, but I think they'll soon be beaten by I Love Nail Polish's multichrome flakies when they arrive (next year... because I forgot to preorder...)

Holographic:
-strong linear: Color Club Halo Hues, and I like the darker holos by Emily de Molly, Darling Diva, LilypadLacquer, and some brands I'm waiting for...
-scattered: Linda Johansen, Dance Legend, Picture Polish

Textured: IsaDora and GOSH


Now I feel bad about not mentioning some brands that have made my "Top 20 best polish list"...
Sorry! Sorry Sorry!




What's your favorite brand(s)?


Lani