My Mani Basket of Goodies

OK so we all have different ways of organizing and storing our supplies.  I thought I'd start a series on how I organize and store my supplies.

What better way to start than with my basic manicure supplies?

Behold my basket of awesomeness...

 

I picked this basket up at the local Goodwill store for $1.00.  I think its intended use is for silverware.  Pffffft I have a drawer for that!  What better way to repurpose this than for a mani basket I ask???

In this basket is everything that I might need for a standard manicure.  Polishes I pick as needed.  If I'm in need of a nail repair I've got a different little basket for that.  Actually several depending on the type of repair.  (Did I mention that I'm a nail junkie?????)

If you have any questions on what's in the basket, ask away.  

You see that wooden framed tray?  That is my workspace.  Usually I'm sitting on the couch when working on my nails.  Whether polishing, painting or cleaning my cuticles, my supplies are on this tray.  For one, if I have to get up I just have to set one thing on the coffee table.  No worries about anything damaging my furniture.  

When not being used for my nails it occasionally has one of my laptops on it, can be used for breakfast in bed (it does have folding legs underneath it) or whatever else a nice large tray comes in handy for.  

It's just my thing and my way of keeping things together.

Acetone Experiment

So I've come across a few other blogs discussing the adding of glycerin to 100% pure acetone to make it less damaging/drying to the nails and cuticles.  As I mentioned in THIS POST , I add coconut oil to my acetone and am very satisfied with it.  However, I decided to try out the glycerin and a few other additions that I've not yet tried.

Mix #1 was my own coconut oil and acetone mix.  Worked like a charm as always.

Mix #2 was glycerin and acetone supersaturated.  Works well at removing the polish.

Mix #3 was emu oil and acetone supersaturated.  Works well at removing the polish.

Mix #4 was 100% pure aloe gel and acetone supersaturated.  Works well at removing the polish.

OK so all works well at the basic reason for using acetone, to remove nail polish.  It is the difference afterwords that is worth noting.

Follow the jump for the details.

Cherry blossoms

More like implied cherry blossoms. Did this mani 6 days ago and forgot to photo then so there in lies the explanation for it looking worn. (I've been a bit busy with my zoo.)

 I started with a base coat and two coats of white/black. I used two pink polishes and my fan brush to make an angled french tip then hand-painted on the branches and cherry blossoms. Shout out to Robin Moses for making this look simpler than it is!!!

Have to admit....

I've been in a "creative block" mode. Despite 30+ years of painting my nails I'm still more of a fan of a simple paint job. Sometimes I feel inspired to do nail art but mostly I just like to have color on my nails. I've always taken pride in having nails that most women pay lots of money for (as my grandmother always said). Makes me wonder if I should even have a blog since most of what I post will be simple swatches. Meh~

Concrete Nails

So today I took off my concrete nails mani but only because it is time for a mani change.

While sporting this mani I did loads of dishes, bathed two 80+ pound dogs, laundry, housework and everything else housework wise that you can imagine and not one bit of chipping or visible wear on the mani.  I didn't think about photographing it until I was done removing it and for that I apologize.

Tonight I did a relaxing little mani that included cleaning up my cuticles and filing down the past weeks growth.  No big deal.  .

My nails are naked as I haven't decided what I want to do to them next.  For the moment I'm just moisturizing.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll decide on the lacquer that meets my nails.

OPI - Stay the Night (Liquid Sand) *DIY* Improved

Well it didn't take me long to make improvements to the original liquid sand DIY.  But hey, that's what makes nail art fun right?

Without further ado here's a picture of the updated nail.

Basically the same steps were followed except that I  applied colored polish over the base coat then followed that with one dip in the original black sand mix.  I used a green polish so that the coverage could be seen.




With one dip I can see the need to add a bit more glitter to the mix.

The left side of the nail has a matte top coat whereas I left the right side with a hi-gloss finish.


Follow the jump for some more info and pictures.

OPI - Liquid Sand - Concrete Nail Art "DIY"

The possibilities are endless for textured nails !!!

So now I have a DIY for concrete nails.  Pretty simple actually.  Actually with this DIY I made some improvements for the "OPI - Stay the Night (Liquid Sand) *DIY* and that will be my next post.  That'll teach me to rush to put up some content.  LOL



Follow the jump for the tutorial for "Concrete Nails".

Concrete Nails

Working on that now.

OPI - Stay the Night (Liquid Sand) *DIY*

This technique has been improved upon HERE

So I saw swatches of "Stay the Night" and loved the look but not the price tag attached.  Sorry but when it comes to nail polish I'm not big on spending more than a few bucks on a bottle for a polish that I'll never use all of it.

A while back I was measuring out some Chia seeds and that got me thinking about what I was calling "Liquid Lava".

Those that know me know just how determined I can be when I want something and they also know I'm creative.

Chia seeds weren't going to cut it and not even a consideration but they did set me to thinking (occasionally a dangerous thing!!).  Fast forward a bit and I was going thru yet another box of crafting supplies when I pulled out something that I don't even remember why I have it...black sand.

Check out my DIY after the jump.

Working on a DIY tutorial

Waiting for my camera battery to recharge for some better quality pictures of the end result.  :-)

I think ya'll are gonna like this.  Should have it up later this evening.

Gradient Manicure

Here's two gradient manicures I did earlier this year.

These are gradients, NOT ombre.

Each one is using 6-7 different polishes.

Confessions of a nail polish hoarder

Got green???

So this is green mani time for me.  While it is pretty obvious that I have a lot of green polishes, do not be misguided enough to think that this is all of them.  hahaha

Right now I'm sitting here with naked nails contemplating todays mani.  We shall see what I come up with.......  

Nugget Nails

I call this style "nugget nails" because of the gold leafing being torn into small nugget like shapes.  This type of nail art is one  I've been doing since the 80's. 

For this particular mani I added colored rhinestones to be viewed as Christmas bulbs.  I didn't particularly like it but didn't hate it enough to remove it right off.

Christmas

Here we have a mani I did on a friend.  She told me she wanted Christmas trees on her fingers.

 Her thumbs were last minute decisions.

Alrighty then!

www.wickedhotnails.com 

is now live!

Been a long time since I've had to mess with DNS settings.

Now if I could just get my layout the way I want it.....

Sponging Fun

Just a little fun sponging fun.

French tips

Just a couple of french tips I've done.

Galaxy nails

My niece did galaxy nails on me and I did them on her.  :-)

A nice design that I see a lot of potential for.

Snow inspired

A design inspired by a snowy day.

Blue base coat with the rest of the colors sponged on.

Peacocks Nails

This was my first and so far only attempt at peacock nails.  Standard black base and the feathers were done with acrylics.

While they are far from perfect I did find this to be an easy design to paint once I got in my groove.