Fimo Fruits and Rhinestone Flowers (Pic Heavy!)

I finally got around to using my Fimo fruit slices! I've had them for a really long time and I've been dying to try them out! When I sat down to give me boring white French tips a fill, I had no idea what I was in for...

After my backfill, I drilled the tips super thin, but they were still white tips, so I had to cover them up with some color. I used a combination of blue, green, and pink iridescent hexagon glitters, lightly, just to add some color. The white remains as the base color. I topped with some fruit slices, mostly kiwi, strawberry, lemon, lime, Fuji apple, and watermelon. Then encased with a THICK layer of clear acrylic. (filed, shaped, and buffed, yadah yadah yadah...)

And added some colorful flowers made from rhinestones!

These are the things I used: the pink, green, and blue hex, Fimo fruit slice wheel, and 2 sizes of multi colored rhinestones: 1.5 mm and 2 mm, which I adhered at the very end with a lil top coat (after 3 coats of top coat on each nail dried)

Because I was just applying the fruits to the tips, there isn't much space to have a variety of the full shapes. I used a craft knife to slice some of the fruit in half.

(Carefully)! I did this to the limes, lemons, and the strawberries. It allowed for more fruit to be placed on each nail, and they laid a bit better on the nail too!

 

Here are all the fruits that came in my Fimo wheel (which I got for about $5 at Sally Beauty Supply). The ones I know for sure are lemon, strawberry, kiwi, 2 watermelons, lime, leaves, apple, and Fuji apple. The ones I'm not sure about are papaya, kumquat, and banana. But they are so weird looking that I'm not sure what they look like and I probably won't be using them. ><

Let me know what you guys think!! They are busy, but they are super shiny and the rhinestone flowers sparkle really nicely, especially in dim light. I'm digging it!

Try It: Cuticle Oil Massage with Dotting Tool

I was sitting at my table on the phone and I couldn't move around because I was charging, plugged into the wall. After 15 minutes of chatting with my friend I began reaching for nail things that were near me: cuticle oil and a dotting tool. At first I was going to just apply the oil and rub in with my figertips, but then I thought I'd try massaging the oil in with a dotting tool. I used the larger size on this particular dotting tool to work the oil in and around my cuticles and near my new growth.

The large ball shape of the dotting tool was gentle and easy to maneuver around my nail bed! I worked the oil into my skin and new nail area for about 30 seconds on each finger, and I was surprised at the results. Not only did I feel like it absorbed easier into my skin, I didn't have both hands all oily!

The cuticle oil I'm using here I got from a wig shop in Oakland, by Ruby Kisses. It has lemon extract in it, and I almost like it better than my usual Beauty Secrets, because it smells more like lemons than oil. Yes, I can smell cuticle oil and it makes me sick. It smells... oily.

Anyways this random act of fidgeting while on the phone turned into a trick I might incorporate into my daily nail care! I hope you guys try it instead of rubbing it in with your fingers next time- lemme know how you like it!

Ahhhh hydration!

Basic Pink and White French Manicure

Ahh the tried and true pink and white acrylics... I can't believe I only lasted 2 days without my fake nails! >< I wrote on my to-do list "Swatch Zoya Envy for blog" and when I sat down to do it, this happened! Jeez... what is wrong with me?

On the upside, I've been meaning to try these new white tips I got for a few months now, and I've never actually done a real pink and white manicure before, and I've never gotten one done!! Can you believe it?

I tried to make them super thin as practice for doing other people's nails. Most people don't like them too thick, so I tried to do them as thin as possible. I'm pretty happy with this result, I just hope that they don't chip while I craft or do dishes!

I used my Pinky Promise acrylic mix that I made for the nail beds, but I can't see it in the pictures too well. Maybe I will upload a daytime/sunlight pic tomorrow! (And hopefully the sun will come out for it!)

Pink Flowers, Rhinestones, and Pink Striping Tape

So I've been meaning to upload this, I couldn't find my camera USB cable thing for a few days. These are Chrissy's nails, my lovely hand model. She thankfully gets her nails done for my blog when I don't want to do mine or when I have poop nails that need to be filled. :) I painted her nails white (she's always trying to paint them white and I always talk her out of it!). I then used a medium dotting tool to make drag-petal flowers with Essie Raise Awareness (light baby pink) and OPI Elepthantastic Pink. I put tiny purple and blue rhinestones onto the middle of the flowers. For her accent nail, I left the base white, and when dried, I used my new pink metallic striping tape to make a lil fishnet-esque grid. I laid down the striping tape where I wanted it and then used clippers to cut the tape off where the nail ended. I topped with top coat and was pleased with the design. I only put one layer of top coat on, as she had somewhere to go and she did not upkeep with more top coat at her house. She later told me that the pink striping tape had shed it's color! She sent me a picture on my phone of her stripes still intact, but the pink had rubbed off to a dull grey/silver!~!! I would post this picture, but it was on my phone and I am lazy. I will retry this design with more top coat to see if I have the same problem, and also add this to my earlier review of my nail haul post.

  I have 10 colors to try, so far, this is the only one I've used, and I'm very worried that it won't hold, because it's soo cute! Has anyone used striping tape like this? Or how would you use it?

Essie School of Hard Rocks Swatch

Ahhh I've had this polish for a few weeks now and haven't gotten a chance to swatch it out because my crap long acrylics and my 30 day challenge. But here's the scoop: School of Hard Rocks from Essie's Winter 2011 Collection is a creamy, slate blue/green/grey polish that glides on smooth and opaque in just 2 coats. I was sorta worried as it's been sitting upright in its drawer for at least 3 weeks and it had already settled at the thin liquidy stuff rose to the top. I gave it an extra few shakes and it was good as new. The first coat was transparent and streaky, but it coulda just been me, as my hands are very badly sore from 3 straight days of crocheting Xmas presents. I love the color, it is such a new shade of blue/grey/green (lol) that I really haven't seen before. I instantly felt like it was winter and it made me feel very warm inside. The only problem I have with this polish: when I was applying top coat, the polish started to rub off onto the top coat brush!!! And I'd had my nails dried for nearly 45 minutes! Maybe it was just this top coat, I'll let you guys know next time when I use a different top coat. But my review stands: this is a great new color!! I love it, and can't wait to try the other Winter 2011's from Essie!