Still Seeing Dots Before My Eyes!

Good Morning!

First of all, I must confess;  my latest mani is a blatant theft of another mani I saw online.  The moment I saw it, I knew it would be my next one to try.  I really don't know why I'm on such a dot kick, lately.  I am having fun with the new dotting tools, I must admit.

It was a lot harder to do than I thought, even with the knowledge that my right hand would look a lot worse than my left.  Funny thing is, my right hand looks better than my left!  And not because I knocked my left thumb against my dresser, either!  I almost cried when I did that.  Still, it's not a horrible mark, so I didn't sweat it.  I did learn a few things in doing this one.  "Take your time -- but hurry."  The polishes tend to get very tacky when on the plate (my palate is a paper plate)

All things being said, while I like how it turned out, I'm not in love with it. It looks sloppy, and I know I could have done a better job.  I did it way too fast.  I will try this one again, though, and instead of starting the dots at the bottom and working my way up, I will start in the center and dot out from there.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

One paper plate
Two dotting tools, a #2 and a #4

Colors:
Base is OPI NEOF
One coat of ORLY Rubberized Bonder

Base color: China Glaze Recycled
Dots:
China Glaze - White On White
China Glaze - White On White mixed with OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape (use dotting tool to mix on plate - one drop of each color)
Sally Hansen - Green With Envy
Sally Hansen - Green With Envy mixed with China Glaze - Holly Jolly
China Glaze - Holly Jolly
Sinful Colors - Black On Black

After all of the dotting was done, I let it dry for ten minutes. I then put on one coat of China Glaze - Fairy Dust, then added Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat. Next time, I'll leave the Fairy Dust off.  It takes away from the dots.

I love gradiations of color... on anything!  I hope to perfect this and will try it out with different colors. 

Until Next Time -

Stay Polished!

Peace

I'm back!

Four months.  WAY too long, but honestly, my nails were not even worth painting, anyway.  They broke; or rather two broke and I hated the way they looked, so I just bit the bullet and cut them all off.  Plus, I have been busy having numerous surgeries and recoveries.  It's been crazy!  Finally, my nails are looking good again and just in time for summer!  I am wearing my newest water marble.  I wanted to do a black and white swirl, but alas;  my black polish is way too thick.  So, I opted for a deep raspberry in Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Flirt, with China Glaze White On White.  It reminds me of my favorite raspberry chocolate chip ice cream... sans the chocolate color (next time).  If you look closely at the photo below and look at my thumb, you can see what happens when you are not careful with your tape placement. Same thing on my middle finger.  You an see the base white color.  From now on, I'll just bring the tape a bit lower than I usually place it.  I can always clean it off when it dries.

Click on photos to enlarge.

I wasn't really looking for a certain design this time.  Just yummy swirls of color.  

As always, thanks for reading!  Next time, I will show you how I prepare for water marbling.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Welcome to Mary's Nail Files!

I know what you're thinking... 'Another nail swatch blog... *yawn*...'  Okay, you got me.  I am giving this a go because normally I would post my nail pictures on my Facebook wall... and proceed to bore the Hell out of most of my friends.  So, I started thinking about creating a blog about them.  There are hundreds if not thousands of blogs out there pertaining to nail polish, but still I thought it would be better to do this than to do it on Facebook.

 I am not a professional manicurist.  My knowledge of nail polish is simply that I love buying it and I love using it.  There.  That's it.  Now, for a bit of history.

When I was really young, I bit my nails.  All the time.  My mother was blessed with thick, hard, and very long fingernails.  I wanted  mine to be just like hers.  My nail-biting habit broke her heart.  She would promise me that if I stopped biting them, not only would she paint them for me, but would let me buy any color I wanted.  Never happened.  My nails were chewed way past the quick-line to the point of bloody nibs.  Plus, being a tomboy, pretty nails were simply not on my list of priorities.

Fast-forward to high school.  I finally stopped biting them, but still, never truly took care of them.  I have learned throughout the years that it takes a lot more than simply not biting them to have pretty and healthy nails.  I am pretty sure that if my mother could see my nails now, she would be very proud of me.  I could paint HER nails, now... in ways she would find fascinating.

So here it is, my first post on my new blog.  There is no real rhyme or reason to it.  I'll just post cool colors (or warm) that I find.  I do love water marbling, so I will be posting pics of those, too.
One thing I will do soon is post how I care for my nails.  Tips (ha) and a few tricks I've learned.  I thank all of those wonderful nail bloggers out there that have also inspired me.

Without further adieu,  here is my first water marbling post!

China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le, Frostbite, OPI Yodel Me On My Cell, Kyoto Pearl and topped with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust and one coat of Seche Vite. 

Shade

Sun

Let me know what you think!  I'm off to help my son with homework...until next time...

Don't bite!
Peace.