Happy New Year!

Takes time to learn to type or write the new numbers again. 2010 sounds like a year from a scifi-movie. When I was a kid I thought the world would end before that (what an optimistic visionary have I been LOL).

Well soon it's here! Party safely!

I'm always a bit concerned about traffic and mass happenings on big days such as New Year's Eve. Especially here in Finland where alcohol seems to be essential part of the parties. I know a kid who has been killed due to a drunken driver - even when he went to escape the car to the very side of the road (got smashed against a warning sign).

Please call the cops if you see a suspicious driver.
Take the keys from them if you see someone trying to leave the sight, drunken, by himself.
You might save lives.

Other than that, have fun with your loved ones!

See you back polishing in 2010 :)

Rockin' in Rubies and Emeralds

Ruby red and emerald green with silver whirls for Christmas rounds (meeting family, eating well).

Hope you had a lovely Christmas with your loved ones! We spent the days on a cabin, almost in the middle of enchanted snowy forest. It was great. Playing games, eating (too) well, going to sauna - and kids even diving to the snow from the sauna before hitting the steam room again.

I expected a mailman to deliver me new polishes for Christmas. Sadly the package didn't get here on time. Among other things there were supposed to be the most classic Christmas polishes Emerald Sparkle and Ruby Pumps by China Glaze. I ordered them in holiday spirits ... I hope I'll get into spirit to wear them before next Christmas so I won't regret the purchase the next 11 months LOL


Anyway I wanted to use the two colors, ruby red and emerald green, in my Xmas mani. I used Rockin in Rubies by Wet n Wild for the base with 2 coats. Then Poshe top coat. That was the plain red I wore on Boxing Day. Today I painted over silver whirls with Nail Star 2-way striper and added the green gems - two on each nail.

Wear Maxx by Rimmel is great stuff to attach rhinestones with. I recommend highly! Not the smoothest top coat but as a "glue" (just a drop under the gem) it's unbeatable :)


Rockin in Rubies has beautiful golden shimmer to it and makes a festive base for the green rhinestones. The way light reflects from the rhinestones makes the look quite magical. Click the pic for details.

Have a great start for your week !

Day 24 : J as in Christmas

Christmas is Joulu in Finnish. What an appropriate shape for a candycane :)

I have more ideas than time for Christmas designs but the season doesn't stop for Santa's visit does it?

Have yourself a merry little Christmas :)

Day 23 : Taste of Christmas

Red apples are among my favorite Christmas decorations. They smell good, look delicious - although they don't taste as good as green apples to me LOL

I'm sorry for a blurry pic. I'm in a hurry since we're leaving town in a few hours. There's one more Christmas look I save for tomorrow and I'll time it for midnight for you.

Here's an inspirational slideshow by LadyNailz:

Have a great day!

Days 21 and 22 : Bows

Good day everyone! Christmas is just around the corner! I'm slowly letting go of blues and giving in on... well, that depends on what the mailman brings me tomorrow LOL

Here's some layer play with "Anchorage" and "Wild & Desperate" along with bow made with "Dorothy Who?"


Sparkly tutorial for these can be found on YouTube by CelestialDreamx3 :





Here's more serene bow on the same base: just with silver nail art pen. Thumb ^

With less light - as indoors right now - I prefer this look over the first one :)

Ease up the stress and enjoy the season! See you tomorrow :)

Days 18, 19, 20 : Stamping

I squeezed this weekend into one post this time. A lovely shimmery grey #W235 "Anchorage" by Wild and Crazy colors was my subtle pick of paint now for we had a funeral to attend to. These snowflakes I stamped on after that with Konad M59.


The heart is also with M59. The bow too is made with M56 and filled with more white since the pattern didn't transfer all that well... I'm really clumsy with Konads :/ The text is dragged with dotting tool. But the catch here is the base:

One of the bases is "Dorothy Who?" by China Glaze. But which one - who among them...? Two of them are painted with "Deep Blue Sea" and coated with "Wild & Desperate" by Wild and Crazy, The one on the right is the right one :)


Here is my daughter's goodbye picture to our great grandfather who passed away. It eased her mind to draw it and I think it eases all our sorrow to look at it - the grandpa is holding hands with an angel. She also wrote a card saying Good journey to Heaven and Merry Christmas. I'm so glad they take death as a natural part of life and aren't anxious about it. It's so much easier for us adults too to handle the sorrow then.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Day 17 : Glitter on glitter on Dorothy...

How about some more blue glitter - on TOP of "Dorothy Who"? Here's "Wild & Desperate" by Wild and Crazy over it. I bought this glitter while waiting for Dorothy and feeling the blues... The sparks are bigger and there's even some pink there. I'll swatch it for you on the weekend in outdoor lighting, side by side with Dorothy Who and with some layering (over teal / white / blue).

Half moon done with white Migi nail art pen. I should use these pens more often since they are least likely to clog from all my 2-way nail art pens and I like the consistency. After Christmas I could review some nail art pens side by side. I have 5 differend brands I use and they do differ from one another.



I think the white part there calls for a snowy tree. It's like a lonely hill under the starry sky... Have to wait until the week's work is done though...

Just a week until Christmas! I can hardly believe it and there's so much to be done before that. But I'm so glad we got some more snow today to get to the Christmas spirit. I'll shoot some nature pics for you during the weekend if you'd like to see? :)

Day 16 : Dorothy Who?

Long wait, worth it! Dorothy Who? by China Glaze . I think Dorothy by itself fullfills today's spot of nail art :)

I must say I was a bit surprised as how it appears more greenish live. In the bottle too the base color seems to be teal. Beautiful without a doubt. This one I ordered from eBay. Apparently it was not untouched since I found some hair from the bottle (not bristles) :(

At first I thought I couldn't wear this at work. But it's growing on me... I might just keep up this look until the weekend after all :D

Day 15 : In the blues

In the waiting of Dorothy Who? I dug up some blue Nail Star nail art pens to play with blues. I love blue and silver together. Not too happy with the way these photograph, sorry. Should make a light box for detailed photos like Nihrida to compliment the glitter.

Dorothy Who? coming up soon :)

Day 14 : Guest nails with cherries

All the yummy things belong to Xmas time. Quick guest nails with dark purple and cherry red nail art polishes (Nail Star). Modelled by my girl :)

The edge made with a stroke + dots. I actually doodled the design months ago. Then I had no fake nails to paint it on so I made a sketch with computer:

That's what I put on the thumb and the rest of the nails are just dotted (without straws).

These are buzy days before the Christmas. I wish you energy for the week !

Day 13 : Red for Saint Lucy / Santa Lucia

Today is the day of "Santa Lucia" aka Saint Lucy. In Lutheran Church very few saints are celebrated but Santa Lucia has it's own place on our calendar on December 13th. Some cities select their own Lucia's and the girls are dressed with candle crowns on their heads and white dress with a red belt around it - symbolizing light (enlightment), purity and blood (death). Then the girls go and sing for the elderly in care centers etc. for good will.

To read more about the history of Saint Lucy here's Wikipedia-page for it.

For these looks I used only red on creamy white base + silver rhinestones. The pics are large enough to see the dotting technique - once again a smaller dot inside of a bigger one to create a dimension (in this case "a hole").

There's no top coat so it might look a bit rugged. I'm still happy with how smoothly the red applied - being a nail art lacquer from a cheapy 2-way striper (Nail Star) :)

Have a relaxing Sunday !

Day 12 : Gold glam

Pimped the Maid of metal -mani with #70 Rich.me.gold by Wild and Crazy colors. Got to love this polish for the dense glitter. Here's one coat over the #20 Lollipop.

I sure hope the Blogger won't ruin these pics. It was a blast to shoot them LOL

Here's a blurry pic for the glitter shower. I very rarely wear any gold but can't help staring down my nails with this look.


I thought of trying the glitter on one hand just for illustrational purposes but had to go for the whole mani. Bling bling for the weekend!

Have a great weekend and see you soon !

Day 11 : For a good cause

No designs for day 11 since I slept like a baby from 8 p.m. until the morning. Sorry about that!

I went to donate blood after work. It went really well and I felt strong - but it was the big meal at the restaurant after that which made me sleepy. Great thing really as I had a long week and after donating and eating well at the evening I felt so good. So relaxed! And now full of life again :)

I'm not a regular doner sad to say - the last time I donated blood was years ago before the kids were born. Now a friend of mine was on her way to the Blood Service so it was easier for me to step in with her. The facilities were so great and people there very friendly: they served fresh juices, sandwiches, coffee, cookies and after donation also rice porridge.

If you're not afraid of a needle and you have no significant health concerns I highly recommend going out and giving blood in the agency near you. It only takes a moment of your time but that same blood can help so many.

"Finns are enthusiastic donors

Blood donation is voluntary in Finland, and donors are not remunerated. This tends to attract people who genuinely wish to help patients. To ensure donor and patient safety, each donor is asked to fill in a health questionnaire, and answer truthfully.

Some 160 000 people donate blood in Finland annually. While some people only donate once a year, others donate on a more regular basis, two to four times each year.

Approximately 16 000 people donate blood for the first time, often at a donor session within the armed forces or at an educational institution. Sometimes people become donors by following the example of their parents or friends.

As a whole, men and women are more or less equally active in donating blood, but there are slightly more women (60 per cent) in the under-25 age group of donors."

Quoted from:
http://www.veripalvelu.fi/www/blood_donation

Here is a wikipedia page for list of blood donation agencies. Don't know how accurate it is, but it may help to get to the real sources of information if you are interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_blood_donation_agencies

Have a great weekend! I'll be back with nail stuff a bit later!

Day 10 : Maid of metal

French manicure with copper and gold (click for larger view). The copper is #w20 Lollipop by Wild and Crazy. Don't really get the idea behind the name since this is quite dignified color. It's with two coats + Matte top by Orly which gives it a nice satin effect. Then I painted over the tips with Stylish Gold by H&M Nail polish - it is perfect for layering over dark colors

I don't normally use guides to paint the tip but this time I did (tape across the smile line). And there was a huge need to hide the edge... The line is made with nail art pen in silver by Nail Star. Once again a proof why I prefer to do it freehanded.

This is not strictly Christmas-look but I felt like using brown for a change. It's always been my safety nail color - even when I got frostbites (like today!) and it made my fingers look pink in comparison LOL

Have a great day !
Bye !

Edit. Link corrected, comment box activated (7:30 am)

Day 9 : OMG For Audrey

I've been wanting to pair up China Glaze's OMG and For Audrey for the longest time. Here's another snowday theme featuring both favorite polishes.

The base is shimmery white (a more presenting outdoor picture of the base here ) and the tip is sponged with For Audrey and a baby blue franken of mine. I thought I had featured the franken here already and I'm shocked not to find it! Have to take pics of it by itself some time for you :)



The dots are with CG's OMG and a subtle shimmery white Geneve by Mavala. Geneve is one of my favorite pearly whites and I used the last drops of it for this design.



Would love to show you pics taken under natural light - but we haven't seen much sun lately.

The effect of shimmery base and holographic dots and then soothing minty-tip is quite magical. I'm so sorry to not be able to present it to you fully. But on Christmas the day is a bit longer again :)

Thanks for stopping by !

Day 8 : Snowday again

Branches and snowday. Sponging-technique as the base. On the top #131 Sand Turtle by Wild and Crazy, mostly green-and-blue glitter.

For branches I used an old eye-liner brush. I think it works better than nail art brushes for the lines that must be thinner on one end and thicker on the other - and the distance between two ends is so short. This would be a nice design to wear on ringfinger if other nails are painted with one color. Branches on every nail might be too much (?).

On the left there konad-snowflakes with #59. Hardly detectable aren't they? I just don't know how to get it on with Konads. The Princess Polishes don't seem to show up on bases I'd like to place them to. And I don't have any Special Polishes (the round ones) anymore. My baby tossed the black on the floor and the neck of the bottle broke :( I have cute plates but I can't get a decent look with them. I admire all the beautiful konadicures I see. I'll practise with the wheels and try to come up with a pretty Konad-look for you before December ends.

Tomorrow something for Audrey ;)
Have a happy day !

Nail Art Contests this month

Contests open on YouTube!

For Pink & Silver nails:



For New Year's Nails UNTIL end of the month.
Blog at http://nail-design.se/


For Glamorous French Manicures UNTIL December 12th


Don't forget the Cities of The World UNTIL December 11th

Great themes for participating or just enjoying others' entries :)

Day 7 : Red, green and gold

Classics for today.

On YouTube I've compiled a playlist of beautiful Christmas & winter nail art from many fellow-YouTubers. Consists of tutorials and slideshows:



As usual, to subscribe the channel featured on the video hit the YouTube-logo on the down right.
I'll be adding more videos to this playlist all the time :)

Day 6 : Independence Day / Itsenäisyyspäivä

Thumbs up for Finland's Independence Day (since 1917). Above an older pic and my favorite blue #W78 Super Duper Blue by Wild and Crazy with one coat.

On my thumb is the Finnish flag. Since I'm making Christmas designs for everyday I made this rounded edge for other tips with dot rows. The base color is OMG by China Glaze and the blue is the same as in the first pic by Wild and Crazy. The blue looks more intense here - and in real it is this intense. Lovely royal blue.

Every Independence Day the top celebrities and of course war veterans get invited to our President's mansion ("castle") to celebrate. Millions of people gather around tv to see it live and it is one of the most watched tv-programmes every year. Then media writes about it for a week with glorious pictures from beautiful dresses (and people's behaviour after drinking the infamous punch). Our family's tradition is to burn white-and-blue candles on the window ledge, eat only Finnish food and snacks and chocolate for the day - and of course me and the girls dress up posh too :)

Have a relaxingSunday ! Tomorrow a shift from silver to gold...

Day 5 : Angelic with blue and silver

Angel in my pocket

I am a tiny angel
I'm smaller than your thumb:
I live in people pockets
That's where I have my fun.
I don't suppose you've seen me,
I'm too tiny to detect:
Though I'm with you all the time,
I doubt we've ever met.

Before I was an Angel...
I was a fairy in a flower:
God, Himself, hand-picked me,
And gave me Angel power.

Now God has many Angels
That He trains in Angel pools:
We become His eyes, and ears, and hands
We become His special tools.

And because God is so busy,
With way too much to do;
He said that my assignment
Is to keep close watch on you.
When He tucked me in your Pocket
He blessed you with Angel care;
Then told me to never leave you,
And I vowed always to be there.

--- Copyright © 1999 Virginia Ellis ----
http://www.poetrybyginny.com/

Not the easiest things to capture on camera - but such are angels :)

Day 4 : X-mas green berries

Good day! This is my weekend mani, ideal for short nails also. I was inspired by the idea of red and green, obviously, and thought about making big green balls on either nail with glitterrrr. But as you know, I adore dots, and I'll be using gold glitter soon on other designs... so dot dot dot it is again :)

Before adding green it was a complete lady bug look. I wanted to add more lady (and less bug) in the look so I sketched a poinsettia on the ring finger. It looks more posh in real 'cos the base is shimmering and the green is glistening (can't catch it indoors on camera). Here's the bug stuff:


Shimmering green nail art polish by Nail Star, #19 Beautiful Berry by Sally Hansen, black by Kiss and then a dotting tool and a wanna-be dotting tool (a cover for make-up brush) for larger dots. And missing from the pic is white by Migi Nail Art (for the ring finger).

The look is easy to do with adding a big black dot and then a small green dot inside of it. Differend finishes of laquers bring dimension to it.

My biggest inspiration for using dots is a YouTuber happybutterfly08 . Check out her channel for pretty but easy-to-make nail tutorials.

Have a happy start for your weekend !
Tomorrow more angelic theme...

Day 3 : Snowflakes with white and silver

Here are 3 takes on snowflakes with three differend finishes: white creme, white shimmer and holographic. The first one is painted with Migi Nail Art Pen and I added some craft glitter on the wet paint with a stick. The middle one is shimmering white base with #265 by LCN, the tip is with metallic silver nail art polish by Nail Star (from eBay) lined with silver glitter polish by Kiss (the one I always love to use...). The rhinestone is color accurate, beautiful light blue. The one on the right is painted with OMG by China Glaze and snowflakes are dotted with Migi Nail Art Pen.

I thought I'd like the shimmery one the most when I started to paint them... And on real nails, under differend lighting the shimmer is quite stunning. But now I think the first one is the best base when they are side by side. Maybe I should dot snowflakes on the creme base with OMG - that would be quite pretty don't you think? On these fakies I could practise konading too. Maybe over the weekend I will.

Oh and here is a relaxing free online game of snowflakes for your kids - or yourself. I admit I like to play with it too and admire all the beautiful art others have made:
http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/

See you soon! Tomorrow a whole manicure again :)

Day 2 : December night with Migi nail art / Suomi-kynnet

I got my Migis finally! They had this campaign on their YouTube-channel where one could get 2 free Migi nail art pens for subscribing to their channel and commiting to make a video with them (to on-going contests). My data was apparently missing... the third time I enrolled to a contest and made the contact with them I got a message they'd send me the Migi pens. I got all 4 on the same package. Long wait (since September) but I think it was worth it :)



Here are my pens: pink, shimmery silvery white, black and plain white. There was no middle part on the package but apparently they sell a little part which can be used to attach two pens together or just balancing the downside of one pen so it can stand on the table. These are smaller than I thought (16 fl. oz / 4.8 ml) - but I find that just handy when squeezing the tube.

I wanted to make an icy stripe on the "midnight" nails with #136 Ticklish Toes by Wild and Crazy to test how it adds dimension. It was like ice, nice. Then I got my Migis and decided to line it with Migi nail art white. It has this pin point head which was nice to use. But I'm used to doing long lines with a striper so the line came out really bumpy. Note: the pics are taken without any top coat. I'm eager to test it on smaller details next. But here are the stripes:



It's Finnish road on December. Really that dark all day through, icy water on the road. But the look is quite depressing, isn't it? So I added more "snow" with Migi white...



... And the cover on the white is amazing! Can you believe that? White on almost-black and it covers with first coat?! The polishing brush on the Migi Nail Art pen was light to use and the consistency - at least the white - was good.

Now I feel like painting bunnies on side of the road... :D

It's Finland's Independence Day next weekend. As you might now the colors of our flag are white and blue. This could be a party look for Sunday if made with more care (straighter lines).

Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow something brighter :)