Kitties and Doggies for My Little Princess

After much consideration, I have made a conscious decision to choose happiness above everything in life. I have promised myself to do something fun, or something that makes me happy, every day. I could give you the life is short speech, but really, I don't want to grow old and become the cranky one in the Golden Girls.
Today's Project Happiness Daily Fun Shit was Gwen asking me for a mani/pedi, and even sitting still for it!

She wanted pink and purple kitties and doggies, naturally. The problem is, this kid's nails are almost polish-resistant. I can use Orly Bonder (an a$$kicking base coat), Seche Vite on top, plenty of drying time, and the next day she is peeling the polish off like and old sunburn.
This time, I decided to do a gel mani on her. ****Please - no need to lecture me on risks, etc: I have read the info. Thanks for caring though :)*****
I dusted off my SensatioNAIL gel starter kit, and followed the super-easy directions. I added some stamping with MoYou London's Princess Collection plate #03 over the single layer of pink chiffon.
Even though we only got 75% of the project done (she agreed we could do the last hand tomorrow after school), we had fun together doing the mother-daughter bonding thing :)  So far, Project Happiness is having positive results for me. Why didn't I learn this earlier in life?

Do you set aside special time for yourself each day?

 Is there anything special you like to do? 

Grayscale Geode, Inspired by the Lovely Lady Alayna

     I started my Nail Technician classes this week, and I am very excited to be able to focus on my love. I saw this mani on Pinterest by Lady Alayna, and it was an instant "do me now" project.

     Although I have admired the geode nail art for some time, this was my first time attempting it. I used a fine art brush and various polishes to create the geode design. In hindsight, I will either 1) use acetone to soften the lines or 2) use watered down acrylic paint instead. I added a slight pinch of loose gold microglitter to the golden centers of the geodes.
     The remaining nails are done with a variety of techniques, including stamping, spray water marbling (shout out to Liquid Palisade for making water marbling and stamping infinitely easier to do) and glitter placement, along with a few goldtone accessories and a rhinestone.
     This was tremendously fun yet challenging - there will definitely be more geode nail art in my future. What do you think - have you tried this type of nail art before? What did you think -- any tips? I'd love to hear from you :)

Gelibility + Crushed Shell Nail Art

Today I did my first and last crushed shell nail art mani!

I have had a package of little bottles, containing plastic crushed shell/iridescent looking stuff - I am really not technically certain what this material is called - sitting, untouched, unloved. No time like the present! - only thing is, I am not really 100% certain what I am supposed to do with this stuff. It's experiment time! Here's my tools:

I started out by using Gelibility to turn my China Glaze "Travel in Color" into a sheer base coat. I elected to use the Gelibility in hopes that the added thickness of the gel will sandwich in the little glittery pieces. After two coats of polish, I used my dotting tool to place the shell/glitter/whatever this substance is onto my nails. It took two more layers of Gelibility to really seal in the shards, and even with that I can still feel some of the material when I brush my fingers against my nails. I added a little gold shell and a pearl as an accent, and that was it!

I felt like this mani was more time consuming than it was worth. I still don 't even know if I used this stuff correctly (or should I say for the reason it was intended). Have you ever used this stuff? I would love to hear other people's experiences with this --- what is this stuff called?!? (for the record, the packaging said nothing.)

Do you FiMo?

For some strange reason, I am addicted to fimo nail art, but I don't really like wearing it on myself. Go figure. I do, however, list auctions for fimo on Listia, where the buyer can choose the pieces he/she wants, instead of having to get some random crap that they didn't really want. I started doing fimo auctions this way because I was tired of bidding on a packet of nail art, when I only wanted 1 or 2 things in it.
So now.... I have an Etsy store!

This is my "trial" run to see if I have as much success on Etsy as I have with Listia. I have NO plans to leave Listia, I just want to see what happens :)


Are you an Etsy chick? Who is your favorite seller?