Category Archives: Nail Art

Nail Art: Puzzle…Question Mark? Butter London, SpaRitual

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

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When I am not feeling well, my cats, Marmalade and Sunsilk, keep close eyes on me. Sunsilk, in particular, has attached herself to me like a barnacle on the underside of a ship. As I was going through my nail polish stash I realized I have two great nail colors that would totally capture her.

I used two coats of butter London “Scuppered” as my base color. The formula on this is absolutely heavenly. I can paint three stripes on each nail without streaking, pooling, or general messiness. Unlike the company’s other glitters, this polish is very sheer. It may be that the glitter is not densely packed. There is small green and pink glitter, a gold shimmer and larger circular green glitter flecks.

butter London “Scuppered”

Everything down to the glitter itself reminds me of Sunsilk. The gold color in her fur, the pink of her nose and the green is exactly the color of her eyes. And when I realized I had a dark brown the exact same color as hers I was so pleased.

For the stamping, I used SpaRitual “Howl” and Bundle Monsters plate “BM-319”.

SpaRitual “Howl” over butter London “Scuppered”

I don’t know whether it is a random quirk but whenever Sunsilk refuses to listen to me, her tail forms a question mark. She is an intelligent cat who plays dumb and pretends that she does not understand what I am saying. She is very sly but without her I do not know how I could manage everything that is happening.

Hi, I’m Monica and I have RA.

Nail Art: Galaxy Accent

11 Sunday Aug 2013

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I’m going to try and climb tomorrow so I decided not to go hog-wild with my nail art today. Also, I went for a hike with my dog and I was exhausted by the time I got home.

I tried the galaxy nail art a few weeks ago and I really liked how it came out, so I decided to try it again to see if I could get the same results.

The polishes I used: CND – Stickey base coat, two coats of Essie – Power Clutch, SpaRitual – Running with Wolves, Zoya – Goldie, butter London – Knackered, Wet n Wild – Blue Moon, Revlon – 902 Celestial FX, and Seche Vite top coat.

Straight On

Once the base coat and base color dried I tore three small pieces from a foundation sponge and, with a pair of tweezers, sponged the SpaRitual, Zoya, and butter London polishes in diagonals across the nail.

I used a toothpick to splotch-dot Wet n Wild.

I used an eyeshadow sponge-tipped applicator to apply one star from the Revlon polish.

Topped all nails with Seche Vite which has a great shine!

Galaxy Accent

Unfortunately, today was one of those days when my fingers “stuck” in certain positions when I was removing the old enamel, and using the brushes to paint the polish. I am currently at 10mg of prednisone and while I feel like I am just getting by and I could feel a little better, I’d rather not increase the dosage.

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

Nail Art: Rocky Horror Picture Show Theme

09 Friday Aug 2013

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Over the last two weeks I increased my prednisone dose from 8mg to 12mg because of a bad flare. The pain and fatigue just came on…no warning. I stopped climbing, I even found it difficult to brush my teeth, get out of bed and feed the dogs.

All the side-effects of the steroid came back like clockwork. I got insomnia and some anxiety. The sharp increase also came with the feeling of inflammation around my lungs and heart. So, after five days on 12mg I tapered back the dosage as much as I could.

I’m still not feeling great on that lower dose so I decided to have a relaxing Friday night stay-cation.

So, what does a 23-year-old with a RA flare do to keep herself busy on a Friday night? In preparation for my first live performance of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” I decided to design a nail art for the occasion.

I water-marbled most of my nails and left one accent with a red-lip stamp. I also did a red-drip on the tips.

The nail polishes I used: Essie’s “Blanc”, Butter London’s “Knees Up”, Wet n Wild’s “Black Crème”, and Zoya’s “Goldie”.

I apologize for the messy clean-up. I am still getting used to lighting and good angles but the colors are pretty accurate.

Left Thumb

Left Hand

Right Hand

Base: Essie Blanc (white “undies”), Wet n Wild Black Creme

Water-Marble: butter London “Knees Up” (red), Zoya Goldie (gold), Black Creme

Stamping: Knees Up, Bundle Monster plate BM 303

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.