New bracelets

Here are a couple bracelets I recently finished. This one has bright colors and a bit of a wavy texture because the lavender beads are slightly larger than the others. The next one has an awesome one-of-a-kind clasp that I found at Von's in West Lafayette. I used the confetti pattern with lime, gold, light blue, and lavender.

Both bracelets will be up on Etsy soon. I'm fighting a nasty cold that's really taken all my energy away. Here's my Real Simple (like the magazine) tip: Put your kleenex travel packs in the same drawer/cabinet as your candles and then when you blow your nose it smells really good!

Water Marble Nails

This technique involves layering polish on top of room temp. filtered water, swirling designs with a toothpick, and dipping your nail directly on top. I watched several you tube videos to see how others were doing it. Several people said it's not easy to get good results the first time but this was my first try and I thought it was pretty easy. I used Orly "Goth" and Sally Hensen Xtreme Wear "Mint Sorbet". I used these because I'm not sure what the effect of dipping the brush in water is but I don't want to mess up my OPI. The brush doesn't have to be submerged in water but if you don't get a good drip of polish on the end, you have to touch it to the water. I highly recommend masking your nails using tape as much as possible. It does require cleaning up with polish remover.

I have a couple of new wide-width bracelets coming up on Etsy soon.

Trend Tips Review

Okay so I am officially a believer in the Trend Tips. They lasted without a chip for 4 days! I put them through the tests by washing dishes several times and I didn't hesitate to use my nails to peel labels off bottles at work (something that normal polish chips with). The reviews I'd read said they were a pain to remove and boy, yes they are! Six cotton balls later I had them pretty well off but even had to use a little scraper to get the rest off. So these would be ideal for a vacation or other event that will last a few days and you don't want to worry about touch ups.

Here's what I did next:
This is Essie "School of Hard Rocks" with a topcoat Sephora by OPI: Traffic Stopper Copper.
It's nice because the glitter is in the top coat so you don't have to pile another coat on top of it to seal it in. So far it's held up to 2 days of wear.

OPI Trend Tips

So I bought these yesterday at Sephora because I'd always wanted to try them. They are basically stickers for your nails called "Trend Tips". They are really cute for a special event or night out. Supposedly they are "long lasting", and for those of us to do our nails we know that means we might get 2&1/2 days of wear out of them rather than just 2 days...

They were really a cinch to apply and my nails are small so I actually got 2 uses out of one regular sized strip. I applied it then cut around it and applied the other half to my opposite nail. I was surprised how thin they were. I really don't feel like I'm wearing anything thicker than regular polish. I applied them directly to my natural nail (without base coat) and then I applied Seche top coat just to seal in around them and hopefully prevent wear. The package says to just remove them with polish remover but I've read a couple reviews that say it's not that easy. It took a little longer than applying regular polish just because I hadn't used them before. If you decide to try them make sure you press them down really really good in the corners and fold them over the tip really good. I used a wooden nail stick thing (no idea what it's called) to make sure they were firmly down in the corners. Then I lightly filed DOWN (don't be tempted to go UP with the file because it will pull up the corner) and then I was able to pull off the excess easily.

Anyway, CUTE and we will see how well they last.

Etsy Site Updates

I know I haven't been updating this recently. School/work/life has seemed to get the best of me. I made some updates to my Etsy site so the bracelets on there are available now. If you live local please ignore the shipping charge. I can get it to you. From LEFT to RIGHT:

1. Grey with teal flowers and silver centers, $10... the clasp is getting a little tarnished.

2. Wide peyote stitch, black, pink, lavender, and lime green with gold-colored accents, $20

3. X's not O's (shown on my Etsy site), $15

4. Tourist black and lime (shown on Etsy), $15

5. Tourist plum and gold (shown on Etsy), $15

6. Netted bead, black with lime accents, $10

7. Netted bead, tortoise with gold accents, $10 (It says $15 on Etsy but I need to edit that.)

8. Bailey lavender, black, and clear, SOLD



I know my inventory is slim. I have several projects in the making but aren't finished. Refer to my Etsy site for more accurate coloring. I took this photo in a hurry.