Hubby's Picks REVEALED (HP42)

Why hello everybody! Total disclaimer: Hubby feels I cheated on this week's picks. I say I've just outsmarted him. We'll let you decide. Plus I say he cheated. He picked OPI Black Spotted for a second time. Which, by the way, I will be hiding. To think I yearned and pined for that polish...

Long story short here you go. As a reminder the polishes chosen this week were Color Me Monthly Panther, Glam Polish Aurora, Dip Drop #144, and OPI Black Spotted. This is by far not my favorite Hubby's Picks ever, but it works.

Also my lighting is awful, awful, awful. I hate it when the sun doesn't do what I need it to do. BUT as you can see I have all the colors on my nails! No, no OPI Black Spotted is there. I promise. The black dots on the pink strip? That's what it does when you apply it with a striping brush! Ta-da!

This is a prettier, but darker picture of it. Because, of course, the sun still wasn't being my friend.

I just love the depth to Glam Polish Aurora. It's soooo pretty!

There you have it! Thoughts on my take for Hubby's Picks today? Leave me a comment! Also I am currently shopping for an upcoming giveaway so check back to see what's in store. Have an awesome evening!

Hubby's Picks (HP42)

Well, well, well. Someone, apparently, thought last time was too easy. I asked Hubby to hit the polish cupboard with some new picks and he came back with four and a grin. He deposited these beauties into my hand and wished me luck.

Glitters, sheers, and textures. Oh dear. He did explain he knew perfectly well that that was OPI Black Spotted (a polish he has picked for a Hubby's Picks in the past) was not a solid black and that was all a part of his plan .

So the picks for this week: Color Me Monthly Panther, Glam Polish Aurora, Dip Drop #144, and OPI Black Spotted. I do have a plan formulating so we will see who wins this week. Not that it's a competition. Well maybe it is....at any rate I will return on Sunday with the reveal. Have a great week! 

Hubby's Picks REVEALED (HP41)

Well good morning everyone! It's a little damp and dreary over this way. Rainy season has finally set in. The kids are constantly fighting, which makes this mama a little irate at times. Thus a nice, bright manicure is definitely a need.

I've never attempted an argyle nail, and I thought Hubby would hate it since he hates argyle, but he says this is his favorite ever!

This took a bit of work, but it was an awesome one to rock. Everyone loved it and I got compliments everywhere I went. I want to try this out with a gold/white/peach combination.

Now I did mess up a smidge on the lines on the middle finger (they are slightly off center as I'm sure you can see), but I chalked it up to character.

Get the look:

1. Lay down 1-2 layers of your base color. You should chose your lightest and least opaque color. I did Fingerpaints Where Art My Love.
2. Take scotch tape and cut a piece off. Turn it diagonal and place on the nail about halfway up from the base. Choose your next lightest color and paint a layer of that. Immediately and carefully peel the tape back up. I chose Glam Polish Look at me I'm Sandra Dee.
3. This is the tricky part. Make sure all layers are totally dry before attempting this part or the tape will undo all your hard work. Take two strips of scotch tape and lay them along the lines created by the second step, and cross them to leave a half diamond gap on the tip of your nail. Take your last color (Orly Smoked Out) and paint this last one and remove the tape. 
4. Finally take your smallest striping brush, dip it in the last color and, starting at the base, draw lines up on the diagonal to reflect the lines already created. Repeat at the sides and up into the same color area.
5. Top with your favorite top coat and you are done. If you choose lighter colors for the squares you could bring in a fourth color and do the lines in that.

So what do you think? Fun style? I can't wait to do it again in different color combinations.

Hubby's Picks (HP41)

Why hello everyone! Today was my day off and I felt oh so perky and happy and VERY lazy. Like didn't get out of my pj's level of lazy. Stem your jealousy please I did do some laundry.

At any rate I informed Hubby he was picking colors. He quickly pulled himself away from raiding in WOW and made a beeline for the polish cupboard (yes I have an entire cupboard of polish) to pick colors.

Here's the deal. He only picked THREE saying, and I quote, "Well you're probably rusty so I didn't want to stump you right off the bat." Right. RIGHT! He does have a point. It has been awhile.

At any rate here you have it:

From right to left we have Fingerpaints Where Art My Love?, Orly Smoked Out, and Glam Polish Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee. I have a plan formulating already. The biggest hurdle? That Orly is a matte *gasp* and he thought he was making this easy for me. Wish me luck and I'll see you on Sunday!

Hubby's Picks REVEALED (HP40)

After a rather startling discovery this morning that, somehow, the settings are over saturating my images I had to wait until after work to post Hubby's Picks. It's automatically "enhancing" my photos and I have to figure out where I go to make it stop.

DOTS! Loads of dots. Dot all the things! It was REALLY tempting to do a gradient, but too much of a give-me. I have a rather frustrating history with dots. I just can't do them the best. But I feel like this manicure turned out pretty happy.

Get the look:

1. 
   
2. Lay down your base color. If you have a paler and not entirely opaque color chosen this is probably the best choice for the base. For mine all of my colors were pretty opaque so I went with Sinful Colors Anemone.
3. Gather three sizes of dotting tools. I started with two rows of random bigger dots, two rows of medium dots, then a spattering of tiny dots towards the tip of the nail.
4. Repeat with two more colors. 
5. Top with top coat and enjoy!

 I really enjoyed this look, and feel far less apprehensive about dots at this point.

Well Hello Hubby's Picks (HP40)

We're baaaaack! I asked Hubby what he thought about doing a Hubby's Picks this week and he thought it'd be a great idea, and I agree. It's been busy, but I've been sneaking in some nail art here and there so let's give it a go.

I apologize that the photo is a little grainy. As you know I use only natural lighting and on my schedule I have to take pictures when I get time and sometimes the lighting just isn't as condusive as I'd like.

From left to right we have Zoya Song, Julep Hayden (I am on the lookout for another bottle of this so if you have one to part with email me pretty please), Sinful Colors Anenome, and Orly Purple Pleather. Like my new mug? It's so kissable!!! I've decided my new goal in life is to collect lots of random and amazing coffee mugs. This one is next on my list:

Hope everyone has a great day and see you late this week with Hubby's Picks revealed. I have something fun in mind.

Hubby's Picks REVEALED! (HP39)

This is going in my top five favorites! I call it stripes on stripes.

This week's selection are Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Midnight Glitz, NYC Skintight Denim, JulieG Tangerine Dream, and Julep Julianne.

What was really fun was that Tangerine Dream took on a golden appearance which made this manicure more elegant.

Get the look:

• I started with the solid creme, Julep Julianne, and waited for it to dry completely. Since I was going to be covering most of it up I only did one coat.
• Next I cut thin strips of tape and laid them diagonally on the nail. Taking Sally Hansen Midnight Glitz I used the dab method to apply glitter to the bottom untaped portion of the nail, then used JulieG Tangerine Dream on the top untaped portion of the nail. You need to be quick on this part as you want to pull the tape back up immediately to avoid pulling the colors back up. That's how you'll get nice, clean lines.
• Finally I used a fine striping brush to apply stripes of NYC Skintight Denim to pull the look together. It helped "section" off the glitter. The trick to getting a nice line is to lay the striper on the edge of the nail and roll the nail under the brush.
• Apply your favorite top coat (I've used Seche Vite to avoid dragging my nail art), and you are done!

I know that taping is a daunting task, but this actually didn't take me long and it was pretty easy to replicate on my other hand as well. I plan to sport this look for a couple days - I love it so much!

I challenge you to do a Hubby's Picks (or significant other picks or kiddo picks or hamster picks - whatever floats your boat) and email me at mommydoes @ live.com (remove the spaces) so I can feature you on next week's post. Have a fantastic day!

Hubby's Picks (HP39)

I admit I missed last week. So much for that new year's resolution. Oh wells. Instead of beating myself up about it I choose to press on!

Hubby and I got to go on a date and it was he that gravitated towards the nail area when we went to pick up shoes for our son. He starts digging through a basket and gasps. He pulls out a Sally Hansen and proclaims that it's his first pick for this week's Hubby's Picks. Isn't he cute?

Starting with his choice last night is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Midnight Glitz, NYC Skintight Denim, JulieG Tangerine Dream. and Julep Julianne. I'm very stoked for this week's choices. The texture will be interesting to work with...

Hubby's Picks (HP38) REVEALED

Sometimes you just have to separate the polishes that don't play well together.
After a morning of several attempts at Hubby's Picks (and cuticles threatening mutiny) I realized that sometimes you just need to allow difficult polishes their own nail. Sometimes they just don't share space well. Believe it or not the inspiration came after listening to my kids fight all morning and finally banishing them to their own projects. Peace and harmony! Maybe that would work here.

A couple of you loved the look of GlitterDaze Calming Waterfalls. I did too, which is why I bought it forever ago. This polish looks great in the bottle, but is so thick that generous helpings of thinner won't even make it a nice applying polish. Getting this one to work with the others is impossible as it is grittier then most of my texture polishes. It also takes about a hundred years to dry.

Despite that I give you the half-moon skittlette. Just think of the possibilities!

Get the look:

• For the first layer I put one coat of GlitterDaze Calming Waterfalls on the pointer and middle fingers. Then two coats of Sassy Lacquer Wizard's Fire on the ring and pinky fingers.
• There's a couple of ways to create the half-moon. I used a pair of large scallop decorate scissors to cut half moon waves from scotch tape then laid these on the dried coats. Two other options I know are to use the french tips stickers or to use any round sticker.
• Next alternate the remaining colors, in this case Essie Braziliant and Essie Aruba Blue, and paint one coat slightly overlapping the sticker or tape. Immediately and carefully remove the sticker. 
• Finally top with your favorite top coat. I used Seche Vite.

Now this is not my most favorite Hubby's Picks manicure ever. Judging from the look on his face it's not his either. But it does open a world of possibilities! If you try out this look let me know at mommydoes @ live.com (remove the spaces) and I will feature your manicure and your information on the upcoming week's Hubby's Picks.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Hubby's Picks (HP38)

Alrighty cutting it down the wire again. But we all know how awesome I am right?

He says he isn't challenging me this week. I asked about his method and he says, and I quote, "I just kept reaching in and grabbing them until I found four I liked." Very scientific.

The image is slightly grainy. Rainy season has finally hit. I don't want to make a lightbox, but lack of control over quality is slowly doing me in. Sigh.

The line up this week includes two indies. We have Essie Aruba Blue, Sassy Lacquer Wizard's Fire, Essie Braziliant, and GlitterDaze Calming Waterfalls. Be back tomorrow with a Hubby's Picks manicure!

Hubby's Picks (HP37) revealed!

After hemming and hawing over various art styles and techniques I decided to just go simple. These colors were just so pretty that I felt complicating it would detract from them. So here's my dot manicure.

Get the look:

• Begin with your base color (Barielle Budda-Ful). I chose to build mine up to nearly opaque (three coats), but don't be afraid to leave a little visible nail line. It will work with this look.
• I used the green and white of my dotting tools from this set. I chose to seperate my two blues to create more color variance. The large single dot is Dolish Polish Space, The Final Frontier. The green is Orly Green Apple, and the final blue is Julep Julianne.
• Finish by topping it off with Seche Vite (or your favorite top coat) once the dots are completely dry.

If you try out this look be sure to drop me a line so I can showcase it on the next Hubby's Picks (or tag @mommydoeshernails on Instagram). For now (as promised) the reverse of my mug from the Hubby's Picks choices post.

Hope you all have a fantastic evening!!

Hubby's Picks (HP37) His selection of fun colors

I'll be posting my actual manicure tomorrow for this selection, and then we go to regular schedule this coming week.

When Hubby plopped these into my hands, after announcing it's time to clean up my cupboard, he had a smile on his face. No mischievous look...suspicious. But he announced he picked these because he felt they'd be fun together! I always look forward to these, but that really excited me.

The line up is Orly Green Apple, Barielle Budda-Ful, Julep Julianne, and Dolish Polish Space, The Final Frontier. Oh and my awesome mug. I'll show you the reverse of it tomorrow with my manicure. I hope you all are having a great start to 2014!

I haven't forgotten that I said I'd share my January Julep. Believe it not it's still not here. We had a hiccup in billing so they said it wouldn't be here till this coming week. Lots of fun stuff coming up. I have a dupe alert ready to go, a great jelly combination, and more. I'm feeling inspired - be inspired with me!

Hubby's Picks (HP36) Darkly bubbling

Hey everyone! So Hubby picked quite the set of polishes this week. I've noticed quite a few waterfall manicures popping up in my feed so that technique has really been on my mind. But what to do with that spotted?

This is a dark and more abstract manicure. I loved the idea of waterfalls and darkly bubbling froth. I wish he had given me China Glaze Fairy Dust but I digress...

I give you my highly abstract manicure!

This week's line up is Lime Crime Pastelchio, I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop, OPI Black Spotted, and Confetti Party Palace Blue.

Get the look (or parts of it):

• First I took my solid creme, in this case Lime Crime Pastelchio, and did two coats on each nail. 
• Next I topped off with my sheerer polish. When layering with a tinted sheer it's good to think about how the two colors will interact. In this case more of a seafoam emerged.

For the final part I did each nail a little different to capture the "waterfall" and "bubbling" effects. 

• For a waterfall I wasn't sure how people go about this and I think it comes down to personal preference. I took the brush of I Love Nail Polish Cyngus Loop and dabbed a blob at the base of my nail bed. Then I took a fine nail art bush (size 00 but you could easily pull lines down with a toothpick) and pulled the polish down in streaks. I added to this till it suited me. 
• For "bubbling" I just use OPI Black Spotted BUT if you don't have a bubble or spot effect polish water colors work just as well and, sometimes, better! Plus you can have any color you want.

This feels like a witch's cauldron kind of manicure so it could easily be adapted into a Halloween manicure. Hope you enjoyed and that you try some abstract art on your nails. The nice thing about this route is that you really can't mess it up. If you do a manicure based on this (or any Hubby's Picks) OR do a Hubby's Picks (or anyone picks for that matter) shoot me an email at mommydoes @ live.com or post to my Facebook and I'll share your look and information (if you'd like). Have a great day!

Hubby's Picks (HP36)

Grabbed a quick picture of this week's Hubby's Picks. What a super fun line up featuring one of the new I Love Nail Polish multichromes (that's right - feast your eyes!).

Got a very interesting variety of finishes here to work with. Lime Crime Pastelchio, I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop, OPI Black Spotted, and Confetti Party Palace Blue. What an intriguing line up...what shall I do with it??

Also Liesl Loves Pretty Polish did a Hubby's Picks! It is soooo pretty and a perfect fall manicure <3

Be sure to jump over to see her thoughts on the Hubby's Picks experience. If you do a Hubby's Picks yourself drop me a line at mommydoes @ live.com or post the link on my facebook page. Hope you are all having a fabulous day!

Hubby's Picks (HP35) Skittlette anyone?

I thought I'd do a pretty skittlette mani a la i Heart Pretty Polish (who is no longer blogging for the moment which is a sad, sad thing, but I understand). Check out her past posts for pretty skittle manicures that became a signature for her along with her sweater shots.

At any rate I really admire her so that makes this acceptable to do on Hubby's Picks to honor her. I added my own flair, but here you go:

The line up this week is: Fingerpaints Plum Startled, Sinful Colors Nail Art in green (a striper), HITS Air Glow, and Picture Polish Warning. I know I have a ragged cuticle in there. I'm a mommy. This happens.

This is actually a super easy week to see how to do so I'm just going to focus on some striper tips. These are a really useful nail art tool that people sometimes struggle to utilitze.

• When getting a striper pull the brush out and look at it. If there are hairs sticking out just clip them off with scissors. This will help you get a nice line. Don't be afraid to snip the tip if some hairs are longer then brush itself.
• When doing tips place the brush on the tip of the nail and rotate the nail NOT the brush. This helps get a straight line across the nail. Flip the brush and do the same from the opposite side.
• Every couple strokes put the brush back in the bottle, close it up, and gently shake it. The polish at the top tends to start to dry out and this will help get nice lines that don't smear or clump.

Did you like this week's Hubby's Picks? Did you do one? Email it to me at mommydoes @ live.com and I'll feature it on the following week's Hubby's Picks along with a link to you if you'd like! Or put it up on my Facebook page and I'll share with a link back to you. Hope you have a great week. <3

Hubby's Picks (HP35) Served Fresh!

This morning FINALLY flowed smoothly!!! You know how it is as a mommy with the start of school, preschool, volunteering, extra-curricular activities, and the new chore schedule. Throw in cleaning, cooking, meal planning, grocery shopping, and still managing to brush your hair and you start wondering why you thought the start of school would bring calm. But it happened! No fighting to get them out of bed. Everything just flowed. So Hubby headed off to the cupboard for selection time...

Mega love for this week's Hubby's Picks! Not sure if he just wanted to pick pretties he liked or if this is a for real challenge, but it's such a pretty combination.

This week features Fingerpaints Plum Startled, Sinful Colors Nail Art in green (a striper), HITS Air Glow, and Picture Polish Warning. Two color shifters...hmmmm.

On a side note yes I am aware that another blog has recently started their own version of Hubby's Picks. I've been doing this for a few years now and people are always intrigued with the idea of the significant other getting involved. Hubby loves doing it so it makes sense that some other men out there might want to get in on the action too! Have fun and rock the manicures with Mr. Nail Polish Queen. The advantage to doing a mani this way is that it helps on those nights where you are going, "UGH! No inspiration. What should I wear?"

If you do a Hubby's Picks (or a boyfriend picks, or fiancee picks, or significant other picks, or little one picks, etc.) shoot me an email at mommydoes @ live.com OR upload it to my facebook page with your information and I'll share it and link to you (if you want). It's fun - give it a try!

Hubby's Picks AND the manicure reveal! (HP34)

So today I have both the Hubby's Picks and the reveal today. He did pick earlier this week, but the week happened, and my blog post fell victim to it!

From top to bottom we have Julep Jackie, CND Emerald Shimmer, Glam Polish Twink, and Lac Attack Butterfly Kisses.

Without further ado the reveal (I LOVED this week's manicure so much!!)

 I have been fascinated with the sheer looks over naked nail so this was entirely inspired and spurred forward by his choice of the CND effects polish. Love, love, love <3

• First I laid down two coats of CND Emerald Shimmer.
• Next I loaded up the Julep Jackie brush and laid it down on the nail at the far side and then pushed up slightly to make it "bead" and create the circular tip and then pulled it back down to the tip of the nail to fill it in. I repeated this in stairs across the nail.
• I repeated the process with Glam Polish Twink to create the layered ruffle look.
• Last I fished out a butterfly for each nail and place it on the part of the nail just sporting the CND and spread a few dots around it.
• Finally I topped it off with Seche Vite to even it out and create a pretty shine. 

That's it! If you try out this Hubby's Picks look or any Hubby's Picks look email the photo and your information and I'll feature you on the following week's Hubby's Picks. Mommydoes @ live.com (be sure to remove the spaces!)

Hubby's Picks (HP33)

Hey Hubby I did it! The only sad thing is that the flash of color change was almost impossible to pick up due to the sunshine suddenly feeling shy. I shouldn't really be shocked. This is Oregon after all. This week's picks were Glitter Guilty In A Round About Way, Picture Polish Warning, Lime Crime Peaches 'N' Cream, and Girly Bits Shift Happens.

You can kind of see the shimmer of the red shift in the above closeup. I love all the swimming glitters in Glitter Guilty A Round About Way.

• First I built up Glitter Guilty In A Round About way.
• Next I taped off the bottom portion of the nail and painted Picture Polish Warning. I went a little thicker on this one to make it a bit more opaque.
• Using a double-sided dotting tool I used Lime Crime Peaches 'N' Cream to do make the dots running the border of the two polishes.
• Finally I topped it all off with Girly Bits Shift Happens. Toppers like this really pull a look together.

That concludes this week's Hubby's Picks. We'll see if he can stump this next week. If you try out the Hubby's Picks shoot me an email and be featured on the next Hubby's Picks post. Email mommydoes @ live . com (removing the spaces of course). Have a great night!

Hubby's Picks (HP33)

We're baaaaack!!! Hubby marched to the closet the other day declaring he was picking polishes. With that ole glint in the eye he presented these to me:

That ugly beast in the background is Mommy's coffee pot in all it's grimy glory. I have to clean it all the time, but when I bake (and I do that a lot) flour and sugar inevitably dust it adding to the coffee stained appearance. But I love it. It's been a good friend.

Anyroads back to the polishes at present: Picture Polish Warning, Girly Bits Shift Happens, Glitter Guilty In a Round About Way, and Lime Crime Peaches 'N' Cream for a whole indie line up. How cool is that? Well...is Picture Polish indie? If not a mostly indie line up. Be back later with a mani!

Hubby's Picks (HP32): Day and a dollar late

I could Google that phrase to find out what it means but then the mystery would be gone and what fun would that be? But I imagine it works with this...

So Sunday was Father's Day and I got in over my head. For special occasions we make yummy for for each other and I got it in my head I'd make half of his Yum board from Pinterest. I spent, literally, the whole day cooking and baking. 0.0

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I have nothing for yesterday so my excuse there is a day and a dollar. See? It fits!

This is what happens when you take photos in direct sunlight, don't check them, and move onto the next manicure you're behind on. It was actually a deeper and more sultry look.

Get the look:

• First lay down your colored base with glitter. This one had large circles in it (Glam Polish Lucky - a teal jelly with lots of glitters) so it'd be hard to do art with so it went down as the base.
• Next I sponged the darkest and solid colored polish (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area - a purple toned mushroom grey) and then sponged the topper over it to create a slight duo chrome effect. (Ulta Sugar Cookie - a very shimmery gold topper that has a slightly glass flecked glitter feel to it).
• Finally I added swirled accent dots in Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Lava.

There you have it! I really wish I had gotten better photos of this one because it was simply stunning. The look of sponged duochrome over a jelly is a beautiful combo.

If you recreate this or any Hubby's Picks look send me a link to your post or email me a photo and I'll feature it on the following week's post. I'd love to see your creations!