The Digit-al Dozen Recreates First Blog Posts - Hoot Hoot!

Hello lovelies!

I think I did not even blog yet, when I did this mani for my sister, but I posted it later in my 'Golden Oldies' genre. I always wanted to do it on myself, but never got around to do it, so this was a perfect excuse!

Once in a blue half moon

Hello lovelies!

I've been MIA for a while and I apologise! I was super busy, then I got sick and then I was busy again, so I just didn't feel like blogging. It happens sometimes. But I am back with a cool mani!

Half Moon Negative Space Stamping Holo Mani!

Hello lovelies!

Yes, that's right, I put half moons, negative space, stamping and holo in one manicure! I thought it would be a good idea. I had a job interview today and they know about my blogging. Social media knowledge is a strength for this position, so I put mine on my resumé! But then one has to show up with a good manicure, of course. So I decided intricate yet simple, classy yet flashy and this is what I came up with!

Twinsie Thursday - Half Moon Manicure

Yaaay another twinsie thursday and I'm loving this one, our nails have never  looked more alike! <3 Check out Samantha's awesome manicure: 

Hello Lacquer Lovers! 

It's Twinsie Thursday again! This month our theme was yellow with half moon nail art. Now, yellow is not a color I usually gravitate towards, but when Lothwen mentioned it, I was up for the challenge! I am really loving this look!

Once in a Blue Moon - Painting it Blue for Autism Awareness

Dear followers,

We're painting it blue again, this time on my, the Captain's nails. I really needed to try out these multicoloured caviar beads that I recently purchased from Max Make-up. They were really really cheap! And since I have no money, that comes in handy ;) They really made this mani a happy, yet sophisticated one:

Both with flash

I first painted my nails with a base coat and ridge filler from Etos. This one is very gloopy and hence does not apply easily. It does however fill out most of my irregularities (and there are a LOT). Then I took one of my favourite blues, that unfortunately remains nameless, HEMA no. 23. It is a dark royal blue creme, that appears lighter in the bottle than on the nails. I painted my nails with one coat (which is almost opaque). Then I waited for it to dry and harden. As soon as I thought it was ready, I took out some french tip guides from Essence, and placed them, not at the tips, but at the base of the nail, as to create half moons. Never had a half-moon mani before, so I thought I'd try. They're not supposed to be be done with the french tip guides though, but it was the only way it would work with the caviar, of course. Normally one would create the moons the other way around, namely by sticking a circular piece of tape on the base and painting over the rest of the nail. But of course that would not work in this case. Anyway, after the tip guides, I put some top coat on the base and poured over it the caviar. Then I gently pushed down the beads, in order for them to stick better. Then I removed the tip guide, and to my shock, only half of it would come off! OH NO!

Apparently, my polish was not as dry as I had thought. Oh well, I thought, let's try and salvage this horror. I gently scratched off the stickers and that worked reasonably well, except for one or two fingers. I had started with my right hand, so when I started working on my left hand, I made sure to make the stickers less sticky (place it on various parts of skin on your hands and arms first ;) ) and applied them one by one. This worked better.
After the caviar, I added one more coat of blue to the non-caviared parts of the nails, and took the two upper photos. 

I did not want my mani to be ruined by the upcoming hair-wash festivities that I have each morning, so I decided to add another layer of top coat to it all. This is tricky, because the colour of the beads is easily dissolved in the varnish. So dabb it on quickly and don't touch it anymore! I learned this the hard way... Below, you can see the vast colour difference between my middle and ring finger caviar beads... 

These photo's were taken the next morning, and as you can see, the mani survived sleep and hair washing! Although, you can see some sheet imprints... Oh well.. As we speak, I'm still wearing the mani and it has survived a second night of sleep and a second shower! However I didn't have to do dishes yesterday, so it's lucky ;)

Daylight & Outfit

My right hand (that I couldn't have done without the Lieutenant) in daylight: 

Flash

I'm totally in love with this mani. It makes my nails and fingers look longer! As you can see, I have very short fingers, and they can appear very much like sausages, but with this mani, my hands look pretty <3

Do you like the half-moon/caviar look?

xoxoxo

Captain 

Some Golden Oldies

We will now share some golden oldies :) If you have any questions regarding the design, please send an email or leave a comment and we will do our best to remember ;)

As you will see, many friends and family members happily volunteered their hands for our benefit, and we are endlessly grateful for that!

"Hoot hoot hoot, on my hand, not my foot!"

Based on the design of Let Them Have Polish. Saw it on facebook and had to immediately recreate it, so found one of our many sisters to be our victim. She loved it and created this pic for her instagram account and it got likes from strangers! The weirdest and most flattering phenomenon! Sort of made us think seriously about blogging...

Put a ribbon on it, with a flower on top 

One of our earliest designs (got it from YouTube a long, long time ago, but cannot find it anymore, so can't give credit). 

In fact, it is the first design The Captain ever tried on her Lieutenant (see upper pic), and the start of the tradition of a weekly mani :) 

The middle image is a friend who besides clear polish, never used to have anything on her nails! So we gave her some shock nail therapy and voilà! Took her about a day, but then she got used to it and loved it. Her coworkers approved as well (so happy!). Since then, she bought some polishes herself! And every now and then, Captain gets to try a new design :) Very happy with this willing mani-victim!

The lower pic also refers to a case of shock therapy ;) This friend had only worn nail polish once, on her 16th birthday, but was willing to let me go crazy! So I went for green ;) It looked awesome with her beautiful skin tone!!

Blooming Blossoms

One of our sisters was willing to sit through the first time Captain tried a Cherry Blossom nail design. Captain liked it and repeated it many times, hence the lower pic, another willing victim and Captain's friend since she was 3. 

Plaided nails

 Aha! Based on Cutepolish' design. This was fun! And a lot of work. The base is Essence "Jacob's Protection" from the Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II collection. The metallic stripes are Essence's striper "Metallic Grape". 

 Spot on!

Just a lot of dots :) Rimmel "Coralicious" and "Sky High" for the bases and Rimmel "Mystic Jade", Essence "Alpha Better Gamma" and a plain white.

 My Mosaic's got the blues

Couldn't decide which of these blues to try first, so it became a mosaic, like the name of the glitter polish from W7. The blue is from Miss Sporty, it was a gift from my second cousin, a nail polish lover herself. She shared with me her favourite colour and I'm so happy! The dark blue shimmer is Essence's "Jacob's Protection" again. Finished it off with a glitter striper.

Juicy Marble

 One of our sister's hands again :) She wanted nothing too much, just a touch. The coral is Essence "What do u think?" The marbling was done using Robin Moses' marbling without water technique. So what do u think?

Golden retro

Ah a very very old one! Based the design on the colours of the blouse and the watch that are shown with it. 

We hope you enjoyed this long post! 

xoxoxo

Lieutenant and Captain