Deep Thoughts

An elephant never forgets.  Smoking marijuana has been shown to negatively impact short-term memory.  So what about stoner elephants?

Neon Orange Triangle Tips

  If it wasn't already apparent, I am obsessed with neon orange nail polish right now.  It's just so...so...  I don't know, juicy?  I love it.  It's like red's sassy cousin who likes to party.  It's also got huge hipster-ugly potential, which I love.  There's just something about an especially jarring color combo.  When colors fight each other, I feel it almost gives them an enhanced richness.  Like when you see something you've never noticed before but you're sure it's always been there.  "How did I not notice that about neon orange before?"

 Today's is a nice simple manicure, a bit of a punk-rock take on the classy French tips.  The colors are the Sally's Beauty StripeRite in neon orange (the only StripeRite I will ever truly love.  It has the perfect consistency.  As I said previously, the others leave a lot to be desired.)  The base is maybe my favorite polish of all time.  The brand is Savina, which is always, always available at Nordstrom Rack for a mere four-ish dollars.  This particular color is "White Lavender," which is neither white nor lavender, but the perfect opaque peachy-pink-nude.  I really love it as a neutral base, or for a more mod-looking French.  The peach also makes a really nice base for any design just by virtue of it's opacity and color - it doesn't show through, and while it's not as brightening as white, it won't darken your top color (which I HATE!!!)

  The neon orange against the softy-lingerie peach looks so wrong it's right.  It's got that awkward '70s color vibe that I just love!! (One day I'll show you a picture of my living room decor.  I think will explain everything!)


  If you don't have nail art brushes or a steady hand, you can totally tape off this manicure and do it that way - usually I see it done where the tip color is done first, then masked off with a corner of scotch tape, over which the main color is applied.  I do the base coat first and free-hand the triangles on top, so they're not quite uniform as you can see, but it's not hard to get these looking right free-hand.

Swimmingly Cute New Looks for the Modern Mermaid

  We hosted an epic house party for my dear Friend of the Animal's birthday this past March, where some local talent played the house down, and when the cops showed up, they said "party on."  A night of epic proportions, as well as epic costumes.

  We like any excuse to wear a costume, and birthdays are by and large one of the best occasions - especially when you get to choose the theme.  Tonight's theme?  Under the Sea.  The birthday girl had a dream... a dream of being a mermaid.  Could I, armed with a serger and three yards of pink satin spandex, rise to the challenge?

  Oh it took trails, it took tears.  I realized late in the game that you can't beat the serger, so you may as well join it.  You want the machines on your side.  Anyway, I'm still learning the ins and outs of my new overlock machine, so what better way to practice than sewing slippery spandex to thick ruched lace?  Excellent idea.

  The pattern for these skirts was so simple - I just used my favorite American Apparel high-waisted pencil skirt as a pattern!  AA garments are SO easy to reconstruct, never buy something in two colors when you can just get one and then make as many as you want! Seriously, this skirt is made up of a mere three separate panels. My only alteration was to lengthen it slightly. The 'fins' are made from two layers of lace cut into a right-angled triangle and gathered along the hypotenuse (hey, algebra, never thought I'd meet you here in costume-making 101) which was stitched to the hem of the skirt.  The gathering rounded off the edges of the fins nicely, giving them the oh-so-Ariel shape that I wanted. 

Me and the Birthday Girl pose for a photo

In lieu of a clam-shell bra, I made us each a cute little pair of sequined Starfish pasties.  (The dancing eventually compromised the integrity of my pastie glue. I recommend packing a bikini top whenever you wear pasties, just in caseties.) The look is topped off with some seahorse necklaces and mermaid crowns.  Birthday girl bought a packet of plastic sea creatures at the dollar store, which we spray-painted gold and and pink to match!

  I'm also wearing the perfect mermaid lippy from Swagger Cosmetics by the incomparable Blake Karamazov.  Scope it out at http://swaggerco.bigcartel.com/ !

Starfish pasties!

   Here's a front-n-back view of the pasties where you can see how they're made - vinyl backing cut and shaped into a little cone, and decorated with chained sequins (way easier to use than applying single sequins one-by-one.  That would be maddening.)

Not the best photos, but you get the idea.

  And of course, no look is complete without a coordinating manicure.  Here's a pretty simple half-moon with a shimmery teal over hot pink, with a few selective touches of glitter - just a couple of the moons and tips have a glittery topcoat.

  **Bonus!  The mermaid skirt doubles as a sexy nightclub dress!  I'm all about turning a long skirt I love into a strapless dress - just throw a belt on if it's a loose skirt and viola!  New dress.

Sick Day DIY! Leather Braid Accessories

  So, I'm home sick from work today, generally just wallowing in my own snotty misery, and occasionally arguing with my cat over what time is dinner time.  My mom always said I was a "bad at being sick," also known as "world's worst patient."  It's just better for everyone that I stay inside.

  Luckily for me, the Lovely Les came by with a special pho delivery, and I could not be more ecstatic or grateful!  I will live to blog another day. 

  AAAAANYWAY, let's get down to crafting.

  I had to crack open my beading box to fix an old necklace, and much like Pandora's, shit just keeps coming out of this box, begging me to do something with it already!

  I decided to make a copy of this awesome brown leather braided wrap bracelet that my Dear Roommate owns.  She wears it all the time and I've secretly been plotting how to make my own.  Happily for us all, it's super, super simple!  In fact, my source for leather was a package of rawhide shoelaces that I bought at the drug store for about five dollars! (I used Kiwi brand, but I'm certain any old rawhide shoelace would do.  The Kiwi ones are nice and long - I made my bracelet AND ring out of just one!  I have a whole 'nother shoelace's worth of crafting ahead of me!!

The finished products!

  Pretty simple start up, I measured and cut my leather strip into three equal lengths, and glued the three ends together, side to side, and about 1cm down the length of the strip.  (I love Beadalon brand "Bead Fix," which you can almost always find at a craft or bead store.  Unlike most super glues, this one dries completely clear, making it a god among super glues.)
  Next I used some flexible gold jewelry wire to reinforce the glued-together end and attach a lobster clasp.  Then you simply braid the leather until it's at desired length.  I braided long enough for a double-wrap bracelet, with enough leather left over (from just one shoelace, mind!) to make a ring, too!  In fact, the wrap-bracelet is long enough to double as a leather choker!  Bonus!! I did the same gluing and wrapping on the terminal end of the bracelet, to attach a clasp hoop.  I used needle-nose pliers to make sure the wire wrapping was good 'n tight, as well as the end secured so it doesn't get pokey.

Topside, and backside with lobster clasp.  Wondering if perhaps a closure like the ring would be better?

The ring got a little more complicated, as I wanted a complete band of leather without any gaps for a clasp.  In this case, instead of gluing the three ends together, I pierced each one width-wise approximately 1/3 cm from the edge of the strip, and ran a head pin all the way through each strand, which I then wrapped around the leather ends until there was no pin left, effectively creating a double-strand of wire on the topside of each end of the ring, which I attached using one of the fab gold studs I just got in the mail!  This one was a really last minute improvisation, but the two-pronged cone was the perfect size and shape to connect the sides of this ring!  It's a bit chunky, probably relegated to a thumb ring for the time being, but I'm thinking with some wear, this will flatten out into a nice, soft, any-finger ring!

Top and underside of the braided leather ring, which features a brass cone stud from my recent haul!

A more flattering view, of the ring on an actual finger!

ManiCure: Neon Checkers

OMG!  I'm surprised by how cool my nails are!

Party Nails, Party Nails, PARTY NAILSSSS!!!

I love doing outrageous nails.  I saw a checked swimsuit with a neon color scheme, and I knew it was meant for my nails.  (Once again using the webcam to combat my camera's phobia of neon orange.)

Here's a small close-up.  I did a 4x4 grid on each nail except a few, where I did a "zoomed in" look (like the pinkie and pointer on my left hand, which as we all know is way more difficult for me to paint.  So I cheated a little bit by simplifying my pattern.)

For these I used a white base (plain ol' OPI white) and some skinny-brush-having paints for the details, StripeRite from Sally Beauty Supply.  When I started getting into the minutiae of nail designs, I bought a whole bunch of these because they have teeny tiny brushes, and Sally's is like, a block from my work.  So, perfect.

...Except not.  These nail polishes are crap, yo.  The only ones that seem to work are the neons, since they seem to stay in liquid form and are very smooth, if a bit more viscous than I'm used to.  No amount of nail polish fixer can fix these, either, if that's what you're thinking.  I really recommend getting some nail art brushes - I bought a 15-pack on Amazon for like, three bucks, but a single brush at Sally's is nearer to fifteen bucks.

Next time, maybe a post that isn't about nail polish...

Party Nails: Clarissa Explains it All...

  Usually I have a basic idea, or at least a color scheme, when I set out to paint a new manicure.  Other times, I have so many ideas floating around that I can't pick favorites, so I'll do what I call Party Nails!  They are great for experimenting with color combinations, designs, or techniques (or a mix of all three!) 

For this look, I decided to pit pastels against neons, and combine my two favorite awkward color trends of the season!  (Seriously, why are both so wrong and yet....feel so right?)  I also wanted to try a funky '80s triangle pattern, but wasn't sure I'd be able to execute it properly on all fingers, so I went with a multitude of patterns!  Once finished, I realized I'd totally been channeling Clarissa Darling!  I'd like to pop my ladder up to her window so I could see what she thought...

Clarissa Manicures It All

And here are the results!  I have a lot of great ideas kicking around in my head after doing this manicure!

Despite doing a pretty good job (if I do say so myself) on the left hand (leftie pride - holla at me!), I still don't know if I'm ready for full triangles.  I use nail art brushes (super cheap on Amazon) to hand-paint all my designs, and precision definitely requires practice.

Anyway, I'm totally obsessed with both the triangles and the little hearts, especially the neon orange on mint green!  The colors are fairly true to life here, but the orange is so much more neon than these photos would have you believe.  For some reason, my little digital camera just doesn't want to pick up that orange!

I also took a long time debating between white and lavender as the final base color.  I ended up going with white, but in retrospect I really wish I'd gone with the lavender.  I think it would have jibed with the other colors better.  Oh well, something to think about for next time!

(Yes, that is a little pill-o-the-week case in the background left on the bottom photo.  I got this cute flower-patterned one at Daiso Japan, and I use it to organize my fake eyelashes! It's just the thing!) 

I am obsessed with the thumbs of this manicure!!

Mail Time!

Lookee here what came for me in the mail today!  A big bunch of gold studs from StudsAndSpikes.com!  They came super quick!  I'd recommend them for all your bedazzling needs!

ManiCures for the Common Nail: Benetton Manicure

  When I was in middle school, I had an extensive nail polish collection.  I would paint my nails a different color each week, and so dedicated was I that eventually my nails turned a sad yellow, and I gave them an approximately four-year break.  But I'm back to my early love of nail painting, and with more gusto than ever!  Armed with the superhero of long, strong fingernails, Prenatal Vitamins, I am once again ready to present ManiCures for the Common Nail.

  Today's look is something I call the Benneton Manicure.  I had wanted to just paint Jamaican flags, but as I am white and have no connection to Jamaica whatsoever, I figured this would be slightly inappropriate.  Not to mention the potential for exposing my dearth of Jamaica knowledge.  SO I went ahead and did a combo of flags, drawing from my cousin's Flags Of The World flashcards! I tried to keep in the Benneton theme and represent all the continents, at the very least.  Some of the sexier countries to had some of the more difficult flags, and some of the sexier flags belonged to the least sexy countries.  So, choosing who would make it to Nailsville was surprisingly intellectually involved.

  I am really happy with  how these turned out!  I'm especially happy with how nicely the Brazil flag turned out!  I'm left-handed, so results of painting with my right hand have been mixed, but practice has improved my control considerably!  I remember when I could barely paint a solid color without having a massive right-hand earthquake!

Can you guess them all?

A Hairy Affair

  What started out as an innocent attempt to create vegan "feathers" for a friend has mutated into a full-blown obsession with wearing hair extensions.  And when I say wearing, I really mean wearing.

Hair extensions make for a really fabulous clothing and jewelry material - they are vegan and cruelty free, they have amazing movement, and super soft, chemically treated and straightened human hair feels amazing! Truly, you haven't lived until you've worn a hair skirt...

My Parasitic Twin costume!

My theme for this little number was "Parasitic Twin," or simply "Teeth and Hair" if you prefer.  (You can barely see my tiny tooth necklace.  We'll get to teeth in the future.)

This was a super simple project, I used three layers of hair extensions (10inch) on the skirt, sewing each onto a fat black elastic band, making it basically a hair tutu.  The necklace is a single length of black hair extensions sewed along the neckline to a bit of bias tape.  The bias tape is totally invisible and has the added bonus of covering up the weave seams, which can get a bit itchy against the throat.  One of my few costumes that needs the occasional shampooing!

Hair collar - detail

 






  As you can see, the necklace alone makes quite the majestic statement piece, and doesn't even look too terribly outlandish when worn sans matching skirt.  I feel like a girl could wear this to the club.

  RE: "Vegan Feathers" - because I haven't forgotten mentioning this.  I made a series of earrings using small, one- to two-inch sections of weave, which were originally intended to mimic a feathered earring look for my dear amiga, Friend of the Animals.  They didn't turn out looking too feathery, but to my delight, they came out looking like badass chandeliers!  The Stevies (left) are classy, but I am really partial to the duo-tone look!

On the left, "Stevie Nicks," on the right, "Miley Cyrus"

  In order to achieve a more feather-like effect, I reduced the width of the extensions considerably - down to only one or two centimetres.  With this look it was easier to combine multiple hair feathers without getting too weighed down - visually or literally!  (The chandelier type can be pretty heavy once they're all bedazzled with bead and chain accents!) This look really reads better as feathers than the larger style, but the visual effects of each are so different, you can't even really compare them!  Which do you prefer?

A pair of the slimmer variety, this is the same pair on my head, and hanging from the wall. 

  Eventually I'd like to offer these for sale.  Would you wear human hair jewelry?