manicure monday

Manicure Monday: April Medley

I keep meaning to make a new post here, and failing on finding either the time or the energy. In honor of Manicure Monday, though, I figured I’d post a few of my recent ones.

photo IMG_20130405_074337_zpsd4418a97.jpg

Butter London Two-Fingered Salute. I love this pale jade with a strong copper fleck.

photo IMG_20130422_074409_zps98413bef.jpg

This week’s manicure, a greige ombre. I love all the putty nail polishes, and sometimes the only answer is to wear them all at once!

photo IMG_20130420_162605_zps246e1409.jpg

Bondi Teal Magnolia tips over Butter London Fishwife. I loved this so much I didn’t want to take it off, but alas, it chipped.

Writing updates soon to come, when I can muster the time! In the meantime, I had an eleventh-hour inspiration for a submission call, so I’ll be working on that until I get the first draft wrapped.

Have a great week, all! What’s on your nails? Or if you’re a guy, same goes for you! What would you wear on your nails – or what looks good on your partner?

Manicure Monday: Butter London

Congratulations to Shayla Mist, winner of T.T. Kove’s Sakura Kiss giveaway! The author has emailed you. Enjoy, and thank you again to T.T. Kove for your generosity.

Today for Manicure Monday, I tap into the pretty lacquers that I wore a couple of weeks ago before I had to clip my nails.

photo IMG_20130327_074152_zps7fb99cbf.jpg

This is Butter London Fash Pack layered as a reverse half-moon over Butter London Posh.

Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to sign up for my Way to Your Heart giveaway, which ends Friday.

Giveaway winners, a new review, and Manicure Monday

Good evening on this marvelous Monday!

The winners of the giveaway are Hexen, Arella, and Valarie P. Expect an email from me soon, and thanks everyone for participating. If you didn’t win a copy, I hope you’re still intrigued enough to check out A Cut Above the Rest.

BIG NEWS! It’s Review Monday over at Alessandra Ebulu’s blog, so hop over and see what she says about From the Inside Out. (Hint: great things.)

I’ll lead out with a picture of yesterday’s manicure, which was for St. Patrick’s Day.

IMG_20130316_215819_zps4e534b5d

Wishing everyone a great week! I’m going to take a wee break from posting for the next day or two. I’ve got another deadline this month and writing up all those entries for the blog hop on top of finishing another story wiped me out. 🙂

Manicure Monday and the Tour de Foodie kickoff

First up, today’s galaxy-gorgeous manicure! This is Zoya Aurora, a violet jelly-type polish absolutely packed with a nebula’s worth of holographic micro-glitter.

IMG_20130311_075949_zps87486023

I can’t get enough of these lacquers with holographic micro-glitter. It has such an amazing spark, and really catches the eye. This weekend I’ll be going right to another one, A-England Dragon.

And now, announcing the first stop on this week’s Tour de Foodie to welcome A Cut Above the Rest into the published world! Please visit Maderr’s blog to hit up Food is Love, and learn about the very first food memories of Chef Alex and Chef Nik, our cuisine-obsessed heroes.

Please enjoy!

Manicure Monday: A-England Holy Grail

Today’s manicure post is short, I’m still fighting the tail end of sickness and struggling my way to recovery, but here’s a pic of A-England Holy Grail, a burnished old-gold lacquer with a greenish sheen to it in certain lights.

IMG_20130304_170500_zps3561a6f0

And I’ll point you to A.F. Henley’s author spotlight, where you can drop a comment and be entered for a free copy of Honour, the author’s brand-new release.

Thanks, and hoping everyone has a great week.

Free Fiction; and it’s Manicure Monday!

First order of business: do you enjoy free fiction? This is not a trick question!

Shousetsu Bang Bang vol. 41 has got a deal for you … the latest volume’s theme is hookers and blackjack, all the inventive, incendiary, high stakes fine quality m/m fiction your heart could desire, and best of all?

No cover charge.

Step over and see where you’ll place your bets and enjoy everything the house has to offer.

I’ve been reading the Shousetsu Bang Bang stories for years, and they’ve got a number of talented regular contributors. So if you’re of a mind for some great free reading, there you go! And if m/m is not your cuppa, stay tuned for the f/f special theme edition around the corner.

Manicure Monday

Today I’m wearing Zoya Blaze, one of the lacquers I got from their New Year’s promotion.

IMG_20130225_074603_zpsd5262a00

It’s a gorgeous berry-red with an almost jelly texture, suffused with holographic micro-glitter that looks like sparkling red embers. I’m hoping the sun will come out some time this week so I can see the holo in all its glory.

And now I’ve given my knee a mild sprain, so I’ll be relaxing for the rest of the evening as I dig into continued edits on Courage Wolf Never Sings the Gorram Blues. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Manicure Monday

Today’s Manicure Monday is a look I’m trying out to disguise chipped tips. There’s a couple of different things you can do with a slightly chipped manicure to “refresh” it and keep it going when you’re not ready to do a full repaint.

I’m pretty hard on my nails, so even though A-England has a brilliant formula, I found myself with some nicks yesterday – even before I’d started cooking for the week.

IMG_20130218_092851_zpsad2706a9

This is A-England Holy Grail, a burnished olive gold, and A-England St. George, which I put on Thursday night during my girls’ night in.

You can also use an accent and a third color, but I chose to use St. George again because I loved it so much.

IMG_20130218_093003_zpsb4a077a9

I wasn’t able to get a lot of process photos due to an unfortunate lack of a third hand. But, technique is pretty simple – dip the brush to collect polish, let a drop or two run off, and sweep the brush against the side of the bottle to clear excess polish from one side. Moving carefully but quickly, pull the brush down the nail in three passes, going from a long brush-stroke on the first pass, to medium, to a short brush-stroke on the final pass.

IMG_20130218_093501_zpsa9424dce

Here’s the mid-way process photo. Here’s where you decide if you want a third contrasting color, or the same that you started with.

IMG_20130218_094457_zps3eb616bf

This is finished up with St. George, making the scallop of Holy Grail look like a ribbon of gold running through the manicure. And, my tips are re-touched like new.

For an idea of how this beauty looks in full sunlight, and why I wanted as much time with it before I stripped it, I leave you with a photo of St. George by itself in all its glory:

IMG_20130215_150252_zpsd68438db

I’ve spent this weekend watching Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” and editing book three of Appetite to send off to the editor, so it’s been pleasantly busy. Loads of fantastic things to come!

Later this afternoon, I’ll be creating a link in the chain for “The Next Big Thing” blog hop. Please look forward to it!

Manicure Monday

I’m starting a new feature: Manicure Monday!

Disclaimer, I’m not a proper nail polish blogger, I’m simply an enthusiastic hobbyist. Let me know if you like Manicure Mondays … if I don’t hear any “nays” I’ll probably keep doing them.

Nail polish took off for me as a hobby about two years ago when I started using it as a reward for completing workout challenges. It seems to have taken off as its own full-blown obsession, and now I do my nails twice a week, more if they chip and I have a lot of shinies to try.

For Valentine’s Day this year, I wanted to try a pretty half-moon manicure look that I’ve seen on Tumblr.

IMG_20130211_192047_zps6e2c6273

I started with a base of China Glaze Camisole.

IMG_20130211_192319_zpsa626d177

To do this simple manicure, you use reinforcement labels (I’ve tried french manicure strips and they’re just not curved enough).

IMG_20130211_192412_zpsed40d404

Stick one on half of the nail base, another on the other half of the nail base. Make sure to place them evenly.

IMG_20130211_193523_zpsb11f250a

Paint your nails with a contrasting color – or even the same color family if you like, so long as there’s a difference in texture, finish, or hue.

IMG_20130211_194410_zps35e95b70

Peel off the stickers, carefully, and brush a top coat over the whole nail. Voila, half-moon hearts!

Tomorrow I’m going to repeat this again with another layer of Camisole closer to the tips.

And there you have my Manicure Monday!

Some past favorites:

IMG_20130207_074409_zpsf3cc165b

IMG_20130124_072927

My plan for Manicure Monday is to post that day’s manicure, or process photos if I did something special; as well as anything lovely and remarkable that I may have done recently.

The slippery slope into nail polish madness and the nail polish and makeup blogs that I’ve haunted since then became the inspiration, in part, for the story that I’m working on right now. The Fall Guide is beauty blogger meets smooth-talking producer, and sparks ignite. The catch: they’re both in Vegas for the weekend, and our lovely blogger has a boyfriend.

I’m enjoying writing the Fall Guide more than should be allowed, and hope to wrap it up this month, polish it, and send it for submission.

Hope everyone has a great week! My lady and I will be out on Wednesday the 13th instead of Valentine’s Day, so I’ll probably post something on the 14th if I have time.

Post script: the randomizer chose #27, the winner has been contacted, and has happily accepted her brand-new copy of Bestiary Volume One. Thanks for entering, everyone, and stay tuned for future giveaways to come.