Blog-a-B-Day/Blogiversary Dots, Dots, Dots!!!

Happy Wednesday friends,

Hope you are well and your week is going good.  Today's date marks the second birthday or blog-a-b-day and the anniversary or blogiversary for my blog.  Two years ago today I finally did it and began my journey into my little nail polish corner of the interwebs with this blog. I'm so glad I did it and have stuck with it and will continue to stick with it.  It's been nice to have a place to journal my nails, talk about nails and I hope inspire others through my nails and nail polish.  I also enjoy talking about and showing pics of the kitties and sharing other bits and pieces of my life here too. It's a great outlet for me and I do really enjoy having this blog.  One of the things that I love to regularly check are my blog's stats.  I love seeing all the different countries that people have viewed my blog and posts in.  It makes me feel really good to know that I have people checking out my blog all the world over, it's fun. I truly do appreciate every single reader I have whether a regular reader or the occasional visitor to this blog.  I don't feel like I am writing to just me and that's a good things, lol :)  So, thank you to everyone that reads this blog and has stuck by me the last two years!!! Here's to many more fun nail adventures to me and to Melly's Musings in the years to come, yay!!!

So, I originally was going to do some cupcake and b-day type nails, but, didn't have a chance to.  Casey and I went to the bus camping in the mountains this past weekend and then the last two nights I've been getting stuff together for our regional Burning Man event next week, so, nails have taken the back burner till tomorrow night.  So, my blog day nails are some dots I did a couple of weeks ago and since dotticures are some of my very favorite nails to do I think these nails are good for my milestone blog day today.  Hope you like them.  I love the way this mani turned out, so pretty and cool looking I think :)

I started with a base of OPI "Pamplona Purple", then dotted using Essie "Groove Is In the Heart", Essie "Make Some Noise" and Essie "Vibrant Vibes", then did a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" on top of the dots. The glitter accent is LA Girl "Extra! Extra!" and then did a coat of China Glaze "Don't Mesh With Me" on my thumb and pinky nails.  I love "Don't Mesh With Me" on top of "Pamplona Purple".  It was so pretty and so sparkly :)

Pamplona Purple on it's own.  I love this polish and have had it for many years now.

That's it for tonight, it's getting late and I am getting tired.  Have a great rest of the night and thank you again to all that come and check out my blog, it means a lot to me :)

Today's feel good is: "Be curious, you'll have the best adventures."

I leave you with Miss Betty and Dino.  I love this pic so much of them together, it's so cute :)

Talk soon loves!

Polish & Purrs,

Melly

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Goodbye Summer Ladybugs

Happy Hump Day Loves,

We made it to the middle of the week, yay :) Hope you are having a good week so far.  Today is the last day of Summer and it sure does feel like Summer still even tho' it's almost the end of September. I normally love Summer and hot, but, this Summer was just entirely too hot, humid and muggy.  I am ready now for some cooler weather, hoodies and to do start doing some Fall nails.  So, for today I have my final Summer nails to share with you.  I did these several weeks back and just didn't get around to posting them, better late than never, eh? I love the way these turned out.  I love ladybugs, they are so cute and these nails were really cute and fun too :)

I started with a base of Color Club "Blushing Rose".  I used a nail art brush and dotting tools with China Glaze "Salsa", Sally Hansen Extreme Wear "White Out" and "Black Out" to do the ladybugs, then a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" on top of those nails.  I then did one coat of Aphrodite and Athena "Maroon Dreams" on my pinky and the glitter accent is a Sally Beauty snowman polish "Red Shimmer".

Blushing Rose on it's own, this is totally my kind of pink :) 

There you have my goodbye to Summer nails.  Hope you enjoyed them :) I did have some other Summer manis in mind that I didn't get to do, so, they will end up being done next year :)

Feel good quote for today is: "Every new day is a blessing and a new chance to expect a miracle."

That's it for today.  I leave you with some silly pics of Miss Betty in the middle of cleaning one day. She's a cutie patootie for sure and I love her so much :)

I'll talk to you soon, have a great rest of the day and night.

Polish & Purrs,

Melly

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Walkers In the Woods!

Happy Sunday Loves,

Hope you are well.  I am doing okay.  Yesterday Casey, myself, my brother and my Mom took some of Dad's hunting and fishing stuff to a flea market sale at a hunters and anglers club to sell.  We did sell a few things, but, still have so much more left to get rid of too.  Dad had so much hunting and fishing stuff, it's nuts and a bit overwhelming at times.  We do have a couple more sales we want to take some stuff to later this year and hopefully get a bunch more stuff and thangs sold then.

Anyways, since it was a hunting and fishing sale and then the season premiere of Z Nation was on Friday night (it was really a good one too) I decided to do some zombie nails and hunting themed nails for them both, so, here I have my Walkers in the Woods nails.  I like the way they came out and love how the camo came out. I was really happy with it.  I really did dig these nails even if I did screw up the stamping placement on a couple of them, oh well.

I started with a base of NYC "Fashion Safari", then used China Glaze "Mahogany Magic", China Glase "Starboard" and OPI "Suzi-First Lady of Nails" and a nail art brush to paint the camo.  Then I stamped the guns, knife, deer and zombie using Essie "Penny Talk", the green zombies is Kleancolor "Metallic Green".  I used Uber Chic's "Zombie Love" plate and "Great Outdoors" plate and Winstonia "Hunter's Life" for the stamped images.  I then put a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" on all the nails except my pinky and on that I used Funky Fingers "Glitter Matters".  Hope you enjoy them :)

 My camo nails before I stamped over them. I love these so much.

Fashion Safari on it's own.  This is a pretty basic and good neutral polish.

Here's a pic of Princess Pebbles and some duck, a goose and crow decoys in my yard after I hosed the dirt off of them.  It was fun seeing so many ducks in the yard.  I LOVE ducks and they made me happy, did end up selling most of them.

That's it for today.  I'm having a somewhat lazy day watching TV, reading my book, did do my nails, cuddling the kitties and maybe a bath and a nap still.  Have a great rest of the weekend and I'll talk to you soon.  Today's feel good is: "Stay patient and trust your journey.".  This is a really good one, I love it :)

Here's a super cute pic of Buster and Miss Betty.  I love this pic, it's so cute :)

Polish & Purrs,

Melly

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Sponged Fan Brush Nails & A Bit On Clean Up

Happy Thursday Loves,

Hello my friends, hope you well and are having a good week so far.  Mine is going pretty good and tomorrow is Friday already, yay :)

Today I have some really cool nails to show you and also some talk about clean up.  Many times I will say how clean up can be a bitch with certain manis and figured it was time to tell you about how I do my clean up of those manis that get messy while you are doing them.  I'll show you my mani first then do the clean up talk after that :) For today's nails I used some eye shadow applicators to sponge the colors on the nails, then used a fan brush to do the stripes on top of the sponged nails.  I LOVE the way these came out so much.  They are so fun and happy nails!

I did my base with OPI "Gelato On My Mind", then sponged the following polishes on: OPI "Purple Palazzo Pants", OPI "That's Hula-rious!", OPI "Got Myself Into A Jam-balaya", OPI "Can't Find My Czechbook" and OPI "That's Hot! Pink".  I then used a fan brush and brushed on OPI "Rich Girls & Po' Boys", then did one coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" on top of those.  I used Color Club "Daydream Believer" as the glitter accent.  Hope you like them, I sure do :)

Gelato On My Mind on it's own. I love this polish, it's so pretty.  I think this was from the Fall collection from last year.

Now, onto the clean up.  I'll show you the tools I use and tell you how I do it.

From left to right, paper plate I use for putting polish on when I do nail art, a fan brush (I didn't get a pic with the eye shadow apps in it tho', I just use any little cheapie ones I can find), a plastic cuticle pusher, tweezers and my two clean up brushes I use.  I use the plastic cuticle pusher flat end to wipe any polish off that gets on my cuticles and around the nail as I am painting them.  I do this as I go and that works really well for me. The tweezers I use to get the random cat hair that ALWAYS ends up on a nail or two, LOL.  The clean up brushes I use to neaten up my polish around the nail and to get any polish off my cuticles that the pusher may not have gotten.

In this picture is my little dappen dish that I put acetone in to use during clean up and my disposable eye shadow q-tip things.  When I do nail art that is super messy I put some lip balm on around my nails to help with clean up.  The lip balm seems to make it easier to get the polish cleaned off of the skin. I'll soak the flat ends of the q-tips in the acetone, then use that end for the majority of cleaning the polish off my skin, then dip the pointy end in acetone and use that end to get the skin/nails by my cuticles, then the small tan brush for any other final clean up.  This is my way that I clean up and it's what works for me.  You can get the little dappen dishes at Sally Beauty or pretty much any nail supply store you may find in your area, but, if you can't find one, a shot glass or the cap from your polish remover or acetone bottle will work too.  I always use straight acetone for both polish remover and for clean up.  I prefer straight acetone to other removers that have other stuff added to it.  Just remember that it is drying and you should make sure to moisturize really well after you are done with your mani.  There's also my latest new Walking Dead lighter Casey got me so of course I had to let that be in this pic :)

Here's my nails and the mess after I sponged them.

Here they are after the fan brush, see that mess, lol.

There you have my clean up process, hope this helps you with your own clean up if you need some clean up tips :)

That's it for today.  Have a great rest of the night and here's your feel good for today :)

"I will go anywhere as long as it's forward."

This one is pretty awesome.  I like it!

I leave you with Mr. Kitty and Buster.  Talk soon my loves!!!

Polish & Purrs,

Melly

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Lotsa Nails!!!

Happy Sunday Love Bugs,

Hope you are well and having a good weekend.  Here in the US it's a holiday weekend for Labor Day on Monday, so, I have a three day weekend which is awesome.  I love those three day weekends so much :)  Yesterday Casey and I helped some good friends move into their new house they just bought so it was a long day and I am sore today, but, happy we were able to help them :)  Today we have a family reunion on Casey's Mom's side of the family, then a pig roast to go to after that, so, another busy day, then tomorrow we are going to my Mom's to pick some grapes for Casey to make some wine with, yum, then coming home, doing my nails and watching the Z-Nation marathon on the boob tube the rest of the day.  The new season begins on September 16th and I can't wait.  I love that show, it's not Walking Dead, it's more humorous then TWD and I love it.  It's definitely become one of my favorite zombie shows ever too.  If you love zombies the way I do, you should totally watch it, it's silly good :)

Today I have some nail spam for you to enjoy  These are some manis I did the month of August. Hope you like them :)

For this first one I started with a base of Essie "Delhi Dance" here and then used a nail art brush and the following polishes to create the stripes/lines: Orly "Miss Conduct", Zoya "Aurora", Bonita "Flirty Shirley", Finger Paints "Glitz & Glam" and Ornaments (a holiday polish from Rite Aid) in blue, it has no name.  I then put a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" on the striped nails and a coat of a Melly Mix on the others.

Delhi Dance, I love this shade of pink so much, it's girly pretty. 

Here my base was a thermal Funky Fingers "Vibe With Me", then I stamped using Uber Chic's Plate 2-03 and Broadway Nails Gel "One Fine Day". My glitter accent is Finger Paints "Off To Collage!" and a coat of a Melly Mix on my pinky and thumb nails.

Vibe With Me by itself.

My base here is China Glaze "Fresh Prince-ss".   I splattered using China Glaze "Sweet Talk To Me", Broadway Nails "Sour Apple" and OPI "Towel Me About It". I stamped using a Kleancolor Metallic Pink and Uber Chic Plate 2-02. I then put a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" on top of the splattered and stamped nails. I put a coat of Scherer Chameleon "Tiny Dancer" on the other two nails.

Fresh Prince-ss on it's own. This is a classic pastel pink with pretty good formula.  This one is out now in the China Glaze Rebel Fall collection.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear "Lacey Lilac", then did the dental floss nails using Venique "Lost In Bermuda", Orly "Candy Shop" and China Glaze "X-Ta-Sea".  I then put a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" on top of the floss nails and a coat of Ozotic Sugar 902 on my pinky and index nails.  My thumb nail glitter is Color Club "Love You To Pieces".

Lacey Lilac by itself.  I've had this one for years and still love it :) 

The base I used here was OPI "What's With the Cattitude?", then I took some pieces of cut up sponges and sponged on Sinful Colors "Endless Blue", China Glaze "Man Hunt", Sally Hansen Salon Manicure "Gray By Gray" and OPI "Rich Girls & Po-Boys", then a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust on the sponged nails. The glitter is Orly "Spazmatic".  I love the way these look, sponged nails are so easy to do and look so pretty when they are done.  Clean up can be a bit of a bitch, but, worth it for the final look :)

What's With the Cattitude on it's own.  This is an oldie and goodie.  This was one of my first light blues I ever had in my collection. 

I started here with a base of Essie "Groom Service", then did some blobs of OPI "I Manicure For Beads" and OPI "I'm Indi-A Mood For Love", then took a piece of a cut up baggie and laid it on top of the blobs and smooshed the polish around with the baggie.  Then I did a coat of Sally Hansen Salon Manicure "Take The Leap" on my index and pinky nails.  I love smooshed nails so much.  I think they look so cool when they are done and cleanup with these can be a bit of a bitch too, but, worth it in the end :)

Groom Service on it's own.  I like this one, it's a pretty blue-ish lilac with a bit of dustiness thrown in, my kind of purple :) 

Last year someone gave my Mom one of those little calendars that have a page a day and the one she got has all feel good quotes on them and she's been saving them me and I post these "feel goods" regularly on Facebook and am going to start sharing them here on my blog posts too, so, for today the first one you get is this one:

"There's always something to be thankful for."

This is such true one too, we should always find something to be thankful for no matter what is going on in our lives :)

That's it for today, enjoy your day and I hope to get the lady bugs I did this past week posted tomorrow.  Until then, here's Mr. Kitty and Dino looking adorable sleeping together one day :)

Polish & Purrs,

Melly

Have you loved your cuticles today?