Nails: La-la-lavender

I promised some of you I'd post yesterday...
But my lazy butt got the best of me.

But here it is...my new nail art.

I call it "La-la-lavender". And it's quite simple. (Believe me...much simpler that it actually might look.)
I painted the ring finger and the middle finger first in a solid white color. And for the rest of the fingers I chose Silky Purple from Jordana.

Once the white was totally dried I used an old ballpoint pen to add five big dots in a circle. And use a toothpick to drag a line in each dot unto the center of the circle. For the big flowers I used Purple Glam from Jordana.
Next I used a scissor to cut the other end of the toothpick and used it in the same sequence to create smaller flowers in Nail'd it from Sally Hansen.
Almost done!!! Use a clean toothpick dipped in green polish to draw fine lines that look like the stems from these flowers... I used Limestone frome Sally Hansen.

And voila...my "La-la-lavender" nails. Of course you can use any color combination you like. Peach, pink, red, orange...you name it!

Hope you enjoyed...

Buh-Bye, lovebugs.

X's & O's

Sy

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Crafts: Pearly Jewelry Set

Those of you who know me personally also know that I love being creative, be it with my nails, my make up, my hair, writing, crafting...whatever...

So, last week we had this very cool lunch with some of my colleagues at work and we thought about doing a gift exchange during the lunch. AMAZING idea... only, your gifts wasn't allowed to exceed 5 guilders (local currency equivalent of $ 2,75 approximately). How EXCITING...
Challenge accepted!!! And mind you,  I even did a silly dance after we withdrew the names a week in advance, so to know who you'd be buying a gift for. Mine was supposed to be easy, and my mind was flowing with ideas... So much that I was doing little screams of excitement and could hardly wait until next Friday.

Right!!! My dancing didn't last... That weekend when I went on my quest I discovered that I HAD to rethink my idea drastically. Most of the things I sought exceeded the limit of 5 guilders. FRUSTRATING!!!
I even got laughed at in a store, when I told the sales girl that I couldn't buy it because it was 'too expensive'. hahahahaha...

So here's what I did in the end...
I bought a black waxed linen cord for Fls. 4,51 (incl. taxes)...the rest I would have to conjure from what I have at home.
I had this pearl necklace which I've never used. And personally, I don't even remember why I bought it in the first place. Well then why not pick a scissor and go right through it? As a result...I got beads for my master piece.

Then with needle and black thread from my mom...and a little bit of patience I got to these three beauties (even if I have to say it myself  TIHIHI).
One double wrap pearl bracelet, a simpler bracelet and a pair of earrings.
(Yes I disassembled an unused earring to make this)

Now, for the presentation. How do you present handmade gifts? Especially when you can't buy anything else? Well you MAKE a 'clutch'. I have colored paper and colored foam at home...so yeah...why not?
For the two bracelets I made two custom pouches out of  make-up brush pouches and inserted a quote about pearls.

It says...

I belive the nicest and sweetest days are not those where anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens. But just those that bring simple little pleasures following one another softly like pearls of a string.

Sewn in a diagonal stripe with the waxed linen to hang the earrings. The clutch's closure was also made out of pearls and the waxed linen. Made a foam flower with a pearl center for embelishment on the front and a slider from colored paper...

And THIS is the result...

Opened:

 Closed:

Uhm no that's not tape on the closure. It's a transparent bead

And for Fls 4,51, some material I owned myself and a drop of patience I could gladly hand this handmade gift to my friend and colleague, Claudia.
It was such a fun and meaningfull afternoon with my bunch of crazies...
We laughed, we cried, we sang, we danced and we had an amazing time.
Me? well after walking around screaming like a duck and singing 'Alelimo'in between chuckles and uncontrollable laughter, I got two of my favorites...Ritter Sport Chocolate and Cherry gummies in an oversized shredded paper filled hair drier  box. whahahaha...The craziest ideas...but I LOOOOOVVVEEEEDDD it...!

Here, some peeks...

All the gifts on the table in the morning...hidden in black plastic bags. To keep the mysterious touch aaaaall through the morning...

UNVEILEDDDD!!! Just before lunch!!! The red gift is the one I made. haha the real gift wasn't in it. Claudia opened a total of 12 wraps only to find that I still had the gift with me.

The peach one was for me...MINEEE!!

My delicous gift..unwrapped:

p.s. My gifts didn't see the light of the next day pfff...did you really expect them to? And Claudia wore the earrings and the simple bracelet yesterday and actually is wearing the double wrap bracelet as a necklace today lol

Sigh..

Well lovebugs, this has been it for today! I really hope you like it!

X's n' O's

Dazzled,

Sy


Been creative with your hair, make-up, nails or just crafty? want to do a feature post on Hello Dazzling? Contact me on hellodazzlingblog@gmail.com

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'Welcome To Pretty-landia

'Welcome To Pretty-landia' ; the land of pretty damsels and beautiful girls.

Haha...

It's the feeling I got with this pretty simple nail design I tried this week. It's super simple...I quickly did it in the morning before leaving for work. So you'd get an idea of the true simplicity of this design. yeah, HAD to be simple!!!

It gives me the feeling of a flag... A very pretty flag haha. So I called it 'Welcome to Pretty-landia'
Use your imagination and picture the fairy-tale beauty of this land.

Since we are still in October (READ: breast cancer awareness month) I went for the pink again. At first I wanted to do a simple swatch but decided to jazz it up a little in the end.
This pink is the 'Look At Me' from Colormates. Yup, the one my mom swatched last week. Only, this time I added a shiny top coat. It is actually a deep pink with purple and blue-ish tiny glitters...very very tiny. I think they 'don't really stand out without a top coat. That, you can see on the first two pictures below. That's the color without the top coat on.

One very good thing about this color, was the fact that I could do with just one coat (if I wasn't up for a completely opaque finish)

here...one coat...

two coats

Right on the index fingers I added simple  diagonal striped in 'Express in Yellow'from Jordana PopArt. And right when it was dry I adden a black twirly floral design.

Pretty enough to serve as the flag of the pretty land I have in my imagination. Hihi
You know, to represent the people of Pretty-landia (Like you for example! :D)

Well lovebugs,

See you around!

X's n' O's

Dazzled

Sy

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'I Have Boobies'

In honor of all the beautiful women (and men) battling breast cancer worldwide, THIS goes for you.

As you may already know, October is Breast cancer Awareness month. Pink Ribbons everywhere to raise awareness on this illness.

I know some people who battled breast cancer, and I'm aware women and men should get themselves examined every now and then. I've got a lot of admiration for those who live to share their experiences with others. My grain I want to contribute with this month is the following nail art. May I present to you ‘I Have Boobies’ a nail art for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

On the pinky, index finger and the thumb I used Metallic Champagne from Nabi, a super girly metallic pink.
The Glittery nail is Paparazzi from Colormates...lots and lots of glitter
The background of the accent nail is Little Brown Dress from Essie, the ribbon is in Picture Perfect Pink from Jordana Pop Art Nail Design and the little flower is a simple nail sticker..GORGEOUS isn't it?!

I was going to do some stamping on the Metallic Champagne nails, but decided in the end I’d better keep it on the simpler side.

Momsikens has been shopping in my stash lately for her very own NOTW. So far I could persuade her to try some very outspoken colors, like for example a bright banana yellow. This week she’s also on the pink side. WHOOT-WHOOT

This is the swatch of the Look at Me from Colormates. The Finish is more on the matte side; not COMPLETELY matte, as you can see, but it lacks shine. Nevertheless I think it’s a beautiful bright pink. Definitely a plus for my stash!

Anyways...this is all for today. Hope you enjoyed!
Any Breast Cancer Awareness look yourself?

X’s n’ O’s

Dazzled,

Sy

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Blue-mings

This time I decided to try two other unused colors in the stash.

The Steel-ing my Heart from Essie and the Teal Steel from Sally Hansen

I named the nail design "Blue-mings", especially because of the little pink and white flowers I added to the accent nail.

I personally feel as thou my nails are just a bit too shiny for my taste...lol.

But Nevertheless I'm in love with both basic colors. I think it's the combination that makes me think twice

The Teal Steel is a vibrant blue with a very beautiful green-ish shine. And the Steel-ing my heart is a high shining silver color...true silver...I like that!

I was going to try a more complicated design...but still I decided to go for something easy in the end, because I was reading a book and I wanted to hurry to go back to it.

This sunday I'm flying to Miami finally...I'm sooooo excited. I'll see if I can do another nail post before I leave, thou the schedule is very tight.
I'll also try to schedule in a couple of posts for the week I'll be absent.

WELL...lemme go attend other bussiness and I'll be back soon.

X's n' O's,

Dazzled,

Sy

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The Matryoshka

As promised, my nails are done!
This one took me quite some hours and effort. And even some moments of wiping the nails completely clean and starting back from scratch.
After much struggling and fighting I ended up with the following look in the middle of the night...

It does need improvement; a lot of improvement. But considering the effort and precision it takes to achieve even this little much, I'm cool with the outcome for now. Not sattisfied... just cool.

It's called 'The Matryoshka' and it was inspired by a gift magnet I received in 2009 from a very dear friend of mine. A very simple gift which, to me, has a story behind it. I really value it more than I could tell.
Simply looking around in my room for inspiration my eyes fell on the magnet on the white-board and with a smile I thought "hmmm, why not?"

So here you go...'The (yet amateur) Matryoshka'.

Colors used to achieve this design: Red Hot (Jordana) as the base color on all the nails. The dots on the middle fingers were done with Creamy Fucshia (Jordana), Mellow Yellow (Jordana) and Good Luck Charm (Jordana).
First I tried to paint the face directly on the fingers...but it was too much of a manouvre. So I decided to paint them on tape, let them dry and stick them to the nails and secure them with a topcoat.
I think I didn't let them dry that well thou, since the topcoat smudged the design a bit.
Colors used for the face were Sea Shells (L.A. Colors) for the face, Brown (Jordana) for the hair, Creamy Fucshia (Jordana) for the cheeks, Red Hot (Jordana) on the lips, a little Good Luck Charm (Jordana) in the eyes and originally the nose and the rest of the eye were painted with a Black (Kiss) nail art pen. Thou that faded almost completely...

Again the whole designing was done with tootpicks and the ballpoint by the way. In two weeks I'm goint to be in Miami and I'll check on some stamping sets and dotting tools. As for now, I can roll with my creativity and some simple everyday stuff to achieve the wanted designs...

Well, this was it. Any changes, any new nails, any updates...you'll be one of the firsts to know.

As for now, I'm off.

X's n' O's

Dazzled,

Sy

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'Rose in the Darkness'

Obviously a person can just NOT wear birthday nails forever. I took them off last Monday and did these yellow retro nails. But I didn't take any pictures of it since (sincerely) it was nothing but yellow nails and black retro-like stripes (haha).
But today I decided I wanted something else. Something a little bit more fancy!

Now, there's this sketch I made for the first time in my teens. I called it, 'Rose in the Darkness'. The whole thought behind it was to be a rose in the darkness and let your beauty shine in places where beauty lacks.
It has been one of my favorite sketches....just for that thought behind it.
So I kinda recreated it on my nails....(yeay)

It's not exactly how the sketch looks like...but it does cover the idea somehow. I hope to show you the real sketch sometime...

The base is black (Jordana)
The flowers Techno Red (Milani) & Frankly Scarlet (Revlon)
The leaves Melon Green (Santee) & Voodoo (L.A. Colors)
TOPCOAT Rapi Dry (Marion)

Yeah right...a whole potpourri of polishes hahahaha

As you might already know...no professional tools have been used to paint the flowers....I used a BIC pen...
The bottom to stamp the base on and the tip to paint the swirls in.
The leaves where done with simple toothpicks.
Hahahaha be creative!!! Why spend a lot on expensive stuff??

Hope you like it.

Dazzled,

Sy

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