ChinaGlaze
Holidays
ILNPBrand
Indie
Nails
SallyHansen
WinstoniaStore
Halloween Nails with Birefringence.
I did some early Halloween nails today with I Love Nail Polish, Ultra Chrome: Birefringence & China Glaze Fairy Dust. I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep and used Winstonia Store plates W116 & W102. I finished with a topcoat of Seche Vite. I absolutely love how these turned out! Birefringence changes so many colors at different angles, and the China Glaze Fairy Dust gives it sparkle.
Amazon.com
DIY
Lightbox
Nails
Photography
Updated DIY Lightbox.
I've made a few small changes to my DIY Light Box. (You can see the original post here). The biggest change was that I got some white contact paper from Dollar Tree and covered the back and bottom with it. I was getting too much cardboard in the background in some of my photos. I replaced the 2 pieces of paper over the contact paper.
The 2nd change was I now only have one light facing through the tissue paper. The left light stays in the same position. What I started doing with the right clamp lamp was pointing it diagonally inside the right corner of the box. Occasionally depending on how I want the lighting I also sometimes put it inside the left corner too. Or if I want to get really creative and I need just the right lighting, I sometimes balance the clamp lamp in the crook of my right elbow while taking photos of my right hand, lol!
I edit all of my photos using PaintShop Pro Photo XI. What I normally do first is crop and sharpen my photo. Then I usually increase the brightness by 15, maybe more. I also increase the saturation to 5 to boost the color. Then I run it through the photo effect called Time Machine: Cross Process. Most all my photos go through this filter. (That's why you see a black and white frame around my photos). I usually set the effect to 2 or 3. (For pet photos I set the effect to 5.)
Products I use and own:
(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)
The 2nd change was I now only have one light facing through the tissue paper. The left light stays in the same position. What I started doing with the right clamp lamp was pointing it diagonally inside the right corner of the box. Occasionally depending on how I want the lighting I also sometimes put it inside the left corner too. Or if I want to get really creative and I need just the right lighting, I sometimes balance the clamp lamp in the crook of my right elbow while taking photos of my right hand, lol!
Updated photos of my DIY light box currently:
I also position my lights like this:
What my DIY light box looked like before:
Since using the DIY lightbox I've stopped using the auto setting on my Sony Cybershot W690. I don't use a flash when I'm taking photos in the light box. I also set my white balance to something called setting 1 for florescent lighting. My photos were looking too red with the auto setting. (Sony camera's take warmer photos).
Out of camera photo before editing:
Edited:
I edit all of my photos using PaintShop Pro Photo XI. What I normally do first is crop and sharpen my photo. Then I usually increase the brightness by 15, maybe more. I also increase the saturation to 5 to boost the color. Then I run it through the photo effect called Time Machine: Cross Process. Most all my photos go through this filter. (That's why you see a black and white frame around my photos). I usually set the effect to 2 or 3. (For pet photos I set the effect to 5.)
***Original DIY light box instructions were posted by The Daily Varnish***
Products I use and own:
(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)
Beauty
Birthday's
Coffee
Family
Indie
MessyMansion
Nails
OPI
WinstoniaStore
Belated Birthday Gifts!
Tuesday morning after the Government Shutdown set in and I was told not to report to work, I got a nice surprise in the mail. Belated Birthday gifts from my cousin in Georgia. Boy... did I ever need that to cheer me up!
At least I got to take my mind off the shutdown by doing some swatches of my new polish.
This is OPI Dining Al Frisco. I could have gotten away with just one coat the formula was that nice. But I did 2 coats & 1 of Seche Vite topcoat. I stamped with Messy Mansion plate MM20.
OPI Solitare. I've wanted this actually, it reminds me of snow. It's a pretty white texture polish with silver sparkles. I needed 3 coats. I stamped with Winstonia Store plate W120. I used OPI Dining Al Frisco for the snowflakes. I can't wait until it's cold enough to wear this design again.
OPI Gargantuan Green Grape, is a pretty light mint color. The formula is runny though, I needed 3 coats and 1 coat of Seche Vite topcoat. I used Messy Mansion plate MM06 for the design.
Life
Philadelphia
Shutdown
Government Shutdown...
Photo from CNN
Tuesday at 12am, the US Government failed to agree on a new fisical budget, and the Government shut down. I don't talk about my job too much on this blog. I've worked for the Dept of the Treasury, for the past 11 years. All non essential government employees were placed on immediate furlough. 800,000 federal employee's now have no job and no paycheck. Myself included.
We only have one income. We are not rich, we live paycheck to paycheck. This morning I had to put in a request to borrow money from my credit card and opened my claim for unemployment. The last shutdown back in the 90's lasted 21 days... that's far too long to go without a paycheck. National parks and monuments are closed. The House and Congress do not understand how this effects regular people- because they are still getting a paycheck while they bicker about the budget. I'm not sure how long this shutdown will last... but it's scary...
Indie
Nails
NiresDesire
Nire's Desire Polish
I discovered Nire's Desire Polish last week while looking on Etsy for indie nail polishes. The two that caught my eye reminded me a little of the elusive and very hard to get Emily De Molly polishes from Australia: Cosmic Forces & Oceanic Forces. The polishes I ordered from Nire's Desire are called Bubble's Berries & Cosmos-tology.
They aren't exactly dupes, just similar in that they have those gorgeous large holographic circle glitter's. Though I do think Bubble's Berries is quite similar in color to Cosmic Forces. Cosmos-tology is more blue than Oceanic Forces which is more green. (See swatches of Cosmic Forces & Oceanic Forces on: The Mercurial Magpie.) There's more glitter in Nire's Desire Polish which I like. They are both stunning, and have definitely taken away my hankering for trying to obtain the Emily De Molly versions. (I'm surely not paying $44 for Cosmic Forces on eBay!)
Bubble Berries
They aren't exactly dupes, just similar in that they have those gorgeous large holographic circle glitter's. Though I do think Bubble's Berries is quite similar in color to Cosmic Forces. Cosmos-tology is more blue than Oceanic Forces which is more green. (See swatches of Cosmic Forces & Oceanic Forces on: The Mercurial Magpie.) There's more glitter in Nire's Desire Polish which I like. They are both stunning, and have definitely taken away my hankering for trying to obtain the Emily De Molly versions. (I'm surely not paying $44 for Cosmic Forces on eBay!)
Bubble Berrie's in the sun:
Lightbox Photos:
I used 3 thin coats for each polish. I didn't have to go digging too much for the glitter. Though I did fish out a few of the circle glitter with a toothpick. I also did 2 coats of Seche Vite topcoat, which brought out the sparkle even more.
Cosmos-tology in the sun:
Lightbox Photos:
