"Hey, you're wearing a green dress. What, are you Irish? I bet you're Irish." FO: Dolly Cricket dress!

Nothing to disclose.



I finally did some fancy pictures for my Cambie dress. I decided to enter it into Sew Dolly Clackett, so I took a page out of Dolly Clackett herself's book and took pictures in front of my front door. Glad all my little plants are blooming! 





This was why I added extra fabric to the skirt: to be able to wear it to dance in on St. Patrick's Day. Holding the skirt is part of all of my favorite dances. This is me on the local news dancing in the dress: http://www.news10.net/videos/life/2014/03/17/6549351/



I'm a sucker for a dress with pockets.

I'm not a sucker for a dress that puts the "ass" in "massive", and this does. I didn't add that much to the skirt, so I have to assume that I'm not the only one with this problem. Especially because the waistband hits below my natural waist, it really makes the lower half of the dress look BIG. The fabric design doesn't help. If I remade this, and I very well might, I would definitely take fabric out of the skirt or do view A. This has actually reverse-inspired me to make some pencil skirts and tighter fitting things because this is so big. The fit could have been better, but I always consider the first item done from a pattern to be a muslin. You never know how you will feel about fit until you put in a zipper and wash it a few times and wear it all day long. I know that for future Cambies, tighter is better in the bodice. I will probably wear a belt with it, too, but haven't tried that yet.

I do love this dress and plan to wear it to a lot of the Celtic events that I attend, when I'm not wearing dance costumes and the like. I LOVE that I can wear a "regular" bra with it, and I've been meaning to put some ribbon strap-holders in the shoulders. It's very comfortable to wear and despite being pretty out there (i.e. covered in shamrocks and clover) no one has said anything weird or otherwise about it.

Pattern: Sewaholic Cambie
Fabric: Heather Ross Briar Rose Cricket Clover in Yellow Clover (quilting cotton)
Alterations/Mods: added fabric to skirt
Dress stats: fully lined, vintage metal zipper
Cost: fabric $15, pattern $24 ($18+shipping), zipper - stash = $39
Started 2/27/14, finished 3/02/14

Verdict: Dress B+, Pattern A

Second sewing FO: Cambie!

nothing to disclose




YAY!

Pattern: Sewaholic Cambie
Fabric: Heather Ross Briar Rose Cricket Clover in Yellow Clover (quilting cotton)
mods: added fabric to skirt

I feel in LOVE with this fabric the instant I saw it. I work in an Irish pub; I have a shamrock tattoo; I needed this fabric like air. I had a hard time choosing what color I wanted, since there were 3. The others had a more chartreuse green, and had I been able to see them in person I probably would have picked one of them. But going only off pictures on the internet, I knew this would be a safe bet. (And thank you to Anna for getting it to me!)

I used a vintage zipper that belonged to a family friend whose sewing stash I inherited. It is a metal zipper painted white, that has quite a lot of wear but looks really neat. It quite clearly had been used in a previous garment and removed. I did an exposed zip although I don't have any pictures of it.

I'm pretty happy with the fit of the dress. It could be better, but I was erring on the side of being not too tight because the muslin seemed tight. It doesn't bother me enough to take it in, but if I make another one, I will make the bodice tighter below the bust. The sleeves/straps are GREAT! I love not having to worry about wearing a specific bra for a dress or even a strapless one. I could probably even wear a sports bra for when I dance on St. Patrick's Day.

Verdict" A+ would make again

St. Patrick's Day nails 2013

*All products here were purchased by me for my own wear and review. 
This is: CND Stickey base coat, Gelish base coat, two coats of RCM 'Dress for Success', two coats of China Glaze 'Running in Circles', one coat of Poshe top coat, stamped with BM-221, and one coat of Poshe top coat. Accent nail has one coat of Ninja Polish 'Shamrock Floam' over the CG with a bit of twee & honey 'Viscera' and a coat of Poshe top coat.

Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day! It is a HUGE day for my because I work in (and my family owns) an Irish pub. I see more family on SPD than on Christmas. No exaggeration. Naturally, I need awesome nails.

When "Running in Circles" came out, I remember lots of people saying, "This is the green version of Riveting! It's beautiful!" Somehow this stuck out in my mind and I still love my Giants playoffs mani, so I did a green version based on that. I fell in love with Ninja Polish 'Shillelagh' and 'Shamrock Floam' as soon as I saw them, and had to incorporate 'Shamrock Floam'. ('Shillelagh' deserves its own manicure on a day that I won't be stuck in a very dark pub. And pictures of me WITH a real shillelagh because I do have one.) I bought a TON of SPD polish and was only able to wear a bit of it. I do love green polish so I don't see this as a problem because I have no problem wearing it on any given day.

The interesting thing about this mani is that I completely forgot the Gelish top coat step. And didn't have very good results. RCM isn't the most durable to gels (on me) so that really didn't help. It started to crumble on a couple of my fingers and lead to me taking this off after only wearing it for a couple of days. Also, it looks like tipwear here but it was shrinkage! Poshe! :( Going back to my beloved (and much cheaper) Jordana top coat immediately.

Here's a picture of me with my super cute shamrock shirt found at Target. (tiny hat also from Target!)


I am also wearing Sephora + Pantone emerald green fake eyelashes, but didn't take a close-up to show them off.

My "work" outfit for the day, since I was dancing, was this:


I was very excited to wear my new Jig outfit! Not only is it hella cute (especially compared to my last Jig outfit, seen in the middle there) it is a lot lighter and cooler to wear than a kilt or an Aboyne outfit. And it's one zipper and an apron tie versus five different items of clothing. I'm excited to do some more competing this year, even with the "no polish" dress code. I'll be posting some nude toned manicures for sure! :)

Pretty & Polished 'Irish Brawn'

This is CND Stickey bas coat, Gelish base coat, two coats of Gelish 'Black Shadow', Gelish top coat, one coat of Pretty & Polished 'Irish Brawn' and Jordana Quick Shine top coat.

I am a total SUCKER for any bright glitter in a dark base. I own quite a few polishes like this, in various shapes and colors. If someone put out a line with a polish like this in every color of the rainbow, I would buy them.

That said, I like 'Irish Brawn' performed. It was not too thick or thin and the glitter didn't get lost in the base, as often happens in polishes like this. The glitter application was very random, which I like. My thumbs ended up with a LOT of glitter. The effect on my ring finger made it almost look French tip, which was unintentionally awesome! If I worked someplace other than a dark-ass bar, this would have been my St. Patrick's Day day-of mani. Instead, I opted for something a little brighter which I will post soon!

*All products here were purchased by me for my own wear and review. 

a-England 'Dragon'

This is CND Stickey base coat, Gelish base coat, two coats of Gelish 'Runway For Your Money', Gelish top coat, two coats of a-England 'Dragon' and Jordana Quick Shine top coat.

I've just recently acquired a-England polishes and I am kicking myself for waiting so long. The holo isn't as holo-y as it could be but somehow that doesn't seem to matter with how gorgeous these are (usually it does). They're very pigmented and apply beautifully. I highly encourage you to pick up some a-Englands if you don't already have any!

'Dragon' is a yellow-toned medium green that is probably a bit lighter than pictured here. It has a copper duochrome and a scattered holographic effect. It was perfect to wear at the beginning of March when I wanted to get into the St. Patrick's Day spirit without being SHAMROCKS AND RAINBOWS for three weeks.

*All products reviewed here were purchased by me for wear and review. 

St. Patrick's Day mani #5

This is two coats of my own franken, with two coats of Sally Hansen No Chip top coat.

I would be lying if I said this was anything other than the pinnacle of my St. Patrick's Day manicures. On the nail, this stuff reminded me of astroturf! I ended up passing this on to my buddy Jessie (who makes gorgeous jewelry which can be found here) and  I hope she loves it just as much as I did.

What I used to make this:
- Wet N Wild "Kaleidoscope", one bottle dumped into bigger, empty franken bottle
- Martha Stewart "Emerald" glitter. A TON! I just eyeballed and did a lot of shaking.
- Martha Stewart "Peridot" glitter. Just a bit, to give it a little multi-color effect

"Kaleidoscope" is (as you can see) a silver glitter in a clear base. It's fairly sparse, so I thought it would be a good candidate to add more glitter to. I used a rolled-up post-it note as a funnel, and shook like hell. I added a bit at a time, which made it a lot easier. This, I think, walks to line of almost having too much glitter. It will pull itself off the nail if you don't have enough on the brush. Easy enough to fix, though.

This is my first franken in a couple of years, and I think I'm going to do some more!

St. Patrick's Mani #4: Icing 'Evergreen'

This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2+
three coats Icing 'Evergreen'
one coat Poshe top coat

If you love nail polish, and you love glitter, you need to go to Icing. I know I posted about their Magnetix polish (totally worth the $9!), and I initially ventured in there for it. I found a GOLD MINE of amazing glitter polishes. I picked up three of them, because they fit my March green polish thing:


From l to r: Icing 'Lemme See Your Peacock', 'Happy Go Lucky', and 'Evergreen'.

'Lemme See Your Peacock' is blue, green and hot pink medium-size hex glitter in a clear base.

'Happy Go Lucky' is big green, silver holo, and gold holo glitters in a clear base. BEST GREEN GLITTER EVER!

'Evergreen' is a forest green jelly with forest green and gold micro glitter suspended in it. It reads a lot greener in the bottle than it does on the nail, as you can see. The gold glitter, which is too big to call shimmer and definitely too uniform to be called fleck glitter but looks almost like a fleck glitter on the nail, really makes this color shine. I just wish it had been as green as it looks in the bottle.

St. Patrick's Day Mani #3: Icing Magnetix Green

This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2+
two coat Revlon Top Speed 'Emerald'
one coat Icing Magnetix green
one coat Poshe top coat

If you haven't tried magnetic polish, run out RIGHT NOW and get some. Seriously. It is really, really neat.

I like these polishes a lot, because they have a totally interesting design where I end up looking at my nails a thousand times a day but it's not glaring or super high contrast. The magnet on these is fairly easy to use. It has a cuticle rest, which makes it a lot easier than having to just hold it above the nail. I did hit my nails a couple times, as you can see on the pinkie nail. It was pretty

Since it's March, this was my St. Patrick's mani #2. I'm dying to try the gold magnetic polish, but it'll have to wait a week. And that's okay by me. I do LOVE green nail polish!

St. Patrick's Day manicure #2

This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2+
two coats Revlon Top Speed 'Emerald'
one coat Poshe top coat
'Emerald' is a good medium green cream. It is opaque in two coats and is the perfect green for St. Patrick's Day.
I actually can't say that much about it, because it is simple and very much beyond reproach. It is decidedly green in any light, and never shows black the way a lot of greens do in dark light.
It is also a perfect base for stamping, glitter, or a crackle top coat.

You're wearing a green dress. Is that because you're Irish?

March, for me, is an orgy of green and glitter. And green glitter. I work in an Irish pub, and I do Scottish Highland dance. This makes St. Patrick's Day a huge deal. (We started really planning in January.)
To celebrate this, I do green polish starting March 1st. Today I've got China Glaze 'Holly- Day' on. This is a great medium green cream toward the yellow end of green. It went on streaky in one coat and opaque with coat two. I'm debating adding stamping or glitter over this. Maybe some shamrock stamps!
This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2+
two coats China Glaze 'Holly-Day'
one coat Poshes top coat