Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Challenge #27- inspired by artwork

Good morning!

So yeah, inspired by artwork for today's challenge, lol. This is another one that stumped me. It took some Googling and brainstorming for me to settle on something. I got it narrowed down to Faberge eggs. Those beauties are really works of art, I just love to look at them. After that, it was just a matter of picking one I felt I could come close to, which was this one:



What I did for my nails isn't the exact same thing, but kinda close. It was all freehand, something which I need to work on more >.< Not bad, but not horrible either.

My base color for this was 2 coats of OPI's Birthday Babe. The crisscrossing was done using Stripe Easy in blue glitter (it has no name), and the red "jewels" are Orly's Rock-it.










Two more challenges left, and then it's time for Christmas manis!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Red Candy Mani for Thanksgiving!

Happy Saturday to all! I hope all my American followers had a wonderful holiday, and everyone stayed safe on Black Friday. Me, I worked lol. I stayed away from all those crazy people :P

Today, I'm showing off the beautiful mani I had for Thanksgiving. I'm so proud of how it turned out, and it was such a hit! It's unique, Imo, because I haven't yet seen a true, red candy mani. I've seen one done with a red base color and pink glitter/jelly, but not all three being red. As I reported on my last post, I had the joy of discovering the red I used for that mani was a jelly. I have a red creme on hand, Manicurist of Seville, and a red glitter, Gettin' Miss Piggy with It!, both from OPI.

What I did was this: one thin coat of MOS, 2 thin (as possible for glitter lol) GMPWI, and one thin coat of Candy Cane Lane from Orly. I let each coat dry before applying the next, and topped it all with SV.









See how pretty that is?! I just love it. I may have to do it again around Christmas. Have a great day!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Challenge #12- Stripes

Sad, sad for this post =( I ended up doing this mani twice. Why? Well, before I could get pics of the final mani, I ended up splitting my index nail, on my photo hand. This caused me to have to take off all the polish and file down every nail >:( Yeah, I was pretty mad, especially since, if you look at my last few post, they had gotten long.

Regardless, I had a cute idea for this challenge. I started, once again, with 2 coats of Kyoto Pearl and let that dry.





Then, I taped my nails off, alternating between a wide strip of tape and taping off above the cuticles and at the tips. For the stripe color, I used Candy Cane Lane from Orly, which to my surprise is a jelly! Red candy mani, here I came!




Now, I didn't intentionally do the stripes in opposite direction. In fact, I didn't even notice until I topcoated >.< Reason being, I did the wide red stripe first, then the white. My right hand came out the right way, but I failed on the left lol. Yeah, the candy cane effect was intentional :P I know I've got some bleed through, BUT if you look at a candy cane, they're not perfect either. They have all kinds of smudges and such.




Monday, November 21, 2011

Challenge #26- inspired by a pattern

Good evening!! I hope y'all had a great weekend and, for my American followers, are looking forward to the holiday week! I'm gonna feature two more, maybe a third, challenge week, since it promises to be a busy one for me.

As the title says, this one is inspired by a pattern. Really, I suppose I should have used this one as the fashion and that one for this one. Oh, wells :P Also, this one is more like a what not to do, since, Imo, it did not turn out as well as I would have liked, lol. Not horrible, but not great either.

I saw this post the day it came it out and thought hey, I can give it a shot. I got myself a fan brush, and while I didn't have all the colors in nail polish, I did in acrylic paints.



I started with a base color of Kyoto Pearl, 2 coats, from OPI. I let that dry without a topcoat. I then followed the tutorial........ Right off the bat, I know the first thing I did wrong: I loaded too much and too far up the bristles of the fan brush, so I didn't quite achieve the feathery effect. I think the rest of it was just a matter of too heavy a hand with the other colors. All trial and error; next time, I'll know better xD I topped with OTD's Northern Lights in silver.







Thursday, November 17, 2011

Challenge #15- delicate print

Good morning! Yes, I'm late for Pink Wednesday; I was just wiped out yesterday and didn't get to making the post. Seriously hope I'm not getting sick before Thanksgiving >.<

Anyways, I took this opportunity to try out two new pretties. This challenge called for a delicate print. No brainer, really, I did some stamping, but first I started with two coats of Zoya Star.

O.M.G. I can not even say how much I love this color. It is so similiar to my biggest lemming right now, OPI's Santiago Sangria, that I'm truly happy to use it in place of SS. It's a tad bit darker, but that's it. Star went on so nice and smooth, it's no wonder I love Zoya. Here's how it looks on me:







Isn't she pretty??? Easily one of new faves. Now, for the stamping, I used BM plates 5 and 16, and stamped them with Zoya Trixie. Yes, yes, I have a couple silvers I could have used, and no, I didn't need to get Trixie, but I did. Trixie is very similiar to OPI's Rinse Charming, but I haven't done side by side swatches to compare the two.





Close ups of middle and thumb nails:





Can't wait to try the other Zoya pretties I got!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Challenge #3- yellow nails

Woot for two posts in one day! Finally winding down on these challenges and I'm trying to get them done before Thanksgiving next week. Five left after this one and done!

So, yeah, yellow nails. I have exactly two yellow polishes now, and I'm really just meh about them both. One I've had for awhile, and I just hate working with it. It streaks so bad, plus it's more a spring yellow than something for fall, so I ended up getting a more golden yellow for this.

Let me just say this: I'm not real impressed with Sinful Colors. The formulas are kinda runny and chipped faster than my other polishes. But the price was right for something that I'm prolly not gonna wear very often. In edition to the two colors in the previous post, I also got Let's Meet from Sinful Colors. While I'm not wild about the color on me, it's a pretty, golden yellow with a touch of shimmer. Even after 3 coats, it was still sheer....







.... So I sponged on Outta Sight Orange from FingerPaints. I just love that  orange glitter and I think it made the mani. Topped it all off with SV, of course :P






Monday, November 14, 2011

Challenge #22- inspired by a song

Good afternoon! Yes, I know, it's Monday, but for some the workday should be almost over! Mondays are typically my day off, so I'm taking the time to post this challenge I did over the weekend.

This one was definitely a pain the ass. I had a hard time picking a song, then deciding on what to do on my nails. I finally decided on Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (love it!), but was still stumped on what to do. I broke down and watched the video for it, hoping to gain inspiration that way.

I sure did! Technically, this mani is inspired by Katys mani in the video, but I figured since it was for this song, it would do. I watched a couple of youtube tuts on how to do it, then did it a bit different.

I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors 24/7, which looks horrible on me (the tuts I watched called for Pink Cream, but the Walgreens I went to was out. Prolly would have looked better with that.) Granted, it's a bright, neon pink, even brighter than China Glaze's Pink Voltage, but a bad color for my skintone. Here are a couple of awful, indoor night time pics lol. Topped with SV, of course, so it would dry quicker.




Ok, now, instead of freehanding this, I taped off above the cuticles and a squarish corner on the left side of my nails. You can kinda see it in the next two pics.






The other color I used for the last part was also Sinful Colors in Innocent. I just brushed it on then peeled the tape off. I did this one hand at a time, one finger at a time. Topped with SV and let it completely dry before doing the same on my right hand.






All in all, this was a cute mani, but the colors looked just horrible on me. I think if I were to do this mani again, I'd use different colors. I'll save these, though, and prolly use them for a splatter mani lol.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Challenge #7- black and white nails

TGIF, everyone! And Happy Veteran's Day! Do your part and hug a vet today!

There's nothing more classic than black and white. It's always appropriate and classy, fashion forward and chic. There isn't a person in the world that can't wear black and white. In fact, aside from my nails, that's what I'm wearing today, lol.

For today's challenge, I wanted to use a color that I've had, but had yet to try: Color Club's Revvvolution. I got it and Fashion Addict a few months ago right after my fall to cheer myself up. I'm so glad I did, too. Revvvolution is the only black holo I own atm. I was completely amazed at how opaque it was on just the first coat! I used 2 coats for this mani, since I tend to miss spots. The first pic isn't great, it was nearly sunset when I took it yesterday.



Then I stamped on "diamonds" to the ring fingers using Konad Special Polish in white and BM plate 9, and topped it all with SV. The next pics don't show just how holo Revvvolution can be.






Imo, it has a good linear holo effect with scattered holo. That's just what I see, though. I love this holo, really wish I had tried it sooner!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Challenge #24- inspired by a book

Good evening! Almost didn't make it for Pink Wednesday; that's what happens when I have to stay late for work.... Don't get me started >.>

Today's challenge is one of a few that I struggled with. It really took some thinking to come up with just one book, seeing as how much I love to read, and I read quite a variety. I finally settled on an old favorite- For the Roses, by Julie Garwood.

I chose one passage in particular for inspiration: how the Clayborne family got the name for their home. Here's how it happened.....

"Cole and Mary Rose reached Rosehill a few minutes later. When she was just eight years old, she had named their home. She'd found what she believed were wild roses growing out on the hillside, declared it was a message sent to them from God telling them they were never supposed to leave, and all because her name was Mary Rose and so was her mama's. Adam didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm. For that reason, he didn't tell her that the flowers were pink fireweed, not roses. He also felt that naming their ranch might give his sister an added bit of security. The name stuck, and within a year, even the residents of Blue Belle were calling the Clayborne homestead by the fanciful name."

I took my inspiration from that, and covered my nails with "roses", lol. Started with 2 coats of Sparrow Me the Drama from OPI and let that dry without a topcoat. I used BM plate 16 and Manicurist of Seville to create the flowers. I was surprised at how red they came out, since I've read there aren't too many that stamp as red, but pink instead. I did go over my nails a few times with the image to make sure they were coverd. I like how they came out.





Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Challenge #30- inspired by a tutorial

Good morning! I hope today finds you all doing well. I'm alright, enjoying the fall like weather we've so earned here. Hopefully, it sticks around for awhile lol.

Today's challenge, although the last on the last, is not the last one for me. It is, by far, perhaps the easiest and most fun one I've done yet. I've been seeing this look all year and had really wanted to try but just hadn't gotten around to it. I really couldn't believe how easy it was!

I chose to do newsprint nails for today. This is one of, like, two or three tuts I watched for this, but they all pretty much said the same thing. For my mani, I used 3 coats of Alpine Snow from OPI as my base color and let that dry without a topcoat. Then, I just followed the tuts and that was it! Super easy!







Not too bad for my first time, if I do say so!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Challenge #4- Green nails

Quick little post for this challenge!  I was kinda dreading this one because, if you knew me, you would know how much I don't like, even the pretty, jewel tones that do look good on me. I don't really know why, I think my mother put me in green way too often when I was little or something. I tend to shy away from greens, though.

For this post, I'm showcasing a pretty much, brand new polish. I got this last year, I think right after Christmas and haven't had the opportunity to wear, not even to swatch it. It is, perhaps, the darkest I'll go in green. What color is this? Why, I'm talking about Fell From the Tree by Nicole by OPI!

It's a pretty Christmas green with a touch of shimmer. It does have a hint of blue, so that could be why I'm able to tolerate it, lol. By itself, while very pretty, I think it's kinda boring, so I bet it would look amazing with either Gold or Silver Shatter, or even Red Shatter, layered on top. Here it is, two coats, could have done with a third Imo, and topped with SV.