Friday, March 23, 2012

A few more challenges!

Happy Friday everybody! I hope y'all have something special planned this weekend. I sure don't, as the hubs has to work tomorrow =\ Maybe I'll go to Target and pick up a new book and/or polish. I just finished reading The Help, which I totally recommend. Now, I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm really looking forward to it now!

On to the challenges! Let's see...... Day 16's theme was "a color you used to love but now hate". Let me tell, I wouldn't even think about keeping a color I hate, so I don't hate what I do have, but there are a few that I've become very meh about. For this mani, I used OPI's Simply Smashing from last year's Serena Williams' duos. SS is a very unique color, I haven't seen anything like it since or before its release. It's described as a tennis ball green, but it's a little more gold in my opinion. I really did like it when I got it, but now...... I think this may be the second time I've worn lol. This is two coats that I jazzed with stamping from my Shany plates, SH01.










Day 17's challenge was called "a color that you think is over rated". This one was a little tough. I don't normally buy colors/brands that people are "OMG' about. I'm not haven't saying I haven't, I'm just saying that's not my way lol. The only one that I can think of, recently, that I did buy was OPI's Congeniality is my Middle Name. For the record, I had bought Swimsuit..... Nailed it! months ago online, since no one locally got the Miss Universe collection. I got CIMMN while in Tenessee for Christmas last year. I like the color, don't get me wrong, but it's not as awesomesauce as I thought it would :P I believe I did 2 coats of this, after shaking the crap out of it to get the glitter mixed, and added some stamping using my Red Angel plates, RA-102.






On to Day 18's challenge, "a color you used to covet"! This was easy for me. There was one polish that I wanted to so badly that, when it popped for an awesome price, I grabbed it so fast. And I'm not the only one that lusts after it; I see lots of people lemming for this color. What is it, you ask. Why, I'm talking about OPI's DS Glamour! I'll just let the pics talk.








And, just because I felt like bragging about what I put on my mom's nails :P Two coats of OPI's Pink Friday, two coats of Finger Paints' Twisted, with one coat of Matte-ly in Love from Hard Candy.




Have a great Friday!!







Monday, March 19, 2012

Four more challenges!

Good Monday afternoon! I hope everyone had a great weekend and celebrated with the appropriate greenness. Hubby and I went to dinner with my folks at the Icehouse, which truly is a rennovated icehouse in historic Punta Gorda, FL, and is now a British style pub. They have a limited menu but the food is pretty good.

Let's see, I have 4 new challenges to show you today, starting with Friday's. The theme for that one was "a color you think is boring". Well, I think to alot of people, grey is boring. Personally, I love grey polishes, but I do have to admit that Skull and Glossbones is a little boring for my taste. I had picked it up awhile ago, intending to use it as a base for newsprint manis, which I was planning to do but that failed. I started with 2 coats of S&G, which covered very nicely.






After looking at its plainness for a few hours, I decided I needed to jazz it up. Enter into the picture OPI's Blue Shatter. Yes, yes, I know. Everyone is tired of Shatters and Crackles.......... except me. I'm actually super excited that the Spiderman collection that OPI has planned for May will include a Green Shatter :P I love how the blue and grey look together, it's one of my favorite color combos.







Now, for Saturday, the them was supposed to be "a color that is blue". I changed that, of course, to green for St. Patrick's Day. My base color was 3 coats of a lemming I finally got again, after having gave it to my cousin years ago: OPI's Hey! Get in Lime! I absolutely love this green. It's not a true lime green, but almost a minty green. It has a little too much green, rather than blue, to be a mint though. I let that dry, then applied two coats of Sinful Colors' Green Ocean with a coat Matte-ly in Love from Hard Candy.







Yestday's theme was "a color that's inexpensive". This was pretty much a no brainer. A few weeks ago, I had picked up Wet 'N Wild's Vitamin C from their Spoiled collection. This was first one I had bought from WNW in years, literally. I must say that I'm pretty impressed by how they have stepped up their game. The one thing I didn't like about this color is that it's needs 4 coats for complete opacity. I'm sure it wouldn't if you were to layer it. Other than that, I love this orange, it's so bright and summery.






And now for today's! The theme for today was "a color whose name describes you". Hmmm, this was a tough one, since I don't have many that could actually describe someone. I eventually settled on OPI's Hussy, the Merle Norman exclusive. Urban dictionary has several defintions for the word hussy, including:

1 : a lewd or brazen woman
2 : a saucy or mischievous girl
  

In my opinion, there's a little hussy in every woman, so here's to us! Enjoy!






Thursday, March 15, 2012

Another 3 challenges!

Good morning!!

So it appears that while I am able to polish everyday, I fail at blogging everyday lol. There just isn't enough time in the day for me to do everything I do. It's just easier for me to lump a few of these together and post them rather than one at a time.

Let's start with Day 9's theme- a color that is vampy. To be honest, the very first one I thought of OPI's Vampsterdam, for obvious reasons :P I'm loving the trend, in recent years, of spring time vampy colors. The first collection I can think of, off the top of my head, that did this was OPI's India collection. It featured a dark blue, Yoga-ta Get This Blue!, and a dark red, Black Cherry Chutney. I own both and love them, so it was no surprise that I had to have Vampsterdam.

I actually have no real problem with the color, aside from it needing three thin coats. I love the fact that it's a frost; frosts are so unappreciated and people have complained endlessly about this one being a frost. I think it gives this lovely color a touch of softness to keep from being too.......... stark, I guess. What I mean is, I don't think I would have bought this if it had been a creme finish instead of a frost. Cremes are boring to me, lol.




Alright, I switched up the next couple of challeneges to accomadate Pink Wednesday. In my opinion, pinks aren't boring, so I switched it for Day 11's challenge, "a color from your favorite brand". As much as I love OPI (and I do! It was my first "big girl" brand I bought), I love Zoya just a little bit more. I just don't have any near as many Zoyas as OPIs. In keeping with Pink Wednesday, I chose Zoya Dita, which I got during their Valentine's promo. Now, Zoya calls Dita red and has it listed as such, but I strongly disagree with that. Dita is what I would call a watermelon pink. It's a beautiful, bright pink bordering on red, but still more pink than red. I love this color on it's own, but I added 2 coats of Finger Paints Twisted and made it all matte with Hard Candy's Matte-ly in Love. Oh, and this over two effortless coats of Dita.







And now for today's challenge- a color from a brand you hate. I can't say that I truly hate any one brand in particular, but there is one that holds a special place for how frustrating it is. Most of the colors I have from it take at least 3 coats to look decent, and start chipping the same day. It may be my application, I don't know, but Sinful Colors really annoys the crap out of me. For this one, I picked a color that I got for Christmas, Hot Spot from Sinful Colors.

I love the color, how could I not? You just can't go wrong with a dark blue with scattered lighter blue fine glitter......... except for the first coat being so sheer. It took me three coats for decent opacity, and I still had a few bald spots. You can see one on my pinky finger in both pics. So, yeah, this will be coming off later so I can do tomorrow's challenge.








Monday, March 12, 2012

Three new challenges!

Good morning! Did DST screw you up as much as it did me yesterday, lol? Yeah, I was all set to post up yesterday and Saturday's manis........ and I ended up going back to bed yesterday because I just didn't sleep well the night before =\ BUT, I did go to Fashion Focus Hair Academy on Saturday and met with one of the instructors. I have such a good feeling about this, I'm so excited about enrolling! I can't remember the last I was this excited about something. OH, and literally right across the street from the academy is an Ulta! I got to go for the first time ever, and yeah, I didn't walk out empty handed :P In my defense, not all of it was for myself, but I can tell this may be bad for my bank account when I start class :P

On to the challenges! I have days 6, 7, and 8 for y'all. Starting with Day 6, which was "a color that you've never worn". Well, the reason I've never worn this color is because I just got it like last week. Meet the lovely Beetle from Hard Candy. Really, it should have been named Chamelon, instead of Beetle, because it's a gorgeous multichrome. At first, I thought it was just a duochrome, but the more I looked at it, the more colors I noticed. I didn't get enough pics to show it, but believe me, it's a multichrome. This was three coats with Poshe over top it.





Day 7's challenge was "a color that you wear often". Hmmmmmm, there isn't a particular color I wear more than others, not since my collection exploded, but there is one that I wore enough to have to get a new bottle. That would be OPI's Purple-opolis. Purple-opolis is such a good standby color; you can wear it year round and it would be appropriate. Imagine my dismay when, wanting to get said new bottle (mine was an old black label with the skinny brush), I found out it was retired! I did manage to get from aveyou.com and only paid retail for it. Pardon the somewhat dark pics, it was pretty cloudy yesterday when I took them. Two coats with Poshe over it.





And now for today's challenge. This one was called "a color that was gifted to you". The first color that came to my mind was Don't Teal My Heart Away from Diamond Cosmetics. This color was created in honor of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. I sent this color from a wonderful friend on FaceBook. I think this may be the first full mani I've done with this color lol. Two effortless coats with Poshe topcoat.










Friday, March 9, 2012

Days 4 and 5 challenges

Happy Friday! I hope everyone is looking forward to an awesome weekend. I know I am! Tomorrow I take the first step in making a big change in my life: going to meet with someone and get an enrollment pack for Fashion Focus Hair Academy's nail tech program!! I'm excited and nervous :)

On to the challenges! Time got away from yesterday, so the Day 4 challenge didn't get posted. The theme for it was "a color that is so you". Immediately, the first one that came to mind was OPI's I Don't do Dishes!, which really does suit me :P I got teased alot when I bought it, and still do, because I truly don't do dishes lol. IDDD is beautiful red that I think just about anyone can wear. Shown is two coats with Poshe topcoat.




Day 5's challenge, which is today's, was "a color that reminds you of a special occasion". The only one I could think of was when my brother got married a few years ago. At least, that's the one that stands out. I wore OPI's Baby, It's "Coal" Outside!" for that occasion which got me some strange looks. BICO is a sparkly charcoal grey; I guess some people thought it was black. I did 2 coats for today's mani, but I could have done a third, since it was a little streaky on a few nails.





Have a great day!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Day 3 challenge and an apology

So, yeah, I know I mentioned I wouldn't be around much for the weekend because I had a hair experiment planned. Well, that turned into a hair disaster that I didn't get resolved until yesterday, and didn't leave me with any time for nails. Long story short: I'm going to leave my hair color alone and not try any wild colors again. Lesson learned :P

On to Day 3's challenge: a color that makes you happy! To me, this was a bit of a no brainer. Nothing makes people happier this time of year than signs of spring, and nothing says spring quite like yellow. I have two yellow polishes, so I chose the newer of the two, China Glaze's Sunshine Pop.

I wasn't too sure I was gonna like this color on me. It's one of those shades of yellow that look kinda iffy with my skintone. Sunshine Pop is very similiar to Sinful Colors' Let's Meet; it's not quite as dark though, and the formula is nicer. The biggest drawback to SP, as with most yellows, is it took me three coats for it to look nice. I could have used a fourth on a few nails =\

And since it is spring here, I stamped a little sun on my ring fingers using Bundle Monster plate BM01 and Konad Special White. Topped it all off with Seche Vite.







Friday, March 2, 2012

Day 2 challenge

As promised, here is today's challenge. This one called for my least favorite polish, which wasn't too hard to pick. I wouldn't ever buy a color I didn't like, so that wasn't problem. The deciding factor came down to formula and application, and that narrowed it down to two of my colors.

I ended up picking OPI's Fiercely Fiona. The color isn't the most flattering for my skintone, but I like the color. What I don't like about this particular is the formula and application. With one exception, this polish is about the worst in my collection for those two things. Application takes at least 3 coats for me because the formula is just horrible and streaky. Suprisingly, my left (picture) hand looks much better than my right, which is still streaky after three coats. It's sad that this one color, out of the 5 I have from that collection, is so awful. It might just be the bottle I have, I don't know; I don't have another to compare it to.





As a heads up, I'm not going to be around much this weekend. I have a haircoloring project, so I'm not going to have alot time for nails. I do plan jumping back in on Monday, so look for a post then!

A day late.....

But not a polish short!!!

I know, I know, I was supposed to post the first day of the 30 day challenge yesterday. Unfortunately, I was so busy at work yesterday, I was just exhausted last night and didn't get around to it. So I will be posting yesterday's mani now, and today's later tonight.

Yesterday's challenge was called your favorite polish. Now, some of these I'll be rewording and such so they make a little more sense. This one I changed to my favorite color, which is blue.

This was not easy for me to pick a favorite; I have so many. I'd say about a quarter or more of my stash are blues. I finally settled on a new to me pretty, OPI DS Magic. I had swatched it, but not worn it as a full mani. Like all the other DS's I own, it's simply beautiful. Magic is a royal blue with purple flashes in it. And, boy does it sparkle in the sun! Take a look!