Sunday, October 28, 2012

Nail-aween Challenge Day 7: "Spider Nails"

I'm getting behind on my challenge, but I have just enough time to catch up! :-)

Here are my Spider Nails!  Some of the little guys have some, er, issues, but they're still fun:



The orange is Sinful Colors "Courtney Orange", and it is a lovely shimmery orange with a great formula.  I stamped the webs with Pure Ice "Silver Mercedes", and the spiders with Klean Color "Black".  I tried to clean up some of the spiders's legs with black polish and a toothpick, but sometimes less is more ;-).

Here are the other participants in the challenge:
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

"Go Pink Wednesday #4"

It's time for another "Go Pink Wednesday" manicure for Breast Cancer Awareness, so I sat down in front of my polish hoard collection to deliberate my next design.  While contemplating my choices, I noticed I was actually wearing pink sweatpants & a grey thermal top at the time, and inspiration hit!  I also rummaged through my nail art box, and found some cool stuff to jazz up the idea I had in my head.

Behold this week's creation:


This is Pure Ice "Love" and "Silver Mercedes".  This brand is $1.99 at Walmart, and I cannot say enough good things about it!  "Silver Mercedes" is amazing for stamping too!  This is 2 coats of each color.
For a change, I used some light pink half-beads for the ribbon this week.

Check out the other lovely BCA manicures created by my fellow participants:

 Art-LiciousNail

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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day 6: "Frankenstein"

I've been wanting to do THESE patchwork nails by Kayla Shevonne for a looong time.  And the stitches totally reminded me of Frankenstein, so this was the perfect opportunity to finally try this out!

I started with 3 Halloween-y colors:  
Finger Paints "Beach Bound" (which makes NO sense to me), Sinful Colors "Big Daddy" (again with the nonsense), and NOPI "One Time Lime".  See that sticker announcing the "Perfect Stroke Brush"?  That's a horrible lie.  The brush is super-thick and is cut at a weird rounded angle.  No bueno, and one of the main reasons I shy away from any OPI-type polish.

OK, so I copied Kayla's patchwork template, and alternated it with its mirror image on each nail:


The perfectionist in me wants to pick this apart, but overall, I think it's a pretty cool effect.  I can certainly say that I am NEVER going to do a full patchwork mani like this again!  This was so time-consuming and nerve-wracking!  However, I will definitely do patchwork on accent nails, and I think practice will definitely make it better!  I am in awe of Kayla's mad skills, because her patchwork nails look fantastic!!  

Go see more Nail-aween Challenge maincures:


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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day 5: Ghosts & Goblins

I found a beauty shop 5 minutes from my house that carries OPI, Essie & some China Glaze!  She didn't have any great deals, but she had a huge selection!  My little boys were not as excited as I was ;-)  

Now, I have to admit to not being an OPI fan.  The brush in the few that I've gotten is hard for me to use, and I have trouble getting polish on the edges of my nails.  And OPI is expensive, and rarely on sale.  Lastly, most of the polish names are annoying :-P  

But here in the face of all this OPI goodness, I succumbed and bought a gorgeous dark blue w/purple shimmer called "Russian Navy".  I put it on when I got home, and 2 coats later, it was lovely...although I did have issues getting my nail side edges covered w/out getting my skin covered too :-/.  

I decided to put on my hand-made holo top coat, and the sun peeked out just long enough for a pic:

So my Nail-Aween Challenge is "Ghosts & Goblins".  I don't know how to make goblins, so I figured goblin-colored ghosts would work:
I just dabbed on Sinful Colors "Innocent", and dotted on black polish for eyes & mouths.  Now that this one is done, I'm looking forward to Day 6: Frankenstein! :-)

Check out the other awesome Nail-Aween manicures:
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

"Go Pink Wednesday" #3 - Lacquistry "Prom Dress"

It's time for a glitter bomb.  And when I think glitter bomb, I think "Lacquistry". So I pulled out my gorgeous "Prom Dress" and put it on for my "Go Pink Wednesday" manicure!  

With flash:


No flash:


Gorgeous!!  I used Savvy "In the Mauve" for undies.  The checkerboard pattern is based on THIS You Tube tutorial by Mo Diddie.  

Check out the other great peeps participating in "Go Pink Wednesday":

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Monday, October 15, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day 4: Mummy Nails (Quick & Dirty Style)

I realized that today is October 15, and I've only completed 3 days of my 10-day challenge.  I was feeling the pressure, so I figured I'd do my mummy nails today.  Problem is that I can't wear them tomorrow for work, so I knew they were only for today.  This may have affected my desire to pay close attention to detail...

I saw THIS YouTube tutorial by Simple Little Pleasures for a mummy water marble, so it was right up my alley.  So I started with a base of China Glaze "Kalahari Kiss":
This is 2 lovely coats.

Then I did the water marble using Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" and "Nirvana" along with the CG "Kalahari Kiss".  Then added a black mask with my striper, and dotted on eyes (my son told me mummies have red eyes):

Meh.  There were lots of air bubbles, and my thumb really had issues!  I like the middle finger & thumb the best, though.  I think if I would have spent more time on the marble design, this could have been really cool so I'll have to try it again.  I just don't have the motivation for a do-over today, since I still have to do my nails again before work tomorrow :-/

Check out the other participants in this challenge:
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Friday, October 12, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge Day #3: "Bloody Nails"

I wanted to do something a little different for my bloody nails in the "NailAween Nail Art Challenge".  Basically, I debated between blood drip nails, and blood splatter nails, but tried to think of a unique twist.  I love how gruesomely real the splatter can look, and it reminds me of the real-life crime shows.  Then the light bulb switched on, and I knew exactly what to do.

First I started with a matte grey manicure:
This is Rimmel 60 Seconds "Grey Matter" and Zoya "Kelly" topped with NYC "Matte Me Crazy".  The Rimmel's formula was fine, but the super-thick brush was kind of a pain to use.  The Zoya almost painted itself on, as usual!  I used 2 coats of each.  This is a quick cell phone pic, and it looks a little more blue here than it is in real life.  I love this manicure all on its own!  

But I had a challenge to do:


I free-handed the chalk-body-outline, and splattered Orly's "Grave Mistake" for the blood.  The guy kinda looks like he's dancing, but I think the idea was a good one ;-)

Check out the other peeps taking this challenge with me:
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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

"Go Pink Wednesday" #2 - "Hanami"

For my 2nd "Go Pink Wednesday" manicure, I used NYC's quick-dry "Downtown" and topped it with Rainbow Honey's "Hanami".  Finally, I stamped it with Pure Ice "Love":




  
Pretty!  I still need some stamping practice, but I still love this ribbon stamp from Bundle Monster plate #321.  

"Hanami" is beautiful, which is no surprise for a Rainbow Honey polish, and this is only one coat.  Get yours at their shop HERE during the month of October, and they will donate $1 to Breast Cancer Research, and you'll get a BCA wristband!  They have other pink polishes with the same deal, so now's the time to grab them!

Here are the other participants in "Go Pink Wednesday", so check out their manicures too!
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