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:


Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: ,

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:
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , ,

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":

Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , ,

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:
Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: , , ,

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:
Posted by at 5 comments:
Labels: , ,

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!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Nail-Aween Challenge, Day 2: Matte Doticure & Matte Top Coat Comparison

This past week at work was pretty tough, and I was too wiped out at night to change my manicure, so I went pink all week.  But it's the weekend, and I did Day 2 of the Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge:  Matte Dotticure.  

I'm still not totally confident in my dotting ability, so this was truly a challenge for me.  I've had this one in my "Must-Do-Mani's" Pinterest Board for a while now, so I figured it was time to give it a go!  

I used Orly's "Grave Mistake" and "Decoded" for a dark, vampy-like effect.  I also took this opportunity to compare Butter London "Matte Finish" & NYC "Matte Me Crazy", and I used both to matte-ify the dotticure, just to see if there was any difference (besides the price).

This mani was hard for me to photograph.  Here's with flash:



Here's no flash:



Can you tell a difference between the matte top coats?  Neither could I!  Butter is on the pinky & ring fingers, and NYC is on the others.  The Butter's brush dragged my dots when I first applied on the pinky, so I used a much thicker coat & lighter touch for the ring finger, and got much better results.  I had no issues w/NYC.  Dry time was about the same.  Butter retails for $18 for 17.5ml, and NYC is $2 for 9.7ml; a "normal" bottle of nail polish is 15ml, so these are kind of weird amounts.  I know which one I'll be stocking up on ;-)

As far as the dotticure goes, it's okay.  I'm not liking the transition line, which is supposed to be the coolest part.  But I'm glad I finally tried out this technique, and I know it will look better the next time I do it! ;-)

Here are the other peeps doing this challenge with me, so check 'em out!



Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)