More Magic from Ruby Wing

So the warm weekends scream "outside" to me.  And I had so much fun with my Ruby Wing mani from last week, that I just had to do another.  And I wanted some nail art too!

Here's "Moon Stone" with a little daisy action:

No Sun:

 A lovely pale sky blue.  Perfect for daisies!

In the Sun:

Don't know why my skin color is so different, but check out that polish change!  What a perfect dark lavender!  I can't decide which I like better!

I LOVE MAGIC!! :-)

Day 3, 12 Days of Christmas: Snowflakes!

Yesterday was my birthday, and my super-crazy family took me out for a really fun dinner after work, so now I'm a day behind on my challenge...but it was totally worth it! ;-)

For this challenge, I went ahead and scoured my stamping plates and found 3 plates with snowflake designs on it.  I busted out Zoya "Song" and "Raven", and stamped it with my go-to stamping polish, Pure Ice "Silver Mercedes".  

"Song" is sooo amazing!  It's such a gorgeous blue, and it's so shimmery!  Get it.  So proud of myself for not getting behind on my challenge! ;-)

Check out the other challenge peeps and our hostess Iced Lacquer!

XOXO Alexis Leigh
Purple Castle
It's All About the Polish
A Ginger's Nail
The Polished Mommy
Robyn Loves Nails
Teen Polish Junkie
Mari522 (on Instagram)

Day 1: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge

OK, so I did pretty well on my first nail art challenge with the Halloween Challenge in October, but it got kinda hairy towards the end.  So when I saw a 12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge posted by Iced Lacquer, I was intrigued.  It's not an every-day challenge, but it's more structured than the last challenge I did, which is helpful for a procrastinator like me :-).

So, I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to this challenge, but I remembered that the last challenge really, well, challenged my creativity, and I even tried out some new techniques.  It's good to kinda get forced outside of my comfort zone :-)

Day 1 is "Red".  Easy enough.  But it's for the holidays, so what's a girl to do?  Stamp!!

With flash:

This is Zoya "Trixie" (silver), "Sarah" (red), and "Raven" (black - duh!).  I used a Bundle Monster stamp that I think looks like poinsettias.  This is my first time using "Sarah", and she is beautiful!  Very sparkly in real life, which you can't see in the pics.  I was nervous about doing the french tips on top of the pattern, since I couldn't use acetone to clean up any wonky edges, but I think it turned out pretty good! :-D

Check out the other participants too!

XOXOAlexisLeigh

Purple Castle

It's All About the Polish

A Ginger's Nail

Robyn Loves Nails

The Polished Momy

Teen Polish Junkie

Coffee Cup Paisley

I bought a new, autumn-y coffee cup for the office, since my current one has flowers, berries & birds on it, and it just didn't seem right for the cooler weather.  

It's so cute, I did my manicure based on it:

Fun, right?  I think it's a pretty cool match! ;-)  These are Sinful Colors "Ruby Ruby", "Clementine" and "Pull Over" dotted with Ulta "Chocoholic".  

Better Late Than Never: Nail-Aween Challenge Days 8,9, & 10

This week was horribly busy for me!  In addition to my full-time job, I ended up having to write a report for work till midnight one night, made the kids' costumes, went Trick-or-Treating, and worked on my little Elf Coat business, so manicures were hard to come by.  But I did manage do my last 3 days of the Nail-Aween Challenge, but have just now had the chance to download the pics & do my post.  So here they are:

Day 8:  Witch Nail Art

This is a lovely no-name polish by Love & Beauty from Forever 21 stores, and I was surprised by how much I liked it...it totally reminds me of the night sky!

Day 9:  Pumpkin Mani

 These are beautiful holographic polishes by Chirality called "Just Before Dawn" and "Katydid".  BTW, I found out that Chirality basically means "chemistry" ;-).  The green "Katydid" is a much more linear holo than "JBD", and "JBD" is the absolute perfect shade of orange!  This is 2 coats of each, and the formula was a dream to apply.  Buy your very own HERE.

Day 10:  Any Halloween-Inspired Mani

Yes, I took the easy way out, and used my previous mani for this one (I was busy!).  This is "Pickin' Punkins in the Patch" by Lacquistry, and it is super-gorgeous!!  Jenna has some polishes in stock as of this posting, so click HERE to get your very own glittery awesomeness!  

This Challenge was certainly a challenge, and I had a lot of fun!  Many thanks to Sassy Nails for hosting it!  

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:

datyorkLOVES

Erica's Nails and More

DreamyMM Nails & Make Up

 Tes Did It Nails
Sassy Paints 
Nicole gets Nailed 
Wicked Tips 
Delight In Nails
Polish Groupie 
My Nail Journey 
Get Polished Up! 
Just A Girl and Her Polish
Spellbound Nails
Le nail's corner d'Alex
Hello.Lacquer
Color the world with polish
Cutie Cuticles (nail art by Laraib) 
Wacky Laki 
Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge October 1-31st, 2012 
GLAMOROUS NAILS 
Over The Topcoat 
Polish Gone Crazy 
tragedystipsandtreats
Susy In Color
Countess Nails 

"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!

A Teacher's Secret Nail Blog

At Your Finger Tips
Beauty Is Merciless
Beauty Ninja

Beauty Scraps
Beauty-Shoes-Nails-Fun

ChameleonStampede

Cosmetic Sanctuary
Criminal Nails

Dliteful Trends
dreamy MM Nails & Make UP

Glazed Talons

I Heart Pretty Polish

Just Another Polish Addiction

Lace & Lacquers

Lacky Corner

Liesl Loves Pretty Things

Life in Color! 

Makeup Mom 123
Mandy's Polish

Mani-Curiously

Maria’s Nail Art
Model City Nails
 Art-LiciousNail

Nail Call

Nails and Paint
Once Bitten Nails
Ooh La La Polish!
Pinked Polish

Set in Lacquer

Shelly’s Sassy Nails 

Superficially Colorful

Susy's Nails

The Crumpet

The Fox Claws

The Obsessed

The Polished Mommy

The Polished Pixie 

Things I love at the Moment 
Tomboy Nails

Too Cute-icle

White Jasmine Nail Art

Lacquistry's "24k Shredded" & Orly "Buried Alive"

I had to attend a pretty important/formal meeting at work, so I needed some plain nails.  I thought a dark brown-ish Autumn mani might be appropriate, and I found my untried Orly "Buried Alive" in my stash.  Look at the beautiful golden shimmer in this!  

This is 2 easy coats and they went on super-smoothly!  <3

As soon as I got home on Friday, I had to spice it up.  I used a Bundle Monster plate and stamped it with gold Pure Ice "Jaguar", and really blinged it out with another untried in my stash, Lacquistry's "24k Shredded":

 

BLING!!

Scales on NOPI "Mer-maid For Each Other"

I read a review of Nicole by OPI's limited-edition, only-available-at-Target duochrome polish called "Mer-maid For Each Other" on Nailblog.net.  And after seeing the pretty pictures, I ran out to the local Target and snagged the very last one they had!

I didn't leave it on alone very long, and only snapped a few camera phone pics:

At the beach (oh, so appropriate!)

 With Pumpkin Spice Latte:

If you look closely, you can see the duo-chrome effect from green to aqua blue.  It's much cooler in real life.  This is 2 coats of MFOE with a top coat.

So what to do to spice up a mermaid manicure?  Add scales, of course!  

With flash (you can see a little of the aqua blue here):

And it goes perfectly with the yarn of the scarf I'm currently knitting:

 With flash:

 

Look at how different the MFOE looks here than it does in the first pics!!  Awesome color shift!

I used Sinful Colors "Hot Spot" to stamp on the scale pattern from Mash plate #39.  It stamped wonderfully, but the design wasn't wide enough for my thumb, which is why it looks a little wonky on the edge.  I absolutely could not capture any of the color shift with this lighting set up, so you'll just have to take my word that when the MFOE shifts to the aqua blue, it also goes really well with Hot Spot too.  This manicure makes me happy! ;-)

"Band Geek" - Reppin' It!!

I am proud to say I was a Band Nerd in high school 20 years ago.  I played all 4 years, and I was in field marching AND parade band, with concert season thrown in for good measure.  All band, all the time.

My Freshman & Sophomore years I played clarinet & bass clarinet.  But then I realized that, no matter how hard you wail on that woodwind out on the field during a half-time show, you still can't hear it.  So for my Junior & Senior years, I switched to brass instruments:  baritone and euphonium, baby!!

I was part of the Blue Star Regiment, and my biggest claim to fame during that time was that we performed in the Fiesta Bowl, and I was on TV during the parade, since I was on the end of the row. :-)  I LOVED being in the band, and I made some very good friends during that time, and I was very proud of what we did.  We worked hard and tirelessly, were in Open Class and kicked ass, and we build a camaraderie that I have not experienced since.  I was a Band Geek, and I'm super-proud!!

So, for today's mani which is for Jilltastic Design's "Try It On Tuesday" and for the letter "B" in Lustrous Lacquer's Alphabet Challenge, I chose KB Shimmer's "Band Geek".  This is a beautiful black polish with the gold, silver and brass of the shiny band instruments thrown in.  How perfect is that?

This polish is absolutely gorgeous!!  And my treble clef from a Shany plate over Pure Ice "Jaguar" is the perfect accent, although I couldn't believe that out of my 5 sets of stamping plates, not a single one had music notes!  

I must admit, "Band Geed" is now one of my favorite polishes!  Visit KB Shimmer's website HERE and her Etsy shop HERE...you won't be sorry, but your wallet might be! ;-)

It's MAGIC!! Syn Cosmetics Solar Color-Changing Polish!

I love cruising through Facebook and stumbling upon fantastic polish-makers who have unique and fun creations!  I was sooo excited to find Syn Cosmetics this way!  She had spectacular glow-in-the-dark polishes and, just as I had found her page, was currently posting polishes that CHANGE COLOR IN THE SUN!!  Crazy lady say what!?!  But she had a YouTube video & everything, so I of course  immediately bought both colors she had available.

May I introduce "Sunkissed" (pink) and "Solar Skies" (blue):

Please disregard my newbie stamping skills...I'm still practicing ;-)  I used Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" for undies, and layered 2 coats of my Syn polishes on top, alternating the colors on my nails, before stamping with Bundle Monster plate 321.

And now.......IN THE SUN:

This color change takes place in SECONDS!  Like almost immediately.  And then they switch back to white just as quickly.  It's MAGIC!  And the pink nails really do show up better in real life, although not as dark as in the bottle.  How COOL is that?!?  OK, I'll stop yelling now ;-)

More:

I swear the colors show up better than this in real life, and it's sooo exciting to watch when it changes!  I'm going to try layering 3 or 4 coats next time!

Anyway, I LOVE these, and I plan on topping any black & white mani I do with a sneaky coat of this magic polish!  

You can check out Syn Cosmetic's shop HERE.  Like her FB Page for constant sales updates (I actually got a free bottle of un-released polish with my order during a promo she was having), plus she's super-responsive to posts and is very interactive on her page!  I got my polishes lightning-fast, had great communication, and it was just an awesome purchasing experience all the way around.  I'm going to be getting some of her glow-in-the-darks, and she says there are more sun color-changing polishes on the way, ones that start off one color, and then change to another!  OMG!!  She's also just announced a "Deadly Syns" collection she's working on!  Oh, and she also sells powder pigments and other makeup things.  Lots of exciting stuff, so keep an eye on her! :-)    

Deborah Lippmann "Dancing in the Sheets" Stamped!

When I started following polish pages, I kept hearing about this Deborah Lippmann who made polishes for celebs.  Sounded interesting, but when I saw the $18 price tag, my interest waned pretty quickly.

Until I found out that HSN (yes, Home Shopping Network) carries Deborah Lippmann polishes.  And sometimes, they go on clearance for $10 for a 2-pack of full-sized polishes!!  $5 for a well-touted polish??  Oh, yeah!!

So I've been collecting them, but I haven't tried them out yet!!  So I busted out a lovely dark purple with blu-ish shimmer called "Dancing In the Sheets".  It was lovely enough, but I also wanted to try out my new Bundle Monster 2012 plates.  So I grabbed Pure Ice "Love", BM Plate #318, and here's what I got:

 No flash:

At the beach in the sun:

So the DL was nice after 2 coats, but some nails needed 3 for full opacity.  The shimmer was present, but not as pronounced on the nail as in the bottle.  

I loved my BM stamp, but I need more practice to get the placing the same for every nail.  Whatever, I still love me some hibiscus!  :-)

Overall, I don't think this was the best combo.  The light pink really didn't go with the dark polish.  And the all-over design covered up the pretty shimmer of the DL.  But you live & learn, right?