52 Week Challenge: Need Marble Mani

I was doing so good for so long.

Now I'm weeks... scratch that, months behind on the challenge. Will I be able to catch up before December 31st?! Will my nails ever regrow?! Will I have enough polish to finish the job?! Will I look like a complete fool walking around with Easter nails in the middle of the Summer?! (Likely, hah) Stay tuned to find out...

For my first new post back from hiatus, I decided to try to catch up on the 52 Week Challenge. When I saw that this week's challenge was a needle marble..well let's just say I was less than thrilled. I've never tried it before but marbling in general was never my favorite. I do have to say it was a quick and pretty easy mani to do, and I suppose for that reason a good one to start with. 

 

Quick and dirty! I didn't clean up, properly file nails, or car about my horribly dry cuticles. Some may call it being lazy, I'll call it being"edgy". hah I promise next time I'll be better.

I was pretty pissed that right after I finished this mani, I saw this amazing one. I really don't feel like doing my nails all over again though. Plus my nails are far too short for any kind of french design right now anyway. *sigh* As you can see my index finger is shot. It split and cracked a few days ago and made me sad.

Pink/Black/Silver Lightning Bolt Tips

As promised! ^.^
Yet another post from "The Graveyard"
Another attempt to recreate Nailside's lightening double bolt mani. Check out the tutorial here! Seeing this reminds me how much I loved doing these, and I think I may have to try this again soon.

Apologies for the not so great photos

What I Used:
Base Color: City Color-Unnamed Pink Jelly
Tips: Sinful Colors- Black on Black
          Wet n' Wild-Silvivor

Worst. Blogger. Ever.

I could possibly be the worst blogger ever. hah I'm going to try to post again soon, but right now my nails are chipped, broken, and cracked(oh and dyed pink from dying my hair hah). I think I have some old posts that maybe I'll show you guys.
Sorry for being MIA for so damn long. Life has seriously been crazy.
<3 you guys!

Pink Wedn-ursday: St Paddy's Day Edition.

I've decided to title these nails "4 AM" hah.. The stamping of these lips came out messy and it reminds me of those late nights out, when your makeup is disaster, your hair is wild, and overall you're just a disheveled version of what you looked like 5 hours before. hah You guys know what I'm talking about... haha

So just a side note, I went to my favorite store to pick up some more Seche Vite, and also got my first Essie polishes yesterday, and I'm beyond excited! I don't know why I never got any before, but I will definitely be buying more in the future. The formula is great and Super Bosa Nova worked great for stamping, and Pretty Edgy covered the tips in one coat! I got some gorgeous colors too, with subtle duochrome micro glitters. I can't wait to use the rest of them!

I actually really liked the foliage, so I kept it in for a fun "bonus pic" haha


What  I Used:
Base: Maybelline Express Finish Blushing Bride
Lips: Essie Super Bossa Nova
Tips: Pretty Edgy

St Paddy's Day Nails-Part 2!

Here's my St. Paddy's NOTD for today! They were supposed to be double lightening bolts like I did here, but I tried to freehand them and do it without tape and it didn't work so well. I'm not entirely sure what they look like now.. maybe more like some weird abstract flower, but they're green so that's all that matter hah.

I know yesterday I said I was going to use Sinful Colors Irish Green a lot this week, but after using it today I think I'm changing my mind. It wasn't opaque at all and more resembled a jelly polish with a lot of VNL after 2 coats. Just wasn't a fan.

Today I discovered, if I actually put my hand right new to my window it makes for some good light. ha

What I Used:
Base:Sinful Colors Irish Green
Dark "Bolt":OPI Here Today...Aragon tomorrow
Tips:Milani Hi-Tech

52 Week Challenge: St. Paddy's Day Nails

As I have mentioned before, I love me a drinking holiday. Also I'm likely part Irish (who in the hells knows, I'm full of European DNA), so I'm all about St. Paddy's Day. That being said, I'm making this a week of all St. Paddy's Day nails. Yay! Who's excited?!?
Get ready for part 1!

Phwabam!!!

My trusty dotting tool in action again! I'm really feeling the dotted nails, and the base green on those nails! It's almost a dark green jelly with green glitter. That abomination on my index finger is supposed to be a shamrock, but I failed miserably. It's been a little while since I freehanded a design like that. It's a good thing you can't see my left hand, it's horrible.

Who says stripes and dots don't mix?!

I used one of my stripping brushes for this nail. Next time I do this I'm not going to do a light color directly down the middle, it's very distracting imo. Also the stripes were supposed to be random and not symmetrical, but somehow I think I managed to make them mirror each other.

What I Used:
Dotted nails-Base: Finger Paints Mistletoe Mischief
Dots: Ultra Pro Leaf Me Alone
Index-Base: Ultra Pro Leaf Me Alone
Shamrock: Orly Luxe
Thumb-Stripes:Sinful Colors Irish Green (You'll likely be seeing this again this week hah)
Finger Paints Mistletoe Mischief
Confetti My Favorite Martian
Milani Hi-Tech

52 Week Challenge: Vintage Nails

This is waaay late!! Sorry about that guys... I was overly excited about this theme and over thought it. hah I do that.. Also last week was kinda crazy for me.
So, I guess I decided to do a "Neo-Vintage" design, because I always think of cherries when I think of vintage. I guess that's somewhat of a modern take on vintage though. I also of course left my half-moons bare in homage of the manis from the 20's/30's/etc. They got a little messed up because I did them last night and for some reason they weren't dry when I went to bed a good 6 hours after I did them. I really have to invest in some Seche Vite again real soon! Ok, done talking, enjoy! ^_^

Decided to have some fun in Lightroom ;)

For the accent nail I mixed some of my loose glitter (a mix of light green and light green holo) with topcoat and packed it on with a square nail art brush. To make all the half moons I used paper hole reinforces, and then touched up with a small nail art brush. 

 

BAM! Look at all that glitter!!!

What I Used:
Base: Finger Paints Don't Make a Scene
Cherries:Wet n' Wild Red Red
Finger Paints Go Van Gough (stems)
China Glaze White on White (highlight)

Pink Wednesday: I Heart Betsey Johnson

I absolutely LOVE Betsey Johnson! I have a few bags, some jewelry, and wish I could actually fit into her clothing, but alas my hips will never fit into her size 10. I'll just settle for using her for inspiration for manis.

I doubly loved this because of the nautical theme. I triply loved it because it's hot pink, black & White and silver. Just a whole lot of love for this one.

Here's the actual bag that inspired me:

So this is not an actual photo of my bag(because mine is beat to hell), but I do have this bag.

What I Used:
Base:China Glaze-Pink Voltage
Stamp:
Color: Sally Hanse Color Quick Chrome Pen-Silver Chrome Frost
Plates:Chains-BM12, Anchor-BM08

52 Week Challenge: Polka Dot Nails

Sorry for the lack of posting last week,  my life got a little crazy and I was actually so excited for the Weekly Challenge and Vintage Nails, that I just over thought it and didn't do anything. hah Sorry guys.
I do have Polka Dot nails, almost on time. Also I'm entering this into Chalkboard Nails' doting tool contest! Yay! I haven't entered a contest in a looong time! You guys should check it out, and enter if you happen to have some polka dot nails on hand (since the deadline is a few hours away.. haha I can't help but wait to the last second for everything! ha)
You can also see the other designs I was brainstorming for this contest here. Hope you guys like it! ^_^

Sorry for horrible clean up.. one day I'll get that right!

Whoops, totally smushed my index finger!

My inspiration for these nails was this pattern:

Can you guys tell??? What's your thoughts on this?

  

What I used:

Base: Wet N' Wild Megalast-On a Trip

Dots: China Glaze-Grape Pop

Finger Paints-Amethyst Atelier

China Glaze-Flying Dragon

Sinful Colors-Creme Pink

Hot Pink Tips/Zebra

I LOVED these! This is another one of those manis that I did almost a year ago so I can't remember the color of the pink. Sorry about that. Wow, my brain just started working again, and I JUST remembered it IS Sinful Colors Creme Pink. Probably part of the reason I suddenly remembered this was because I reorganized all my pink polishes yesterday... which reminds me. I have every polish I own swatched already, so I think I may have "Swatchfest 2012"! Stay tuned...

What I Used:

Base Color:China Glaze-Snow

I THINK The tips are: Sinful Colors-Creme Pink

Glitter on tips: Pure Ice-Spitfire

Stamping:

Color: Sinful Colors-Black on Black

Plate:M57

52 Week Challenge: Newspaper Nails

I've always wanted to do newspaper nails, so when I saw I missed them on the 52 Week Challenge I knew I was going to go back and do them. I wanted to try to do something outside of the traditional newspaper nails, so I did a skittle mani for the base, and also picked pieces out games section of the newspaper. This was definitely much easier than I thought it would be to do, but it did take a little bit of practice.

Note to self: Don't be impatient and take photos in horrible incandescent light again :/

The ring finger is from a "Quote Acrostic" game, and the index is from a "Jumble" game. I liked how it made it a little different from the newspaper manis I've seen countless times.

 

I use alcohol wipes to transfer the newspaper to the nails. I layered the newspaper over the nail, and then pressed the wipe over that and held it there for about 30 seconds, rubbing it lightly 

 

 Something you don't see every day...

My right hand!!! hehe  I thought my index, middle, and ring fingers all came out better on this hand (probably because at that point I had my whole left hand of practice in ha). Ignore the pinkie though, it's dreadful.

What I Used:
Thumb: Confetti Lonesome Dove
Index: China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint
Middle: China Glaze Light as Air
Ring: Sinful Colors Innocent
Pinkie: China Glaze Happy Go Lucky

So Many Polka Dots So Little Time!

I've been thinking about entering Chalkboard Nails' Polka Dot Contest, but I love polka dots so much I can't decide which one to enter. I decided to of course do a nail wheel again to practice and get all my ideas out. Also if you guys want to help me decide which one I should enter that'd be awesome too! ^-^

I broke out my trusty well loved dotting tools and got spotting. This is going to be a super long post with lots of pictures so hold on tight! hah

Sooo many nails...

Now be prepared for each nail described one by one. 


1-Base:Sally Hansen Innocent Nude, Tips:Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Presto Pink Dots:China Glaze White on White

2-Base:Confetti Lonesome Dove, Dots:Sinful Colors Innocent, China Glaze For Audrey, Wet n' Wild Megalast On a Trip

3-Base:Unnamed nude, Dots:China Glaze White on White











4-Base: Hard Candy Beetle (I LOVE this polish, and had totally forgotten about it! It's a great duochrome with hues of copper, gold, green, pink, and yellow), Dots:China Glaze Luxe

5-Base:Wet n' Wild On A Trip, Dots: China Glaze Refresh Mint

 6-Base:Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe, Crackle:China Glaze Black Mesh, Tips:Wet N' Wild Ebony Hates Chris, Dots: China Glaze White on White

7-Base:China Glaze Techno Teal, Crackle: China Glaze Crushed Candy, Tips:China Glaze White on White, Dots:China Glaze Techno Teal

8-Base: Color Club Beyond the Misteltoe, Crackle: China Glaze Crushed Candy, Tips:China Glaze White on White, Dots:China Glaze For Audrey

9-Base:China Glaze Flying Dragon, Dots:China Glaze Purple Pop, China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, China Glaze High Hopes, China Glaze Four Leaf Clover


All the dots on this one are from China Glaze 2010 collection Up & Away, I loved all these colors and bough half the collection off Amazon (for probably too much hah), along with my first stamping kit (the original Bundle Monster one). It was pretty much what got me into nail polish, before that all I owned were shades of black and possibly a hot pink. haha Because of that I'll hold a special place in my heart for it ^-^

One more, fun photo for the road ;)

Anyone else have a special polish or collection, or even makeup product that they love a little more than all the others? What did you guys think about all these nails?! Love it, or hate it?

It's never too cold for nautical

There are a lot of times lately that I have been totally at a loss for a ideas and totally uninspired. I tend to look at other nail blogs I like and take inspiration from them. This design is a knockoff of this one , from That's So Fresh's blog. It's another blog I really enjoy, so you should check it out!

What I Used:
Base Color:Sally Hansen- Innocent Nude
Tips:Sinful Colors-Black on Black
Stamping:
Color: Konad Special White
Plate:BM206

52 Week Challange: Corset Nails!

Ok, so I guess maybe you could consider this cheating, but I didn't actually do these on my nails.. I had an interview and couldn't really have crazy nails, and then Mardis Gras.. I did still do them on nail wheels, (and I did a bunch) so I think that counts.

Tada!+funky camera angle.. I'm really enjoying taking pictures of these wheels! ha

 Boy were these a major pain! I used nail brushes, striping brushes and dotting tools to do them.

 I looked up different corset nails, and decided to try a few different types. I defintely preferd the ones on the left. I used a combination of the 3 new Finger Paints flakie polishes on the three nails on the left, but I can't quite remember what combos I used.
I also used my new Wet n' Wild Megalast in On a Trip for the purple, and I have to say I'm really impressed with the new formulation. It seems to be more opaque, and the brushes are really improved. Also the bottles are much more adorable.

Isn't it perddy? :)

 The one on the left wound up being my favorite of the bunch!