Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 8, Duochrome, Flakie, or Holo

For today's theme I opted to go with a holographic polish.  Hits Hera is a teal holo polish I purchased from Llarowe.  Hit is a Brazilian brand so if you're in the US (like me) you'll have to buy the polishes online.  I used two thick coats of Hera on top of Nfu-Oh Aqua Base.  I applied HK Girl for my top coat. 

The holo is fairly strong under direct artificial light.  It doesn't show up too much otherwise, but this polish is just so pretty and smooth.  Plus you know I can't turn down a good teal!

Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 7, Ombre or Skittle

 
I'm so happy the weather is warming up because that means more bright colors and neons!  I opted for an ombre manicure using Color Club and China Glaze polishes.  I started with a base of Sal Sciences Instant Artificials and a top coat of HK Girl.

Thumb: 2 coats Color Club Wink, Wink, Twinkle, Twinkle; 1 coat Color Club Starry Temptress

Index: 2 coats China Glaze Beach Cruise-r; 2 coats Color Club Starry Temptress

Middle: 2 coats Color Club Ultra-Astral; 1 coat Color Club Starry Temptress

Ring: 2 coats China Glaze Pool Party; 2 coats Color Club Starry Temptress

Pinky: 2 coats Color Club Space Case; 1 coat Color Club Starry Temptress

I got the Color Club polishes from Manicurity's Blog Sale.  It's still going on, so make sure it check it out!  Thanks for reading and check out the other manicures for today's theme. 

Sat-Art-Day: 1960s

It's the last Sat-Art-Day in February already.  This year is flying by!  Unfortunately I spent all of today feeling achy and sick.  I hope I don't have the flu.  :(

I spent a lot of time looking at the clothes of Mad Men looking for 1960's inspiration and found so many cool designs.  I settled on a pink and white dress worn by Megan.  She's not my favorite character but I loved the color combination of this outfit.

For my manicure I used one coat of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials.  I then used two coats of Orly White Tips and applied HK Girl for my topcoat.  I let that dry for at least an hour before using v-tip guides to paint the dark pink, OPI Feelin Hot Hot Hot!  My original idea was to have the light pink at the edge of the nail, but then that seemed like too much work.  After painting on the dark pink I realized it was going to be easier if the dark pink was at the edge.  I then free-handed the light pink, OPI Mod About You, and freehanded some more Feelin Hot Hot Hot!  I applied a final coat of HK Girl and tried to do some serious clean-up around the edges.

I'll definitely be using this color combination again--it is so cute!  Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the other manicures.

Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 6, Favorite Color Family

My two favorite colors are teal and pink and I chose teal for this challenge since I had a lovely teal glitter I wanted to try.  I started with a base coat of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials and then applied two coats of OPI Fly for my base color.  On my ring and thumb nails I added two coats of Happy Hands For British Eyes Only.  I loooove this polish!  It is so beautiful.  On the rest of my fingers I used french tip guides and applied two coats of China Glaze Atlantis (another beautiful glitter).  A coat of Seche Vite finished the look.

All three polishes were easy to apply.  Happy Hands polishes can be purchased on her etsy shop here.  It doesn't look like For British Eyes Only is for sale right now.  It was part of the Arrested Development collection (you must watch that show if you haven't seen it!), so I'm not sure if/when it will be available again.  Check out the other manicures for this challenge day and thanks for reading!

Monkey See Monkey Do Monday: Pink and Rainbow

I love finding blogs filled with amazing manicures.  Today's manicure was inspired by this one from The Polished Perfectionist.  Her posts are awesome!  I didn't have the exact colors she used in her manicure, so I used Nicole by OPI Still into Pink and NOPI Confetti Fun.  I used 2-3 coats of Still into Pink and dabbed Confetti Fun onto the tips.  The glitter payoff was great.  I did wipe off a bit off of clear base after dabbing on the initial glitter in order not to get lumpy tips.  I topped it off with one coat of Seche Vite, but my bottle was getting a little goopy so after the SV dried I applied one coat of American Classics In a Hurry.

 

Shiny!

 

I wanted to try out the two matte topcoats I had.   The index and pinky fingers are the SV/In a Hurry combo.  I applied 2 1/2 coats of NYC Matte Me Crazy to my middle finger and one coat of Essie Matte About You to my ring finger.  Obviously the Essie mattifies way more than the NYC.  The nail with the NYC matte top coat makes the Still into Pink look like it does without any top coat (it already dries a bit matte due to the neon pigment).  These pictures are not very color accurate--the Essie did not grey out this polish as much as the photos show.  I'm usually not crazy about matte nails, but I really like this combination.

 

Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 5, Purple

 

I had a hard time deciding which purple polish to use for this challenge.  I have several untried purples, but settled on using Layla CE 52, which is apparently named Butterfly Effect.  I couldn't find that name on my bottle; it only says CE 52 on the top.  I got this polish on clearance at Ulta a couple weeks ago.  Score!  The polish has a purple base with flakies that flash mainly red, but also gold and green.  

I used two coats of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials for my base coat and only need two coats of Butterfly Effect for opacity.  I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.  

I hope you're all having a great weekend. :)  Thanks for reading and check out the other purple manicures for the challenge!

Sat-Art-Day: Dotting Tool

I love dotting tools.  It's such an easy way to add some flair to a manicure.  I had no luck doing dots with toothpicks or bobby pins.  Don't believe everything Pinterest tells you!  A dotting tool is much more effective.  The end of a small makeup or paint brush also works--whatever you're using just has to be round enough to make a proper dot.

The blue used in this manicure is Sally Hansen Pacific Blue.  I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the white. 

I really like this color blue.  Vibrant, but not too bright.  I have a lot of blues in my polish collection, but nothing quite like this one.  Thanks for reading and check out the other dotted manicures!

Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 4, Pink

Today is day 4 of the challenge and the theme is pink. 

Ah, I love a good hot pink.  I purchased Zoya Kiki during the Zoya Try 3 Free sale in January.  Kiki is a hot pink with a blue flash.  I used two coats for this manicure and one coat of Kleancolor Aurora, which has hex glitters and star glitter (you can see one on my ring finger).  I can't recall ever seeing Kleancolor in a store--I bought mine on Copious. 

You can check out the other Day 4 manicures below.  Thanks for reading!

Monkey See Monkey Do Monday: Hello Kitty

It's Hello Kitty manicure time!  I used this tutorial on Nails by Kayla Shevonne.  For this manicure I used Orly Beach Cruiser (hot pink), OPI Mod About You (light pink), China Glaze Liquid Leather (black), Orly White Tips (white), and Zoya Pippa (yellow).  I added a fimo bow for the finishing touch.  If you're interested in buying fimo canes I bought a bunch from Amazon for like $5.  Everything was sealed with Seche Vite.  Overall this design was easier than I expected, but I think the HK face would have turned out better if I had been more patient in between layers... but I've never been good at that!

Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 3, Gold

Second post today--I did one manicure right after the other!  Whew!  

The theme for this day is gold.  Yellow toned gold doesn't look great with my skin tone, but this combination is more wearable and is actually one of my favorites.  I started with Essie First Base, then applied two coas of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons.  I used one coat of Sally Hansen Big Money, which is a pretty mix of gold and violet glitter.  I finished it with one coat of American Classics Gelous and one coat of Seche Vite.

Be sure to check out all the other lovely manicures and thanks for reading!

Sat-Art-Day: Away with the Fairies

I'm posting my Sat-Art-Day post a day late--I was lacking ideas and I had a friend visiting from out of town.  I finally thought of doing a Tinkerbell theme.

The index finger is based off the shape of her skirt, the middle finger is her hair, the ring finger is pixie dust, and the pinky is based off of her shoe. 

The base color on my index finger is OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, then used a green acrylic paint to do the triangles.  I added a coat of Zoya Apple over the paint.  The base for my middle and index fingers is an unnamed blue polish I got from Tilly's--the brand is Destined.  I used yellow acrylic paint for her hair and black acrylic paint for the hair tie.  I used a little fimo bow to cover up a minor mistake, lol.  The pixie dust on my ring finger was a combination of China Glaze Techno, Milani Gold, and China Glaze Blonde Bombshell.  Finally, I used China Glaze Entourage for the green on my pinky, then added a dot of white acrylic paint topped with Urban Outfitters Unicorn for a little glitter.

I used Essie First Base and Seche Vite for base and top coats.  Check out the other great manicures below and thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 2, Silver

It's finally Day 2 of the challenge! The theme for today is silver. The manicure I ended up with was a little different from what I started with... I envisioned a silver base with a pink heart on each nail, but I didn't wait long enough for the silver to dry and we all know how that goes! So I started over with Essie First Base and then applied two coats of China Glaze Glistening Snow. I placed a pink rhinestone on each nail and sealed everything with two coats of Seche Vite.

Be sure to check out the other awesome manicures for day 2!

My Liebster Award

Cazzy at SpecialGirl Nails was kind enough to nominate me for a Liebster Award. Thanks, Cazzy! This is an award given to blogs with under 200 followers and it is a bit like a chain letter in that you're supposed to pass it on to other blogs once you've received the award.

Here are the rules:

1. Post 11 facts about yourself
2. Answer 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you
3. Ask 11 questions to the people you are nominating
4. Find 11 blogs with less than 200 followers, and nominate them.

Eleven facts about myself:

1. I work for a private investigation company.

2. I have three cats.

3. I watch a ton of Investigation Discovery.

4. My polish obsession started with the Kardashian Kolors that came out in 2011 (but I am not a Kardashian fan).

5. My favorite clothing store is Marshalls.

6. I'm an only child.

7. My least favorite household task is vacuuming or mopping.

8. I can't stand bare walls! I have pictures and artwork all over the walls of my condo.

9. My favorite professional sport is basketball.

10. I tried to hold off as long as I could on buying indie polishes, but now there is no going back!

11. I eat cereal all the time!

Eleven questions from Cazzy:

1. What is your favourite polish? Brand, or shade

My favorite brand is China Glaze because they have so much variety, are widely available, and their prices are affordable.

2. If you created a polish, what would it be like?

I'm not sure what color I would go with, but I know it would be sparkly! Teal would probably be involved. 

3. What's the most difficult nail art technique you have tried?

I've tried to do stripes with Scotch tape instead of striping tape and I find it so difficult to get clean lines. 

4. What's your biggest lemming (the polish you most want but don't have)?

There's a few Emily De Molly polishes I want, so hopefully I'll be able to grab them in the next LLarowe restock. 

5. What do you prefer to post/read about? Swatches, or nail art?

So far I've really only posted challenge-related nail art and I don't really plan on doing swatches simply due to cost and time restraints. I enjoy reading about both because I like to see the new polishes coming out so I can add them to my "want" list, but I also like seeing nail art to inspire my manicures. 

6. What is your best polish bargain?

I think Transdesign has great prices on brands like China Glaze, Orly, Sation, Barielle, etc. I was able to get the It's Real 18K gold polish from Sephora by OPI for over half off during their winter clearance. I've also picked up some Essies for $4 at Marshalls. 

7. How important is neat polish/cuticle cleanup to you?

Very important! I think that can make the biggest difference in how great a manicure looks. I usually clean up my nails in the shower since the warm water helps loosen any polish on my cuticles, but I've also been using a small brush dipped in acetone more often. 

8. What are you wearing on your nails right now?

Zoya Kiki (a hot pink with blue flash) and Kleancolor Aurora (pink stars and holo hex glitter). 

9. What is your favourite nail shape?

For myself I prefer square or square with rounded edges.  

10. What do you think the next polish trend will be?

Obviously textured polish is happening in a big way... but I hope we (in the US) get some cool stuff like Europe has with OPI Black Spotted or Barry M Croc Effect.

11. If you were in complete isolation, like on a desert island, would you still paint your nails?

I feel like I'd probably be more concerned with survival in a desert island situation, but if it's isolation as in I just don't see many people, then yes! 

Now here are 11 questions for the bloggers I nominate:

1. Have you ever had artificial nails?

2. How often do you get a bad nail break?

3. What polish(es) started your obsession?

4. What is your favorite holiday?

5. What are some of your favorite blogs?

6. What hobbies do you enjoy outside of nail polish/art?

7. What are your favorite base and top coats?

8. Do you like the smell of nail polish?

9. Are there any brands you wish were more available where you live?

10. Where do you buy most of your polish?

11. What do you friends and family think of your polish obsession?

Here are the blogs I nominate for a Liebster Award:

Zachy's Nail Buzz 

Grilled Nails

Not Too Polished

Tissle's Nail Therapy

Meg's Manicures

My Wet Nails

Missy's Manis

Abominable Attempts

I tried to find eleven, but it seems that a lot of people have already been nominated or have over 200 followers. :)

Thanks for reading!

 

China Glaze Atlantis

I've been wanting China Glaze Atlantis ever since last year when I saw Scrangie's swatches of it. I love teal and I love glitter, so this polish needed to be with me. I finally found it on Transdesign's site. This polish did not disappoint; it's so gorgeous!

Thanks for reading!

Sat-Art-Day: Amethyst Pattern Skittles

Crumpet's Nail Tarts, in addition to holding the Laid Back 31 Day Challenge, is also doing Sat-Art-Day every Saturday. Today's theme is Amethyst Pattern Skittles. I didn't really go with an "amethyst" color, but I did use a few different purples. All nails started with a base of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials and a top coat of Seche Vite.

On my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers I used Sation Miss Emo Shun All for the dark purple base. On my thumb I used Zoya Charisma for the polka dots. I used Milani Gold Jewel FX and China Glaze Blonde Bombshell to create a glitter gradient on my middle finger. Sation Love at First Lavender was used for the dots on my pinky finger. I also used that color for the base purple on my index and ring fingers. The leopard spots on my index finger were created to Sation Miss Emo Shun All and outlined with China Glaze Liquid Leather. The zebra stripes on my ring finger are Miss Emo Shun All. I initially used a stamper to do the stripes and then went over it with a nail art brush since it wasn't as dark as I wanted.

Be sure to check out the other wonderful manicures below. It's always interesting to see the different ideas people come up with!  Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 Day Challenge: Day 1, Black and White

Happy Friday! I'm starting a laid back 31 day challenge with Crumpet's Nail Tarts.  There will be two challenges each week with a different theme for each of the 31 days. Today's theme is black and white. I wanted to do something a little simple since I had to bake cookies before doing my nails and I didn't want to be up too late. I started with a base coat of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials and used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for my first color. Using the end of a small nail art brush I made dots with China Glaze Liquid Leather.

 

I made the cat face with a small nail art brush and Liquid Leather. I had to re-do the ears because I painted them too close together at first and it looked even more like a dog. :)  Next time I'll paint the eyes further apart too.I put one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on my thumb and topped all of my nails with one coat of Seche Vite. 

Make sure to check out the other beautiful manicures for Day 1!  Thanks for reading. :)