Aliens!!

The last of my challenge Manis that I have to share! Feel free to rejoice! This day was Inspired by the supernatural. So why not make it fun and make some silly little aliens!

I used:
Base Color: China Glaze - Smoke & Ashes
Aliens: Zoya - Mitzi
Top Coat - Seche Vite

Inspired by a Flag Mani!

This one required a little thought - Inspired by a Flag. I had figured that there would be a lot for the American Flag, I wanted something a little different. So here we go - The Arizona Flag! I have been in AZ since I was very little. I love it here! So why not a better choice - and also to celebrate its' centennial this year.

Heres what I used!

China Glaze - Harvest Moon (Copper Star)

Butter London - Knees Up

Zoya - Tallulah

Wet n Wild - The Wonder Yellows

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen - Black (base under the star)

I started with yellow, and tape mani'd the blue tips. Once this was done I drew on star with the pen, and topped it off in copper. Last, I hand painted red stripes. 

Polka Dots! Feat. Zoya Kate!

Yep!

Another challenge mani! This one - Inspired by a Pattern. Why not my favorite...Polka Dots!

I used:

Base: Zoya - Avril - 2 coats

Color: Zoya Kate from the Bloggers Trio. This is such an amazing squishy, neon, citrus-y pink!

Dots: China Glaze - Liquid Leather

I loved the final result of this one - especially this the black not being completely opaque. It keeps the squishy look to it!

Nails on Fire!

Another challenge mani - this one - Inspired By a Book. Well, since I am still working on the Hunger Games series, I have been wanting to try this out. While I wasn't 100% pleased with this one - the photos make it look much better. So I am alright with it! haha! I was in need of a better nail art brush for painting the finer detailed things (which I have now! woo!) so the Mockingjay was a bit scratchy to me. I am VERY over critical of my work though haha!

Enjoy!

I used:
Base Color: Zoya Raven
Flames: So Easy Stripe Rite in Yellow & Red, ORLY Striper in Tangerine, and Sinful Colors - Bad Chick.
Mocking Jay: Sinful Colors - Pot o' Gold

I after the black had dried I used the white striper to paint the flame shape first so the colors wouldn't need multiple coats to stand out. And on with the photos...

Inspired by a movie - Lord of the Rings!

So now I am finally playing catch up on here! I apologize for my lack of posting lately. Work was a bit crazy, and I was a little under the weather for a few days, the time I had to actually sit at the desk was to get a head a few days for the challenge. But its ended, I'm feeling better and work has mellowed out a bit. So enjoy the multiple posts coming up! At least I can promise some eye candy!

So here was my Inspired by a Movie!

I chose Lord of the Rings! And in a sense I used a "precious" for my base coat!

So here I used Chanel - Peridot 2 coats (the precious!)
I topped this off with NYC Matte Me Crazy - I used this as the art pen seems to draw nicer than on a gloss.
Drew on with Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black
And topped it off with Seche Vite for the necessary shine!

Enjoy!

Challenge mani - Inspired by a Song

I am a bit behind updating with photos from the 31 Day challenge - and I am working on catching you all up!

This was day 22 of the challenge - Inspired By: A Song. As a big Beatles fan -I choose HELP!

I used:
Essie - Chinchilly
Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black
NYC Matte Me Crazy

I learned that with using the nail art pens - that they draw much easier on a matte vs anything glossy. So I topped the grey with the matte coat, drew on my little dudes, and then topped it again to protect the art and give it an even matte coat.

Day 20 - Water Marbled! ANOTHER first!

This challenge has been a lot of fun! I have been trying a lot of new things that I was a little weary about, like this one!

Water Marbling!

I used OPI Alpine Snow as a base color. Then I used three of the four colors from the Essie Poppy-razzi collection; Lights, Camera, and Action. Now on to the photos! I included both hands in this one too!

Left Hand 

Right Hand

Left Hand

Right Hand

Left Hand 

Right Hand

Day 19 - Galaxy Nails! A first attempt!

Day 19 for the 31 day challenge was Galaxy Nails. I was stumped a little bit when i first say this on the list. "What the heck are galaxy nails!?" Thanks to good old Google Image my question was answered. I ran into this tutorial (her tutorials are all very simple and easy to follow btw!) by cutepolish HERE and went to town!

My final results!

My middle nail is a bit of a nub status - it broke off Thursday morning at work. I decided to just deal with one shorter - with the challenge I didn't want to shorten the others and loose the extra space to work with. Once the challenge is over I will shorten the others to even it out a little - and by then the nub hopefully wont be quite as "nubby"! :)

Here is what I used!

• Base - Zoya Raven - one coat followed by one coat of Seche Vite so I didn't have to wait forever to start the sponging.  (the little plate pictured - I picked a couple of these up the last time we were at the Asian Market. They are inexpensive, work well for pools for dotting, painting, and sponging, and they clean up suuuuper easy with a little acetone!)
• Nebulas - (in order of use) OPI Skull & Crossbones, The NailJunkie Daffodil, Zoya Mia, and China Glaze First Mate. These were all sponged on by dipping the torn pieces of the makeup sponge into a small pool of polish, holding it with the tweezers. 
• Stars - OPI Alpine Snow - I used the small pointed tip of one of my dotting tools for the small stars (couldn't find our toothpicks at the time - next time I'll use those for sure) and then the smallest ball tip for the larger stars.
• Top - I used China Glaze Fairy Dust to add a starry sparkle to finished product. 
• Top Coat - a layer of Seche Vite for shine and protection. 

31 Day Challenge - Day 17 & 18!

I broke this one apart from the last challenge update post for the sole purpose of Day 17!


Day 17 - Glitter!

The challenge allows up to 10 stand-ins to save our nails and what not. This is my one, and possibly only stand--in as I don't think he's super fond of whats left to choose from. Yes, I typed "he." This hand is that of my ever amazing fiance! He is always amazingly supportive up my nail art and loves helping me choose new colors, and even talking me into some im not fond of. Yes - I have a couple bottles that I picked out for him to see. haha!

So I asked RJ to stand in for glitter. He was weary at first until I showed him what I had in mind. We used one coat of Essie Chinchilly topped off with a healthy layer (to grab all those big glitters) of Lynnderella Mercurial. He has such short little nail beds it was entertaining to paint them. And no - he didn't leave it on. It was gone the minute I uploaded the photos. He's a good sport, and definitely a keeper! I love him! ♥ ♥


Day 18 - Half Moons

This one was very fast and thrown together a bit. So I didn't clean up as I usually do. I used OPI Pedal Faster Suzi! and DS Mystery. There's some bad wear on my tips - this was after one day of typing at work. Its pretty lame how easily these wore down - but I still enjoyed the color combo and for my first attempt at the half moons - it wasn't too shabby!

Challenge Update! Days 14-16!

Its been a few days since I've posted and I apologize. Life has been a bit busy and Ive had seconds here or there to upload a pic or submit my challenge photo but not a lot for typing up a post.

I do have some swatches to share soon, and after this post I will share my May Julep box!


Day 14 - Flowers
Color Club - Fashion Addict, Wild at Heart
OPI - DS Reserve, DS Reflection
Milani - Hi Tech, 3D

Day 15 - Delicate
Color Club Fashion Addict
OPI - DS Reflection

Day 16 - Tribal
OPI - Wouldnt Shoe Like to Know? & Warm & Fozzie
So Easy Stripe Rite - Silver

Day 12 - Animal Print!

This day was a lot of fun!! I was about to stamp it but decided to try and learn something new and paint it myself. I wanted something detailed and unique so I Google Imaged the subject and ran across this tutorial on Emily's Nail Files. Next time I do this one I am trying the tiger face for sure!

I used:
Base - China Glaze Riveting
Yellow - China Glaze Lighthouse (sponged on)
Stripes - White - Sinful Colors Bad Chick
               Black - China Glaze - Liquid Leather (painted with a art brush)
Top Coat - Seche Vita

And my final results!

OMG! I have a right hand!! This one isnt cleaned up as I originally wasnt planning on taking a photo of it - but I felt it was necessary. As most of you know its crazy hard to paint with your non dominant hand. I was happy how well this hand turned out too - even with how crazy my left hand was shaking!

Polka Dots!

Yes....another challenge mani! This one was very spontaneous and fun!

I had just received  Color Club Revvvolution in the mail and I was dying to see it. So I threw on a couple of coats and grabbed the first raspberry-like pink I saw and dotted away! I really liked how this turned out and plan on doing this one again!


Color Club Revvvolution - 2 coats
Zoya - Dita
No top coat

First sponge gradient attempt!

I was very excited with how well this came out! This was another day in the 31 Day Challenge.

Base - Butter London Knees Up
Tips - OPI INK
Top Coat - SV

Once my base color was dried I tore up a few small pieces from a triangle beauty sponge, dipped them into my new color and lightly sponges at the very tips. I went back a second time and did the same but from the tip down a little lower, and then the same for the third to create this effect.

Disco Rainbow!

For lack of a better title...this is what comes to mind with this mani.

This was my first attempt free-handing with multiple stripes together. It reminded ho shaky my hands can get when I'm doing something intricate. While it could have come it a lot better - I was still happy with the final result. This was another day for my 31 Day Challenge. I created a new tab listed as such to share each day as I go along!

I used:
Base - Zoya Trixie
Stripes - So Easy Strip Rite in Yellow & Red, ORLY striper in Orange Peel, and CG First Mate & Gothic Lolita
Top Coat - None

Black and White Gradient! (Challenge Day 7!)

As most of you know by this point, I have been working on a 31 Day Challenge hosted by Painting Outside The Lines. Its been a lot of fun and I've been learning a lot of new techniques!

Day 7 was for Black & White Nails so I decided to take a second shot at a sponge gradient. (tearing pieces from the triangle make-up sponges, holding with tweezers dab the raw or rough end into your paint and sponge away!)

On this one I used a base of China Glaze Liquid Leather and sponged my tips with OPI Alpine Snow. I wasn't too sold on this result as it felt too separated. So I added a drop of the black into my leftover puddle of white to make this soft grey and sponged the middle. I them topped it off with NYC Matte Me Crazy for a softer look. I was very happy with my final result! What do you think? Have you tried this method?

31 Day Challenge - Days 4-6

I know I haven't posted much the last few days. Most of my swatching has been for the challenge, and the rest of my time home over this weekend is being spent reorganizing the stash. I've been creating a spreadsheet of all my bottles, along with a swatch on a color wheel, and also reorganizing all my drawers they live in. I am hoping to get a lot accomplished on the project today. Only a little bit of shopping for some centerpiece ideas for the wedding. The joys of turning that idea in to something physical and the trial an error. Thank goodness I am crafty outside of the nail dept as well! haha!

I have been trying to use new colors that I haven't swatched for come of the days of the challenge so that I have additional martial that I can post about for you all. I have a couple to share and plan to post those later today for your eye candy :)

But until then, here are my photos for my last three days!

Enjoy!

Day 4 - Deborah Lippmann - Mermaids Dream

Day 5 - Zoya - Tallulah

Day 6 - AquaDaisy - Shazaam