Copy Cat Sat - A Polish Addict

Today, I want to share with you some pretty nails I saw last week, and had to re-create. This is what I wore to my first day at my new job (I didn't want to scare them!). This is from A Polish Addict, and it was so sweet and pretty, I just had to do it. As usual, I'm not using the same colors, but they are pretty similar. I wanted to try out some of the polishes that I have had sitting in my stash for a little while which I haven't used.

This is a base of Zoya Lo, which my mom gifted me recently, and I am in love with - thanks Mom! Look at how pretty it is! As usual, it went on in two flawless coats (I LOVE ZOYA!) and it looks gorgeous on its own. I used Zoya Kimber for the french tip. I've been dying to use this, but it is a mini, so I feel like I have to conserve it and use it all sparingly. Who am I kidding? If I ever run out, I'll find a way to get my hands on another bottle.

Last, I did a little stripe of OPI Excuse Moi (from the Muppets Collection!). I am slowly getting better at striping. These lines are almost perfect, which I am very happy about. And I did something I RARELY do. I put something on my nails other than nailpolish. I was going to go without the rhinestone, but it just didn't look right, so I had to. I had these in with my scrapbooking supplies, and never would have used them in a scrapbook, so they have offically been moved to my nailpolish collection.

I'm pretty happy with this manicure, although I can't stop picking at the rhinestones. Thank you so much for looking. Please let me know what you think. Also, if you see anything that you would like for me to try to recreate (with my own spin on it, of course) please leave me a comment. I will eventually run out of ideas, and I would love some input from my faithful readers!

Progressive Nail Art

Literally - Progressive Insurance. My fellow bloggers in Australia are even hearing more about this company through Kitty (that's Australia's Flo), so hopefully this won't seem too obscure. I did some nail art for an event we held recently, and just wanted to share it. I love Progressive - so here is my insurance nail art. :)

Here is some of my inspiration.

For these nails I used Pure Ice Superstar!, Revlon First Class, Zoya Arizona, essie Apertif, Pure Ice Black Rage, and Salon Perfect Blue Raspberry.

Here is a close-up of each nail:

I'm loving these nails. They are definitely not something that I would normally do, and it was fun to try to create some nails using Progressive Insurance as a theme. I hope you like my nail art. Thanks for looking!

Copy Cat Sat - My Pretty Nailz

My nails this week are inspired by Deriniti at My Pretty Nailz, aka the queen of Konad. Seriously, this lady is GOOD. I was inspired by the way she used multiple plates to stamp several different designs on her nails. I decided to give it a go, and since I want something summery, I thought it would be a great time to try out Zoya Arizona. I have had this lovely color for a while now, but hadn't had a chance to wear it yet. Now that it is on, I am in love. Love. Anyway here is what I ended up with!

Zoya Arizona, Misa Party In The Masquerade, Pure Ice Black Rage and L.A. Colors Gold Glitter

Here is Arizona by herself - isn't she lovely?? Who would have thought an orange would look good on me? This is seriously one of the prettiest oranges I have ever seen. Love it!

Here it is after I added Misa Party In The Masquerade, which is a polish I won from a giveaway a while back. It is very neon. I had not realized this when I looked at it in the bottle. I really like it!

After this, I just added my stamping...which didn't go so well. I thought I picked a small enough stamp for my little nails, but it really only ended up fitting well on  my thumb. Whoops. After stamping, I added some gold glitter with a L.A. Girls striper polish I got at the dollar store, and that was that.

The plates I used are Mash-50 and Mash-43. Not my favorite mani ever, but I am really happy with the colors I picked. It is quite summery. I really do love my thumb. Here is a pic. I wish all the nails looked this good. *Sigh*

Deriniti has it down to a science, I'm telling you this girl is a stamping genius! Thanks for looking! I have a special manicure I'm working on already for next week, so make sure you don't miss it! :)

Appreciation Award

Hooray! I received an award from Kelsie's Nail Files a few days ago - thank you, Kelsie! It makes me so happy to know that there are people out there who like reading my blog and appreciate the time I put into it. Here it is!

Isn't it cute?! So, without further ado, here are the 10 blogs I have chosen to pass it on to. These are blogs that I follow almost religiously (and who, as far as I could tell, had not already been nominated for this award).

1. Charlotte - Charlotte's Nails
2. Vane - Confessions of a Polishaholic
3. Dahlia - datyorkLOVES
4. Laurie - Dressed Up Digits
5. Cathy - Hiyooitscat Beauty Diaries
6. Lacey - Lace & Lacquers
7. Kat - Lacquer Pamper
8. Deriniti - My Pretty Nailz
9. Samantha - Nail Art Couture
10. Melissa - Passion For Polish

Thanks ladies, for putting in the time and effort - I love reading your blogs and I'm so happy to share this award with you!

Copy Cat Wed

Late again, but better late than never, right?! Today, I have a manicure that is probably what first inspired me to start blogging my own nail art. I saw this on Pinterest, and then instantly became addicted to this blog. Chloe's Nails has some of the best tape manis I have seen, and now that I have it down, I decided to take on something a bit more challenging. She calls this a 'quilted mani'. I used different colors for mine, but kept the same general concept. Take a look!

This is Kat Von D Wonderchild, Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, Spoiled Black Mamba, and Sally Hansen Gem Crush Be-Jeweled



 Here is Kat Von D Wonderchild on it's own I won this pretty from a giveaway from Set In Lacquer! Thanks again!

Here is a closeup of my thumb. I'm really happy with how this turned out.

I realized after I finished that it would have been way easier if I had started with the triangle at the tip of the nail. This way I could have seen the lines of my 'x' and ensured that they were centered. When I attempt this one again, I will definitely try it that way to get it to look more perfect. 

Here it is with the flash!

I love the way this turned out, and was excited to get to use this polish I had won a while back. It's a great purple, and applied very nicely in just two thin coats. It will definitely be a go-to purple for me in the future. Thanks for looking! What do you think about my 'quilted mani'?

10 Day/Week Challenge - Inspired by a Book...Cover

For this mani, I spent a long time thinking about some of the books I've read over the past few years that I really enjoyed, and tried to come up with some nail art ideas. As I was looking at my copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I was inspired by the cover. I think the design turned out to be pretty cool. I painted my nails yellow first with Spoiled Did I Dye It Too Blond? and then stamped over it very randomly with Color Club Twiggie. For this I used Mash-43 and Mash-49. That doesn't really matter so much as I only took bits and pieces from the stamps with the thin lines and actually tried not to use the whole image. After that I did the same thing using just Mash-49 with Spoiled Jail Bait. I think it turned out pretty cool. Take a look!

With the flash

Without the flash

 Here is an image of the book I used as my inspiration.

Overall, I am pretty happy with this one. The colors matched the book cover pretty well, and I had fun doing it. Thanks for looking!

Blog Hop & A Little Stamping Over Yesterday's Mani

I am participating in a blog hop and have already discovered a couple of new blogs that look like they are going to become some of my favorites! To join in on the blog hop, visit Island Girl Insights.

I decided my gradient looked too boring after the initial excitement of success wore off. :) I decided it was time to play with some of my new Mash plates. This is Mash-45 stamped in white over my gradient from yesterday.

Oh also, I tested out an image from Mash-42 over this gradient on my thumb and I totally hate it. It reminds me of the bathroom at a Taco Bell..from the 90's. Ick. This stamp would probably look awesome over some neons, though. I'll have to try that eventually.

I will try to have an actual Copy Cat Sat for you tomorrow, so we will see. I've got lots going on! I also have to do a mani for my 10 Day/Week challenge. I may have to change the name to 10 Day/Week/Month challenge. Whoops.

Copy Cat Sat - Nailasaurus

You may be wondering why you are reading a Copy Cat Sat on a Thursday night. Well why not? Oh right, because it's supposed to be done on Saturdays...Well, I've told you before, I am late quite frequently. I didn't want you to feel like you missed out last Saturday, and I had a little time today, so here you go.

This one is from Nailasaurus. It is because of her, that I have done my first successful gradient. So, yay! I love the way this looks, and I'm probably going to do a bunch of these in the future. It's not perfect, but it's definitely better than any of the other attempts I have made. :) This is Revlon Colorstay Cafe Pink and Spoiled Distant Memory.

A little side on Revlon Colorstay in Cafe Pink: It's kind of bad. I mean, the color is very nice, and I have used it before dotting over other colors without a problem. But when it comes to actually painting the whole nail this color, ugh. It went on very streaky/patchy. I had to do three coats to get it all to look (somewhat) even, and it just really didn't want to go on nicely. If I wasn't in such a hurry, I would have needed even more coats to look perfect, but I knew I was just going to cover it up with something else, so I didn't worry about it. Also, by day 2, even with topcoat, it had chipped up pretty bad. It was just all-around a yucky experience. Here it is on it's own - this is day two, so you can see it is chipped up, and has some tip wear.

I also wanted to show you how I kept cleanup to a minimum - tape of course! I taped off my nails, like you would for a water marble. When I was done, I only had a very small amount around the cuticle to clean up. Here's a picture of my nails all taped off.

Here's a pic of my work area, and what the sponges looked like when I was done.

Now, here is a picture of a booboo. Haha - in one spot on my thumb, I apparently taped over the nail by mistake. I was tired, so I'm not surprised. :) I am sharing this just as a reminder to be careful when taping off your nails to keep the tape off the actual nail. You would think this could go without saying, but if it happened to me, it will happen to someone else. Or at least that's what I would like to think. :)

Oh and also, I am happy to inform you that all the boring nails and hustle and bustle has paid off. I found out yesterday afternoon that I got the job I was interviewing for. Yay me! I am still working for the same company, because I love it there. It's just in a different department, where I get to learn some new things, use the skills I have learned so far in college, and get paid a little more (yay for that!). So, hopefully that can explain to a little bit about why I don't dedicate as much time to this blog as some other bloggers do. I just have a lot going on, but I love doing my nails, and I still need that time out, so you will definitely still see many more posts from me.

One Lucky Lady!

So, I know I posted a while back that I had won a giveaway from Beauty Crazed in Canada. I just wanted to share what I won, because it is truly unbelievable, and I still can't believe how generous these girls were. I took a bunch of photos of everything when it showed up in the mail, and am finally getting around to posting them. There are a LOT of pictures here, so bear with me. :)

Here we go!

4 minis from the OPI Muppets Collection! Eeeee! Wocka Wocka, Excuse Moi, Designer - de better!, & Warm & Fozzie. :)



3 different designs from Sally Hansen - I especially love the one in the middle (of course - I love tattoos!)

 

Stick on nails. I've never tried these, so it will be fun to wear these out somewhere. :) Love the pink!

 

More awesome stick on nail designs - I can't wait to try these out, either!



Goodies from Avon! mark. Shocking Purple & Tickled Pink, Avon Mosaic Effects Topcoat in Black, and AVON Gleaming Gold.

I can't wait to try out the mosaic effects! It looks so cool!

Nail stickers! Another item I have never tried out before - yeah!

Anna Sui Nail Color in Brilliant Orange

Misa Polishes - I don't have any of this brand! This is Party in the Masquerade & What a Wonderful Day.

Yay essies! This is Apertif and Meet Me at Sunset. Woohoo!

OPI stuff - Nicole by OPI Sealed with a Kris and Rainbow in the S-Kylie, with Sephora by OPI in Blasted Gold. Nice!

Lancome Rouge Saint Honore &Shu Uemura Coquettish Brown. Fancy! I can't afford this high end stuff, so this amazes me.

More polish I never could have afforded  - YSL Duo Terriblement Noir No. 6 in Shiny Black and Matte Black. What?! :)

Last but not least, a nice little pouch of tools, (which wan't even shown in the original giveaway pic, making it a lovely extra in my opinion) including a metal pusher & scissors, which I didnt have! Yay!



So, there it is. I'm still in shock. When I picked up this package from the post office, I literally squeeled, like this 'Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!'. And then I giggled. :) This has added a tremendous amount to my collection, and I will have My Polish Stash page updated shortly. I will be sure to get going with some nail art that uses these items, so you can see them. I just have to decide what I'm going to use first!

A great big THANK YOU (again) to Beauty Crazed in Canada! You girls rock, and I am so very grateful for this wonderful gift!

Also, I swear I will be posting an actual mani here soon. School is crazy as usual, and I have had boring nails due to some work stuff. I'll probably post a new mani tonight, or tomorrow.

A Little Organization In My Life: EDIT - I figured out where these drawers are from!

My mom and dad had a garage sale this past weekend, and I went over to their house to help out. My mom had told me about these drawers she had been using in one of the bathrooms under the sink that were no longer needed, and thought they would be a good height to store my nailpolish, which previously was scattered about my living room floor in overflowing makeup bags and a caboodle I got when I was just a kid. I wanted to share with you all how much this helped out with my storage needs, so I took a few pictures. She ordered these stackable drawers online and doesn't remember where she bought them from, which is a bummer because I could definitely use a third one. For now, though, these are perfect and I put everything else that didn't fit back in the caboodle. Take a look!

Here is the view from the front

Top view! (That big container in the back corner is remover)

This is a little over 100 bottles of polish + my konad/mash plates

 These two drawers fit under my bathroom sink with room to spare. I could actually fit three under there without a problem. I'm going to keep investigating to see if I can figure out where these are from. If/when I find out, I will definitely share. This is a great alternative to the Helmer/Melmer if you want to be able to put them somewhere out of the way, like in a vanity cabinet. If the area under my sink was dedicated just to these drawers, I could easily fit 3 high and 3 across, which means you could potentially store 350-400 polishes with these under your sink!

EDIT - I figured out where the drawers are from! My mom ordered them online from Organize-It.