52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge - Skittles + Red and Pink

Happy Friday everyone! I am so ready for the weekend, oh my goodness. For this week's challenge, I combined the prompts again. As much as I would love to post every day, it is just not happening for me, so here I am only posting 2-3 times a week. Oh well, it could be worse I suppose. Since I didn't want my mani to look to Valentine's Day-esque, I decided to throw some black in there too. It gave me a reason to play with a glitter I haven't used yet, too!

I started off with Nicole by OPI Be Ama-Zing! for my base. On my pinky, I added two coats of Maybelline Color Show At Heart. It is various sizes and shapes of red and black glitters. The red polish I used, is from the same set: Nicole by OPI Challenge Red-y. I used striping tape for the designs on my middle and ring fingers and the stamp I used on my thumb is from Bundle Monster plate BM-412. I stamped in red, then used Pure Ice Black Rage to dot on little accents. I feel like I haven't quite mastered the skittle. I always feel like mine look awkward...haha.

Here is what Nicole by OPI Be Ama-Zing! looks like on it's own. It's a lovely pink cream with blue undertones, and is very opaque. This is two coats, plus a coat of Seche Vite.

Thank you so much for looking, and have a safe and happy 4th of July! I'll be back Sunday with something new to show off. :)

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My Favorite Image from MoYou Suki XL Plate 06

Hi everyone! So, I have been doing a challenge where I pick a plate and then do a mani each week with the same plate for the entire month. I chose this Suki plate because I totally love it, but have hardly used any of the images on it. Today, I am showing off an image that I knew had great potential, but couldn't quite figure out how to help it shine. Oh my goodness, I figured it out!

I started off with 3 coats of Maybelline WC135 (this polish is ancient and has no name that I can find). I then created a gradient using this pale pink and Nicole by OPI Challenge Red-y. After my gradient was dry, I stamped my image over top using Konad Special Black. I really want to try this again and use the upper half of the image so that I just get the flowers!

Here is what Maybelline WC135 looks like on it's own. The polish is nearly two decades old and getting a bit strange consistency-wise, but it's still super pretty.

Thank you so much for reading my post today! I'll be back with that Rainbow Honey post I promised you in my last post soon!

Summer Is Gone, But Not Forgotten - Maybelline Color Show Emerald City

Hi all! I am squeaking in this post for my stamping group at the last minute tonight! Since I am totally exhausted, I'm making this one really short. The pictures can speak for themselves anyway. :) So, the prompt for today is stamping over glitter.

This is Emerald City, one of the glitters from Maybelline's Color Show line of polishes. It was thinner than I expected, so there are four thick coats here. This polish would probably be better with some undies, but I am a fan of all of the sparkle!

I used MoYou London's Sailor plate 07 for this with Konad Special White polish. I miss summer so much already, but at least we have Thanksgiving and Christmas and loads of family time and food to look forward to!

Thank you so much for looking! Make sure you check out the facebook group to see what everyone else did for our challenge today!

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Breast Cancer Awareness Stamping

My manicure today is in support of breast cancer awareness month, but I have to point out that with all of the awareness being spread throughout the media, no one needs my manicure to help make them more aware of breast cancer. So, let's just call this a cancer awareness manicure. It is in support of all people who have had or will have cancer, and those who have been lost to it. Let's all be more aware of all of the changes in our bodies, and get our annual physicals, and speak up if something is strange, even if it is embarrassing or hard to talk about. And let's all remember that breast cancer isn't the only form of cancer out there. There are lots of people every day suffering from the more rare cancers, and other diseases that don't get any attention at all. Breast cancer research gets plenty of funding already, but I am not trying to diminish the hard work of others here. I just want to give my support to everyone who needs it. :) So, here is my pink manicure.

I do not have a ribbon stamp, so I went with the pink shade that most associate with breast cancer awareness. This is Nicole by O.P.I. Be Ama-Zing!. I did my first stamping with Milani She's So Glitzy using MoYou London Sailor plate 07. I added roses using Red Angel plate RA-115 and Maybelline WC135. It's a really old polish and has no name other than that number that I know of. Here is what it looked like before I added the roses.

Here is what Be Ama-Zing! looks like by itself. It is a perfect girly pink and went on in two smooth coats.

I did this manicure as part of a stamping challenge for Stamp One, Stamp All Ten. Thank you so much for looking today and make sure you check out what everyone else did!

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Tri Polish Tuesday - Lilac, Teal, & Grey + 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge

Alright, so this is the last manicure you will ever see again featuring these colors. I'll tell you what, 5 Tuesdays in a month is way too many! BUT, I will say that this mani turned out pretty good, too. I am actually completing both my requirement for Tri Polish Tuesday and the very first prompt for the newest challenge I joined with The Crumpet's Nail Tarts: The 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge. Fifty. Two. Weeks. The prompt is a two-color gradient and teal. So, I opted to do it all in one. I'll explain what this challenge is at the end of the post. Anyway, I had asked for ideas for this one in my last post, and my mom suggested leopard or tiger. So, this is what I came up with.

After I created my gradient, I stamped over it using 2 plates: Konad m57 and Mash-41. Here is what my two-color gradient looked like before I added the stamping.

So there you have it, the last Tri Polish post for this month. I don't think I'm going to participate in it for October, because I want to spend more time on the 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge, and maybe bring some of the ideas I've been hoarding into reality. Here is some info about the challenge, so you can understand what on earth I'm doing over the next year.

THE RULES:
Each week, there are 2 prompts.  It is our choice whether to do 1, both, or combine them. They have been set up as an extension of our Golden Oldie Thursdays, so the idea is to use an old polish, or an untried. Also, once a month, one of the color prompts will coincide with a Tri Polish Tuesday, in case I decide I want to do that again. For now, I just want to stick with one challenge and get all of my ideas out before I join another. Here is an example of what the challenge is set up like:

For this week (starting September 29th), the prompts are a 2 colour gradient and teal.
My options were:
1 - post a mani of any 2 colours in a gradient and later in the week post an oldie / untried teal
2 - only do one of the prompts
3 - post a mani of a 2 colour gradient where one of the colours is a teal (combining the prompts)

So there you have it. I've gotten myself into a fun one this time! If you are interested in joining us in the 52 Week Challenge, head over to Crumpet' Nail Tarts to join in.

Thanks so much for looking, and be sure to check out what the others did for this last day of September's Tri Polish Tuesdays!

An InLinkz Link-up

And look here to see what everyone did for the first day of the 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge.

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Tri Polish Tuesday - Lilac, Teal, & Grey/Silver

Hi everyone! I am back for another mani featuring these same three colors you've been seeing for the past three weeks. Are you sick of them yet? I hope not, because there is still one more Tuesday left in September! For today's mani, I decided to use Estee Lauder Caviar for my base again because I wanted a nice, dreary background. It's been raining here a lot lately and fall is approaching quickly, so I thought I'd create a cute umbrella pattern on my nails. I used essie Play Date for the umbrella shapes and added my stripes and dots using Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal.

Thank you so much for reading. I'll have a new mani for you on Golden Oldie Thursday. :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Tri Polish Tuesday - Lilac, Teal, & Grey/Silver

I'm so stoked on this manicure, you guys! It came out better than I envisioned, which is always a plus. I love when stamping goes right and colors look the way that you picture them in your head when layered. Yay! Check these out - I love them!

So, I started off here with a thin coat of Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal. Then I sponged a second coat over top. After that, I sponged on Estee Lauder Caviar just in the center, and sponged Essie Play Date over top of that in an even smaller blob. I like when I just blob colors on and it ends up looking like this haha. After I finished that, I stamped over top of it using an image from my MoYou London Explorer Plate 03 using Konad Special Black polish. And that's it.

I really love how these came out and am going to be so sad to remove it for my next mani. Well that's all I've got for today. Thank you so much for reading! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Tri Polish Tuesday - Lilac, Teal, and Grey

Hi everyone! I am back from my vacation. It was totally awesome, and I'll share some pictures plus a mani that I did for my sister while I was there this weekend. :) For today's mani, I decided to use Estee Lauder Caviar for my base, so that I would have a swatch for you - it's at the bottom of this post. I was in a floral mood, so I tried my hand at some more one-stroke flowers - practice makes perfect after all.

 

Here is Caviar all by itself. It is a nice opaque grey with a slight shimmer....pretty for a grey. :) I did two thin coats.

 

Thank you so much for looking - have a great week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tri Polish Tuesday - Lilac, Teal, & Grey/Silver

Hi everyone! For today's manicure I decided to use one of my new plates from MoYou London. It is a Suki Plate, and I actually used another Suki plate that I already owned to add the accent. So anyway, for this mani, I started off with two coats of Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal. I stamped the bamboo image using Estee Lauder Caviar, which was a gift from my lovely friend, Anna, then stamped the flowers on top using Essie Play Date. I used a gel topcoat to seal this in hoping that it will last through my vacation. We will see! I'll update when I return to let you all know the results!

Here is Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal all by itself. It's a nice, dark, teal that leans more green. The formula was on the thin side, but it built up nicely, and went on smooth.

Well I'm in a rush to get to bed since I have to wake up in four hours! Have a great day everyone!

An InLinkz Link-up

Maybelline Color Show Crushed Candy

I randomly saw this display for these new polishes called Color Show from Maybelline at Walmart while I was buying some stuff for the house, and of course I had to stop and take a look. And that's when I found this little gem. I grabbed it because it looks so much like my favorite OPI shade that was discontinued years ago, Victoria Velvet. I absolutely love love love that polish. Not only is it very pretty, but I get very nostalgic about it because when I was a little girl, my mom would take me to the salon with her and I would get my nails painted in this color EVERY TIME. Because I have VERY little left in the bottle, I couldn't bear to paint all my nails just for the purpose of swatching it, but here it is on only my ring finger with my new Maybelline polish on the rest of the nails. Not as close as I thought - haha. Oh well. It's the memories that are important to me - Victoria Velvet can never be replaced. (But, if OPI re-made it I would buy ten bottles in a heartbeat and give a couple to my mom.) :P

Pardon my oddly-shaped nail on my index finger - I chipped it doing chores over the weekend.

Once I had these colors on, I decided it was time to try my hand at stamping...it didn't start out well, and I'm willing to show the picture only so that others who decide to try it aren't discouraged. Here it is.

See, I told you! I persevered though and ended up with this after giving up on that design (it really didn't fit well on my nail). Here is the other design on my left hand!

Maybelline Color Show Crushed Candy and OPI Victoria Velvet

Now here it is with the flash!

I am not at all disappointed with this purchase. The color is very pretty, and it went on in two nice and smooth coats. I would definitely buy more of these polishes if I could (but I'm broke!), so maybe by the time I can buy more, they will be on clearance. ;) Now here's a quick story about my crazy nailpolish-obsessed rambling at Walmart that day.

When I found it at Walmart, there was no price, and I had no idea what to expect, so I took it up to the register with my groceries, and asked the girl to scan it. She said "Two Ninety-Seven", and I said "Yep! That will be mine." I'm pretty sure the girl thought I was nuts as I went on to explain that it looks very similar to my favorite OPI polish, but she seemed to share my happiness in terms of the great price. She said, "And it's a lot cheaper than OPI!" Yes it is, random cashier at Walmart, yes it is. :) I was nearly giddy as I walked out to my car, no joke. So even though it is not really close at all (bahaha), you should definitely try it out - it will not disappoint!

Also, I have entered a nail art contest on facebook, and would love it if you would consider voting for my entry.
Summer Lovin Nail Art Contest by My Lacquer Family

Thank for looking/voting!

Failure - Tutorial Copy Gone Bad

I'm sharing this even though it turned out pretty bad. I figure my learning experience may help someone else. I saw the idea to use hole reinforcers to make neat heart-top shapes from The Beauty Department, and was maybe a little too confident going into this. BUT, since I learned so much, by the time I got to the left hand pinky, it was turning out pretty good. :) Without further ado, here is the pic. Try not to judge too harshly - I'm learning!



Loreal Shock Proof French Tip White, Maybelline Express Finish (something pink - the label has rubbed off), NYC Uptown

  The good news is that I learned that I need to peel the tape/enforcers off right away to get a nice line with no smudges. My next mani will be way better, I promise.