Tri Polish Roundup

Since the Tri Polish challenge is officially over, I thought it would be fun to look back at all of my attempts at Tri Polish over the past year. It's fun to look at all of the manicures side-by-side to see how many things you really can do with just three colors + black and white. So, I am going to start out with the oldest one and we'll see if I improved over time. :P

First up, we have Red + Pink + Purple from June 2013:

Next is Red + Orange + Yellow from January 2014:

Next, we have the month where I only did one - this doesn't really fit the theme of the post, but it just doesn't feel right to leave it out. This is Red + Yellow + Blue from August 2014:

Last, we have this past month, Lilac + Teal + Grey from September 2014:

Yay! It is so cool how much you can do with just three colors! I love how this challenge really forced me to get creative so that I wouldn't get bored with my designs. I will miss you, Tri Polish, but I'm super stoked about the 52 Week Challenge, so out with the old and in with the new!

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.

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

Tri Polish Tuesday - Red, Yellow, & Blue

For today's Tri Polish, I decided to have another go at water marbling and for once in my life it worked out. Woohoo! I used just three colors for this: Essie Apertif, Nicole by OPI Pros and Confidence, and Zoya Pippa. After I finished my water marble, I added some dots because I just couldn't resist.

What do you all think? I think this is the first time that at least 3 out of the 5 nails look pretty good. I did have to redo the pinky, and I got bubbles on some of the nails, but ah well. I'm sure I'll get better with practice. :D Thank you so much for looking, and have a great day!

An InLinkz Link-up

January Tri Polish = Red, Orange, Yellow - Day 4 (3 for me!)

Ok, so I skipped last Tuesday because I just couldn't stand the red, orange, and yellow, but now here I am. Nail art is an addiction, people. I can't tear myself away from it! :) The three colors I used in this mani are Sally Hansen Lemon Zest, NYC Broadway Burgundy Frost, and COS BAR orange, which has no name. I also used some white, which was my go-to white, Pure Ice Superstar!.

I feel like these came out kind of crazy. If you cannot tell, I was trying to emulate Tartofraises (cute nails), but I feel like I ruined it when I added the dots and swirls. The flowers became a little overshadowed. Oh well, I tried, darn it. :)

This is my favorite flower of them all. It was the third one I did. The first one was on my thumb, and that one is definitely the worst. I love these one-stroke flowers. I need to do more of them!

Here is Sally Hansen Lemon Zest by itself. This is a great yellow. Unlike most yellows, it goes on mostly opaque. This is just two coats. I was very impressed.

Well thanks for looking! Make sure you look at what everyone else did with these three colors.

January Tri Polish Challenge = Red, Orange, Yellow - Day 2

For today's Tri Polish Challenge, I decided to switch out two of the colors from the last manicure. Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow is making a return. I used Wet n Wild Club Havana for my orange, and Julep Scarlett for my red.

I saw an image like this online somewhere. I think it was a painting on Pinterest, but I can't find it for the life of me. I sponged Mellow Yellow over Club Havana in a small section of each nail and then painted the red hearts over top of it. I then went back and did some slight outlining around each heart with Mellow Yellow.

Here is Wet n Wild Club Havana all by itself. My camera has a rough time with orange, so it is actually a bit darker than this, but this was as close as I could get it. :)

I like the way this one turned out. Thanks for looking, and please make sure you check out what the others did for this challenge!

January Tri Polish Challenge = Red, Orange, Yellow - Day 1

Hooray! I've returned to the Tri-Polish challenge! In this month's challenge, the colors are red, orange, and yellow. Those are tough colors for me, and I had a tough time choosing the shades. I feel like I did a poor job choosing, but we shall see. I just don't have many yellows (maybe 4 or 5) and am pretty lacking in the orange department, too. Here are the three polishes I chose.

I ended up doing polka dots because I just didn't know what else to do. My creative juices just wouldn't flow when I needed them to. I actually got a lot of compliments on these. Polka dots are the best for when you want something to look fun and perfect. Dots always look so neat and tidy. :)

  

Here is O.P.I. DS Luxurious all by itself. It's purdy. :)

Hopefully you all liked these. This is a new pattern to me as far as dots go. I'm thinking the next mani may involve some sponging so that I can blend these colors together and hopefully come up with something cool. I'll be back in a couple days with my first installment of the Golden Oldie Challenge. also, don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. It is ending on the 15th!
 

June Tri Polish Challenge = Red + Pink + Purple - Day 4

I should seriously change the name of my blog to 'Better Late Than Never' because it's my favorite thing to say. BUT, I did have the mani done on Thursday, I just didn't have it in me to edit the pics and write the blog post last night after it was done because I really needed to get to bed after 2 days straight of studying and finals. I was exhausted! So for this mani, I had this idea in my head that did not work out so well in practice, but since I am short one time, you are getting the first attempt. I still think that this could be successful, just maybe with colors that contrast a bit more, and maybe with more time. :)


So here is the obligatory bottle shot so that you can see the three bottles of polish that have been getting more use in the past 2 weeks than they EVER have before.

And here is mani I came up with. I started off with two coats of Misa Party In The Masquerade, then created my own stencils using masking tape and one of the many scrapbooking punchers that I have. My first thought was that it would be super cool to sponge around the butterfly image, but I failed miserably and just didn't have enough energy to try again. SO, I decided to just sponge onto through the stencil that was left after I punched out the butterflies. Side note: haha I just said 'punched out the butterflies' I'm violent today! :P

So there you have it. I will be trying this again, because I am convinced that I can make it work. I just need better colors and more time! I have one more final which is a 90 minute timed test with 3 essay questions. It sounds horrible, so I saved it for last. Wish me luck - I'm taking it tonight so that I can enjoy my weekend.

June Tri Polish Challenge = Red + Pink + Purple - Day 3

Hey guys! So, it's day 3 of the Tri Polish Challenge for June, and I have a fun one for you. I have to say, having only three colors to work with over the past week and a half has really forced me to get creative. I like it! Now, if only I didn't have finals this week. Ugh. So, you know this will be short and sweet so that I can go get my study on. you won't hear from me again until Thursday night, which will be the last Tri Polish post straight after my four-hour Econ final. I will be so grateful to be painting my nails that night! Well, enough chit-chat. Here are the three colors I used for this mani.

Sick of this pic yet???? Ok so here are my pretty nails.

I love how these turned out. I was completely winging it, too. I didn't really have a plan, but it all worked out in the end. I used essie playdate for my base, then randomly placed striping tape, then sponged over that with Nicole by OPI Sealed With A Kris and Misa Party In The Masquerade. So there you have it. I hope you all have a great week!