2014 Blogger Challenge #11: My polish stash...photographed!

Good morning! I'm finally returning to the 2014 Blogger Challenge. You might have noticed that I haven't done it for a couple months--there were some prompts I didn't have much to say about, then I kinda got distracted. But I thought today's topic would be a perfect place to get back on the horse. The prompt is collections. What do I have a giant collection of? Nail polish, of course! If you like to see pictures of organized stuff, you will like this post!

This will obviously be image-heavy, so click the jump to see it all!

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Chevron decals from YouPolish

Some of the products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Happy weekend! Do you have any fun plans for Memorial Day? I think we're just going to have burgers!

Today's prompt for the Neverending Pile Challenge is untried art supplies. I originally thought I would have to skip this one, since I don't have many nail art supplies except striping tape and stamps (that's for next time!), but luckily just last week I got an awesome set of nail decals from YouPolish to try out! Lauren sent me a whole bunch of different shapes to play with; today I'm just going to show you the chevrons, but I'll show off the others later!

The chevron decals come in two sizes and can either be used like tape (painted over and then removed) or trimmed and left on the nail. (All the decals at YouPolish come in a large range of colors in case you want to leave them on.) I decided to go with the first option.

I started with a base of Color Club Kismet (an untried!) and then Out the Door to make sure everything dried. Then I stuck on my chevron decals and painted two coats of Revlon Stormy Night on top. While that was still wet, I removed the chevrons to reveal the holo underneath! I waited a while before adding my final topcoat to avoid smudging the design.

The decals were very easy to use! They stick to the nail really well, so there's little risk of polish leaking in underneath them and making your design messy. (Since they are so sticky, you have to make sure your base color is absolutely dry before applying the decals, or they'll tear up the polish when you remove them.) They peeled up very nicely without smudging, as you can see! I definitely recommend using tweezers to manipulate them, especially the smaller ones--it's just a whole lot easier.

Here's the sheet of decals I received. (This is after I did my mani, but you get the idea.) It has 40 large decals and 63 small ones, enough for lots of manis! I believe you get this sheet if you order one of the sample packs of eight decal designs for $12.50. You can also order sheets of 100 large or small chevrons for $5.50. That sounds like a good deal to me!

If you love the chevron design but don't want to deal with cutting up bits of Scotch tape, these decals were made for you! YouPolish has TONS of other decal and stencil patterns too, so go check them out!

Total untrieds tried: 46 + chevron decals

Some of the products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

FingerFood's Theme Buffet: Yet another galaxy mani

Good morning! For this week's FingerFood's Theme Buffet we're doing galaxies. I think this is my third attempt at a galaxy mani. My previous efforts were mediocre; I think this one is the best I've managed so far.

I'm actually most proud of the fact that my star placement is pretty random--I really have to struggle not to make everything symmetric! I used Zoya Storm for the base (because really, how could I not?) and Maybelline Porcelain Party, Color Club Age of Aquarius, Julep Bea and Revlon Passionate Pink for the rest.

This mani reminds me--have you been watching Cosmos? I think it's great to have some real science on TV again, since all the "educational" channels have switched to reality shows now. I think the show does a great job communicating the mindblowing-ness of nature! If you like it, you should definitely read some of Carl Sagan's books--he was an all-around amazing human being.

FingerFood's Theme Buffet / Neverending Pile Challenge: Flowers for Scarlett

Happy Monday! It feels like summer around here--need to break out the shorts and start painting my toenails!

Today I combined the Neverending Pile Challenge theme texture and the FingerFood's Theme Buffet prompt for Scarlett (Scarlett is Sam @ FingerFood's daughter, and her birthday is this week!). Scarlett likes flowers, so I decided to do some colorful textured blossoms--perfect for May!

This mani was very easy to do! I started with a base of Color Club Age of Aquarius, then used a dotting tool to make concentric circles of dots, starting with large circles of JulieG Hot Cinnamon (an untried), then smaller circles of JulieG Sugar Rush (also untried) and finally dots of JulieG Tangerine Dream in the middle. I think the end result is really fun and kind of retro-looking, don't you?

Total untrieds tried: 34


 

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Color Club Cosmic Fate

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

Heyo everyone! Today's Neverending Pile Challenge is holo, and do I really need an excuse to wear holo polish? NOPE!

Here's Color Club Cosmic Fate--wow, look at those rainbows!!

Color Club Cosmic Fate. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The holo effect in all the Color Club Halo Hues is just amazing. (And remember, this photo was taken under a lamp indoors...imagine what this polish looks like in sunlight!) The base color of Cosmic Fate is a sort of brownish coral, but the holo pigment makes it look coppery a lot of the time. It has a great formula, very forgiving for a holo--you can do several strokes per nail without dragging, and you don't need to use a special base coat. The polish's consistency is just about perfect. And topcoat doesn't weaken the holo effect, as you can see!

I have four polishes from this collection and I definitely need to get the rest at some point! ($10.00 at Color Club)


Total untrieds tried: 31

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own. 

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #12 / He Picks My Polish

Wow, I've made it through twelve weeks of FingerFood's Theme Buffet! We're starting another set of prompts next week, so if you'd like to join in, here's our Facebook group!

This week's theme is Freestyle, which was perfect because I also wanted to participate in the He Picks My Polish challenge for March. (Facebook group here!) For this challenge, you ask a male in your life to pick any three polishes from your stash. No helping! Then you have to do nail art using only those polishes (and any neutrals if needed).

Mr. ALIQUID was skeptical at first, but he came up with an idea and went for it. I should have known that he would pick the colors that match his favorite comic book character, Jean Grey:

(I tried to tell him that Jean Grey's hair isn't actually cherry red, but oh well.) The polishes he picked were Color Club Endless Summer, Revlon Red Carpet and OPI The "It" Color. Then it was my turn!

I decided to try water marbling again, since I've only done it once before. I started with a white base and did a marble with the three colors, using clear polish in between each to let the white show through. I did two passes on each nail to get that cool layering effect!

I confess I have no idea how people manage to get such precise patterns using water marbling; I can't seem to get anything more than random swoops. But in this case I think it looks cool, like tie-dye or some abstract art!

As a matter of fact, my final mani was actually my second attempt. The first time, I tried using the yellow as a base, and it didn't work out so well. Here, I'll show you:

I'm very glad I did it over again!


Below you can check out the other FingerFood manis as well as the He Picks My Polish manis!

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #9: flowers

Wow, I'm really late on this week's FingerFood challenge! I totally have a good excuse though...I've been working hard on my next polish collection! Look for it in a couple weeks! (My labels take forever to ship, grrr....)

Anyway, this week's theme is flowers. I decided to go with a sort of Gothic rose idea. Kind of Beauty-and-the-Beast-like.

I haven't done very many freehand floral designs, so I'm pretty happy with how this came out! The base color is one of mine from the upcoming collection--how sneaky of me! I used Color Club Wild Cactus and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover for the vines and leaves, and Zoya Carmen and Nails Inc. Richmond Terrace for the the flowers. I topped it all off with Revlon's matte topcoat.

Check out all the other lovely floral manis!

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #5: Party time!

It's Sunday, and that means it's time for FingerFood's Theme Buffet! This week's theme is birthdays and celebrations. I was a bit short on inspiration this week, but I ended up trying to reproduce the shaggy texture and fun colors of a pinata.

I just used a small nail art brush to paint on little irregular streaks of polish. I started at the tip of each nail so each color would be layered over the one below it. Here are the polishes I used: China Glaze Aquadelic, Julep Nina, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Color Club Twiggie, Zoya Ali (the closest Zoya's gotten to my name!) and Sally Hansen Lightening.

Don't forget to follow our Pinterest board to see all the challenge manis so far!

Quick swatch: Color Club Ulterior Motive

The polish in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

It's time for another polish from my untried pile! This is Color Club Ulterior Motive, a rather sheer hot pink with pink and blue flecks. It's just slightly eye-searing! Not my usual type of color, but I like it.

Color Club Ulterior Motive. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Do you have any polishes in your collection that you didn't think you'd like until you tried them?

The polish in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

31-Day Challenge #29: inspired by the supernatural

I didn't have to think too hard about today's challenge. I've been into dragons since I was a tween--I used to draw dragons on people's folders in middle school. I even have a collection of dragon figurines, one of which appears in today's pic:

The base color is Julep Hailee with Color Club Wild Cactus and more Hailee sponged on. I made a darker shade of green by mixing Wild Cactus with Revlon Stiletto, and did the scales and area around the eyes with that (it's unfortunately hard to see in this pic, but quite obvious in real life). I defined the edges with Revlon Stiletto. The eye is Sally Hansen Lightening with a dot of Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the "reflection".

And here's a bonus dragon I found buried in my pictures folder--I drew this in 2002, which means I was probably 16 (don't ask me why he's holding a banner)...

Finally, don't forget to check out today's other supernatural manis!

31-Day Challenge #24: inspired by a book

For this challenge I chose one of my favorite books, Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The book covers the history of Middle-Earth before the events of The Lord of the Rings, and is basically full of elves being badass.

I attempted to paint the Two Trees of Valinor, which shone silver and gold. They were killed by a giant spider but before they died, their last flower and fruit were taken and became the sun and moon.

For the silver tree I used Zoya Storm, Julep Harley, L'Oreal Eiffel for You, and Color Club Wild Cactus (unfortunately the picture doesn't show that the trunk and branches are a slightly different color than the silver leaves--I mixed silver with brown); for the gold tree I used L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight, Maybelline Bold Gold, Revlon Stormy Night and Revlon Sassy.


Here are today's other literary manis!

31-Day Challenge #21: inspired by a color

I wasn't totally sure what "inspired by a color" means, so for today's mani I just picked a color I love and went crazy with it. :-P Teal is my favorite color besides purple, so I gathered a bunch of blue-green polishes and did a waterfall mani a la The Nailasaurus. Mine is not as neat as hers, because I used a bigger brush, but I like how it looks (it's quite waterfall-ish, don't you think?).

I started with a base of OPI My Vampire Is Buff, and did stripes of Essie Naughty Nautical, Color Club Age of Aquarius, Color Club Wild Cactus and Julep Lena, and accented it with OPI Goldeneye. I like how the off-white base looks like foam at the bottom of a waterfall!

And here's a bonus Trudy for your enjoyment:

Don't forget to check out today's other inspired manis!

31-Day Challenge #19: girly galaxy

I was looking forward to this challenge because I'd only done galaxy nails once before, and they turned out kinda meh. So I wanted a chance to improve! I stole the concept for this version of galaxy nails from Rachel at Royal Milk Tea, who created an adorable pastel "magical cupcake galaxy, with flying unicorns and kittens"! What other kind of galaxy could you want??

"It's a galaxy for girls," quoth my husband. I started with a white base and sponged on Zoya Ali, Essie DJ Play That Song, Color Club Age of Aquarius, and Essie Play Date. Then I added a coat of Revlon Celestial FX (had to fish for the big glitters unfortunately).

I'm definitely happier with my second attempt at galaxy nails, and I also feel like I'm living in Lisa Frank's acid trip.

Now go explore the galaxy with the rest of today's challenge participants!

31-Day Challenge #9: rainbow tie-dye

The "colors" section of the 31DC is wrapping up with the prompt "rainbow", which just screams tie-dye to me. I decided to try the needle drag method; it's not perfect, and I definitely pressed too hard at times, but for a first attempt I think it came out pretty well.

For some reason my camera couldn't capture the orange at all, even though to the eye it looks quite distinct from the yellow. Maybe because it's neon?

Anyway, I started with a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White and added a coat of Out the Door. Then I painted on the rainbow stripes and dragged the tip of a safety pin from the pink down to the purple. The colors I used for the rainbow:

• pink: Zoya Ali
• orange: Color Club Psychedelic Scene
• yellow: Julep Abbie
• green: Essie Shake Your $$ Maker
• blue: Zoya Robyn
• purple: Essie DJ Play That Song

To celebrate the end of this part of 31DC, I made a compilation image of all my color-themed manis! (You can click on each one to see the post.)

31-Day Challenge #5: blue sea

Recently I got an aquatic-themed stamping plate (MoYou Sailor 04) and I thought the blue nails day would be the perfect time to use it!

The fish are so cute, no?

I did the gradient background with four colors (though you can really only see three):

• L'Oreal Now You Sea Me
• Color Club Endless Summer
• Revlon Plunge Pool
• Revlon Beguile (looks black here, but has a blue-to-purple shimmer)

The stamping was done with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. I finally have a decent white for stamping!

While I was photographing this mani, Trudy tried to butt in on the action.

Check out today's other blue manis!

Today's mani: dotted skittles tips

I feel I've kind of made up for my somewhat disappointing dotting performance of the other day with this mani. Not sure where I got this idea, but I know I've seen something like this before. Here I am hanging out with my scorpion buddy:

I like the mix of different colors and dot sizes on each nail! Kind of reminds me of fish eggs.

Colors I used:

• base: Revlon stiletto (a one-coater!)
• thumb: OPI The "It" Color, Julep Abbie
• index finger: Essie The More the Merrier, Color Club Twiggie
• middle finger: China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, Color Club Age of Aquarius
• ring finger: Wet n Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint, Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!
• pinky: Wet n Wild On a Trip, Essie DJ Play That Song 

Oh, totally unrelated, we're officially Massachusetts residents now!

Polish Days: To boldly go...

I'm back from my short hiatus and excited to be participating in my second Polish Days! This month's theme is sci-fi and outer space. I wasn't very creative--I had been meaning to try out galaxy nails for a long time, plus I already did a Star Trek mani! So here's my first attempt at galaxy nails:

(In case you're wondering why you're seeing my right hand today, it's because the mani somehow turned out better on that hand.)

Here are the polishes I used: the base is Zoya Storm, which is a perfect outer space polish! Then I sponged on Maybelline Porcelain Party, Revlon Plum Seduction, and Color Club Age of Aquarius. I used Porcelain Party again with a dotting tool to make the stars. Thanks to my compulsion to make everything look even, I made too many stars, but otherwise I think it looks cool!

And here's a bonus pic with my tribble!

Live long and prosper! And don't forget to check out some of the great nail art linked below!

Today's mani: bright brushstrokes

The weather's been pretty summery lately here in upstate NY. I thought I would encourage it with this mani!

I love the brushstroke method because it's foolproof, even for the artistically impaired such as myself. (Here's a tutorial.) I didn't bother to do a base color for this; I just used 8 colors, cycling through them twice, and was able to get enough coverage.

Here are the colors I used (in order, red to blue):

• Essie Come Here!
• L'Oreal Orange You Jealous?
• Julep Parker
• Julep Abbie
• L'Oreal New Money
• Color Club Twiggie
• Color Club Age of Aquarius
• Zoya Robyn

Have you ever tried a brushstroke mani? What color scheme did you use?

Today's mani: stamping with Essie and Color Club

My second attempt at stamping turned out pretty well! I just love this stamp pattern.

 

The base color is Essie DJ Play That Song, from the new neons collection. (I cranked the color temp way up to get the color accurate for you!) The stamping is done in Color Club Twiggie, using plate W111 from this set. Then I mattified everything with Revlon's matte topcoat. This mani feels very summery to me!

Today's mani: Earth Day!

Monday, April 22 is Earth Day! I thought I'd celebrate by doing a mani (how else?). This one is a bit special because it involves my first attempt at painting freehand nail art, as well as my first go at stamping! Let me know how I did!

(You'll also notice that my nails are much shorter than in my last pics...I had my first break in two months and had to cut them all short. So tragic...)

On my left hand I did a human footprint along with frog, tiger and bird prints. This was to convey the idea that we are just another variety of life on this planet and depend on the environment for our survival.

The base color on this hand is Essie Sand Tropez, over which I sponged L'Oreal Eiffel for You to try to get a sandy effect. The footprints are done with Julep Meryl.

On my other hand I did a seascape with a whale tail and some holographic fish.

The gradient is done with China Glaze Hanging in the Balance and Orly Shockwave. (Boy, my camera never photographs blue correctly! This should look more green-toned.) The whale is Revlon Timeless; the fishies are Color Club Angel Kiss.

And on the (blurry) thumbs:

The stamping is Color Club Angel Kiss and Beyond, using plate W104 from this set.

Hope you like! And if you have some money to spare, please consider donating at www.earthday.org!

All polishes in this post were purchased by me; all opinions are my own.