Today's mani: Ikat chevrons for Hanukkah

Good evening and happy Hanukkah! Although I'm only Jewish by proxy, I decided it would be fun to do a Hanukkah manicure since I'm seeing my in-laws tomorrow. Plus, the blue/white/silver color combo looks really good on me!

I decided to try my hand at an ikat-style mani for the first time. I have to say, ikat is a lot harder to do than it looks! It's supposed to be a little messy, but not too messy, and that's the hard part. I'll definitely have to work on this!

The colors I used were Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, OPI My Signature is "DC", Zoya Sailor and OPI My Vampire is Buff.

We'll be traveling starting tomorrow, but I'll do my best to keep you up-to-date on all my nail-related activities!

Nail fail(?): monochrome stamping decals

Good morning! Today I have what I consider to be a nail fail. I wanted to have another go at making stamping decals. Previously I had tried the method where you let the decal dry on the stamper, the disadvantage of course being that you can only make one at a time (unless you have multiple stampers, I guess). This time I made them on a plastic baggie, starting by putting down some splotches of topcoat and letting them dry, then stamping on top of that.

Here you can see the decals in progress (and one where I screwed up the stamping):

I used a stamp from Winstonia W111, which is a cool sort of art-deco pattern. I stamped with my go-to silver, Julep Harley. Then I decided to fill in the little arches with various shades of sparkly teal: Sally Hansen Jet Set Jade, Julep Valerie, Zoya Zuza and Scofflaw Wraith Pinned to the Mist (I really must swatch this one alone sometime).

So far, so good. The problem came when I went to put the decals on my nails. I just cannot figure out how to prevent them from getting all bubbly and lumpy! The result:

I put on a matte topcoat to try to obscure some of the imperfections, but they are still glaringly obvious to me. I can't help being a perfectionist, I guess.

If someone out there has mastered the art of stamping decals, please share your secrets!!

Today's mani: Wave of dots

Hey kids! Hope you're having a great day! I've gotten a bit rusty at nail art over the past month or so, so I decided to get back into it today with my old standby, the dotticure!

I started with a base of Zoya Audrina, a lovely Radiant-Orchid-esque creme. I added dots in an abstract wavy pattern with Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow. Dotting is so easy but looks so cool, don't you think?

FingerFood's Theme Buffet: Gradient cartoon nails

Happy Summer Solstice! The sun woke us up around 5 AM today (the downside of living on the eastern side of the time zone), so yeah, it's definitely summer! Make sure to enjoy the sun before the days get short again (don't forget your sunscreen)!

For this week's FingerFood challenge, we did cartoon/comic manis. I knew I had to try out the famous cartoon look--it's one of those classics that every nail artist should do at least once! I made it a little more exciting by starting with a neon gradient using China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy and Orly Tropical Pop. As usual, my camera couldn't really capture the neons accurately, but they are definitely eye-searing in real life!

For the black outline I used a Sally Hansen nail art pen, which was much easier than using a brush, although the paint tends to crack when it dries, so I had to go over some spots several times. I added the "glare" with Maybelline Porcelain Party. Then I mattified everything using Revlon matte topcoat. I'm really happy with how this turned out!

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: What was I thinking?

Good morning! It's time once again for the Neverending Pile Challenge! Today's theme is a great one: what was I thinking buying this? I think every nail polish hoarder can relate to this one! Sometimes you just impulsively grab a bottle and then instantly regret it.

My "what was I thinking" polish is from the Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat collection of bar glitter toppers. All Yarned Up is a clear base with short yellow, peach and periwinkle bar glitters. Now, I hate bar glitter, and I'm not a huge fan of glitter toppers either, but for some reason I decided I needed a polish from this collection. OK, past me, that was a weird choice. Anyway, I did a glitter gradient using All Yarned Up over another untried, Zoya Willow.

OK, from an objective point of view I can see why this polish is cool...it looks like sprinkles or little feathers or something. It might come in handy if I do a cake or ice cream mani. (Which means I probably won't be able to part with it...I'm such a hoarder.) It's just not really my style though. Plus the little glitters kept poking me through the topcoat.

Are you a fan of the bar glitter trend?

Total untrieds tried: 51 + chevron decals + 1 stamping plate


 

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!

FingerFood's Theme Buffet #3: weather

Good morning! It's time once again for FingerFood's Theme Buffet! The prompt for this week was "weather". I decided to recreate another mani I did about a year ago (pic is down below).

First, today's nails:

It's a beautiful day! (Unlike the weather here lately!) I started with a gradient of Zoya Blu and Wet 'n' Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint. Then I made the clouds by sponging on Maybelline Porcelain Party with a little corner of a makeup sponge. The trick to doing clouds is to make sure there's not too much polish on your sponge--you want the clouds to be fuzzy and translucent. Finally, I painted the hot air balloon with Revlon Red Carpet, Sally Hansen Lightening, China Glaze Hanging in the Balance, and Julep Otte; I sponged one more cloud on over the balloon to give a little 3D effect.

Now here's my old mani that inspired this one:

The clouds are a little heavy-handed, but I still love this mani! I don't think I would have been able to manage the balloon a year ago though. :-)

Don't forget to check out the rest of today's challenge manis below or by following the Pinterest board!

Today's mani: Quick and dirty holiday nails

Merry Christmas Eve! I've been enjoying my vacation so far, visiting with various relatives and eating lots of food, and tonight I'm looking forward to presents and Christmas cookies! (We even got my Jewish husband to help put ornaments on the tree!) I didn't really bring any nail polish on our trip, but of course I ended up buying some new stuff the other day...just can't help myself. I thought the two polishes I picked would be good for a general Christmas/New Years mani.

These polishes are both from the Sally Hansen Satin Glam collection, which must be new because I'd never seen it before. They're matte with lots of sparkle. I used Go Gold and added a freehand stripe of Silk Onyx over about 1/3 of each nail. They were both opaque in one coat!

My freehand skills aren't perfect (and you should see my other hand!) but I really like the matte finish on these polishes--I think they're really classy.

I hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful Christmas...and to those who don't celebrate, go eat some Chinese food for me!

Today's mani: Rudolph and friends

Good afternoon everyone! Today is my last post before we leave for our holiday vacation. I won't be able to paint my nails very much while we're away, but I'll try to post as often as I can! It's probably a good thing I won't be doing my nails a lot, since my skin is sooo dry from this weather (as you'll see soon enough...)!

Today I did some freehand nail art, and my left hand is making its first appearance since the beginning of November! My poor middle fingernail is still a little stubby. :-P Please ignore my gross dry skin!

The background color is Sally Hansen Blue Me Away. I did the reindeer heads with Sephora by OPI Leotard Optional (I used the polish brush for the heads and a nail art brush for the ears). The antlers and noses (except Rudolph's) are Revlon Stormy Night. Rudolph's nose is Revlon Red Carpet.

My reindeer look a little doofy (kinda like pigs with antlers actually!) but I still think they're cute. :-D

Anyone else getting really excited for Christmas?? My only regret is that Trudy will be in a kennel in another state instead of celebrating with us. I'll have to get her a nice present...

Today's mani: jack-o'-lanterns

Halloween is almost here! There's just enough time for one more spooky mani...

When I make jack-o'-lanterns, I usually go for funny or happy faces rather than scary ones. I'm just not into horror, I guess! Actually, the best part of jack-o'-lanterns for me is roasting and eating the seeds afterwards!

For this mani I used Revlon Stiletto, Orange Pop and Posh, plus Sally Hansen Lightening.

Enjoy the last few days of October! Winter is coming...

Today's mani: psycho killer

It's about time I got around to doing some Halloween nail art, right?

Cue the screeching violins! This is the first time I've done a drip mani, and I found it fun and easy. I used Revlon Stiletto for the black, Zoya Carmen for the blood red, and Sally Hansen Lightening for the yellow (I was trying to make it look like a lightning bolt illuminating the knife, don't think I pulled it off). I drew the knife-wielding psycho with a Sally Hansen black nail art pen.

I'll probably try one more Halloween mani this week--jack 'o' lanterns maybe?

Anybody planning on dressing up this year?

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 #25: inspired by fashion

I had been avoiding thinking about this prompt for a long time, because I had no idea what I was going to do. I've never been interested in fashion in the slightest; 90% of my wardrobe is from GAP, and the rest is mostly funny t-shirts. Eventually it occurred to me that I should just go with what I know. And one thing I have a lot of (from GAP, of course) is argyle.

This mani made me very grouchy. First, I used striping tape to make the diamond shapes, but of course once I removed the tape I had white lines that needed to be filled in, or it wouldn't look right. Since I had to fill in the gaps by hand, it doesn't look as neat as I would like. Then, I used a Sally Hansen nail art pen for the dotted lines--I started with dots, like you see on my socks, but it didn't look good, so I connected some of the dots to make dashes. But I think this pen was too thick for this design. (Do they make super thin nail art pens? Like the size of thin mechanical pencils?) And the pen also stained my skin! Boo.

ANYWAY the colors I used were Essie Lapiz of Luxury, Revlon Timeless and Sinful Colors Snow Me White (plus the turquoise art pen).

I didn't put a topcoat over the turquoise, and it washed off almost completely in the shower, so I took a quick picture of just the diamond pattern:

Here's hoping tomorrow's mani turns out better (even though I have no idea what I'm going to do yet...).

And don't forget to check out everyone else's fashionable manis!

31-Day Challenge #23: inspired by a movie

I don't know about you, but my favorite Disney movie of all time is The Lion King. I've watched it probably at least a hundred times, and I've seen the musical twice. I gave myself a very ambitious (for me) goal for this challenge, which was to recreate this scene from "Hakuna Matata":

I was terrified the whole time that I was going to do something horribly wrong and have to start the whole thing over, but miraculously that didn't happen!

OK, Simba's expression looks more doofy than carefree. But all things considered I'm pretty darn pleased with myself. :-D

I used a zillion polishes for this (in many cases I mixed two or more colors together):

• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• Revlon Stiletto
• Julep Otte
• L'Oreal L'Orange
• L'Oreal Spice Things Up
• L'Oreal Caught Red-Handed
• OPI My Vampire is Buff
• L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight
• Essie Sand Tropez
• Julep Parker
• Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!

Don't forget to check out today's other movie-themed manis, and remember...ya gotta put your behind in your past!

31-Day Challenge #22: inspired by a song

OK, can you guess what song I was thinking of?

(The answer is Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles!) For this mani I was experimenting with "drawing" using dots. I do like the way the sun came out, but I can't decide if I should have used a base color or not. I used Sally Hansen Lightening, Revlon Sunshine Sparkle and Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the sun and L'Oreal Not a Cloud in Sight for the sky.

Here are today's other musical manis!

31-Day Challenge #16: Peruvian patterns

Well folks, today I'm officially more than halfway done with the 31-Day Challenge!! Just gotta keep that momentum going!

Today's prompt is "tribal". Can I just say first that I really hate the term "tribal"? It's often incorrect and just kind of racist. :-(

*gets off high horse* Anyway, I'm assuming "tribal" means "a pattern used by non-white people". I chose to reproduce some Peruvian textile patterns I found--I love the bright colors they use!

I picked four patterns from this lovely picture to attempt (hopefully you can tell which ones):

I'm pretty impressed with myself, I must say! I'm especially proud of the pattern on my ring finger.

I used a ton of polishes for this one:

• Revlon Impulsive
• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• Deborah Lippmann On the Beach
• Revlon Plum Seduction
• Sally Hansen Lightening
• Essie Play Date
• Essie DJ Play That Song
• Essie The More the Merrier
• Wet 'n' Wild On a Trip
• Julep Meryl
• Julep Nan
• L'Oreal L'Orange

Whew, I think that's all! Oh, and I mattified everything because, you know, it's fabric! :-D

Don't forget to look at everyone else's "tribal" nails!

31-Day Challenge #15: delicate print

When I saw the word "delicate" in today's prompt, I knew I'd be stamping. I ended up choosing this really intricate labyrinthine stamp from Winstonia plate W112.

I wanted some interest in the background, but not so much that it would distract from the stamp. I ended up using a white background (Sinful Colors Snow Me White) and sponged two colors per finger on top:

• index finger: Zoya Sweet and China Glaze Peachy Keen
• middle finger: China Glaze Peachy Keen and Sally Hansen Lightening
• ring finger: Sally Hansen Lightening and Essie First Timer
• pinky: Essie First Timer and Essie Lapiz of Luxury

I used Revlon Stiletto for the stamp.

Check out today's other contributions!

31-Day Challenge #14: pansies

Today's challenge theme is flowers. I knew I could pull off a really easy look using dots, but I decided instead to challenge myself by freehanding a type of flower in more detail. I typed in "flowers" in Google image search and my eyes landed on pansies. I think because they look like they have faces, and also because of these creepy guys from Alice in Wonderland:

They're kind of terrifying actually. Real pansies are very pretty though! So I looked up pictures of four different-colored pansies and attempted to reproduce them on my nails.

I'm pretty happy with them! I just need to work on getting smoother lines (I probably need to invest in some polish thinner). I think the one on my index finger is my favorite!

I used five polishes for the main colors, and mixed each of them with black or white to get the darker and lighter shades:

• Zoya Carmen
• Revlon Impulsive
• Essie Lapiz of Luxury
• Revlon Plum Seduction
• Sally Hansen Lightening

Check out today's other floral manis!

31-Day Challenge #3: yellow striped gradient

This mani marks my first successful use of a striping brush! How exciting is that. I followed this easy tutorial by A Little Polish.

Polishes I used, from top to bottom: Julep Abbie, Sinful Colors Snow Me White (a two-coat white!! Where have you been all my life?), Sally Hansen Lightening, and OPI The "It" Color. I noticed when I was done that The "It" Color looks really orange here next to the other yellows, but in reality I'd say it's right on the border between orange and yellow.

Like I said, this was really easy to do and I like the intentionally imperfect result! Unfortunately I ended up with stained yellow nails despite my base coat. Good thing they'll be covered up by nail art for the next month!


Check out today's other yellow manis!