ABC Challenge 'G' - Pop Beauty Grass (and Glitter!)

Hi all!

First off, I'll admit I don't like these pictures. I was literally sweating a fever out when I took these and they just don't look as good as I'd like. This cold (or whatever it is) has kicked my ass so hard that on Monday I was bedridden all day because my body ached so much I could barely move so I feel I couldn't do this awesome mani justice. 

Now for polish! I started with two coats of Pop Beauty 'Grass' (of which I don't have pictures alone because they turned out horribly), then added one coat of 'Algae Bloom', a beautiful franken by Mimi from Makeup Withdrawal! I was so excited to get some of her frankens as a bday present, I've long admired them from afar. Grass is a neon green and the perfect base for Algae Bloom's radioactive green base but it looked a little too neon for me so I added one coat of Zoya Frida to deepen the color.

Like I said, this mani was so much better in real life and could have looked better in pictures but I just wasn't up to it :\.

Unfortunately, Mimi has no plans as of yet to sell any of her pretties because she's like Gollum and wants to hoard them. I have a few more frankens that I'd like to share with you and I hope you don't hate me because they're not readily available.

Have a great day lovelies!

My Bundle Monster Fright Night Entry!

Hello ladies!

I finally worked up the courage to actually enter a contest! You probably know about the Bundle Monster Fright Night contest that's going on and many of you probably entered. Very very late the night before submissions were due, I decided to go for it and came up with something I liked (for the most part).

I started with a base of Pop Beauty Mandarin on all nails. Then, I grabbed Illamasqua Prosperity (the purple from the newer Rubber Brights) and did a saran wrap mani and stamped with BM 224 and 225. On my pointer and pinky I did a 'scratch' technique I had done by accident on some nails before and I kept thinking it could be a cool effect, but eventually forgot about until Neverland Nail posted her own scratch nails with layered colors (see her post here). On my thumb I freehanded a little Jack 'O Lantern face with Prosperity as well.

I quite liked the results! Maybe not up to par with what I would have wanted to submit to such a big contest, but I'm still proud of myself for having the balls to submit it :D

You can check out all the entries on Bundle Monster's page on Facebook and, if you so wished, you can vote for my entry HERE (I will love you forever if you do!). 

31 Day Challenge Day 2 - Orange

'Ello ladies!

I'm back for the second day in the challenge! If I had been feeling discouraged about participating, you all would have convinced me with the sweet comments on the last challenge mani. I will never not be amazed at how nice everyone is in this, our little weird nail polish obsessed community.

Now, the task for today was Orange, and boy is this sucker orange. This is POP Beauty Mandarin, a neon orange color. I also freehanded my first leopard print! It's by no means ever anywhere near perfect but, from afar, it looked really cool. I sent a pic to le boyfriend of these nails and titled them 'Cheeto Nails'. They look exactly like that, like you ate a whole bag and that weird 'cheese' still hasn't been licked off.

EDIT: I completely spaced on mentioning who inspired me to do this! There's been a lot of leopard print nails but it was when The Little Canvas posted this awesome neon skittles mani that I decided to go for it! Make sure you check her blog, aside from being a sweetheart on twitter, she does great nail art too!

As you can see, definitely not perfect but that's part of the beauty of the leopard print, imperfectness still works. I do have to work on my spacing and not make the nail too cluttered. Also, you see the huge spot in the middle fingernail, right in the center? Yeah, that wasn't there. As I was about to take the pics I dinged the nail with the camera and took off some of the polish. Since it was late and I was cranky, I just filled in the hole with white, outlined the spot, topcoated and called it a day.

I hope you like this and if you have any advice/comments about this technique, let me know!

Never don't ever forget to check the other ladies participating!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish

-Diana at Nails By Diana

-Aly at Wonderland Beauty

-Meredith at Perfectly Polished

-Nicole at The Color Republic

-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

-Cee at Absolutely Cee

-Sam at Polished Art

-Nail Narcotics

-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful

-Mixed Mama

-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine

-Patty Greenberg

-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 

-Mari at Nailista

-Greta at How Was Your Day?

-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

-Gini at Sassy Paints 

-Chameleon Stampede 

-Pam at Nail-E-Glance

Summer Fun Challenge Day 4 - We like it Hot, Hot, Hot!

Hey all!

So I had no idea where to go with this mani. I thought of doing some type of needle marbling for a melting sunset illusion, a nighttime stars mani, but they all failed. Finally, I thought to do something with neons since they're the hot trend of the summer so, still without a plan, I got to work.

I started with a base of Essie Blanc, then applied Pop Beauty Mandarin and sponged with China Glaze Surfin' for Boys. When I was done I thought it looked 'sunsetty' so I used black acrylic paint and my new brushes and just did some palm trees. In real life, the effect is quite stunning, not because of my sad little palm tress, but because of the sharp contrast of the black on top of the neons.

Is it just me or are the edges of the palm trees glowing? They're neon I tell you!

I think my little palm trees look like dreadlocks for some reason. Makes me giggle. 

Hopefully I'll have something better for you next round, and as always, remember to see what the other ladies did! (It's most probably better than mine)

Some Grungy Neons

Well helloo you!

Before anything else, I want to wish my boyfriend a very happy birthday! We had only started dating this time last year so I didn't really do anything for his bday, heck I barely knew him! But now I do know him, and I do know how lucky I am to have him, so happy birthday hon :)

Now onto the nails! I finally got me some neons to play with. I've been craving neons for the first time in my life (probably all the bloggers' fault for posting pretty pretty swatches) so I got some of the new China Glaze neons and some random ones. When I sat down to polish, however, I could not decide how to wear them! I really think I short-circuited from all the pretty colors, it was just too much for my poor brain.

I tried using two that were close in color for the two-accent-nail look, but it was still too bright for my unaccustomed eyes. I tried layering it over white, not layering it over white, thought of a gradient, you name it, I did it.  Finally it was getting late and I was cranky knowing I had to work the next day, so I just sort of applied them all on a nail. My intention was to recreate this mani by Rebecca but my watercoloring skills are disappoint. Then I just started brushing everything on with my paintbrush, unintentionally using this tutorial from Nails Adored.

My pointer finger is a bit of a *spoiler alert*!

So...yeah, that's pretty much what I ended up with. I haven't decided if I love it or not, I'm actually still wearing it as I type. It's definitely fun and different. The pointer looks different because I stamped with Essie Blanc while experimenting, then switched to Whirlwind White when I decided to go for it. I just wish my stamping would have been straighter, still can't get the placing perfect. 

Next time I'm definitely wearing the neons on their own, eye searing be damned!

Oh, the polishes I used were:

• China Glaze Sun Kissed 
• China Glaze Surfin' for Boys
• Spoiled I'm so Jaded (or Permission to Proceed) 
• Pop Beauty Mandarin
• Bettina Jeans Over Dyed 
• BM 201 and Sally Hansen Whirlwind White for stamping

Is there anything specific you're craving this season? Is it a different style for you?
Have a good day!