Week 12: Taste The Rainbow

Hey guys, life has been so hectic, so I'm playing catch up on my Weekly Challenge manis.So here's my week 12 look: skittles.

I fashioned my skittles mani, after what else, but Skittles! Specifically the Wild Berry pack, which is my favorite kind. For the wild cherry flavor, I used Essie Really Red; for the strawberry I went with Orly Coquette Cutie, for Berry Punch I used OPI Honk If You Love OPI, the raspberry is Pure Ice French Kiss and melon berry is Color Club Twiggie. I used a white acrylic paint to freehand the "S" printed on the candies.

I love all these colors.

L-R: Essie Really Red, Orly Coquette Cutie, OPI Honk If You Love OPI, Pure Ice French Kiss, Color Club Twiggie

Now I want skittles. I'll have my week 13, ruffian mani for you tomorrow and then I'll be set to show you my week 14 striped mani on Monday!

Peach Wednesday Challenge Mani

 I'm soooo late posting my Week 6 challenge half-moon mani. But here it is!

I used two coats of Essie A Crewed Affair which is a peachy-pink. Does this count for Pink Wednesday? Well I'm calling it Peach Wednesday. I really need to get back to posting my pinks, but I haven't used one in a while.

I topped the Essie with one coat of the sparkle coat from the Nailene Artist Expressions Warm set. I don't really like this style of manicure on me, so to jazz it up I added some dots down the side using Essie Go Overboard.

Here's a bit of a blurry shot so you can see some more of the sparkle from the Nailene. I like it. I can't wait to use it over some different colors.

Next week's challenge is a Valentine's mani. I really need to settle down on an idea. Hope you guys are having a fantastic week so far!

31 Days of Manis: Day 31, My Favorite

I did it! I'm so proud that I was able to complete this challenge. Day 31 is dedicated to recreating your favorite challenge mani. If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you probably guessed that I went with Glitter.

If you follow me on Twitter then you know I got my second order from Lynnderella's Funny Money Collection earlier this week. I went with Mysterious Ways, which as Lynnderella describes is a grey-violet base with multi-coloured shimmer, white, silver, gunmetal and holographic hexagons, diamonds, squares and dust.

I started the mani with one coat of Essie's Bangle Jangle--a dusty lavender creme. I was pleasantly surprised with the coverage I got from the one coat, considering it's such a light color.

It was ever so slightly streaky, and if I had intended to wear it alone I'm sure that a second coat would have evened it all out, but since I was intending on overloading it with glitter I figured it didn't matter too much.

Mysterious Ways is jam packed with glitter. What you see here is one coat! ONE coat! I love this sooo much!

And for your viewing pleasure....A recap of my challenge! 

So there you have it, my 31 Days of Manis Challenge is over. There were days where I was mentally kicking myself for taking on this challenge, but looking back at all these gorgeous manis--well some of them were straight misses--I'm glad that I did it. I can't say I'm in any type of rush to do something like this again, but it did give me the opportunity to test out some nail art tricks that I otherwise would have been too lazy to try, like sponging and half-moons. I hope you guys enjoyed the ride along with me!

31 Days of Manis: Day 27, Inspired By Artwork

My boyfriend suggested that I use Andy Warhol as the inspiration for my "artwork mani." I googled his body of work to see what I could possibly replicate and "Flowers" seemed easy enough.

 

I used Wet n Wild Black Creme as the base. For the grass stamped an image from MASH plate M64 with Barielle Polished Princess and then "scratched" on a custom mix of one part Orly Enchanted Forest and one part Ulta Sun-Sational with a dotting tool. 

I also used a dotting tool to create the flowers. The pink is Maybelline Pink Passion, the yellow is American Apparel Manilla, the orange is NYC Times Square Tangerine Creme, and the darker pink flower is a mix of Maybelline Pink Passion, NYC Times Square Tangerine Creme, and Essie Silken Cord.

I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Stay tuned for "Flag Day" tomorrow.

31 Days of Manis: Day 25, Inspired By Fashion

I'm not that into designers, but when I was thinking about what to do for a mani inspired by fashion Christian Louboutin's iconic "red bottoms" came to mind. So I tried my hand at the "Louboutin Manicure" made famous by Zoe Pocock of the Charles Worthington salon in London.

I used three coats of China Glaze Lubu Heels--a superfine red glitter suspended in a black jelly base--for the top of my nails. For the underside, I used a nail art brush to apply two coats of  Essie Silken Cord. It's awesome and I'm really glad I gave this a shot! Next up, patterned nails.

31 Days of Manis: Day 12: Stripes

It's day 12! Are you ready for some stripes? Well here you go! 

I used two coats of Essie Nice is Nice from the Spring 2011 French Affair Collection as my base. It's such a nice soft lavender creme. My stripping was done with Kiss Brush-On Nail Art Paint in Soft Blue and Milani Nail Art in Purple Outline. I love the way the Purple Outline sparkles against those cremes.

This is where my freehand nail art ends, as tomorrow is Animal Print Nails Day. LOL. I'm going to go check out what L , Kisten and  Katherine did for their stripped manis and you should too! I hope you guys are having a great weekend!

31 Days of Manis: Day 2, Orange Nails: Essie Braziliant

Happy Hump Day! It's Day 2 of my "31 Days of Manis" challenge with L of Bright Lights, Big Color, Kisten of Polish Pauper and Katherine of Manicure Addict. Day 2 calls for orange nails, but since it's also Pink Wednesday I went with something that would satisfy both.

Enter Essie Braziliant!

Described by Weingarten (creator of Essie Cosmetics) as a "hot orange with a touch of shimmer" this baby is the namesake of Essie's 2011 summer collection. I did two coats here and topped it with Seche Vite.

The pink shimmer running through this gives off a coral feel on my skin tone.

 

It's orange. It's pink. It's Day 2. 

Have you guys joined in on the fun? I'd love to see your manis! Tweet me a pic!  

Tune in tomorrow for Day 3: Yellow nails.

Don't forget to check out my challenge buddies: L of Bright Lights, Big Color, Kisten of Polish Pauper and Katherine of Manicure Addict.

Pink Wednesday: Essie French Affair and Orly Rage

I signed up to be a part of the Pink Wednesday family--so here's my inaugural post.

In keeping with "Classics Week" on MakeupAlley's nail board I chose Essie's French Affair, the namesake of their Spring 2011 collection. It's a soft bubble gum or cotton candy pink creme bordering on Pepto-Bismol territory.

I've heard people complain about the formula on this, but I did two coats over Nail Life Ridge Filler and had no problems. I decided to stamp over it, so I grabbed Orly Rage, a rose metallic, and that Mash M64 image plate I had laying around from yesterday's manicure.

I started with an accent nail on my ring finger in case things didn't go well, but I liked how it turned out so I decided to go for the gusto.

 

I'm quite smitten with the tone-on-tone stamping.

I couldn't be happier with the way this turned out!

So are you rocking your pink today? How do you feel about the tone-on-tone stamp look?

Columbus Day with Essie Smooth Sailing

Happy Columbus Day! Whenever I think of this 'holiday' I remember the first two lines of the old poem my elementary school teacher taught me to remember the occasion.

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Immediately Essie's Smooth Sailing, from Essie's Summer 2011 Braziliant Collection came to mind. So I grabbed it and put it on. I love this periwinkle shade! 

I love the teal and pink shimmer in this baby. 

SHIMMER!!!

 And if you're a semi-nerd like me and are wondering what the rest of the poem is here you go. Courtesy of  Teaching Heart:

IN 1492

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.

He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way.

A compass also helped him know
How to find the way to go.

Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored.

Then the workers went to sleep;
And others watched the ocean deep.

Day after day they looked for land;
They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.

October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!

"Indians!  Indians!"  Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.

But "India" the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.

The Arakawa natives were very nice;
They gave the sailors food and spice.

Columbus sailed on to find some gold
To bring back home, as he'd been told.

He made the trip again and again,
Trading gold to bring to Spain.

The first American?  No, not quite.
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright. 

I love how it acknowledges that he actually had no idea where he was and that he wasn't actually the first to find the Americas.  LOL. 

Case Study

One thing I love about as much as nail polish are personality quizzes. I'm always curious to see if they can get me with the random questions of their choosing. Sometimes they're dead on. A lot of the times they're not.

I took this one called "What Essie Nail Color Are You?" this morning. After answering a few questions about the shoes I wear on dates, and my hair style of  choice the quiz makers deemed me Essie Case Study.

They said:

This new neutral by Essie is described as “a rich, camel beige.” Just like you, it’s sensible, even-tempered, well-rounded and likes to play it safe. In a word: reliable!

I'd say they pegged me, personality wise, but the jury is out on if this shade goes with me.

The shade is from the Fall 2011 Brand New Bag Collection. I'd passed it over when I picked up Carry On, a deep purple shade. I just happened see at Bed Bath and Beyond on my lunch break so I picked it up. I'll have to try it out soon.