31 Days of Manis: Day 13: Elephunk Skin

I went riffling through my stash looking for inspiration for animal print nails day. I came across Funky Fingers Elephunk and I instantly knew I had to do elephant skin nails. Elephants don't get love like zebras, cheetahs, and leopards do, but they're still an important part of the jungle. Anyway here's my take on it.

I used two coats of Elephunk. It's a medium gray with a hint of lilac and has this great silver shimmer running all through it.

I used Pure Ice Kiss Me Here to stamp the pattern using image plate C05 from this Beauties-Factory 10-piece set. 

 This image is tiny! I had to stamp each nail about seven billion times to cover the nail. LOL. Okay not really--it was about six times per nail.(But I'd do it all again and I will when I can wear it for more than one day!) The best part though is that even if you overlap the stamps you cannot mess this up! 

And the final look again.

I'm so in love with this, I don't want to take this off. Alright. I'm off to scour my image plates for ideas for tomorrow's flower print mani. In the meantime do check out
L , Kisten and  Katherine for their animal print manis!

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 11 Polka Dots

Hey guys! I can't believe I'm already in the second segment of this 31 day mani challenge. Next up: ten days of patterns. Today is Polka Dots.

I was going to be lazy and stamp a polka dot print from my Bundle Monster BM 19 image plate, but I realized that the design was too small for my nails so I went ahead and pulled out my dotting tool.

I started with two coats of American Apparel California Trooper. I didn't expect to like this shade on me, because it's beige and well as you can see I'm really brown. I thought it would be too stark against my skin tone, but it turns out it really works for me. Call me surprised.

I did the polka dots using OPI's Suzi Loves Cowboys from their spring 2011 Texas Collection. It's a nice chocolate brown creme.

Doesn't this look like chocolate chip cookie dough? Mmmmm cookie dough.

Don't forget to go see my friends:  L , Kisten and  Katherine.

Tomorrow we'll have stripes! 

31 Days of Manis: Day 10: Blued Out

It's day 10, gradient nails day. It's also the last in the color segment of this challenge. Patterns are up next.

I went with a blue theme because although I keep buying blue nail polishes I rarely reach for them and this challenge is about getting me out of my box.

I used the sponging technique and I should also mention that this was my first time doing a gradient mani.

Not too shabby eh?

Here's the "Blue Crew"

China Glaze Snow Globe, OPI What's With the Cattitude, OPI Ogre-The-Top-Blue, OPI Ski Teal We Drop.

And a close up:

Tomorrow I'll have a polka dot mani for ya, but while you wait go visit my buds  L , Kisten and  Katherine

 to see their gradient nails. 

31 Days of Manis: Day 9: Taste the Rainbow

Hey guys! It's Day 9, Rainbow nails day. I'm no good with freehand nail art, so I opted for a rainbow skittles mani using tape!

Oh look it's my rarely seen thumb!

I started with a base of one of my favorite glitters of all time OPI, Spark de Triomphe. It was a part of one of the Glam Slam! France duos OPI released with Serena Williams in May. It has a mix of large silver and gold hex glitter and smaller silver and gold square glitter. This glitter right here...this glitter right here....y'all. I even bought a backup. And I'm seriously considering getting a third.

I did two coats here and topped it off with one coat of Gelous base coat (it helps it to not "eat" my top coat and give you a smooth surface to work with) and then I added one coat of Seche Vite to speed the drying process.

I pulled out a bunch of jelly/sheer polishes and some tape and got to work!

L-R: Wet n Wild Everybody Loves Redmond, OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?, Milani Lemongello, Sinful Colors Irish Green Revlon Royal, Milani Rad Purple

Index: Wet n Wild Everybody Loves Redmond & OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear? Middle: Milani Lemongello & Sinful Colors Irish Green. Ring: Revlon Royal & Milani Rad Purple.

I love how you still get to see the glitter underneath the colors. I painted in ROYGBIV order, using tape to get a straight line down the middle. I put the tape down the center of my nail leaving one half exposed. Then I paint with my color of choice.

I pull the tape off as soon as I'm satisfied with the color payoff, rather than waiting for it to dry. This usually gives me a cleaner line.Once that half of the nail was dry, I carefully painted the other half making sure not to overlap the straight edge from the tape.

Tip: stick the tape on your hand and lift it up a few times to take off some of the stickiness before you stick it on your nail. This will help with removal and prevent the tape from pulling up the polish underneath.

For my thumb and pinky nails I used Milani Gems and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

I love how you can see some of the gold shine through even on the Liquid Leather part of the nails.

L, Kisten and  Katherine have been knocking this challenge out of the park, so I know their Rainbow nails are fierce. Tomorrow we take on Gradient Nails.

31 Days of Manis: Day 8: Muppets take Metallics

After yesterday's flub with my Black and White nails I was super excited for metallics! I pulled out my bottle of OPI Warm and Fozzie, from OPI's Muppets Collection.

I did three thin coats. I'm pretty sure I could have done two slightly thicker coats, but whatevs. 

 

This is hands down THE BEST metallic I own.  It's coppery. It's bronze. It has pink shimmer!!! 

I don't even have anything else to say here. I'm so enamored with this.

It's soooooo banging. If you don't have this please try and find it. You need it. Trust me! It looks good on pretty much everyone.

I'm going to be sad to take this off for tomorrow's Rainbow Nails. 

I'm off to check my girls: L, Kisten and  Katherine.

 Join me!  

Lynnderella Coming to Llarowe!

Copyright © 2011 llarowe. All rights reserved.

Today Llarowe announced on their Facebook page that they would carry Lynnderella Nail Polish starting December 2011! This is great news for those of you that have been wanting to try out Lynnderella's amazing glitters but always seem to miss her blog shop's openings or can't swing her 5 bottle minimum order.

Even better news for you international ladies that have been wanting to get your hands on these beauties, as Lynnderella has only been shipping within the United States. Llarowe ships worldwide (excluding Italy) but note that with Llarowe customs and import duties may be applied to International orders when the shipment reaches its destination.

In addition to her First Edition and Early Halloween collections Llarowe will carry her Funny Money collection and glitter tamer. They don't have prices listed on the site yet, but on Lynnderella's blog they retail for $12 per bottle and in her most recent sale she offered the glitter tamer for $6.

Get your wish lists ready! Based on the response on their Facebook page these will surely sell out quickly!