My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge Day 6: Stripes

Today's post is featuring Day 6 of the challenge by Ooh La La Polish, stripes. I wanted to go for a kind of "sun ray" stripe. I really liked how this turned out. It was a little tricky cutting scotch tape thin enough to do the design, but it was well worth it. I now plan on buying some striping tape offline to do this more often. I used Color Club Worth the Risque and Wild at Heart for the colors. I love those colors. Nothing better than silver and purple holographic nail polish to make me happy! Of course, it was raining here all day so no outdoor pictures but it is still pretty indoors. I had two coats of Worth the Risque and one coat of Wild at Heart all topped with my beloved Seche Vite topcoat. Hope you have a great day.

My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge Day 5: Polka Dots

Just a quick post with my manicure from the challenge by Ooh La La Polish. I did my first gradient manicure the other day and I absolutely love it (will give more detail in later post). So instead of taking it off, I decided to go for some polka dot tips!! Enjoy!

I used Ma.nish.ma Bolts of Blue and Rocket Green  for the gradient. I used Konad plate m45 and Konad White for the stamp.

Pixi: Classy Coco, Amazing Amethyst, & Evening Emerald

I have three new polishes to show you by Pixi. The colors I have are Classy Coco, Amazing Amethyst, and Evening Emerald from Pixi's Fall 2012 collection. These colors are beauties! I had no application issues at all. The brushes were medium in size and easy to use. The formula on all of the polishes were thin, but not runny, and easy to apply. I really like the Tinkerbell theme that Pixi uses. It makes makeup fun and whimsical and not so serious. I am really getting tired of all brands trying to make everything super sexy. What happened to just having fun and wanting something cute and pretty? We can't be sirens all the time. This brand is a breath of fresh air to me. Ahhhhh. Sorry, can you tell I have been seeing too many commercials geared towards sex appeal lately?  Why do I always get sidetracked? On with the pictures!

Classy Coco

Classy Coco is a purple toned brown nail polish with a gold shimmer. It took 3 coats for full coverage. I was surprised how much I liked this color. The purple tone is much more noticeable in the bottle, and I just wasn't sure if I would like it. Well, I love it. This will definitely be a go to color this fall. It reminds me of hot coco. Fall can't get here soon enough.   

Amazing Amethyst

Amazing Amethyst is true to its name. It is an amazing shade of purple. A very vivid purple with what looks like red, blue, and pink colored shimmer in in. These picture don't do it justice. If you are a purple lover, you will definitely like this! This polish when on smoothly in two coats. The only thing I noticed with this polish was it didn't dry as glossy as the other two polishes. You can't really tell in the pictures, but a little top coat will fix that right up.

Evening Emerald

Evening Emerald is a beautiful darkened blue and green shimmer in a darkened teal base. It went on easily in two coats. This color is fabulous! If you like vampy colors, this should be right up your alley. It is dark enough to be vampy, but not too much so it is mistaken for a black glitter. (I hate when that happens.)   

I can honestly say, you can't go wrong with any of these colors. There isn't a bad one in the bunch! The polishes come in 7mL bottles and run $8 per bottle. In the US, you can find them in Target or you can order online here.

*These polishes were sent to me for review.

My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge Day 4 : Favorite Food

Day 4 of the challenge by Ooh La La Polish asks what is your favorite food. This was a ver easy answer to me. Sure I love chocolate, you can't go wrong with breakfast, but what really takes the cake for me ... SUSHI!!!!! Now, if you knew me when I was in school, this would be a complete surprise. I only ate chicken tenders, mac n cheese, grilled cheese, and any other combination of chicken, bread, and cheese with few exceptions. I now eat raw fish, vegetables, things I can't quite identify, without hesitation. My mommy  sure is proud. :) I am not going to list all of the polishes I used in the nail art because it is a lot, and I blended most of the colors to the results I wanted. Without further adieu, I give you NAIL SUSHI!!!

Are you hungry yet?? Mmmmm...yumm!!

My poor sushi "sign" got smeared on my thumb, but I will now decide it was on purpose to add a rugged effect. Ha!

 I had so much fun coming up with this manicure! Have you ever tried sushi?? Does this mani make you want to eat it more or less? LOL!!!

My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge Day 3: My Favorite Animal

Day 3 of the challenge by Ooh La La Polish asks what is your favorite animal. I don't really have a favorite animal (Are we noticing an indecisive trend yet?), but growing up, I always wanted to be an elephant trainer. Why you ask? Well not because I was in love with the elephants, I wanted to wear the trainers pretty/sparkly costumes!! Now of course, I really do love elephants. I think they are amazing creatures, but to a five year old, the sequined costume looks better. Apparently I have always had a love for the more sparkly things in life! I used  China Glaze Elephant Walk for my base color. Appropriate name for the polish, right?  I used Wet n Wild Black Creme for the black detailing, White On by Sally Hansen for the toe nails and tusks, and I Believe in Amour by Color Club for the pink nose. Then, I topped the whole shebang off with Seche Vite. I must say, I really love Elephant Walk, It is a medium grey with a very subtle shimmer to it. I can see a full manicure with this color alone in my future! I had full coverage with two coats with normal drying time. I really like how this turned out. I might redo this one day before going to the zoo!

Do you like my elephant feet?

I was scared to paint anything else and ruin it.

My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge Day 2: My Favorite Polish

Day 2 of the challenge by Ooh La La Polish asks what is your favorite polish. Do you realize how hard it is to pick one polish out of over 400?? That is like asking me which child do I love more? I really didn't want to hurt the others feelings, so please don't tell them. It is a secret. The polish that truly created an obsession was Nfu Oh 61. I saw a swatch online and instantly fell in love. I felt the same way when I started dating my husband. It is pure silver holographic nail porn!! I think it should be XXX rated with its awesomeness! Sorry, about that outburst. My husband is currently looking over my shoulder saying, "I can't believe you are writing that." I have myself under control now. This notorious polish is a bit of a pain in the a$$ to apply. You have to have either their Aqua Base for smooth application, or some other brand of holographic base coat for it to apply well. That being said, it is a breeze to apply with the Aqua Base. I do a sandwich method of application with one coat of base, then a coat of 61, then another coat of base, and then a final coat of 61. You can do one more "lasagna layer" if you want, but you don't have to. This method helps make your holo-cure last longer. Even with this method, I get only 2-3 days of wear out of it. I do not wear a topcoat with Nfu Ohs holographic polish because it will dull, if not eliminate, the holographic effect. There are some people out there who might have found the golden ticket of top coat that won't ruin it, but I haven't found it yet. Wow, this turned into a long rant. Well enjoy the pictures! (Sorry about all of the pics. You didn't think you could ask me what was my favorite polish and expect me not to go crazy, did you?)

The Pictures Begin

Ooohhhh!

Aaaaahhhhhh!!!

Crap, I just drooled.

I just couldn't decide on a picture.

Look at it in all of its holo-gloryness!

Shazaam!

Almost done, I promise.

Now inside. It still has a slight holo effect to it, but you really have to be in just the right lighting. 

Just love this silver.

Well, I'm spent, how about you? :) I think I need to do a comparison post of all of my silver holographics!

Nail Art Save with OPI Pedal Faster Suzi

So, I am sure you remember my previous post with my Mulan nail art attempt. Well, here is how I tried to salvage it. I am quite proud of the results. You wouldn't know the tree was suppose to be part of a Disney themed manicure!! I wanted to use a soft pink polish that was close to the pink I used for the cherry blossoms. I settled on OPI Pedal Faster Suzi from this Spring's Holland Collection. It blended perfectly with my nail art! I think this is my favorite manicure to date!! I even impressed my husband. Sadly, he still will not let me paint his nails. Oh well. Pedal Faster Suzi is a pale pink shimmer that stays somewhat sheer at three coats. The formula was a little thin, but still easy to work with. I have 1 coat of Seche Vite top coat on. 

Extreme close up! You can see some of the bubble problem that I mentioned in my last post.

You can still see a visible nail line.

This is what Pedal Faster Suzi looks like in person.

Like I said before, I am really happy with this manicure. What do you think? Have you ever tried to salvage a disaster and the result is way better than what you started with?

My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge Day 1: My Favorite Color

My first challenge. I am doing the My Favorite Things Challenge by Ooh La La Polish. Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like a little challenge. Now, I debated on this a lot. I love three main colors: green, blue, and purple and any variation in between. It was harder than I thought to pick just one color. I decided to blend two of them for my favorite and make a call, teal. Call it what you will turquoise, teal, blue-green, green-blue, aquamarine, it has so many variations that exude cool, calm, and serene feelings. Wow, I really didn't mean to go there. Back on topic, I swear I have this color is shirts, make up , polish, jewelry, and even a bag or two. You just can't go wrong with teal. I decided to use Zoya Zuza for my picture and am glad I did. This wonderful shade went on in two splendid coats for full coverage. It has an amazing silver shimmer that seemed to freak out my camera a bit outside, but just beautiful in person. As with most polishes in this shade, Be careful of staining. You definitely need to use a good base coat with this. No top coat was used in these pictures!

Here is what the challenge entails.

Hmmm.. what will be my favorite nail polish? You know, this challenge seemed easy on the surface, but now that I am having to make decisions, not so much!

First attempt at nail art.

So, I wanted to enter the nail art contest at Nailed to the T. I am so/so with my results. I was doing good with my acrylic paints on my white base coat of Essie Bone Chilling. I was in the zone, nothing could stop me. My art was bad A$$. Finally, happy with my work, I began to do the topcoat. Now, why would I mess with something I am very happy with? You see, I am a glutton for punishment. I can't leave well enough alone. I should have stopped while everything was good. Just like at the casinos, stop while you are ahead. Well, I didn't. I kept on trucking with the top coats (yes plural) from hell. I did one layer and it made it look a little weird. Not too off from where I started but definitely different. Then layer #2 it started pulling, and finally layer #3 added bubbles. Now if this were an under the water manicure, the bubbles would have been spectacular but this was Mulan, not Little Mermaid. :( I am still turning in my entry for the fun of it all but please, don't judge too harshly, because you know I am.

I couldn't even get a blur free picture. Yes I know I am pouting, sorry.

You see, I did Mulan before and after she went to go fight the Huns, then I have her lucky cricket, then Mushu the guardian dragon, then the cherry blossom tree and bench from her home, and finally the lotus hair comb. It could have been EPIC!! Now it's eh. This has just shown me that I need to try some different things, and not get too down on myself! It will be better next time. I feel better after ranting like this. I apologize for making you "listen." THE END.

Red Comparison

When I was picking out my red base color for my Hello Kitty manicure, I realized I have a few "similar" reds. Isn't it amazing when you are at the store trying to pick out a new color and you just know you don't have that at home. Unfortunately, when you do get home, you have 5 different versions of it. Well damn it all if that isn't what happened. Sadly, I did have more reds that were similar to these colors, but these were the closest looking while still in the bottle. The reds I am showing you are similar, but divided into two different groups : Cherry Red and True Red. The cherry reds lean on the almost orangy, but not quite orange side. They are very bright and cheerful colors. The true reds lean neither towards the blue or orange side of the red spectrum, it sits right smack dab in the middle. I notice every single one of these polishes had amazing coverage with just two coats. I probably could have gotten away with one thick coat, but I try not to do that so I get a more accurate manicure. Does that make sense? I did not use a topcoat in the picture, but the base coat I did end up using was my Posh Quick Dry Base Coat. I had no nail staining using that with the Zoya Sooki. Now, on to the comparison!

Wet n Wild I Red a Good Book , Zoya Sooki, China Glaze Hey Sailor , OPI, O'Hare & Nails Look Great, and Color Club Cadillac Red

Thumb Wet n Wild, Index Zoya, Middle China Glaze, Ring OPI, Pinkie Color Club

Cherry Reds: Zoya Sooki, China Glaze Hey Sailor
True Reds: Wet n Wild I Red a Good Book, OPI O'Hare & Nails Look Great, Color Club Red Cadillac

What do you think of the difference? Do group your reds based on what color they lean towards or is it just red like my husband would say?

On a random side note, look how shiny they all are. I can see a reflection of me in them!!