Tuesday, March 19, 2013

ABC Challenge - "K" is for Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam

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Here we all are again - wow, we are almost halfway through the alphabet!  This week is the letter K, and let me just start off with a rant.  I DO NOT like reality TV.  I think it is a major contributor in the dumbing down of Americans.  The stupidity and shallowness that runs rampant on this kind of TV is just...ugh!  Capitalizing on this type of "entertainment" is a family called the Kardashians.  I go out of my way to NOT purchase anything involved with that family, but they are not the only ones.  There are others, but I am getting too far off tangent here.  This is a nail polish blog, for crying out loud!

This is all leading me to the fact that the polish of choice today is from the Kardashian collection put out by Nicole by OPI.  Can I tell you...I hate myself for loving this color.  It was part of my St. Patrick's day exchange gift, so technically I did not buy it, so that makes me feel a little better.  Yea, I am going to run with that.

It is a dark teal, which looks like a dark evergreen in certain lights.  It goes on perfectly, is basically opaque in one coat, and dries to a glass-like shine.  Why, oh why, does it have to be part of the K-collection?  It does have one draw back - it stains like (a) _____ (insert favorite expletive here).  I was trying to be VERY careful with application, but had to do a second clean-up the next day for cuticles, which were a very nice pale shade of green, I must say.  These photos are three days in - constantly washing my hands, cleaning, hand lotions, and cold weather; my hands had a lot of abuse this week.




To add a little something to this color, I decided to do a cheat marbling.  I have not had much time to practice water marbling, and have issues with choosing polishes that will work.  Either they will not spread, or they spread so much that they break the pattern, and I need to clear the water and start over.  I didn't want to be staring at a cup of water all afternoon, so I brought out my trusty sheet protector from the letter "G" manicure, and did some pseudo marbling.  A few drops of polish, a toothpick, and 36 hours later, these are what I got. 

Yes, they look a little alien, but I did not want to drag the toothpick backwards through the polish.  The tentacles were cut off when I was shaping these to put on my nails.  But beware...you had better know exactly how you want this to sit on your nail, because once they touch the polish underneath, even if it FEELS dry to the touch, it WILL suction itself.  It was OK with this manicure, since I had so much base color mixed in the marbling, but if I hadn't, everyone would've noticed the big boo-boo on my thumb, not just me (and no, you can't see it in the photos above).


Didn't think to take a photo of these in, you know, DAYLIGHT, but you can see the shimmer that these polishes have in them.  Pretty impressive for such an inexpensive brand.



Couldn't quite capture the shimmers on the taupe and sage, but you can see a *little* bit of the blue peeking through in the green bottle.  You'll have to take my word on the taupe. 

Colors used are:
Nicole by OPI - Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam (dark teal, used as base color)
Love & Beauty - Coral Glow (has a gold shimmer)
Love & Beauty - Taupe (has a silver shimmer)
Love & Beauty - Sparkling Sage (has a blue shimmer)

I am still working out some kinks with this method, and one of them is that I should NOT have used so much of the base color in the marbling.  With the darker color in the marble, and the dark base under the marble, once I put it on the nail a lot of the lighter coloring got lost.

Over all, I am VERY happy with how this turned out.  As long as I know what colors I want to use when I change things up, this is a very viable option to water marbling, at least until I get good at it.  There is nothing like instant gratification you get from that method, after all.

Sorry everyone...I think I am FINALLY out of breath!  If you made it all the way down to here, congratulations - you deserve a medal!! And thank you!

Take a look at everyone else involved in the challenge, sponsored and brought to you by Kimber from Kimber's Lacquer Korner.  I think "K" will give us a pretty diverse group of manicures.  Looking forward to them as much as you!

18 comments:

  1. I feel the same way about the Kardashians. -_- But it is a gorgeous color. I love the mani!

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  2. I avoid the Kardashians as much as possible myself. It's a terrible pity that their polish line has such darn pretty colors in it! Great job on the faux marbling...no reason to waste time and polish water marbling when you can get such a lovely effect from faking it!

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  3. Great results and I love your technique!

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  4. Wow so clever, I think it looks great!! As for the Kardashians, I hear you, Doll! Ugh and I think they are over exposed down here in Oz I can only imagine what you peeps in the US are going through, esp with Kimmy's pregnancy :(

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  5. Love this, so pretty! Love your technique to, will have to try this.

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  6. I COMPLETELY agree with you about reality TV and celeb brands and they do dumb down America. It is amazing somehow lots of people really like all the garbage on TV!!! We need to stop watching so they will stop making this crap.

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  7. Great job, very creative! As you can imagine, here in Italy the Kardashians are not so famous. Sometimes I hate my country, expecially in this particular period of its history, but at least we never see them on TV shows or reality! :D

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  8. Gimme that medal, I made it to the end! ROFL :)
    I love this mani, but I think I would sport it in Autumn! Now I truly madly deeply want Spring. Know what I mean, right?
    I keep saying I want to try a dry water-marble because the real one just doesn't like me. 36 hours waiting? Wow.

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    1. I want spring too - believe me! Winter didn't get to Chicago until February, and I'm sooo ready for sun and some warmer weather. Next week will be bright though, for sure!
      The time though didn't bother me - I got home Friday after work and took like 10 minutes to make these. I change my polish on Sundays (usually), so they were ready & waiting for me.

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  9. It looks great! I defo need to try this technique :) And you know what? I totally understand what you say about rubbish TV programs. What worries me the most is that it is a massive and world-wide phenomenon.

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  10. Very smart idea. You did a great job!

    I loathe water marbling. Have yet to achieve anything resembling pretty. Last time I did it, I ended up...I'm serious here...with what looked like spinach on my nails.

    And reality tv? Darlin', I couldn't agree with you more! Can't stand the brainless stuff. Cheap to produce, its seen as the perfect pablum for "the masses." Wish to hell the masses would rise up and throw it back in their faces. :)

    L

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    1. LOL! The last time I tried water marbling, I got 1 good nail out of 5. I watch tutorials, but somehow when I do it, I feel like my finger needs to bend a way it is not intended to bend in order to get the design on my nail.
      I keep trying though, but this works in the mean time.

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  11. I need to try this, it turned out great!! I'm the opposite, I can't get enough of reality tv, the karasashians, not so much, but big brother and those competition shows get me everytime!!

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  12. Great looking manicure and I love the little aliens LOL I wonder if they could be made small enough to place on the nails with the little tentacles and all, like little splashes of polish.

    I avoid most of the reality tv. I like shows like Ghost Hunters etc. if you can count those as reality tv. Big Brother makes me want to chew my own arm off :P I also felt this way about OPI Mariah Carey collection. I really liked how some of the polishes looked but I have such a strong dislike against her that I couldn't make myself buy them LOL

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    1. Hmmmm...I am going to have to try that Ria. Maybe next week even.

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  13. Giiiiiiiiiirl! I Loath the Kardashians! Someone needs to take them and the cast of Jersey Shore and put them on another planet! I do love your cheat marble!! I think Water Marbling is one of those things that just takes practice and patience. But when you find an alternative run with it!! This is a great cheat!

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  14. "Insert favorite expletive here" LOL XD. Love the marbling and color. I dont like to watch reality series either. I think it's all fake

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