Mish Mash Challenge #23: Favorite Color

Mish Mash Challenge Day on the first day of the year.  HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!  I've got a couple of things I am going to focus on for my blog, and one of them is to try to do a little bit of nail art.  Don't expect flawless water marbles on my first day, but little touches of something extra to start out with is probably a smart way to start.

So this week's challenge is Favorite Color.  Mine is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue.  LOVE this color still!  But I went to look for the bottle, and I'll be damned if I know where the heck I put it.  I'm betting that I left it out, and my cats found it.  It's probably under some piece of furniture somewhere... I had to go with the next best thing this week, and it's a color that's similar, but not really close.

ABC Challenge - "N" is for Nicole by OPI

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Hello everyone...only 4 days late on the post.  No inspiration this week - work has me beyond aggravated, and when I finally got home each night, I had no energy or will to polish.  It's unthinkable, isn't it??  Finally, I am ALMOST caught up, so I feel like I have some breathing room, and my creativity is coming back.  I was a little nervous there...crazy as it is to some, doing my manicure is soothing and fun to me.  I figure if you are reading this, you feel the same way.

Soooo... N. Had no idea what to do.  Neon came to mind - too quickly - and I figured it would be an obvious choice this week.  That made it a pass.  I assumed (rightly so, seeing the posts up already) that others would do it much better than me.  So, here is my contribution this week for N:

 

 

This feels a little like Barbie goes Goth...The pink dries matte, which I why I bought it.  There is a shimmer in there that gives it a little 'something' that I can't really describe.  The black has a shiny glass flecked finish to it.  I like the combo - and the scrapbooking scissors design when I taped it off gives it just a little bit of an edgy look.

What didn't I like?  A couple of things.

1) I can't topcoat this sucker.  I did put an extra matte top coat on the pink first before taping off for the black (it did not change the finish - polish looked pretty much the same with and without it), but the black is kind of left on it's own.   This is one day - a rough day, albeit - but only 1 day.  Already seeing tip wear.  

2) The formula on these sucked.  I swear half the bottle stuck on the brush.  It was thick and goopy.  Both applied very streaky, and felt like it dried on the brush as I was polishing.  I could deal with it with the pink, since I was polishing the whole nail, but the black - had to do 2 coats to get full cover.  Not ideal when you have tape to remove.  I had to make the second coat pretty thick, so it would soften up the first enough for me to pull of the tape relatively cleanly.  Because of this, it took FOREVER to dry.  Definitely need to introduce both to some thinner before I use again.

Colors used:  Nicole by OPI  "Still Into Pink" and "Totally in the Dark"

 

 

Now I have to get ideas going for "O".  What to do, what to do....Until next week.

 

As usual, a shout out to Kimber @ Kimber's Lacquer Korner for starting us off.  We have a new person joining the group, so it goes to show you - it's never too late.  Go on over to Kimber's page, click on ABC Challenge tab, and find out how to join.

 

And, check out all the other "N" inspirations.

Autism Awareness Mani #2

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Hey all!  It has been a very busy, busy week at work, and I have had no time to do anything, let alone my manicure.  So, when I got home at 10:30, I pulled out the polish so I could post my week 2 Autism Awareness mani.

I have been working with papers and filing all week.  Add to that the forced air heat, and...yea.  Continually having to washing my hands has left them very dry, cracked and pained, so my cuticles were in no mood for any real clean up.  Just kind of ignore the angry redness and dryness, and focus in on this beautiful blue.

Photos are kind of...bad.  It's after 2:30 am, and I wanted to get this post up because the weekend is jammed up with everything I couldn't get done during the week.  So, that meant taking pictures in the middle of the night.   Probably not the most ideal time for taking pictures.

Color is Blue Funk by Studio M.  Really loving this brand...last weeks mani went 6 days with very, very minimal tip wear, and no chipping.  Add to that the $2.99 price tag - this week was also 25% off, so I had to add quite a few colors to my collection.

By the way - that shine is from the polish.  No top coat used.

The glitter used was Sweet Dreams from the Selena Gomez collection by Nicole by OPI.

Really need to call it a night...or morning??  Have a great weekend!