40 GREAT NAIL ART IDEAS - TEAL

Week 2 of the challenge, and it's a color prompt.  This challenge is a bit unique from other challenges I've done, and it's mostly why I chose to join.  It alternates week by week between nail art and color-specific manicures.  And to prevent a whole lot of the same manicures showing up on the color weeks, there are specific patterns we are assigned that we have to incorporate into the design.  This week, my pattern is waterfall.

AIS - Adventures in Stamping November 2nd Challenge

ADVENTURES IN STAMPING - GOLD & WHITE

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Hi everyone!  So as I commented a bit in my last post, I have some major, major virus/malware that got on my system, and I am more than a little pissed about it.  I am religious in taking care of my laptop, and in 5 years I've had it, I have never had a problem.  The ONE time I get on the wifi at school because my USB wasn't picking up a signal, and this bug wormed its way into my system, passed Norton, Windows Security, and undetectable by MalwareBytes.

Anyway, I have a quickie post.  Adventures in Stamping is a group I am in on Facebook, and it's all about...wait for it...stamping.  First off, I am not good at it.  Nope, no, not at all.  But I am working on it.  Every week there is a vote for the Sunday challenge, and this Sunday, November 2nd, was white and gold. 

TNCC - October 2014 Stripes #3

Time for another challenge mani for October...this is my 3rd striped mani for the month, and I'm not so sure I like it.  It's probably because I liked the base of this so much, I hated covering it up.

Crumpet's 52 week challenge - Week #3

Week #3:  60's and/or Matte or Texture finish

We're up to week #3 already...actually we are close to week 4, but I'm posting this right under the wire.  I have one more final tomorrow, and then I have some breathing room for a couple of weeks.  So this one is another quickie post.  

Spotlight Saturday for 12/28/2013

Wow.  The last weekend for 2013.  This year flew by...can't say that it bothers me though.  Not the best year, but at least it was better than 2012.  They are trending upward & you can't ask for anything more than that.  Next year in 2014?  I'm going to be a participant and not a spectator.  But, enough of that...we're here for the polish, right?  I'm closing out 2013 with something colorful and sparkly!

Direct sunlight

Mish Mash Challenge #22: 3 Colors

Mish Mash Challenge day falls on Christmas this year, so I'm doubling up on Tuesday to get this in.  MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!  The 3 colors fell on a good day...I chose Red, Green and Gold.  My nails on my right hand are finally getting to a length that I feel OK photographing, but they are still short for me.  I hate always having to use my left hand in the photos - it's awkward for me to have to use my right to photograph.

Spotlight Saturday for 10/19/2013

Another Saturday, and we are getting closer to Halloween!!!  I had plans for Halloween night, and well, to condense it down, I had to switch around my school schedule and am now stuck in class...till 10pm.  A little bummed about that, but I'm stuck, and there is no changing it.

I decided to do some Halloween colors, and with my amount of untried polishes, believe me it wasn't difficult.

Mish Mash Challenge #9: Blue

I am actually posting this weeks' Mish Mash Challenge on time.  Woot woot!!  This week is blue:

T.N.C.C. - Flowers #2

I amazingly enough have my second manicure for The Nail Challenge Collaborative July challenge.  I definitely like this flower manicure better than last weeks, if only because it is supposed to be sloppy and cartoon-y.  I had a lot of fun with this one, especially since I chose to do it with neons.

My News Feed on Facebook popped up with the latest tutorial from cutepolish, and this technique was it.  If you want to see her video, it is called Floral Doodle Nails, and I love it.

ABC Challenge - "V" is for Venus In The Sky

Hello all!  We are here for the letter V, so here we go.

First, let me say that my original idea for the letter U and letter V both tied in together.  But that was before I looked at the calendar, and realized that the letter U fell right after Memorial Day weekend.  So my inspiration for V started with the letter U...who cares, right?  Here's the finished look, and yes, I know my cuticles look awful.  There is a lot of oil glare that wasn't there IRL, and they look bad in these photos.  But you are only here to see the polish, right?

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!

Great blog find and Autism Awareness Mani #1

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This is my first non-challenge blog post, and it will be a relatively short one.  I should be house cleaning, but that is just no fun.  I was doing some indie brand searches - alright, lets just face it, I was shopping - and through random searches and links, I came across a blog - xoxo, Jen - that floored me.  I haven't looked at any of her posts yet, that's coming next.  So, what floored me, you ask?  She has a listing of Indie polish brands, with links to sites, that total over 375!

Obviously, I have not checked out the links yet, and who knows if some of them are still in business, but the time it took to put all that together? Amazing!  Link to her website HERE...  I plan on using it myself.

Since April is Autism Awareness month, I am jumping in and doing at lease one blue manicure each week.  This is the first.  I wanted to start off with a lighter blue, but what I got was eye-popping.  This polish, irl, has got a micro shimmer in it that looks to be greenish, but what it does is make this aqua blue just completely glow.  It is so bright!  I'm not usually a blue-wearer, so wearing blue this month is a big deal.  I wanted to start off with a penlight, and ended up with a spotlight instead.

Both polishes are from Studio M - big box brand for a chain here in the midwest.  The aqua blue is called "Total WOW", and the glitter is "Sexy Siren"  You'd think they were made for each other.

This blue is just beautiful.  It was a little sheer, so I did 3 coats, but application was good. Hardly had to do any clean up afterwards.  Cuticles definitely need some work though - sorry.

Hope you enjoyed the extra post this week, and I hope everyone has a great weekend!  It really is FINALLY starting to feel like spring around here in Chicago - yea!

Liz

ABC Challenge- "M" is for Magic Attraction

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Back for another week - wow, they are coming fast.  I had originally planned for this week to do a cute manicure of the funny little guys from the animated movie "Despicable Me" - Minions. 

 

But, I didn't feel like cute.  Holidays are still hard, and the depression still sets in, though not quite as badly as Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I needed something pretty and...girly, hoping that it would help lift my mood (trust me on this - cute and juvenile would have made things worse).  So the little twinkie guys had to go, but they are still a possibility somewhere down the line. 

While I was out shopping, I always take a walk down the cosmetic aisles - not that I need to, mind you - I just can't help but make a pass through.  I wanted to pick up another bottle of the fabulous flakie I used last week, and came across the beauty I have used this week - Magic Attraction.  Here is the finished product:

 

I had to take photos of this before I did the striping on it - check out the bling:  Had to take a blurry picture to get the colors flashing off the glitter.  Sorry that photos are so washed out - with flash too bright, and without too dark.

So, I used the following - all drugstore brands this week (from left to right in photo):

1. Sinful: Starfish /  2. Pure Ice: Superstar!  / 3. Sinful:  Folly /  4. Studio M:  Magic Attraction

I'm pretty happy with the final effect.  Lines were free-handed - not too shabby, if I do say so myself.  And it did perk me up - mission accomplished.  Oh, and had to share this photo - I put this box on the futon next to me, and turned around to pick up a couple of bags of things I wanted to put in the box.  When I turned back, this is what I was greeted with:

AND her name is Maize - she fits in with the letter this week!
 

So again, big thanks to Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner for organizing this weekly challenge.  
If you are interested in joining, just head on over to her page, click on the ABC Challenge link under her banner, and get the info to e-mail her your request to join.  This is a closed group, so you will need to get the OK to be added, but anyone & everyone is welcome. We still have half the alphabet left, so plenty of time to get in.

Please stop and take a look at all the other ladies in the challenge, and enjoy the rest of the week.  Only 2 more days till the weekend starts!