Day 24/Day 25 - Inspired by a Movie/Fashion

Originally I was going to do Young Einstein nails (if you haven't seen that movie, go watch it now. Seriously. Do it.) but got randomly inspired by Toy Story 3. Not only does this fit for the movie nails, but also for fashion since it is based on Barbie and Ken's clothes in the movie. I'm only meshing these together because I accidentally skipped the movie day all together and didn't want to get too far out of order.

Here are some reference images

 

And the design

I am incredibly happy with the thumb and pinky, pretty satisfied with the pointer and ring, and baffled at the middle nail. No idea what happened there. There are some of the craziest air bubbles I have ever seen in there! O.o

Colors used include: For Audrey - China Glaze, How I Met Your Magenta - Wet N Wild, Mellow Yellow - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, White On - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Flower Girl and Fashionista - Sinful Colors (stripers), and a generic blue that I found at Ross in a set.

What do you guys think? Probably going to do another design that features the leopard print again. I am apparently becoming obsessed with leopard print! 

Thanks for reading :)

Day 7 - Black & White

I figured today would be great, and I'd have some insanely awesome inspired idea. I was wrong. I overwhelmed myself and instead went with something simple. Polishes are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.

This definitely didn't turn out as cleanly as I would have liked, but from far away it looks amazing! Hah

I lost a follower and am sad :( Where did I go wrong?!?! *dramatic crying*

Thanks for reading!

EDIT: I had tried to scheduled this to post last night and apparently I had it on the wrong day (derp)!

Day 5 Blue/Day 6 Purple

I did do my nails yesterday, I just couldn't find the time to post them. I was pretty dissatisfied with the pictures, to be honest, and that probably helped me procrastinate a bit! I am quite sad that my camera doesn't seem to want to capture the darkness of certain blues and purples. I'm sure everyone has seen a swatch or two of American Apparel - Mount Royal, and they look nothing like this:

In reality Mount Royal is a very deep blue with an almost purple undertone. Either way, I was covering it up anyway so are pictures after the addition of Sally Hansen Nail Prism - Garnet Lapis:

In many of these photos, the finished product looks more blue than purple (also apparently my kitties were around when I was photographing as I noticed a few hairs on my fingers as I was editing the photos!), but that's just because this polish is hard to photograph. It ranges from blue to purple to even some copper if you catch it at the right angle. The second picture of the layering does a good job illustrating the blue to purple shift, I think. I am happy to say that I own not one but three Nail Prisms. They are all easily over 10 years old, and I found them in my closet when I went home to Pennsylvania over the holiday. Easily one of the greatest nail polish discoveries of my adult life!

For my day 6 purple I chose Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Purple Potion with two coats of China Glaze - Seniorita Bonita on top. 

Outside

Again, Seniorita Bonita is much more... vibrant(?) in person. Shimmery with little flecks of pink throughout, it really is a stunning polish. Sadly, the brush that it came with is quite deformed, but at least it still applies well. 

Purple Potion is quite awesome as well, I just neglected to photograph it on its own. 

I think tomorrow... there will be stamping! I need practice! ^.^

Thanks for reading :)

  

Day 3 - Yellow

I have less than 5 yellows in my collection so this was a bit of a challenge. I chose Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow. The name is accurate - it is a very mellow yellow! It's a pale almost pastel yellow and applies easily in two coats. The dots were inspired by NailedIt's tutorial. Mine didn't come out even close to what it should have been, but I thought the results were cute anyway.

The blue dots are American Apparel's Mount Royal, the purple dots are Jordana's Hypnotizing, and the green dots are American Apparel's Army Jacket. I hope you all have enjoyed my nubbins today! I broke two and they had to be cut down :(

Thanks for reading!

Purple glittery goodness

In my time in Pennsylvania I made sure to hit up a few Dollar Generals because they have discounted Xtreme Wear polishes and there isn't a single one here in my area of California. Because of this I ended up with a ton of Xtreme Wear colors, but that's ok because they water marble really well, and I need all the help I can get in that department. This is Purple Potion. A shimmery purple with hints of blue all throughout. It didn't look that special in the bottle, but once I had it on I couldn't stop staring. Two coats is what you see here. 

Then, of course, there had to be GLITTER. Rockstar Pink is another of the Xtreme Wears I picked up. This is the only thing I have done with it so far, but it's so damned pretty in the bottle I imagine it could really spice up a few manicures!

I was really just going for a light gradient and a little shine. I think this manicure accomplished both :) 

Thanks for reading!

Drugstore Sparkle!

Jordana is a drugstore brand (found mine at K-Mart) that is awesomely enough big 3 free! Woo! For this manicure I used Purple Glam, a truly purply purple. It was so purple in fact that the purpliness covered up some of the nice glittery bits as I layered. Although, I am super glad to have a very opaque glitter! To make up for some of the glitter covered by this stunning purple, I added two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - In the Spot Light. Everything turned out much better than expected. I really though In the Spot Light was going to be a nightmare to work with. Turns out, it's quite simple! WAY easier than the Deborah Lippmann or even Nubar hex glitters. Looks like it'd be hectic, but it's not! Here is Purple Glam on its own

My nasty (burns with polish remover OUCH) cut is rather visible here. It's healing nicely, at least.

After In the Spot Light

In the Spot Light was definitely the perfect compliment to Purple Glam!

In personal news: Working furiously to get as many blog posts done as possible before I go just to have some content before I start a giveaway. I plan on just grabbing stuff in China and making a giveaway of it! Good idea? Bad idea? I'd of course be wary of fake OPI as I have been warned often, but I'll be with an awesome lady there who probably wouldn't let me buy crap! Anyway, I hope that works out. 

Thanks for reading!

Skull stamps (possible fail)

Stamping isn't as easy as it looks, nor is it as hard as some people make it out to be, but it is definitely something that takes PRACTICE. I imagine I will be covering all of my old manicures with stamping practice ^.^

I really only have two colors that I know for sure stamp: Black and white. So, I went with those and tried to do a black and white skittles set featuring skull stamps from the Bundle Monster 25 piece set.

I'm sort of satisfied with it in that I know what areas I need to improve to get better results. For one, I need to really pay attention to ROLLING the stamp across the nail (in all directions, really). I rolled top to bottom, but not left to right. I zigged when I should have zagged, ya get me? Anyway, the readers can be the judge I suppose! I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out and White In, and Konad's special stamping polish in black.

I'd like to note that I take all of my photos in direct sunlight when possible as my camera isn't exactly great and that's when I can get the best photos. I'm actually thinking of returning it so if anyone has any recommendations for good digital camera under 100 dollars I'm all ears! Or.. eyes, I guess! Hah

Obviously the weather wasn't as great today so the photos are as close to natural light as possible. 

Thanks for reading :)