China Glaze - Draped in Velvet

When I think of velvet I always think of the color blue because of one of my favorite movies, Blue Velvet. Draped in Velvet might be purple, but there are tiny blue glitters in it so that kinda counts.. right? Of course the blue glitter (there's also pink in there) didn't show up so well in the photos, but the purple is pretty on its own so you still have to look!

China Glaze really surprises me sometimes. I see the colors in the bottles and never really get super impressed, then BAM it turns out to be stunning. This is 2 coats with a top coat. The formula wasn't anything special, but it wasn't bad either. Any one else own this? What do you think?

Thanks for reading!!

Yoga-ta Get This Blue! (You really do.)

I recently received Yoga-ta Get This Blue by O.P.I as a gift. I wasn't really impressed with the color in the bottle, it reminded me of most other shimmery dark blues. Then the bottle hit the sunlight..IS THAT PURPLE?! It is! Didn't show up so much in my pictures, but there is definitely purple in there. Dammit this color is just gorgeous. I keep saying I prefer creams, but every time I try out a new shimmery shade I seem to fall in love. In all honesty, almost every time I try a new polish I fall in love ^.^ I'll just let this polish speak for itself...

I still can't believe how freakin' awesome this color is. 

Hmmm.. I can see a little more purple in the pictures now that I look at them again... either way... REALLY O.P.I?? Do you have to always have the best colors and application?! This is two coats, but I could have gotten away with one, and I didn't even need any clean up because it was so easy to apply. Oh, no top coat in these pictures. *sigh* So lovely. Has anyone else tried this polish and loved it? Hated it? 

Thanks for reading :)

Pastel Gradient

In my never-ending quest to put off the challenge, I did a pretty sweet pastel gradient. I used Hayden by Julep and Pastel Pink by Kleancolor. Oooh it's my rarely-featured left hand!

Please excuse the shiny fingers! I topped this off with a super old glitter called Shine by Sally Hansen - this glitter is so old and sparse that it's awesome to top off any design without really obstructing at all. 

I also did a friend's nails recently, so you get to see those too!

This is super tiny. Click to enlarge!

Thanks for reading :)

My first guest post!

Not only does Kristen from Manicured Monkey have awesome nails and an awesome blog title, she now has a wonderful guest post from me on her front page ;) Check it out!

Click here!!

I don't know how to make that picture slightly bigger. Blogger resizes my stuff automatically. Boo. 

Thanks again, Kristen, your blog is great and so are you!

Some more frankens and cool news!

Wow I really wrecked that challenge didn't I? Honestly, I was so inspired by other projects that I just didn't have it in me to put out a flag manicure. I even have an idea (hint: it has nothing to do with an actual flag), but I am easily distracted >.<

First, I created 2 new frankens. Tree Frog and a yet-to-be-named hot pink.

The pinky and ring finger have three coats of Tree Frog by itself. The first and middle finger have TF over Innocent by Sinful Colors.

Over Innocent

It came out a little sheer, but really it didn't need to be layered. This is a combination of yellow and bright green. It's a lot more to look at in person!

I created the hot pink because I couldn't believe I didn't already own a hot pink. I was basically mortified and immediately corrected the situation. I only mixed old red and white polish together, so I don't feel it's really mine to name... The purple I used in the gradient is the amazing Gothic Lolita by China Glaze. Screw the haters, I threw some of O.P.I's Black Shatter on there too. And those are totally rhinestones that lasted oh..umm... a few hours. That was my fault, though, because I didn't cover them with top coat. Question: How do you keep rhinestones on without applying top coat? I ask because when I apply a topcoat it seems to make them look...weird. I hope you all enjoyed these frankens and art as much as I enjoyed creating them!

Second (there was a 'first', remember?), Cult Nails chose me to do some art for their website! I nearly died when I saw the e-mail! I have never been chosen based on talent for ANYTHING like this before, and I am basically beside myself with glee. They're going to send me a Cult Nails nail art package, and I'll whip up (read: agonize over obtaining perfect) nail designs.  SO EXCITED!

Thanks for reading!

Day 27 - Inspired by Art

This was supposed to be based off of Mr. Ralph Steadman, but I got a little splatter happy and it turned out a little more colorful than his work usually is. The yellow is Mellow Yellow - SH Xtreme Wear, the blue is Pacific Blue - SH Xtreme Wear, and the red is Winter Berry - China Glaze.

Some pre-clean up action. I actually think it looks cooler messy!

My cuticles hated me after cleaning this up, and I honestly can't blame them as they still aren't even as clean as they should be after all that scrubbing. I really think these looked better before I cleaned them up..hmm..

Thanks for reading :)

New Awesome Etsy Shop

A good friend of mine just opened a wonderful new Etsy shop that specializes in one-of-a-kind, hand-made jewelry! In my humble opinion, her work is truly unique. If I had the money, I'd probably buy them myself, but instead I offer these unique pieces to my awesome followers :) Good prices and FREE shipping making them a steal!

 

Gorgeous, right? So check it out!  >> Nidia's Etsy Shop! <<

Day 26 - Inspired by a Pattern

So technically this wasn't inspired by a pattern unless you count being inspired by my bundle monster plate... but it's a pattern so it counts! I love the idea of stamping with a gradient or a variety of colors, so I decided to give it a try! The results were so-so. I'm happy I was able to stamp with two or more colors, though, that was a happy thing!

Colors used include: Mellow Yellow - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, How I Met Your Magenta - Wet N Wild, and Sunny Side Up - Wet N Wild and Dove - Zoya as a base.

So that was fun. My cuticles are not having a good time because my fingers were buried in acetone most of the day. I don't know what it was about Dove but I just could NOT get it to apply correctly. I also felt like a giant using the tiny tiny brush handle which is saying something because I have small hands.

Moral of the story: I'm filing my damned nails back into square shapes like the flying spaghetti monster intended!

Thanks for reading :)

I Nubar 2010'd I Have a Herring Problem

This is an old manicure I did but never got around to posting. I reshaped my nails today and wasn't too happy with the results. So, like the big baby that I am I pouted and didn't do my "Inspired by a Pattern" design. Spoiler alert: It involves animal print! Shocking, I know!

So here are some pictures of my nails before I shaped them into ghastly little round nubbins!!

As per usual my camera made the blue a twinge lighter than it actually is. I was told to adjust my white balance, but I have no idea what that means. I suppose I should check my camera manual to perhaps fix this! Anyway, stay tuned for my weird round nails. This is not to say I think round nails are weird, in fact I love them - that is why I tried to shape mine that way. They just look weird on me. This is the first time my nails have ever been rounded! Ok I'll stop rambling about my filing problems now...

Thanks for reading :)

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 :)