Let it Snow! Challenge #3 Ugly Christmas Sweater

I had this manicure ready for your viewing pleasure for over a week already! Life has a way of throwing many unpleasant things at you that prevent tasks from being completed. My grandparents were in a nasty car accident last week and I've been in the hospital every day visiting and praying. It's been taxing and draining and so very stressful. If you can, please sent prayers and positive thoughts for my grandparents and my mom and uncle (it's their parents who were injured). It's greatly appreciated.

 I have a moment to breathe right now and just really wanted to post this completed challenge. Again, I had to use mostly cellphone pictures. I don't mean to slack like this, but I just need to work with what I have.

This challenge was difficult! It took me 2 or 3 attempts before deciding on this one! Initially I was going to use my stamps but gosh darnit, I SUCK at using them! I scrapped that idea and went with a freehand approach. I used my nail art brushes to complete this design. My idea was to have it look like a crazy knitted or plaid sweater. I showed my sister my nails and said she would want the sweater that looked like them. I guess that's a good sign! 

I used Zoya Trixie, China Glaze Velvet Bow, and China Glaze Holly-Day. The white is an It's So Easy nail art brush.

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda

My Backup Thanksgiving Manicure

After my first Thanksgiving manicure chipped off in less than a day, I set out to create my replacement! I've always wanted to try the cloud design that I first saw on the Nailside, so I began with that. I altered it slightly, but overall, I like the outcome.

I used China Glaze Velvet Bow, NYX Girls Chocolate Taupe, and Cult Nails Tulum.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
-Amanda

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you have a wonderful holiday with friends and family! I'm thankful for so much, including my 2 new followers! Thank you!!

This design that I am about to show you is what I intended to use as my Thanksgiving one. I thought the colors were "harvesty" is nature and went with them. I know, it looks similar to my Retro Halloween Nails, but I did substitute some colors. Sadly, this manicure didn't last more than 8 hours. Tragedy struck and I broke two nails and 7 out of 10 nails have chipped!! Oh the humanity!!!! 

I was able to snap some picture (with a cell phone again, I'm sorry!!!!!) before it got too bad. I won't show you my pinky nail because it's the saddest little nub of a nail you've ever seen! 

Macro of my thumb. No idea what that smudge is, but I can assure you it's not on my nail now.

On the left, you can see the corner break of that nail. I was so happy they were growing back and getting healthy again and then BAM! Not today sister! I've since filed it down, shed a few tears, etc..

I used all china glaze for this design. I used Agro, Riveting, Smoke and Ashes, Fast Track, Champagne Bubbles, and Velvet Bow. I'll be working on a new Thanksgiving themed/ inspired design today so hopefully I'll have something nicer for you tomorrow! And I'll take the pictures with my actual camera this time too. What do you think?

Thanks for reading! Hope your holiday is joyous!
-Amanda

Retro Halloween Nails

I've been so busy!!!! BUT I have a post for you!

I'm sure many of you have seen the ruffle manicure. I wanted to try it as soon as I first heard of it, but that just didn't happen. Then, a few days ago I realized that one of my favorite holidays was fast approaching and I had yet to do an appropriate manicure to honor the season! Well, I quickly remedied this and decided on an autumn/ Halloween inspired ruffle manicure. As you'll see, the colors look very retro and cozy! I absolutely love the turn out, and I received so many oohs and ahhs over this! I was humbled.

(indirect light- outside)

(flash indoors)

(flash indoors)

It was so difficult to get a good picture! The lighting was horrible this week!

For this, I used China Glaze Agro, Harvest Moon, Smoke and Ashes, Champagne Bubbles, and Zoya Yara.

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda

Autumn Fever?

Hi all! I'm back! I'm so sorry for my absence! I've still been doing my nails, but not with any artwork on them, and really nothing worth showing. Life has been busy and my last bit of grad school is starting up next week. Along with that is my internship! 600 hours of working with elementary and junior high school counselors! I'm nervous and excited all at the same time.

I've been in such an Autumn mood lately. The last few days have been cooler around here and I'm finding that I cannot wait for my favorite season! Since today has proven that summer is certainly still with us (it's hot  here!) I decided to pull out some Autumn colors and put them on my nails instead!
Nothing fancy today, folks, but I hope you like it just the same.

I used one coat of Smoke and Ashes from the China Glaze Hunger Games Collection and one coat of Electrify from the same collection over that. I sealed it all with one coat of Hong Kong Girl topcoat (good stuff!).

No idea how there's so much rogue glitter on my hands, but oh well!

Thanks for reading!
-Amanda

Flip Flop Typewriter Keys

Hi all! Sorry I've been so quiet lately. My summer classes are all coming to an end and I had 2 huge research papers, a presentation, and 2 power points due....Needless to say, I've been busy and I'm burnt out! So, I needed to remedy my fatigue with a nice new manicure!

I received my Pahlish order last week and one of the 2 polishes I bought is Typewriter Keys. Love this one! It's a clear based glitter polish with at least 2 different types of shredded glitter, iridescent glitters, and some micro ones thrown in too! I love this type of polish.

I knew I wanted a bright base color. I loved how China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy looked on me for my Summer Ombre (you can see it HERE), so I used it for a full manicure. Below pictures have 3 coats Flip Flop Fantasy, 1 coat Typewriter Keys, and top coat.

Thanks for reading!!
-Amanda

Lazy Days of Summer Challenge #2- Summer Ombre

Oh man do I both love and despise having to do an ombre. First, I love it because it's easy and it's fun and looks super cute when you're done. Second, I dislike them because I need to seriously dig through my polish stash and find enough polishes with which to accomplish a halfway decent ombre. In my last challenge, I did a blue one, seen HERE. I was pretty sure blue was the only color I had enough of in my collection to do this type of manicure and was relieved when that challenge was over.
Enter in the Lazy Days of Summer Challenge....Summer Ombre? Oh poo! "How will I ever do this?" I thought to myself. "I don't have enough of a variety in my polishes to do another one!"

Well, I was wrong. I was very wrong. I do have enough! I was able to pull off a bright neon pinkishness one!

So, I like it. I think I should have rearranged the polish order a bit, but oh well! This is just proof that I really need to swatch my bottles!
Thumb- China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
Index- Color Club Poptastic
Middle- Color Club Warhol
Ring- China Glaze Strawberry Fields
Pinkie- Essence Ultimate Pink

Be sure to check everyone else's out too!

Victoria Vertel

http://www.manicurator.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Manicurator

Alyson Epstein

http://beadsnailsfood.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/BeadsNailsFood

Amanda Murphy

http://mandyspolish.blogspot.com/

Hannah Fabiny

http://polished-prisms.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/PolishedPrisms

Sue O'Connor

http://creativenaildesignbysue.blogspot.com 

Katee Baum

http://www.agirlandherpolish.com

http://www.facebook.com/AGirlandHerPolish

Charlotte-Louise Bennett

http://charlottes-nails.blogspot.co.uk/

Jessica Francis

http://nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/NearlyNaturalNails

Karine Assemien

http://karinea0a.blogspot.com 

Jen Guin

http://thepolishedzombie.blogspot.com

Jessica Brown

http://jessicasnailtales.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JessicasNailTales

Ashley Rowlands-Vanderzande

http://onenailtoanother.blogspot.ca

Pryanka Arora

http://nailsparks.blogspot.com/

Anna Freedman, Erin Obriecht, Robin Storesund

http://www.polishedcousins.com

http://www.facebook.com/PolishedCousins

Maribeth Robienczak

http://obsessivecosmetichoardersunite.blogspot.com/

Kayono Lan (aka Johanna)

http://kayonolan.blogspot.de/

Sharra Farivar

http://alira23.blogspot.ca/search/label/Polished%20Prisms%20The%20Lazy%20Days%20of%20Summe\

Nichole Mowery

http://aotnf.blogspot.com

Stephanie Oblas

http://alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!
-Amanda

New Challege! The Lazy Days of Summer #1- Beach Themed

I knew I wanted to join up with this challenge as soon as there was talk of it in our Facebook group. The same ladies, as well as some new ones, teamed up to do a Summer themed challenge! Woo!

How fun does that all sound?! I was planning on starting the same time as everyone else, but they increased my hours at work, and my grad summer classes all had these crazy big assignments due at the same time! THEN I got sick! I'm feeling slightly better, but man- a cold in the summer is just horrible. I have a presentation in class tonight and my voice is virtually non-existent! 

Anyway, I wanted to make myself feel better, and something that always makes me happy is the beach. I love the sound of the waves, the feel of the air, the breeze....sighhhhh.

Anyway, I sucked it up and began the challenge! 

For the beach theme, I went with what I think of first when I hear the word "beach"- water, sand, and sparkle. There's just something about the way everything at the beach just glistens in the sunshine! I tried to reproduce it on my nails. I began with 2 coats of Nubar Blue Hydrangea, then went and did the tips in uneven strokes with China Glaze Fast Track. Then, on Blue Hydrangea only, I used Rainbow Honey Celestia (holy crap, this polish is amazing. I'll be doing a post on it in the near future!), and then went back in and applied a bit of All That Glitters Jean Genie. I finished the whole thing off with some Seche Vite. Have a look:

Not exactly what I had in mind, but it works just fine.

If you would like to see more designs from The Lazy Days of Summer challenge, check out these other ladies:

Victoria Vertel

http://www.manicurator.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Manicurator

Alyson Epstein

http://beadsnailsfood.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/BeadsNailsFood

Amanda Murphy

http://mandyspolish.blogspot.com/

Hannah Fabiny

http://polished-prisms.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/PolishedPrisms

Sue O'Connor

http://creativenaildesignbysue.blogspot.com 

Katee Baum

http://www.agirlandherpolish.com

http://www.facebook.com/AGirlandHerPolish

Charlotte-Louise Bennett

http://charlottes-nails.blogspot.co.uk/

Jessica Francis

http://nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/NearlyNaturalNails

Karine Assemien

http://karinea0a.blogspot.com 

Jen Guin

http://thepolishedzombie.blogspot.com

Jessica Brown

http://jessicasnailtales.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JessicasNailTales

Ashley Rowlands-Vanderzande

http://onenailtoanother.blogspot.ca

Pryanka Arora

http://nailsparks.blogspot.com/

Anna Freedman, Erin Obriecht, Robin Storesund

http://www.polishedcousins.com

http://www.facebook.com/PolishedCousins

Maribeth Robienczak

http://obsessivecosmetichoardersunite.blogspot.com/

Kayono Lan (aka Johanna)

http://kayonolan.blogspot.de/

Sharra Farivar

http://alira23.blogspot.ca/search/label/Polished%20Prisms%20The%20Lazy%20Days%20of%20Summe\

Nichole Mowery

http://aotnf.blogspot.com

Stephanie Oblas

http://alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda

Strawberry Fields and Stamping!

Hi all!
I finally got back around to practicing some nail stamping. I'll be the first to admit that this has always proved difficult for me. I LOVE to look at pictures online of nail stamping successes and I've watched enough tutorials that you think I'd be a pro! Yet, I always struggle with finding a good stamping polish and I just haven't gotten around to purchasing any of the Konad polishes.
Anyway, I decided it was time to stamp again. I wanted something bright and fun and something that was atypical for me. So, I went with a bright color called Strawberry Fields by China Glaze. Can I just say WOW! On its own, this color is a stunner. But I wanted more! So, I grabbed my new bottle if Sinful Colors Rampage, and my Bundle Monster plate (BM 221) and went to town! What do you think?

I like it! I don't like, however, how dry my hands look in these pictures! I used acetone for the first time in forever and now I remember why I stopped in the first place! It dries everything out so quickly! But I will admit, it gets the job done! (that's what she said? ....sorry! I couldn't resist!)

I hope you enjoyed!
Thanks for reading!
-Amanda

ASBMF #10- Butterflies!

This challenge was a series of trial and errors. I initially wanted to do the popular butterfly wing nails but messed up a few time and got so frustrated! So, I took a day off and came back to it. 

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Four Leaf Clover on all nails but my index. Index got 2 coats Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. Colors were opposite on my right hand. Butterfly was drawn with a white, purple shimmer, green, and black nail art brushes. Flowers done with dotting tool using Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Color Club Almost Famous.

I feel as though I should have excluded the flowers. I think it would have looked better without them. Your thoughts?

Also, I'm super bummed the true color of the base polishes didn't show up on my camera! Four Leaf Clover is so VIBRANT in person. And Pacific Blue is much deeper in color in person. I tried to fiddle with the color settings but nothing worked well enough. 

Best picture I could get of the butterfly up close.

Hah! Look! My right hand! I had no idea how dry it was until I was editing my pictures! Oops!

I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda

ASBMF- Day 3- Glitter Sammy

So, interesting discovery of the day? I only have ONE jelly finish nail polish! I was appalled...but told myself it's okay and that I only need one to complete this challenge. I've never once done a glitter sammy (which I think is obvious since I only have one jelly polish) and I was excited to try something new!

For those of you who may not know what a glitter sandwich manicure is, I'll explain quickly. It's when you take a jelly finish nail polish (a polish that is less opaque than a normal polish and has a very distinct squishy appearance to it). On top of your jelly polish, you apply a glitter polish (preferably one that is suspended in a clear base) and then complete with one more coat of the jelly polish. The resulting look is suppose to be as if you can look into your nail forever, observing layers and layers of gorgeous glitter that rests, suspended in your jelly polish. 

For mine, I began with 2 coats of NYX Girls Ink Heart. This is a stunning inky, glowing jelly blue polish. I adore this polish. I decided to layer lots of glitters, so on top of Ink Heart, I put a coat of Nubar 2010- mostly because I wanted an excuse to use a flakie. On top of that, I put a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust- a lovely holographic glitter. My last glitter addition was Wet n Wild's Party of Five Glitter. I finished the whole thing with one coat of Ink Heart and a coat of Seche Vite to seal it.

I'm going to say I prefer the manicure without the last coat of Ink Heart- yes, I know that "unsandwiches" the manicure, but it was really better. Take a look:

I just want to say sorry about my camera. It's dying I think. It decides to only focus in on the pinky and ring finger in most pictures today. But, you can really see the holographic goodness in the middle and pointer fingers
Here's a close up on my thumb, pre-sandwiching. I'm saddened that Nubar 2010 sort of died in the layering, but before I applied Party of Five Glitter, it looked amazing with Fairy Dust. I should have taken a picture of that!

Alright, let's finish up with a bunch of sammy eye candy!

I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda

Girl on Fire!

So, I went to see the Hunger Games today (finally!) and of course had to do my nails for the occasion! My final ruling on the movie as a whole is that it was alright...as always, the books are always better than their movies! Anyway, back to nail polish! I wanted to use some of the China Glaze Hunger Games colors so I began with a base coat of Smoke and Ashes.

This polish is so interesting! It's full of flecks and I can't even tell what the base color really is. It looks black, but then there's times when I feel like it might be a deep green? The flecks flashing colors make it even more difficult, but that's why I love this one!

Here's another shot. You can kind of see the flash in color on my middle and index fingers. And check out the bottle! Whoa baby!

This shot came out so great! You can really see the flecks and colors in this one!

Next, I pulled out my nail art brush and got to work on some flames. Just like Katniss had flames on her nails for the tribute parade (in the book). This is how I pictured them to look. I started with China Glaze Riveting, then after my sister told me it would look so much better if I did this- I added some highlights with China Glaze Champagne Bubbles. I hate to admit it, but that girl was right! The final color-adding step was placing a bit of China Glaze Electrify to add a bit of spark to the design.

I have to admit, this is completely different than my normal go-to colors and I love it!

This is a quick shot of the colors I used. All are China Glaze. From left to right- Smoke and Ashes, Riveting, Champagne Bubbles, and Electrify.

I hope you enjoyed! And may the odds be EVER in your favor (sorry, I had to do it!!).
-Amanda

I'm on a Roll! (and a Teaser Post)

Hey, since I was all sorts of motivated to keep publishing, I figured I'd roll with it. First off, I purchased 7 of the 12 China Glaze Capitol Colors polishes. I'll get around to wearing them all or using them in different designs I already have planned. The first one I chose to wear is such a gorgeous, out of the box color for me. After my water marble frenzy, I wanted a soft, soothing color with just a hint of POW! I think China Glaze Fast Track is just the polish for the occasion.

This polish is a light taupe with golden flecks throughout. It's made to represent District 6- Transportation.

Here is a closer shot in more direct sunlight. See the beautiful sparkle?

Just another sunlight shot.


Alright, on to my excitement for the day! As some of you know, I recently won a nail polish giveaway. I NEVER win things. I just don't have that kind of luck, but still I continue to try. My persistence finally paid off! Kirsten over at All That Glitters hosted a giveaway for her all new, handmade Bowie polish collection. Handmade polish? David Bowie? Sparkly Glitter? Uhm...yes please?!
I had heard about her polishes through Traci on her blog. I fell in love with the All That Glitters look! So I figured, what the heck, let's give it a try. I entered and during the worst week I've had in a long while, I got a notification on Facebook saying that I had won! These 4 beautiful polishes were mine!
Well, I walked to my mailbox this afternoon and behold! A package was inside! I quickly grabbed it and ran back to the house! I ripped into the package and couldn't wait to see what was inside! I snapped a quick picture of the gorgeous and practical wrapping Kirsten used. I want this tape!

(Sorry for the wonky picture direction. My editing program decided it liked the picture better this way 0_o)

And now, on to the best part! The polishes themselves! 

 The Jean Genie- this one has so much gorgeous goodness going on in it, I don't even know where to start! It seems to have a fun pearl blue base with white bar, tiny hex, and medium hex glitter. Then there's some silver micro and hex glitter, tiny blue hex glitter, and tiny green hex glitter. Just delicious!

Ziggy Stardust- this one has just as much going on in it! It has a tangerine/ sunset pink base and is packed to the brim with awesome glitter as well! There's gold micro, bar, and tiny hex glitter with some added white hex glitter as well. So summery!

Rebel Rebel- this one looks like it has a fun purple pearl base to it with lots of glitter! I see white bar and hex glitter, then there's silver micro glitter, and it's finished off with some blackish/gun metal tiny hex glitter.

Space Oddity- this one looks like a slightly sheer smoky black base with silver micro glitter and white bar, and various hex size glitter.

(Just another shot of the bottles!

Can I say I'm in love with all of these? Because I am. I'll be swatching them within the next couple of days- after I go see the Hunger Games.

If you'd like to check out some of the All That Glitters polishes, you can visit the Etsy store here. 

Thank you so much, Kirsten. I can't wait to try these out!

My next post will be in a few days and I just can't wait to show it! I'll be going to see the Hunger Games this Sunday and I'll be wearing my nerdy Hunger Games shirt and will be rocking my Hunger Games inspired manicure. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda