LDoS Challenge- #3 Flag Day & Happy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I tried to time my 3rd LDoS nail challenge to coincide with the holiday! 2 birds with one stone, and all that.

So, let's get festive! I'm all about the 4th. Sadly, I'll be working tomorrow but I'll be out in time to see some fireworks! I have many members of my family that are in the armed forces and one that will be going in soon. I am so thankful for the freedoms in this country and for the sacrifices that the men and women who serve our country make every day. Thank you!

To commemorate the holiday, I wanted to go all out with my nails. I recently won a giveaway from Noelle at XO, Noelle. It included 3 very patriotic polishes by Sinful Colors (Ruby Ruby, Blue By You, & Snow Me White)  that I was in desperate need of! (Thanks again, Noelle!)

I used Sinful Colors Blue By You on my index and ring fingers. Gorgeous, amazing blue! I highly recommend it! Then I used Zoya Trixie on my thumb, middle, and pinkie fingers. I then took Snow Me White and cut diagonally across the tips of my middle and index fingers, the took Ruby Ruby and made some stripes. I went in with my So Easy nail art brush in white and drew the stars. Then, I took Pretty & Polished Freedom Calling and applied that over Trixie. I sealed it all up with one coat Gelous and one coat Seche Vite.

Be sure to check out the links for the other ladies and their nail art:

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

Becky Barnett

http://glamfiend.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful and safe holiday!

-Amanda

ASBMF #14- Design of Your Choice- FUNKY FRENCH!

This is the last challenge! What?! I finished it!
I decided for this one I wanted to go out BIG! I feel like this one should show the transition of lovely spring, to sultry summer!
I started with 3 coats of Zoya Happi.

This is my first time using this color. What the heck took so long?! It's a gorgeous pink with glorious gold shimmer!! It's like spring and summer decided to have a baby!

I could have stopped here, but that wouldn't be awesome enough, would it? Of course not! I looked through my stamping plates and decided on BM-223. I stamped using Sinful Colors Black on Black. My nails are odd and the Bundle Monster plates aren't big or long enough for some of my nails so I decided to do a funky french to fill in the gap. I grabbed my So Easy Stripe Rite in this bright blue color and free handed the tips. Left hand looks awesome. Right hand (which I won't be showing) is a horror show...but that's alright.

The blue isn't this neon in life, but it's still really nice.

Love the way this came out!! Totally nothing I would normally do, but I'm absolutely doing it again!

Well, that's it! I can't wait for the summer challenge!

Thanks for reading,
Hope you enjoyed,

-Amanda

ASBMF #12- May Flowers! (Watercolor Manicure)

Wow! I only have 2 more to go and I'll have finished my first challenge!! Soon up, I'll begin the Summer Challenge! But let's not get ahead of ourselves here!

For May Flowers, I knew I wanted to try the watercolor manicure technique. When I first saw this technique, it instantly reminded me of an impressionistic version of a flower garden! I knew this would be perfect for this challenge.

Now, this was my first time executing it. I will say, I've learned a lot on the way on how to make this even better next time.
More than anything else, I learned that I need to get a better brush! I used a makeup brush and it was just a horrible shape and kept falling apart. Hilariously, I have a few brush strands STUCK in the polish on my right hand. I got super annoyed when this happened but there was nothing to be done! Those babies were stuck!

Also, it's disgusting out today. It's dark and rainy. I tried and tried to get some decent pictures but only manages one. Better than none!!

Poor, poor middle finger. Too much acetone fell off that stupid piece of crap brush and killed the effect- and washed away some of my base!!
Other than that- it's not too bad for a first try! And I like my version of "flowers".

I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the base (2 coats), added Seche Vite to keep the base from running (2 coats), and then used Color Club Almost Famous, and Poptastic and Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!


I hope you enjoyed!
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 Challenge #11- Eggs and Chicks

Ahh....this challenge. I really wasn't looking forward to doing this particular challenge. Why? Well...mostly because it's May and I feel like wearing bright colors and glittery things and eggs and chicks just screams muted colors to me. So, I thought to myself- how can I make this less Eastery....more any time of the year? I came up with the idea of doing a little baby blue bird instead of a baby chicken. I hope that's okay!
For the egg portion, I decided to show it in varying states of breaks.
I think the idea looked better in my head, but I'm IN LOVE with my baby bird!! I wish I had done more!

I was so nervous about drawing my little bird! He came out super cute though!

Tried to make it look like he just broke free from his egg. 

I wish my egg lines had come out better. My hand was shaking so badly today and caused me to smudge them. So frustrating!

For this, I used a base coat of Sinful Colors- Snow Me White, I drew the eggs with SoEasy Stripe Rite in black, the bird was hand drawn with Zoya Yummy, accented with Nubar Blue Hydrangea, and beak and tootsies were done with Essence Mellow Yellow.

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- Challenge #5- A Rainbow After the Rain

Hello again, all! First of all, I have 22 followers? When did that happen? Thank you so much everyone! That means a lot!

This challenge was difficult for me. I had initially tried something earlier last week that went to crap really quickly. So, I took a few days off, thought a little, and went and tried this design out. It works well enough. It's not my most favorite design but it's a great improvement on the initial design.

When I first read the challenge- A Rainbow After the Rain- I pictured watery, slightly pastel colors. Well, that obviously didn't happen. See, this week has already been a difficult one for me. Some experiences at work and in my personal life have been a little taxing and have made me feel all around sad and worn out. So, enter in nail polish! I wanted to pull out as many of my bright colors as I could to make these rainbows vibrant. I always think of rainbows as a promise of hope, change, and better things to come. That's a good way to look at the rest of the week! Things can only get better!

I added the white clouds as an after thought.  I like the way they make the design look.

Here are the colors used in this design (Left to Right)- Wet n' Wild- Believe Me, It's real, Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl, Sephora by O.P.I. Opening Night, NYC white, Sephora by O.P.I. Caliente Coral, Striper Nail Art, Sephora by O.P.I. Cab Fare, Sephora by O.P.I. High Maintenance, and Orly Charged Up

ASBMF Challenge 2- Ladybugs

Finally on to challenge #2! This one, for whatever reason, I was having a hard time beginning. I went to look and see which red polishes I had, and guess what? I only have ONE! I was slightly surprised, but then not really as I'm more apt to wear brighter, less traditional colors most of the time. I had bought Zoya Isla this last December when they were having their amazing flash promotions. Speaking of which, I will be posting some amazing information about Zoya immediately after this post.

Alright, here's my ladybugs!

I used 2 coats of Zoya Isla for the base. Then my black Stripe Rite nail art brush, Sinful Colors Black on Black, and NYC White.

Here are some other ladies that completed challenge #2 as well:
Hannah from Polished Prisms
Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More!
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Ashley from One Nail to Another
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Karine from Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Kayono from Neus Vom Kellerkind
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish
Sarah from All This Polish
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails


Hope you enjoy!

-Amanda

All That Glitters Giveaway Prizes Part 1

I'm ashamed it took me this long to get even two polishes swatched and photographed. Grad school wasn't cooperating, and neither was the sun (for the pictures). Anyway, I have 2 of the Bowie Collection polishes from All That Glitters. These are all hand mixed polishes made by the wonderful Kirsten.You can check out her Etsy store here and you can check out her Facebook page here.

So, on to the polish then?

I think so.

First up is Rebel Rebel.

As you can see, Rebel Rebel is a lovely purple and glitter polish. I decided to layer it over Rimmel Climax to preserve it. In all of the pictures, I have one coat Rimmel Climax and one coat Rebel Rebel. Such a gorgeous polish.

Second up is Space Oddity. Before we get to the polish, I just want to apologize for the messy cuticles and photos that are lacking quality. The sun didn't feel like coming out to play and then briefly it did so I hurried and in the chaos, left messy finger. Oh well. Space Oddity is a smoky charcoal base with all sorts of glittery goodness in it! Take a look!

I layered the polish over Sinful Colors Black on Black to make it more vibrant. Such a gorgeous polish. It looks like the night sky on my nails!

I just want to say thank you again to Kirsten for these amazing prizes. These polishes are gorgeous and I still have 2 more to show you! Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading,
-Amanda

Happy Halloween!!

Yayy! It's here! Halloween! Sadly, I'll be spending my night in class, and working on a Power Point for a presentation later in the week. But I won't let this get me down! No way! Just to prove my point, I kept the themed nails going and I'm sharing it now. I attempted another spider web design mostly because the last design came out sickeningly messy. I will say that this one is much better, but the right hand - not so much. I need to work on drawing with my less dominant hand. Practice makes perfect, though!
So, this is my design. Black base, hand drawn spider web, orange base on my pointer fingers, same black as base on other nails used for drawn the Jack-O-Lantern face. All are coated in a gorgeous creepy glowing green flaky glitter.

For these, I used a base of Sinful Colors Black on Black, used my trusty L.A. Colors Art Deco in white, then on the index fingers used Sephora by O.P.I. Caliente Coral, and Sinful Colors Black on Black to draw the face. Over all of that I applied the newly released Nails Inc. special effects The Wyndham. It's my first ever flaky glitter polish and I'm so happy with it! I thought it added a little oomph to the nails and made them a little eerie, in honor of Halloween!

Here, you can see the Wyndham flaky glitter a little better. Love it!

My thumb.

The middle and right fingers are my absolute favorite ones!

So, that's it for today. I hope you all have an amazing night and if you celebrate, do so safely! Have fun!

Holo-ween and Dots!

What's this?! TWO postings in a row? I think it's a miracle! So, I redid my nails last night because my candy corn look was chipping really badly and I just cannot stand chips in nail polish. So, I wanted to keep up with the theme of Halloween because I love it so. I aimed for something a little bit more on the easy side, but still festive. And thanks to my mom and her camera savvy, you now have some much better quality photos for your viewing pleasure. I have no idea how she figured out the proper setting I need to use, but she did! So, without further delay, I give you my Holo-ween nail!

Here, I used Color Club Worth the Risque as my base. It's this gorgeous silver holographic glitter. On top of that I used N.Y.C. Times Square Tangerine Creme and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the dots.

And with this, I just wanted to show you guys how beautiful and glowy Worth the Risque is. It flashes so many different colors, and in the middle area of my nail you can see the polish flashing blue and yellowish-green. GAH!

I'll end this post with an update on my order from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab- I haven't received any of the orders yet. I will let you know when I do! I look forward to doing a full review on everything.

Here We Go!

       So, I've toyed with this idea for quite a while. To blog, or not to blog? I've teetered one way, then fell back the other way...but now I've decided! Why not? What do I have to lose? Not a single thing! So, here I am.
       I don't have much of a plan for this blog yet. All that comes to mind is posting whatever I feel moved to post. I enjoy creating, making, and dreaming up many things. I'll likely post such things. However, I hope to gain some knowledge through my time here blogging. If you have any bit of knowledge/constructive criticism for me, regarding the post of the day, I'll gladly accept it!
      With that said, I suppose I'll start this blog by sharing my current obsession. Nails. Nail polish. Nail Art. I've been working with creating some pretty looks in the past few months, and so, I'd like to just share them now.

This was my first experience ever with nail art. Water marble done with Sinful Colors in Mint Apple, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue, Orly in Charged Up, and Orly in Going to the Chapel. I am so proud of how nicely they came out. Try to disregard the messy cuticles. In my fit of sheer joy of having successfully completed a water marble (that didn't look like a complete massacre) I forgot to clean up!

Shortly after discovering how to water marble, I came upon the dotting tool. This is truly one of my most favorite designs I've done. Done with Sinful Colors in Tokyo Pearl (base), and dots done in Sinful Colors in Black on Black, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue.

So then I tried to get a little more fancy and do a funky french with the dotting tool. The idea was great! The color choice was not...ugh! But, I did wear it for 2 days! Base was Nina Ultra Pro in Leaf Me Alone, with the dots being OPI in Strawberry Margarita and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away!

Last one for you all that I have was my first use of a striper brush. I'm quite proud of this one as well. Came out better than I had anticipated. I question the color combination, but I think it seemed best at the time. Base color if NYX Girls in Pistachio, L.A. Colors Art Deco striper brush in white, dots in NYX Girls in Indigo Blue and NYX Girls in Chocolate Taupe. Top Coat is my beloved Seche Vite.

I think this should more than do it for my first blog post. I hope you enjoyed!