NPC Day 5: Jelly

Hello polish lovers!

This is going to be a quick one.  Day 5 Prompt is Jelly and I chose to do a pond mani using China Glaze Keepin' it Teal.  This is a very sheer teal green that is another in my collection that I will have to try with LeadLighting.

I used the ant image from Pueen 45 and Kleancolor Matte Black and layered and repeated the image at different angles, layered with coats of Keepin' it Teal.  I don't know if it was a total success but I don't mind the finished product.  This is 5 coats total and you still have slight VNL so that will tell you how sheer it is.

That is all for now.

Until next time, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 3: Random Untried

Hello polish lovers!

So I am really behind this week on the challenge so I will be posting 3 times today.  First the Random Untried.  I took random to mean a polish that I only had one example of the brand and it is one that I received from a giveaway.  It is even more random in that it does not have a name, although the tag claims it is a limited edition colour.  The brand is Rue Beaute and it came in a skull shaped bottle with a silver cap.

When i took the brush out of this polish I noticed how sheer it was and so started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow.  It took 3 coats of the neon pink polish to get opaque enough that you could not see colour variance streaks.

I can see this working for the LeadLight technique for stamping but it is way too many coats for a base colour for me.  Once this was dry I got out another untried, Kleancolor's Matte Black, for the stamping, using MASH 45(please excuse the mess of my middle finger but matte polish dries very quickly and the entire image did not transfer, so I re-stamped...with not great results).

I think this polish is not going to become a favourite, but I will try it for LeadLight and let you see the results.

Back in a few with Day 4.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Cat vs. Bird Nails

Hello polish lovers!

Sorry to be MIA for so long but I am still waiting for that damaged nail to grow out on my swatching hand and it is taking forever.  Because of this I have really not been motivated to paint the non dominant, to say nothing of my freehand skills with my right hand are atrocious.

Anyway, here is a mani I did a number of weeks ago but just got around to editing the photos.

This is 2 coats of Ciate's Pepperminty, one of my favourite blue-green cremes.  First coat is streaky but evens and becomes opaque with the second coat.  Once this was completely dry I added my stamping.  I used Konad black and MoYou London Kitty Collection 01.

I flipped the image so that you got the story in the correct order.  Bird breaks free of cage, cat sees bird, cat catches bird, bird no more.  I love the cat images from this plate...probably why it is not currently available.

In other news, at my local Marshalls I was able to find 7 LVX polishes...there were a few more I wanted but the first time I was there I had never tried the brand and did not want to go overboard, so I only bought 2...then I was blown away by the formula, application and longevity of the polish and so went back.  Unfortunately 2 of the colours that I wanted to get had been sold, so I could only get the 5 remaining.  I have swatched them all and now need to edit all the photos, so I may have a LVX post for you tomorrow.

Until then, polish happy!

St. Paddy's Mani

Hello polish lovers!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So I had a pretty major break in my middle nail of my swatching hand a few weeks ago and I have been nursing it ever since...unfortunately it decided to break all the way back to the start of my free edge and I got fed up and cut it right down.  So you know what that means, awkward photos using my non dominant hand(which means no freehand art) and slightly crappy clean up until my middle nail grows out enough to not be a tiny mini nubbin.  There will also be a few posts of mani's I did weeks ago, so if you see righty making an appearance, that is why.

On to my St. Paddy's day mani.  I started with 3 coats of Sally Hansen Triple Shine, Kelp Out.  If you are interested you can see my original review here.

I then got out my Bundle Monster plates and used BMH04 and BMH05 with Klean Color Metallic Yellow and Konad black for my stamping.

I decided to go with a double accent since I wanted more of the green to show.  I especially love my index finger, the metallic yellow really caught the light and added extra interest.

That is all for today but I will be back soon.

Until then, polish happy!

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 28: Art Nouveau

Hello polish lovers!

It's the last day!  I made it...with a few late posts in there, but posting every day very difficult when I don't have a set schedule at work and with this cold I am still trying to get over.  So some days were better than others.

For the Art Nouveau prompt I began with 2 coats of SOPI Chestnuts About You! a gorgeous copper-y rose gold metallic.

Once this was dry I added my stamp, one of my favourites from Messy Mansion, William Morris and Friends plate MM16.  I love how intricate the images on this plate are, they are very indicative of the Art Nouveau style, with flowing organic forms.  I chose the grape vine image(its my favourite).

I used Konad Black to stamp with and I love how crisp the image turned out.  I have used this image a number of times before and I keep going back to it.

That is all for today and the end of Gnarly Nails Nail Art A-Go-Go Challenge.  I will go back to my regular mix of reviews and nail art on Sunday.  There are also a few polish comparisons that I want to do as well.  As well as posting about a few Awards that I have been nominated for that I have never gotten around to creating posts for.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 26: Graffiti

Hello polish lovers!

I am back with my next challenge mani, Graffiti.

When I thought about this prompt I immediately thought of the type of graffiti that was shown in the documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, as apposed to tagging and spray painting.  When I watched that documentary I immediately fell in love with the work of a street artist using the name Space Invader.  Most of Space Invader's work is tile work depicting classic 8-bit arcade game characters, like the space invaders, Pac-Man, the Pac-Man ghosts, and others.  I knew I would not be able to recreate the 8-bit look with polish(although small square studs would have worked, Ah hindsight, always 20/20), so I attempted to capture more the feeling of his work.

I started with a base of 2 coats OPI Lost on Lombard, a brick red crelly.  I only have the mini's from this collection, San Francisco Fall 2013.

Once this was dry I got out BM422 for the brick pattern and Kleancolor Black(I did not use Konad because I wanted the stamp to look more like a shadow and so did not want the lines too opaque).  I then started in with my dotting tool a small striping brush and the following colours:  SHID(Sally Hansen Insta-Dri) Blue-Away, Cobalt Blue, Kleancolor Black, Grass Green, Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Barry M Blood Orange and Key Lime.

Unfortunately I did not use SV but my Nubar Top Coat and did not wait quite long enough for the polish to dry to stop it from smudging.

That is all for this post but I will be back soon with Pointillism.  The last post for today.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 23: Oils

Hello polish lovers!

Its another double up day, I have recently come down with a cold and it is just not making me want to do nail art much....mostly because it is impossible to blow your nose with wet polish.

Anyway, yesterdays prompt was Oils, difficult to do with polish since polish has a lot of the opposite characteristics of oil paint.  Most difficult is the differences in drying times and the difficulty to create brushstrokes.  So for my interpretation I did not want to deal with brushstrokes and used, instead, Jackson Pollack as my inspiration.

I started with a base of 2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

Once this was dry I got out a variety of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes, (Lightening, Rapid Red, Cobalt Blue) a new Kleancolor, Grass Green, and my Konad Black.  I decided to stamp for this and used BM416 making sure to stamp each colour in a different direction so that the overlap was random.

I quite like this effect, this is the first time I have stamped over a stamp multiple times.  I like that each nail is random and the colours almost appear to be fighting.

That is all for this prompt, but I will be back in a few with today's prompt of Abstract.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go. Day 22: Surrealism

Hello polish lovers!

Today's prompt in the challenge is Surrealism, and I have fallen in love with these nails.  I was originally going to do Dali's The Persistence of Memory but I remembered a painting that I fell in love with in Art History, I loved how graphic it was.

Source

This is Rene Magritte's Son of Man.

And here is mine.  My base colour is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away.  I used Sinful Colours Snow Me White and Color Club Silver Lake and a Q-Tip for the clouds.  The Son of Man itself is Nubar Midnight Matte for the suit and bowler hat, OPI My Vampire is Buff for his face, Snow Me White for his shirt, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red for his tie, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety Split Lime for the apple.  The shadows are Midnight Matte added to the original colour, and the highlight is Snow Me White added to the original colour.

Matte

I ended up liking this so much I did clouds on my other hand and wearing it all day yesterday and today.

That is all for today, but I will be back tomorrow with the next prompt of Oils.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 21: Snow Day

Hello polish lovers!

So the prompt from yesterday was Snow Day and I was immediately transported to my childhood where my mother would have a stock of 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles in the cabinet for just the occasion.  When the weather was really bad(and in Ontario in winter the weather is frequently bad) if the schools were closed we used to spend the day doing puzzles.

I started with 2 coats of Color Club Silver Lake, a light toned grey with slight brown undertone, opaque and non streaky in 2 coats.

When the base was dry I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rapid Red and MASH plate 43 and then stamped over my accent nail with BM319 and Konad Special Black Stamping Polish.

Unfortunately I did not wait quite long enough before top coating so a few fingers have some slight drag marks.

I will be back in a few with today's prompt of Surrealism.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 18: Sci-Fi

Hello polish lovers!

Time for my Sci-Fi nails.  For this prompt I decided to go way back and chose my first fan-dom.  I always loved the Star Wars movies...when I was little it was mostly because of the Ewoks...this was only increased when they came out with the 2 Ewok movies, Battle for Endor and Caravan of Courage and finally with the Ewok cartoon.  So I decided to do Wicket, my favourite Ewok, and the trees of Endor.

On my accent nail I began with 2 coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and on my other nails its 2 coats of China Glaze The Grass is Lime Greener.  For Wicket I used Color Club Wham! Pow!, Butter London Tea & Toast, Orly Prince Charming and black and white stipers.

The trees are A England Dragon and BM407.

Of course I had to matte it.

Anyway that is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my Game Night nails.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 17: Animation

Hello polish lovers!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday but it was Family Day here in Canada(Ontario to be exact) and we all spent the day together.

So yesterday's prompt was Animation and I took the opportunity to try out some nails that I have been wanting to do since last summer....Adventure Time nails!

They definitely did not turn out the way I wanted them to but I don't think they were that bad for a first attempt.  They all started of a base of OPI Alpine SNow.

I think LSP turned out the best but I will list the polishes that I used here for you:
LSP-OPI A Grape Fit!, and Need Sunglasses with a black striper.
Finn-OPI My Vampire is Buff and a black striper.
Jake-OPI The "IT" Color and black and white stripers.
Princess Bubblegum-Color Club Flamingo, China Glaze In a Lily Bit and the Grass is Lime Greener, OPI Need Sunglasses and a black striper.

That is all for now but I will be right back with my Sci-Fi nails.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 13: Hearts

Hello polish lovers!

Today, the day before Valentine, our prompt calls for Hearts.  Tres Appropriate!

I began with 2 coats of OPI Pink Friday, a lovely light blue toned pink.

Once this was dry I got out my stamping plates and Revlon Perfumerie in Bordeaux(stamps awesomely).  I used a different image on each finger from Pueen 29 and 41, with an accent in Wet n'Wild Ebony Hates Chris(should have used Konad to make it more opaque).

I think my favourite image is the overlapping hearts, they are just so cute.

Anyway, that is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my Sweets nails for a special Valentine's Day mani.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 12: Camouflage

Hello polish lovers!

I am back with my Camouflage nails for today's prompt.  Since I am a Canadian girl and it is winter, I decided to to snow camo.

I started with 2 coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls,  a perfect dirty white.

Once this was dry I got out my medium and small dotting tools and got to work.  The lightest gray is Barielle Shades U-Concrete me mixed with My Boyfriend Scales Walls to make a lighter shade, the next gray is Color Club Shabby Drab and the black is OPI Black Onyx(the black is done using the smaller dotting tool.

I really enjoyed these and will definitely have to do them again.  Of course I had to try matting them and I love that too.

That is all for today, but I will be back tomorrow with my Hearts mani.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 10: Night Sky

Hello polish lovers!

Here is my Night Sky mani...

I started with 2 coats of Zoya Storm.  I only have a few Zoya polishes but this is one of my absolute favourites.  It is a black crelly with scattered holographic particles and is totally opaque in 2 coats.

Photo taken with flash so you could see how colourful the holographic is.

Once this was dry I took my smallest dotting tool and trusty Google and began to create 2 of my favourite constellations as double accents.  I chose Orion(the archer) and Ursa Minor(the little dipper).

I really liked the simplicity of this mani, but I also felt it was an interesting variation on Night Sky.

Anyway, that's all for today.

I will be back tomorrow with my Wallpaper nails.

Until then, polish happy!

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 9: Inner Geek...Doctor Who!

Hello polish lovers!

I took today's prompt to mean what makes you geek out or what do you fangirl about, and for me, that's Doctor Who.  I love Doctor Who, although I have to say I took a break when Tennant regenerated into Smith, but Smith won me over, and has since become my favourite Doctor, although Tennant is still the prettiest.  Although I have seen Doctor Who enemy nails in the past, I only looked at Google images of photos of the actual villains for these nails and any similarity is not intentional.

So for today's prompt I decided to go with some of my favourite Doctor Who villains... because we wouldn't need a Doctor if there were no villains around.  All nails have a base of 1 coat of OPI Black Onyx.

On my pinkie nail I have done an Adipose...probably the cutest problem the Doctor has ever had to face(and it reminds me of the Tribels from the Star Trek universe).  Who's a cute little fat alien(literally)?  An Adipose is.  I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a black striper to create.

On my ring nail I have a Dalek, the Doctor's worst enemy...the destroyer of Gallifrey.  I used Nubar Sunset Matte, Essie Go
od as Gold and a black striper to create.

My middle nail is a Cyberman, a machine with a human brain...but lacking humanity.  I used Essie No Place Like Chrome and a black striper to create.

And on my index nail I have The Silence...originally confessors created by the Papal Mainframe, a splinter cell tries to kill the doctor on more than one occasion, no one remembers them once they are no longer in site, but definitely one of the creepiest enemies....along with the Weeping Angels.  I used Barry M Lychee, a black striper, and Color Club Silver Lake with a detail brush to create.

I, of course, had to Matte this(because I have a problem).  I wonder how many other participants chose Doctor Who for their Inner Geek nails.

That is all for now, but I will be back tomorrow with my Night Sky nails.

Until then, polish happy!

Nail Art A-Go-Go Challenge, Day 1: Achromatic

Hello polish lovers!

Today, as promised, I have my first mani for the Nail Art A-Go-Go Challenge I am participating in.  Today's prompt is Achromatic, which means grey-scale or lacking colour.  I started out with 1 coat of OPI's Black Onyx (yes I finally broke down and got a good black, this is really opaque and none streaky).

I was really pleased with my first use of this as a base for this art.  Once Black Onyx was dry I decided to use part of a plastic bag and some different grey's to create a variation of the Saran Wrap technique.

The colours I used were all Color Clubs, Lady Holiday, a light grey is part of the Harlem Lights collection, Shabby Drab, a mid-toned grey with a slight purple undertone, and Silver Lake, the bright silver(also an awesome stamping polish).

I love the dimension the silver gives these nails and ended up liking them so much I did my other hand and wore them for a few days.  When I do these again I think I will add some splotches of the black on top of the grey to give it even more dimension.

That is all for today, I will be back tomorrow with Day 2, Jewel Tones.

Until then, polish happy!

New Year's Eve Nails

Hello polish lovers!

So apparently this post was supposed to go up yesterday( slap my wrist! Bad Blogger!).  This was totally my own fault as I was trying to get everything together for my trip and to make matters worse I somehow managed to pinch a nerve in my back so all I wanted to do was lay down and apply heat.  Anyway, this will be my last post before I go away on my vacation!  So excited!  I will try to have a post ready for the 13th or 14th, even if it is just a haul, because we know I am not going to turn down the chance to get polish.

Today I have my New Years Eve mani for you, and I will also share The Grinch nails that I mentioned in my last post, because they are awesome and I put way too much effort into them to let them go to waste.

I started my NYE mani by trying 2 of the polishes I got in the Formula X for Sephora set I got from my brother for Christmas.  I chose White Matter and Dark Matter(which is which is pretty self explanatory).  Once this dried I stamped black over white and white over black using my Konad polishes and Pueen plate PUEEN24.

I was going for a black tie looking NYE mani, like you would wear to a fancy dress party...I think it was a bit of a miss.  For some reason the stamp did not transfer cleanly.  I probably didn't clean it off enough after each stamp, but here is the finished product.

On a side note, this was my first time using the Formula X polishes and I have to say, I was impressed with the formula, the white was opaque in 2 coats and the black was opaque in just one!  Unfortunately I am thinking this is one of the polish lines where you need to buy their base and top coat because I didn't even go 24 hours before this started chipping off 3 fingers!  Strangely, none of the chips so far has occurred on my dominant hand, so as a test I will leave it on and see if it starts chipping tomorrow.

Now onto a mani I am super proud of.

I love this!  the base for The Grinch is Barry M Key Lime while be silver base is Wet n' Wild Fantasy Makers, Once Upon a Time.  The rest of The Grinch is various Art Club stripers.  No acrylic paint was used.  I was quite impressed with myself.

This lasted without chipping for more than 4 days...I wonder if the CND top coat I used had anything to do with it...I smell a Top Coat test in the future!

Anyway, that is it for now...I will be back in 2 weeks...maybe with some Caribbean photo's to share.

Until then, polish happy!

Christmas Challenge, Christmas Character Prompt.

Hello polish lovers!

I told you I would be back!

So this is my Christmas Character prompt mani.  I chose Frosty the Snowman.  I also did The Grinch, but I may show that in a later post.

This is 2 coats of China Glaze Frost Bite, which I felt was appropriate.  Once this was dry I went to town with my stripers and various polishes, which I will list below the photo, to create my scene.

OPI Alpine Snow, green striper, China Glaze Foie Gras, Mabeline Color Show Audacious Asfault, black striper, Pop Beauty Glam in unknown peach for flower, red striper for nose, A England Galahad and Essie Good as Gold.

This was really fun and time consuming to do, I ended up wearing it for a few days with my snowfall mani on the other hand.

Now that I am finally caught up I feel better.  I will be back soon with my New Years mani, and that will be my last post until I am back from Vacation.

Until then, polish happy!

Christmas Toy Challenge Mani!

Hello polish lovers!

Today I have my mani for the Christmas/Winter Challenge and today's prompt was toys...this was not an easy prompt for me...so once again I reached back into my memory to my favourite gift I received when I was a child.  I also got some inspiration from my Bundle Monster Create Your Own plates.

I started with 2 new polishes to my collection.

This is 2 coats of Pop Beauty Nail Glam in Golden Metal, a gorgeous gold foil.  My pinkie has 1 dabbed coat of Barielle's Goldfinger a chunky gold and holographic glitter that I fell in love with.  I also for some reason could not find any info on this polish online so I don't know when it came out or what collection it is a part of.

So my stamping is the original NES controllers and Tetris.  The images are from BM415-16.

I was so excited the Christmas that we got the original Nintendo, ours came with Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt(you know, the one with the gun controller so you shot at the screen, and sometimes at the hunting dog that would laugh at you when you missed).  We got Tetris a little later, but I remember my Mom kicking all our butts at that game, with Dad it was Galaga.  Good times.

So that is all for today, the countdown is on until Christmas, and New Years.  We are leaving for vacation on New Years Day so I will be gone for almost 2 weeks, I will hopefully have a haul for you when I get back.

Until then, polish happy!

Christmas Challenge Day 2: Winter Nature

Hello polish lovers!

Just a quick post tonight with my Winter Nature mani for the Christmas Challenge I am doing.  Today's post is not a complete fail but I should have used a darker mix for my sky before adding the stamping to make it stand out more.  Also excuse the fact I forgot to take photos before the stamping so you could see what the sponging looked like on its own.

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze White on White and then used various unnamed Color Club greys and a bit of makeup sponge in tweezers to create the sky, dark with snow.

I let that dry and then used Konad white polish and BMH02 to stamp on the stylized tree design.  I let that dry and used my black striper to create bare trees in the foreground and coated with SV.

Told you it would be quick, I will be back on Tuesday with a non-challenge post.

Until then, polish happy!