Challenge 2012

Jenn over at I'm still thinking posted a year's worth of nail manicures to try, one a week. I signed myself up. If you'd like to join sign yourself up at her blog so everyone can see your work. :)

1. Jan. 1st - "Make it Sparkle" Mani.
- Pull out your Best looking glitter, flakie or holo and bring in the New Year with a "Bang".
2. Jan. 8th - French Tip Mani.
3. Jan. 15th - Color Block Mani.
4. Jan. 22nd - Plaid Mani.
5. Jan. 29th - Newspaper Mani.
6. Feb. 5th - Half-moon Mani.
7. Feb. 12th - "Valentine's Day" Mani.
8. Feb. 19th - Corset Mani.
9. Feb. 26th - "Vintage" Mani.
10. Mar. 4th - Polka Dot Mani
11. Mar. 11th - "St. Patrick's Day" Mani.
12. Mar. 18th - Skittle Mani.
13. Mar. 25th - Ruffian Mani.
14. Apr. 1st - Striped Mani.
15. Apr. 8th - "Easter Day" Mani.
16. Apr. 15th - Dotticure Mani.
17. Apr. 22nd - "Earth Appreciation" Mani.
18. Apr. 29th - Cartoon Mani.
19. May. 6th - Floral Mani.
20. May. 13th - Bows Mani.
21. May. 20th - Fruit Mani.
22. May. 27th - Splatter Mani.
23. Jun. 3rd - Ombre Mani.
24. Jun. 10th - Flag Mani.
25. Jun. 17th - Pride/Rainbow Mani.
26. Jun. 24th - Neon Mani.
27. July. 1st - "4th of July" Mani.
28. July. 8th - Gradient Mani.
29. July. 15th - "Rockstar" Mani.
30. July. 22th - Water Marble Mani.
31. July. 29th - Crackle Mani.
32. Aug. 5th - Needle Marble Mani.
33. Aug. 12th - Galaxy Mani.
34. Aug. 19th - "Bling" Mani.
35. Aug. 26th - Cupcake Mani.
36. Sept. 2nd - Tape Mani.
37. Sept. 9th - "We Remember 9/11" Mani.
38. Sept. 16th - Metallic/Magnetic Mani.
39. Sept. 23rd - Dry Marble Mani.
40. Sept. 30th - Animal Print Mani.
41. Oct. 7th - Patchwork Mani.
42. Oct. 14th - "Pink 4 Breast Cancer Awareness" Mani.
43. Oct. 21st - Spider Web Mani.
44. Oct. 28th - Halloween Mani.
45. Nov. 4th - Tribal Mani.
46. Nov. 11th - "Mustach, 4 Movember; Prostate Cancer Awareness" Mani.
47. Nov. 18th - Thanksgiving Day Mani.
48. Nov. 25th - Feather Mani.
49. Dec. 2nd - Glitter Sandwich Mani.
50. Dec. 9th - Snowflake Mani.
51. Dec. 16th - Red Mani.
52. Dec. 23rd - Christmas Mani.

I don't know what some of these are and had to search on Google to find out.

Weekend purchase - nail dryer with assorted polishes

I actually purchased this before Christmas at Wal-Mart, but I just unburied it from a pile of things.


As you can see it comes with a little nail polish holder on top. There are seven polishes by The Color Workshop, but there are no names or numbers that I can find to the polishes. From left to right clockwise there is a clear top coat, a pink with sliver glitter, a shimmer pink, a lavender/mauve shimmer, a burgandy foil, a creme red, and a metallic copper.

I will do swatches later, unless the plague overtakes me. (I'm not feeling good right now, if this post doesn't make any sense the plague made me do it.)


The actual dryer takes four AA batteries and the whole thing cost 10$ I haven't tested it out yet, but I will when I do the swatches for the polishes.

This product was bought with my own money for review by myself.

I won!

I won my first contest over at Polished & Not Quite Put Together. I'm not exactly sure what I won, but I'm still very excited!

I had to read the post about the giveaway again, to make sure that the prize wasn't listed there, because whatever plague I contracted is making my brain fuzzy. The lymph nodes on the right-side of my neck are swollen and tender... there was a point to this, but I've already forgotten it...

So, yes, I'm excited and very thankful.

Four Quick and Easy New Year's nail styles

I wanted to show you four quick and easy nail styles for New Year's Eve.



I will actually show you the worst photo first.




I thought that the blue (FingerPaints: Cerulean Seascape) had dried completely before I put down the tape, but apparently it hadn't!  And some of the blue polish lifted with the tape.  The idea of this nail is a blue polish with a glitter tip, just make sure that your blue polish is completely dry before you put down your tape!



This next nail has a blue polish tip with Northern Lights Hologram Gold Top Coat. For some reason the picture is huge!


I like the next one the best, it is three coats of Northern Lights Hologram Gold Top Coat and over the tip is painted with FingerPaints: Cerulean Seascape


I like this one the best, but I had washed dishes before taking this picture and the paint chipped, you can see it in the picture if you look for it.

The last one is three layers of FingerPaints: Cerulean Seascape and a couple of pulls of Northern Lights Hologram Gold Top Coat from the tip of the nails toward the bed of the nails.


If you want to do any of these styles for New Year's I would use a gold toned glitter, because I personally find an opalescent glitter reminds me more of winter. Another option would be to use a black polish and a silver glitter polish.

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Finger Paints: Cerulean Seascape swatch

Oops. I almost forgot to post these pictures. The first few pictures I had to take indoors with a flash, so the colors aren't completely true, but I did get to take pictures of the final polish outdoors in the sunshine.

Here is my clean nail:


One coat:


Two coats:


Third coat with two layers of top coat indoors:

Third coat with two layers of top coat cleaned up and outside:

I love this color. If you are looking for a blue foil polish this is one to get. It goes on smooth and doesn't bubble as it dries.

You can buy FingerPaints:Cerulean Seascape at Sally Beauty Supply stores. This product was bought with my own money for review by myself.

Weekend purchase - Finger Paints: Cerulean Seascape swatch

I figured I'd start this new little corner for my blog.  I was going to call this my Friday purchase, and post on Friday, but then I figured if I call it weekend purchase I'm not committed to posting on any one day.

Here is a hint as to what I bought this weekend.


See more after the jump.

Eeek!

So, my mother has been visiting and I thought for sure there would be no problem painting my nails, taking pictures and posting to this blog.  But of course I was obviously wrong I didn't get anything done at all.

Well, at least now I know for the next time I visit I'll need to set posts up ahead of time, or declare that I am taking a short break.

So, please don't think that I have abandoned something that I just started.

Also, I am trying to write up a disclosure notice, if anyone has any tips or things that should be included please let me know, thanks!

Glittering top coats

I've finally been able to take a picture of my nails in the sunlight, it really does make a difference.





I think the sunlight helps my camera capture the true color of the nail polishes that the flash on the camera cannot do.

So, since my nails already have some wear on them I decided to try out different top coats on them just to check out the looks. Here are China Glaze: Ruby Pumps and Finger Paints: Sketch N Etch with two coats of Northern Lights Hologram Gold Top Coat.


And here is from left to right: Confetti: Party Palace Blue (blue in the bottle with hexagonal glitters and smaller fine glitter), Pure Ice: Don't You Wish (clear/white gloss with opalescent glitter), and an unknown Sally Girl mini nail polish (it has no name or number on it, and I couldn't find it on the Sally Hansen website either, it is has a bluish tinge withe opalescent glitter.)


Here's a picture of the unknown Sally Girl.


Then on my other hand, this one is a little hard to see, I have Finger Paints: Sparkle top coat.


And here I have the Finger Paints: Sparkle top coat over the Sketch N Etch, but on the right is the China Glaze: Ruby Pumps that has Pure Ice: Busted over it, I think they look awfully alike in this photo, but the Sparkle is opalescent in the bottle and the Busted is a light purple.


These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.



EDIT: I found out that the unknown Sally Girl is #812029. They don't have names on the bottles or at the store, but the website lists this as "Way 2 Disco." 12/22/11

Quick and easy Christmas nails

I took my last final today, so hopefully I'll get to take pictures of my nails in sunlight now, instead of just with a flash.


So, here is my Christmas nails. I took two colors, China Glaze Ruby Pumps and Finger Paints: Sketch N Etch. I put the Ruby Pumps polish on every nail, except on my ring finger. On my ring finger I put Sketch N Etch.


You can see some wear on my pointer and middle fingers, but I think that is because I have been working like crazy on my finals. I put three coats of polish on each nail and two coats of Sally Hansen Super Shine on top.

I hope you like this!

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Finger Paints: Sketch N Etch swatch

I love this color. I don't know why I love the Finger Paints line... maybe its because of the cute names, but the colors are brilliant.



This nail polish perfectly compliments China Glaze: Ruby Pumpsthe only thing is that Ruby Pumps is a glitter polish and this is a foil polish. They do go together well if you wanted to do some Christmasy designs on your nails.

Here is the nail.


This is three coats of Finger Paints: Sketch N Etch and two coats of Sally Hansen Super Shine .

I would definitely recommend this polish if you want to have some fun with green nails.

This product was bought with my own money for review by myself.