31 Day Challenge: Day 22

Good morning!

Today's theme is Inspired by a Song.
As you might remember, I have previously done nails inspired by Nicki Minaj's Super Bass video, so I knew I wanted to do another type of video-inspired nails for this challenge.

I landed on this one, my guilty pleasure song:



S&M - Rihanna.
This video is crazy. And probably should be PG-13. Or higher.
There are some interesting patterns and scenes in the video, and I chose to do skittles based on 5 of the patterns you see in the video!

They don't match at all but I love the way they look! Crazy and random, like the video.

Here's what I used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Whirlwind White
Wet N Wild - Black Creme
Nail Art Diva - Daffodil (yellow)
Wet N Wild - Tickled Pink (light pink)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Presto Pink (darker pink)
H&M - Coral Summer (blue)
China Glaze - Recycle (gray)

The lace pattern is Konad m57 and 71 together.
The chains image comes from Bundle Monster BM12.
The zebra image comes from Bundle Monster BM16.

I took some screenshots from the video to show where the nails came from!

The zebra inspiration is easy to see!

So is the blue with X's.

Polka dots are always cute!

If you look closely you'll see that I tried to do the newspaper nail trick but it just didn't work very strongly so I added the chains image to those nails for a better look.

The lace nail doesn't come from one particular scene but there is lots of lace going on in the video!

What do you guys think? Do they suit the video?
:)

More about → 31 Day Challenge: Day 22

300 followers! / springy dotty skittles

Last night I clicked over 300 followers! Thanks everyone. I've now gotten 104 new followers since starting my giveaway. That's a lot!
I'm happy to have all of you here at my little piece of the internet!

Today I'm going to show you some nails that are perfect for spring.
I wore these a few weeks ago which was a bit too early, but now is the right time!

(click to enlarge)

Pastel polka dot skittles!

I really like the subtle look of the white stamping on these colors, but I wish I had a better white stamping polish. I might have to spring for the Konad one eventually.

Here's what I used:

Joe Fresh - Faded Violet
Essie - Turquoise and Caicos
Wet N Wild Wild Shine - Tickled Pink,
China Glaze - For Audrey
Icing - Mint 2 Be
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On
I stamped with Bundle Monster BM19.

I've decided that a good goal for polish-buying this month is to buy less polishes than there are days in the month.
And so far it isn't working. Today is the 4th, and I already have 4. (Actually, I had these 4 on the 2nd.)

This is my first Sally's B2G1 haul. China Glaze White On White and Liquid Leather, and Nina Ultra Pro in Purple X-ing.
I needed a better quality black and white really badly, but I was waiting for a deal like this to come along to get them.
And I haven't swatched the Nina yet, but from what I an see in the bottle, it seems like a dark purple version of OPI Teenage Dream. Exciting!
I'm sure I'll be back to Sally before long...

And the fourth I bought was a bottle of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Invisible.
I needed this because if you use Seche Vite when you're trying to place multiple stones, it dries before you can get them all on! So I'll be using this to place the stones and then Seche Vite to seal them.

I noticed that this bottle of Xtreme Wear has a sticker with the name on top. I wish they all did! I have so many of these damn bottles and it would be convenient to have names on top!

I broke a nail really badly this morning getting into my dad's truck to go to work :(
Always the same nail too!
I guess I'll have to cut them all down now. Boooooooo.

More about → 300 followers! / springy dotty skittles

bundle monster contest!

Hey guys, as a lot of you might already know, Bundle Monster is having a nail art contest where 25 lucky girls are going to win their new set of 25 stamping plates!
I entered my submission today, and I figured I would do a post about it now!

I redid nails you have seen before, but they were on short nails and it was a crappy picture. And my technique wasn't so good!
I love these nails so much, and they use Bundle Monster plate bm16, so they were the perfect entry!

Here is the photo I submitted. (With watermark added.)

(click to enlarge)

I used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Power Pink
Color Club - Pucci-licious
L.A. Colors Color Craze - Static Electricity
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!
Wet N Wild Wild Shine - Black Creme (for stamping)

I used a cosmetic sponge to make the gradient, and a thick coat of Seche Vite to make it all even better!

I was a little weary of entering because you're not allowed to use a watermark, I really hope no one tries to steal my photo!

The voting starts on the 10th I believe, I hope all you lovely people will vote for me!
I'll be sure to post a link when the time comes.

More about → bundle monster contest!

sally hansen color quick chrome pens - review and stamping swatches!

Hey guys, I'm really excited to do this review for you today, because I'm really excited about this product!

Sally Hansen Color Quick Pens, in six of the Chrome shades!

I took about a million pictures of these and of the manicure I did with them, so see all that and the review after the jump!

The reason I bought these was because I had seen a few other bloggers use them for stamping.
And I love me some good stamping polish.

These pens retail in Walmart in Canada for $7.43 each. But I got all six on ebay for just under $15!
I'd never tried any of these Color Quick pens until now. I was pretty skeptical about them but they really are great!
The tube on the inside is almost completely full, so you get a lot of product, which I wasn't expecting.
They are really sturdy, and they don't feel cheap. 

There are 2 I didn't get - Silver and Gold - because I have China Glaze Millennium and 2030 which are great for stamping.

I love the colors. What you see in the tubes is fairly close to how they look on the nail.
Here is a size comparison.

Don't you love my beautiful photography? Hah! I have a really good camera, I might as well give it something to photograph other than my nails.

This is what the brush looks like before you begin using it. Seems a bit crappy but it really isn't once the polish starts flowing!

I decided that for my review/manicure I would use every color on different nails with the same pattern, and so I chose one of my favorite stamps - the zebra image from Bundle Monster BM16.

Okay, so first of all, you shouldn't follow the instructions on the package.

As you can see here, it says to click the top of the pen 5 to 7 times to start the flow of color. No.
I didn't read this before I started which is good because I probably would have just started clicking away, assuming it would take a while.
Some of the pens only took one click to dispense enough color to cover the image on the plate.
If you were painting your nails with it I can imagine it would take maybe three clicks to get the color far enough down the brush for an even application, but when you're just slapping it onto a plate you don't need to be neat. 1-3 clicks was enough for all pens to start adequate color flow.

This is what the brush looks like once you've started using it:

The bristles don't fan out so much.
At first it seems when you click the top that there isn't much product on the brush, but it hides in there. I advise you to try using it after one click, and if you can't get enough, click again. Don't just keep clicking until you see a bunch come out.

I was worried that the brushes would dry out where they are just inside a screw-on cap, but I checked the brushes the morning after using and they were still wet! This pleased me very much. I'm happy they will last!

Now, on to the colors and manicure!
(I warn you, my fingers look really fat in the single swatches because of the way I was holding on to the pens! Haha)

The first one I used was Red Chrome.

As you can see, it isn't really a true red. It leans a bit more pink and a little bit orangey at times.
Coverage was really good, easy stamping. Instant delight!

Fuchsia Chrome. Gorgeous deep pink. Probably the most opaque color, I experienced no bald spots in the stamp.
The color flowed from this one really quickly and I ended up doing three nails with it because I didn't want to waste the polish!

Green Chrome. A really nice light green shade. Nothing else to say about this one!

Purple Chrome. Now you know me and purple, but this isn't the best purple. It is a really silvery purple, and I would have preferred a true purple. But I still like it!
When I used this one, I only had one nail left to do so I didn't want to dispense very much product, but I ended up not quite getting enough onto the image and I was left with some bald spots. I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem if I had enough on the brush.

Pink Chrome. As you can see, this one is really silvery too. Had there not been a Fuchsia one, this probably would have been a huge disappointment. But Fuchsia filled the true pink need, so this one is just a bonus pink!

Turquoise Chrome. I saved the best for last! You know me and turquoise. It is a bit more blue than turquoise, but I loooove it. This is my favorite. (Fuchsia is a close second.) Excuse the messy stamping on this one, I missed the tip of the nail and had to try and fill it in with little bits left on the stamper.

Now here they are all together!

(click to enlarge)

So happy with all of these!

Turquoise, Fuchsia, Green, Pink, Red

Smudged Fuchsia :( , Purple, Turquoise, Red, Fuchsia

Here are some photos without flash to show the colors in another way.

I'm so in love with these.
If you like stamping, you NEED these. I mean it.

I have like a billion ideas swirling around in my head for what to do with them next.

(click to enlarge)

Which one is your favorite?
I hope you enjoyed this review!

More about → sally hansen color quick chrome pens - review and stamping swatches!

pink zebra

I realized the other day that I've never actually done black and white zebra...
I'll put that on my to-do list.

So for today, I have pink zebra for you!

(click to enlarge)

Excuse the ink stains on my index finger.
This is sort of old, I forgot how much I like it!

The base color is Wet N Wild Wild Shine, but I'm not sure of the name.
I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Presto Pink.

Before class this morning I went to Sally's and picked up a few (read: 4) polishes.
2 from China Glaze Tronica - Electric Magenta and Gamer Glam.
Out of the 12 polishes I'm only into 3 or 4, and thankfully they had 2 there. I still need Techno Teal! And maybe Hyper Haute!
I got Carnation Creation from the new Finger Paints collection. The ring is so cute!
And I couldn't leave Orly's Royal Velvet from the Precious Collection behind.
Swatches to come in the next few days :)

(After the new Insta-Dry line hits my Walmarts, I'm going on a no-buy. Seriously.)

More about → pink zebra

green zebra

I know I said I was going to post the first half of my 10 favorite polishes post today, but while doing my nails last night I realized I had left out an important polish.
So I need to add a new one (and take pictures!)
I'll do it tomorrow and post it then!

So for today I have some simple nail art for you.
I'm running out of my archive of photos to post each day!

Look at those short nails! They used to be this short all the time.
Sadly they are almost this short right now.

The polish seen here is an unnamed one from Ardene.
The first coat was SUPER sheer, and I assumed it would take 4+ coats for full opacity, but somehow, this was only 2 coats!
It was a strange, strange polish.

I used Bundle Monster plate BM16 for the zebra design. I think this zebra image is a lot more zebra-y than the konad one!

Favorite polishes tomorrow. I promise!

More about → green zebra

another gradient zebra!

Well seeing as everyone loved the gradient zebra nails from the other day, I have another set to show you!
This was the first gradient I ever tried, and I wasn't great at stamping at the time, so I missed the tips of a few nails, hahaha.

(click to enlarge)

Not too bad for a first try!
Now that I have a new camera, I should redo this combo and get nicer pictures.

This is all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow, Going Green and Blue Me Away (which isn't very blue sponged over the green.)
I stamped the zebra print from BM16 with an unnamed black. (This was before I found the magic of Wet'n'Wild black.)

Yesterday's exams went well. One more tomorrow night and I'm done my exams! (Sadly yes, I have an exam on a Saturday night.)

More about → another gradient zebra!

gradient zebra!

I got 200 views today while I was at work! Where are you viewers finding me from? I can't figure it out!
Hahaha. I like knowing why a bunch of people suddenly found me.


Today I'm going to post some nails similar to my first post/favorite nails, but with a different animal print.
These were done quite a few months ago and the combo stuck with me and eventually led to my favorite nails (with a bit of a twist.)

(click to enlarge)

The darker blue over the pink did made a purple area, as you can see, but there is no purple polish involved! That was one of the tweaks that I did with the favorite nails version.

For these nails I used:
-Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Power Pink
-LA Colors Color Craze - Static Electricity
-Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!
-Wet n Wild - Black Creme (stamp from Bundle Monster image plate BM16)
-A cosmetic sponge to add on each color

Every time I see this color gradient I can't stop staring at it!

More about → gradient zebra!

f. yeah!

Last night I was featured on my two favorite nail art tumblrs - fuckyeahprettynails and fuckyeahnailart!
I'm so excited that these people like my nails! Hahaha.

And hello new followers! 29 now :)
Maybe once I get to 50 I'll have a giveaway.

Today I have some half-and-half nails to show you!

(click to enlarge)

I had just gotten this wallet when I did these nails, so it was my inspiration!

First I painted my full nails with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White Out! and then I taped off the top half and stamped the zebra image from Bundle Monster BM 16 with LA Colors Art Deco Black.
Then I painted the top half with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Power Pink, and finally made a line between the two halfs with Art Deco Black.

I think I might revisit these nails soon :)

More about → f. yeah!