30 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge - Day 10


Booooo!! :( Today marks the very last day of the awesome challenge that Erica at Erica's Nails and More hosted <3 I had a lot of fun doing this challenge.. it was a chance for me to step out of my comfort zone, to do themes I've been wanting to do, but would never have done if it weren't for this challenge :D

This is going to be a short post because I'm tired, I have to work tomorrow morning, and I think I'm getting sick :(


Day 10 of this challenge was to recreate your favorite.. it could have been a favorite mani you did for the challenge, one that another participant did, or a chance to redo one. Since we did water marbles for Day 9, and I fell in love with it, I decided to do another one!! :D

I swear, this looked so much more awesome in my mind when I pictured this :\

I used Orly Buried Alive as my base color, then water marbled with BA, China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, and China Glaze Mahogany Magic. It seems KK had some weird reaction with BA and kind of turned a bit greenish. I love it, though! A lady I work with thought I painted on all of the stripes myself! :P

And pictures! Then bedtime!!

There's a few after the break!!




25 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge - Day 9

Good evening!! Hope everyone's weekend went well, and if you went shopping for Black Friday, things weren't too hectic for you! I took advantage of some really awesome deals on Amazon Friday night :D

So now we're on Day 9 of the challenge, which is water marbles. This is one theme I was not looking forward to, just because it looks so complicated, there are so many things that need to be taken into consideratiom.. it just seemed really daunting! :( But that's why it's called a challenge, right??

It took about an hour for my water to become room temperature, and even then, it was still kind of cold, so I nuked it in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Added a little more water to it, and it was almost good to go! Could've been a little bit cooler, though :) And of course, I forgot to tape my fingers, so clean up was a nightmare!! I stayed up until around 4:30am this morning doing these :\ LOL

I used China Glaze Elephant Walk as my base color, then water marbled with Elephant Walk, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Sinful Colors Secret Admirer, and Sinful Colors Smokin.

Now that I have it figured out, I'll be doing a whole lot more of these! I think for a first time, I did pretty great :D

Lot of pictures!!



24 November 2012

Color Club Holo Hues Giveaway at Going to the Showing!

This is a new blog to me! Going to the Showing reached 555 Followers (great number!!) and is giving away the entire Color Club Holo Hues Collection!! I know everyone is trying to get their hands on this collection! I know I'm one of those people since we don't have any stores here that carry CC :(


Open to the US and International and ends on December 24th!!

NOTD - China Glaze Bizarre Blurple and The Daily Lacquer Moon Kitty

After failing miserably at gradient nails, I took it off as soon as I had taken pictures of it and put something else on. I recently won the entire Lovely Moon Collection from The Daily Lacquer (which is just gorgeous!!) and decided to use China Glaze Bizarre Blurple from the 2012 Wicked Collection and layered The Daily Lacquer Moon Kitty over it. Beautiful!! <3




Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge - Day 8

Happy Saturday!! Hope everyone here in the US had a great Thanksgiving!! :) I made pumpkins pies Wednesday night and spent all day Thanksgiving Day cooking for my little family of 4! :) And today, we put up the Christmas tree and hung the kiddos' stockings! Can't believe Christmas is in a month!

We're on Day 8 of the challenge and the theme is gradient nails. I've never done gradient nails before, so this was a total flop for me! Maybe next time I'll stick to two colors until I've got it done :D

I used China Glaze Naked, China Glaze Elephant Walk, and Sinful Colors Smokin.





There are two more days left in the challenge, and the next day is going to be the hardest.. water marbles!! I bought filtered water and small plastic cups for it, so we'll see how I do!


22 November 2012

Giveaway At Pink & Polished Nails

Kristine at Pink & Polished Nails just reached 100 Followers and is having a giveaway to celebrate! There will be 2 winners. Giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only and ends on December 16th! Be sure to enter!! :)




21 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge - Day 7

Howdy!! Can you believe this challenge is almost over and that Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow?! :O Craziness!! We haven't started our Christmas shopping for the kiddos because we're waiting for our oldest to make out her list for Santa :P This is going to be the second Thanksgiving that I've cooked. Usually we go to my mom's or my husband's dad's, but decided that we wanted to start our own family traditions. Soooo... that means tomorrow night I get to make the pumpkin pies and get up super early on Thursday to get the turkey going! Ugh!! LOL :D

Anywho!! This is Day 7 of the challenge, which I wasn't looking forward to because it's stripes/lines, and considering the fun I had with lines the other day.. While I was catching up on reading all of the blogs I follow. I came across a lot of really awesome nail art using a fan brush!!

I had already painted my nails with Pure Ice Royal Flush, which I need to do a comparison post on, because it looks just like Orly Oui! <3

Here are some shots of Pure Ice Royal Flush on it's own..




Gorgeous!!! So then after finding manis using fan brushes, I whipped out Essie Penny Talk and Pure Ice Royal Flush and got to work! It was so much fun doing this, and I'm still wearing it because I love it that much :D







Sorry for the crappy clean up! I cleaned up several times and all I managed to do was getting sparklies all over my hands!

Next is gradient nails and then water marbles, which means I need to get to planning and thinking!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! <3


17 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge - Day 6

Happy Saturday!! Since I was fired from my last job, I've been job searching left and right and landed a job! I start my new job as a pharmacy tech on Monday, which I'm really excited about. I was a pharmacy tech a few years ago and it was my absolute most favorite job ever.

The theme for Day 6 of the challenge is "Inspired By Another's Nails." Now, I knew what I wanted to do, but silly me didn't bookmark the mani that I fell in love with, so I literally spent hours going through blogs, googling, searching on Pinterest, and finally ended up going through the chat log between my mom and I on Facebook and found it!! I stayed up until 230 this morning doing my nails because the process was soooo long, and some of my skills are very lacking!

My mom sent me this link a couple of months ago on a guest post that Katy at Nailed It did, and my first reaction was, "I really need to do this!!"

So I got all of my supplies gathered: butter LONDON Nail Foundation (which I'm on the fence about), Orly Decades of Dysfunction (which is absolutely gorgeous!!), Orly Lola, China Glaze Naked, Sinful Colors Black on Black, tape, BM-20 stamping plate, my striping brushes, and got to work!

While I love most of this mani, I've never used a striping brush before and didn't really have a steady hand.. I actually think I was trying to paint the lines on with my hand in the air?? LOL Which leads me to issues with Day 7, since that is stripes! Oi! Think I need to get some striping tape and actual striping nail polish dealios :P

This is definitely something I want to try again, though!

I'm super excited about my pics, though! I downloaded the Photoshop CS6 trial and have been resizing my pictures and watermarking them and playing with different fonts (which I love to do!). AND!! I had hubby get different light bulbs today, so hopefully the coloring will be a lot better in the future :D

And on to the pictures!!





15 November 2012

Stumped!!

I am so stumped with the next theme for the challenge I'm in. This time it's "Inspired By Another's Nails" and I've gone through blog after blog, pinterest, googled stuff, and I'm coming up blank. I had one idea in mind, but I can't remember where I saw the post or who did the mani!! :(

13 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge - Day 5

Hi ladies!! Happy Veteran's Day and Remembrance Day! Tonight's episode of Bones was dedicated to all of the soldiers who have fought for and defended our freedoms.. it was a really good episode and had me in tears :(

Today is Day 5 of the November Nail Art Challenge.. this was a huge flop for me :( I don't know if it's just me being inpatient, or if my nails are just too tiny. I may redo this, though.

I digged dug* some old nail polish out of  my stash that I think are just gorgeous and would have worked well if there hadn't been any issues.. lol. This is about 3 coats of Revlon Limited Edition Champagne Dazzle.. I think this was from a holiday collection from 2005? I can't seem to find any information about it online. Then I used Revlon Limited Edition Rock Royalty, which is also from 2005.




*Whoa bad grammar alert!! Guess that's what happens when it's after 1 in the morning! :O

1200 Likes/600 Followers Giveaway at Naked Without Polish

Naked Without Polish is having a huge giveaway to celebrate 1200 likes on FB and 600 followers! There's an international and a US giveaway with multiple winners! Becky has some awesome swatches and nail art, so be sure to check out her blog!

12 November 2012

The Nail Junkie Release and Giveaway!

The ever-so-amazing Aleta at The Nail Junkie just announced her new collection of nail polishes! And to celebrate, she's having a giveaway where one lucky person will win all three polishes, Coffee, Cocoa, and Tea!! This collection will be available for purchase this Friday (November 16th) at The Nail Junkie Artisan Polish Store and The Nail Junkie Etsy Shop. All of Aleta's polishes are 3 Free and Cruelty-Free and are $10 a bottle, which includes free shipping in the US and $5 for international. $1 of each bottle of polish purchased will be donated to a charity of Aleta's choice :D How awesome is that?! From the swatches I have seen of her other polishes, they are all so gorgeous! <3



11 November 2012

Giveaway for Dashica Image Plates at Ida Pie

Ida Pie is having a giveaway for some Dashica Image Plates!! I know these plates are going on my wish list!! <3


Teen Polish Junkie 1000 Likes Giveaway!!

The fabulous Teen Polish Junkie reached 1,000 likes on FB and is having a fabulous giveaway to celebrate!! There will be a grand prize winner and 1 runner up. Be sure to visit her here and enter this amazing giveaway!!



10 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge - Day 4

Happy Saturday!! :D For whatever reason, I'm just not feeling the nail polish vibes lately. I don't know if it's because I'm tired a lot, if it's because I'm not working, or what, but all I want to do is lay in bed and watch tv. 

Anyway!! This is day 4 of the challenge from Erica's Nails and More, which is Delicate Print. I've been having such bad luck with stamping that I know I didn't want to do that. My husband suggested using some lace as a stencil, but I didn't have anything I could cut up. So finally I just decided to use some KISS nail decals that I've had for about 6 years.

This is 2 coats of Orly Miss Conduct from the Orly Holiday 2012 Naughty or Nice Collection. These pictures don't do the color any justice! It is so much more gorgeous and sparkly in person.









08 November 2012

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November 8 - No H8 - Eradicate Hate in the Nail Polish Community

Bullying is not funny.  It is not cool.  It is not right.  And more importantly, it is not okay.  

Most of us are thankfully residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason.  Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer.  Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color and even to our polish application techniques.  To look down on anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that.  I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog.  

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement.  Today, November 8, I dedicate my post  to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.



Since I have already done my nails for the challenge I'm in, I decided to go through past manis and found this one:



This was when I first started my blog and getting back into nail polish. This is two coats of Orly Oui, a gorgeous dark purple with gold shimmer. Back in July, I didn't know about nail polish clean up, cleaning up around your cuticles, the macro setting on my camera, lightboxes, etc.

Bullying is all around us. I don't necessarily think I was bullied when I was a kid (maybe I was?), but I was picked on a lot because my family didn't have a lot of money, and I didn't always wear the "right" clothes, the "right" shoes, or hang out with the "right" kids at school. I was bullied at my previous job and at a job a few years ago because I wouldn't kiss butt. In both cases, I was fired for reasons other than the true cause. My 6 year old daughter has been bullied at school and around here.. and what happens? Some kids either succumb to the bullying, or they become a bully themselves in order to defend and stick up for themselves. My daughter is the latter, and we tell her constantly what it means to be a bully.

I think people sometimes forget that something they say could be funny to them and a few others, but not everyone is going to see it the same way. A lot of what is meant to be in fun could really hurt someone's feelings. There IS a HUMAN BEING behind every screen name, every blog, every social media page, and it's so easy to hide behind that and not own up to your actions.

If you or someone you know suffers from bullying, there is help.  Please visit the following sites for support and encouragement:


National Suicide Prevention Hotline - 800-273-TALK (8255)


Check out the other bloggers who are standing up against bullying!!


07 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November 10 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 3

Wow!! I can't believe it's Day 3 already!!  Day 3 of Erica's Nails and More November Nail Art Challenge is  inspired by a tutorial. I admit, I had a little bit of trouble with this one because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I thought about doing a gradient, but that's part of the challenge, as is half-moon mani. Then I thought about doing galaxy nails, but considering how time consuming those are, I didn't want to spend 3 hours doing my nails :( So I got on Pinterest (of course!) and Googled nail art tutorials.. then it hit me!! Saran wrap mani!! I used the tutorial at Polish Me, Please! There are a lot of saran wrap tutorials out there, but this one seemed relatively simple to do. There are also a couple of ways to do the saran wrap part. I think the next time I do these, I'll try the other method. So easy to do, it looks elegant, it looks complex (I think!), and it's just gorgeous. It reminds me of marbled granite <3

Anywho!! I used 2-3 coats of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, Orly Gumdrop, and then I thought, "Why not throw some Fairy Dust on top?!"

And there you have it!! :D









I'm trying to work on my hand poses :P Some of them are just awkward!!

Be sure to check out what the other girls are doing!! <3

04 November 2012

Erica's Nails and More November 10 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 2

Good evening!! Hope everyone is doing well this cold Sunday evening :) I have wild rice soup in the crock pot.. so yummy I totally forgot about blogging for Day 2 of the challenge I'm participating in. Gahh!! So today is Day 2, like I said, and the theme is polka dots! While I love the full nail polka dots I've been seeing, I don't think they would look good on me, so I just did minimal dots :)

So here it is! I loveloveLOVE this color of nail polish I used, but the formula isn't very good :( I think it dries too fast for my liking and it kept getting goopy :( This is two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri In a Flurry and the silver is a Limited Edition Loreal Silver Star :) I used HK Girl Top Coat, which is the best quick dry top coat in my book <3

Peeeektures!!







Look at that micro glitter!! So gorgeous!!

And a little disclosure about my clean up, since there's been a lot of drama going on about that ;) I just learned how to clean up the "right" way, so my nails aren't going to be absolutely perfect. I blog for me and to share my manis with people I befriend and my mom :)

Have a great night!! <3

03 November 2012

Blog Your Heart Out!!

I was recently nominated for another award! This is the "Blog Your Heart Out" Award (blurb taken from Samantha at Totally Chic), and similar to the Liebster Award, this is awarded to "girls and young women that love to blog. It is awarded to bloggers that have under 100 followers and, well, blog their hearts out! If you are awarded, you must nominate 5 other bloggers with under 100 followers and answer the following questions:" 

  1. What/who encouraged you start blogging?
  2. How did you choose what topic(s) to blog about?
  3. What is something that most people don't know about you? 
  4. What are 3 words to describe your style?
  5. What do you like to do when you're not blogging?


And here are my answers! :)

  1. What/who encouraged you start blogging? I've only been a part of the nail polish community for a few months. It all started when someone I played FB games with posted a link to a giveaway for nail polish. I clicked on it, and it opened a whole new world for me. I decided to start blogging out of the clear blue when I was constantly sharing pictures of my nails with my mom, and thought, Why the heck not?? :P
  2. How did you choose what topic(s) to blog about? I could blog about makeup, books, my kids, anything, but considering that nail polish is my current love, I wanted to blog about that :)
  3. What is something that most people don't know about you? I was in the US Army for about 6 months. I ended up with exertional compartment syndrome and was later discharged.
  4. What are 3 words to describe your style? Dark (when I have a job, I tend to wear black and grey, sometimes I'll add color), dressy, put-together :)
  5. What do you like to do when you're not bloggin? I love to read. And watch movies. And watch my favorite TV shows. I love NCIS, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, Rizzoli & Isles. Spend time with my kids. Ohh.. and I love playing World of Warcraft :D
 I nominate! :D

01 November 2012

Influenster

I've been a member of Influenster since the end of June. At that point, Influenster's website was really confusing and I didn't get it, so I didn't do anything. Well, just recently, Influenster redesigned and relaunched their website and it is fantastic! You have to earn badges by completing tasks, giving reviews, answering questions. The higher your score, the better chance you have of receiving a VoxBox full of goodies to try out and review. You get points if you review a product and someone "thumbs up's" your review. Of course, there are different boxes to qualify for. It's a really great website where you get to influence what people buy! :) And vice versa! You can add a product if it's not already listed. It's super fun and super easy. It doesn't cost anything to sign up! You can have 5 people on your team, as well. I have invites if anyone would like one! Check it out!! :D

Erica's Nails and More November 10 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 1

Happy First Day of November!! :D Hard to believe that the year is almost over.. Thanksgiving is this month, Christmas is next month!

I decided that since I have a lot of free time on my hands right now, trying to look for a job, I would participate in a challenge :D So this is a challenge from Erica at Erica's Nails and More. It's the November 10 Day Nail Art Challenge. Below is what we're doing.


Day 1 is Rainbow.. I had a hard time coming up with something that had to do with rainbows. I wanted to do a water marble, but never having done one before and not having everything I needed, I decided to do something else. So I got on Pinterest and came up with splatter nails! (I forgot orange :( I was hoping the red and yellow would somehow make orange, but it didn't work).








And here is the mess afterwards!



And my new lightbox!! :D



Materials Used for Splatter Nails
  • Base Coat: Nutri Nails Bullet-Proof Strength
  • Base Color: OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • Sinful Colors Hot Hot Heat
  • Sinful Colors Let's Meet
  • Sinful Colors Fiji
  • Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine Glow
  • Finger Paints Inkblot Blue
  • Top Coat: Seche Vite (grrrr!! :@)
  • 2 straws cut down, 1 piece for each color
  • Beauty Secrets Pure Acetone
  • MASH Angled Nail Art Brush
  • Swisspers Cosmetic Applicators
  • Paper Towels
  • Index Cards