Summer Challenge: Day 2!

Today is the second day of the Purple Crumpet Fairy Summer Challenge!

The theme for this mani the Chelsea Flower Show!

I know nothing about flower shows, but I have plenty of floral stamp designs in my Cheeky collection, so here it is:

 Sorry for the blur! I could not get my camera to focus on these at all..I think i messed with the settings the other day and just messed everything up..

Quick note before the specs:  I've been using my Sally Hansen double duty base and top coat for a few days now, and for someone who changes their nails daily, this stuff seems to do the job!  My nails are no longer chipping off at the tips and looking a little rough..they just look normal when I take off my polish! anyway..

This is two coats of Revlon Fearless on all fingers except the ring, which has two coats of Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party.  Then I used two designs that seemed to go well together, and stamped on my thumb and index fingers with Sally Hansen French White, and Revlon Fearless on the ring.  Topped off with Sally Hansen double duty, and then Seche Vite because I was sleepy=]

I am in love with this red.  To me, this is a true red. It could be a little bit deeper, just a teeny bit and then I would classify it completely as true, but I don't care I love it.  It's the perfect pin-up red, and the rockabilly girl that lives in my mind wears this all day long.  I really should let her out more often..

What do you think?  Check out the other lovelies participating, and join in if you want!

Debbie @ The Crumpet - http://thecrumpet.blogspot.co.uk/

Danielle - http://lbobeauty.blogspot.co.uk/

Neivys - http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.com/

Jo @ Northern Nails - http://therockchicksrambles.blogspot.co.uk/

arlene @ http://euzefelus27-nailart.blogspot.com/

Helena - http://nailwish.blogspot.com.es/

Cuti-CLUE-les - http://cuti-clue-les.blogspot.com/

Katee - www.agirlandherpolish.blogspot.com

Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges - http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/

Sarah - http://www.ynails.blogspot.co.uk/

bec - http://lacquerdreams.blogspot.com.au/

Misha - www.enigmatic-rambles.blogspot.com

Sharon - http://whatcolorismycoat.blogspot.com/

Melissa - http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/

Laurie http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.com/

Lucie @ Lucy's Stash www.lucysstash.com

Emma @  http://manicurity.blogspot.com/

Caitlin - www.caitlinscreativecorner.blogspot.com

Jane- http://absolutevarnish.blogspot.com/

Vic @ Glowstars http://glowstars.net

Jackie- http://memasmanis-jackie.blogspot.com/

Rychelle @ Colorsplash Nails- http://colorsplashnails.blogspot.com/

Stella - http://mywetnails.blogspot.com

Missy @ http://missysmanis.blogspot.co.uk/

Kim @ http://apolishedaddiction.blogspot.com/

Christine @ http://lost-in-my-reverie.blogspot.com

tri-colored stamping, and another small haul!

For today's post, I tried stamping with different colors!  I saw a picture on fuckyeahnailart and thought about what I could do..


So maybe I should've used neons lol I like the way it turned out, even if it was slightly hard to tell exactly what was going on from far off:

Sorry, it's so hard to tell what this mani actually looked like from these photos!

I used Gelous as my base coat, Sally Hansen French White-2 coats, then using a floral all-over Cheeky plate, I alternated the combo of China Glaze For Audrey, Secret Periwinkle, and Sweet Hook.  I mattified it with Hard Candy's matte top coat, and called it a freakin' day =]


I must say my stamping skills are coming along! For this one I did not scrape off enough Secret Periwinkle before I stamped my thumb, and did not have enough polish on the stamper for my ring finger at the tip.  I like this design =]


And now, because I absolutely can't be on any sort of no-buy..
Another Sally's and wal mart haul!  Oh payday..

First up:Sally's.  I actually almost got two Hunger Games polishes because they're $1 off right now, but my mission was for more glitter.  Mission: accomplished.  For now..


I picked up China Glaze Fairy Dust, I'd been eyeing this baby for a bit, and heard many great things, like that it turns any mani into magic. We'll see =]


Also, CG Liquid Crystal from the Prismatic collection.  This is the only one that I have from it, and I really like it.  The color shifts from a light blue to a light purple with lots of different colored glitter and shimmers.  Very pretty =]

I got two Sally Girls, a gold and a pink glitter.  I like these, and I think that someday my Sally Girls will come in handy should I choose to start franken-ing =]


I also bought a huge thing of acetone, which was like three bucks I think with my Sally's card, and another nail file!


Wal-mart:

Sally Hansen Double Duty base and top coat.  My nails are getting longer, I need some more protection!  Revlon Blue Lagoon, Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal and Porcelain Pretty.


All together now:

All of these are two coats.


Whew. Okay I gotta stop now!  Next month, I plan on beginning the indie section of my stash!


What's your favorite indie polish brand?

MSMD takin' notes from the Chalkboard

This is my first Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday!

Here is the link to the fb page with the list of other bloggers who participate! (Aka- i forgot to do this last night when i was writing this post and am now on my tablet which makes everything a little different)all the cool kids!

I got my idea from this post from the seriously talented Sarah at Chalkboard Nails! Her title Ants at the picnic! is an accurate description of what this manicure represents.  Here you are, chillin' on your gingham blanket (why have I never seen one of those in real life?!) munchin' on some grindage, and your watermelon-y goodness is just waaay too much for these little dickheads to keep away from.  Hide your melons, hide your glasses of sweet southern iced tea!

I couldn't completely replicate the manicure, but really who wants to totally copy someone else? I had been wanting to do something with watermelons ever since I picked up my bottle of Finger Paints Louvre This Pink.  It is THE perfect shade for watermelon!  Then I came across that post and I was like oooh I gotta try it.  I'm glad I did!  You should hop on over and look at the original photos of what this mani SHOULD look like lol

 Alright, so I have a shit basket.  I did not keep the basket.  I tried, I really did! I think having more colors would have helped?  I just don't think mine were very baskety.. My basket is a base coat of OPI A-taupe the Space Needle as well as lines of French Quarter For Your Thoughts, and then some of A-taupe the Space Needle mixed with white for some..depth? Geez I dono.  At one point I said screw it trying to make little perforated lines and just vertical and horizontal.  And that's what makes a shit basket, y'all! I took that off, and had a different idea to try.

 For my take, I painted half my nail in Sally Hansen Hard as Nails French White, two coats, then stripes in Finger Paints Gogh Red! (maybe, I'm pretty sure that's what it is..)  and Pure Ice Black Rage for my ants.  For the grass I used China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise (I think this one is a neon..I got it so long ago)

For my index and pinky, I did the same as my thumb, just without the grass.  I tried to get the ants to march in line and to be following the sugary trail.  For my middle and ring fingers I did a base of Finger Paints Louvre This Pink, then painted on with Color Club Age of Aquarius right above the rind, and then my other no-name Maurices polish, some shade of dark teal.  For my seeds i used Pure Ice Black Rage.  I topped all of this off with Seche Vite, because it was time to go do laundry and upload these pics, and all that involves a trip to my parent's house. 

My seeds look a little irregular, and I do think I should have made way fewer of them.  Pretty much all of this except the base and top coats were done with my super teeny tiny nail art brush that I got at Sally's.  My right hand which I didn't take pictures of actually looks the same as my left, if not better.  I love my tiny nail art brush =]  Overall, it doesn't look perfect (uh probably because I did it) but it looks way better than what I could've done a while ago, without the right tools.  So I'm happy with it!  Perfect for summer=]

I am really enjoying posting..do you know how happy I am that 12 people wanna follow me?  Okay really ten because when I set it up I wanted to make sure it worked so I followed myself from both my accounts.  How lame am I?  TEN PEOPLE! =]

I am also now on facebook, I will soon be getting a button or something put on here to link to that www.facebook.com/ambersnailblog  Can you believe that nevernakednails, never.naked.nails, and nevernakednailsblog were supposedly "taken" fb names?  I looked em up, they don't exist! whatever..I decided if ambersnailblog didn't work I was just leaving it the way it came lol

Thanks for stopping by =]

Sweet Stampage has commenced!

I am so excited for this. My Konad double ended stamper came in the mail yesterday! I already received my Cheeky plates, the ones they came out with for this summer. The part of my mind that brainstorms has been lost in some sort of dreamy haze. I'm going to be able to create so many cool things now!

Okay, so this is the mani from my previous post which I knew would be the perfect background for SOMETHING.. The plates that I used were Ch6, 9, 10, 16, 17, &20 For my pinky I used Pure Ice Black Rage for the lollipop, but the first four fingers I was just trying to experiment with what polishes might work with the stamping plates.  I have read that you don't have to buy the special Konad ones for them to still work properly, but that they don't always have the full effect with most polishes.  Anyway, the first four I used China Glaze Smoke and Ashes from the Hunger Games collection and it worked oookaaayyy, I like that I can tell there's a shimmery part to it, but only if it's up close so that kind of  made it pointless.  Plus the little flecks get caught up in the plates and they're hard to remove..so I decided to use the only true black creme that I have, and I knew it would be thick enough, and it is!  I really love the cupcake on my index finger!  But I think I should've placed them all more to the left side like with my ring finger, to really pop against the Neon Yellow and Orange.  Overall I'm in love with this handy dandy tool, and I am pumped for some more Sweet Stampage =]

Does anyone have any suggestions on any polishes that work well with the stamping plates, something that I could maybe pick up at Wal Mart instead of going over the internet?

Also, I think I'd like to begin reviewing products that I love, and I will definitely be reviewing my Birchboxes that I get from now on.  I have been a subscriber for exactly a year now, and I haven't regretted it one bit.  I love the products they send me, and the points system they have.  I love buying products totally in points that have accumulated =]  And after I've opened the boxes I use them to store my nail polish.  I don't have anything fancy like a super Helmers or a shelf that my boyfriend has promised he would make for me..but my collection is still relatively small.  I have about 70-75 bottles of polish, and that includes minis(about 15? idk..)  That's not including base coats, top coats, other bottled nail products that aren't actually nail polish..

What an amateur, right?  Anyway, I'm not up there with the big polish bloggers yet, but I'd like to think I still have something to offer the blogosphere! And while I keep posting my collection shall keep growing =]

On a funner note (god, what a long blog lol..) I will be participating in the crumpet's summer challenge!!! If you check out all the challenges, you might think it will be a doozy.  And it probably will be!  But I really think it's going to be fun, I'm already having fun brainstorming and getting started =] It starts May 19 and ends Sept. 8.  Check out her facebook page for the challenge group, and request an invite if you wanna get it on it!  It's long, but there's no pressure or strings attached or anything...I actually think it will be less stressful than a 31 day challenge but what do I know.. Is anyone else gonna do it too? =]

Kleancolor Candy Cast mani#2

I am so loving this mani right now! I feel like Katy Perry went into a candy store with wet fingers...take that in the least disgusting way!

here it is:

This is a layer of my cheap base coat, two coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails French White, one coat of Poshe. Then starting at the right corner on my left hand and the left corner on my right: Kleancolor's Neon Pink, Neon Amethyst, Neon Aqua, Neon Lime, Neon Yellow, Neon Orange, one more layer of Poshe :) I am sooo super happy with how this turned out!

It's so bright and fantastic.  Plus, I knew my stamper would be in the mail soon, and I thought this would be the perfect background to start with.  It came, and it totally was!  I don't have pictures up yet, but I will soon.  I went a little stamp happy, so not all of them are perfect, or in the spot I really want them to be in lol but I was really surprised at how easy it is to do.  I'm also learning along the way.  A tip: probably best not to use glass flecked polishes...I can still see some shimmers in a couple of my plates lol I don't think it will affect them much, and I'll try to clean them more thoroughly.  I really hope that I can because I know I'll probably be using darker colors for stamping but I want to keep my stamper and scraper stainless!  The black polishes I used are staining my scraper I do believe...the pink plastic part.  I think I need to soak them maybe?  A cotton ball soaked in polish remover just doesn't seem to be doing it..

I know tomorrow is Teal Tuesday and I really want to participate in some sort of nail challenge or nail of the day thing other people have going on...Any ideas? anybody?

Kleancolor Candy Cast mani #1

I couldn't wait until tomorrow to post this.  I'm spammin' up your feeds! kidding..

Anyway, this is what I did to my nails when I realized I quickly had to think of something else to do, before I showed up at work with nails matching the same colors as a friend's.  (Funny, she didn't even have to work that night.. I'm losing my mind..)  Now, I realize this is not my best work. It would've been a lot cooler if my dots were smaller.  Eh.. So, I wanted to use more of my Kleancolor minis that came in.  I'm also planning on swatching these because I'm planning on being adventurous this summer!  Anyway, here it is:

BAM! these colors are so in-your-face, I love it!

(BTW on the upper right corner of my thumb and middle fingers are hearts, not even bigger dots lol)

As you can tell and probably already know, neons are just weird to photograph.. These pictures are almost dead on, especially in the refrigerator.  The ones outside are just less bright.  Actually in the fridge the colors appear to be all a liiiittle darker than they really are..or maybe just more saturated..I don't know, they're cute on my hands though!

And of course my clean up sucks on my thumb again..I really need better brushes.

This is one layer of LA Colors base coat, two coats of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails French White, then starting at the base of my nails with a medium dotting tool, Kleancolor's Neon Orange, then Neon Yellow, Neon Lime, Neon Pink, and then above that on my thumb and ring finger I tried to add some Neon Amethyst dots.  A niiiice layer of Poshe on top =]

For this one, I realized after the polish was on that I should've been positioning my hand differently so that the dots would be more in line, and not dropping off the side like when I'm writing on a piece of un-lined paper..

And I think I should've used smaller dots.  This blog is really going to help me learn from my mistakes lol

So when I got home from work this morning of course I did my nails again...because if I think I've messed up, or it could've been done differently, or made better in some way, I'm definitely gonna do my nails again.  Moisturizing is really the key lol

Later I'll post about what I did to my nails this morning, and hopefully my Konad stamper will be at my door =]  I really think what I have going on right now would be the perfect background for some sweet sweet stampage.

Thanks for reading!



Dot Experiment

As I said before, my dotting tools are here and I have begun the fun!
My skills are still needing improvement, both in the steady hand area and placement and whatnot of said dots...
this ain't my old high school pointillism assignment!  Though it could be, and that's an idea I'm putting into my head..someday it will become real.

Anyway, here is the mani that I had to completely redo because I realized I was basically subconsciously copying off of a friend, and that's just lame!  This is my cheap-o base coat (i think it's LA Colors..) plus two coats of Sally Hansen's HaN French White on most of my nails, and then for my accent nail I used Kleancolor Neon Aqua for my bases.

Next, I grabbed a dotting tool and started dottin'!  I went over my white nails with mediumish sized blue dots in the Neon Aqua, and decided that could not be enough.  I went back with a much smaller dotting tool and used Finger Paints I have no idea what red I used still.. and randomly put them in white spaces.  I even made a little heart at the tip of my accent nail, by making two dots next to each other with a tool and then just drawing them together to make the heart bottom. I went over it all with a nice coat of Poshe, and viola!

 

Sorry about the messy clean up, I really thought I got it all and then my camera tells me otherwise...

I still haven't really swatched my Kleancolor mini collection, except for my blue accent nail above.  From what I can tell from doing that one nail, it's a nice creme, opaque in two coats with a nice shiny finish.  I don't have any full-sized Kleancolor polishes but the brush is surprisingly nice and wide for the little bottles.  I will definitely be wearing these colors this summer! 

Anyway, I'll post more about my even better Kleancolor dotted manis tomorrow!