Summer Challenge: Day Four!

Oh, hey there!  I've been absent..
Not to get into a lot, but my grandmother has just had surgery, so I've just spent my last two days off over at her house helping her out and stuff...and putting off getting together summer challenge stuff!  Family is important though, and that's why i was not only watching over my grandmother, but my two young cousins (8 and 9) and let me assure you, I was not on a manicure rest!  I have been painting, removing, pressing tiny girly looking adhesive nails on, peeling them off, putting different ones on, peeling those off, painting again...and none of it on myself!  Well, okay I did find the time to do my own nails last night, and I think this manicure can double up on my summer challenges!  Not too sure, I may actually want to do a different one for the future challenge day.  I did miss Wednesday's challenge, the theme was summer dots.  I already did a dotting mani earlier that I feel is the perfect summer dot manicure so can I just cheat and lead you to that one..?

Okay, so today's challenge is orange freestyle themed.  And I feel like it could double over onto June 29: Underneath the stars.  If you don't agree, then I hereby surrender myself to the crumpet, and shall take my punishment accordingly.

Picture spam alert! I not only got my camera issues fixed, but I am quite proud of how this turned out!

inside:

outside:

blurry inside:

blurry outside:

emphasis on the thumb inside:

thumb outside:

blurry outside again, just 'cause =]

Galaxy nails! I have been wanting to do these for quite some time, but haven't been able to sponge correctly or use the colors I felt were right for it.  Some of these are obviously blurry to show the awesomeness of the holographic glitter=]
Specs:
Base coat: Sally Hansen Double Duty.
One coat of China Glaze Smoke and Ashes from the Hunger Games collection (the PERFECT galaxy base, in my opinion)
Index, middle, ring & pinky:
sponged on Revlon Dreamer in the middle in oddly shaped circles and stuff
sponged on one side China Glaze Tree Hugger
on another OPI My Address is Hollywood
on another Revlon Not so Blueberry (which is scented, and I'm not sure but I might be okay with that.  Maybe.)
sponged in the center Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party
sponged the tips with CG Smoke and Ashes, and a bit around the sides til I was happy
To pull it all together, China Glaze Fairy Dust.  I really mean it.  This mani would not be the same without it.  Ever since I first saw it I knew it would be the perfect topper to a galaxy mani.  I've been lookin' around a lot, okay?  I see people all the time free-handing their own stars or dots in white on their galaxies, and I just think it totally takes away from it all, for me that is.  It just looks more realistic with the shimmering holographic bits in there, I think.

For my thumbs:
First, I sponged on Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party, so the other colors would show up better.  This is an explosion of some kind.  I sponged on Revlon Fearless, and then alternated between that and Kleancolor Neon Yellow and Neon Orange, slowly making my way toward the tip of the nail, finishing with Revlon Fearless.  Then I topped that off with CG Fairy Dust.

Okay, so it isn't all about orange, but I have really been wanting to try this one out for a while, and it turned out even better than I expected!  So I needed an excuse to post it and tie it into the summer challenge lol

What's your favorite galaxy mani?  Am I offending you with my dislike of free handed stars instead of glitter?  Am I breaking the rules of the summer challenge too hard (um because there aren't any, get your facts right!) Wanna whine about it in a comment?  You can whine about anything down there, you know.
I'll read it, and respond in a timely manner with my thoughtfully thought thoughts =]

peacock marble

If you've been keeping up with either my blog or Cuti-Clue-Les' (whom btw has totally redone her background recently and it looks awesooome) then you will know that I have just discovered a new love: water marbles.  Oh my god.  I think I could do water marbles forever and ever, and never get tired of them!

For color inspiration, because I always feel like I'll throw together something awful, I look to fashion magazines.  Yeah.  I read 'em.  So what?  Anyway, the writers/staff at these mags might not know exactly how I feel on every subject, especially my stance on being submissive to men, (sometimes Cosmo, I really do love ya, other times I feel like you're trying to subliminally message me into becoming an oral machine..) and the fashion stuff is always craaaaazy expensive and normally just impractical for my life.  I don't work on a runway!  But they're normally pretty good at puttin' colors together=]  I swear, since my nails became my obsession, magazines have just become these idea books for me, they're also really great for patterns and designs.

Anyway, so I got this month's Marie Claire, and found a page with a girl wearing this weird peacock dress.  It had all of the peacock-ish colors and a couple feather designs I think, but mostly the colors were just there all together, swirled and going in different directions..  I thought that would be cool to recreate!  Everyone is loving the peacock design right now, put your own spin on it if you're interested but kind of unsure!

Some of these are still blurry, sorry!  I promise I got my camera issues fixed, but these were taken the other day..
Anyway, I started with a base of Maybelline Color Show Porcelain party, then did my marble with Pure Ice French Kiss, Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal and Kleancolor Neon Yellow, as well as Finger Paints Art You Wondering, which didn't show up so much in pictures.

I really just love marbles now, they're so fun and easy!  Once you have your colors, you're good to go!  I use the tape method, so clean up is a breeze, and I get better with each one I do!  If you have been put off by a marble mani, or are unsure of whether or not to try one because of maybe things you might have read about them or whatever...don't be!  Practice is the only way to get better.  Basically what it comes down to is, if I can do it, then there's gotta be a way that you can do it too.  If you have any questions at all, let me know!

And I did not forget about yesterday's summer challenge that I missed, but I do however feel that I can make up for it tomorrow.  Have a fantastic day=]

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?

Summer Challenge: Day 1!

In case you haven't been reading or following any of the blogs that I follow (what's wrong with you?!) then you probably don't know anything about the summer challenge.  Started by Debbie from The Crumpet, it's a reallllllly long, and hopefully reallllllly awesome challenge, and it's my first!

click here to get all the deets on the Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge fb page!

Today's theme: The Olympic torch starts its journey.

I must say, I haven't kept up with the Olympics for a while, the last one came about the year I graduated high school.  I can't tell you what I was doing (such a hazy memory of that time..) but I can imagine I was celebrating like I had just won the Olympics.  I used to love watching the gymnastics and a few other various parts on TV when I was a little kid though.  Then I got pissed when I found out this awesome show only runs every four years! whaaaat..

So my mani is pretty basic, I'm really only using the colors for the rings for this one. Red, green, blue, black, and yellow which I have substituted gold for.  Aren't I just cool? ha..

This is Sally Hansen Double Duty base coat, two coats of Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal on my index, middle and pinky fingers. For my thumb and ring fingers I have painted diagonally with Pure Ice Black Rage, and for the other half Color Club Disco Nap.  On top of these I have sponged Sally Girl no name gold glitter, it's really a simple clear base with small and medium sized gold glitter pieces.  I focused on sponging the entire nail on the thumb and ring fingers, while only about halfway on the rest.  Then, I have taken a dotting tool and made dots in Pure Ice French Kiss, Siren, and Black Rage on my teal fingers.  Topped off with Seche Vite.

So, I hope that I do get to watch this year's Olympics, and incorporate something better than just colors into my manis.  Oh yeah, there are a few more Olympic themes left, as well as a lot of other cool creative ideas to get your lacquered-crazed brains a-goin =]

Here are the ladies who participated in the challenge today: