Day 15 - Delicate Print

Hello everybody!

I'm sorry for the slacking in blog posts recently, I have had a truly heartbreaking week and I just was not able to keep up with posting.  But I'm back now and I have FIVE whole posts lined up and ready to post over the next five days :)

So, day 15 of the challenge was delicate print.  And like most of the people who I've seen that did this challenge, this caused me to stop and scratch my head.  Hmmm.... delicate print... what could that mean....  I decided to do a pretty little manicure with two very delicate colors, pastel pink and purple.

Colors I used

I started with a nude polish that I picked up in Italy this summer; after two coats I had an opaque enough base for what I wanted to do.  I then was going to do vertical stripes with three different colored shimmers that I had bought recently.  I'll admit, I mostly bought these for the bottles!! Aren't they just adorable??

Sup-ah cute bottles ;)

Unfortunately, the bottle is pretty much all they are good for.  They are shimmery, but so sheer that even when I painted them side by side on my nude base color, I could not see any difference in the color.  Bummer.  So I decided to just use three coats of the pink (ha) shimmer, which did eventually give my nails are very ephemeral, princess-y look.

I finished it off with a scalloped, purple edge.  I used a chrome purple (NYC Royal Foil) for this, because I knew it would be opaque in one coat.

Sorry, I took pics right after putting on cuticle oil, so the reflections of light look kind of like I didn't clean up.  But I did!  Also, avert your eyes from the poor nubbin.

 

Oooooh, I LOVE my ring finger nail in that pic! And pretty much all of them except the nubbin.

Even though it's not what I had in mind from the beginning, I really like the finished product, actually! It makes me think of a little girl's birthday cake. :)

I'm always looking for pretty new polish bottles to add to my display, but I can't afford to buy them if they don't have good polish inside too.  Do you have any polishes that you bought for the bottle, and then were disappointed by them? Or maybe they were actually really good?  

Enjoying the sunshine,
Maria

Day 9 - Rainbow Nails

Me again :)

I was excited about this day in the challenge! Rainbow nails! I love bright colors on my nails so much. I've never been a big fan of nude colors, or black or white or vampy darks.  I wanted to do a skittle, but that wsn't interesting enough for me, so I broke it up a little.  I put the 6 rainbow colors on 5 nails, as if somebody *pushed* and all the colors slid a half nail to the right.

The colors I chose were:

OPI Comet Loves Cupid
Revlon Tangerine
Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow
Orly Fresh
Sinful Colors Paradise
Funky Fingers Riot

They were the closest I have to standard color wheel colors, and I think they all played very nicely together!  These are all richly pignmented colors and covered in one or two coats! ...Except my frenemy Mellow Yellow.  It applies horribly and streakily... but it is possible to build it up with four coats and end up with a fantastic sunny yellow color that always makes me smile.  Unfortunately, I got a bit impatient with it today and glopped it on pretty thickly, which made my ring finger lumpy. Woops.  Lesson learned.

Bottles:

And the whole mani, in indirect sunlight:

This one got me a few compliments, and I think I will recreate it again on a later day.  I used scotch tape to make the lines nice and straight, which worked nicely but I need to push it down a bit more near my cuticles.

Have a colorful day!

Maria

Day 6 - Purple

[ETA: I tried to post this yesterday when I got home at 11pm, but my internet crashed and until my landlord fixes it, she offered for me to pay $5 a day to use her wireless, which I passed on. So I'm now posting it at school, a day late :( but don't worry, I'll post today's post today too.

Good evening,

Just a very short post today, on day 6 of the challenge.  Today was a very busy day, with lots of classes, work, homework, and grocery shopping! I did still paint my nails the requisite PURPLE, but I only have a few quick pictures, without even much cleanup unfortunately.

Base color is OPI Rumple's Wiggins.  I actually love this pastel purple! I didn't think I liked pastel colors, but the light blue Wet n Wild, the SH Mellow Yellow, and this color have definitely converted me. This color is fit for springtime! It applies very opaquely and smoothly for a pastel. I did 2 coats and SV top coat.  I love this.

The accent nail is 2 coats of Rumple's Wiggins and 2 coats of Orly Fowl Play.  I was surprised, this was very opaque! I'm not sure the base color even lightened it at all.  It went on very smoothly, practically painting itself.  However... this is one of the most popular new colors recently ... and yet... I'm just not loving it.  The red flakes are unique and lovely, but I am just not a fan of very dark, vampy colors.  This is just one step away from being black in some lights... which is one step too close for me.  Don't worry, I'm sure I'll swap this one with somebody who really wants it and will give it a good home. :)

Fast pics, indoor light, no cleanup (cuticle oil on too):

And I took one pic outside:

Keep painting,
Maria