Day 5: Garland and Day 6: Elves

Hi all!


I started out doing Day 5: Garland.  I thought this was going to be an easy one, but my color choice turned it into a major fail!  Ha! We all have our down days.  I used a base of Essie Case Study (an ugly pretty color) and Sinful Colors Call You Later as the winding garland.  I thought it would look like a garland running up the side of a brown house but... it just looks like swamp weeds. Woops! I'll share the pictures though, perhaps they can be a learning experience for somebody else who wants to try these colors together.

I can't bear to end the post on that note, so I'm going to add in Day 6: Elves to this post as well.  Now this... this is cute.  This is something I'm happy to wear on my hands. :)  My boyfriend thought this one was clever and called me a real artist.  

Colors - Ulta Limelight, Wet n Wild Red Red, Zoya Shay, NYC French White Tip, and Wet n Wild Black creme. 

I really wish blogger had a rotate picture function!!

Hope you're a little bit more in the Christmas spirit than you were five minutes ago :)

The other bloggers doing this challenge are:

Claire Gallaugher - Purple Fairy Dust All Things Beautiful

Emma Hoop - Manicurity

Kerrie Black- PhishPosh and Polish

Bee Justice - Bee Polished

Zoe Garner - Obsessive Compulsive Nail Painting Disorder

Felicia Banuelos- Confessions of a Nail Polish Junkie

Lisa Armstrong-Waite - Happy Nails

Julie Rivard - Tales of Knit and Nails

Alyssa Dees - No Junk Nail

Arielle Stephenson - Only Always Soccermom 


Merry Christmas!

Maria

Giveaway winner!

So... the moment you've all been waiting for... the winner!

 There were a total of 127 people who entered, and they got 362 entries. I used random.org and the lucky winner (#122) was:

 ROCHELLE!

 Rochelle, of the wonderful blog Elle-Hime! I actually discovered this blog a few days ago while I was going through the entries and looking at every single comment. Her blog really stood out to me, especially due to the high quality pictures and gorgeous layout. It looks very polished for a new blog. Well Rochelle, I hope you like the polishes! I'd love to see pictures. :)

 If for some reason she doesn't reply in 48 hours, I'll be forced to pick another winner.

 Now, on to my nails for the day: I made use of the On the Prowl polishes for this one, since I of course got my own set. I started with a base of Revlon Carbonite, a stunning polish on its own. I actually think it looks just like pencil lead (like it's inspirer, Chanel Graphite, is trying to do).

[Please excuse the stupid middle finger that is still a nub. How DARE it refuse to grow faster. Also, this is pre-cleanup.]

Then I put two coats of Tangled in my Web on all fingers except my ring finger, on which I put Correction Tape as an accent nail!

I really, really enjoyed this look. Tangled in my Web is so unique, and Correction Tape is just dazzling! Little square purple, silver, blue, and black glitter.  There is nothing else like it, especially when it catches the sun!

This one is horribly blurry, but it gives the best idea of what this mani actually looked like: 

That's it for tonight!

Maria

30 100 Follower Giveaway!

Hi everybody!!

First off, I guess I was feeling rebellious, because I painted my nails something not on the 30 day challenge list *gasp*.  These aren't super unique, but I really like how they turned out. And I've gotten a ton of compliments on them, which always tells me I did SOMETHING right :)

Monarch butterfly nails:

I used Essie Braziliant, an opaque bright orange with a pink flash, and OPI Pros and Bronze, a semi-sheer gold and pink duochrome (one of my favorite polishes by far!).  Note: Pros and Bronze looks surprisingly amazing over orang.  I will have to do this as a whole mani sometime.

I know my blog is still a baby, and I still have a lot to learn, but I am super excited to have reached 30 followers!  So for you, my dear readers, I have a giveaway!

I found an entire mountain of boxes of On the Prowl at a Wegman's near me, so I was able to buy multiple sets of On the Prowl and not feel guilty that I was depriving anybody.

The giveaway prize will be:

Fantasy Makers Holo Glitter

picture in shade:

Picture in a little bit of sun, but unfortunately it is gray and rainy. In real life, this stuff has a very strong linear holo effect.

AND *drum roll* all eight of the much-sought-after On the Prowl collection!!

It's a good thing you all know what these look like, because this is officially the worst picture ever taken of this collection:

From left to right: Behind Closed Doors, Correction Tape, Ready to Pounce, Cougar Attack, Tangled in my Web, Buy Me a Drink, Inkwell, Jungle Fever


Oh, Tangled in my Web, where have you been all my life?! And you, Behind Closed Doors... <3


To enter, just fill out and submit the form below.  Since I'm going on vacation Oct 6-11, this giveaway will be open until midnight on October 11.  Open to all!




Happy October!

Maria

Day 10 - Gradient Nails

Hey all,

You aren't imagining things! This is three posts in one day.  I did all these nails on the proper days, I just was fiddling with the internet and studying all night, but in the end it is a bonus for you readers: more posts! :)  Today's actual manicure is a gorgeous gradient! I haven't had much luck with sponging gradients in the past, as I can't get the colors to fade out enough.  So I did my preferred kind of gradient - a glitter gradient!

The base is Wet n Wild Stream of Wonder, a metallic (but not brush-strokey) turquoise that is very pretty, but not terribly unique.  It needed a second coat, and it is - as I said - pretty, but not remarkable or crave-able.  The glitter gradient was done with:

Kleancolor Chunky Silver - a polish with very large silver hexes in a thick, gloopy clear base.  It definitely makes a statement, but it is very hard to get the hexes on the nail with any accuracy or consistency.  Nonetheless, it is unique in my collection and I will keep it for gradients like this one.

Cover Girl Disco Dazzle - this laying polish has tiny silver glitter and medium sized silver hexes that reflect all colors of the rainbow! I love this for accent nails and gradients, and in this mani I used it at the base of the nail to make the gradient appear thicker there. I got this polish from Polished Pirate's blogsale!

And then, on the accent nail, I did an inverse gradient.  I used Revlon Aloof as the base for this one.  It is a very very light silver color, bordering on white, with silver shimmer throughout.  This is from the current Revlon Edgy Elegance collection, which I am a HUGE fangirl of.  It is the only collection I have ever wanted all the colors from (and indeed, bought all the colors from!) They are all slightly frosty and opaque in one coat, and have silver shimmer throughout.  This color is my least favorite of the collection, but that is like saying vanilla is my least favorite type of cake - it is still cake! I still love it! :)

For the gradient, I used Wet n Wild Shock Wave! It is a unique blue-ish turquoise layering glitter, which matches perfectly with the Stream of Wonder on my other nails.

I really, really liked this look! That isn't a very eloquent way of expressing my love for this mani, I know, but they are the first words to leave my ...fingers.  I will absolutely recreate this mani with other colors after the challenge, with as many colors as I have matching glitter for the accent nail!  I also need to get a chunky gold glitter too, either Kleancolor or the Milani FX one.

Phew! Too many words! Here are the pictures:

Wet n Wild Stream of Wonder

Kleancolor Chunky Silver and Cover girl Disco Dazzle

Wet n Wild Shock Wave

Revlon Aloof

Gradient mani:

Unlike most nail bloggers, I really like showing the whole hand, because I think it gives a better idea of what the mani looks like in real life.  This means I have to confront my hatred of my short fingers... but it is worth it to show the colors for y'all :)

Two blurries to show TEH SHINY!

Do you like the inverse gradient?

No more posts for today, talk to you tomorrow!

Maria