52 Week Nail Challenge - Splatter Manicure

Splatter manicures ... another one I wasn't too sure about.
The Husband was even less enthused at the prospect of nail polish getting everywhere.

Anyways, to achieve the look, you're supposed to dip the end of a straw in the nail polish and blow on the straw to, well, splatter it on your nails.

I decided to just do a feature nail.

To start, I painted my nails with Wet n Wild Craze in Rustic - 3 coats. I probably could have gotten away with 2 coats.
I decided to use Maybelline Express Finish in Be Scene in Green - turquoise with a gold shimmer as the base for my feature nail. Turquoise and copper always look good together. 3 coats of this one as well.

Once those were dry, I went into the kitchen and cut up a plastic bag to lay out on the counter. Then I drank a juice box, so I had a straw to use. heh.

I took Rustic again and dabbed a little puddle out onto the plastic. It took a few tries to get a splatter, but I discovered it works best if you make sure to get a 'film' over the end of the straw.
It's not as pretty as others - I think the nail polish was a bit thick, but I sill like the result.
I don't know that I will do this again, but it was fun to try.

Next week's manicure challenge is an Ombre manicure.

52 Week Nail Challenge - Fruit Manicure

I got all of my stamp plates on Friday.

I played around with them for a bit over the weekend and I decided that I wanted to use them for this week's manicure.

Please pardon the flash as always. If I remember, I'll bring my camera to work tomorrow to see if I can get a non-flash photo.

I picked up a pack of Claire's Sweet Scents - 5 scented nail polishes

Strawberry (pink), Orange (orange), Banana (yellow), Lime (green) Fruit Punch (turquoise)
I didn't want to choose just one, so I decided to do a skittles manicure.

Back when I worked at Claire's, their nail polishes weren't the best, so I was expecting to have to do multiple coats - these aren't too bad! Neon colours, dries matte, and dries quickly.

2 coats for each, except the yellow - it required 3, and it was kind of gloopy. :( I think if I want to use the yellow again, I'll do a basecoat with another yellow polish first.

Scent-wise, they're pretty standard artificial scents. The orange and lime were pretty 'cleaning supply' scented at first, but then they mellowed out.

Once they were on and dry, I went in with OPI Black Onyx to add the designs.

A strawberry on my thumb, orange slices on my index finger, bananas on my middle finger, a lime on my ring finger and a pineapple on my pinky.
Some of them are off-centre ... I'm still trying to figure out how to position the stamp.

I applied a topcoat to protect everything, which I figured would kill the fruit scent - I am surprised to say that it did not!

Next week is a Splatter Mani - remember splatter painting with straws from when you were a kid - yeah, picture that with nail polish. If it's nice next weekend, I'll do my nails outside. Must remember to keep a couple of straws this week.

52 Week Nail Challenge - Bows Mani

Trimmed my nails down and used a cuticle remover gel, moisturized and finished off with a cuticle oil. Left it all to soak in for a couple of hours, and then manicure time!

As I said last week, I'm not very girly, so flowers one week and bows the next is not for me!
However, I found a cute way to avoid girly bows:

The Tuxedo Manicure! (inspired by Zooey Deschanel)

Three coats of a white Zoya polish - I don't know which one it is - it's the only Zoya I own, there are no labels and it's an off-white.
I honestly don't like it - I find it to be a very 'fragile' polish. It rubs off so easily until you put a topcoat on it.

Claire's black detail polish for the design bow and the tip.
I half followed the tutorial at Nail Art 101. I found it easier (and faster) to do an "X" on each nail instead of "> <" and then adding a dot in the middle.

OPI Black Onyx for the 'buttons'
The detail brush from the Claire's polish was too fine and long to make nice round dots (and the 'pen' applicator clogged long ago), so I needed to freehand the 'buttons'.
To create a disposable palette, I put a bit of tape on the lid of a body butter pot (the closest flat thing I had), then I added a blob of polish and used an old concealer brush to paint on the dots.
Once the polish is dry, peel the tape off the lid and toss it.

Color Club topcoat to finish it off.
Unfortunately, I got quite a bit of drag from the black. I really should have waited to add the topcoat, but I wanted to finish the manicure off quickly.

I'm very undecided on this manicure - it's super cute, but it really highlights the differences in the shapes of my nails. My index finger looks wide and squat compared to the others.

Next week's theme is a Fruit Manicure. I've seen lots of cute ideas already ^_^

52 Week Nail Challenge - Floral Manicure

I was trying to figure out what to do with this one - I'm not a very girly person, so flowers are not something I'd normally put on my nails.

I decided to go with something subtle, in colours I wouldn't mind:

1 coat OPI Fireflies - I love the shimmer on this one. It was actually my first OPI polish :)

Then I taped my nails and used OPI Stranger Tides, a beautiful pale grey-green creme, to give myself french tips.
For the tape, I just used regular scotch tape - I stuck it to the back of my hand and peeled it off (to reduce the stickyness a bit), and then cut each piece into 3 thin strips. No need to buy nail guides!

Once that was all dry, I used Sally Hansen Pink Blink and painted a blob on the outer corner of each of my thumb nails.
After that dried, I used my Claire's neon pink detail brush and painted on a few lines to turn the blobs into roses.
To finish it off, I used Sinful Colors Show Me the Way to make little leaves for the roses.

Topped it off with OPI topcoat, and voila!

Next week's challenge is a "Bows Mani"

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One of my co-workers and I wanted to get some nail stamping kits - we figured we would order a couple off of Amazon.com and then split them. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them won't ship to Canada, so we were a bit discouraged.
We were discussing nail stuff with another manicure buddy co-worker, who shared that she has a US P.O. box and said we could use it anytime we wanted!
So, we ordered this set by Cheeky, and this set by Shany. We also ordered a couple stamper/scraper sets from Cheeky.

Then, since it was my birthday, my mom gave me some money to cover my half of the order above, and so I could order the Bundle Monster set as well! (they ship to Canada, thankfully!)

I got the Bundle monster ones today, and the other two are at the P.O. box awaiting pickup. We'll be getting them in the next week or two.

I can't wait to try them!

^_^

Magnetic Star

So, after a couple of days, I had to remove the yellow and pink - it started to chip pretty badly, and I wasn't really a fan of the colours.


I decided to use the polishes I got for my birthday to do something fun.
Pardon the state of my cuticles (especially my thumb!) - they have been super super dry, and nothing seems to be helping.

Two coats of OPI Cuckoo for This Color on each nail, except my ring finger. One coat on my ring finger.
Then I used the China Glaze Magnetix You Move Me and the star magnet for a fun feature nail.

I took the photos on Tuesday, so I've had this manicure most of the week.
Tomorrow, I'll be doing a floral manicure for the 52 week challenge.

I totally forgot to mention - when I had my "Earth appreciation" manicure, I got asked if I had my nails done professionally - yay!