52 Week Challenge - Two weeks at once!

Yep, I'm a bit late posting.
I was super busy last week, so I didn't actually finish the manicure until Thursday afternoon. When that manicure didn't work, I decided to take it off and do this week's manicure on Friday morning.
Then I didn't get a chance to update, because we took in my sister's cat, and had to spend a lot of time helping her adjust.

But, anyways ... here are two manicures for you to (hopefully) enjoy:

Last post, I said that the next manicure was rainbow/pride and according to the list, it is.
I thought about it a bit and ... well, pride parade and festival (at least here in Vancouver) isn't until August 5th, so I swapped the August 5th manicure into the June 17th spot.

So, this week I'm doing a needle marble manicure.
Here goes nothing!

2 coats Steady as She Rose - I'm not much for pinks, but I really like this one, it's a pale dusty rose with a hint of lilac. I let it dry very thoroughly.
One finger at a time, painted the top half of my nail with You Don't Know Jacques and then - while it's still wet, working quickly - the bottom half with Steady as She Rose.
Again ... while it's still wet, working quickly and carefully, use a pin to drag the two colours into each other and create swirls.
Once it's all dry, apply topcoat to smooth it out and protect it.

My layers were too thick, and I got some bubbling. They took hours to dry - 3 hours after topcoat, I ended up peeling the still soft polish off of two nails.

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Onto the next manicure ... Neon
Neon polish is incredibly hard to photograph - you never get true colour. I haven't tweaked this at all in photoshop, but I took it in a very well-lit area (hence the different carpet - I was at work, in front of giant windows)

This is the summer trend this year. I have the Sally Hansen Instra-Dri limited edition colour Heat Flash.
I think I'd call it a neon coral - it's a very red orange.

Oh Insta-Dri ... I don't much care for the formula or the brush.
The brush and stem are flat, so you can't wipe off excess polish very easily. The polish itself is thick, but it goes on streaky. I used 2 coats, but I could have easily gone with 3.
The best thing about this polish? I haven't used a topcoat, and while it has started to chip, it has a super high shine.

I added black crackle to my ring finger just to break up the brightness a little (random dollar store brand).
It's cute! I don't know that I'd jump on the neon trend and get more shades, but this one is nice.

Next week's manicure was supposed to be 4th of July, but since I'm Canadian, I'll be doing a Canada Day manicure.

52 Week Challenge - Flag Manicure

Thank Mom - I don't know why I didn't think of this flag myself!

Yarr!

*ahem*

I picked up a new basecoat to see how it works - Quo by ORLY Strong Bond, a "rubberized" basecoat. It's supposed to help prevent the polish from chipping.

2 coats of OPI Black Onyx

Then ...I just so happened to have a stamp plate with a version of the Jolly Roger on it.

This specific Jolly Roger (a skull and two crossed swords) was flown by English pirate Calico Jack Rackham. It was also featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean films as Captain Barbossa's flag.
(What's really sad, is that when I saw the plate, I knew it was Calico Jack's Jolly Roger, because I'm a little bit of a pirate nerd.)

The stamp is the centre image on Shany plate SH14. I stamped it onto my thumb, middle and pinky fingers using OPI Skull and Glossbones (yep, I couldn't resist).

Topped it off with OPI topcoat.

I'm still getting the hang of stamping, so of course the last one turned out best (my pinky in this photo). I've learned that the key with stamping is to be quick!

Next week's challenge is a Pride / Rainbow manicure

Filler Manicure

I'm still trying to figure out which flag to paint on my nails.
I'm thinking of just saying 'to hell with it' and doing the flag of Libya (it's solid green)

Anyways, my Ombre was chipping pretty badly, so I removed it and did another manicure before going to a family get-together yesterday.

2 coats of OPI Cuckoo for This Color (3 coats on a couple of nails, just because it didn't want to cooperate)

Then I chose Bundle Monster plate BM21 for the fancy filigree pattern and stamped it using Color Club Boho Mojo (seen in my very first post!)

It took a few tries, because the scraper wasn't getting all the polish off of the plate, so when I went to pick up the design, it was blobby.

I like how subtle the effect is - it's very delicate and pretty.

I'm providing two photos, because I chipped one of my nails while making dinner tonight (no, the nail polish didn't end up in the food - I'm more careful than that!), and because it was hard to get a photo.
Unfortunately, the tips are chipping already as well :(

52 Week Challenge - Ombre Manicure

This week's challenge is an "Ombre" manicure.

I've seen them done two ways - a different shade on each nail or a gradient on each nail.

Since there is a "gradient manicure" further down the list, I decided to go with a different shade on each nail:

Color Club Rebel Spirit on my thumb nail (3 coats)

OPI You Don't Know Jacques on my middle finger (3 coats)

OPI Skull and Glossbones on my pinkie (3 coats)

For my ring finger, I mixed You Don't Know Jacques and Skull and Glossbones in a 1:1 ratio.

For my index finger, I mixed Rebel Spirit with You Don't know Jacques in a 1:2 ratio.

The mixes were painted on with a paintbrush I had kicking around. These took 4 thin coats each - there was a bit of drag from the brush, so it was tough to get a nice coat.

I REALLY like this.
They have ombre manicure kits available at Nordstrom in the States - The Husband and I are going to Bellingham in July, so I might just stop at a Nordstrom and pick up a set or two!


This photo was actually taken with my new phone. My contract was up, so I figured I'd finally get a smartphone (Google Nexus S) - I think it takes better photos than my actual camera. Sheesh!


Next week's manicure is a "Flag Manicure"
There are lots of interesting flags - it'll be hard to choose (I'm saving Canada's flag for further down the list)