Reddit Challenge - Decals

A nail blogger I've been reading for a few months - Rebecca Likes Nails - is having a 2-year blog birthday giveaway ... head on over and enter!!

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This one actually took me a couple of tries - I wasn't happy with either, but here's the one I'm sharing:

I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Heat Flash - a bright neon coral (it matches my site!)

On all but my ring finger, I topped it off with Icing By Claire's Rave Royalty - a gold/orange flakie (I'd say it's more like shards) that has the occasional flash of green. The polish is in a very sheer coral base, which does show if you put it on bare nails, but there is no way you could build it up to opaque. I had to dab the flakies on rather than use it like a normal polish, but I love it!

I added the decals to my ring finger. The decals I have are a little too thick and my nails are a little too curved, so they don't lie flat. They're cute though! I actually got them at a dollar store, so I guess I couldn't expect much.

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I bought a few things at Michael's craft store the other day, and I got a 40% coupon for a single item this week. I decided to go buy a Recollections 3 Drawer Organizer Cube also known in the online nail polish world as a "Melmer"  (It's like a smaller version of Ikea's Helmer cabinet, and it's from Michael's ... so Melmer).

I got it put together in about an hour, and put shelf liner in the bottoms of the drawers (a tip I saw over at A Polished Touch) and started to fill it up.

I have to figure out how I want to put the polishes in ... by colour or by brand? I should let my husband organize it, he loves that sort of thing.

It doesn't look like my polish will even fill up one drawer - and some people have multiple Melmers!!
I'll take some photos when I'm done and share in another post.

52 Week Challenge - Movember Marble

The I'm Simply Complex challenge this week is "Movember". It was originally supposed to be a Thanksgiving Manicure, but being Canadian, I chose to do that one earlier (and a little non-traditional!).

The Reddit challenge this week is Plastic Wrap.

I'm combining them again this week.

I wanted the colours to be a bit more subdued this week. Brights are fun and all, but I like greys and earth tones.

I started with two coats of Revlon Chocolate Truffle on each nail, except my ring finger. Such a pretty brown - it definitely looks like I coated my nails in chocolate.
My Ring Finger got two coats of Revlon Stormy Night - a lovely grey with purple/brown tones.

Once that was all dry, I did the plastic wrap challenge ...
I prepped by tearing off a small strip of plastic wrap and chopping it up into 8 smaller pieces, which I then scrunched up and set aside.
Working one finger at a time, I added a coat of Stormy Night over top of the Chocolate Truffle, grabbed a plastic wrap ball and dabbed it on my nail to pull off the wet polish.
It ends up looking really messy and textured, but a good topcoat smooths it right out and you're left with zero-effort marbled look!

For the Movember challenge, I used nail decals that I got ages ago. They're pink and black mustaches in various styles and sizes. I chose some black ones and stuck them on the tips of my nails. Added topcoat to seal it down and done.

I have no idea where I got that cut on my index finger - the only thing I can think of is that I've been teaching myself how to knit, and I may have given myself a friction burn or something from holding / wrapping the yarn. Also holy dry cuticles Batman! My skin always gets super dry in the winter and I've been having bad hangnails lately. My regular moisturizing routine just isn't cutting it.

Next week's challenges are Rainbow and Feather ... I have to go find some feathers!!