Halloween 2012: Ghoulish Glam

Happy Saturday polished prisoners,


This week has been a mother...ah let's just leave it there.  Suffice to say I'm so thankful it's the weekend as I'm exhausted and I get a one day reprieve from the shade of it all ;) Man oh man I have been so psyched up for the manicure I'm about to show you since I saw the announcement for the Bundle Monster Fright Night Competition!  I literally thought I have to do something that leaves me gagging (um in delight not because it's gross I don't do gross...) - lol.  You can vote for my entry HERE.  Oh my a shameless plug but I do need your votes to win! In any case this was such a labor of love and evolved so slowly every nail took me forever, but it was worth it.  Now onto the art...

Mani-louge

Thumb: Base: Orly Liquid Vinyl stamped with Konad Special Polish in Light Green, Light Purple and Purple

Index: Base: OPI What's With The Catittude? sponged with Orly Velvet Rope and Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl and Orly Liquid Vinyl, freehand accents: Cm Nail Art Brush in Black stamped with China Glaze Millennium

Middle: Base: INM Northern Lights in Gold with OPI I Have A Herring Problem sponged with Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl and Orly Liquid Vinyl; Floral vines: Cm Nail Art Brush in Black and stamped with Konad Special Polish in Black.  Rhinestones: 1-3mm rhinestones in various colors

Ring: Base: Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy; Gradient: Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl and Orly Liquid Vinyl; Stamped: Konad Special Polish in Yellow and White; Accents (dots): Essie Blanc

Pinkie: Base: Essie Navigate Her sponged with China Glaze Near Dark and Orly It's Not Rocket Science and Liquid Vinyl; Freehand accents: Cm Nail Art Brush in Black stamped with freehand accents: Cm Nail Art Brush in Black stamped with Konad Special Polish in White

Stamping Plates: BM14, BM211, BM223, and BM305 

That mani-louge is something else right?  So many polishes and plates and tiny detail work.  I can't remember the last time or if I have ever done such a complicated mani before.  Every single nail was thought out and thought out again.  I wanted to create something pretty and a little spooky and of course extremely unique.  I couldn't even figure out the colorway for this mani which I usually always do before I start.  I just made it up as I went along which I have to say at least to me is so much harder to do.

Notice how I "snuck" some bling into this jazz hehe!

So what do you think? Once again if you like it please vote for me over on the Bundle Monster Facebook page under the Fright Night Contest here.  I'm pretty happy with the results though in all honesty I doubt I'll do a tutorial for this manicure as it'd be over 30mins long even condensed down :/  Totally worth it though since I cannot stop staring at my nails! How am I ever going to be able to take this off?  In any case thanks for reading and I'll see you next post! Toodles...

LDTTWC Day 7 - You're Timeless To Me...

Hello polished prisoners,

Just one more post to go before the end of this challenge.  I'm so shocked I had the stamina to make it!  I apologize for the radio silence over the weekend.  I've been sick with a cold that sort of snuck up on me then laid me flat on my back for most of the weekend - eep!  I feel like my sinuses never felt so pressurized :/  In any case here I am with today's theme and  it might be my favorite by far - creating a manicure around something in style back in the day and today as well.  Oh my the possibilities were endless.  However ultimately I chose something that never goes out of style and that is glamor darlings!  Whether you are Marylin Monroe, Michelle Obama,  or Lana Del Ray glamor is a lady's arsenal for life.  She wraps herself up in it and then approaches the world fiercely armed and ready for battle.  I think we could all do with a bit more of the stuff eh?

Mani-louge

Base Colors: OPI DS Coronation & Orly Liquid Vinyl

Accents: Kiss Nail Art in Silver Glitter, rhinestones 3-2mm various colors, 2mm pearls, fimo, silver beads

We have had no sun at all this week and it does a diservice to OPI DS Coronation which is a silver based linear holo.  It's my first time taking it for a spin and boy is it gorgeous!  I mean really freaking blingy all by its lonesome.

So here we are coming down to the last post in the challenge and I hoped you liked this one.  Whenever I do a mani this bling I always here Marylin belting out this tune, "A kiss on the hand may be quite continental but diamonds are a girl's best friend." Lol!  Well I certainly don't take quite that mercenary stance but I do love a good blingy manicure now and again ;)  Thanks for reading and see you next post!  Toodles...

Cooler Than Me?!?

Hey polished prisoners,

I used up all of my tricks.  I hope you like this, but you probably won't because you think you're cooler than me ;) Nah...who's cooler than me?!? Lol,  but seriously I do hope you like this.  This is my entry for Chalkboard Nails Cool or Warm Nail Art Contest.  Essentially the task was to create a mani around either warm colors - red, orange yellow, or pink or cool colors - blue, purple, teal, and green.  Talk about tough!  I pretty much love all of these colors so it was hard to pick a concept initially.  Anyway this mani's got a lot of me in it.  The lusciousness of purples mixed with the provocative allure of bling.  Yup you should have know it wouldn't be too long before bling started making a re-appearance around these parts. So I really do hope you like it...

Mani-louge

Base: Revlon Quick Dry

Base Color + Accents: Essie Liliacism, Elixir Lacquer's Bad Kitty, Cm Nail Art Sky Blue & Blac

Dots: OPI Alpine Snow

So What do you think? I feel like I could have done something far more complicated or outrageous but I don't know honestly I wanted a marriage of colors that played well together and ultimately that's what I think I got.   I'm really cutting it close to the deadline on this one! Lol what here is different from usual?   In any event wish me luck and thanks for reading, and I'll see you next post!  Toodles...

LDTTWC Day 2 - It's Vintage Darling!

Hey polished prisoners,

This was supposed to go up this weekend, but things happened.  Alas here we are now! I realized that I neglected to describe what this challenge is all about so let me rectify that now.  The Let's Do The Time Warp Challenge is sponsored by Neverland Nail Blog in conjunction with Nail Polish Canada, and is dedicated to a love of all things nostalgic.  There are two challenges per week for 4 weeks going according to Lindsey's schedule, and it's pretty much a my pace kinda challenge as long as I get the posts up within a week of Lindsey's.  It's pretty chill so I feel I can manage this one better than something as demanding at the 31 day nail art challenge.  Now today's theme is all about using something vintage as inspiration for a mani.  Whenever I think of vintage one thing pop's into my head - jewelry.  Yup!  I love vintage jewelry particularly things from the Victorian mourning period and Art deco pieces, but one of my favorite pieces has to be a vintage owl brooch that my grandmother owns.  I used it as inspiration for this challenge.

Mani-louge

Base: Revlon Quick Dry Base (I'm not loving this at all)

Top-Coat: IMN Out the Door (also still not loving this one either)

Base Color: Butter London Trustafarian

Owl Detailing: Nail Art Pen and Brush (no name), Cm Nail Art Brush in Black, Orly Liquid Vinyl, Dandy Nails Look Around, 2mm rhinestones in various colors, and 3mm black pearls

Indoors- shimmer shimmer.

Did you know I could freehand?  Lol it's been a minute since I've done it and I'm rusty.  I definitely want to gain more skills so I'm thinking of freehanding from now on at least once a week to improve myself.  Freehand Fridays????? Well in any case this is another challenge that almost killed me.  My perfectionistic tendencies and type A personality were out in full force - cringe.

I love the bejewled owl the most and the owl on my index finger the most.  So here we are day 2 coming to belated finish.  Stay tuned for the next one which should be out quicker!  Thanks for reading and toodles...

How Much Is That Doggy In the Window? On Sundays I Stamp!

Hello polished prisoners,

It's Sunday Sunday Sunday and we know what that means round these parts ;)  Adventures in Stamping time!  Hehe - can you tell how much I love these challenges? This week it's all about 2 for 1 i.e. using two different stamps in a manicure.  I do this all the time at least when I'm doing abstracts so I thought for today let me see what I can do without relying on double layering my stamps which I have done a lot before historically.  I wanted something feminine, slightly whimsical, and cute.  Here's what I came up with...

Cute, cute, cute!

Mani-louge

Base colors: Essie Sand Tropez and Barielle Welcome Ohm

Stamping polishes: Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl & White, Barielle Welcome Ohm

Stamping plates: M57 (lace), KD11 (dog), NCO1 (hearts), BM19 (dots), RuiZ02 (paws)

Accents: Kiss Nail Art Stickers (upper lace), Kala Animal Love Nail Art Stickers (bones), 2mm clear rhinestone

For some reason here Welcome Ohm is pulling purple, but it's a deeper berry pink than shown here.

There is so much to this manicure I don't even know where to begin.  Initially, I posted up to my Instagram with just the french tips and accents thinking this would be a relatively simple manicure.  All I knew is that I wanted to use a combination of nail art stickers and stamping and the rest just fell into place.

I love how the nude comes into this manicure in such a subtle way like the supporting role to everything else.

All of a sudden I had five or six stamping plates pulled out from all sorts of different collections.  This is the kind of manicure that's a nightmare to do a tutorial on hahaha!

Do you think the princess will capture her bones?

So what do you think - isn't this just so cute? I have to say Princess Fifi La Fleur (yes I named the dog) is looking good with her little bling accent ;)  Well never let it be said that I can't mix and match stamps with the best of them.  When I see this manicure it reminds me so much of my Giesha girl inspired mani I did many yore ago.  In any case I hope you enjoyed reading about this challenge as much as I did creating it.  Thanks for reading and I'll see you next post!  Toodles...