LDTTWC Day 3: I Remember When

Hey polished prisoners,

Happy Sunday - woot!  Let me come down from my cloud of mania to say the week went by incredibly fast.   Suddenly, it's the weekend and I'm in the midst of scooting to catch up with my challenge posts.  Maybe this happened because I was also doing mani's for other things this week plus my phone when kaput yesterday so I was dealing with that all day :(  So here I am at day 3 trying to remember when.  I choose not to do a "major event" because I'm young enough to not have hit things like the moon landing etc but old enough to recall major catastrophes like Columbine and 9/11. And while honestly my life is certainly no bundle of rainbows and puppy dog tails, especially these last few years, I want my challenge mani's to reflect the positive aspects of my life and history.  Like my trip to the Land of Oz otherwise known as Australia.  One of the things I loved the most about the land of Oz had to be the artwork of the indigenous aboriginals especially their dot art.  I used it to inspire my own dotty mani...

My nails are starting to become like claws lol! Yes sweet length :)

Mani-logue

Trigger Fimger: Base: OPI Who The Shrek Are You?; Dots: OPI Gargantuan Green Grape, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green, Orly Goth

Baddie Finger: Base: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away!; Dots: Essie Sweet Talker 

Shackled Finger: Base: OPI Pink Flamingo; Dots: Essie French Affair

Length Challenged Finger: Base: China Glaze Happy-Go-Lucky Dots: Spoiled Designated Driver

Ape versus Man Finger: Base: OPI Funky Dunky; Dots: Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Violet Voltage &  Essie Liliacism

Source: Aboriginalart.com

Well because one of my majors in college was anthropology when I was living in Australia I made it my mission to learn more about the aboriginal tribes, the over 200 dialects they spoke, most of which are lost now, and their history.  Really the way they passed down stories and history through their art and music is amazing!

Even though this is only a slight nod to the dot artwork you can expect to see more of it at some point.   I really enjoyed putting this one together it's vibrant and totally me! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my Sunday stamping 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...

Falling Leaves...On Sundays I Stamp!

Hey polished prisoners,

Aigoo I am so behind schedule! Yesterday I had every intention to post up day 2 from the challenge, but I had an unexpected visit from my mum so that got blown to bits lol!  And today the AIS challenge for a Leafy mani almost stumped me.  I've told my friend Vicky from Boombastic Nails that I still have fails 9 out of 10 times when I go to stamp and today it went exactly like that.  I sort of realized these fails are the result of poor color choice, and so I'm going to be making an effort to make sure I put my stamping colors and base colors together with a bit more care in the future to prevent frustration when the colors don't show up as I've imagined them. Okay so enough rambling...let's get onto the art!

Orly's Buried Alive...wait I have to do this and then I can talk about the color.  "I shall leave you as you left me.  Buried alive...buried alive."  "Kaaaahhhhhhhhnnnnnn!!!! (echoes...echoes).  LOL!!! I'm sorry I had to and yes I'm a huge dork!  Anyway, Orly's Buried Alive looks like it should have debuted in the fall instead of the summer.  It is so rich so rich I knew when I saw the theme for this weekend that it had to be the main color for the mani.  And because I made this choice this is exactly why my first few attempts at this mani resulted in fails.  It's so dark and beautiful holos and lighter colors, even my beloved cG Passion, got sucked into its depths and disappeared never to be seen or heard of again! It took me a while to realize metallics and foils were going to be the only type of finishes that would work on this polish.

I ended up changing the base color of the water marble.

Mani-louge

Base coat: Revlon Rapid Dry Base Coat

Base colors: Orly Buried Alive (stamping) & Essie Sand Tropez (Marble)

Stamping colors: Color Club Art Club Name Unknown (green), Color Club Antiquated & Hot Like Lava, Essie Good As Gold & Nothing Else Metals, Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet, and Konad Special Polish in Yellow

Marble colors: Color Club Artsy Crafty, Orly Buried Alive & Night Owl, OPI Big Apple Red & Lemonade Stand By Your Man, and Milani Juicy Glo

Stamping plate: BM04

Holy smokes right?!? So many freaking polishes! In my defense fall is very color rich and so even this amount of polishes doesn't quite cover the spectrum of all the beautiful colors that abound at this time of year.

I love the shimmer exploding all over this mani!

You may be asking why the water marble?  Well it was a last minute decision.  One of the things I love about marbles is that they very effectively capture the transitions of colors and fall is really all about transition.  So what do you think?  Even though this challenge pushed me and I had multiple fails I'm very happy with the final results.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my vintage mani for day two of the LDTTW challenge!  Toodles!

Let's Do The Time Warp Challenge - Day 1

Hey polished prisoners,

I'm excited to share my nail art from my first challenge ever with you guys! I have really hesitated in signing up for challenges because of the time commitment and my own stamina issues, but I felt like this one set up by Neverland Nail Blog was infinitely do-able oh say compared to something like the 31 Day Nail Art challenge.  The theme for day one is - I Should Have Been Born In.  Basically you pick an era and make the magic happen.  There are many era's I love however I will say as a black woman there are just some points in history that I'm grateful I didn't live through while there are others that I wish I'd seen up close and personal.  One of them is the 70's! Yes when totally groovy afro's abounded, bell-bottoms were all the rage, and Scooby-Doo took the world by storm.  Ah yes I love the 70's!

Peace, love and hairgrease ;)

Mani-louge

Water Marble: OPI Elephantastic Pink, Red, Lemonade Stand By Your Man, Org-re The Top Blue, and Funky Dunky, Sally Hansen Going Green

Stamping polish: Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl

Stamping plates: BM07 & BM09

There are a lot of ways to interpret the 70's but water marble seems the most approriate somehow.  That pyschiadelic feeling from the wave of psychotrophic drugs that was abundant during that time feels the most rich.  There were also a lot of bold and hideous patterns! Lol!

I honestly enjoyed this theme so much I want do more takes on it! I had a lot of ideas, but I didn't want to do an overwhelming mani where you didn't know where to look first so I even kept the stamping relatively simple.

People kept grabbing my hand today to look at this manicure.  This was probably my most successful marbling yet!

You may have noticed the water marble is different from the final product if you read my instagram or take a good look at the pictures.  It's because when I was adding the stamping I had a small mishap and had to redo the marble on my index finger.

You can see the shimmer of Lemonade Stand in the setting sun...

So what's the verdict? Groovy and gravy or reeking of the establishment?  Hahaha.  Please check out the other designs and their themes below.  Thanks for reading and I'll have the next entry up on Saturday.

Chameleon Abstract feat Sonoma Nail Art My Three Glitters

Hey polished prisoners,

There's nothing I love more than finding an amazing drug store polish on the cheap except for when it's a HTF lemming.  When I was in Rite Aid some time ago I discovered Chameleon Polish by Scherr - a line of super pretty shifing duochromes that retail for about $3.99.  I picked up one on a whim and now I'm so glad I did! I bought Calypso a purple to gray/blue shifting color.   In a word it's gorgeous!  I wanted to do a simple gradient with Calypso so I sponged it over Essie's Turquoise & Caicos - one of my favorite blue polishes of all time, and added some simple stamping to turn up the flavor.  Here's how it turned out...

Mani-louge

Base coat: Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat

Top Coat: Out The Door (boo)

Base Color: Essie's Turquoise & Caicos

Gradient (dry sponge method):  Chameleon Polish Calypso

Glitter Accent Nails: Sonoma Nail Art My Three Glitters & CND Effects Gold Sparkle

Stamping polish:  Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl

Stamping Plate: SH23

Insert angry face her-  Out the Door smeared my perfect stamp! I'm all out of poshe and I've never felt more desperate!

I chose to add glitter accent nails because honestly I'm always slightly unnerved when all of my nails match.  It's okay every once in a while, but I prefer a little variety within a mani.  SNA's MTG's provided the perfect touch without overwhelming the gradient. 

The gradient before stamping.  I think this is super pretty too!

Honestly there probably isn't a black and while matte polish that I've met that I don't like. However I will say MTG's is toward my top picks when it comes to these types of polishes.  It's funky and unique and I love that the glitters are squares. I added CND's Gold Sparkle just for a touch of sheen without going too overboard.

 

So this is pretty.  Yup - just plain ole pretty.  When I finished this mani I felt like I'd had a return to girly without the bling or gleam. I need to do more mani's like this one.  Do you like it? Am I the only one in the NP sphere still totally obsessed with gradient nail art? I hope not lol! Thanks for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

Toxic Rain - On Sundays I Stamp!

Hey polished prisoners,

It has been too long! Let me apologize for my absence it's been a flurry of activity recently that has left me exhausted and uninspired of late.  Also for some reason I have had fail after fail recently.  Every time I went to polish my nails they ended up smudged or ruined in a way that I couldn't even start the nail art.  It actually happened this time too but I decided to persevere.  Finally I smashed my ultra large bottle of CND Stickey - the base coat I live by.  Horrible!  I'm hoping with this post my string of bad luck ends.  So here we go!

The theme for Adventures in Stamping this week was toxic or poisonous.  How deliciously appropo with Halloween around the corner.  I've actually done a toxic mani before which you can check out here, and it was somewhat the basis for this mani.  I wanted to create acid rain, chemical bubbles, and nasty neon drips lol! This sounds so gross when I read it aloud, but I think I accomplished what I set out to create.

Mani-louge

Base: Revlon Posh

Freehand Drips & Dots: CM Nail Art Striper in Hot Yellow

Stamping polishes: Revlon Posh and Konad Special Polish in Yellow

Stamping plates: Konad M13 and Shany SH23

So what do you think? Welp it feels a little spooky and evil but I like it!  Somehow it appears my AIS posts always save me when I'm in a rut.  Thank goodness for that and thanks for reading! I'll see you next post.  Toodles!