Beige Doodle-y Doo

Hiya!!  Quick non-challenge related post  - can you believe it??

I ended up taking yesterday's mani (Favorite Stripe?) off after I had done the photos - I had only done my left hand and there was no way I was going to do my right - and wanted something simple.  Here's what I came up with - it kinda reminds me of crows or those lice birds that swarm in huge flocks, dontcha think??

I'm getting used to my oval nails, I'd rather these than nubbins!!  What do you think??

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  No Name Color Club - Why don't they have names, so annoying!!

I used acrylic paints for the doodle/lines.

Holla, N

Favorite Stripes?

Hiya everybody!!  Day 6 of My Favorite Things Challenge - Stripes!!

I was a little anxious about this one, I'm super anal and the idea of uneven stripes drives me crazy!!  This turned out okay, I wish I had striping tape....this was me cutting tape on my quilters cutting board with my ruler.  I even sliced the poop out of my thumb (notice it missing from the photos? - Well, I got lazy and didn't want to do the thumb :) stings like a bugger with the polish remover!!

Hope you enjoy today's mani, I kinda regret choosing the colors I did because the next 31 Day Challenge day is blue so I'll have to think of a whole new idea for that!!  I'm sure I'll manage :)

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Dark Blue:  China Glaze - Man Hunt

Medium Blue:  NYC - Water Street Blue

Light Blue:  Essence - You Belong to Me

White:  NYC - French White Tip

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Don't forget to check out the other ladies doing the challenge, also come back next Tuesday for GLITTER!!

Holla, N

Green Envy

Hiya!!  Today is Day 4 of the 31 Day Challenge - green!!  Green is so NOT my favorite color, so this one was a little hard for me.  The three greens I used in this mani are basically the only ones I've got in my stash (with the exception of my neon green).

I ended up really liking this until I chipped the corner off my pointer finger rolling up my car window - I know, who has manual windows anymore???  Miss old school  over here!  I'm super bummed I chipped my nail, they were so pretty!!  I've had to round them and I'm not sure it suits me - keep a look out for the dreaded rounded nails in the next couple of days - ugh!!  And the worst part of this whole situation is that I didn't have the chance to get a good natural light photo before it chipped!!  I was so worried about it all day too - all I can do is laugh, if I didn't, you would find me curled in a ball under the table!!

Look at the strategic nail placement hiding the chipped corner!!

Here's the first idea I had for green day, but I hated it so much, off it went and back to the trusty polka dots!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder
Main Color:  Essie Licorice
Polka Dots:  Sally Hansen - Emerald City, China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover, Essence - Lime Up
Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Don't forget to check out the other beauties participating in the 31 Day Challenge by clicking the links below!!  Also, don't forget to check back Saturday for BLUE!!!


-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints 
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish 
Holla, N

Favorite Polka?

Hiya folks!!

Today is Day 5 of Ooh La La Polish's My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge - Polka Dots!! I love polka dots, they are my go to nail art - they are so easy and it's pretty hard to screw up.  Today's mani is inspired by the Queen of Polka Dots Amanda over at Sincerely, Obsessed with Polish - she creates some of the neatest, colorful polka dot mani's I've ever seen and I don't even think she uses dotting tools - amazing!!

I don't normally comment on the polishes I use - I buy the cheap stuff in colors I like - but this stuff was soooo weird!!  First of all, it dries matte, most of the neon polish I have dries matte - is that intentional or a side-effect of being a neon?  Secondly, after my morning shower, this stuff was literally falling off by itself - no picking no nothing, I even had a full nail fall right off.  The moral of this story is, if you are buying cheap polish, just know that it won't last long and don't buy unrecognizable brands from the dollar store!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Billie - Purple Haze

Polka Dots:  NYC - French White Tip

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

As a reminder, here is the line-up - we post Tuesday and Thursday - check back Thursday for stripes!!

Don't forget to check out the other lovelies who are also polka dotting it up today by clicking on the links below!!

Holla, N

Blog Awards and Such

Hiya, this is will be a quick text heavy post – click the x at the top right if you’re bored already!

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve received a couple of blog awards from my fellow nail bloggers and so far I haven’t had the time to respond any of them!  So I’m taking a page out of Nail Narcotics hand book and opening my Keep on Bloggin’ page (not this page you're reading, click on the link) to all you fellow newbs that would like to share links to your blogs.  Eventually, I will add all your beautiful blogs to my list of blogs to follow, but for now SPAM the comments of my Keep on Bloggin’ page with your blog links people!!!  Click here and SPAM the heck outta this page!!  Was it clear that I want you to SPAM the Keep on Bloggin' page instead of this page?

Thank you so much Megan at MegaNails and Gini at Sassy Paints for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger award!

AND

Thank you so much to Carmella at Try it With Carmella, TinTin at The Colors of My Empress Nails and Gini at Sassy Paints for nominating me for the Liebster Award!

I wrote these 25 random facts about me back in January 2009 – feels like longer than 3 years ago – anyhoodle, here they are with annotated updates because not all of them apply anymore!

1. I hate taking the bus and could write a book on proper bus etiquette.  I could still do this even though I now have my license and you couldn’t pay me to take the bus!
2. I met the man of my dreams online.
3. I sing when I can't sleep.
4. I never use my ipod or mp3 phone because I'm scared that when I have the earphones in someone could attack me from behind.  I don’t have an ipod anymore and I lost all my music when the hubby broke the computer – ass clown!
5. I'm right 99.9 percent of the time and I have no problems admitting that.
6. I have 14 holes in my head.  Make that 15, I got my labret pierced a year or so ago.
7. I am an avid reader, you will not see me without something to read most of the time.
8. I can play the piano but I can't read music.
9. I love coming home to my dog, he's always so happy to see me - unconditional love at its best.
10. I watch Degrassi Junior High religiously.
11. I would recommend NOT watching PS I Love You when you're PMSing - I bawled like a little girl.
12. I think my sister, Olivia, is one of the coolest people I know and I don't think there will ever be anybody as cool as her - ever.
13. I'm Chilean, Italian, Irish and Finnish and often get mistaken for any other nationality other than what I am.
14. I don't know what my mortgage rate is and I don't know how much I pay in interest and how much I pay in principle.
15. I don't really know what principle means.
16. I'm terrified of caterpillars okay not terrified but I don't like the idea of them dropping on my head - yuck!
17. I fall asleep in the dentist's chair, the lights, the noise, it makes me sleepy.
18. I'm embarrassed that my parents scour Victoria for free boxes as a hobby and don't seem to mind that they're picking up people's junk!!  My parents have stopped doing this – my step-dad watched an episode of hoarders and was scared straight into cleaning out all his junk and vowing not to collect anymore – I think he does sometimes, but it’s scaled down quite a bit!!
19. I've never had déjà vu and firmly believe this is my first life.
20. I think visits to the Naturopath should be covered by MSP.
21. I had to look up how to spell Naturopath.
22. I really want to try truffles and fois gras but don't want to pay for it.
23. I'm a backseat driver even though I don't have my licence and it bugs me that no one listens to me because #5 above.....I have my license now and rarely drive anyone, but when I do I get super nervous they are judging my driving skills!!
24. If I won the lottery, I would get a farm with lots of land so I could rescue and house all different kinds of animals and make extra cash making cakes a la Duff from Ace of Cakes.
25. I wash my hands for as long as it takes to sing happy birthday - twice.

Holla, N

Chello

Hiya!!  No homework today, my partner in crime and I are doing the 31 day challenge and today is Day 3, so welcome to day Yellow!!!

I did this mani a couple of days ago, I wanted to be ahead of the game with all the challenges I'm doing - okay so it's only 2, but still....  I also managed to chip a corner off of one of my nails, so had to do some creative filing to make everything look somewhat ok.  I was a little concerned this color was more neon green rather than yellow, but I did a mini poll and yellow was the consensus, so I went with it!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Essie - Over the Edge

Chevrons:  Sinful Nail Art - Me First

I used acrylic paint for the lighter grey chevrons

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Don't forget to check out the other lovelies participating on the 31 Day Challenge!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista 
-Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints 
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Holla, N

Favorite Food - Orange

No, my favorite food is not oranges!  Did I fool ya?  Did I?  Did I?

Enough of the silliness, let's get down to business!  Who's the bright star who joined TWO consecutive challenges?  This girl and I'm not a super star Queen of Challenges like Miss Nicole over at The Color Republic who I think is juggling three challenges? Crazy challenge lady - LOL :)

We're on Day 3 of Ooh La La Polish's My Favorite Things Challenge and Day 2 of Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner 31 Day Challenge.  The trick is to combine My Favorite Food with the color Orange....or do two mani's in one night - tried that last night, with very little success (total disasticure - thanks Nicole at Polish Me Please for the nail lingo!!).  I hope I pulled off two challenge entries with one look!!  If not, oh flippn' well - have you heard about my week so far?

I got my inspiration from these are coasters I made awhile back for a Craft Fair I participated in at work.  These are canvas squares I sewed and then painted with acrylic paint.  Once I added the sealant, I used fabric glue to glue black felt on the back.  I didn't actually sell this set, so I gave it to cousin (who is my sushi buddy) for Christmas.

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder
Main Color:  Revlon - Elegant
Accent Color:  NYC - Some no name Orange
I used acrylic paint for the sushi
Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Please don't forget to scroll all the way down and click on the links to check out the lovely ladies that are participating in both the 31 Day Challenge and My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge - so much talent, it's amazing!!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa
-Mari at Nailista
-Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance 

Here's what's coming up next Tuesday for My Favorite Things Nail Art Challenge - Polka Dots - woot woot!  Check back on Sunday for Day 3 of the 31 Day Challenge and YELLOW!

Holla, N My official entry into Nail Narcotics giveaway - woot woot!!

Favorite Animal?

Hiya!!  So today is the third day in Ooh La La Polish's My Favorite Things Challenge - My Favorite Animal!  After yesterday's horrific day, I'm pleasantly surprised this mani turned out how I expected!  Never mind the fact that I spent time trying to think of all the animals there are out there - I even pulled out the ol' google search to see which animals were 'easiest to draw.' LOL

After much deliberation, I decided to do my puppy poo, Tucker, or as I affectionately call him Poppa, Poppa Dukes, Tucks, Tuckernutterbutter, Tucksnut, Stinky or the love of my life!  I've always wanted a dog, as long as I can remember.  Instead of the real thing, I got a shirt with a picture of a dalmatian on it - not the same thing mom!  We bought Tucker from someone on UsedVictoria, he cost a LOT of money.  We went there with the intention of just checking him out and lo and behold the hubby (who was not in for getting a dog with our three cats), fell in love and could not leave him behind.  Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Instagram, may have seen pictures of my baby, he's got a blue mohawk that gets all the ladies.  I don't think the picture picks up the blue mohawk I've given him, but trust me, it's there!

Here's my stinks in real life - isn't he the CUTEST???

Base Coat:  OPI Nail Envy

Main Color:  Essence - You Belong to Me (what a great name for this mani!!!)

I used acrylic paint for the art.

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Here's what's coming up!  We post every Tuesday and Thursday, don't forget to check back then for My Favorite Food!

As always, don't forget to check out the other lovelies that are doing this challenge by clicking the links below!!

Holla, N

Red Rage

Hiya, Oh man, today has been a comedy of errors, let me tell you!  First of all, I struggled all day yesterday with what to do for the first day of the 31 Day Challenge that Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner is hosting.  I've concluded that I'm not a big fan of red.  I'm so into bright summer colors right now, I just can't get into the red.  Secondly, I got a $600 ticket on my way home from work today because my car was not insured!!  WTF!  WORST DAY!  I'm thankful I was able to pull over somewhere where there was parking, I can't imagine having to pay for towing as well.  And the worst part?  I was literally a block away from home!!!  The way I've been able to make myself feel better about the whole situation is that I haven't had insurance on my car since June, so really it's only a $300  ticket because I'm actually paying for the insurance I didn't have to pay during the two months I didn't have insurance.  I can't believe I didn't have insurance, I didn't even realize, I so don't remember getting a notice in the mail.  And my birthday was like ages ago!!  ugh.

Thirdly is this disasticure - this is the third try for Day 1 of the 31 day challenge - if I'm having this hard of a time with a broad topic like red - I'm dreading the rest of the challenge!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

French Tips:  NYC - French White Tip

Polka Dots:  Essie - Russian Roulette

I used acrylic paint for the bows.

Top Coat:  Pro FX Quick Dry

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies participating in this challenge!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista 
-Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints

Here's what we'll be doing for the 31 days, we'll be posting every 3 days!

Holla, N

Dotty French

Homework time!!  Who gets excited about homework?  This girl does!

It was my turn to assign the homework and I choose black and white.  I feel like these are two huge staples in my collection, plus it can be used for mostly anything so the possibilities are endless.  I'm excited to see what Becca from Nail Narcotics comes up with - something fabulous, I'm sure!!

I committed the sin of all sins for a nail addict, I didn't use a base coat.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like this mani, so just wanted to try it out first, I ended up liking it so....one mani without base coat isn't going to kill me - I hope!

White:  Barielle - Going to the Chapel

Black Lines:  Essie - Licorice

I used black and white acrylic paint for the dots.

Top Coat:  Pro FX Quick Dry

Holla, N

Chasing Chevy

Hiya!  It is muckin hot out today, it has been for the past couple of days.  We're lucky where we live that we get the morning sun, so when I get home it's relatively cool compared to the rest of our building!  But as soon as the sun goes down, it gets incredibly hot in our place - ugh I hate the heat!

I'm a huge fan of the chevron mani, and I've always loved when there's three separate chevrons - if that makes sense.  I found a new relatively new blogger Nail Art is Tacky who does the most amazing tape mani's with the most amazing color combos.  Click here to see what inspired today's mani!

This was super fiddly, I wanted to minimize the layers of polish I used, and for some reason I couldn't wrap my head around how to do this.  I tried a couple of different things to get the sharp lines and as you can see, the lines on my pinky and ring finger are different. I ended up using an exacto knife to cut the tape so the natural straight edges of the tape were at the ends.  Then I lined the ends up so it formed a  point.  I painted my nails in color first, put the tape on and then painted the nude over top.  Pulling the tape off carefully was a little tricky, but I managed to get better once I made it to my right hand!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Colors From Thumb to Pinky:  NYC - MoMa, Kleancolor - Neon Aqua, NYC - High Line Green, NYC - Some Orange that I pealed the label off - ooops!, Essie - Russian Roulette

Nude:  Essie - Case Study

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

My Favorite Nail Polish?

Day 2 of Ooh La La Polish's My Favorite Things challenge!!  This one is a toughy - a mani with your favorite nail polish - I don't think I have a favorite polish.  At this stage in my addiction (can you tell I've watched the new season of Intervention?), I'm all about the price, if it's more than a couple of bucks, I'm out!  I refuse to pay more than $5 for a bottle of polish.  Because of this, I decided to look at this challenge a little differently.  Lately, I've been all about the neons - and you nail addicts know that in order to get the color to show up, you have to use a white base coat.  So, my favorite nail polish today is Barielle's Going to the Chapel, which is on it's last legs because I've been using it so much!!

Apparently using different bright colors on your nails is referred to as a skittle mani!  I first saw this done by The Little Canvas, here but it's not on her blog, but there are a bunch of other great things on her blog, including some amazing freehand nail art, so check it out here!!

Don't forget to check out the other lovelies that are doing this challenge by clicking on the links below!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Barielle - Going to the Chapel

Colors:  Kleancolor - Neons

I used black acrylic paint for the leopard spots.

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Favorite Color?

Hiya polish peeps - that's paw-lish, as in nail polish Shawna!!

I'm super excited about this post because I've managed to find a challenge that I can join right from the beginning!! I've been wanting to do a challenge for some time and found that arranging one myself was a little advanced for a newbie.  Kelly over at Ooh La La Polish! is hosting her very first challenge and what a challenge it is - My Favorite Things!  Can I just say how much I LOVE the Sound of Music, as a kid I could watch this over and over, mostly to sing a long - which I'm sure everyone enjoyed :)  So let's get down to it, here's my first challenge post:  My Favorite Color - PINK!!!

Be sure to check out all the other lovelies that are participating in this challenge, it's only day one and already we've got some amazing mani's!!!  Here's a list of all the fun stuff we will be doing!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Billie - Fuschia

I used acrylic paint for the dots

Top Coat:  Sally Hansen - Rock Candy and Seche Vite

Holla, N

Black and Blue

Sunday Homework is BACK!!!  The lovely Becca from Nail Narcotics took a break last week due to life (that darn life, getting in the way of nail polishing :), but she's back - YAY!!!  For today's homework, she's assigned us a gradient mani!!

I wanted to do something subtle because I have an interview tomorrow, so I attempted a black with pearly nude.  As you can tell by the title of this post, that attempt was not successful!  First of all, I didn't like the pearly nude I used and second I don't have a makeup sponge, I used a craft sponge that is way to porous and leaves way too many marks.  I've done this sucessfully with the same craft sponge once, on my Caribbean Calypso mani.  This time I did not have the same results.  SO, I decided to use BM (bundlemonster) plate 301.  This took a little fiddling....but not as much as using the craft sponge.  I haven't mastered stamping yet, so there were gaps in this that I had to fill in.  I used the polish brush to add color on the tip of my nail and then used a stiff bristled paint brush to make sure the texture matched.  I wish I could have used something brighter, but next time for sure, I'm just glad Becca didn't assign something that would really distract in my interview!!!

Don't forget to check out Nail Narcotics Sunday homework - Gradient Beginner!!  

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  China Glaze - Man Hunt

Gradient:  Essie - Licorice

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

And it was Called Yellow

Hiya, that song has been in my head since I put this color on my nails.  I'm a little annoyed now - lol!

One more day of holidays for me then back to work.  I had to pack up my desk and have everything ready to move while I was gone, so I'll be doing a lot of unpacking when I get back to work, ugh.  I had all these grand plans for my holidays, I wanted to update my stash page and I did do some work on it, but man it's time consuming to record it all!  I also wanted to rearrange everything - remember when I took my stash camping?  Well my friend's sister organized it by color and I've tried it out for a couple of weeks, but I don't like it.  I would rather have it organized by brand, it just works for me.  So I accomplished none of this, but I did manage to get a couple of posts in, so I'm happy!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Quick Canary

Accent Nails:  Essie - Licorice and Barielle - Going to the Chapel

I used acrylic paint to do the lines and dots

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N