S is for Star

Hiya!  Still feeling the blogger blues and my creative juices are almost on empty.  I'm never without polish on my nails, but most of my mani's never see the inside of my light box, sad I know, but they're just meh.  What are somethings you do to get out of a funk?  I'm afraid that not even the brightest of mani's is keeping me inspired - I actually thought to myself, this is too bright!!  WHO AM I?  Too bright?  Now you know I'm in a serious funk :)

I'm off to check out what my ladies have come up with for R, I know I'll be seeing some fabulous mani's, join me by clicking on the links below!

Holla, N

P is for Purple and Patterned

Hiya polished friends!

Welcome to "P" day - lol, and of course I giggled because I'm a 10 year old boy in real life!!  Do we seriously only have 10 more letters left for Kimber's Lacquer Korner's ABC Challenge?  WOWza time flies by, hey?  What's our next challenge?  The New 31 Day Challenge??  All in favor?

Originally I was going to do a mani inspired by Heather over at Peace, Love and Polish, but it didn't turn out as I had hoped - I may or may not show it, we'll see.....Doesn't it suck when you have the best idea and it doesn't turn out!!  GRRRR....

Anyhoodle, I went on a bit of a polish binge this weekend and bought 22 polishes - eeks!!  I went to my local Shopper's Drug Mart and found NOPI's for $3.99, I grabbed a couple of those and a pink Essie for $1.99 - there was 3 - I bought them all...I don't feel guilty.  Plus our Walmart's finally got Salon Perfect and Pure ICE, so I stocked up - I actually went to two Walmarts to find what I needed - which was a lot apparently.

I used new plates that I got a while ago and haven't really used until now.  I bought the 2012 Cheeky Plates, you get 3 XL Jumbo plates for 14.99.  I mistakenly thought Jumbo meant they would fit on my nails, but see that purple moon there, ya that wasn't my intention - the plates don't fit my extremely long nails(okay, they aren't extremely long, but they're long for me!!).  I still love how they turned out so, yay for new nail stuff!!

Some of you asked which color I used for my O is for Oscar De La Renta Inspired mani and I don't want to disappoint so here's what I used:  Two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow (thanks Gini) and then two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sunny Side.  Sunny Side is super sheer and I couldn't get coverage even with multiple coats, so I used both.

Be sure to join me in checking out my fellow challengers and their "P" mani - giggle!!

Holla, N

G is for Gradient

Hiya!  Welcome to another installment of the ABC challenge!  I've been holding onto this mani for a week or so now and was going to post it last week, but I'm super happy I didn't because the gradient totally works for "G" day!

It's a very subtle gradient, but I promise you it's there!  I used my first ever Ulta polish (eye poppy cherry) and my first ever Candies polish (orange pop), both of which I LOVE (thank you Gini)!  I had to throw some leopard in there to round out the look - who doesn't like leopard?

I got to spend some time with my sister recently and of course she wanted me to do her nails.  I ended up using my new Essence polishes and taught her how to do leopard print - I'm surprised she actually had black in her stash, I've been teaching her well!!

The top is my work and the bottom is hers - pretty darn good for her first time and with  a toothpick, not a dotting tool like I normally use!

We had to take a fun picture and I love this one so much.  My sister is my world, she is the most amazing person I've ever known and she is growing up into the most amazing young woman.  I can't believe she'll be 16 in less than a month, I can remember holding her right after she was born - cutest baby ever!!  Love you to the moon sissy!!

Please join me in checking out the other lovelies and what they came up with for G, I hope I see some giraffe's!

Holla, N

Skull-rific!

Happy Hump Day!!  This week has been going by so slowly, I think it's because I was off on Monday and I usually take days off on Friday, so my weeks all messed up!  Will Friday ever come?

I've got a long overdue review of some cute skull water decals I received from KKCenterhk for review.  You may remember from my EPIC 100 Follower Giveaway, that KKCenterhk was kind enough to provide some cool stuff for my giveaway - the alphabet stamping set, won by Becca from Nail Narcotics and the cute gold peacock water decals, won by Maggy from the Daily Lacquer.  Becca did this fabulous mani, dedicated to her favorite nail artist - moi, lol, you can take a peek, here.

Anyhoodle, onto the review - I picked the Rock Skull Water Decals, because they are so darn cute.  I was a little intimidated to use these, one, because they are so cute, I didn't think I could do them justice and two, because I was worried they would be SUPER difficult to apply.  Totally not the case - I have to say, I'm super surprised at how easy these were to use.  All you do is cut out the decal you want to use, soak it in a bit of water and carefully slide the decal from the paper.  You have to make sure your nail is dry and not super soaked like I did on my first try.  The decal won't stay on a wet nail so I had to take it off and make sure my nail was dry.   I just held the decal in my other hand and dried off my nail, super easy.  Once it was dry, I placed the decal and fiddled a bit to get rid of wrinkles and VOILA!  I didn't use tweezers and I don't think I would when I use these again.  I think these are sturdy enough if you are gentle to withstand the handling.

Apparently I was in the mood to try every technique on my nails last night, water decals, gradient, stamping, leopard, polka dots and glitter - it's a little much, but how CUTE is that decal?  There's 25 nail decals in a set and they're super reasonable, at only $2.82 USD.  If you're interested in getting some of these babies for yourself visit http://www.kkcenterhk.com/ and search "skull water" or just click here, the item # is WDSY558.  Want something a little more serious, how about trying the gold peacock water decals, you can find them here.  Is stamping more your style?  You can pick up the alphabet here and here.

Thankfully, I've done this post in time for you guys to use my 10% off coupon to get your own goodies from KKCentrehk, the coupon code is:  nearlynailed and expires Jan 31, 2013!! 

Holla, N

Lazy Oceanic Review

Hello Friends!  I'm a little late with this post, it was supposed to be up on Friday, but I had plans on Friday and then headed up island bright and early Saturday morning for my auntie's 50th birthday bash.  It was a fun time, but no internet access so I felt a little cut off from the world!!

Friday's prompt for the Lazy 15 Challenge was underwater creatures/water mythical creatures.  I was having major polish block and couldn't think of what to do, so I went with more of an ocean theme.  This mani also gave me the opportunity to finally review my glequins I got from the Born Pretty Store!!  I've been holding off on using these because my nails are SO short, but they've grown a bit and turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!

This is my second set of products from Born Pretty Store for review, you can see my previous review on the 3 Star/Round/Heart Rhinestones Acrylic UV Nail Glue Clamp Kit here.  This time around I was so excited to try the hexagon loose glitter, most widely known as glequins.  You get a set of 12 different colors in individual containers for a total price of $5.35 USD.  Everything ordered from the Born Pretty Store is free shipping, so these are a steal.  You get a TON glitter and I'm not even exaggerating - it would take a while to use up this supply.  As usual, this came within a week of ordering, which I think is very reasonable coming from China.  They package items in a bubble envelope so everything arrives secure.

Application of these are a little tricky for someone as anal as me, I need to have everything uniform and in the right order, so it sometimes was a little difficult getting everything lined up.  I wasn't quite sure how to adhere these beauties, so I tried a couple of different things.  First, I used white glue and put a little on my nail, not my whole nail as that dries way too fast, but just the area I was working in.  I then used an orange stick with a little of natures glue (read spit) to pick up the glitter and placed it on my nail.  Using white glue gets a little glooby, you have to be really careful and put a very thin layer of glue on the area you are working in.  Next, I used the same method to pick up the glitter and placed them in tacky nail polish.  This wasn't my preferred method because if you accidentally drop a glitter where you don't want it, it's harder to correct without ruining the polish underneath.  I'm wondering if I used a coat of Seche Vite and once that was dry, use a layer of clear nailpolish to place the glitter - this will be what I try next as I think this will be the best method. I also had some issues with the glitter falling off the the tips of my nails - I had to put the ones on the end back on a couple of times and as you can see from my daylight picture, one of the glequins fell off before I could photograph them.  I'm thinking if I change up how I adhere them to my nails, they will stay better, but don't let that discourage you from getting these pretties, because they are SOOOO worth it!  I will be using these again, though if anyone has any tips on how to get these puppies to stay put, I'm all ears!!

I really loved what I came up with and it really reminds me of the ocean.  If you are interested in getting this product, you can click here or go to the Born Pretty Store website and search Item ID: 3103.  Until Jan 31, 2013 you can use the special code found in the banner below to get a 10% discount!!  That's not a huge discount, but any discount is SUPER!

And to finish off this post, here's a shot of both hands together, I ended up doing 'bubble's' on my right hand because I had run out of time to finish the pretty stripes!

For the gradient I used:  Sally Hansen:  Pacific Blue and Finger Paints:  Tiffany Impostor.  For the stripes, I used Finger Paints, Papier Mache and the bubbles were done with acrylic paint.

Hope this review was helpful and that you enjoyed my blinged out mani!!

Holla, N

International Transgender Day of Remembrance

Hello friends,

Today is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day to memorialize those who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.  The lovely Lacquer Lad wrote a very heartfelt post here and has linked in a couple of bloggers to participate in this day of remembrance. TDOR was started by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a transgender advocate to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998.  A web project “Remembering Our Dead” and a San Francisco candlelight vigil was held for the first time in early 1999, these two things led to an annual memorial.

"The Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice."  Transgender Day of Remembrance founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith

I have to say that researching TDOR for this post has certainly opened my eyes to a world I knew nothing about.  Yes, on the peripheral, I knew that violence, hatred and prejudice towards people that are different exists.  But, the magnitude of this hate is so hard for me to grasp.  When you live in your own little bubble day to day, it’s hard to comprehend that a world beyond yourself exists, especially when it’s so ugly.  It’s way easier to bury your head in the sand than face the fact that the human race is slowly killing that which should make our world a better place – our differences.  My heart hurts not just for these men and woman who have been brutally murdered, but for their friends and families.  Whether the lives they were meant to lead were supported or not, no one should have to lose someone to such ugly violent hatred.

Please take a moment to look over this list from the TDOR website. This is the list of names of people who are being remembered this year on November 20th. Please note that the list is incomplete and is constantly being updated.

Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial List 2012

I’m not the most eloquent and there is so much information I have missed, but if you have the time, please check out these links for more information about the Transgender Day of Remembrance:

-          International Transgender Day of Remembrance

-          There is really great information on GLAAD’s website, click here for more.

-          Transgender Visibility Timeline

-          A great article written by Gwendolyn Ann Smith can be found here.

-          Click here for a list of links on the “Remembering Our Dead” website.

Please join me in visiting the other bloggers participating in this day of remembrance by clicking on the links below.

Holla, N

Grading the Neon

Hiya!  Another weekend bites the dust - welcome Monday.....It's a short week for me and then I'm off for a week - woot woot!!

Day 2 for The Lazy 15 challenge is gradient - not my favorite technique, but I decided to give it a go with my lovely neons!!  I'm continuously defying the rain by painting my nails in super duper bright neons - it's not really working, but it does make me smile!!

Can you see that I tried to do some white stamping over the gradient?!  Yah, me neither, so I pulled out the black stamping polish!

White:  Finger Paints - Papier Mache

Neon Yellow - Nina Ultra Pro - Solar Flare

Top Coat: Seche Vite

Show some love to the other gradients by clicking on the links below.  Check back Wednesday for Dots - my fave!!

Holla, N

Flashback!

Hiya folks!!  I'm on the mend from my cold, still feeling stuffy, but I went to work today, so all is good!  I'm pulling this mani from the vault, even though I should be posting some Nail-aween challenge mani's - I'm having brain block on something creative to do for spiders - any suggestions?!?!

This is a recycled mani - I wore the gradient first and then decided to stamp it when I got home and I think I mattified it - it looks mattified, don't you think?  This was also when my nails were so pretty and long - I miss them!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Gradient:  Finger Paints - Pink Perspective and I think Tangerine Tint

For the stamp, I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry - Quick Canary

Have you entered my giveaway?  The countdown is on, a little over a week to enter!!

Holla, N

Glitterific!

Hi everyone!!  I'm not a huge fan of glitter, it looks beautiful, but it's such a pain to put on and take off - yes, I've done the glue base, that's a pain too.  Anytime I use glitter and want some good coverage, it gets SO clumpy and thick - it ends up looking like poop.  I don't know how you guys do it, maybe it's just the cheapy glitter I buy?  Should I go indie? Oh man, the hubby is going to have a stroke!!

When I went back to Sally's for my second BOGO of Finger Paints, I picked up another glitter, that I just HAD to try, so here's another glitter gradient for y'all - two mani's, one post - lucky readers!!!

For the Purple Glitter Gradient, I used:

Base Color:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Glitter:  Orly - Can't be Tamed

For the Blue-y Glitter Gradient, I used:

Base Color:  Finger Paints - Tiffany Imposter

Glitter:  Finger Paints - Art you Wondering? and Wet n Wild - Spontaneous Combustion

Don't forget to show some love to my buddies doing the 31 Day Challenge with me by clicking on the links below.

GIVEAWAY - it's on until the end of October, so click here to enter if you haven't already!!

Holla, N

-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
-Robin Sparkles 

Makin' the Grade-ient!

Hiya Polish Peeps!!  Today is gradient day for the 31 Day Challenge....  I have to be honest, I suck at gradients.  I swear, I've tried every method and can't seem to "get" any of them.  I ended up doing this twice,  my first attempt was a MAJOR disasticure, I tried to make it better and ended up making it worse.  Up first, is the one I ended up liking....

Feast your eyes on these puppies....

I should have left well enough alone and not added the polka dots, but then I decided to add more polka dots - total FAIL!

Base Color:  Color Club - No Name

Gradient:  L'oreal - Club Prive

I used BM stamp for the gold and used Sally Hansen - Golden-I

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

For the disasticure, I used the same color club for the main color and dots and used Wet n Wild - Violet Creme for the gradient.

Don't forget to check out the other lovelies doing the 31 Day Challenge by clicking on the links below!!

Holla, N

-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
-Robin Sparkles 

Favorite Glitter?

Hiya Lovelies!  I'm a day late posting for Ooh La La's My Favorite Things Challenge and I'm super duper sorry.  I'm up to my eyeballs in challenges - which couldn't be more fun - but it has thrown off some of my posts for September.

I can't believe that we're on Day 7 of this challenge already!  How time flies!!  We only have three more days left and I'm a little bummed it's almost over.  Today is GLITTER!!  I love glitter, despite the fact that it sucks to take off. I ended up not leaving this on for very long, so it wasn't that hard to get off.  I also love the look of matte glitter, I took a chance on this and mattified it, I liked it, but wish the camera could pick up the blue-y, teal-y goodness that was the glitter I used....

This one is the most true to the color it was on my nails and it shows the matte as well....

Here's my first attempt at this mani - I actually like it better and wish I had used this one instead....oh well, sharing now :)

Main Color:  Essie - Licorice

Glitter:  Essence - Choose Me and Sally Girls - No Name Gold Glitter

Top Coat:  NYC - Matte Me Crazy

Please show the ladies doing this challenge some love by clicking on the links below!  I will be posting for this challenge again tomorrow - come back for Hearts and/or Love!!

Holla, N

Early Violet

Hiya folks!!  September is going to be a busy busy blogging month for me, I'm doing 4 challenges - I even did a pretty color coded calendar with checklists for all the posts I'm doing!!  The schedule for some of the challenges I'm doing is going to be a little off, but I'll get them all done, I promise!!

Up first, is Day 6 of the 31 Day Challenge  - Violet.  I did this mani a while ago, something I'm just starting to get into.  I usually do my nails when I get home from work and then post, but because of the many challenges I'm doing, I'm trying to get ahead of the game!  I think I wanted to originally use this for my polka dot day for My Favorite Things challenge, but decided on something else.  Wow, I'm really into the gradient dots right now, hey?

I would love to tell you what colors I used for this, but I used all of my Color Club polishes that don't have names - which really bugs me by the way!!  I used the usual base coat, Orly Bonder and top coat, Seche Vite.

Don't forget to check out the other ladies doing the 31 Day Challenge - also, check back Friday for BLACK AND WHITE - woot woot!!

Holla, N

-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 - Robin Sparkles 

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