O is for Oscar de la Renta Inspired

Hiya!  Wednesday at last - only one more day of work this week and then three days off.  Today's post is another installment of Kimber's Lacquer Korner's ABC Challenge and the letter "O."  This was a toughie for me, I have Orly polish, but nothing bright and fun, so off to trusty ol' google for inspiration.

I found this gorgeous dress by Oscar de la Renta, I love how bright it is and the pattern is so bold, I had to put it on my nails!  I couldn't find out much info about the actual dress, what collection etc., but that wasn't going to stop me!!

Join me in checking out what my fellow challengers have come up with for today's post!

Holla, N

The Bees Knees

Happy Monday friends!  I don't know about you, but my weekend went by WAY too fast!!  Now that the weather is starting to get better, it's going to be hard to enjoy getting up and going to work everyday!!

This week will be all about striping tape!  I love striping tape; however, I wish they made different width's, think of how much you could do with different widths.  I've tried cutting up regular tape, but my anal-ness can't get over the fact that I can't seem to get everything the same size.  I've even pulled out my ruler and quilting cutting board and it so didn't help!  The long and short of it is, if you don't have striping tape, and are struggling with regular tape - get some - immediately - it's so worth it!!

A week or so ago, Amanda from The Nail Polish Enthusiast asked if everyone who owns Tuilleries, by Lex Cosmetics to swatch and post it on February 2nd in honor of her mom who passed away 10 years ago from lung cancer.  Tuilleries was created based on Amanda's color story and inspired by her mom whose favorite color is red and favorite flower is tulips.  I don't own Tuilleries, although I'm seriously considering getting it because $1 from every sale goes to lung cancer research, I still wanted to show my support so posted the mani below on IG and Twitter yesterday in honor of Amanda's mom.

I was very honored to be a part of remembering Amanda's mom, and it warms my heart that so many other bloggers joined in as well.  If you have a moment, check out Amanda's post and read her beautiful tribute and see how gorgeous Tuilleries is!

Holla, N

Color Changing Leopard

Happy Monday!  Don't you just cringe reading that?  I cringe typing it!!

I've been eyeballing some really pretty polish at Winners the last couple of times I went in and I couldn't justify the $7.99 price tag so always put them back.  Last week I was lucky enough to find them on sale for $5 - score!!  The brand is Butterfly Wing, something I've never heard of and it's color changing polish - not really my thing, but the color and the price sold me.

Here's a bottle shot, I really couldn't capture how bright yellow the orange-y color is on camera and the pink-y red is more coral than pink, but IRL they are really lovely and bright.  You can't really tell from any of the photos, but the yellow was iridescent - something I don't normally go for, but it didn't bug me that much in this polish.  What did bug me was the formula - it was runny and streaky and one of the brushes had a huge chunk out of it, which made application even more difficult.  I had to wear the yellow with white undies and it still took 3 or 4 coats to make the yellow not look streaky.

I'm so glad I didn't pay full price for these; however, I wouldn't buy this brand again.  I would rather continue my search for the perfect yellow than struggle with application!!  Have you tried this branch or another type of color changing polish?  How was the formula?

Holla, N

At Long Last

Hello friends!

Welcome to my final post for the 31 Day Challenge!!  A sad and happy day all in one - sad that I won't be connecting with my fellow challengers every three days and happy (and also a little proud) that I've completed the 31 Day Challenge!  I've met so many amazing artists and seen some really great mani's, it's hard to believe it's over.  I'm looking forward to continuing to follow your blogs and eager to see what new and amazing art you come up with!!  A big honkin THANK YOU to Kimber from Kimber's Lacquer Korner for pulling us all together, you have been an awesome host and I'm so glad to have met you and to call you ma girl!  What are we doing next?!?  LOL!

I wasn't sure whether the prompt for this day called for a recreation of one of the mani's I did or one of my fellow participants.  I decided to play it safe and recreate one of my own favorite mani - Day 3 - Yellow - mostly because of the neon yellow, gotta love me them neons!!

Oh, look at my long beautiful square nails - it really hits home how short my nails are comparing my nubbins now to my long beauties then :)

Dark Grey:  Essie - Over the Edge

Yellow:  Nina Ultra Pro - Solar Flare
I used arcylic paint for the lighter grey stripes.
Top Coat:  Seche Vite, which shrinked the poop out of this mani as you can see from the first photo.

Here's a slide show of all the mani's I created for the 31 Day Challenge - this was super fun to put together, it was neat looking back on what I created and what I liked and didn't like - also my nails have changed shapes so many times - oh to have strong long nails!!




Please show some love to my fellow artists by clicking 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 

Ghostly TAPS

Happy Moooonday - another Halloween themed mani coming atcha!  I was hemming and hawing about what I could do for Day 6 - Ghosts/Goblins of datyorkloves Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge and I'm pretty stoked with what I came up with.

I decided to pay homage to one of the scariest shows on television - Ghost Hunters - The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS)!!  The hubby got me addicted to this show and I was quite the skeptic until the episode where they were outside exploring some sort of castle or something and a ghost pulls on Grants jacket and you can actually see the jacket being pulled by nothing - it's pretty creepy!  We haven't watched this lately, for some reason we always miss the  new episodes and there is no way I'm watching that show alone!!  Plus, who doesn't love Tango and Steve?!?  I used the show's shirts that I got my hubby as the inspiration - I hope you can catch the creepy ghost in the background!

Base Color:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme

I used acrylic paint for the nail art.

Top Coat:  Pro FX Quick Dry

Have a sec?  Check out the other folks doing the Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge by clicking on the links below.

Enter giveaway have you?  Here to click if not.

Holla, N

datyorkLOVES
Erica's Nails and More
DreamyMM Nails & Make Up
 Tes Did It Nails
Sassy Paints 
Nicole gets Nailed 
Wicked Tips 
Fancy Schmancy Nails
Delight In Nails
Polish Groupie 
My Nail Journey 
Get Polished Up! 
Just A Girl and Her Polish
Spellbound Nails
Le nail's corner d'Alex
Hello.Lacquer
Color the world with polish
Cutie Cuticles (nail art by Laraib) 
Wacky Laki 
Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge October 1-31st, 2012 
GLAMOROUS NAILS 
Over The Topcoat 
Polish Gone Crazy 
tragedystipsandtreats
Susy In Color
Countess Nails
(List includes blogs and FB pages)

Water Mar-BOO-led

Hiya, tis' the season for all things Halloween!  My lovely friend, Gini over at Sassy Paints, heralded my call for another challenge and introduced me to the Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge hosted by datyorkLOVES... I could not, not join up!!  My trusty challenge calendar is getting filled up for October and I couldn't be more excited!!

Up first is water marble - not my favorite technique - it looks gorgeous when other people do it - I've just had little to no success pulling it off - okay so I've only tried once, but still....  I chose Halloween-y colors for this, hope you like my somewhat successful water marble!

Base Coat:  Finger Paints - Paper Mache

Water Marble Colors:  Finger Paints - Paper Mache and Tangerine Twist and Sally Hansen - Quick Canary

Top Coat:  Pro FX Quick Dry

Since this is a self-paced challenge, I will get each of the days up by October 31st, so keep checking back!  Give some love to the other lovelies doing this challenge by clicking on the links below!!

Have you entered my giveaway yet?!?  Well, head on over here and get your entry in, it's EPIC!!

Holla, N

datyorkLOVES

Erica's Nails and More

DreamyMM Nails & Make Up

 Tes Did It Nails

Sassy Paints

Nicole gets Nailed

glitznglammer

Finger Food

Wicked Tips

Fancy Schmancy Nails

Delight In Nails

Polish Groupie

My Nail Journey

Get Polished Up!

Just A Girl and Her Polish

Spellbound Nails

Le nail's corner d'Alex

Hello.Lacquer

 Countess Nails

Color the world with polish

Nail Crime Nail Art

Coat of Mani Colors

Cutie Cuticles (nail art by Laraib)

Wacky Laki

Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge October 1-31st, 2012

GLAMOROUS NAILS

Over The Topcoat

Polish Gone Crazy

tragedystipsandtreats

(List includes blogs and FB pages)

I Should Have Been Born In....

Hiya everybody!!  Welcome to my first post for my third challenge Let's Do The Time Warp, hosted by the lovely Lindsey over at Neverland Nail Blog!!  I'm super excited for this challenge and have actually planned out what I'm going to do for each day!!  Can you believe I'm currently doing THREE challenges?  Craziness, but I love love love the structure and it takes some of the guess work out of trying to think of new mani's!!  This challenge is super fun and unique (keep scrolling to see what we'll be doing) - we'll be posting twice a week, Monday's and Wednesday's.  We have to do each of the challenges and have only one week to post each.

Without further ado, here's the year I should have been born in - 1950!!  The clothes, the decor, the fashion - although I doubt I would have made a very good housewife!!

Here's a list of the polishes I used:

Thumb: NYC - French White Tip

Pointer:  Essie - Licorice

Nyx - Carnation

Ring:  L'oreal - Club Prive

Pinky:  Color Club - no name - argh!

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Show the love to the other lovelies participating in this challenge by clicking the links below!!  Come back Wednesday for It's Vintage Darling!!

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

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

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Hiya!  Do you have that song in your head now??

On our camping trip earlier this week the boys were drinking Mickeys beer and if you've never seen or heard of Mickeys beer, you are missing out!  Now, I'm not a fan of beer, but I am a fan of Mickeys - seems odd I know.  BUT, the coolest thing about this beer is that they have rebus puzzles on the inside of the caps. Brain puzzles when you've been drinking - awesome!  We had a good time trying to figure out the puzzles, some were really difficult and required google!

These aren't exactly beer nails, but that is where some of the inspiration came from, if by name only!  Also, my little cousin is staying with my grandparents for the week and I wanted to do something cute that he would recognize when I spent time with him.  He's the cutest thing ever, I just want to squish him!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Essie - Russian Roulette

Polka Dots and White Accents:  NYC - French White Tip, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri  - Quick Canary

Mouse Ears and Bows:  Essie - Licorice

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Old School Tattoo or Nail Art?

Hiya!  Did you miss me?  Likely not, but hey, it was weird for me not to post last night, I just assumed it would be weird for you too!  This mani took me forever!!  By the time I was done, it was too dark out to take an outside shot, so I waited until today to post.

I'm a HUGE Robin Moses fan, her nail art is amazing!!  Random Me Fact:  I LOVE doing art and crafting.  I come from a long line of crafters.  My grandma is the Queen crafter, you should see her craft nook, and my mom follows close behind.  My sister and I are the princesses of crafting - well more my sister, she's amazing!  So I've had some experience with acrylics, but never to do nail art.  Now that I've started this blog and found Robin Moses, I've found a new love and use for acrylics!  Hope you enjoy!!

I'm posting this from my grandparents house, the hubby is helping my Grandpa-pa insulate and build his outdoor shed so my Grandma invited me for dinner.  SCORE!!  Who can pass up a free dinner and a good home made one at that!  I don't have a list of the polishes I used, but will add that once I'm home.

Back home!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder
Thumb:  Nyx - Carnation
Pointer:  Revlon - Sunshine Sparkle
Pinkie:  Sally Hansen - Red Velvet
Accent Fingers:  Barielle - Going to the Chapel
Top Coat:  Seche Vite and ProFX

Holla, N

Mellow Canary

Hiya!  I was so in love with yesterday's mani Pretty in White that I've done a variation of the same thing today, except in yellow - cute, hey?

I'll be incommunicado for a couple of days and will be sporting naked nails (cringe) because we are going GLAMPING!!  Woot Woot!  So excited to get away and enjoy our new to us trailer.  I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to sleep up off the floor, have heat, hot water and a toilet while camping, hence "glamping."

So don't miss me too much, I'll be back to entertain you all later next week - hopefully with the same length of nails - perfect excuse for the hubby to do all the work - excellent!!

Base Coat:  Seche Vite

Pearly Yellow:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Quick Canary

Yellow Dots:  Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Mellow Yellow

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Yummy Yellow

I'm in the midst of adding and editing my blog, so you may notice some new things - they don't work right now, but they will, so please be patient with me - I want to make sure you're getting everything you need and want out of my blog!

In the meantime, please enjoy today's mani!!  I'm usually not a fan of pearly nail polish, I like the more matte colors, but this yellow is sooooo yummy!!  I bought the glitter polish on the same day, not intending them to match, but I think they really do - score!

In natural light - something I don't usually have when I do my nails at night :)

With Flash

Base Coat:  Orly - Bonder
Main Color:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dry - Quick Canary
Accent Color:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - Multi-Faceted
Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N

Caribbean Calypso

Doing my nails pretty late tonight - I don't work tomorrow, so there's no rush to have them done by bed time.  I went to Walmart tonight to get nail polish remover and had a $40 gift card from my birthday and decided to splurge on nail polish, here's two of today's purchases.

Inspired by ~Leslie~ at Polish Art Addiction's Successful Swirly Gradient 

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  NYC - Lexington Yellow

Accent Color: - NYC - Water Street Blue and Sally Girl Glitter Effects in Blue

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Holla, N