Mish Mash Challenge: Metallic

Purchased By Me/Gifted To Me

Hello loves, happy Wednesday! I have another really quick Mish Mash Challenge post today, I promise that I will take my time on these posts soon. I'm still playing catch up on review posts and still a bit under the weather so I'm still just kind of zipping through the Mish Mash posts, but hey it's on time this week! 

I was looking forward to doing this day in the challenge and had a specific mani in mind. When I came down to it I wound up doing something completely different! LOL

JOBY Nail Art Stickers Review

Press Sample

 I recently was given the opportunity to try out some JOBY Nail Art Stickers. I have tried stickers before  and while they are great to add a little something extra to your manicure in a hurry they usually don't work the way you would want. The ones that I've tried usually start to peel after a little while, I've even had some that  just don't stick at all after taking them off the backing. So I was really glad to to try these out and see how they held up.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A few weeks ago my lovely niece, Nani, asked me if I was planning on doing any St Patrick's Day nails. I normally plan an art mani out and then get so busy with my reviews I just end up sayin fudge it and scrap the whole idea. This time was different since Nani requested that I turn her concept into art on my nails. She is probably one of the most artistic people I will ever meet. This little girl, (young woman? Nah she's still my baby! LOL) can turn some of the most random pieces of scrap into a work of art. Paintings or jewelry, full outfits made of paper to building her own doll house from scratch, that the cat now sleeps in by the way, she is a true artist, in mind, eye and attitude  I only hope that as she grows up that creativity grows with her and she won't let adolescence take away that artistic side! So this mani is for my Nani Bear! (She's going to kill me for writing that!)

All the pretty colors I used!

Nail Pattern Boldness: Snowflake Bentley

I decided to recycle my ABC Challenge mani and layer some NBP goodness on it. Allison sent this to me a little while back and I was thrilled to receive it! This was never seen in her Etsy shop, it was created for a shop in Vermont to be sold during the holidays. Hopefully Allison will decide to make more of this one for the 2013 holiday season! Since this is a Vermont themed polish I was interested to see what the idea was behind it. Here's what I found...

E is for Essie "Where's My Chauffeur?"

Welcome back to another day of the ABC Challenge! Today I had a few things in mind. I attempted a couple and they were either fails or just bleh! So I went to plain old easy route and picked one of my untrieds! 

Sunday Stamping: Butterflies

As promised I am going to try and do a bit of weekend stamping every other weekend. This is my first attempt at stamping a several months, so I went a little easy. My hubby and I had plans to go to the butterfly house with my mom and niece today, so I decided on simple butterflies. Too bad we never actually made it to the butterfly house! But we did go bowling! ;)

Try It On Tuesday: Essie Wrapped In Rubies & Sally Hansen Copper Penny

Welcome to another TIOT! Today I am, again, swatching 2 untrieds. Hopefully I can knock out most of my untrieds by the end of the year if I pair them up like this and also if I swatch them in collections as well! 

Polish Addict Review: Spiced Cocoa, Mint Chocolate Chip Mocha & Lavender Rain Cuticle Oil

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I am sorry for my lack of posting, with Christmas and some other unforeseen things that have come up it's been a little hard to get things posted like I normally do. This week will again be a crazy week for me, I am trying to get a few things done for you all, but I can't promise anything since there are some things that happened yesterday that take priority over nails. In the mean time I have managed to get some swatching done and today I have some polishes and a cuticle oil from Polish Addict, so lets get to the review! 

How About A Tutorial?

Good evening my polished pals! I was feeling a bit better at about 6 am so I decided to try and play with my polish for a while. I wanted to do something Christmasy but EASY since I am still feeling yuck and quite sore from all of the coughing. Candy canes came to mind instantly. I wasn't optimistic enough to attempt to do a tape mani, which I love because of the precise lines and my OCD, so I decided to use the stripe mani I did a while back for inspiration. This is my day 12 mani from the 31 day challenge.

Ugly Christmas Nails!

Hi! It's me again! Yes 2 posts in 1 day! Crazy right!? I really wanted to do some nail art and I feel like all I have been doing is review swatches lately. Don't get me wrong, I love reviewing, but sometimes it's nice to just do something goofy! I still have a few things I need to do to finish up my 31 day challenge album...I know it's been over for a long time now but I will have all 31 days in that album if it kills me! So for today's post I decided to go with the Holiday theme and do something silly. So here are my ugly Christmas nails! 

Day 26...and I bet you thought I forgot!

Inspired by a pattern. I really was having a major block when it came to picking back up in the challenge. I have been doing so much swatching lately that I feel like I have nail art block. Just when I was about to call it quits, I decided to use the pattern I see every single day. My towels! Duh. 

So here it is, my day 26 mani., and yes I know I skipped 23, 24 & 25, so please forgive me.

Day 22 "Inspired by a song"

Hi all, I know I'm late posting but at least I'm posing closer to the actual day than I have been! Today's mani was a tough one for me. I had a few ideas and I just wasn't feeling any of them. That on top of the killer headache I haven't been able to shake for about a week now I just said eff it and went with the song that kept popping in to my head all day anyway Mariposa Traicionera (treacherous butterfly) by Mana. 

Actually they were inspired by the album art for the single. 

Delicate Flowers...Days 14 & 15

Ok here it goes!  I am rushing through this post to try and beat midnight! O_O  I've been slacking off a bit lately and I need to get ahead of the game here! I apologize.

Today is day15 of the 31 day challenge but, since I missed day 14, I decided to combine the 2!

 

I started off with 2 coats of L'Oreal VIP Status...

 

VIP Status is a lovely charcoal color with a kind of blue undertone.

 

The formula is awesome, 2 coats gave full opacity and it is very forgiving if spots are missed, which I tend to do, you can go back over those spots and it blends well.

 

Then using Bundle Monster stamp plate BM-318 I stamped hibiscus flowers with Essie No Place Like Chrome.

 

I'm still working on perfecting my stamping skills but I LOVE stamping with the Essie Mirror Metallics. They are thick enough to make stamping so much easier for someone who gets the process but hasn't got it down pat yet.

 

I felt it was lacking something, and it was still a bit to severe in contrast to be "delicate" so I wanted to add something and decided on Finger Paints Flecked.

 

This is my first time using a flakie. I have to say I am in Love! I love the texture it brings to the mani without being overpowering like normal glitter can be. This particular bottle was a prize in a giveaway that I recently won.

 

I decided I wanted to make this a matte mani to make it even more subtle so I used my new butterLondon Matte Finish. 

 

Unfortunately in my excitement over using 2 new polishes I forgot to take pictures before I mattified it! Sorry! It was just as lovely all shinny as it is matte, at least I thought so.

 

Sorry about all the pictures I just couldn't get enough! LOL

 

As always don't forget to check out what the other lovely ladies have done!

Aaaaaand...if you haven't entered my giveaway click on the picture on the left of the page right above my profile!

 

 

-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
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L
-Chameleon Stampede
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
- Robin Sparkles



31 Day Challenge...Day 5 "Blue"

 

I'm really behind today, sorry gals, but here's my blue post. Short sweet and to the point.

 

 

I started with 1 coat of Essie Blue Rhapsody

 

 

 

Then I sponged Sinful Colors Blue By You

 

 

...and I added Orly Spazmatic to my ring finger.

(Yes I have a glitter problem! LOL)

 

That's all for now. I will have something more interesting for the next challenge day...I hope.

 

Now I need to check out what the other girls have done for their blue mani!

 

-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

 

 

 

My Favorite Things Day 2...

...my favorite polish. Man that's difficult!

I have so many favorites, so I went with the newest one, Essie Bikini So Teeny and for an accent

Sally Hansen Gem Crush Showgirl Chic. 

I just got this beautiful baby blue from Copious. Now I know I could have gotten it at the closest Walgreens but I ordered it for 3 reasons. 1) I had a $10 credit. 2) It had free shipping. 

3) It was $2 cheaper than buying it at Walgreens!

This is such a pretty blue but it was very hard to work with. It had full opaqueness after 3 coats but it tends to drag and pick up the color even after letting each coat thoroughly dry.

The Showgirl Chic is an amazing full coverage glitter bomb, 1 Coat was all it took.

I still need to get a second lamp for my light box so I was having difficulties getting decent pix, those were the best 3 out of about 20. O_o  So I decided to take a few direct sunlight pix too.

Well that's all for now! Don't forget to check out all the other amazing creations from the links below! Have a great weekend!



Ozotic 533 - Essie No Place Like Chrome

I received my first holo from my new blogger buddy over at OhThreeOhFour, and I have to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

This is also my first Essie too! I was so excited to have them I needed to use them both at once!

So without further ado, on to the post!

Warning: This post is going to be picture heavy. Sorry.

I started off on top of my base coat with 2 coats of Ozotic 533

It was sooooooo hard to capture the range of colors in this polish.

Then with Essie No Place Like Chrome I stamped with my Mash-47 plate

I love Essie's formula!

Too bad I'm still working on my stamping skills!

The good thing is I wanted to get more of that holo effect so I added 2 more coats on top.

It helped me make up for my crappy stamping job! Sort of a holo sandwich. LOL

Unfortunately it was a very overcast day so pictures were hard.

Indoor window light is the closest thing I have next to sunlight.

Yes, I know I need to build a lightbox!

And a few flash pictures.

One drawback to the Ozotic is the dry time. It was taking forever to dry so I did a holo no no and applied a coat of SV. I don't think it really had too much of an effect on the look though.

What's your favorite holo polish?

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3952811/?claim=bkjrz3d3g52">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>