Let the Challenge Begin! #33DC

The time is finally upon us for the 2013 Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge!  I am excited about getting back into the swing of things but also a bit apprehensive, hoping I can keep up!  I always love seeing what everyone else comes up with for the themes as well, that is half the fun.  Please don't forget to check out the links below and see what the other participants come up with!  As always, don't hesitate to leave feedback or ask questions!
 Now on to the nails....
Today's theme is Dots.

I had an image in my head of how this would turn out and while it isn't exactly as I had planned, I was satisfied with it nonetheless.  I hoped the two tone dots would "swirl" a bit more (sort of like the middle on the yellow/green finger) but it didn't exactly turn out that way.
I started with a base of Milani White on the Spot, then moved on to the colors.  On my work space, I dropped a drop of Zoya America and Sinful Colors Big Daddy next to each other (touching) and started with one shade, then the other, then dipped my dotting tool in the middle where the two colors met for the middle dots.  on my middle finger is Julep Catrina and China Glaze Starboard, ring finger is Nails Inc Baker Street and OPI Roadhouse Blues.  On my pinkie I had intended to just use a "violet" shade but Zoya Pinta ended up looking almost black so I went back over with dots of L'Oreal Paparazzi Pleaser a bit offset of the others then topped it all off with a coat of Seche.

Inspired by a Game

I had a few different ideas for today's theme.  I had intended to go a different direction with this one but this idea came to me at the last minute and I'm glad I went with it!  We used to spend hours as kids playing Tetris on the original Nintendo and thought it was great so these were sort of nostalgic for me.

Index finger to pinky: L'Oreal Paparazzi Pleaser, OPI Did it on Em, China Glaze Aqua Baby, and Sinful Colors Pull Over.  The little studs I bought quite a while back at Born Pretty Store and hadn't had a chance to use yet.  I painted the color on and then a layer of NYC and applied them with a toothpick while the topcoat was still tacky.

Marble Nails

Today's theme is "saran wrap nails".  This is a new technique to me, I had seen it before but hadn't tried it yet.  I started with a base of Sinful Colors Black on Black.  Once it was dry I put some random dots of China Glaze Admire and Cherish.  The tutorials I read said to ball up the plastic and dab it on the nail to remove some of the polish.  I started with that technique but found that if I just pressed the plastic to the nail and peeled it off it worked better for me.  I applied one coat of NYC Grand Central Station as a topcoat.

Then I applied a coat of NYC Matte me Crazy.  I think I like the matte look better for this one, what do ya'll think?

Sinful Colors Mesmerize Swatch and Review

If you follow me on Facebook you may have seen me post earlier this evening that I am better at doing my own nails than my own hair.  I have an event coming up next weekend and I wanted to get my hair colored before it.  I have pretty much always done my own hair without any real problems; this time was different.  It was an absolute disaster and I may leave it to the professionals from now on....

Anyway, I found myself at Walgreen's today and found a display of Sinful Colors that had some polishes yet to make my collection.  I ended up only getting a couple because I will be out of town again next weekend and didn't want to spend a lot.  One of the colors I picked up is Mesmerize.  It is a great deep purple (leaning blue) cream shade that is perfect for the cooler weather we have had here in the Midwest.  If you are careful you can get away with just one coat which is what is shown here, I did at Seche Vite as a topcoat.

Zoya Evvie vs Sinful Leap Flog

When I got my Zoya order in the other day I happened to already be wearing Sinful Colors Leap Flog, it is a beautiful greyed green shade that I am sure will be perfect for fall.  When I pulled Evvie out of the box though, I was concerned that they would be dupes.  So, I did a quick swatch to see how close they are.

As you can see from the photos, Evvie is a bit deeper, and in real life looks a little more gray, Leap Flog is a bit of a thinner formula and leans more green.  So while they are similar, in my opinion, they are NOT dupes!  

Sinful Colors Island Coral Swatch and Review

This is going to be a rather quick post, I didn't get a chance to do today's Summer Challenge post but I may try to make it up tomorrow....

I did a quick swatch of Sinful Colors Island Coral because it was one of the ones I hadn't tried yet and I wanted something a bit different.  Pictured here is two thin coats, probably could have used a third.  In the light you can still see some VNL though it wasn't as obvious in real life.

Bumblebee in a Rain Storm

Today's theme is "Bumblebees".  This is another of the themes that I knew I wanted to try but put off until the last minute.  I will likely revisit the bumblebee theme in the future as I do have some other ideas that could have been lots of fun...  For this one, I started with a base of Sinful Colors Rain Storm which is a gorgeous navy blue cream shade.  I used black polish and a striping brush for the lines and the same brush to freehand the bee detail.  NYC Lexington Yellow for the yellow stripes and for the wings I used Zoya Purity topped with Revlon Coconut Crush for a little shimmer.

Mizzou Nails!!

I must admit, I'm not a huge college sports fan...but, having your best friend's little brother make the team is kind of a big deal.  I grew up in a very small town...48 people in my graduating class and we were a big class.  So having someone from there make it as part of the team at MU is HUGE.  So, I did these nails to show my support.  I am actually pretty stoked with how they turned out and I am sure that once the season starts, I will be doing nails for some pretty big fans!

I used Zoya Purity for the base, sponged Sinful Colors Pull Over on the tips and stamped with a generic black stamping polish and Cheeky CH2 plate.  I used a small detail brush and Sally Hansen Black Heart for the letters and NYC as the topcoat.  

Summer Challenge: Red, Orange, Yellow

So I realize that by the time I get this posted it will probably be time for tomorrow's post but, I'm going to put it up anyway...cause I can.  I had lots of trouble getting this one to photo correctly, and it still isn't right.  The tips are more red than it appears, in fact the bottle in my hand is more red than it appears.  Lighting wasn't my friend this evening.  But alas, here it is.  A gradient using Sinful Colors Let's Meet and Essie Jag-U-Are stamped using Bundle Monster plate BM12 in black with a sort of flame design. Topped with NYC for the topcoat. Be sure and check out the others!!

Pucker Up, Buttercup!

 Today's Summer Challenge theme is "Buttercups".  I made this theme into a sort of mini challenge for myself to try to do it freehand and with only drugstore polish.  All things considered I'm pleased with the way it turned out, especially after yesterday's disaster.  I do sort of wish I had used a darker base color though; alas, live and learn.

Base: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Lavender Cloud
Flowers: Revlon Buttercup, Sinful Colors Pull Over and Olympia
Scrolls: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Golden-I
Topcoat: NYC Grand Central Station

What do you think?  Please be sure and use the tab above or links below to check out what the other girls came up with!

Late Nite Summer Challenge Post - Beach Towels

I struggled with what to do for this design, there are so many different things that can be done with today's theme and the ideas were overwhelming.  I finally decided to try a gradient design, I usually fail miserably at them and wanted to push myself a bit.  I ended up using the tutorial by Sammy at the Nailasaurs which can be found here.  I had tried this method once before and failed, I'm not sure what I did wrong but this one turned out better than I expected!  I started with a base of white and used Sinful Colors Fusion Neon (pink) and Why Not (blue) for the gradient.  The accent nail is China Glaze Kinetic Candy stamped in a stripe pattern (Cheeky CH6) with China Glaze Aqua Baby and then the seahorse design from with plate m27 (fake Konad).  The flip flop design is from the new Bundle Monster set and is plate BM-309.  Overall I'm pleased with how they turned out.  Don't forget to check out the others!!

Happy Easter!!

Sorry for the late posting, it has been a very busy week around here! Several people out at work due to major illnesses and that means a lot of overtime for me and with school...well it really hasn't been fun.

Anyway, on to today's mani! This one is pretty simple compared to my entry for Nouveau Cheap's Easter roundup which you can see here. For this one, I started with one coat of essence Dress For a Moment and then one coat of Sinful's Purple Diamond. The Purple Diamond is a beautiful color but very sheer, the sparkle is amazing though! Then on my ring finger I used a dotting tool and Sinful's Snow Me White for the bunny, Essie Raise Awareness for the pink accents and essence Black is Back for the eyes and whiskers. Hope you all had a blessed holiday!

Green Tips

I used to French tip my nails all the time because I really like the "classy" look of it but I haven't done it in a while so while I was trying to come up with ideas for this weeks Green Theme, I thought I would have one of them be a French. I have seen several versions of a green French tip mani out there over the past several days. I think it's still classy enough that really about anyone can pull it off. With so many different shades of green out there you should be able to find one that will suit your style! For mine I chose Sinful Exotic Green. Beautiful shade really though I don't think I have worn it alone, for this the formula was great. I just painted the tips with it and then covered the whole nail with Seche Vite and then used Sephora's Aluminum Gold with a dotting tool for the accents. The little gold flower is from a package I got at Sephora around Christmas.

Irish Flag Nails

So for today's nails I went with the "Irish" theme and decided to try the Irish flag. Luckily for me, it's a pretty simple design. I started with two coats of Sinful Snow Me White and waited until it was totally dry and then used a strip of tape down the center of each nail and then painted one side with NYC High Line Green and the other with essence Wake Up! I waited about a minute and took the tape off and topped the whole thing off with a coat of Seche.

What do you think? Let's hope I can come up with a good idea for tomorrow!

Post V-Day Epic Haul!!

So I have talked before about living in the middle of nowhere with really no beauty stores nearby. However, they have recently opened an Ulta about an hour away so today I decided to go. I found several deals and made it out with several new polishes and then stopped at a few drug stores along the way to see what I could find...

Top L-R : OPI Skull and Glossbones, Stranger Tides, Mermaids Tears, Revlon Coconut Crush and Sublime Strawberry (both scented) then Ulta Army of 1 and Maine Attraction and the one on the end is Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice

Bottom L-R : Butter LONDON Knackered and Bossy Boots, Essence Luxury Secret, Where is the Party, High Spirits, Glamours Life, and You Belong to Me and a pack of the Vanilla polish remover pads

They also had a special going for a free gift with purchase of $17.50 worth of Ulta product (I also got one of their mascara) so this was what was in the gift bag. The polish is called Lav-ish.

Top L-R : Wet N Wild Wet Cement, I Need a Refresh-Mint, Undercover, Disturbia, L'Oreal Walk on the Beach and Eiffel For You, Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty and Lavender Cloud

Bottom L-R Sinful Colors Call You Later and Nicole by OPI It's Not Me, It's Blue

Top L-R : Sinful Colors Glass Pink, Nail Junkie, All About You, You Just Wait, Unicorn, Nirvana and Cinderella

Middle L-R : Sinful Colors Exotic Green, Tutu, Easy Going, Love Nails, Purple Diamond, Gorgeous, and Sally Hansen Night Flight

Bottom L-R : Revlon Plum Night, Ruby Ribbon, Emerald City, CQ Rustic Dream, Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal, Blank Slate and L'Oreal Caught Red-Handed

This is probably the most polish I have gotten in one day, a good mix of textures, colors and finishes and everything from high-end to drug store brands...now if I just had enough hands to swatch them all ! :)

Zebra Print Nails

A friend of mine is having a second birthday party for her daughter and the theme is basically "hot pink and zebra print". I thought this sounded like an interesting idea for nails so I gave it a try. I started with Sinful Colors Snow Me White and then sponged Dream On (also Sinful Colors) on the tips. I added a coat of Insta-Dri and waited for it to dry and then used Sinful's Black on Black for the stamp using plate m57 and a final coat of Insta-Dri.