31 Days of Nail Art - Day 7: Black + White Nails

Hello Everyone!

Here's my first catch up post.  I'll be continuing with Day 17 at 12pm PST but for now, a post to replace one of the ones I missed.

Today calls for Black & White nails.  I do a lot of Black & White so I was a little stumped as to what to do without repeating myself.  I decided to go geometric and simple.

Hope you like it!


Please check out what the other ladies have done. They completed this design several days ago.  We'll be posting simultaneously throughout the month so come back here tomorrow at 12pm PST for GLITTER Nails! and much later in the day I should be catching up on METALLIC nails!

Other participants:

Kelsie @ Kelsie's Nail Files, Steph @ A Little Polish , Erin @ Beauty Bumbles + Jess @ Nearly Natural Nails

31 Days of Nail Art - Day 16: Tribal Nails

Hi Everyone!

I'm so sorry for my absence!  Unfortunately lots of not so good life stuff is happening and it really required my attention.  I'm going to be continuing now the daily challenge posts and I'll be doubling and tripling up some days to catch up.

So, today is tribal nails.  Now I'm taking this in the broader sense of Native Art.  I live in BC, Canada so Native Art is tremendously culturally significant here.  I chose to attempt to recreate some of the local style of Haida Art.

Here's my inspiration photo...

This is not my best attempt but I felt out of practise already! I think I'll revisit this design another time when I'm not feeling so stressed. 

This is just China Glaze - White on White with acrylic paint for the whale.

Hope you like it!

Please check out what the other ladies have done. We'll be posting simultaneously throughout the month. Then, come back here tomorrow at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel for GLITTER Nails! (Hopefully, Ha!)

Other participants:

Kelsie @ Kelsie's Nail Files, Steph @ A Little Polish , Erin @ Beauty Bumbles + Jess @ Nearly Natural Nails

31 Days of Nail Art - Day 5: Blue Nails

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I'm running late today!!  I'll make this quick.

Today is 'Blue' nails.  I chose a gorgeous shimmery blue, China Glaze - Frost Bite and I was going to do V-gaps on it but my first line was a little off centre so I adapted to something else.  Hope you like it. 

That last photo is the only one that shows the real shimmer of Frost Bite.  I was having a problem if the camera caught the shimmer then the purple just faded away.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.  Tomorrow I'll be back to my regularly scheduled programming! =)

Please check out what the other ladies have done. We'll be posting simultaneously throughout the month. Then, come back here tomorrow at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel for VIOLET Nails!

Other participants:

Kelsie @ Kelsie's Nail Files, Steph @ A Little Polish , Erin @ Beauty Bumbles + Jess @ Nearly Natural Nails



31 Days of Nail Art - Day 4: Green Nails

Hello Everyone!

I hope you're all having a good day and looking forward to a great weekend!

Did you like all the yellow nails yesterday?  Today is Day 4 so that means green nails are called for.

So this is a bit of simpler nail art from me.  I had done about four manis that day on my nails by this time.  Lack of inspiration = bring out the dotting tools! =)  I had meant to combine a blue-green and a yellow-green as I like that somewhat unconventional pairing (see: my parrot nails) but when it came time to actually pick colours, I ended up using 2 blue-greens.  China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover for the base and China Glaze - Watermelon Rind for the shimmery accents.
Please check out what the other ladies have done. We'll be posting simultaneously throughout the month. Then, come back here tomorrow at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel for GREEN Nails!

Other participants:

Kelsie @ Kelsie's Nail Files, Steph @ A Little Polish , Erin @ Beauty Bumbles + Jess @ Nearly Natural Nails

31 Days of Nail Art - Day 3: Yellow Nails

Hello Everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying the designs from this challenge so far!  I think we're all doing great and we're only just getting started.

Today for you, we've got Yellow Nails!

The spring here has been basically non-existent.  We're still having terrible weather.  So, I keep trying to put spring or something that reminds me of better weather on my nails.  Today, I've put some tropical flowers on my nails!

This is 2 coats of China Glaze - Lemon Fizz with acrylic paint for the flowers.  I sort of made this flower up from 2 different photos I saw.  Neither was quite right but combining the two worked for me.

Please check out what the other ladies have done. We'll be posting simultaneously throughout the month. Then, come back here tomorrow at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel for GREEN Nails!

Other participants:

Kelsie @ Kelsie's Nail Files, Steph @ A Little Polish , Erin @ Beauty Bumbles + Jess @ Nearly Natural Nails

31 Days of Nail Art - Day 1: Red Nails

Hello Everyone!  Welcome to May!
This month I'll be doing the 31 days of nail art challenge with three other lovely ladies!
Kelsie @ Kelsie's Nail Files, Steph @ A Little Polish + Erin @ Beauty Bumbles

I'm really excited to be doing this and to keep up, I've tried to do as many of these as possible ahead of time.  It's going to be a fun month and I've done some things I'm thrilled to finally be getting to show you.

Starting with today's...

DAY 1: RED nails

While I was brainstorming for red nails.  I kept getting that song by Nena, 99 Red Balloons stuck in my head.  Finally I googled 99 Red Balloons under images and this came up.

I found it on tumblr here.  Unfortunately, when I try to click through to who he reblogged it from, it says URL no longer exists.

Anyway, I though it was a great shot and knew I wanted to try to recreate it.  I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue.

Then I sponged on some China Glaze - Kinetic Candy and China Glaze - White on White.

And then I added lots of little red 'balloons' with China Glaze - Salsa, Velvet Bow, Hey Sailor + Wicked Style.

 

What do you think?  I really liked this one!

Please check out what the other ladies have done.  We'll be posting simultaneously throughout the month.  Then, come back here tomorrow at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel for Orange Nails!

Other participants:

Kelsie @ Kelsie's Nail Files, Steph @ A Little Polish + Erin @ Beauty Bumbles

Last Chance: From the minute this post goes live, there will be only 9 hours left to enter my giveaway!! 

Just a Little Off Centre

Hello Everyone!

How are you all today?

I've got something pretty simple for you today.  Nonetheless, I was really happy with this.  I thought it had a somewhat mod-ish feel to it.

Look! I've got a right hand!

All I did was two coats of China Glaze - Liquid Leather then four dots with a medium sized dotting tool a little off centre down each nail in China Glaze - White on White.

Pretty simple right?  I really liked how it looked though.

What do you think?

Til next time,
Amanda

Like a Bird on a Wire

Hello Everyone!

I've got a bit of nail art for you today.  It didn't turn out quite as I had expected but I didn't dislike it.  I'd been planning to do this for quite a while but I wasn't sure that I could pull it off and I'm still not thrilled with it,  I think this is an idea I may revisit when my skills get better.

This mani was basically inspired by what I see outside my window everyday.  I live on the Pacific Ocean and there are a LOT of crows around.  Not many seagulls, just lots of crows.  Anyway, I wanted to paint them as I saw them.  My original plan was very thin lines and lots of birds but when the line came out so thick, proportionately I had to do bigger birds.

So, what do you think?  I don't know why I've been loving white nails so much lately but I have. 

I should mention that The Daily Nail recently had a mani up with a similar theme.  Our art is VERY different but I should just mention that it exists.   I can honestly say that I had planned to do these like this since well before I saw her design.

Well that is it for today kiddos!  I'm busy working on some art that won't be on display here until May when I do the 31 day challenge.

So, any ornithologists out there?

Til next time,

Amanda

P.S. Have you all entered my giveaway?

Accent Nail!

Oh dear.  I'm being a bit cheeky here. 

But, you know how once you have an idea sometimes you just can't really come up with anything else? I just kept coming back to this.

It's an accent nail.

Get it?  My keyboard isn't bilingual but my computer is set up to be because I need to write in French sometimes.  Unfortunately, this means that I forget the layout of my keyboard and that almost every time I try to type an apostrophe, I get "è"  The result? I have accents on the brain a lot.

So when I started brainstorming accent nails this was what kept coming back to me. =)  I'm brainstorming because Rejoice!  is holding an accent nail - nail art contest.

From nail bed to nail tip, we have: accent aigu, accent grave, accent circonflexe, cédille, umlauts, tilde.

What do you guys think? =)

Til next time,
Amanda

Red Hot Mama

Post title is because I heard Nazareth - Hair of the Dog on the radio.  But, it is appropriate!

Today I'm going to do a little something different.  I'm just going to post a swatch!  I don't think I've ever done that before.  I had planned to add some nail art to it but events this week regarding the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame leaves me wondering if I should bother with what I had planned.

I've been wearing these plain for the last 2 days in the meantime. (Does anyone remember that great song from the 90s called In The Meantime?  It was by Spacehog.  They were basically one hit wonders but the lead singer did get to marry Liv Tyler.  Ok. /tangent) The pictures, however, are from when I first painted them.

Sometimes a colour is just enough!  These are a gorgeous deep red.  I love them even more in person.  The colour is China Glaze - Salsa which I believe is part of their core line.  So it should be easily available!

I had planned on putting some nail art on here honouring Guns N' Roses being inducted into the hall of fame.  After Axl Rose's shenanigans this week, I'm not sure I should bother.  They were my absolute favourite band when I was a kid and I had wanted to recapture that love for a moment.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping and it is somewhat guilt-free.  A couple of the girls from work want some nail stuff so I get to look at and buy polishes without the expense.  Plus, I'm buying polishes for 2 swaps, so surely those purchases don't count either.  Right?

Plus, I received 2 giveaway wins in the last couple days so I'll post swatches and pics over the weekend.

Hope you are all looking forward to a great weekend.
'Til next time,
Amanda

Don't forget my Giveaway!

Crocodile Skin + 100 Followers!

Hello Everyone!

There are now 103 104 of you (potentially) reading this!  Thank you to everyone following and welcome to all the new followers.  I feel like I'm just getting started so I hope to show you a lot of neat stuff.

I don't have another giveaway planned just yet because the other one is still going on.  But, I'll see what I can do when it finishes! =)

Anyway, nails!

I saw a pair of sunglasses at work with crocodile skin print on the arms.  It looked pretty hot.  I, of course wondered how it would look on nails.  It was all in black and since I love me some black nails, (plus after pastel nails, I have an inherent knee-jerk reaction to go dark) I figured I'd give it a try.

I liked this but I didn't love it.  It was quite subtle in person and these definitely aren't going to be the nails that someone crosses the street to compliment you on but I was happy overall.

I did a quick google search to see what other kinds of crocodile nails existed and I couldn't find anything like this.  I found lots of people using a Barry M shatter that looked croc skin like and I found a few people had painted actual crocodiles on their nails.  With the popularity of croc skin items, I thought there would be more.

Anyway, what do you think?

Pass or fail?

'Til next time,
Amanda

My Easter Mani aka Spots + Stripes

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick post today to show you my Easter nails.  I wasn't feeling inspired by Easter at all.  I liked some of the polka dotted manis I was seeing so I came up with my own variation.  I used very spring-like colours and threw in some stripes for variety.

The base colour is China Glaze - Peachy Keen and the purples are China Glaze - Gothic Lolita and China Glaze - Sweet Hook.

I'm quite happy with this.  It's sweet and simple without being too easter-ish.  That being said, look for some nail art from me in a day or two.  I've got some ideas rattling in my brain and Monday and Tuesday off so I'll be painting nails. =)

Happy Easter Everyone!

'Til next time,
Amanda

Girly Girl Challenge #8: Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

Helllllo Everyone!!!!
I've stretched out this challenge as long as I possibly can but there is no getting around it.  This is the last one and the challenge is over.  It's been a great run and I've seen some fantastic manicures from my fellow participants.  Really fantastic work everyone!

So this final challenge was : Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

Since I've been doing a few "arty" manis lately, I thought I'd do something a little different and bring out the glitz!

I did a glitter gradient!  This was my first one and I was happy with how it turned out although I wasn't entirely happy with how it photographed.  This is a base colour of China Glaze - White on White with a glitter gradient of Icing - Lemme See Your Peacock.  (What a dirty name!)  The colours didn't capture too well but it is a great mix of peacock blue, a magenta-ish purple and green.  It looked great outside and I wore it all week.   It held up really well!

Thank you so much to the other participants and to Lindsey for bringing us all together.  I had a great time with this challenge! 

Please check out what the other ladies have done for this challenge!

'Til next time,
Amanda

P.S. I did quite a bit of hauling recently that I must show you!

P.P.S. Don"t forget to enter my giveaway here.
Challenge Creator: Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Lacquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi

CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Bonny of Over Stuffed

Taylor of REJOICE!
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

Girly Girl Challenge #7: Sugar & Spice

So I'm warning you now, my interpretation of this round is very strange!

When I was a little girl, my best friend used to pass me notes in class with these things on them.  When I asked what they were, she told me very matter-of-fact-ly, "Killer Cinnamon Buns!"  Like it was the most obvious thing in the world. :)

Well now, that's sugar with some spice!

And so I give you:  Attack of the Killer Cinnamon Buns!

They're gonna eat you as payback for all their kin you've consumed!

I know this is a little crazy but I thought it could work as a silly mani for April Fool's Day too.

Also, it's Jodie's (she who thought up these wicked little creatures!) Birthday next week. 

Happy Birthday Jo!

ETA: Jodie has approved this message!  ;)

So, only one more entry in this challenge to go for me!

Most of the other ladies participating have already completed it but you should check out what they did!

Oh, and...  Happy April Fool's!

'Til next time,

Amanda

Challenge Creator: Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Lacquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi

CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Bonny of Over Stuffed

Taylor of REJOICE!
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

Girly Girl Challenge #6: Sunflowers and Ladybugs

Hello Everyone!

Here (finally) is my Girly Girl Challenge entry #6.  Day 6 was, Who Inspires You? Show some love to your favourite female role model by creating gorgeous nails in their honour.

So like many of the ladies in this challenge, I chose my Mom.  I thought about choosing something different just for some variety, but, when it comes right down to it, she's inspired me most in my life.

So, these nails are for her...

My Mom really likes both Sunflowers and Ladybugs so I figured, why not both?

This is China Glaze - Smoke and Ashes with Acrylic paint freehanded on.  The Ladybug is China Glaze - Red Pearl.

I really liked how this one turned out.  It's definitely the most involved freehand I've done so far.
I had two sources of inspiration for this:  A metal garden decoration I just bought for my Mom of a Sunflower with a Ladybug on its leaf and an old copy of Painting Magazine from July/August 1994!  It featured a black watering can with Sunflowers on its cover.

I was really thrilled with how this turned out as this was basically how I'd envisioned it.

Please check out what the other lovely ladies participating came up with.  Most, if not all, are up now.  The next round starts tomorrow!

ETA: I've swapped some of these photos out for new ones.  I wasn't happy with how dark those other ones looked.

'Til next time,
Amanda

Challenge Creator: Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Lacquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi

CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Bonny of Over Stuffed

Taylor of REJOICE!
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

A Snow Leopard Goes His Own Way

Hi Everyone,

I know I still owe you all a Girly Girl Challenge and that is coming, I promise.  But first, I wanted to do something for the nail art contest at rebecca likes nails.

I like leopard patterns but since I've had so much colour in my manis lately I went for a more subdued colour scheme.  A Snow Leopard! 

One of the leopards is just a little wilder than his buddies! ;) 

I love the colour scheme of dark teal and tan so I went with that.  As I was painting this, I kept singing that old Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the others..."

This is Base Colour - China Glaze White on White.  Spot on all except ring are China Glaze Fast Track.  Ring spots are China Glaze Shower Together.  Black lines are China Glaze Liquid Leather.

I freehanded the pattern and am pretty happy with how it came out!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.  It's finally my GGC#6 post.  I'm absolutely in love with how it came out.  So, that's up next.

Anyway, what do you think?

'Til next time,

Amanda