Walk on the Wild Side

essence has just arrived here in Canada.  I knew I wanted to do a mani to celebrate and I've seen so many acid coloured zebra manicures that I  knew I wanted to try one.  I've seen lots of colours on one nail, I've seen one colour each nail, I've even seen professionalDQ paint a wall of her kitchen in a rainbow zebra.

I wanted to try it, but of course I wanted to try my own spin on it.  This is what I came up with.   A rainbow zebra that progresses down my nails with some overlap.

I think this might be my favourite manicure I've ever done on myself.

The colours I used were: Thumb = China Glaze - Pool Party + essence - wake up!

Index = essence - wake up! + essence - wanna be your sunshine

Middle = essence - wanna be your sunshine + essence - lime up!

Ring = essence - lime up! + essence - let's get lost

Pinkie = essence - let's get lost + essence - break through

I used Bundle Monster plate BM-223 to stamp and Konad Special Polish in Black.

Sorry for all the pics, I'm just so in love with these nails.  Anyways, last but not least...a rare daylight shot of my nails.  (There is a reason I named my blog NOX nails, after all)

So, there it is.  I freakin' love it and I think it's a worthy welcome to essence in Canada.

Hope you all love it too!

'Til next time,

Amanda

Girly-Girl Challenge #1

On the weekend, Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog asked for participants in a great challenge she created.

It's her Girly-Girl Challenge.
This is the challenge as it is laid out.

Lindsey suggested posting the challenge results on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I'm going to try and stick to that schedule.  I'm really liking this challenge because I'm a little commitment phobic, so a fun, relatively short challenge with posting flexibility seems right up my alley.  Plus, I'm not the girliest of girls so this actually is a bit of a challenge.

So, let's get to the challenge, right?

Day 1: Think PINK

Well, I wanted to use several different pinks and I had animal prints on the brain so I decided to do an Ombre manicure with leopard print over it.  Then I added little spots from two shades down the Ombre.

This manicure really pointed out to me how few pale pinks I have.  On the pinkie, I had to resort to white dots.

On my thumb, the base colour is China Glaze - Traffic Jam, index finger is China Glaze - Designer Satin, middle finger is China Glaze - Make an Entrance, ring finger is Essence - Ultimate Pink and pinkie is OPI - Pink Friday.  The leopard was stamped with Rimmel - Black Satin and Bundle Monster plate BM-223.

I hope you like it as this is my first challenge entry.

Anyone who happens by this post should definitely check out the entries from the other challenge participants.  I know they're all excited to participate and I'm sure their entries will all be amazing!
I know I'm excited to see all the designs.  I'm off to work right now but I can't wait to see them all tonight!

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 

Thanks for looking!

'Til next time,
Amanda

A Grey Day

Another stamping mani!  Yay!

Okay, so I need to apologise for these pictures in advance.  I had been wearing this polish for several days already and was just about to change it to something else when I remembered I hadn't photographed it.  That's why there is so much growth showing near the cuticle and there is so much tip wear. 

On top of that a pen slipped and jammed me in the cuticle.  That's the cause of the damaged index finger cuticle.  If that wasn't bad enough, it actually damaged my nail bed and created an indentation in my nail that I'm still waiting to finish growing out.

Alright, after all that, on to the mani!

I started with a grey base, Gosh - Miss Grey.  Then I stamped with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Lacey Lilac and Bundle Monster plate BM-209 on index, middle and pinky.  On my ring finger and thumb, I first stamped a fishnet pattern from BM-209 in SH Xtreme Wear - Plum Power (it barely shows up) then I stamped a flower from BM15 also in SH Xtreme Wear - Lacey Lilac.

The idea had been for the flower to look like it was growing up a trellis but the "trellis" part not showing up kinda ruined that.

Anyways overall, this was a semi-nailfail but it wasn't a total failure and it was a learning experience.

Thanks for looking!

'Til next time,

Amanda

A Leopard Called Audrey

Hello!

I've got another stamping mani today.  This one was also from the fall.  I had seen a lot of brightly coloured leopard print manis and despite its popularity I hadn't seen one done with For Audrey.  (I'm sure they exist, I just haven't seen them.)  Anyway, I thought it would look nice so I gave it a go.

I was really happy with how this turned out.

Base colour is China Glaze - For Audrey and leopard print is stamped using Konad Special Polish in Black and Bundle Monster plate BM-221.

I'm sorry all these pictures are "chicken-claw" looking.  I hadn't gotten the hang of posing with the bottle yet.

'Til next time,
Amanda

First Stamping Mani

Hello again!

This stamping mani was my very first full set after getting my Bundle Monster plates in September and playing around a bit with them.

I had a terrible time at first. Somehow after watching a few tutorials and reading a few blogs, the only that had really sunk in was to go quickly. That translated to me as lightning fast and I was rushing way too much. I had disastrous results! Anyway, once I calmed down and went about it quickly and efficiently, I started having fun.

This my first full nail plate mani. Unfortunately, the picture is quite blurry.

I used China Glaze - High Roller as the base colour. It's a great jelly red. Then I stamped over it in black Konad Special Polish using Bundle Monster plate BM-201. I know you can barely tell but I used the sort of spirally scrolly one.

I remember being very happy with how this turned out. I managed to line up the stamps almost perfectly. Yay!

So there it is. Sorry about the blurriness, the pictures really do get better eventually.

'Til next time,
Amanda

Nail Art Fail/Abstract Art

This manicure I did last fall.  I was inspired by several apple manicures I'd seen at the time and since my gold Gosh polish was just about ready to come off, I decided to try this over top. 

I didn't have any little brushes to paint leaves or stems with and I'd seen some variations with green rhinestones for the leaves so I decided to do that.  However, the only green rhinestones I had were quite large and from the dollar store.  Oh well, I forged ahead!

I chose quite a dark red for over the Gosh-Gold.  It was Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Wired Up. I made the curved tops of the apples and then added the huge rhinestones.

The result doesn't look a thing like apples.  Perhaps an abstract sort of apple if I'm being generous.

Anyways, here is the final result.  It actually looks quite Christmassy I think.

'Til next time,

Amanda

Pink Tips

I've been collecting pictures of my various manicures over the last year or so.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them but I knew I wanted a record of all the colours and stamps, etc.   This is what I've decided to do.  I'm going to blog them all here.

As we progress through the time line, both the nails and the pictures will get better.  I promise!

Anyways, here is a set I did last summer.
The base colour is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Midnight in NYC - a black cream base with subtle multi-coloured micro glitter.
The tips are Sinful Colors in Cream Pink - which despite its name is actually quite a hot pink with subtle shimmer.

My nails were quite short at the time.

So there you go my first posted mani.  Like I said, pictures and nails improved as I went along!

'Til next time,
Amanda