Parrot Nail Art: Polly Wants Something Better Than Crackers

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to add some nail art to Color Club - Metamorphosis as it was the last of the Color Club collection that I swatched.  I was a little stumped so I went to the old painting magazines my Mom got me and found this little guy.

Isn't he cute?  I guess I shouldn't call him Polly if I'm going to keep referring to him as a guy. =)

Anyways, he was inspired by some Parrots designed for Painting Magazine by Donna Dewbury for the August 2000 issue.

I was really happy with this little guy!  I'd felt in a bit of a slump but maybe I'm coming out of it.  I really liked the back feathers on the ring finger but my nails are so curved you can't see them and his face in the same shot.

I used acrylic paint for this design.

What do you guys think?

=)

Til next time,

Amanda



Swatches: Color Club Take Wing Collection for Summer 2012 + Review

Hello Everyone!

Last week when I went shopping, I found an unexpected surprise.  I was supposed to be shopping for swaps and co-workers.  But, look what asked to come home with me!

Color Club Take Wing Collection

Shopping for Color Club here in Canada is a bit hit or miss.  I can never be sure new collections are going to show up or how much I'll find them for.  Often, I can get the sets from previous collections on sale at Winner's.  I think this is maybe how it is at Ross in the US?  Anyway. finding a brand new collection was a very pleasant surprise.

I swatched them all up, so here we go...

Tangled Up in Blue

Hehe, because I'm a fan of Arrested Development (and I'm excited that we get 10 NEW episodes next year) I considered calling this post, "I just Blue myself."  But, I thought as a post title without explanation that might be somewhat inappropriate.  So I'll just discuss it at length here. =)

I went with Robert Zimmerman AKA Bob Dylan for the post title. 

Either are appropriate though, because today I have for you an amazing blue.

Isn't that a gorgeous colour?  I just love it.  It's Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue. 2 coats.  It's even more vibrant in person.

I did put some nail art on this but you have to wait until May to see it as I'm saving it for my 31 Days of Nail Art challenge. =)

What do you think of the colour?

'Til next time,
Amanda

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

Rainbowify Me's Great Giveaway!

Hello Everyone!

I'd just like to bring you attention to a great giveaway.  Rainbowify Me is celebrating 100 followers with a giveaway with several prizes.  She's a lovely blogger and you should definitely check out her blog. =)

click the photo to be taken to the giveaway.

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

Konadlicious Amazing Giveaway

I don't often blog about give aways but this is really one that you should know about.

Konadlicious is so appreciative of her over 3000 followers that she is giving away a prize with a combined worth of 500$  It's Amazing!

Click the photo to be taken to the giveaway...

Rock-It

Hello Everyone!

I decided not to do the GNR tribute nails for obvious reasons but I did still have the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame on the brain so I went with this...

It's Orly - Rock-It.  It's a gorgeous colour that looks especially lovely in the bottle.  I didn't capture it well but the bottle is a gorgeous wine-ish colour with lots of gold and pink tones in there.  On the nail they combine to make a gorgeous polish with lots of the gold and pinkish shimmer catching the light.  I wouldn't really call this a Spring polish but it is still beautiful at any time of the year.

I did some polish shopping today.  I was trying to limit myself but I did find an unexpected surprise that I did pick up but I was buying a lot for other people.  Swaps and girls at work.  I think they'll all be pleased! =)

I'll probably post what I got tomorrow. Plus I've still got some giveaway winnings to show you!

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

Shopping Haul (Very Pic Heavy!)

Hello Everyone!

My friend Sharon and I recently went shopping in the next city over.  I hit up several stores while I was there and picked up 16 polishes.

First, we hit Shoppers.  I picked up Gosh - Miss Mole and Gosh - Midnight Blue from the discount bin.



Gosh - Miss Mole

Gosh - Midnight Blue

Lots more after the jump.

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

Giveaway Time!!!! 50 Followers!--Closed!

It's celebration time!  Earlier this week I hit 50 followers (now 58) on this blog and I'm just about to hit 100 followers (99) on my tumblr.  I think that calls for a celebration.  A giveaway celebration!

Here's the prize!

2 polishes by Quo by Orly.  Orly partnered with a Canadian beauty company - Quo last fall to start this line.  These polishes are exclusive to Canada and are therefore somewhat difficult for some of you to obtain.  I thought that would make them perfect for a giveaway! The giveaway is international!

Here's some more shots...

These are swatched from my own personal bottles not giveaway ones.

These polishes are truly gorgeous!  Amazing glass-fleck finishes.

Turquoise Midnight is supposed to be a slightly darker version of Orly's own Haley's Comet. It's a turquoise to blue shifting glass fleck.  Lots of variation of the shades of turquoise.

Celestial Star is also a gorgeous glass fleck finish.  Its glassflecks range from dark blue through indigo and to a deep purple. (Lol- inadvertant classic rock shoutout!)

I hope one of you will be happy to own these gorgeous polishes.

For anyone coming here from tumblr, unfortunately you need to follow me here also to enter but you will get extra credit for the tumblr follow also.

Good Luck Everyone!

Some Rules:
There will be one winner. I will contact them by email and they will have 72 hours to respond. This giveaway is International, however due to importing laws this excludes Italy and possibly others. If your country does not allow import of nail polish and you enter anyway, I am not responsible if package not received. In fact, for anyone, I will ship package but am not responsible if package goes unreceived.

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