31 Days of Nail Art - Day 2: Orange Nails

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to day 2 of 31 days of nail art.  I hope you all liked what Kelsie, Erin, Stephanie & I did for you yesterday and I hope you're all ready for orange nails today.  Jess @ Nearly Natural Nails has decided to join us.  Links to all participants at the bottom!

Anyone feeling crabby? =)

I saw a crab on a beach towel and decided he might be perfect for orange nails.  I've changed him quite a bit (and left half of him off!) but I'm happy with this.  I think he's pretty cute!

This is 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Sun Kissed and 1 coat of Color Club - Sparkle & Soar.  I painted the acrylics but let some of the base orange show through.

Here's what 2 coats Sun Kissed and 1 coat Sparkle & Soar looked like by themselves:

What do you think?  Anyone else suddenly craving crab cakes? =)

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 YELLOW Nails!

Other participants:

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

P.S. Giveaway winner, barring any unforseen problems, should be announced tomorrow!

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!! 

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

Luck O' the Irish!

Top O' the Mornin' to You!  Well it's still morning here anyway. :)

Just a quick post today to show you some nails I'm rocking this week for St. Patrick's Day.

To get this manicure, I put 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Going Green over my basecoat.  Then I added one coat of Zoya - Opal (Yay Flakies!)  Once that was dry, I stamped with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Green with Envy and Bundle Monster plate BM03 on index, middle and pinkie.  Then, again with Green with Envy, I stamped using Red Angel plate RA-116 on ring and thumb.  Then I topped the whole thing with Seche Vite.

I'm very happy with these nails.  They turned out super green but the flakies look gorgeous in person.  They are flashing green in one direction and teal in the other.   The stamping turned out quite subtle but I'm alright with that.

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