ABC Challenge: Q is for Q-Tip Manicure

I spent all week thinking I didn't have a single Q polish, so I decided to do something with nail art. I was actually REALLY happy with how this mani turned out. I used Milani's Instant Pearl and then dabbed Essie's Turquoise and Caicos on a Q tip, and rolled it over my nails. The result is a subtle watercolor manicure. The problem? It doesn't photograph well AT ALL. After about an hour of trying, I gave up and just picked the best of the worst. It's really a shame, because in person it's such a sweet peppermint candy manicure.

 

Of course, after I go through all this, I realized that one of my Milani's is called "Quick Teal". *sigh* I need to organize my stash. 

ABC Challenge: P is for Purple Haze

Hey ladies. I'm so sorry I've been absent; as you've probably heard from Kimber, I've been away on vacation in South Africa. I had planned ahead and done my swatches for O before I left, and then left the photos on my other stick. *sigh*
So, here's my belated O: OPI's Live and Let Die.

Now, while on safari, my nails suffered unspeakable breaks. I mean, my right hand is utterly mangled. You can't even speak of nubbins, there's just nothing there. I'm traumatized every time I look at them, and I'm not even sure there's enough nail to get fake extensions. I'll have to see what I do. I may get those awful paste ons from CVS just to cope with it in the meantime. 

My left hand fared a tiny bit better; not much, but there's a little white on the tips at least. So, just, be warned!

I chose Ulta's Purple Haze, and OPI's Pirouette My Whistle for this challenge. I have actually never used an Ulta brand before, and I was not overly impressed. I thought it was very sheer, which some people like, but is just not my personal preference. As for Pirouette, I was obsessed with it when I first bought it, but I fear my constant travelling has caused it to gloop, and by the time I got around to taking photos, it had started to shrink. 

Overall, not my best mani week, although I daresay a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm just painfully depressed over my nail breakage. I really do like the color combo as a whole, and Pirouette makes everything look like a snow globe, which makes me happy. 

That being said, here are some of my South Africa shots; hopefully they'll make up for me slacking off. =D

In case you couldn't tell from my face, I was petrified, holding that boa constrictor. I have a long-standing fear of snakes, so I was VERY proud of myself for holding one in spite of it.

ABC Challenge: N is for Nailtini

I've been kind of excited for N, because Nailtini is one of my absolute favorite nail polish brands. Not only is the name just amazing, but they did a collab with Janie Bryant to do a Mad Men collection, and since I'm a little obsessed with the fashion on that show, I was incredibly excited for this collection.

Today I'm featuring Blue Carnation, one of my few favorite pastels.

Not only is it a gorgeous eggshell blue, but it matches my favorite tea mug. I am not even ashamed to admit I was wearing this polish when I saw the mug and bought it just because they matched.

ABC Challenge, M is for Mine

Okay I'm late today because earlier I made the mistake of making my very first holographic nail polish. I love it so much I just don't want to take it off, so I talked to Kimber and she agreed that tears would be shed over its removal.

So I'm very selfishly making this post about my own polish.

First photo is two coats, second photo is one coat. This is my first time making a holo, so I'm really excited about how it looks; the draw back being that now I have to wait until I get back from my trip to get the new bottles I want to sell them in.

ABC Challenge: K is for Keep up the Flame

I'm going to have to seriously go over my entire stash because this is the second week in a row I've been struck with the realization I don't have a fitting letter for the challenge. Lucky me, CVS has a pretty broad selection of brands to choose from, and I picked up Maybelline's "Keep up the Flame", and Nicole by OPI's "Kissed at Midnight" from the Selena Gomez collection.

I had a hard time making the flash work with the gold against the red. It kept turning orange. Once I went outside the issue resolved pretty quickly. 

For being a last minute find, I'm pretty excited about how it turned out. I love Maybelline's color show polishes as base colors. They're inexpensive, they dry quickly, and application is smooth. I'm not the biggest fan of Nicole by OPI in general; for being a branch of OPI, the formula is NOT impressive, and it's still 8 dollars a bottle. Kissed at Midnight, however, was great. I was really happy with the application and the amount of glitter that came out with one coat. It applies evenly and dries super fast. 

I was also kind of stoke that my manicure matches my new lip-liner pencil. I'm easily amused. 

ABC Challenge: J is for Jackson Polish

So, tonight was interesting. When I moved a few months ago, I left behind almost my entire polish collection, so while going through my stash for today's manicure, I suddenly realized I don't have a single J polish. So, of course, I had to run to CVS to find a J. Thank God for late hour drug stores.

While there, I found some polishes from the new Revlon stick colors. I desperately looked through all their Moon Candy polishes for a J but found nothing. (that's okay, because I still bought one for my M post!) Then I went through their other nail art sticks and found "Jackson Polish".

I'm not going to lie, I think the color combination is one of the WORST I've ever seen. I have no idea what possessed them to put those two colors together. I like the individual colors, but they just do not look good together. It doesn't help that I just suck with nail art brushes so even if the colors did go well together, the brush strokes still don't. Haha. I actually removed the manicure and just put the base coat back on and paired it with OPI's Rainbow Connection. It looks a lot better and I'm pleased with the result.

Other than that, though, I loved the formula of this polish. It just took a single coat to receive full coverage, although I used two the second time around just to be sure. It's smooth, not at all streaky, and dries quickly.  I'm super looking forward to trying out their Moon Candy edition of the stick. I think those colors are much better matched. Haha

ABC Challenge I is for I Vant to be a Lonestar

Ughh, sorry I've been so MIA guys. My dad was hospitalized early last week and he and my mother live outside the US, so my mom had to write me an e-mail saying he was in great pain with a big mass in his throat and had an allergic reaction to the CT scanning dye. She's not the best communicator so that's all the information I had for almost 4 days before she finally called me with an update. -_- He will make a full recovery but it was nerve-wrecking there for a bit. ANYHOW. On to happier things! I have a triple I for ya'll today! I decided to pair I Vant to be a Lonestar by OPI with It's Bouquet With Me by Sephora by OPI, and a touch of I'll be Dancing Circles by BG Cosmetics on the ring finger.

 

My middle and index finger are still recuperating from the break. :( It's so frustrating! Anyhow, I like I Vant to be a Lonestar on its own, but paired with It's Bouquet With Me, it takes on this whole new hue that I absolutely adore.

I decided to pair I'll be Dancing Circles with it so you could see the original color peek through and because I needed something funky so I could at least pretend it sort of fits my friend's '70s Nails theme for tonight. I'll probably end up doing a whole new manicure anyway. -_-

G is for Gargantuan Green Grape

I feel like I'm so late in posting today just because I'm so used to being awake until 2 in the morning and posting then.

Anyway, today is a bit of a fail manicure, because while Gargantuan Green Grape by OPI is a squishy creme pastel green of awesomeness, I decided to attempt to draw a bunch of grapes on my ring finger when I don't have a dotting tool, and now it looks like picasso did it. On top of that, I had to file down my index and middle finger because of breakage, so it's just not my best nail week overall.

Ah well. I still like the green.

Maybe I've gotten used to indie formula, but this was a lot thinner than I remembered and it actually took me a moment to get used to it again. Nevertheless, it applies smoothly, dries relatively well, and it just looks amazing. Perfect for spring.

I used Orly's Charged Up for the grapes, and as you can see, it's quite the abstract interpretation of grapes. Haha.

F is for French Manicure

I spent forever trying to figure out what to do about today's manicure since I really wanted to try something other than just the name of the nail polish. I contemplated drawing fruit on my nails but really there's a reason I flunked art.

I apologize for the shoddy photos; my camera was super wonky and I ended up  using my iPhone for the last shot.  Anyway, the polish used was actually just three coats of Seche Base, with one coat of Diamonds in the Sky by my brand, BG Cosmetics, (that's allowed, right? ^_^) and a thin line of silver glitter dust.

I used circle tape and it was really thick and didn't evenly block out the holes, so I ultimately just had an approximate shape guide. Keeping that in mind, I wanted a thick polish for the tips because I didn't want it running down the tape. So I took a bottle of my blue and thickened it to where it was almost like a gel paste, and then dabbed it along the  line. I then took an angled brush, dipped it in some of my silver glitter dust, and ran it along the border of the colors.

I think my ring finger and pinkie turned out the best, but that's because they have the best natural shape to them. I have the hardest time filing the shape of my middle and index finger, so making the french tip turn out in that perfect shape is a freaking pain. Considering how long it's been since I've even attempted a french mani, I'm actually pretty pleased with the results. I just wish I had had a nude color to pair with the blue. The white base just showed up too stark in the photos.

ABC Challenge: E is for Essie

Man a week just flies by so fast. This week I'm using Essie's "Beyond Cozy" again. This time mixed with OPI's "Live and Let Die" from the Skyfall collection. It was the only glitter I had that I could make work with my first attempt at a tape mani. 

 

I don't have mani tape, so I used scotch tape. I'm still not super happy with the results, but it's my first time so after three botched attempts it became personal and I was determined to make it somewhat passable. Haha. 

 

 

All photos are two coats OPI, one coat Essie, and one coat HK Girl top coat. 

OPI and Essie are both my two top favorite mainstream nail polish brands. OPI is smooth and thick, but not too thick, and Essie has that thin yet opaque glitter that remarkably didn't run or stick through the scotch tape. 

It's another dark mani, but we had a couple cold days here in Texas and that's all the excuse I need to drag out dark colors another week. =D

ABC Challenge: D is for Dark Brown

I've been wearing so much glitter lately, I've completely neglected my more basic colors. So, for D I decided to go with Milani's "Dark Brown". And just because I couldn't give up on the glitter entirely, I decided to jazz up my ring finger with Essie's "Beyond Cozy".

Two coats Milani "Dark Brown", one coat HK Girl Top Coat.

Two coats Milani "Dark Brown", one coat HK Girl Top Coat.

I don't know how much you can tell--maybe I'm just that neurotic--but my index finger is a great deal longer than the rest of my nails. I had a horrific break on my middle finger and a minor one on my ring finger in a freak accident in the kitchen, and I couldn't bring myself to file my nails down. I can't wait for them to be nice and long again. *sigh*

Anyway, back to the polish. For being a "cheap" CVS brand, I adore Milani. Their polish occasionally has a stronger than usual odor, but for the price tag and formula, I can look past that. It always applys on super smooth and shiny; no visible brush strokes. Just one layer of my topcoat and you can see how shiny and glossy they are. Milani dries fast too, which is always a huge bonus for me.

This might be more of a fall/winter manicure, but I just love dark colors, so I'm using what's left of January as an excuse before I move on to more pastels and neons.

ABC Challenge: Candy Shop by Deborah Lippmann

I know I'm two shades late in joining the challenge, but I hope this amazing color by Deborah Lippmann makes up for it.

Deborah Lippmann is a special brand to me, as it played a huge role in inspiring my own venture in the world of cosmetics. The price tag is hard to swallow at first, but honestly with the first brush stroke I knew it was worth every dollar.

Candy Shop is one of my favorite opaque glitters of all time. The bubble gum pink base and the literal explosion of red and blue and yellow and green and gold... my eyes can't even take in all the colors at once. There's so much glitter you almost have to play hide-and-go-seek with the base coat.

It's so very hard to find opaque glitter in mainstream polishes, especially ones with quality. The formula is amazing. It has an amazing consistency that isn't goopy or runny; it dries super fast, and I only needed one coat of HK Girl Topcoat (my new favorite topcoat, by the way!) to make it super smooth and shiny. It looks like the gory aftermath of a pinata party rush, and that makes me happy, which is exactly what nail polish should do.