31 Day Challenge Take 2

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while. I just got back from my Thanksgiving holiday on Monday and I've been playing catch up with my school work since then. I have good news though. I found an alternative to my Photoshop trial. The bad news is that it is arriving on Monday. That's 3 days after the 31 Day Challenge starts. :( Well, I'll just paint my nails like everyone else, but I won't post them until my software arrives. A few days isn't so bad, right?

So what is this 31 Day Challenge Take 2 (31DCT2), you say? Well, from those of you following this blog from the start, you're probably confused because I haven't even done the original 31 Day Challenge (31DC). I was planning on doing the 31DC in January because it would be during my winter break, and the beginning of the new semester that starts in the middle of January, which wouldn't be so bad. Then I came across the 31DCT2 in the beginning of November. This challenge fits best if you do it in December, so I decided that I'm going to do the 2 challenges back to back. Yes, that means I'll be doing the challenges all through finals week *shudders.* Let's hope I survive!

Anyway, this updated challenge was created by none other than Nailed It NZ, A girl with some clothes, and From L&P to English Tea! They nicknamed this challenge "Take Two" and it sure sounds like fun! Here is a picture of the list that they created:

The challenge starts tomorrow, so wish me luck! I'll certainly need it since all of my end of the semester assignments are due December 4th... Yikes! 

Edit: I just checked tracking on my package and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow!! It can't wait for the Take 2 challenge either. ;)

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

Christmas is in the air, which unfortunate since Thanksgiving isn't even here yet... Anyway, this is a plus for all of you! I was shopping around in my favorite beauty supply store the other day when I saw something that is totally worth sharing.

Ever heard of the store Ulta? Well, they have all of these amazing sets that have, you guessed it, Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream! And even better, they're priced pretty well. When I saw them stacked so nicely on the shelves, I secretly made it my mission to get them all as presents. ;)

The first picture is one pack I bought myself. I needed lip balm anyway, and it was so cheap. They had them in other lip balm flavors like regular beeswax and the pomegranate one, but I hate pomegranate and normal is so boring. I decided to try the acai berry, and I LOVE it. Have you ever smelled acai berry and blueberry juice? It smells just like that. So good!

Nov 2012: Philip's Caution Tape "Man"icure

Hey everyone! I know it has been a few days, but don't worry! I didn't leave. I've been busy preparing a special treat for you guys. What is that, you may wonder? Well, I'm glad you asked!

Since I started doing nail art and posting it online, I thought it was funny that the word 'man' is in manicure. Is that a coincidence? I like to think not. Then I started wondering if guys actually like getting their nails done, but just don't tell anyone. I've come to the conclusion that very few do. I did, however, find out that there are a handful of guys willing to get their nails done, so long as the evidence is gone before there are any witnesses.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to my once a month special: "MAN"icures! I have rounded up a panel of 5 guys (Hard to believe 5 guys would be willing to do this, right?) who aren't related to me in any way. Now, in order to protect their pride and identities (And let's face it, their egos), I have asked them to pick out aliases. So far, only one has gotten back to me, and he's the one being featured in this post.

Say hello to Philip!!

Laser Tape Mani

Helloooo everyone! Today was such a beautiful day that I am in a fantastic mood, and since I'm in this great mood, I thought I'd share with you all my first attempt at a laser tape manicure. After I finished, I realized that it kind of like a laser rasta manicure, kind of like the picture I found below on Google. I totally wasn't going for that.

The reason why I chose the colors I did was because they're all fall-ish, minus the green. But that's the normal color of leaves, right? So that should do..

Let it Snow Matte Sandwich Manicure

It's snowing!! Usually that's a good thing, but for New Jersey, this is pretty devastating since we were just hit by a hurricane. Anyway, I'm trying to look on the bright side. I thought I'd set the mood today with a little "frosty" delight.

This is my first ever attempt at a sandwich manicure, and to make it even more exciting, my first time using matte nail polish! You have no idea how excited I was to whip out my "shiny" new matte top coat.

Autumn Stripes

Now that November has "fallen" upon us (Haaah. I crack myself up), I've been dying to use some fall colors! I just came out of an October challenge and thought I'd keep the first one simple.

Don't these look so festive?! I just love how well the colors go together.

There wasn't any inspiration behind this design (besides the colors!!). I've just been dying to use all 3 of these colors at once. The only 'challenging' part was figuring out which order to put the colors in.

Even though it looks like it in the pictures, the middle stripe is not gold. I don't even own a regular gold polish yet! It's actually an extremely shimmery bronze. Before I painted the red stripe, I was so afraid that the bronze color would fade into the orange because they are similar tones. Thankfully, it stands out just the prefect amount.

For this manicure, I used all China Glaze polishes in Riveting, Harvest Moon (How appropriate!), and Long Kiss. 

Let me know what you think!

  

Fish Food

I went to a Halloween party the weekend before Hurricane Sandy hit, and I had to do my nails according to my costume. When I was getting ready for the party, I had no idea how I was going to paint my nails, so I decided to modify the design I was already wearing.

The prompt for the challenge I was in was witches, so I was still sporting my witches brew. Since I didn't have much time to come up with anything new, I painted right on top.

For this manicure, I used the watercolor method. Here's a great tutorial from Beauty Geeks.

In order to make it look more like "fish food," I added a flaky glitter on top.

I'm sorry for the bad quality of the pictures and my even worse attempt to paint over the edge of my nail where the polish had already worn off. I was rushed and didn't have time for a real photo shoot or for fixing them. I kinda like how they came out, though. It's so colorful and sparkly. This manicure was perfect for what I was going for and it worked out really well. :)

I'm just going to go over the colors I used for the second part of this manicure. Those were: China Glaze Coconut Kiss, China Glaze Custom Kicks, Sinful Colors Kissy, Sally Hansen Insta- Dri Co-Bolt Blue, and China Glaze Luxe and Lush.

This is me in my costume trying to do a serious pose... It's so bad, it's funny! I crack up every time I see this picture. I hope it makes you all laugh too. :P

TIHC Oct 31: Recreate your favorite from another challenger

I've been waiting to do this design for a couple of weeks now. Once I saw Somewhere Over the Polish Rainbow come up with it, I knew this was the design I was going to recreate. You can find her version here.

I spent a looong time going through my nail polish collection trying to find colors similar to the ones Shannon used. As it turns out, I don't have nearly as many oranges and reds as I do blues and greens. I had a lot of purple, but none of them sparkled.

That's when I decided to use different colors instead. I know this is part of a Halloween challenge, but I'm posting this in November. I don't think it matters too much anymore, so I hope...

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE how well this turned out. This has to be my most favorite design I've done to date.

I didn't follow Shannon's design too well. My gradient wouldn't blend too well and I made the dots way smaller, closer together, and in even lines. Honestly though, I love it. The idea of the challenge was to recreate, and not copy the manicure, and that's exactly what I did.

For this design, I used a lot of nail polishes. I'll try and make order of them as best as I can.

Base/ Gradient

• China Glaze Electric Pineapple
• China Glaze Entourage
• China Glaze Custom Kicks

Dots starting from the middle

• Orly Instant Artist 24 K Glitter
• Piggy Polish Irish I Was Irish
• Revlon Radiant
• Sinful Colors Kissy

I hope you enjoy this design as much I do!

TIHC Oct 30: Trick or Treat!

There were two approaches I could take for this design:

          1. Do a cute design

          2. Do a creepy and disgusting design

I went with 2 ;)

There is nothing cute about blood oozing from my cuticles. Mwahaha!

For this design, I wanted to keep it real simple. I chose a off-white color similar to my skin color, but different enough that you could tell the difference. Then I used my brightest red to simulate the look of blood.

I really love the way it turned out. The first time I did this design, the way I painted on the blood looked weird. I didn't try making it look like slime, so it looked kind of blobby and clumpy.. Not what blood should look like.

For this design, I used 5 costs of China Glaze Oxygen for the base. Since it was such a sheer color and I wanted it opaque, 5 coats were, unfortunately, necessary. Then for the writing and the oozing blood, I used China Glaze High Roller.

TIHC Oct 29: Graveyard

So sorry this took a while to get up! I don't know if you've heard, but a tropical storm named Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast in the United States this past Monday (The day this prompt was due). Well, I live on the East Coast, and my state was hit pretty hard. Millions in my state lost power, and more than a million still don't have it back. My heart goes out to them.

Anyway, better late then never, right?

I originally was trying to polish my nails the night before the hurricane was going to hit, but everything I did turned out awful, so I gave up. Then you know what happened from there..

For this design, I had a hard time coming up with anything. My friend sent me a picture suggesting I do this. It's awesome, right? My nails weren't nearly long enough though, I didn't have glequins, blah blah blah.. So I tried my best with my own version.

I think it turned out alright. I absolutely love the purple I used. It's my favorite shade that I own.

When I first attempted this design, I used a shimmery yellow instead of the silver that I used here. It just looked awful. The yellow and purple clashed so horrendously that I had to redo it. At least it turned out better this time around. Minus the ghosts.. Those were better last time. 

For this design, I used China Glaze Coconut Kiss for the base. The I used Piggy Polish 6 Impossible Things for the ghosts, Sinful Colors Secret Admirer for the tombstones, and Stripe Rite in silver color who's name was torn off from the previous owner.