Take Two Day 7: Black and White

I did it again. I reserved a post so that I could have the date match up with the day of the challenge. Hey, I like it when things are orderly! Anyway, after a long, long night of doing and redoing my nails, I finally came up with a simple, yet elegant design that I'm really quite fond of. By the time it came time to take pictures, my cuticles were screaming, so I moisturized them as I slept. :P Anyway, I hope you like them as much as I do! 

Take Two Day 5: Cartoon Theme

This was such a hard design to come up with. I had so many ideas in mind! All the ones I wanted to do have people with peach colored skin. I don't have peach colored nail polish.. So I was stuck at a stand still. Then I thought of maybe doing Pixar's Minions, but I didn't have the right yellow for it. Finally, I decided that I would do some Domos!

I always picture them saying," Om nom nom." But that's just me... Haha.

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!!

TIHC Oct 26: Witches

Today's challenge was a little, well, challenging. I didn't want to to paint ugly witches on my nails because I had to go to work and serve food. Instead, I thought of what makes up a witch, and came up with witch's brew!

For this manicure, I used the saran wrap marble method. I think it turned out pretty cool. 

After the saran wrap marble dried, I free-handed the black strip at the base of my nail, resembling a cauldron.

Last, I added iridescent flecks on top of the green part to give it a bubbly look, like there are chunks of awesome in the brew. 

For this manicure, I used Piggy Polish Lemonade 5¢ for the base. When that dried, I painted a thick and opaque layer of Revlon Nail Art FrenchMix All the Rage and used the saran wrap technique. Then I used Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush for the stripe. Then I used China Glaze Luxe and Lush on top of the green.

You can view that upcoming challenges here.

witches inlinkz

TIHC Oct 22: Gradient

This is going to be a very quick post. I wasn't even planning on participating today, but decided that I could fit in something quick.

I originally wanted to do candy corn gradient, but decided against it. I figured several people would do it, and I was right.

I love the way the purple and black look together. It's very spooky!

(I'm really sorry about the lighting, the quality of the photos, and my really bad attempt to clean up my nails)

So, I don't know if you can tell, but all of my nails are gooooneeeee. It's so depressing. They all got in an accident over the weekend :( I was playing frisbee and figured out a bit too late that long nails are not meant for it. I broke 3 nails (and one of those I broke twice) and had to even them all out. They look so stubby to me..

For this design, I used Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush as the base. Then I used China Glaze Coconut Kiss for the gradient effect. Once that dried, I sponged some Fantasy Makers Rest in Pieces right on top.


Wish me luck on my US1 midterm tomorrow!


You can view the upcoming challenges here.

TIHC Oct 19: Bats

When I think of the word bat, I think of the object I could use to chase my brothers around the house with. That thought inspired my design for today.

If you have younger brothers like I do, then you know that they can be ANNOYING, especially when they are both teenagers. Sometimes you just want to throw something at them! That's why I painted a baseball on my accent nail. It's the best of both worlds. ;)

For this design, I used China Glaze Oxygen for the base color. I used 3-4 coats. For the designs, I used Piggy Polish 6 Impossible Things, China Glaze High Roller, and China Glaze Mahogany Magic.

I hope you guys didn't think I was serious. I love my brothers (even though they CAN be annoying). My actual design for today is way cooler. Bats for me = BATMAN!!!!!!! This is the most excited I've been to do my nails since my last Batman design. Even more so because I finally got a break from studying. I'm smack in the middle of my midterms. I have 3 more next week.. Agh!

I hope these are worth it because of what little time I actually have to paint my nails now.

Instead of using the tradition Batman symbol, I decided to use the symbol that's in the Dark Knight Trilogy. 

(Don't you just love the awkward hand pose above? I had to hold the nail polish bottle upside down and rotate the picture the correct way when I was adding my watermark.)

For this manicure, I used Sinful Colors Secret Admirer for the base. Then I used Essie Marshmallow and Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush. For my accent nail, I used Sinful Colors Kissy for the base. Then I outlined the Batman symbol with Piggy Polish 6 Impossible Things. Then I used Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush and Piggy Polish Lemonade 5¢.

You can find the upcoming nail challenges here.

TIHC Oct 12: Jack-o-lanterns

I don't want you guys to think that I forgot about today. I didn't. I painted my nails today and I love them, but I hate them all the same. Since I have work, I won't be able to redo the design the way I want until later tonight. So, be patient! I'm just going to edit this post later when I have my pictures ready. Check super late tonight!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's finally later! I redid my nails after work and LOVE how well they turned out. I'm so excited to show you guys!

So, I actually got this idea from a fellow blogger. You can find the link to her design here. What I didn't realize until after I finished was that the girl had stamped the pumpkin faces onto her nails, and didn't freehand them like I did. I was a little taken aback about it at first, but then became proud because they turned out super well.

I probably should have saved this for my gradient design, but I was way too impatient. I had to show you all! Good thing I have something else in mind for that.

I've never been good at making my jack-o-lanterns look scary. Did I do alright?

I love how creepy they look. It's like they're waiting to freak you out.

For this design, I used China Glaze Riveting as the base. Then I used China Glaze Harvest Moon and Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush to make the gradient. Last, I used Piggy Polish 6 Impossible Things for the creepy faces.

The link to future prompts can be found here.

Here are the other challengers. Add your link if you are joining in!

TIHC Oct 5: Water Marble

Today's challenge is water marble! I was a little nervous to do this since I've never tried it before. I was right to be nervous. I redid my nails 4 times and I still didn't get anywhere near what I wanted. At least it kind of looks cool..

Alright, it looks really cool. It just wasn't how I pictured it.

The nail polish I kept using wasn't exactly great for water marbling. It kept separating and let a lot of air pockets in. It still did towards the end, but I had given up by that point and let the bubbles stay.

The look I was going for was to make spider webs out of the marble. You can kind of see it because of the shapes I made, but it didn't turn out well at all according to what was in my head. The two closest are my middle and pointer finger.

For this design, I used Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush for the base, and then used Essie Marshmallow (Fitting, right? :P), and Sinful Colors Secret Admirer.

Maybe I'll have better luck with my next attempt.

You can find a list of all the challenges here.

TIHC Oct 1: Horror Movie

So, I'm already late with this design, but I finished it before October 5th's. Whew! It took me so long because I really did not want to do this one. At least it was first. Now it's out of the way!

Anyway, this is my least favorite design ever. It's probably because my heart wasn't into it. I don't really watch scary movies, so even choosing one was difficult. I ended up going with the first scary movie I ever saw, which was "The Ring." I didn't depict everything on my nails, like the little girl. I'm bad enough at drawing people, so I skipped over her. Apparently I'm just as bad at flies.

I keep laughing every time I see the fly. I'm usually okay with my work, but the fly is so bad that it's funny.

However, I really like how I wrote "the Ring." When I googled a picture of the title, it was written creepily. I think I at least pulled that off well.

Up above is the ring. Yes, I literally took my brush and swirled it around in polish that was drying. I should have picked a less opaque white.

For this manicure, I used Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush, Essie Marshmallow, China Glaze Long Kiss, China Glaze Oxygen, Piggy Polish 6 Impossible Things, Sinful Colors Aquamarine, and Rimmel London Steel Grey (Which isn't grey, so I don't know why it's named that...)

And you can find a list of all the challenges here.

Day 4: Orange Nails

Orange you glad I didn't do bananas today? Hahaha. Anyway....

Today's design isn't as complicated or detailed as the others have been, but I still really like it. I think the simplicity of it makes the colors pop more. I realized was I was putting my watermark on the photos that I could have added a bit more detail to the peel (like white dots for texture), but oh well. They're still nice in my opinion!

I didn't have much inspiration, so I decided to look at a few designs. I picked up a few ideas, but didn't really recreate any. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do with an orange wedge.. However, I did notice that no one had taken advantage of using the shape of the base of their nails for the wedge! I found that shocking, so I went with that.

This is my second attempt at this manicure. This first try turned out horrible, and even that is an  understatement. I decided to completely start over and it made such a difference. I really like how well it came together.

I also really like how Halloween-y the colors are. It's really a nice introduction to fall. :)

For his manicure, I used Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush and Piggy Polish Damsel in This Dress as the base colors. Then for the rest of the orange, I used Piggy Polish Lemonade 5 ¢.

On a side note: I've been using my nail polish so much that I have almost all of the colors memorized. Haha.

Day 3: Strawberry Nails

I was pretty excited to do today's fruit. I LOVE strawberries. They define summer for me. I just can't get enough of them.

So, I thought I'd keep the design simple. I felt that going over the top would ruin the effect I was going for, which was making my nails look good enough to eat. I think I achieved that status with this fruit.

The only problem I ran into this time around was how vibrant my red was. When I was trying to clean up the excess polish from around my nails, it turned my fingers red. It was a mess! Thankfully I got most of it. There are stubborn spots still slightly visible, though.

I tried to get fancy by outlining the leafy part on my ring finger with gold. The green polish I used has so many sparkles in it that you can barely tell. I probably should have gone for a darker green. I still love how it turned out, nonetheless.

 For today's mani, I used China Glaze High Roller as the base. Then I used Zoya Meg, Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush, and Orly Instant Artist 24K Glitter.

Day 2: Kiwi Nails

I originally had a different fruit in mind for today, but I decided to bump tomorrow's design to today, and today's to tomorrow. I hope that makes sense! Anyway, the reason why I decided to do kiwis today is because I did so horribly the first time around that when I redid my nails, I felt so accomplished that I HAD to post them today.

Aren't they just wonderful? :D

Kiwis are one of my favorite fruits, so of course I was excited to do this design. Since I got it right this time, I took the pictures before my nails even dried. They still aren't dry! I'm typing this right now with wet nails.

I'd like to give credit to cutepolish for the idea. She made a wonderful YouTube tutorial that you can find here. She explains everything so nicely. I suggest you go check her out!

For this nail design, I used Zoya Meg for the base, and Piggy Polish 6 Impossible Things and Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush for the details. The first time I did this, I started off using a different white. It turned out to be so sheer that I ended up covering it with my trusty Piggy Polish. Whatever you do, don't use Essie Marshmallow. It's a recipe for disaster!

Like always, I painted my nails before I went to bed. I checked to make sure my fast drying top coat was dry. I spent half an hour getting ready for school for the next day, so you'd think that would be just enough drying time so that it wouldn't smear, right? Wrong. I woke up to a lovely mess this morning. Luckily, it was on the hand that I don't photograph. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time in the morning to fix it. I ended up going to school with that mess. Eeek!

The pictures above and below were what my first attempt looked like. Notice how big the white part and the black dots are compared to my second attempt? I definitely made them too big. I just can't believe I walked around campus with them. Also, I decided to use a different color to make the design pop. Now that I look back, I'm not really a fan of the color as a kiwi. I'll save that orange for Halloween.