This challenge was to create a mani that included lines.
I used striping tape to do this (except for the ring finger) and I really like how it turned out. I think my nails look like purple candy canes!
From pointer to pinky:
Base colors: Sinful Colors Let's Talk, I Love Nail Polish Grapealicious, Ozotic 505 (over black), Elevation Polish El Cap
I used Grapealicious to do the stripes on the lighter purples, and El Cap on my middle finger.I also used Julep Geo to place some diamonds on my middle finger. I used a black striping polish on my ring finger and placed glitters by Red Dog Designs from the Pop Art Mickey polish inside the squares. I thought they would be perfect for that!
I had a Mickey head in the bottom right and upper left corners but one is hiding.
Here are the other lovely ladies who did this challenge:
Our challenge was to do a manicure with 3 patterns.
I saw several other people do manis with anti-bullying patterns. I really admire them for that and if I had known this was going on, I would have contributed to this as well! What an excellent idea!
Below is what I tried to do.
On my pinky I used Orly purple velvet and an L.A. Color striping brush in purple. At first the colors looked nearly identical but you can tell the difference in photos with flash.
I definitely should have used tape for the stripes.. the first one looks ok, but not the second one.
On my ring finger, I used Ozotic 505 for a base color and Jindie Nails Midnight Rainbow on thetip (with a lime green L.A. colors stripe I used Starfire by Sparkle Nail Lacquer for the stars- that counts as a pattern, right? I used several of my favorite colors on my middle nail to do a pinwheel and here is the tutorial I by the Manicurator. On my pointer finger, I used Illamasqua Scorn with stripes of Jade Magia Negra (a black holo- although it looks almost charcoal gray since the Illamasqua black is so dark) I topped it off with a purple bow from the Born Pretty Store to tie it all together.
The bow serves another purpose as well. I had to do some repairs on that nail since I cracked it right through the middle.. and the repair job isn't looking that great, but so far it's holding up. Let's hope it stays that way until it can grow back out because for now my nails at least look a little bit more even!
Here are the other lovely and talented ladies who did this challenge.
Our challenge was to do a new technique to us. I decided to try dry water marbling. The tutorial I used is here and was created by Nuthin' but a Nail Thing.
I also totally admit that I got my manicure inspiration from Mucking Fusser for my accent nails.
At first I had just used Billie Jean by Colors by Llarowe on my pinky and pointer nails (a nice dark red shimmer) but then I also used Lumina Lacquers Sorcerer's Haunted Mansion.
On my other nails, I used Lilypad Lacquer Luscious Larimer (a pale blue with light pink shimmer) as a base color. The marble colors are Lilypad Lacquer Sparkling Embers (a dark red to green color shift with sparkle) and Darling Diva We Are the Champions (a green-to-gold color shift with shimmer)
I love how this turned out. I think it looks almost like foil. It isn't as fancy as most people's water marble designs by far, but I think you can still see a pattern- and I picked out 2 that seemed to be a mirror image of each other.
Here are the other lovely ladies who did this challenge:
This challenge is to use the color you own the most of.
If anyone doesn't know, my favorite colors are blue, green, and purple. I also have a TON of silver and black in my polish collection
But November 14th was World Diabetes Awareness Day. My grandmother has diabetes and she raised me, and so did my uncle who recently passed away. My grandmother's sister, who used to baby-sit me when I was youner also had diabetes and so did several of my other diabetes
. Since this has affected so many people in my family and so many of my friends (both online and offline) I wanted to make sure to honor them on this day.
So it is very fortunate that blue is one of the predominant colors in my nail polish collection!
From pointer to pinky:
Azure dreams by Lilypad Lacquer, Unzipped by Colors by Llarowe, middle finger has a gradient featuring Maybe Navy by KB Shimmer, Azure Dreams, and Ozotic 903. My pinky has Hole in the Sky by Emily de Molly.
Does anyone have a hard time applying Emily de Molly polish? I love the colors so much but sometimes they are really, really thick. If anyone has advice on how to apply them, please let me know!
Without flash, to show duochrome in Azure Dreams and Ozotic 903:
Here are the other lovely ladies who did this challenge:
I meant to post this the other day. Oops!
For this challenge, we did a 3 color gradient with a pattern. I used blue, green, and purple for the gradient since they are my 3 favorite colors.
I couldn't get a really good picture of the gradient because there was so much glare, but here it is:
I tried to do zebra print for the gradient, using a tutoral and an LA colors metallic blue striping polish, but it was a fail. It turned out more like a... pinwheel or something?
For my accent nail, I used a glitter topper from Colors by Laura K, which is called Super Dee Duper! It is layered over Lilac Lovely by Lilypad Lacquer. I think Super Dee Duper is such a cute name. Since it has a purple base, you could probably use it on its own if you use a few coats, but since it was so sheer I just decided to match it with the purple color I was already using in my gradient.
Here are the other lovely ladies who did this challenge:
This challenge is based on the EU.
I like the way Venetian Glass looks.. I looked around and I was able to narrow down my design to this as inspiration:
I love the rainbow colors and the fact that the swirls are sort of in a DNA shape.
My strokes turned out more angular than curved, though:
The designs on my ring and middle finger are also different because I had inititally left my ring finger plain.
It is a gray scattered holo.
From pointer to pinky: Base colors are seascape by Lilypad Lacquer, As Good as Gold by Lilypad Lacquer, and Dance Legend #46, and Seascape again. On the pointer finger I also used Leather & Lace by Colors by Llarowe toadd more holo.
I used a few different polishes on the design on my middle and ring fingers (mainly Jades since the thin brushes are good for a design like this)- if you have questions about any of them, just let me know)
Here are the other lovely ladies who did this challenge:
I have a stamping plate with butterflies, but I wasn't able to make it look good yet so when I found this tutorial by Polish Pals, I was really excited!
She also had a rainbow butterfly tutorial that linked to the more detailed one I used.. instead of gradients I decided to use some of my duo/multichrome polishes.
I am behind in posting this since at first I used the only striping polish I have on my pointer finger. It was a silver glitter one but I didn't like how it looked.
So without further adieu, from pointer to poinky: Base colors are: Sizzlin Liz by colors by Llarowe (one of my new favorites! I thought it would be purple but it is a very nice dark blue that shifts to green and has copper sparkles.) Mutagen by I love Nail Polish, Birefergence by I Love Nail Polish, and Yesterday by Encanted Polish
On all my nails except the pointer finger, I used a brush to paint on the black polish, and then I used a dotting tool and Eileen by Julep for the white dots.
On my pointer finger, I used Seascape by Lilypad Lacquer. Then I used Polka Dots by Liquid Sky Lacquer to make some more lines and I fished out some of the bigger holo dots and used my dotting tool to place them on my nail, and "sealed" everything on with HK Girl topcoat.
With flash:
Without flash, at night:
I love how many colors these polishes turn!!!
Here are the other lovely and talented ladies who did this challenge. I might be a day late on the next challenge but if so, it's because this is one of my absolute favorite manis and I want people to see it in real life!
As I have stated, I've unfortunately gotten behind on my blog and I have been needing to do a review for Ruby White Tips.
First of all, I love how the bottles are decorated with different colored beads!
I was sent this color which has not yet been released, and it's actually one of my favorite shades of blue! It is called You Sea Me?
I used 2 coats, but you could probably get away with one. It dries with a semi-matte finish. I do suggest applying carefully and waiting between coats or it might dry a little thick. I had to redo my ring finger to make it smoother.
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The accent nail is "It's the Bomb YO!" which is aptly named, since Laura actually doesn't make a ton of glitter bombs. This polish also has the option of coming scented. I decided to try the pink grapefruit scent. To me it kind of smelled like a piña colada.. or something vaguely fruity? It was almost like those flouride tray things at the dentist (but not in a bad way!)
This picture is without topcoat.
I also took a picture of the... sequin things? that came with "It's the Bomb YO!" But I didn't have to fish for any extra glitter and it went on very smoothly, so I felt like adding any extra would be overkill with an already fabulously blue mani.
By the way, I think this picture also shows the duochrome nature of You Sea Me? I didn't have to put it over a darker color, but it looks like 2 shades of blue on my middle and pinky and it is the same polish.
The below pictures are with HK Girl Top Coat. They bring out the rainbow shimmer in You Sea Me? In very bright light it looks like a linear holo.
Check out Ruby White Tips at her etsy store here. Her anniversary is coming up November 9th and she will be releasing a lot of beautiful new colors! She also donates 50% of her Bat World Sanctuary polishes to charity to help bats, as if she wasn't already awesome enough for the aforementioned reasons?!
I ordered BOO2 because I can't resist a pretty purple polish, and it even came with a bat charm on it! In the future I will review more of the polishes that I bought from her.
And just because. . . (I mean, you can't talk about a polish called It's the Bomb YO without this)
It was hard for me to pick a favorite brand, because I really love about 3 or 4. But the one I decided to feature on my ring finger was Emily de Molly.
I chose Rhodium because it's such an interesting polish, with different shapes of silver and holo.
This also doubled as my Halloween mani.
From pointer to pinky: Pointer has Edge of the Cosmos by Femme Fatale with Berry Blue by Colors By Llarowe, with Trick or Treat by Liquid sky Lacqer layered over it. Middle Finger has True Blood by Lilypad Lacquer with Merlin by A England on the tip. Ring finger is Rhodium by Emily de Molly layered over a silver holo. Pinky is True Blood.
