Baddy Scaddy Nails

So I know that you've seen a ton of these manis,  but I couldn't help myself.  There is something so spooky but awesome about it that I just had to do it too.

Blood.  Bloody Nails.

It's the splatter technique,  where you dip a straw into polish,  and then short blast it onto the nail.  My base coat is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls,  and the blood is Essie's A List.

Totally spooky,  right? I was going to redo the ring finger but I like the huge splotch. Here's the right hand too.

My sisters and I had a weird childhood where we didn't watch those normal kids movies,  we watched scary movies.  And loved them.  It freaks my hubs out that I haven't  seen some Disney flicks,  but we liked to be scared. We also took trips to the old cemetery in town when we were bored to look at the tombstones. Again, weird.


So,  as I am typing this,  I'm watching this horribly scary movie,  Mama.  I'm seriously spooked.  This is one of the freakiest new scary movies I've seen.  Kind of crappin myself right now. Also, why does every actor in scary movies never turn on the lights? Idiots.



So,  what's the scariest movie you've seen lately?

April

Dark blue matte

Best day of football ever on Saturday.  It's no surprise to some of you that I love the Iowa Hawkeyes and I have season tickets this year.  We've had our ups and downs,  but we won in overtime this weekend. I have never yelled so much in my life.  I do a black and gold mani every game, so maybe I need to create an album of just those.


Today I have a quick mani to share.  I was fumbling around on Pinterest and saw a lovely manicure that was a super dark blue shimmer that was mattified and decorated with silver studs.  I totally stink at studs.  I get nail glue all over the nail and on my fingers.  Hate it.  So, I dug out my new Pueen stamping plates, and did that instead.

My blue is Essie's Aruba Blue.  This is just two coats and is a deep royal blue. The accent nail is Pueen plate #33 and the polish is Maybelline Bold Gold. The matte finish top coat I use is Essie's Matte About You.

I love how royal and elegant this looks when matte.  I'm not usually a big fan of blue nails, but I'm totally loving this.

I also need some more practice with stamping. I'm fairly new to it, and I'm having issues every time. Either the polish is not working, or the stamper doesn't grab the image. Top it off with that then I tend to put it on crooked.  I just need to sit down and mess with them more I think.


Also- I uploaded a ton of pics to Instagram on Sunday.  Follow me here and help a sister out.  ;)


Any tips with stamping? What's your favorite matte finish?
April

Pointed purples

Today I finally took off the last Mani I did,  the one with the purple and black  blocking.  I'm still pretty obsessed with nude polish so I redid that for my base and then did one of my favorite looks.  Pointed nails.  Have you seen the crazy super pointy claw nail shapes lately? They are weird and lovely at the same time.

The blue color is from Ciate, Pepperminty.  You just take the brush and swipe it towards the middle and then repeat on the other side. Let that dry,  and then go over it with the purple color...  I used OPI Pamplona Purple.  I added a stud to the ring finger and called it complete.

I actually got dressed this morning before I did this look,  and didn't even realize that I was wearing  a flannel that was the exact same colors.  What a weirdo.



In other news,  I finally uploaded my existing pics to Pinterest.  Follow me here and help get these out there for me.  I would really appreciate it.



Thanks so much! Let me know what you think!
April

Finally, Day 31-Re-create a Mani You Love

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week... life got out of control and I ended up wearing that Louboutin mani for a long time because I was so scared to take it off. (Which it wasn't that bad... I soaked my nail and then used a Q-tip to grab out all the underside)

But today is the final prompt for the 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge,  re-create a mani you love. This took me FOREVER to find one that I wanted to do. And I'm still not completely sold, so look for a do-over sometime soon.

So after searching for hours on Pinterest,  reading a multitude of nail blogs, I went back to one on my own Nailed It Pinterest board that I pinned like a year ago.

And of course, in true Pinterest fashion, I'm not sure if the link that I have on the pin is correct.  So for the copyright Nazi's that might be reading this, I hope that whatever language the link is in says that it's her own nail art.  ;)

Source (I hope) Linvant

I altered this slightly for my version.  Since we are expecting snow today, (SNOW!!! Ugh!) I thought that the pink and lilac was just too springy. I instead used OPI's My Vampire is Buff as the base. Then because I did this last night at like 9 pm, I free handed the purple shapes- which is OPI'S Do You Lilac It? . And again, since it was slowly creeping on my bedtime,  I free handed the black shapes too, which is Essie's Licorice.

I'm strangely liking the overall look, but as what happens with me all the time, is that I don't have the patience or the plan-aheadiness to have a completely dry base before attempting to tape. Oh well, like I said,  I will most likely do another version sometime down the road.

Well, that takes me to the end of the 31 day challenge.  How long did that actually take me, lol? I hope to still post regularly.  I just got a new nail polish station upstairs, so my DH will be very happy that my crap is not clogging up the dining room table anymore.  He's already got to refinish the table because varnish and acetone don't mix well.  (Whoops).

Have a wonderful day, and for the rest of you in the Midwest today, be safe for the first bit of bad weather today. People tend to get all wackadoodle when this happens.
April

Day 30, a Tutorial

One day left. I can't believe I have made it!!!

When I re-discovered nail polish,  I found several different ideas and blogs. One of my favorites was the Louboutin Nails.


If you have been living under a rock, and don't know what a Louboutin is, its a delightful fabulous shoe that the soles are red. Awesome story,  the first pair that were red bottomed were painted with nail polish!


The tutorial that I found had you first paint the underside of the nail with red. I used an Essie polish (A-List) because the brush is narrow,  and it dries quickly.  Then it said to paint the first coat in white so that the red pops and shows easily with the dark top. After that dries, paint on the black. I used two coats of Essie Licorice.

I wore this one day earlier,  and I would walk up to people and show them my black mani. I was like, isn't this pretty?  I would get the blank stare so then I would turn them over. Wait for the wow.

Its one of those fun surprises that you get to show people.

I totally plan on doing this again, but experiment with other colors.  And actually,  today I added a matte finish top coat, and I am really digging it. There's something about black polish that I think looks so classy. Which is weird, because its black!


So, thoughts? Are you as nervous as I am to attempt to remove this one? Ha!
April

Double Duty... Days 28 and 29

Hey there. I didn't post yesterday because I was running so late. I never even got a chance to catch up all day.  Oh well. I also had jury duty on Monday,  and so I keep on thinking that today is Thursday.


I am posting two days worth of the challenge today, because I'm not super pleased how either one turned out.


Day 28 is inspired by a flag. Well I'm not very inspired by flags, so I looked forever at pictures of flags. I gave up.

I remembered the Big 10 flags that are all around Kinnick Stadium,  so I was like why be inspired by one flag, when I can be inspired by 6?

My beloved Hawkeyes are in the Legends division of the Big 10. I took the other 5 teams and made little pennants on the nail. The pinky has those 3 team's colors layered in glitter.

Meh... I think it looks childish and rookie. And kind of like party hats.

Moving on to Day 29, inspired by the supernatural.  April says what? What a weird prompt. I think that they must have ran out of their own inspiration making this list, because flag and supernatural is bizarre.

Anyways,  I wanted to do something other than a ghost. I typically only read paranormal stories, and so in searching through my Kindle library,  I saw the Percy Jackson series. (Don't judge... the books are actually quite good.) So my supernatural mani is Greek Gods.


Pointer is Aphrodite,  goddess of love and beauty.  Middle is Poseidon, god of the sea, ring is Athena, goddess of wisdom,  pinky is Zeus, king of the gods, and the thumb is Dionysus, god of wine.

I love my Athena nail. And I somewhat like the thumb. I wish that I had done the entire hand in all grey and then did the accents in colors. Again,  I thought this looked campy and amateur. I mean, Zeus looks like a hot dog with ketchup and mustard.


Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Honestly,  I think I'm getting burnt out on the prompts. Good thing there are only two days left!


So that's it. I almost didn't post them because they are so not my standard in art. But I want to have a full challenge,  dammit!   ;)


Enjoy the day!
April

Day 27, inspired by Artwork

Good morning and happy Monday.



If you saw my Blackbox post, you already know I was sick this weekend.  Totally a bummer. I'm not used to being sick, so I don't handle it very well! Sunday I was feeling somewhat better so I did some painting.  And boy, do I have a beauty to share. The prompt was Inspired by Artwork.



I hinted on my Facebook page that this was epic. I think it's pretty awesome.  I searched all over Pinterest in the art section for something special.  I like art, my first college plans were for art school.  I like odd things though.  I like to see the beauty in something that's just a little off the beaten path.  When I found it, I knew, this is it!

Source: Glenda Lopez

I don't exactly know why I like this so much. But it really inspired me. It has that weird beauty that I like. So I took out about 10 different polishes and got to work. This is what I came up with:

I couldn't believe it, I love this to pieces!  Little popcorn pieces!  

Please forgive the multitude of pictures here, I couldn't help myself.  I wanted to capture this perfectly. 

Here is one I took inside,  just to show a different lighting.  

So let me know your thoughts.  I'm nearing the end of the challenge,  so let me know what you want to see when I'm done!

April

September Cult Cosmetics Blackbox Review

Hi there! Hope you are having a great weekend.  I unfortunately somehow got the flu. I don't remember ever having the flu, so this is a totally new experience for me.  I never get sick. I have an EXTREMELY low tolerance for pain, and this feeling like someone has put clear packing tape on my back and then slowly ripping it off really sucks. Anyways, I finally received my September Blackbox!  Let's see what's inside.

So I have to admit, I was getting super antsy pants waiting for this, since it took 10 days to get to me. TEN. I looked up online for teasers, so I had an idea of what to expect.  Imagine my disappointment when I opened this up!

Here is the idea card that was included to use the polishes and the tools to create their suggestions for the month. This is also reflective of the hints that they gave us all month too. The teasers I saw had the pink glitter (Orly) and an Essie color, being the pale pink.

So, tell me, where does the orange and the red come into play here? I'm a little confused.  Let's look at the polishes first.

First up is my favorite of the box, and one I was pleased with.  It's Color Club Beyond,  a gunmetal grey holographic.  The holo in this is amazeballs.  It could have been a one-coater, but I added on a second. There was no dragging with this, as some holos tend to do.

Sunlight:

Isn't it pretty? This is in the shade. Stunner.

Up next is OPI Jinx. This was one of the first liquid sand colors that they put out, and a part of the 007 Bond collection.  When this came out, I wasn't totally sold on the whole textured polish thing.  So I never purchased it. Once I tried Pixie Dust by Zoya, I liked those and I bought a similar color. Look for a comparison at the end of the two.

Finally,  Color Club Brrr-red. Red freaking polish. I couldn't belive it.  Regardless of my dislike for red, it's a very nice polish. This is two coats, and is somewhat of a crelly consistency.

 I didn't take individual pictures of the tools this month. They were a rhinestone wheel from Mash with a tube of nail glue, which kept the theme and I liked. The other was a set of OPI nail appliqués in a sparkly and black design, called Metallic Waves.  It kind of looks like a mix between zebra print and a fingerprint.  Can you believe I've never tried nail stickers?  I can see myself doing one finger with these, but all 10 would probably freak me out. Ha! Plus I've been hesitant trying them because I have extremely small nail beds. These all look so big!


So... verdict time. I gotta say, I was so extremely disappointed with this box since i did love the August one. From the length of shipping time, to the false advertising and then I find out via Facebook that the subscription will only feature Cult Cosmetics brand polishes moving forward.  (They recently came out with their own line) I actually canceled my subscription on Friday.  I told customer service my concerns / issues I had with this month, and all I got back was a "we canceled your subscription" as a reply. I guess they weren't too interested in keeping me.

I've found a new polish box to try, the I.N.N. box by iNZURi, so I'm giving that one a shot. You pick your own collection,  and the beauty products they send along are the surprise.  Look for that review next month.

Lastly, here is the side by side comparison of Jinx with Zoya's Destiny. Ring finger is Jinx, pinky is Destiny. In the bottle, looks pretty close.

On the nail in the sun, they look identical, with Destiny being slightly more pink than Jinx

In the shade, you can barely tell a difference, maybe Jinx is slightly more sparkly gold.  Are they close enough you don't need both? Yes. I do have to say that Jinx dries faster than Destiny does.  And quick drying is always a bonus in my eyes.

So, do you have a beauty subscription?  What's the best one?
April

Day 26, Inspired by a Pattern

First of all, hilarious side note. When I was typing "pattern" above for the title, it wanted to auto correct to Pattinson.  I think I may have an obsession with a certain beautiful vampire actor.  Whoops!

Ok, back to the challenge.  Today is inspired by a pattern,  and I really had a hard time trying to find something that I could translate to nail art. I remembered this awesome application that I have on my phone and tablet, called Pattrn. You use the website Colourlovers and color in templates where then they get uploaded onto the app. You favorite them, and then you can set it up that your background on your phone changes every day between your favorite patterns.  It's pretty slick.

So I found this one:

source: Colourlovers Paisley Meadows

I like the paisley look, and I really liked the color scheme.  So I took 4 different colors and started at it.

My base is OPI'S My Vampire is Buff (wait a minute... is that where the Pattinson thing came from earlier? ), and the accents are OPI's Vant to Bite My Neck, Essie In the Cab - ana and Essie Butler, Please.

I did all this free hand looking at the pattern.  I like it! And I think it translated nicely. I'm shocked that I really liked the nude color... that's not typically my style. But its a great neutral!  Its shiny, and a perfect creamy off-white. Highly recommend it.  My ring finger got a little bleedy when I put on the top coat, which I was totally bummed about. I'm also having some mega stressful days lately and its hard to keep my fingers out of my mouth.  =(   It's so hard even when you haven't bitten them in years,   but there's that small comfort in an old habit.

So, today was also Christmas at the homestead as I FINALLY got my September Blackbox AND I also got the new set of Pueen stamping plates that I ordered. Yay! Goodies of those two to show later.


So, lemme know your thoughts  on this paisley princess.


Hope you all have a great weekend!
April

Day 25, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fa, Fashion!

I'm  not much of a fashion girl. I know what I like, and I try to put it together in a cute way, but I think because I'm not that super stick thin girl, I just can't get that look. (As I'm chomping on Starburst candy corn... don't judge me)

However,  I like to mix things up and put things together that normal people wouldn't necessarily do on a regular basis.  I am obsessed with colored pants. I love stripes and polka dots. Top it off with a bright color and that's the April style.

So, when seeing today's prompt was fashion, I looked up on Pinterest to see ideas I liked. I found this little picture:

Source: bubblegummelody

So, polka dots? Check. Bright color? Check. Nerdy glasses and top knot? Check! This is totally me. So this is my interpretation of that style:

I did a base of Essie Blanc, and then swiped on a stripe of Zoya Darcy. Once that was dry, I took a nail art brush and mixed a lighter yellow color to free hand on the lace design that is on her sweater. 

After that, I used my dotting tool and placed black polka dots on top of the white. 

So, I also decided to match my nails for work. This is how it turned out. I wish I had that beautiful sweater, but I did have a dot shirt and yellow cardigan! 

I had a luncheon that day, and my entire table asked me after the presentation about my nails. Gotta love nail groupies!  Ha! 

So what's your fashion style? 

April

Day 24, Inspired by a book

I. Love. To. Read. I always have. I remember that there was a contest at our elementary school called Read A Million Minutes.  I won it one year. I typically read a new book at least once a week. I used to be one of those purists when it came to books, but I tell you what. .. I love my Kindle to the moon and back. I have an ancient Kindle that still has a keyboard and it's own 3G network.  Last time I checked I had over 150 books on it.

I jumped on the Hunger Games bandwagon right after Catching Fire was released.  I liked Hunger Games a lot. But the other two books... meh. They were ok. So I went looking for the next dystopian book that looked interesting.  That was when I found Divergent.

This book is amazing.  AH. MAZING. It centers around future Chicago (which as a Midwesterner I completely appreciate) where the inhabitants are sectioned into five factions.  Abnegation: the selfless. Erudite: the intelligent. Candor: the honest.  Amity: the peaceful. Dauntless: the brave. Our main character is Beatrice,  or Tris as she is later known.

In this world, you grow up within your parents' faction.  When you turn 16, you must choose between staying in that faction,  or selecting a new one. Beatrice has grown up in Abnegation,  and selects Dauntless as her new faction. The rest of the book centers around her transition to this new faction which is so unlike her old home, and also finds out that there is something a little different with her mind too. And then there's Four... ah, Four. He's the bee's knees. ;)

Ok, so can you tell I chose Divergent for my inspiration?  This worked out great.  5 fingers, 5 factions.

Here's the whole hand. I sponged on a blue background and then freehanded all of the individual symbols.

Close up of Erudite, the intelligent.  Symbol for them is an eye. Smarty pants.

Close up of Candor, the honest. Their symbol is the scales... they are like the lawyers of the Divergent world.

Close up of Abnegation,  the selfless. In the book, these are the do-gooders and once a year, Beatrice would get her hair cut. That was the one time that she was allowed to look in a mirror.  Crazy! Their symbol are two holding hands.

Close up of Amity, the peaceful. These are the farmers and the hippies. Probably where I would have ended up if I was in this little world. Their symbol is a red tree.

And finally,  close up of Dauntless,  the Brave. Symbol for them of course is fire.

They are of course making this into a movie (boo!) So I hope it turns out true to the book. Of course I think everyone says that. The only time I was pleasantly surprised was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Killer flick and totally how I pictured it. There are currently two of the three books out in this series,  and the third is due out in November.  Can't wait!

So thoughts? Have you read any good books lately that I need to add to my list?

Cheers!
April