Days 11 and 14 of the February Challenge

Sorry for the delay in posts, guys. I was loving my Olympic nails way too much to follow the Californails February challenge exactly.  Maybe I should have used pastel colors for the Olympic look?  ;)

So, because I suck and I want to get back on track, you get two posts today!

First is day 11, pastels. I think maybe the reasoning behind this was like a box of candy hearts,  because I don't really associate pastels with February. Regardless, here's the look I went with.

Hey, can I get some props here because this is my right or Cinderella hand? Lol, I pretty much liked it better than my left. Look at how good my middle finger came back from that massive break in December! 

I used several pastel toned colors, and then stamped on top with Pueen plate #27. I topped it all off with a matte finish topcoat. In hindsight,  I should have used a different plate. The hearts that were solid look like a big smeary smush. I call these Laced up Easter Eggs. Lol

Ok, mani number 2. This one is for day 14, Match OOTD. So it's no secret,  I plan ahead, do my nails at night and then take pics in the morning.  Tonight I had to pick out what I'm wearing for tomorrow and hope that I still feel like it in the morning! I purchased this sweater last season at Old Navy, and I love it. I love mint, and love polka dots. Sweater full of win.

The mint here is from Essie's new Spring collection,  Fashion Playground. The grey is OPI'S Suzy Takes the Wheel.  I did the grey with mint dots on 3 of my nails, and the inside cuff look with the opposite colors. I like it, you can't go wrong with this color combination.  Simple, but that's ok because I'm tired of wearing Valentine's Day looks!! (Bonus, I looked up on Essie's website for more info on Fashion Playground and couldn't find anything... it's that new! Boom! We never get sneak peeks in Iowa!)


That's all chickies! Have a great weekend
April

Lavender Gradient with Sephora X

Hey guys... so is it frigging cold out, or what?  Schools are canceled,  church services were canceled on Sunday... it's so darn cold. I'm hoping for a little spring weather,  so I broke out the cheerful spring colors to maybe get in a warmer mood.

I forget sometimes about doing thise old school techniques like gradient.  I start out with a white base, in this case I used Essie Blanc,  and then sponged on three different shades of purple.

The main reason for this is to share this amazing shade from the Sephora X line, Freaky Like Freud. Its an insanely holographic lavender top coat,  and it just explodes with rainbows when the sunlight catches it. I finished off with a leafy stamp from the Pueen Love set.

This definitely brightens my spirits a little,  but to have a day over 20 degrees would be nice too.

Stay warm, my chickadees... I'll be the girl in the knee length wool voat, scarf and hat. You may be able to recognize the tip of my nose peeking out.    =)

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