My first stamping experience

   I was at Fred Meyer the other day about ready to leave with my handful of polish when I saw the Essence rack.  I decided to stare at it and was about to leave again when I looked at the third or fourth shelf from the bottom and in a 2 inch by 2 inch box saw a stamping kit, for 3 dollars!  I was super aprehensive because I thought there was no way this was going to work but I thought, well, if it doesn't work, it is only 3 dollars.  I didn't buy their stamping polish, which they have in black and white for 1.99, and I held off on the other plates until I tried the kit first.  I came home and threw on a quick bright mani and set to stamping.  It was SO EASY!  I didn't watch any videos and figured out how to do it in less than a minute.  I went back the next day and bought 3 of the 4 plates they have.  I didn't buy the one with all the animal prints on it because I am generally a non animal print person.

This is what came in the original kit for $2.99

These are the extra plates that I picked up for $1.99

I was playing with a bunch of different colors to see what would stamp best

The stamp color is O.P.I. Lincoln Park at Midnight

Sorry for the chip in the index finger and the pink paint on my right finger.  I was going to do a different post with this but decided not to.

So, have you guys stamped at all?  Was it easy to pick up or do you not like it?  What colors have you found that stamp well?

Base Coat - Avon Smooth Beginning

Orange - Sun Kissed by Sally Hanson

White tips - acrylic paint

Stamps - assorted colos

 

My going out mani

     Last weekend I went out dancing for the first time in months.  The first time I have gone out since  I started this blog actually, so I wanted to make sure I did my nails cute so that no one could see them in the dark bar.  Lol.  It is the thought that counts, right?  I picked up the Zoya matte sampler the other day and thought what the hay.  Matte polishes are slowly growing on me.  I guess maybe because the matte finish makes them look dull to me?

  If you guys haven't learned that doing art work for your nails with acrylic is possibly the best idea ever, you need to figure it out girlfriends.  I wasn't quite sure why so many people didn't use polish for their art work until I heard that you could do clean up with rubbing alcohol and it wouldn't affect the polish.  What better way to screw up artwork and not have to redo the entire nail again!  I tell you what.  Learning this has saved me hundreds of tears!

finished product

Three coats inside with flash

Three coats outside with no flash

Base Coat-Avon Smooth Beginnings

Base Color-Phoebe by Zoya - 3 coats

White tips and black stripes - acrylic paint

Top Coat - LA Colors - was only place on the ring finger.  I didn't put a top coat on the other nails because I wanted to keep the matte look on the other nails.

What do you guys think of matte finishes?  Yay or Ney?

 

     

Black and White Challenge Day 7

Black and White with glitter

As I have said before, I believe glitter can make any many look better.  I stand by my decision.  I have been wanting to use this color for this challenge ever since I started doing it but kept holding off since there was a specific day for glitter.  I used to not be a big fan of the half moon mani's but I am a recent convert.  I am liking them more and more.  Now I know this post is a few days behind.  That is because the original mani that I did for this day was not well planned out and pretty much looked like poo.  So I decided that I would wait a few more days for some better inspiration and I am much more pleased with the result.  A fairly simple mani, but I still like it.

Bam bam!  What do you think?

Base coat - Avon Smooth Beginnings

Base color - Bubble Bath by Sinful Colors - 2 coats

Tip color - Night Prowl by Wet N' Wild - 2 coats

Top coat - LA Colors

Welcome spring!

The weather here last week was so depressing.  Rain, snow, grey skys... I needed a pick me up.  I am not one for yellow but when I asked my husband what color I should buy when I was splurging at Rite Aid's buy one get one 50% off sale, he said it.  So without hesitation I picked it up.  I mean, I really need to stop buying pink and purple.  I have SO many variations of them, it is really crazy.  I knew when all I wanted to do was crawl into bed, this is what I needed to try.  I wasn't sure if I should try it with my newest obsession, Whimsical or with my new stirp glitter, so I went for a combination of both.

Out side in natural light, no flash

Inside with no light 

Base coat: Avon Smooth Beginnings

Base color: Bubble Bath by Sinful Colors - 1 coat

Main color: Mellow Yellow by Sally Hanson - 2 coats

Pinky and thumb glitter: In the Spotlight by Sally Hanson - 1 coat

ring, middle, and pointer finger glitter: Whimsical by Revlon - 2 coats

Top Coat: Seche Vite - 1 Coat

Does this combination make you happy?  Do you like the Whimsical or the In the Spotlight better?

GIVEAWAY: The Nail Network: 800 Follower Giveaway!

The Nail Network: 800 Follower Giveaway!: Hello everyone! Thank you for helping me reach another milestone! As my way of saying thank you for your support and encourageme...

Wet N' Wild Be Jeweled Color Icon Collection: Part One

PICTURE HEAVY!!

I saw this amazing collection on another blog and knew right away that I needed to own it.  I was really worried though because a lot of the color icon collections I have been unable to buy due to the fact they they haven't been in stores that I have access to.  At first what I was hearing was not good; the stores they were in we did not have!  Then someone mentioned Fred Meyers about a week later and I made my husband stop there on our way home and I found it!!!!!!  I was shocked to find the display full as well.  I have heard that these are dupes to the new China Glaze Prismatic collection but I haven't been able to try them yet.  I did however just win a few polishes from the collection off of a giveaway and I can't wait to try them!  Swatches will come as soon as I get them.
     There are four colors in this collection and they retail for $2.99.
            The Crown is Mine
            Bow in My Presence
            Born Into Privilege
            Speak When Spoken To

This is the display:

Today I have swatches of Bow In My Presence by itself and over two coats of  Wet N' Wild Black Cream and The Crown Is Mine over the same black.  I will have swatches of it by itself with part two.

Three coats of Bow In My Presene by its self

Inside in natural light

 Natural light inside again but you can see the color shift in the pinki and pointer finger

 outside

 two coats of Bow In My Presence over two coats of Black Cream

Sorry for the messy cuticles, I didn't know how to clean them up with the black, trust me, I know now.

 I love this!!!

I didn't do swatches of The Crown Is Mine by its self because I really wanted to do a tape mani

see how that worked out.  FAIL

My other hand was already black thought so after striping this hand I decided to do something a little different.

The purple stripe is Sinful Colors NaiL Art in Moonlight

     Ok, so in part two I will do the other colors by them selves and over black and do The Crown Is Mine again.  What do you guys think so far?  

Day 6 Black and White Challenge

Color base with something white

I am titling this mani, Please Don't Stop the Music, because that is all I have been singing every time that I look down at my nails.  The best part of this mani?  I got the base at the dollar tree for fifty cents.  It came in a two pack.  Woot woot.  Not bad for the price if I do say so myself.

Base color - Midtown by N.Y.C. - 3 coats

White - acrylic paint

Not much else to say about this.  I hope that you like it.

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Glitter, Glam, Sparkle, Shine: Giveaway - Max Factor Fantasy Fire!!!!: In a blatant attempt to drum up more followers, and also because I've been able to lay my hands on a few more bottles of this elusive po...

First attempt at roses

Remember this is my FIRST time doing roses, as you can see.  And as you can see, I'm pretty much a pro at the daisies.  He-he.

Base except for ring - Jazz by Essie 2 coats

Base on ring finger - Bryant Park by N.Y.C. 2 coats

The roses, leaves, and daisies were done with acrylic paint.

I know this is a super short post but I don't really know what else to say...  Do you guys have any tips for me?

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The TraceFace Philes: Many Reasons to Celebrate!: Hi there! It's time for another giveaway! I hope you like it! Presenting... I have SO MANY reasons to celebrate!!  Totally singing Hooba...

Whimsical Wet Cement

I went to the store the other day in hopes to pick up a Cinderella by Sinful Colors for a swap I am doing and of course, they didn't have it.  I decided to walk around and see what I needed ;-) and I saw the Revlon stand.   Whimsical has been making its way across my rss feed lately and to be honest I didn't see what the big deal was.  But as I held it next to my Wet Cement by Wet N' Wild that was in my clutches I though, hmmm, these would look cute over each other.  Later that day I fell in love all over again!  I now know what the big effing deal is!  I love the pink and blue hex glitter and the smaller glitter.  I do have one wish though. I wish that the blue base was a little easier to conceal because there are some spots where it pools and looks a little chunkier than the rest of the nail.

On my pointer finger I have one coat of Whimsical and two coats of it on my middle finger

I also have my Avon Smooth Beginnings base coat on

 Here is one coat of Wet Cement

Two coats of Wet Cement 

as you can see I smuged my thumb and pointer finger a little :-(

Two coats of Wet Cement and two coats of Whimsical

What do you guys think?  Have you tried Whimsical yet?  I just went to pick up a back up bottle of this and Fred Meyers was sold out.  

Day 5 Nail Challenge/ St. Patricks Day mani

Day five of the black and white challenge is a colored base with something black.  I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do and how I was going to accomplish this mani and a St. Patricks day mani all in one day.  You see, I am working two 15 hour days between yesterday and today and I ALMOST didn't do anything on my nails.  I almost slept in between my shifts, but I thought, no, there is NO WAY I can not not have something on my nails for St. Patricks Day!  And low and behold I figured out how to kill two birds with one stone!  I am actually quite shocked how well these nails turned out because I did this in about half an hour.  So to my shock I still had time for a nap!  Woot woot.  I really wanted to do a bunch of shamrocks on each nail but one I applied the first leaf I realized I didn't have enough time to accomplish this so I just went with one big one on each nail.  I am pretty surprised how well my bad hand turned out too.

Good hand

bad hand

Base color: Happy Ending by Sinful Colors - 2 coats

Stems: Green Glitter by L.A. Colors Art Deco Nail Art Lacquer -2-3 strokes

Orange on right ring finger: Sun Kissed by Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear - 2 coats

Orange on left ring finger (clover): acrylic paint

White on left ring finger: French Tip White by O.P.I. - 2 coats

White on right ring finger: acrylic paint

Black used for all clovers: acrylic paint

White used for inside of clover leafs: White by Kiss Brush On Nail Art Paint

Base coat: Avon Smooth Beginnings
Top coat: Seche Vite - 1 coat

What are you guys wearing for St. Patricks Day?

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Day 4 Black and White Challenge: White base with some color

I know this is a few days late to be posted, but I did have it done on time, have just been fighting for energy this week since the sun is playing hide and seek this week.  My creative juices were not really flowing that great this day.  I had just gotten off a ten hour shift, like I do six days a week, but was drained due to such a slow day.  I remember seeing someone combine white with Frenzy before in a similar manner and I remember how much I enjoyed them together so I decided to give it a try.  I also wasn't sure what way I wanted to apply it so I kinda did a skittle per say of the styles.  Unlike day one I was able to get a non streaky base of the white in two coats instead of three.  I did put it on heavier so I will have to remember that for the next time I use that white.

Colors used include:

O.P.I. French Tip White (Not sure if that is the actual name, it is a mini bottle and this is what the sales clerk called it). Two Coat

Frenzy by Sinful Colors - three coats

Black by Kiss Nail Art Paint

No More by Sinful Colors Nail Art 

Moonlight by Sinful Colors Nail Art

Base Coat from Avon

Seche Vite top coat - one coat

I have not been a fan of the reverse tips or whatever the design is called on my ring finger but it turned out to be my favorite one!  I wish I would have gone straighter on the middle finger as I was trying to do a half and half and more of a french tip on the pinkie, but like I said earlier I was drained.  So, what do you think?  Do you  like the combo?  I know I will be using it again.

If you would like to see the rules and days of the challenge, you can click here.  You can see day two here, and day three here.

GEM Crush - Big Money

       I was so not looking forward to removing my previous mani because of all the acrylic and I have only used it twice so I wasn't sure how to take it off.  I ended up having to use the foil method and it worked like a charm!
      I know that the Sally Hanson Gem crush line has been out since November of 2011, but it takes me a while to have enough money to hoard buy all the polishes that I NEED really really really want.  The Gem crush line came out with eight colors: Showgirl Chic (silver base), Cha-Ching! (red base), Big Money (IMO gold but have heard champagne/pewter base), Bling-Tastic (blue base), Be-Jeweled (purple base), Razzle Dazzler (pink base), Lady Luck (garnet), and Glitz Gal (charcoal base).  I picked up Big Money because it was the second one that I wanted.  The first one that I wanted was of course Razzle Dazzler because I ALWAYS want the pinks.  I can't even tell you how many pink polishes I own.  I decided to go out of my comfort zone and go for something I don't have...  gold.  I abhor the color gold but the purple colored flakes pulled me right in!  I have been sitting on this polish for about a month, so you can see that I wasn't all that excited to try it out.  I am so bummed that I waited so long because I love it!  It is so beautiful.  I love that it looks like I spent a lot of time on this mani but in just three coats, ba bammm!  Look at that shine.  I am in love.  I am SO glad I waited to take pictures while I was in the sun instead of posting the pictures from last night (the last two pictures) .  I really really want to try the other ones!!

This one is in out side in the amazing sun shine!

Inside with no flash

Inside with flash

Have you guys been able to try these?  Do you like them?  Do you hate them?  Do you have any laying around you just feel the need to give me?  ;-)

Day 3 black and white challenge: Color on Black

I am oh so very excited about this mani.  I feel like I am getting better and better every day. :)  Once again, I found my inspiration from Robin Moses.  I have a feeling she will be in A LOT of my blog posts.  I saw this mani the other day:

I followed her YouTube tutorial which was so sort and so simple.  And here is my end result.

I used two coats of Wet N' Wild Black Cream for the base, white acrylic paint for the stems and leafs, and all the pink and red for the petals were acrylic as well.  The silver in the middle of the flowers is Celeb City by Sally Hanson.  So, do you guys have any feedback for me?  I have had over 200 blog views but have only had two comments left for me.  :(  I really am looking for feedback and ideas.  To inspire and to be inspired.  Please don't hesitate to comment. :)

Daisy mani and first time with acrylic painting

Wow, seriously what a LONG week.  To bad I have to work tomorrow as well.  We have been so busy and I am so exhausted.  I don't want to do anything right now, but I really wanted to get this post up because I am in love with this mani.  I bought this Sally Hanson orange color a few months ago to do a giraffe mani and never got around to it.  I really thought that I wouldn't be using it for any thing else but I should know by now to never say never.

In this post last week I discussed my sickening love for Robin Moses and how you can find her beautiful tutorials and works of art.  I was watching her tutorial for a beautiful spring wedding mani and thought, I need to try this.  I have the perfect color for it.  I hadn't played around with acrylic paints yet for my mani's so I scrounged up my tip money from the day and went to JoAnns to buy a brush and some paints.  I spent eight dollars and got five brushes and 24 little things of acrylic to play with.  This will keep me busy for a long long long time and I couldn't be happier.

I first applied my O.P.I. Nail Envy as the base.  Then applied three coats of Sally Hanson's Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed on all fingers except my ring fingers.  On my ring fingers I applied two coats of N.Y.C's  105A.  (A silver glitter).  Three coats is more than I like to apply when it comes to a polish but it was really streaky after two coats so I had to take one for the team.

After those layers dried I applied on layer of the glitter to the fingers with the orange and then went to town following the tutorial.  No point in me explaining step by step when Robin can do it way better in her video. :)  So here is the finished product!

Not to shabby for a first time attempt at this, right?  Have you guys experienced the love for Robin Moses yet?  If not, jump on it.  You will not be let down!

I also really enjoyed playing with acrylics for the first time.  I can't wait to keep trying them out.  What are your thoughts on acrylic?

Layers by Scentsy giveaway!

There is a really cool give away going on over at Cristies Reviews . It is a really awesome giveaway so go check it out. :)

Black and White challenge day 2

So, Robin Moses is my idol when it comes to nail design.  If you don't know who she is you need to go to the link, become amazed and stalk her.  She is on Pinterest, FaceBook, YouTube, and I am sure tons of other sites as well.  Guess I am not that good of a stalker... :)  So, she inspired me for my white on black mani with her French Kiss tutorial.  (This link just takes you to the picture.  If you want to see the youtube video you can just click here).  I used two coats of Wet N' Wild Black Creme, and my Kiss Nail Art Paint in white for the lips, and they are topped with a layer of Seche Vite.  I think I did pretty good for a newbie with the nail art brushes.  I think I am going to have to follow Robin's advice and make my own custom ones for better control though.  The long brushes are hard to work with most of the time.

So, this is my left hand, which is my bad hand and I think it turned out pretty dang well!

And my right hand.  I am screwed up on my pointer finger but it kinda makes it look like a funny smiley face.  he he .

So, what do you guys think?  Is any one doing this challenge along side me?

Blue Me Away

This is just a quick post of the mani I did last night.  I will post another one today for day two of the black and white challenge, which I am super excited for.  I found a mani similar to this on pinterest and that is where the inspiration sprung.  I am pretty pleases with the end look.  There are two coats of Blue Me Away by Sally Hanson, the purple is Wet N' Wild's On a Trip, and the silver is Celeb City from Sally Hanson.  I love Celeb City, so pretty and sparkly.

Random Sunday mani

So, I really didn't want to take off my black on white mani from my challenge but I was so bored and needed something to do.  I decided I was going to take all of my polish and make a picture for my Facebook banner picture and placed Wet N' Wild's I Need A Refreh-Mint next to O.P.I.'s Teenage Dream and thought hey those would look super cute together.  I did two coats of the Wet N' Wild and the thought about doing a gradient in the Teenage Dream.  I screwed it up so I then decided that purple would be a rockin color to do a cloud design in.  I used Sinful Color's Nail Art in Moonlight and this is what I came up with.  I was pretty impressed.  Not something you see everyday but I like it.  Thoughts?

This was with my flash:

And this was in natural light:

Give away over at Glam Polish

There is a rockin give a way going on over at Glam Polish since she has reached 1000 followers!  Go over there and enter for some crazy cool China Glaze colors!

My first nail challenge

And the rules:

You can use as many black or white polishes as you like with different finishes and slightly different shades, but black or white need to be seen.  You can layer, stamp over it, draw nail art, use a sticker, rhinestones,… but base polish must be visible. With sponging and water marble you can use as many colors as you like but black and white must be visible. You can also use color polish whit 1. and 2. manicure, but do it in minimum if any at all. I know the black or white can look odd on nails, so it is OK if you do like a french tip (base of a nail need to be clear) or half nail (also clear base)

If any of you don’t feel confidante about challenge (like sponging or water marble) you can skip it. On that day you don’t write a post or do other manicure that fit in this challenge. 

Which I found on My Little Vanities Blog.  She is also participating in the challenge with My Nail Graffiti. 

I found this challenge over at My Nail Graffiti.  I am not a part of her challenge and link up but thought this looked really really fun!  If you would like to join me along with my nail challenge I would love to share your link on here and if you don't have a blog I will show your pictures as I progress through the challenge.

There are two reasons I decided to to this nail challenge.  One, I love black and white together.  Two, it is only ten mani's and each mani is spread out over a three day period.  Which is great because I spent A LOT of time on this mani last night, I have the weekend off from work so my mani will actually last, and this is my favorite mani so far!  My inspiration came from my wedding dress.  I only wish that I had this on for my wedding!!!

Here is my the inspiration:

 This is two coats of O.P.I.'s French Tip White (I am not sure what it is actually called because it is just one of the mini bottles and doesn't have the name on it but I remember the sales women calling it that when I purchased it).

 And three coats:

 Then with a bobby pin I dotted on the flowers.  After about 30 seconds of doing the bigger dots for the daisy looking flowers I drug the bobby pin from the center of the circle towards the center of al of the dots to creat the petal look.  I used Kiss Black Nail Art Paint for the black.  For the smaller flowers I just made sure to do five dots all touching and added a white dot into the middle of them with Kiss's White Nail Art Paint.

 And the other hand!

 I just love how these turned out!  I can't wait to see what you guys are going to come up with!  Email me your pictures at melizajane20(@)gmaildotcom.

Ridin the purple wave

I got some mini Essie polishes when I was at Walgreens last week and decided that I wanted to play around with the purple that I had picked up. This was my first time using Essie and I my feelings towards them are mutal at this point.  I had to do three coats of Lilac for full opacity because it was pretty streaky with only two, as you can see in the pictures below.  I also haven't really seen any colors in their collection that draws me into them.  I like loud colors and so far all I have seen is pale and pastel.  This could also be due to the fact that every one is coming out with spring lines and pastel colors are generally a spring color.  I will keep my eyes open though because they did just become available at my Wal Mart, and who doesn't just love one stop shopping.  All though I must say, the colors that they have right now, I am not willing to pay eight dollars a bottle for.  See, mutal.  What are your thoughts on Essie's polish line?

I apologize for my thumb.  I have a terrible cuticle picking habit and I snagged my finger on something at work and ended up doing a number on my thumb.  I would of pictured my other hand but I had a larger cuticle problem over there so I had to pick the lesser of two evils.  That is one great thing about my blog though.  I have been much nicer to my cuticles because I don't want you guys to have to look at them all ickyfied.

Two coats of Essie Lilac

Three coats of Essie Lilac

The dark purple is Wet N' Wild On a Trip and the white is Kiss Brush on Nail Art Paint

I couldn't take this last picture in the sun light because it decided to play hide and seek with me.  :(  I didn't use my flash for this picture.