31 Day Challenge - Day 3: Gold

       Three days into the challenge and I'm already posting a day late!  So not how I like to be, but yesterday was a fluke.  I ended up having to work 5 am to 5 pm without a lunch, come home and shower, then go immediately to a friend's house for dinner.  I would have rescheduled except for the fact that we were in charge of bringing the ingredients and their car was broken down.  I very well couldn't leave them stranded like that, could I?!  

     As the title to this post states, yesterday's challenge was gold.  I was kinda freaking out about gold day because I have two gold polishes, or so I thought.  Turns out I had between 15 - 20 gold polishes I had never worn.  I am not a huge gold fan so I never wear it, but for some reason I buy it?  Can you explain this to me?  I guess that is what classifies my "hobby" as an "addiction".  Lol.  

     I loved Disco Dolls.  It has so many pretty colors jam packed into one polish.  I know that this is one coat over a base color, but I dare say it would be opaque with one coat.  To achieve this look I painted on Venus and let it dry completely which took about an hour.  Then one by one I taped off each finger, painted on Disco Dolls, and promptly removed the tape.  Had I used a coat of Seche on top of Venus I could have cut my dry time down to about 30 minutes, but it was my day off and I was watching a movie, so I wasn't it a big of a hurry. :-)

Base coat: Pro FX Fiberized Ridge Filler

Base color: Venus from Avon - 2 coats

Glitter: Disco Dolls from Nicole by OPI - 1 coat

Top coat: Seche Vite

All these pictures were taken outside without the flash.  Here is a close up of Disco Dolls so you can see all the different glitters in this amazing polish.

Have you guys ever been surprised by the amount of one polish you had that you didn't even know?  

Normally I post the little links so that you can view everyone's posts for the challenge, but I can't seem to be able to get them to work! :-(  I'm so sorry because I love adding this feature to my posts.  Once I am able to figure it out, I will add it to each post!

Adventures In Stamping: Stamping With Mash Plate 38

     Our Sunday stamping challenge for the Facebook group, Adventures In Stamping, was to stamp with the theme of something toxic or poisonous.  I was at a standstill with what to do.  I googled poisonous plants and learned that parts of cherries are poisonous.  So I thought that that would at least be a cute mani.  While I was digging through my plates searching for the plate with the cherries on it, I found a plate with a spider on it.  That brought back vivid memories of the four black widows we have killed in the last few years, and what I beleive to be a hobo spider that was on our porch just a few days ago.  My poor husband.  I just stood there freaking out.  I never had a fear of spiders up until we started killing those black widows.  So I figured today would be the best day to use this stamp because I will probablly never use it again.

Base coat:  Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener

Base colors: Pinky and pointer finger - Black Cream from Wet N' Wild - 1 coat

                     Ring finger and thumb - French White Tip from N.Y.C. - 3 coats

                     Middle finger - Sealed With A Kris from Nicole by OPI - 3 coats

Stamping color: Black Cream from Wet N' Wild

Stamping plate: Mash 38

Red on back of spider: Red Red from Wet N' Wild

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta - Dri Anti - Chip Top Coat

Taken outside in direct light

Taken inside without flash

Taken outside in indirect light

I know these pictures aren't the greatest but I couldn't handle looking at the spiders up close anymore.  Sorry.

Mermaid Nails: Gradient Plus Stamping With Mash Plate 39

     In the Facebook group, Crumpet's Nail Tarts, our Summer Challenge for today was to do a mermaid mani.  I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do since there was no way in hell I would be able to draw an actual mermaid on my nails.  I googled mermaid nails and quickly figured out that I needed to do a gradient with a scale like stamp to mimic a mermaid's tail.  I am so pleased with how this came out.  I wish I could have captured all of it's beauty in the photos, but there was not very good sunlight out.  :-(  It turned out exactly how I wanted it.  Beautiful, sparkly, and just a hint of  scales.

Base coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener

Base color: Fly from OPI - 2 coats

Gradient colors: Fly-closest to my cuticle

                           Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam from Nicole by OPI - in the center

                           Grape...Set...Match from OPI- at the tip of the nail

Stamping color: Let's Talk from Sinful Colors

Stamping plate: Mash 39

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

I hope that you like these as much as I do!

Nicole By Opi Studio Mama Swatches and Sally Hansen Big Money Accent Nail

     As I mentioned in my previous post, I had gone to TJ Maxx and found those Sally Hansen nail wraps.  Well, I also found some Nicole by OPI duo packs and some Essie polishes.  I picked up a duo pack containing Studio Mama and I've Got Bieber Fever.  Both of these colors were relaease as part of the One Less Lonely Girls Collection, which if you haven't figured it out yet, was inspired by Justin Bieber.  The best part of these polishes, it was 7.99 for the both of them.

     I am not hugely drawn to light shades of polish I decided to try wearing it with an accent nail.  Which I am shocked I have never done before.   I wish I could have captured some better pictures but the Gem Crushes don't photograph well.  To much grazy glam!  Bam!  I love it.

Base coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener

Main color: Studio Mama by Nicole by Opi - 3 coats

Accent nail: Big Money by Salley Hansen Gem Crush

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Outside in direct light

Inside with no flash

Outside in indirect light

I applied the three layers very thin so they dried rather quickly.  I wish this was a little more pink looking but overall like it.  Do you have any of the colors from the One Less Lonely Girl Collection or did you stay away from them?

Sealed With A Kris from Nicole By OPI Swatches and Stamping With Mash Plate 28

  Todays Adventures In Stamping Challenge was for us to stamp with black and red.  When I picked up Khloe Had A Little Lam Lam from the Nicole by OPI collection a few weeks ago I also picked up this pretty red color titled Sealed With A Kris.  I figured what better time to try it out then for todays challenge.
  Sealed With A Kris is a beautiful deepish redish jellyish glossy color.  It is a thicker jelly which I liked because there was no visible nail line after two coats.  I love Nicole by OPI's formula and their brush.  It went on amazing, dried quickly and looks beautiful.
  I really need to invest in a stamping black.  Using Wet N' Wild's Black Creme is not cutting it for me.  It doesn't transfer well AT ALL.  That is going next on my wish list.

Base coat: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener

Base color: Sealed With A Kris from Nicole by OPI - 2 coats

Stamping color: Black Creme from Wet N' Wild

Stamping plate: Mash 28

Top coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Taken outside in natural light

Taken inside with flash

Outside in natural light

Taken outside in indirect light

Taken inside without flash

Taken inside with flash

Isn't this such a pretty color!  What do you think?  I hope that you all had a great weekend!  Please feel free to leave comments, I love to read them.

Nicole by OPI Khloe Had a Little Lam Lam Swatches and Stamping With Konad M65 and

  In a few of the nail polish groups that I am in on Facebook, I heard that Target was having a polish sale.  My husbands allergies were killing him the other day and he had ran out of Allegra, so I generously offered to run to the store and pick some more up for him.  ;-)  I always wanted to try the Nicole by OPI polishes because OPI is one of my favorite brands, but I felt that seven dollars a bottle was kind of a rip off for a "drug store" brand of polish.  I know it isn't a drug store brand but they designed it to be sold in stores like WalMart, Target, CVS, Fred Meyers, etc etc.  I picked up three of the Kardashian Kolor's, (can I say how much it bugs me when companies spell things wrong on purpose, Kolor, I mean really?  Normally I won't even use a product or company that does this.  I know, I have issues.)
  I didn't think that I really like Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam but I fell in LOVE!  It is such a beautiful dark green cream color. The application was perfect!  I could have done it with one layer of polish had I done it a tad thicker, but I went pretty thin with my layers.  I loved it so much that I wore it for two days.  It is so stinking pretty.  I will let the pictures speak for it self.

Base coat: Sally Hansen Hardener and Chip Skip from OPI

Base color: Khole Had a Little Lam-Lam from Nicole by OPI

Stamping color: Jade from Avon

Stamping plate: Konad plate 65

Top coat:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Here is the finished product

 

Taken outside in direct light

Outside in indirect light

Inside without flash

Inside with flash

My original idea was to put a matte top coat on over Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam and then stamp with the same color but it didn't show up like I wanted it to so that is when I switched to the Jade polish.  I wish that it would of worked out but it didn't. :-(

Have you guys tried any of the Nicole by OPI polishes.  Do you think they are over priced or just right?