50 GFC Follower Giveaway

I had every intention of posting this as soon as I arrived home, but my hubby met me at the door and told me to change clothes, we were going out, just the two of us.  I think the last time we went out to dinner alone was probably our anniversary, 6 months ago.  Sad, isn't it.  It's not like we need a babysitter anymore, we are just busy and like to take the kids with us when we do go out.  But not tonight!  Happy Valentines Day!  Not only did we go out, we went for sushi, which isn't my hubbies favorite, but is mine.  AND there was a box of chocolates waiting too!  What a sweetheart!

So now it is almost 11:00 and I am just getting this up.  The long awaited (by me at least) giveaway is here!

There are THREE prizes in this giveaway!

The first prize is a set of 4 full sized Sephora/Pantone Universe Color of the Year Collection.  These are all tangerine tones, including one glitter.  The colors are Tangerine Tango Shimmer, Tangerine Tango Matte, Tangerine Tango Creme and Tangerine Tango Glitter.  Lovely!

The second prize is two sets of MINIS and one single mini.  The OPI set includes Last Minute Shopper, Skip the Gift Wrap, Gift Cards for Everyone and Rapidry Top Coat in 3.75 mL bottles.  The Orly set includes Preamp, Decoded, Shockwave and Synchro (remember I told you yesterday that you could win this color!) in 5.3 mL bottles.  The single little China Glaze is Ruby Pumps in a 3.6 mL bottle.  So cute!

The third prize is two full sized China Glaze in Cast a Spell and Fast Track.  I have a funny story about these two.  I had purchased these two colors from a blog sale and then forgot about them.  While they were in the mail, I found the same colors on sale at Sally's at a great price and picked them up, along with a couple others.  When the nail mail came, I had to laugh (picture me smacking myself in the forehead at the same time).  These, of course, are the new ones, not the blog sale polish.  Also included is a little mini pedi kit containing a small nail file, tweezers, nail clippers and a toe separator.

Rules are as follows:
You must be 18+ years of age to enter, unless you have parent or guardians’ permission.
This giveaway is only open to addresses in the contiguous USA.
This giveaway is not connected to Facebook in any shape or form.
Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email.  If no response within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.
Ends February 27th, 2013.
Please allow 2 – 4 weeks to ship.  Not responsible for damaged or lost mail.

Good luck all!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Toxic Love

I have entered a nail contest held by Glitter Me This.  The theme is Valentine/Anti-Valentine, so no red or pink allowed.  Here is what I (well, not really me, but more on that later) came up with.  If you like this, go vote for me HERE.  If not, go check out who you would like to vote for (tee hee).

So, what do you think?  Anti-Valentine?  So I have to tell you the story behind this mani.  Not too long ago I found out that my hubby has never seen my blog.  Although it was him that first directed me to the Konad stand at the State Fair and even encouraged me to make my first purchase, he just isn't that interested.  I show him all my manis and he likes them, but after all, it is just nails and polish, right?  Then I won my first giveaway and he became a bit interested.  When he saw my nails posted on a blog other than my own after I entered a contest, he became a little more interested.  Now he doesn't roll his eyes or stare blankly at me when I talk to him about my nails (tee hee).

So when I told him about this contest and how I was having so much trouble coming up with a design that did not have ANY pink or red in it, not even a pink shimmer in a polish, he actually responded.  "Purple," he said "Purple as the base with  toxic lime green hearts".  Brilliant, my husband is!  But it didn't end there!  My son was listening in on the conversation.  "Yeah, lime green like is on our Outbreak Omega shirts.  You should use the biohazard symbol too!"  So brilliance runs in the family (tee hee).  Hubby even helped me pick the colors.  So this is a family inspired mani, although it does not represent how I feel about my family at all!

Without Flash

 I started with two coats of Pomegranate Improv Show.  it is a beautiful dark purple plumy purple with blue and pink micro glitter.  The only complaint I have about this polish is the micro glitter, which makes clean up a bitch, but makes the color anything but.  Just took a little extra scrubbing after it was dry and safe to clean my hands.

With Flash

If you haven't tried Pomegranate lacquers, you should!  You can find it online HERE.  I picked up 4 shades during a Christmas sale and love every single one.  The application is smooth and easy and although dry time was a little longer than other polish, it wasn't the worst I have dealt with (one of the worst is coming up tomorrow).  Well worth the wait though.

Next I added a layer of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety Split Lime to my ring finger and painted the biohazard symbols with the same color.  The symbols were pretty easy, just a vertical skinny X and a vertical like straight across and fill in the triangles.  I stamped the ring finger with Orly Wild Wisteria and Bundle Monster BM311.  When I tried to stamp with Improve, the green was coming through too much.  Then I used Ozotic Shattered 910 to make the heart in the middle of the image into another biohazard symbol.  I made the mistake of trying to touch up the symbol with the Orly instead of the Pomegranate.  Didn't really notice the difference in the purples till I saw the photos.  Oh well. 
 
I added some Nina Electric Slide to just the green parts of the symbol to add some glitter, etc. and stamped over the symbols with Bundle Monster BM09 and Essie Good as Gold.  In real life, the love was hard to see, but I knew it was there and it made me smile.  

On my thumb I added a partial stamping from plate m78, which stamped pretty good for a fauxnad.







So one last look at the whole thing before you go?  Sure, why not!  Don't forget to go vote for your favorite anti-Valentine mani HERE!

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Day 4 - Ramblings and Roses

Before I get to the nails, I want to ramble a bit.  Don't want to listen?  Scroll away!  After all, this blog is about the nails, not bloggin.  But that's what I want to blab about, blogging.  

I haven't had a post for a few days, and I feel guilty.  How crazy is that?  When I started this whole adventure, I had no intention of posting every day....just two or three a times a week.  But then I discovered my dashboard.  What is it about that descending visits graph that makes me anxious?  I know, I know, it's my type A popping in, but she is so hard to ignore.  Blogging is a labor of love, especially when it is about something that you create, in my case nail art.  Coming up with the designs, finding color combos, polish...wait for dry time...polish again, photograph, edit the pics, compose and post....Yeah, a lot of labor.  The LOVE is all there in the labor, but I know myself....it is all too easy to get caught up in the stats and numbers and soon the love comes secondary to the labor.

All this is to say that I am still feeling my way around this blogging universe and trying to find what I want and what will make ME happy....and sane!  So this is going to be one of THOSE blogs for awhile till I find my balance.  You know the ones, no posts for a few days, then 2 or 3 on the same day....once a day for awhile and then nothing for 3 days.  If this kind of thing drives you crazy, oh well.  This is my journey and I must follow it the way I need to.  Hopefully I will get it all figured out by my first blogiversary, but who knows, maybe not.  I have to be okay with that if I want to reach that blogiversary and beyond.

You all are welcome to my journey!  But be forewarned....it may be a crazy one!  Now on to what you really want, the nails!

Please forgive the horribly dry skin.  It is winter after all!

The theme for day 4 of February's Love-ly NAC is Roses.  If you are following my blog, you can probably guess that I am not a "flowery" person.  I am art deco.  I am vampish.  I am abstract and "modern".  Flowery.....not so much.  Plus the colors that lend themselves to roses are not really my colors.  I mean, have you ever seen me with a basic red mani (well, except that one during the Christmas challenge, and even that one was a little "out there").  So this one was harder for me.  I did a mani last month with the only rose stamp I really like, and I didn't want to repeat.  I have some freehand rose ideas pinned, but really wanted to go with a stamp for some reason.  So I went through all my numerous plates and came up with this image.

Now, this is Konad M65....sort of.  Can I go on a tangent again?  Of course I can, it is my blog!  I have a couple of Konad plates in my stash and they are of great quality.  They were my first plates and what started this whole crazy trip.  Then I got a Bundle Monster set.....and then another......and another.  Again, great quality, no issues.  Wanting to add to my collection, I got a set of fauxnad from a very popular online vendor who shall remain unnamed.  Don't know what fauxnad is?  They are knockoff plates with the same images as the Konad plates.  The price on the fauxnad is a fraction of what you would pay for Konad plates with the same images, so I went for it.  Don't waste your money.  Do your research (like I didn't).  Google plate reviews before you purchase any fauxnad.  The ones I got are not the quality I have come to expect from stamping plates.  The etching is rough and makes scrapping off the polish tricky and removing the polish with any cotton pad very frustrating.  Oh well, right?  Lesson learned.  But the sad part is that I steered a relative that was interested in trying stamping to this cheaper version.  Visualize me kicking myself in the ass.  I had originally recommended the Bundle Monsters, of course, but she wanted someplace where she could get plates and stampers and said she couldn't find stampers on the BM site.  I will never again recommend something that I have not tried myself, even if I have heard good things from other people.

Now that I have blah, blah, blahed again, let's get back to the nails.

I started with two coats of Sally Hanson Insta-Dri Quick Sand.  Actually, it was one coat right before I walked out the door for work and another when I got home.  Although I think most of the SH Insta-Dris are uninspired and mostly only good for stamping, this one actually has some personality.  Of course, I forgot to get a pic of it on it's own.  It is a peachy nude color with a very sparse and tiny silver glitter which you just cannot see in these pics.  And trust me, if you want a polish that you can apply one coat 5 minutes before you walk out the door and have a decent finish, then the Insta-Dri line is for you.  Great stampers too!

Next I stamped with Orly Synchro.  How to describe Synchro?  I would call it a toasted peach color with a blue to purple shift duo-chrome shimmer.  How's that for a description?  Seriously, you have to see this color for yourself to get a sense of it.  I even Googled to see if I could find a good representation, but didn't find pics that did it justice.  If you are actually reading all this gibberish, I'll give you a little surprise.  You will have a chance to win this polish in my giveaway that will start tomorrow, a little Valentines gift.

The effect of using Sychro for stamping was interesting.  It showed the burned peach color, but at certain angles it looked purple, or even blue, which I tried to capture in the pics with little success.  You can see a little of the purple shift in the pic above.  

When I finished this mani in the wee hours of the morn, I absolutely loved it!  In the morning, as I picked up my coffee cup they startled me.  At first glance I honestly thought that I had broken a nails or something and had little spots of dried blood on my nails.  The rest of the day, they just looked like I had sunburned my nails with a funny pattern (tee hee).  This would actually be a great combo for a Halloween or zombie (think The Walking Dead) mani.  In the end, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, just hoping that I was the only one who thought it looked a little "off".  What do you think?

Don't forget to go check out all the other rosey tips!

  

Day 3 of the February Love-ly NAC - Candy

Most people think of candy hearts when thinking of Valentine candy.  Not me.  Never liked those chalky candies...just like I don't like Smarties or candy buttons.  You're not my type, candy hearts, no matter how sweet your messages are (tee hee).  But there is one candy that comes to mind....one of my favorites....and one that my hubby has been giving me for valentines for the last several years.....

My original idea was to use some printable temporary tattoo paper and use that to create nail appliques for the lettering.  I have heard that works....but only if your printer is working and mine decided it had enough while I was trying to print these.  Time for a new printer, I guess :-(

Since my original idea had to be scrapped, I tried to think what else I could do, but finally decided that I had enough confidence to try the lettering freehand.  Although it is not perfect, and the lettering on my ring finger was not lined up correctly, I still ended up very happy with the results.  Yeah for freehand!  Here is how I did it.

Before cleanup and topcoat

 I started with 3 coats of Orly Old School Orange.  I got this awesome matte orange from HauteLook.  If you haven't checked out HauteLook, do so HERE.  HauteLook is an online program that has flash sales events in the all kinds of areas.  They don't often have nail polish sales, but when they do, it is usually older or previous season colors, which is why I like them!  I have been able to get some older polishes at great prices.

Anyways, back on track.  When I received Old School Orange in the mail, I though "what the heck were you thinking?"  I mean, I know its matte....and yes, I love matte polish.....but it is orange!  And not just orange, but ORANGE!  The only time you will ever wear this as a base is in October!  Well, I am glad that I was wrong, because it is the perfect polish base for this mani.  I mean really, look at this pic.

Perfect, right!  And how nice to have an excuse to use it!  

Okay, back to the mani....I seem to be having problems staying on track today :-)  After the perfect base color, I sketched out the lettering and hearts with Orly Chocoholic (very apropos).  Next I added Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening to the lettering.  On my thumb I dotted China Glaze Kalahari Kiss on one side to create the "bite".

I really debated on whether to add a top coat to this.  I liked it matte (of course) and it gave it the feeling of their old wrappers, the ones that were more paper-like than plastic-like.  In the end I decided it needed a top coat to smooth out all the roughness of the freehand "art".  What do you think?  Here it is with and without topcoat.

With topcoat

Without topcoat (and before cleanup :-)

 Now go check the other candy themed manis!

Day 2 of Februarys Love-ly NAC - Lips

For day 2 of February's Love-ly nail art challenge, I have a simple lip design.  Or, actually, Bria has them!  I started with Layla Retro Pink, a lovely linear holo, then stamped with Konad Special Black and Bundle Monster BM02 for a rocker chick look.

Take a better look at this lovely Layla linear holo (love that alliteration tee hee) which is most visible on the index finger.  Because of the stamping, I had to add a topcoat, which dulls the holo scatter, but it still looked very nice. 

Feel free to check out the other lippy nails.

Holo Giveaway!

I don't usually blog about giveaways, but if you want to enter to win 8 international holos, check THIS post! 

Day 1 of Februarys Love-ly NAC - Hearts

Welcome to another challenge!  This is The Manicure Hut's February's Love-ly Nail Art Challenge.  I am so happy to be involved in this because it is not every day and only lasts a month.  And it is valentine themed!  What could be better?

First day is hearts, so this is what I came up with.

I really liked how this turned out, although I don't think that the colors are very complementary to my skin.  But when have I ever let that matter (tee hee)!

I started with two coats of Ulta Cream of the Crop.  I love this color, even if it is not flattering to my skin tone.  I seriously looks like butter....SERIOUSLY.  I had to go compare and placed my nails next to the butter in the kitchen....yep....exactly the same color.  I love the softness of this yellow.  I doesn't scream "Look at me!  I'm YELLOW".  It whispers "Hello, I'm not white, a bit more than cream, just a little bit on the yellow side."  Gorgeous!

On top of that I stamped with Konad Special Black and my new LeaLac XL B stamping plate.  This came just this last week from Llarowe and I have a serious crush on it.  You can find it HERE.

The images on this plate are HUGE!  If you have large nail beds, this is the plate for you.  The pattern I chose looks like wallpaper pattern.  You cant see it very well in the plate pic (sorry) but the center of where I added hearts has this really nice scrolly detail that you can just glimpse on my index (top heart) and ring (bottom heart) fingers.  And yes, I am aware that I didn't stamp straight.  Still working on that.  This pattern is very pretty on its own, but I wanted hearts, and they kind of looked like hearts, so I added hearts with a dotting tool and Pomegranate Autumnesque.  Hmmm....Autumnesque really deserves it's own mani.  It is such a lovely reddish copper color.  Note to self, use Autumnesque as a base....SOON!

Bria said this looks like wallpaper....and she's right....but I really liked it.  The colors, the design, it all just looks sweet and tender, just what I was looking for.  Now go check out all the other hearts.

 

Day 31 of Crumpets 31 DC - Recreation

I have mixed feelings about this, the final day, of the challenge.  Woo hoo, it's the last day!  Boo hoo, it's the last day!  Once again I have learned so much and pushed my creative envelope.  It will be awhile before I do a 31 day challenge again, although I have some more relaxed challenges coming for February.

The last day is to recreate someone else's mani from the challenge.  I chose Cazzy's acid wash mani found HERE.  I have seen a lot of acid wash manis on my many web travels, but Cazzy's was the first that I actually really, really liked.  Her's was the one that made me want to try the technique.  Her's, of course, is better than mine, but I still am happy with how this turned out.

I was going for a wood grain look, so I layered 4 different shades of brown/tan. 

• Two coats of Revlon Bare Bones
• Finger Paints It's Baroque
• Nina Beige A View
• Orly Chocoholic

I used one coat of topcoat between each layer, then removed spots with acetone and a small paintbrush.

I think I was a little hesitant with the acetone.  I could have been more aggressive.  Oh well, it was, as always, a learning experience.

Now go see all the other recreations.

Day 30 of Crumpets 31 DC - Favorite Technique

If you can't figure out what my favorite technique is, you haven't looked through my blog hard enough (tee hee).  My favorite technique is the one that started my whole nail obsession...Stamping!  This is not my best stamping, but it will have to do.

I started with three coats of Sinful Colors Cinderella.  I wish I would have photo'd this lovely color on it's own.  If you want to see a good representation, check it on The Daily Varnish HERE.  I purchased all my Sinful Colors before I heard about the whole stealing image hoopla, and haven't purchased any of them since, but I have to say that I'm glad that this beautiful blue is in my stash.  It is a sheer light baby blue with glass flecks.  I LOVE glass flecked polish.

 Next I stamped with Bundle Monster BM-206 and Avon Forbidden Fudge.  I wasn't concerned with how perfect the stamping was, because I knew I was going to be taping off most of it.  You can see on my index finger that my learning curve with this stamp was steep.  Some images require cleaning after each stamp, and this is one of them, which I learned a little late.  This image with this polish also required a delicate hand, soft stamping on both the plate and the nail.  Oh well, now I know for future reference.

Next I added small triangles of tape and pained with China Glaze Ingrid, a beautiful soft brown with a gold glitter.  In real life, the stamped brown and Ingrid matched better....that damn macro once again shows all the inconsistencies.

I really liked how this turned out...the pics, on the other hand, don't do it justice.  Now go see all the other favorite techniques.

Day 29 of Crumpets 31 DC - Inspired by a Blogger

Day 29 is inspired by a blogger.  This was a difficult one for me.  There are so many talented bloggers out there, and I follow so many of them.  One of my favorites is the lovely Marta from Chit Chat Nails.  I used her mani HERE as inspiration.  Her's is so much more gorgeous than mine!  Here is what I came up with.

I am not wild about these.  Maybe it is not the right colors, I don't know.  Anyways, here is how i did it.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, then added one coat China Glaze Fast Track and another stripe of Zoya Yara.

Next I stamped with Bundle Monster BM20 and Oztic Scatter 910.

Now to check the other blogger inspired manis.