Makeup Withdrawal

Showing posts with label Nail Challenge. Show all posts

Day 25: Inspired By Fashion

Friday, February 10, 2012

I buckled down last night to finally finish my Nail Challenge. It's taking way longer than I thought, but I've been extremely busy and plagued by nail breakage and an inability to finish any great undertaking that I ever start.
Story of my life.

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Today's nails are inspired less by current fashion and more by a figure of fashion. Alexander McQueen made such great contributions to the runway, and I feel sad whenever I hear his name and think about how a man with such vivid ideas took his own life.

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I used images from his Fall 2009 show to inspire me. A contrast of red, orange, white and black with bold lines, striking patterns with some interesting found objects, feathers and bondage gear thrown in.

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I used Milani Techno Red, and painted the design with acrylics.

*sniff sniff* This makes me all sorts of sad.

Have a great weekend, folks!

Day 24: Inspired By A Book

Thursday, February 2, 2012

When I was little, I remember my mom reading The Giving Tree to me. She only ever read it once to me, because somehow she managed to turn this book into a parable about how parent figures always give and give, never getting anything back from their ungrateful offspring. So, being four years old and horribly guilt-ridden, I never wanted to hear this story again.

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When I went to do this challenge, I wanted to do a children's book that was easily identifiable.

I really need to run to Micheal's and buy some new thin brushes. The child is looking kind of chunky, hah!

I used: OPI Green-wich Village, Revlon Red Hot Tamale, my white mixture polish, Wet'n'Wild Black Creme, Sinful Colors Envy.

What was your childhood favorite book? Was there one that you didn't like?

Products featured were purchased by me for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 23: Inspired by a Movie. Shaken, Not Stirred.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

I love the James Bond films. I really do. So when I had to do nails inspired by a movie, it was a no brainer. This was the challenge that I was most excited to do! My picture is a little crappy, weird lighting and dry cuticles.

Thumb nail:

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I'm so excited for the new James Bond movie- Skyfall, this year. Daniel Craig, I'm all over that.
So here's the weird thing. You know who one of the new Bond girls is going to be? Naomie Harris. As in, Calypso with-the-blacked-out-teeth from the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise. I have a hard time picturing her all sexed up. Maybe she cleans up real nice?

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All kidding aside, I bet she makes a great Bond girl.

My boyfriend thought these nails were all sorts of awesome.

I used:
Orly Mirror Mirror, Ulta Snow White, Wet'n'Wild Black Creme, China Glaze Westside Warrior, Essie Lollipop Loving.

Have a wonderful night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 21: Inspired by a Color- a england Dragon

Monday, January 30, 2012

Good afternoon! Sorry I didn't post over the weekend at all. I was somewhat busy, and I also really loved my last water marble manicure and didn't want to take it off.

Today's polish is from a england's new collection, The Legend. This is actually one of my first a england polishes (I also ordered Saint George when I bought Dragon, but more on that later) and I have to say that I'm kicking myself for not buying any a england polishes sooner. It's not that I was living on a rock the last few years and missed Adina's beautiful polishes featured on many great nail blogs, it's just that I felt like I wasn't worthy. Is that silly or what?

Back to the polish. Dragon is a beautiful green holo but with with a bit of bronze mixed in that adds to the complexity. I can't help but marvel at this color on my nails, it is so jawdroppingly rich that I did with just ONE coat.

In the sunlight, this polish is the exact color that I imagine a dragon to be, resting on his golden hoard that reflects the glint of metallic color and prismatic gems onto his underbelly.

Even in artificial lighting, there is something unbelievably attractive about Dragon. It has that sort of sly, sneaky reptilian feeling green. I could babble on about it for days.

So though my nail challenge calls for a manicure Inspired by a Color, I'd like to reword it. Today, I'm wearing a color that is so vibrant, that I find it thoroughly inspiring.

I ordered my A England polishes from Llarowe ($12 each), and I wanted to mention that my experience was fantastic. I ordered on a Monday, and it was processed and sent out the very next day. I'm all about instant gratification so I was thrilled at how fast I received it on Friday. Also, shipping was more than just reasonable ($1.64, I think for two polishes).

Product featured was purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 20: WATER MARBLED

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Water marbling is a pretty tedious process for me, a lot of the times I find myself questioning whether or not its worth it. I waste -so- much polish each time.

For this challenge I used China Glaze City Siren, China Glaze Urban Night, Zoya Shawn and Zoya Cho*.
I absolutely love how my middle finger turned out, absolutely saturated with color in thick and thin bands. I smudged a little on my pinky finger, I hope it's not all that noticeable.

Have a great night!

*indicates a product that was sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 19: GALAXY nails

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I've been wanting to do galaxy nails for a while, but I didn't think I could do it quite right. Oh well, here's my first attempt!

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I spent half an hour googling star systems and creepin' NASA's Astronomy Picture Of The Day site.

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I used: American Apparel Imperial Indigo, Savvy Red Caviar, L.A. Colors White, Ulta (no label, silver glitter) Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

Products feature were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 18: HALF MOONS

Sunday, January 22, 2012

I did my nails earlier for Chinese New Year, so of course I had to use gold and red! I also completed my nail challenge for the day, half-moons.

I used China Glaze GR8 (which sadly, lost all of its holographic nature due to the topcoat and indoor lighting) and Sally Hansen Red Carpet aka another Ruby Pumps clone. Oh! Also I used Seche Vite French Guides to help me make crisp curves.

Have a great night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 17: GLITTER nails

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Good evening!
I did my nails earlier this evening, after I finished swatching some Zoya polishes (which I absolutely can't wait to show you!).
I used OPI Roadside Blues, which I bought hoping that it would be pretty close to OPI Sapphire In The Snow. I used Scotch tape to tape off 'X' shapes, and filled it in with Color Club Magic Attraction and Wet'n'Wild 24 Carats.
Here's a blurry picture to show off the glitter:

Have a great night!

Day 14: FLOWER nails (sort of...)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Are you by chance a fan of the childhood wonder, Dr. Seuss? More specifically, do you have an appreciation of the book, The Lorax?

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~~I wanted to do flowers~~. That's an outright lie. I hate having flowers on my nails. Other people do really cute ones but mine look like wilted flowers that a hobo found in a dumpster or something, and put in his buttonhole.
So I did tree things.

I used: Sinful Colors Why Not, Revlon Black Lingerie, a white franken, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, China Glaze Papaya Punch, Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 16: TRIBAL PRINT

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I didn't know what to do for tribal print... I google'd around and saw that a few bloggers did like an Aztec print. They sort of inspired to paint my nails bright like Mexican blankets, so I did!

All in all, not one of my better designs. I used a white franken as the base on all nails. Additionally I used: Essence Everybody's Talking About, OCC Grandma, China Glaze Papaya Punch, China Glaze Solar Power, OPI Green-wich Vilage, Sally Hansen Fairy Teal,Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober,Wet'n'Wild Black Creme.

Whew. I think I need some finer tipped brushes.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 15: Delicate Print

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I'm skipping Day 14: Flowers for now. I'll explain later, but basically I am absolute rubbish at flowers.
Today's nails are inspired by something very delicate indeed- women's stockings. I have a fondness for lingerie, especially anything having to do with garters and hosiery.
There's something super sexy about lingerie, and I take great delight in wearing it to please me. Sure, it's nice when someone else appreciates it, but I find wearing something beautiful and lacy under my clothes an instant mood booster. Sort of like a secret that only I know about.

Anyways, just be glad I'm showing you lingerie on my nails and not on my body. Heh!

I used OPI Samoan Sand and Konad Special Polish in black. Plates BM 209, 210 and 220 were also used.

Have a great night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 13: ANIMAL PRINT nails

Monday, January 16, 2012

I'm back! I had a bit of technical difficulties the last few days where I wasn't able to post, but now hopefully I'll be able to catch back up on my month long nail challenge.
I was inspired by my LORAC Pink Python Palette (click here to see my guest post for KarlaSugar about it). I'm usually not a fan of pink or scaly textures but when I combined the two for my nails, I liked the end result.

I used Color Club Fashion Addict as the base (which is not really a true pink, but a lavender pink holo) and used Konad Special Polish in White with BM 215 to get the snakeskin print.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!

Products featured were purchased by me for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 12: STRIPES

Friday, January 13, 2012

Can you believe that this is the only picture that turned out decent? I'm serious. I don't think I've complained about a manicure being too shiny before, but today it greatly hindered my ability to capture it on camera.
I used a base color of Orly Prince Charming and used Shine and Rage (both also Orly polishes, from Foil FX). I really don't own many browns, but this one is soft like chocolate milk.

Have a wonderful weekend, folks.

Product featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 11: POLKA DOT nails

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Polka dots. I did a sort of staggered polka dots, with the majority of them concentrated near my tips.
This is OPI Greenwich Village for the base shade, and China Glaze Solar Power for the dots.

Have a great night! It's almost Friday, I've almost made it to the weekend.

I swear this is the longest week ever.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 10: GRADIENT nails

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I didn't want to do a traditional gradient, whether it was skittles of fading colors or transitions on each nail. I decided to do a zigzag instead.
I only used two colors, a white franken I made and Zoya Juicy. I like how it turned out!

Thanks for checking it out!

On a side note- I always sit on my foot while I'm blogging. It's a bad habit. My foot falls asleep EVERY time. Agggh, I'm agony right now.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 9: RAINBOW nails

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I finished this set of nails yesterday and had planned to post them... but my indoor lighting did not do the holographic design any justice at all. Today, I was blessed with a whole day of beautiful, unadulterated sunshine. I was so happy.
I used a base coat of Revlon Black Lingerie, then used Nfu Oh 61 to trace the designs and fill in the spaces.

Under artificial lighting. Blah.

I like my ring finger the best.

Have a great night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 8: METALLIC nails

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Of the few American Apparel polishes I picked up last week, this one is my absolute favorite. It's a metallic called Smoke Dazzle and it's exactly what I wanted Wet'n'Wild Gray's Anatomy/OPI Not Like The Movies/Deborah Lippman Wicked Game to be, only without the streaky brush marks that shows up in frost finishes.

It's a metallic duochrome that is almost pearly. Grey in the bottle, flashing purple and green in a subtle way. It's just amazing. I'm not sure how this metallic avoids the brush stroke marks, but it's stunning. Gleaming.
I freehanded some triangles (Konad Special Black polish), which gives it a sort of lightning bolt look. It would have been much neater if I had use scotch tape (like Nailside's awesome manis) but I was too impatient, as usual for the color to dry.

Have a great night, and a wonderful week!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 7: BLACK and WHITE nails

Black and white nails!
I used Revlon Black Lingerie and Konad Special White polish. Pretty easy to free hand.

Oh boy, my cuticles have seen better days. They're looking quite rough, I need to treat them ASAP.

I'll be posting the Day 8 nails shortly, and be all caught up!

Day 6: VIOLET nails

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Violet nails. I tried a sort of "connect the dots" thing but it looked far better in my imagination. I used OPI Samoan Sand for the base. I used a dotting tool to make different sized dots (out of Zoya Mira, Funky Fingers Kenyan Sunset and American Apparel Imperial Purple) and drew lines through them.

Oh well! At least I finished the challenge for the day! I'm feeling a little under the weather (plus a bit of boyfriend withdrawal- since Morgan left for California this evening) so I'm hoping to get all caught up tomorrow.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 5: BLUE nails

Friday, January 6, 2012

I'm a day behind, because I wasn't able to post this one when I wanted to, sorry! Don't worry, tomorrow I'll be posting two days at once.
Today's blue nails made me think of blue jeans, so I used a classic pair of Levi's as inspiration. I used OPI Russian Navy Suede, the finish matched blue jeans perfectly. I also used Zoya Posh as the red color for the label, Ulta Snow White as the white lettering and finally- a mixture of CND Effects in Copper Shimmer and Gold Shimmer for the threading detail.

I'm sorry I haven't really responded to comments, I'm a little behind because my boyfriend is in town! Tomorrow though, I promise I'll sort them all out.