ABC Challenge: Z is for Zombie Nails

Howdy, everyone!  Well, this is it.  The final ABC Challenge :(  It's been so much fun and I've really enjoyed the group as well.  Bunch 'o great gals around here!  The good news is that there will be a new challenge (christened the Mish Mash Challenge) beginning in just a few weeks, so we'll all be back with some awesome new challenges and great manicures!

For today, the letter is, of course, 'Z'.  Anyone who knows me, knows I love zombies.  My favorite TV show is The Walking Dead and these Zombie nails are inspired by it. 

My index and ring fingers are adorned with "Walker eyes", one of the defining characteristics of TWD zombies.  I used 2 coats of Julep's Alma as a base, topped with a red striping polish for the veins and black striping polish for the pupils.

The "blood" around the broken nails was created using the same 2 striping polishes mentioned above and Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength in Chocolate Kiss.  The nails themselves are from an old artificial nails kits I bought ages ago.  I used scissors to tear them to create that lovely ragged appearance.

And finally, I used little bits of a cotton ball to create the gooey look on the broken nails.  Gross, right?  lol 

I can't tell you how much fun this challenge has been.  Thank you all for sticking around and checking out what my silly imagination came up with each week.  One last time, I must ask you to go look at the other ladies' pages because I'm certain they've all come up with great 'Z' manicures, being the talented bunch that they are!  You can find them via the thumbnails below.

Stay tuned this week for some 4th of July nails and an upcoming giveaway!  I'll be announcing it in the next couple of days :)

Thanks so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: Y is for Yellow and You're Such A Square

Hi, everyone!  I'm starting with a public service announcement here.  As many of you know, Google Reader is leaving us as of July 1st...which, believe it or not, is next week!!  I'm really not sure what this means for everyone who follows my blog via GFC, but if you want to make sure you're updated when I post, you can follow me via Bloglovin'.  The easiest way to do that is to click on the "Follow this blog with bloglovin'" button to the right of this post, or you can go here and click "Follow" as well.  I hope you all will continue to follow me!  And now, on to my ABC Challenge post!

OMG!  We only have one letter left after this week!  I can't believe this challenge is almost over.  Makes me a little sad, I've had so much fun with this.  Anyway, this week's ABC Challenge letter is 'Y'.  I kind of went for the obvious here, but I do like how it turned out.  Take a peek:

'Y' here mostly stands for yellow, although I did use Hit Polish's You're Such a Square, so I managed to get 2 in there!  I started with 2 (ish) coats of Barielle's Lemondrops, a bright, true yellow creme.  My intention was to do a chevron french manicure, so I taped of the chevrons on the tips of my nails and then applied 2-3 coats of YSAS.

YSAS is pretty magical as far as I'm concerned.  It has bunches and bunches of several sizes of squares in every color of the rainbow, including holographic, all packed into a clear base.  Y'all know I love my dots, but these squares are adorable!   You'll also notice that my chevron tips didn't really work out too well.  The idea is there, but the glitter doesn't give enough definition to the line, in my opinion.  That said, I'm really diggin' this manicure.  It's cheery and fun and from a distance, it just looks like a glitter gradient.

Hit Polish (formerly D&R Apothecary) can be found on their etsy store and Rachel currently has a 20% off sale going.  There are some real beauties up there, including YSAS, so be sure to check her out!

I'm looking forward to checking out the other ladies' nails this week.  I'm certain there are more creative creations than mine!  You can find those manis via the thumbnails below.  As always, thanks so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: X is for Xenopeltidae (Sunbeam Snakes)

Howdy, everyone!  We've reached one of the most challenging letters of the alphabet in the ABC Challenge this week; 'X'.  This was a tough, tough letter.  Very polishes start with X, E-X, yes, but just X?  Not so much and certainly nothing I have in my stash qualifies.  I did some internet searching and was lucky enough to find this guy:

 Meet Xenopeltis unicolor, the Sunbeam Snake.  Xenopeltidae are a species of snake that lives in Indo-Asian countries and kill their prey by constriction (non-venomous).  Their most distinguishing feature is their shiny, iridescent scales which give that "oil slick" look.  I'm kind of a weirdo in that I like reptiles.  I used to have a ball python named Methos and I used to catch lizards out at my family's farm pond when I was little.  So, a manicure inspired by a snake seemed appropriate.

I started with 2 coats of Essie's Case Study followed by stripes of China Glaze in Kalahari Kiss on the sides of my nails.  I thought I had a stamping plate with a snakeskin pattern, but it turns out I don't.  Instead, I used my dotting tool to create the pattern.  I dotted first with China Glaze in Mahogany Magic for the base color of the scales.  I went back in on top of the MM scales with Sally Hansen's Nail Prisms in Turquoise Opal, Coral Amber, and Amber Ruby and Max Factor's Fantasy Fire.  It may seem silly to use all those fabulous polishes for dots, but I knew they'd give a great flash of color and I wasn't disappointed!

The more I look at this mani, the more it grows on me.  These aren't normally colors I'd put together, but that's the fun of being inspired by something, right?

Please take some time to check out the other participants in the challenge.  You can find them via the thumbnails below.  I can't wait to see what they came up with for this most challenging letter! 

Thanks for reading :)

ABC Challenge: W is for Woven Nails

Hi there!  It's a late night here in Chicago and I should totally be in bed, but I just had to get my ABC Challenge post up.  Can you believe it's 'W' this week already??  Only 3 letters left, folks!  'W' was one of the letters I've had planned for awhile (wish I could say the same for 'X'!).  Back in school, I took a few weaving courses and found out that I really enjoyed it.  I even bought myself a tabletop loom after graduation.  I haven't used it in awhile so my skills are a bit rusty, but I hope you'll like what I've come up with for this week's Challenge.  I give you...Woven Nails!

I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors in Unicorn.  Actually, this manicure started last night when I painted a ziploc bag with 2 large squares of China Glaze in Sunday Funday and Sinful Colors in Island Coral.  Those squares became, after they dried and were cut, the strips of polish I used to create the woven patterns on my accent nails here.  It's similar to what I did for my Viking manicure, only with less detail and more aggravation lol  I had planned to weave the pattern off the nail and then place the whole thing on while Unicorn was still tacky.  However, after a couple of tries, I found that placing the strips directly on my nails and weaving as I went worked better.

After admiring my work, my bf kindly pointed out, "They look prettier than I thought they would...but it took you 2 hours to do 2 nails!"  Oh, boys!  They just don't get it!

Please take the time to check out the other ladies' posts this week.  You can find them via the thumbnails below.  Thanks so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: V is for Viking

Howdy, everyone!  It's Wednesday again and so time for another ABC Challenge post!  I'm a little sad that we're already on to 'V' because that means we only have a few letters left before it's all over.  I'm going to miss posting these every week.  I have heard rumors that the group may do another new challenge once this one is over, I hope those rumors prove to be true!

In any case, we're here to talk about this week's letter, not to speculate on future manicure wonderfulness.  I'm so excited to show you what I came up with this week!  I wracked my brains to come up with a fun idea.  I even asked my boyfriend for suggestions.  He came up with a few, but nothing was clicking.   All of a sudden, Vikings jumped in my head!  The funny thing is that he's kind of cuckoo for Vikings, so I'm surprised he didn't come up with it.  But no matter who the credit goes to, this is one tricked out Viking mani!

Whaddya think?  I'm pretty proud, if you can't tell ;)  I used a bunch of different polishes here, so I'll put a list at the end of the post.  The Viking head and the ship prow (on my index finger) are handmade decals.  I've used this technique before and it's SO much easier than trying to paint detailed images on my right hand.  Basically, you coat part of a ziploc baggie with clear polish, let it dry, and then paint your image in polish on top.  When the polish dried, it will peel off the baggie, et voila!  Handmade decal!  Incidentally, the Viking has been christened Ivar Bluetooth by my boyfriend.  I guess Ivar was a real Viking king and predates the modern Bluetooth by a few hundred years.

I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with for 'V'.  If you've got a few minutes, please check out the other participants' pages.  You can find them via the thumbnails below!  Thanks so much for reading!

Polishes Used:
LynB Designs~Oobleck
China Glaze~Mahogany Magic
Sinful Colors~Sail La Vie, Unicorn, Pull Over
Essie~Yogaga
NYC~Sidewalkers
Black, white and gunmetal striping polish
Sharpie

ABC Challenge: U is for Unicorns

Hey there!  We've got another tough letter this week for the ABC Challenge with 'U'.  I didn't sweat it too much cuz 'U' really only stands for one thing and that's Unicorns!

Aren't they cute??  I couldn't get a great photo of them because I kept getting a glare no matter which way I moved my hand, but I hope you get a general idea of the adorableness here.  I used this tutorial as inspiration for this manicure, and while my unis aren't perfect, I still think they're pretty darn cute and more than sufficient to meet the letter requirement this week :)

I'm a little sad that I only had time to do one hand completely, so my right hand is unicorn-less, but at least I have five of the little buddies on my left to cheer me up :)  Additionally, I have a crap ton of nail mail coming this week and I may have spent half of my rent budget on sales this weekend.  My local Sally's had China Glaze's Cirque de Soleil collection (including Creative Fantasty and It's a Trap-eze) and the Avant Garden collection (including Fancy Pants and Keep Calm, Paint On) on clearance so you know I had to pick up about 6 of those.  Plus, my Ulta restocked O.P.I.'s My Vampire is Buff AND I Can't Find My Czechbook which I've been missing out on.  All in all, a good polish weekend was had!

I can't wait to see what the creative ladies in the Challenge came up with for this week.  You can check them out via the thumbnails below.  As always, thanks so much for reading!

Polishes used:
China Glaze~Tart-y For the Party & Keep Calm, Paint On
O.P.I.~I Can't Find My Czechbook
Sinful Colors~Unicorn, Into the Blue, & Snow Me White
Barielle~Ballroom Dancer
Nicole By O.P.I.~Top of My World
Wet 'n' Wild~Kaleidoscope 
Milani~510 3D

ABC Challenge: T is for Tiers of Teeny Tiny Triangles

Hi there, folks.  I want to start my post tonight with thankfulness that my friends and family who live in Oklahoma are safe and sound.  I know there are a lot of people who cannot say that today.   It's unfathomable to me how those affected by the tornado must be feeling now and my heart goes out to them.  It felt wrong not to acknowledge the awfulness that's happened, I hope you understand.

On to my ABC Challenge post for the week.  Amazingly, we've come to 'T' in our traverse of the alphabet...I can't believe we're so close to the end!  Much like 'R', I struggled with what to create for this challenge.  There are ton of 'T's in the world, but nothing was speaking to me.  I finally decided to keep it simple and go with some cute triangles.

I started with 3 coats of Sinful Colors Tidal Wave, a barely-there light blue creme and one of SC's new Sail La Vie collection polishes.  I love the color here, but the formula was a bit streaky and draggy.  It did even out after 3 coats, but I was a bit disappointed.  It won't, however, stop me from blowing part of my paycheck on a few more polishes from Sail La Vie and their Pool Side Polishes collection as well.

After Tidal Wave, I used a pinking shears to cut into blue painters tape to create the triangles.  The top tier of triangles were created with Sinful Colors Poudre, a light peach creme.  The middle tier is Wet 'n' Wild Megalast in Club Havana, a light coral creme.  The last tier closest to my cuticles is NYC's Times Square Tangerine, which is, as the name suggests, a tangerine creme (it also allowed me to squeeze a few more 'T's in!).

I love how this turned out!  It reminds me of that fabric bunting that you all over Etsy these days.  The color combination works well and, overall, it turned out to be a bright, cheery summer mani and what's not to like about that?!

Please take a few minutes to check out the other participants in the ABC Challenge.  You can find their posts via the thumbnails below.  Thanks so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: S is for Spotted (Sort Of)

Howdy, everyone!  Another late Tuesday/early Wednesday and we're on to another ABC Challenge post!  This week's letter is 'S' and it's one of the few letters that I've known what I was going to do for awhile.  Since I've started manicuring my nails on a regular basis, one of my favorite techniques is water marbling.  I know most people have a love/hate relationship with this technique, as it tends to be messy and fussy and somewhat wasteful, but you can't argue with the results you get when it works.  Today, rather than doing a straight water marble, I've used a water spotting technique (see what I did there with the 'S'?) to create a different texture to a regular marble.  Here are my spotted (slightly) nails!

The main difference between a spotted water marble and a regular one is that instead of swirling several polishes together to create pattern, you spritz the polish-coated water with rubbing alcohol, hairspray, or hand sanitizer.  This causes the polish to separate and create "spotted" patterns into which you dip your prepped nail, just like you do a regular marble.

You'll notice that I'm referring to this manicure as a 'sort of' spotted mani, mainly because the polish I used didn't spot up like others I've tried before.  In an effort to do something different, I used all duochrome polishes (see polish list at the end of the post) and it seems like those tend to make a different type of pattern than the creme polishes I've used in the past.  However, I'm calling this a happy accident because I love the result!

I am so excited to see what everyone else came up with for this letter!  Please stop by and check out the other ladies' posts, you can find them via the thumbnails below!

As always, thanks so much for reading!

Polish List:
Sally Hansen Nail Prisms~Ruby Sapphire, Amber Ruby, and Golden Cinnabar
Color Club~2 random duochrome polishes I got in a set with no names...*sigh* why do they do that??

ABC Challenge: R is for Rubik's Cube

Howdy, everyone!  I'm a late poster tonight.  I like to get my ABC Challenge posts up on Tuesday evenings but I was exhausted last night and had to wait to paint 'n' post until today.  Our letter this week is "R" and I thought it was going to be a super easy letter cuz everything starts with "R", right?  Yeah, not as many things as I thought and a lot of them were far too esoteric or general for nail art.  I surely could have grabbed a Revlon or a red and just done a swatch, but I wanted to do something more decorative this week.  So, after searching words that start with "R" via Google, I finally came up with Rubik's Cube!  I have a brother who can solve one of these in about 5 minutes; he says there's a trick to it, but I've never figured it out lol

Whaddya think?  I think they turned out really well and a good thing, too, since they took about 3 hours!  There was a lot of taping and striping polish used and, of course, after I started I realized there may have been an easier way to do it, but oh well.  It turned out in the end and that's all that matters ;)

For some reason, my camera didn't like the green I used (China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover) and it's showing up in these pics as more of a mint.  FLC is much more of a grass green, but you get the idea, I hope?

Thanks so much for reading and please take a moment to browse the other ladies' Challenge posts.  You can find them via the thumbnails below!

Polishes Used:
Sinful Colors~Snow Me White
Deborah Lippmann~Edge of Glory
Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine~Red Red
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri~Orange Impulse
Sinful Colors~Pull Over
China Glaze~Four Leaf Clover
Sinful Colors~Endless Blue

ABC Challenge: Q is for Quilted

Howdy, all!  I'm less than excited about my ABC post this week, but I'm putting it up anyway.  I own approximately 500 bottles of nail polish and not a single one starts with a 'Q'!  Not a one!  Somehow, this letter kind of snuck up on me (even though I do, in fact, know the alphabet) and I didn't have time to track down a new polish with a 'Q' so I'm hoping some of the other ladies come up with some good ones.

Anyway, I decided to take a whack at quilted nails.  I've seen a few folks do some really cute ones and it didn't look too complicated so I thought, "what the heck!".  "Heck", indeed!  There are a couple of ways to do the quilted look.  The first involves striping tape, of which I have none, so I decided to try the second.  Basically, you apply your polish in 2 or more coats, what for it to set but not dry completely and then press diagonal lines into it.  You're left with dents (on purpose for once) that form a quilting grid on your nails.  You can then add your studs or dots or whatever you like where the lines cross.

Here's how mine looked:

I used 2 coats of Orly Blue Suede, a "leather" finish polish in navy.  To press the lines in, I just used a piece of stringing floss from my jewelry stash.  In hindsight, using something that has a texture on it to press straight lines probably wasn't the best idea.  My lines look really messy and uneven.  For the studs, I used some little silver bits I got in one of Cina's holiday gem wheels.

I think the technique has promise, I just don't like this particular manicure.  Blue Suede just glopped things up, so maybe a different polish would work better.  With 'Q' being such a problem letter, I'm interested to see if anyone else does quilted nails.  I'm sure theirs will look light-years better than mine!

Please take a few minutes to check out the other gals in the ABC Challenge, you can find them via the thumbnails below.  Thanks for reading!

ABC Challenge: P is for Painted Sabotage

Howdy, everyone!  Another Wednesday evening, another ABC Challenge post!  Today's letter is "P" and I've got a new-to-me indie brand to show for it.   I found Painted Sabotage via Manicure Addict (whose blog you should definitely be reading if you aren't already) a few weeks ago.  I immediately fell in love with Gargle Blaster and knew I had to have it!

Nice little bottle shot there, but on to the nails, yes?

GB has everything you could want; fuchsia squares in two sizes and small fuchsia hexes, silver hexes in three sizes,  micro glitters in silver and gunmetal all in sheer minty blue/green base with a slight shimmer.  Seriously, this polish is so pretty!  It's quite sheer, but application was a breeze and it built up nicely in 3-4 coats.  I used it here with no undies and you can see in the photo below the depth this beauty has.

I used Sinful Color Outrages (not a misspelling, that's how it's printed on the bottle) for the accent nails and half moons here.  Outrages' creamy fuchsia shine was a perfect complement to GB.

I'll be picking up a few more Painted Sabotage polishes when my beauty budget opens up a bit.  Speaking of which, did anyone snag one of the Allure Beauty Boxes this time around?  I was super lucky and snuck one in, so be expecting a review on it in a few weeks!

Thanks so much for reading and be sure to check out the other lovely ladies in the ABC Challenge, you can find them via the links below!

ABC Challenge: "O" is for Orange Owls

Howdy, everyone.  We're on to another ABC Challenge and this week is "O".  I've got to say upfront that my "O" manicure should start with an "F" for Fail.  I really don't like these but I spent a decent amount of time on them and sometimes you just gotta put your mistakes out there so you can remember not to go there again lol  Anyway, here's what I did:

This is my first attempt at owl nails and I think I just went overboard with them.  Simple is always better but sometimes I just forget.  I showed them to my boyfriend and his response was, "Ok, I know those jewels are eyes, but what's that at the bottom?  Teeth?"  He couldn't even see the owls!   Oh, well...I'll do better next time, I swear!

I also think my color choice was bad.  I'm out of nail polish remover so I used yesterday's mani as the base for this and orange and purple always end up Halloween-y looking to me.  I'll throw a polish list at the end of the post if you're interested in the others colors I used.  I'll be changing these up tomorrow for sure so be sure to stop back by to see me hopefully redeem myself! 

If you've got some time, be sure to check out the other gals participating in the challenge.  You can find them via the thumbnails below.  As always, thanks for reading!

Polish List:
Sinful Colors~Hazard
China Glaze~Peachy Keen
Wet 'n' Wild~French White Creme

ABC Challenge: N

Howdy, everyone!  I am so excited about today's ABC Challenge post, I can hardly stand it!  I've been waiting on some nail mail, I'd hoped it would show up yesterday because I like to my Challenge posts the night before if I can.  USPS disappointed me (yet again) and it didn't show up until today, but lemme tell ya, I am so glad I waited!  This week's letter is "N" and, as my name starts with that letter, I knew I had to do it up right. I also like to get a few letter-related themes going so let's try this one on for size:

This is my "N"ew "N"ail Pattern Boldness "N"ude jelly sandwich...how'd I do??  I am pleased as punch to have this beauty in my stash!  I've been eying NPB polishes for awhile now and finally decided I had to have some for my "N" post.  So, not only is it a new polish for me, it's a whole new brand for me and I'm in love!

Meet Sir Cumference And The Quadrilaterals.  He's a lovely glitter bomb chock full of turquoise, pink and fuchsia dots in two sizes and white squares in two sizes as well.  Sir sits in a lovely clear base which was a delight to apply, nothing gloppy or thick and the glitters went on super easy.  

I decided to use Sir in a jelly sandwich with 2% Milk by Wet 'n' Wild.  I started with 2 coats of 2%, followed by 2 coats of Sir and topped with another coat of 2%.  I cannot stop looking at my nails, and you know you've got a great mani when ALL the photos you take of it just sing!

I mean, look at it!  LOOK! AT! IT!  The downside is that this is my first dot glitter and, much as I feared, I'm in love with those little circles and must now own all the circles.  Any polish made with dot glitter must be mine, it's just a fact of life *sigh*
 

So, aside from the major hit to my wallet that is in my near future, Nail Pattern Boldness is fabulous and I will definitely be ordering more from Allison as soon as I've got the wiggle room in my budget to do so.

In other news, my Sinful Colors giveaway has ended and I'll throw a quick post announcing the winners up tonight, so be on the lookout to see if you've won!

Please take a minute to check out all the other lovely ladies participating in the ABC Challenge.  They're all so talented and sweet!  You can find them via the thumbnails below.  Thanks so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: M is for Magnetic Moons

Howdy, everyone!  We've all made it to Wednesday and that means it's time for another Challenge post!  This week's ABC Challenge letter is "M" and, for once, I had no trouble deciding what to do.  I'm not sure why, but moons popped into my head.  Here's what I came up with:

I had a heck of a time photographing this manicure, so bear with me please.  I promise it looks really cute in real life!  I started with 2 coats of Moon Walk by Love & Beauty (thanks, Liz!), an opalescent polish with holographic glitter.  This polish has a lot more of a pink hue than I was able to capture here and the sparkly bits are just wonderful!  After Moon Walk dried, I pulled out my trusty paper reinforcement stickers and applied them randomly on my nails.  Using China Glaze's Magnetix  in Pull Me Close, I filled in the holes and pulled off the stickers, leaving little "moons" of polish.  While PMC was still wet, I used a magnet to create a pattern sort of like moon craters.  I let everything dry and then, with a small art brush, I painted on clouds with MAC's Vestral White and Cover Girl's NailSlicks in Midnight.

I'm hoping between Magnetix, moons, Moon Walk, MAC, and Midnight that I got enough "M"s in!

Please don't forget to enter my Sinful Colors Giveaway, I've extended it for a week to give everyone some more time to enter!  You can enter below :)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

And do take a minute to check out the other ladies participating in the ABC Challenge, I know they appreciate the views and comments, as do I!  You can find them via the thumbnails below.  As always, thanks so much for reading!  

 

ABC Challenge: L is for Lace Nails and a Surprise

Hello, hello!  It's time again for another ABC Challenge post.  This week's letter is "L" and I decided to try something I haven't done before; Lace nails.  There are a few ways to reproduce the look of lace on your nails, including using actual pieces of lace glued to the nail.  I chose to go in a different direction with mine.  Take a look:

I painted the lace directly on to my nail here.  I started with 2 coats of Spontaneous by China Glaze, a dusky lavender creme.  Then, using a dotting tool (which I found at Ulta, Essence brand, I believe it was $1.99), I started applying the lace pattern using China Glaze's Sweet Hook, a pale lilac creme.  I got both of these polishes in one of China Glaze's ombre kits, on sale at Sally's now for $12.99.  These kits are kind of nice because they're a good deal, 4 polishes for under $15.

I'm not sure I'm in love with this manicure or not.  It was a good idea, but I don't feel like I executed it very well.  My dots got a little gloppy and you can see the texture coming through from that on my tips.  But the colors are pretty and it was good dotting practice, if nothing else :)

Now, on to the surprise!  In celebration of the fact that I've hit 10,000 page views on my blog, I'm doing a giveaway!  And not just one giveaway, but two!  That's twice the fun!  I have two sets of three Sinful Colors polishes for two lucky winners.  You may remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I'd picked up a couple extra bottles of SC during their $0.99 sale, including several bottles of Green Ocean.  Well, the time has come to pass them along!  

Prize #1 is a set of 3 Sinful Colors polishes.  From left to right, Dream On, Green Ocean and Star Dust.

Prize #2 is a set of 3 Sinful Colors polishes.  From left to right, Savage, Green Ocean and Super Star.

The rules for the giveaway are pretty straightforward.  You need to be a U.S. resident to enter and must be 18 or over or have your parents' permission to enter.  You need to be or become a follower of my blog and you need to leave me a contact email so I can get in touch with you if you win.  The giveaway is open for a week, at the end of which, I'll randomly select two winners.  If your name is drawn, you'll have 48 hours to contact me with your shipping info.  After 48 hours, unclaimed prizes will have a redraw and a new winner will be selected.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the giveaway!

Please stop by and check out the other ladies participating in the ABC Challenge!  You can find them via the thumbnails below!  Thanks so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: K is for Klimt

Howdy, everyone!  I simply cannot seem to get more than two posts out a week these days..dunno what my deal is.  Anyway, to start my ABC Challenge post, I first have to send out a huge THANK YOU to Liz from A Mani Maniac.  Some of the girls from the Challenge participated in a secret St. Paddy's Day polish exchange and Liz drew my name and hooked me up with some fantastic goodies that will feature in future posts.  Thanks again!

On to today's manicure!  We're on to "K" in the ABC Challenge this week.  This was a tough letter for me.  I have very few polishes, either by brand or by name, that start with "K".  I decided to go with an inspired look and some nail art today.  One of my favorite artists is Gustav Klimt.  His colors, subject matter and symbolistic style appeal to me.  Many of you are no doubt familiar with The Kiss which is probably Klimt's most famous work.  If this is the only work you know from him, I urge you to Google him and check out some other images.  They're just beautiful! 

Today's manicure is inspired by Klimt's Hygeia.  A detail of a three part oil painting, Hygeia was unfortunately destroyed in 1945 during the final days of WWII when the castle where it was stored was burned by retreating SS troops to prevent it falling to Allied forces.  Nice little art history lesson for you.  War is bad, destroys pretty things!

Ok, on to the nails!

 

I'll include a polish list at the end of the post and I won't bore you with all the details here.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  Is it immediately recognizable as Klimt-inspired?  Maybe not.  However, when you see the detail in Hygeia's  robes, I hope you can see where I was going with it.

The accent nail is inspired by her hair.

This was really a fun manicure and I was glad to have a chance to do some nail art! 

Polishes used:
Red, Red by Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine~cherry red creme
Diva on the Dunes by Jessica~bright red/orange creme
Pull Over by Sinful Colors~bright yellow creme
This Is It by Sinful Colors~shimmery gold with holographic flecks
Black and Brown Sharpie

Please take a moment to check out the other ladies in the ABC Challenge.  You can find them via the thumbnails below!  Thanks so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: "J"

Howdy everyone!  Another Wednesday (well, Tuesday evening), another ABC Challenge!  Today's letter is "J" and I've got a humdinger for you!  This manicure was definitely an experiment and one I'm happy to say seems to have worked out well, but I'll let you all be the judge of that!  Take a gander:

You ready for the "J"s?  What you see here is Julep's January and Jordan in a jelly sandwich!  Did I get enough "J"s in??  Now, technically, January is described on Julep's website as a "tomato red creme", so in that sense, calling this a jelly sandwich is a stretch.  This is where the experiment comes in.  January doesn't really have that creme consistency, being more of a sheer, so I figured I'd try using it as a jelly and see what shook out.

And this is it.  Jordan is a gunmetal hex and micro glitter in a clear base.  The micro glitters give this combo a pretty red shimmer, almost like a flakie, in between the layers of January.  I wish I could have gotten better photos of that shimmer, the above macro was the best I could get.

Yay for experiments that work out!  Please take a moment and check out the other ladies participating in the ABC Challenge.  You can find their posts via the thumbnails below.

Thanks so much for reading!