May Tri-Polish Challenge #1

It's May!  I celebrated my 1 year anniversary with my husband.  That was pretty uneventful, but I am pleased to say that we are still happily married.  LOL!

Let's get to it, shall we?  This month the colors are grey, blue & red.  I chose Sinful Colors Slate, China Glaze Sunday Funday, and Milani Toe-Mato Red.

I found my colors pretty easily this time but when it came time for application, it was a real challenge!  I was determined not to give up on my color selection so I forged onward.  For this one, there were many, many failed attempts.  I was close to tears of frustration as I just don't have the time to spend being this creative!  So, I ended up with this:

I had to leave it at this because I was just done with it for the day!  I wore this all day today and really was going to submit like this but I just wouldn't feel worthy among all of these talented women!  I just had to keep it simple with a stamp and one that has been used so many times on some beautiful manicures.

This is a BM-317 medley stamped with Milani White on the Spot.  I kept my eye on the girls for inspiration and I am amazed at how many stunning designs there are!  It is going to be hard to keep up with them this month!

Thanks for visiting!

May Stamping 2: Dream On

It's time for some more stamping.  This time I am keeping it pretty simple.  The fact of the matter is that my love for nail polish and nail art has begun to take over my life.  After some discussions with the hubster, it has hit home that I need to get back to my home life routine.  It all comes down to the common problem of there not being enough time in the day!  I've got to work on my time management so I can get my nail fix without sacrificing a clean home.  LOL!  Anyway, on to the fun stuff:

This is my right hand...I don't usually show this hand because my camera is not easy to hold in my left hand.  I had to show it because I did something a bit different on this one.  I went to my untried swatches again for this mani.  For all of my nails, I used 3 coats of Sinful Colors Dream On.  This color dries a much darker than in the bottle.  It also has a "rubber" look when dried.  I chose to keep it shiny with a top coat though.  But first, I used 2 coats of Wet N Wild Party of Five Glitters on my middle finger and thumb.  I also stamped the other nails with BM-208.

I was being helpful to my hubby the other day and suffered a nasty break on my middle fingernail.  I had to cut it down the best I could and then proceeded to file all of my other nails down to practically nothing.  Needless to say, that is why there are sad faces on that finger!  I used Mash-31 for those stamps.  I topped everything with a coat of Seche Vite for the shiny effect I love so much.

It's going to take a little while to grow that nail back out!  It's OK though because the hubby is worth a little bit of sadness and pain.  :)

Be sure to look at the other stamping #2 entries:

NOTD: Husband's Choice - Blurple

Today's mani is all about the Hubby's opinion.  There is an annual event in Rochester, NY called the Lilac Festival.  It is as you would expect: a bunch of lilacs.  It is a park that has hundreds of lilac bushes and around Mother's Day, they are in full bloom.  There are a bunch of vendors selling stuff I don't need (or want) and music entertainment to listen to as you wander through the park and look at all kinds of varieties of lilacs.

He was thinking of very elaborate designs.  I had to reign him in a bit as I am just not that talented.  So, I gave him my untried swatches for purple and blue polishes to find something he liked.  He pulled out quite a few but we narrowed it down to 3 colors.

I started with one thin coat of China Glaze Fade Into Hue.  For the accent nail, I used 2 coats of Orly High On Hope.  On to the gradient:  I used a make up sponge and did a stripe of the Fade Into Hue and a stripe of Sinful Colors Let's Talk.  I sponged on 3 layers to get this color effect.  I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite. The photos really don't do this color justice!  The purple is almost metallic and it is nice and dark fading right into the blue!  I couldn't stop staring at these at work today!  The Hubster knocked it out of the park with this one.  I will fit right into the Lilac Festival this weekend!

I'm calling this one "Blurple"!  I absolutely love this one!  I hope you do too.

NOTD: Revlon's Iced Mauve

I decided to follow in ChaChaCakes footsteps and do a "Lucky Lacquer Lottery" today.  I have so many untried pinks that I went to that pile of nail sticks.  I pulled Revlon Iced Mauve to use.  I am loving these Revlon's lately.  I got them on clearance for 75% off a long time ago and haven't really used them much.

I wanted to keep it simple today so all of the nails are 2 coats of the Revlon Iced Mauve.  This polish is pretty opaque with only one coat but for a smooth finish, I went with 2 thin coats.  My ring finger is a shooting star theme with a star and some similarly colored glequins from BPS.

I put one coat of Seche Vite on top of everything for a nice glossy finish.  If you have this polish, dig it out - it is really pretty with the slightest shimmer in it.

May Stamping 1: The Perfect Nude?

I think I have found my perfect nude shade!  I was quite surprised, but the color is just wonderful with my skin tone!  Yeah, it is the little things that excite me.

For this manicure, I went to my brown/neutral untrieds as that was the color scheme I was wanting.  I just closed my eyes and picked a color.  I ended up with Revlon Gray Suede.  With a name like that, I didn't expect a nude color!

I used 2 coats for this but it is pretty opaque with one coat.  For my accent nail, I used my most favorite black these days - American Apparel Hassid.  This is the best black I have in my collection for stamping.  I used BM-312 for this look.  The Revlon Gray Suede stamps wonderfully as well.  I added my top coat of Seche Vite a tad bit early as my black did streak a little.  But, it looks great from a distance.

I love just randomly picking a polish to work with.  This month's challenge in NCC is going to help me get through some more of my untried polishes!

Take a look at the other May Stamping manicures: