2013 Favorite Color Challenge #3

More purple!  I love this challenge and it has made me appreciate all of the purple polishes I have in my stash.  Once again, I have justification for my hoarding skills.  LOL

Today I used:

• China Glaze Grape Pop
• Zoya Perrie
• China Glaze C-C-Courage

I started with a base coat and 1 coat of Milani White as an undie.  2 coats of Zoya Perrie on all of my fingers except the ring finger.  There, I used 2 coats of China Glaze C-C-Courage.  

I applied one coat of Seche Vite to seal in the color before stamping.  I used CH6 with China Glaze Grape Pop to stamp.  I love this image!

I topped everything off with one more layer of Seche Vite.

Orange Base

Orange?  Yeah, not really the best color for my skin tone but I thought I would give it a try.  I'll keep this simple today.  I used 1 coat of Milani White as an undie polish and followed it up with 2 coats of China Glaze Peachy Keen as a base color.  I really hoped to go with only one coat to keep the color a bit lighter but it just wouldn't cooperate.

I used CH10 for the stamp with China Glaze Thataway.  The stamp is really lovely!  It is so subtle that you can barely see it from a distance.  I used some "glequins" from The Born Pretty Store on my accent nail to get a shooting star effect.  I followed everything up with some Seche Vite.  The accent nails required about 3 coats to get it smooth.

Thanks for taking a look at this one.

Winter Wonderland

It is Winter Wonderland this week for the Let it Snow! Challenge group.  I am getting pretty tired of winter.  I live in Buffalo, NY.  It is normal for this time of year.  I know this week is going to be fairly quiet at work because everyone is on vacation since their kids are out of school this week.  They are all off to nice warm climates, while it is expected to be quite "stormy" here this week.  UGH!  I wanted to do this week's manicure with a little bit of cheer while still remaining "wintry".  I love my purples so that is where I went.  LOL!

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Hard to Get as a base coat.  I added one coat of Seche Vite to get that sealed.  Then I used a make up sponge to do my gradient.  Here is what I used for that:

• Zoya Tru
• Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings
• Sally Hansen Lilac

I have snowflakes stamped on my ring finger, but you can't see them very well.  I used Cheeky Jumbo Plate "L".  One is using Sally Hansen Celeb City  and the other is using Sally Hansen Golden-I.  Those colors are also used for a tree on BM-321 on my pinkie.  Yeah, you can't see those too well either.  I used a dotting tool to make "snow" on my forefinger and thumb using Zoya Gaia. 

I put a layer of Kleancolor Silver Lining on all but my thumb.

This stamp is also on my Cheeky Jumbo Plate "L" (it is the same as SH207 - don't get me started on that disappointment).

Alright, on to the Right hand...

This side is pretty cute - in theory.  Again, my choice of stamp color wasn't the best as it doesn't show up as well as I had hoped.  I used Sally Hansen Celeb City to stamp a sleigh (BM-213) on my pinkie.  Then I wanted horses to pull that sleigh so I used Mash-42 and Sally Hansen Golden-I on the next two fingers.  Then I just added the Kleancolor Silver Lining to the forefinger and thumb.  I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I like it!  Just the gradient with the Silver Lining is beautiful. 

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Take a look at the other awesome "Winter Wonderland" mani's!

Valentine's Day

While I loved my pink & purple rendition, I really wanted red for Valentine's Day.  Whenever my hubby is home, I like to have him help me pick the colors and designs.  This one ended up being a skittle mani.  How did I do that again?  I think it is my inability to choose just one design.  Crazy, but I love it.

Here is what my left hand looks like this time:

My favorites are my ring finger (pink w/glequins) and my thumb.  Here is my thumb:

Here are the details:

• Thumb: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Red Red; People stamp = CH29, Love stamp = BM09 using Zoya Purity.
• Forefinger: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious; lips stamp = SH205 using Zoya Purity & Wet 'n Wild Red Red.
• Middle finger: 2 coats of Zoya Purity with Kleancolor Red Sparkle sponged on the tip and used to stamp the hearts CH16
• Ring finger: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious with multi-color glequins
• Pinkie: 2 coats of Zoya Purity with Kleancolor Red Sparkle (2 coats) on top

Right hand:

The white base looks awesome here!  The "LOVE" stamp has a weird wiggle to the end of it but because my hubby loves that show The Walking Dead, I left it.  It looks zombie-esque to me.  :)  I do have to brag a bit about the heart stamps - I lined those up perfectly! 

My right thumb:

Kisses anyone?

Right hand details:

• Thumb: 2 coats of Zoya Purity stamped with BM-303 and Wet 'n Wild Red Red
• Forefinger: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Red Red stamped with CH5 using Zoya Purity and Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious
• Middle finger: 2 coats of Zoya Purity stamped with SH205 using Wet 'n Wild Red Red and Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious
• Ring finger: 2 coats of Zoya Purity stamped with BM09 using Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious
• Pinkie: 2 coats of Wet 'n Wild Candy-licious stamped with cupid from Cheeky Jumbo plate L using Wet 'n Wild Red Red

My hubby loved this one.  He doesn't like the glequins, but I love them.  He helped design my left thumb with the people holding hands and the "love" below them.  That one is special to me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Valentine's Day Skittle (pic heavy)

I am so glad that we are doing something extra cheerful for this week's Let it Snow! challenge.  I do love my pinks and purples.  When looking at my swatch wheels, I have 10 pink wheels and 9 purple.  Lots to choose from!  I was so excited to see a youtube video from soguesswhat11 that had a pink/purple mani tutorial.  She is one of my faves!  I love her little nails!  Since I try to keep mine short, I can typically do the stamps she chooses.  Here is her video if you want to look at it.

It wasn't planned to do a skittle but, while working, things sometimes just take a life of their own.  Here is my left hand:

I used 4 polishes total.  The stamps and embellishments are different though.

• White = Pure Ice Superstar! I used 2 coats of this for the sponged nails.
• Purple = Sally Hansen Good to Grape
• Pink = Wet 'n Wild Tickled Pink
• Silver = Revlon Silver Dollar
• Seche Vite as the top coat

I am going to break it down by finger too...yay!

Here is my left thumb:

• This is a gradient with the purple & pink (duh) and the stamp is BM317.  I am pretty proud of how I got the opposite colors lined up on this one!

Here is my left forefinger:

• Same Gradient, different direction.  Also stamped with BM317 using Revlon Silver Dollar.

Left middle finger:

• Stamped with Mash-48

Left ring finger:

• Same gradient different direction.  LOL

Left pinkie:

• Stamped with BM02

Time for the right hand:

Right thumb:

• A little blurry, but it is stamped with CH15 using both the pink & purple.

Right forefinger:

• Stamped with BM317 using Pure Ice Superstar!

Right middle finger:

• Different gradient!  Used the pink & white and stamped with the purple using RA-110.

Right ring finger:

• Stamped with BM317

Right pinkie:

• Stamped with CH9 using the silver.  The purple heart addition is thanks to my Niece, Ashley.  She is 5 and this made her so happy to see her idea come to life.

I love how similar all of the nails are but they are all different too.  Here is to a happy Valentines Day to every one of you.

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Please take a look at the other Valentine's Day manicures:

Snowmen

Oh, snowmen...how you tease me with your "here today, gone tomorrow" attitude.  This week in the Let it Snow! challenge, it is snowmen.  Sounds relatively simple.  Not for me!  I really struggled with coming up with something new and simple.  I most definitely didn't end up with simple.

So, let me just set the scene for this manicure. I'm looking out my window into the yard at the snowman standing there longing to come inside where it is warm.

There is snow falling outside and the windows are frosty...

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful..."

Here's the rundown:

• base color is Orly Dayglow (2 coats)
• sponged the following colors on top:
• Sally Hansen Air
• Sinful Colors Cinderella
• Zoya Tallulah
• Wet N Wild Saved by the Blue
• Color Club Lumin-ICEcent
• tips are sponged with Orly Dayglow
• Snowman stamp is on BM318 in Pure Ice Superstar!
• the other fingers are stamped with CH5 in Pure Ice Silver Mercedes
• "glequins" added for the snow effect in holographic and silver
• oh, and there must be 4 layers of Seche Vite

I do like how this turned out.  And with this many layers of polish on, I am going to wear the heck out of it!

Here is a close up of the snowman:

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Check out the other snowmen entries!

New Year's 2013

New Years Eve is one of my hubby's favorite days of the whole year.  I am not exactly sure why, but I certainly remember the first one we shared together.  It was the eve of 2000...man that was a long time ago!  This is going to be our first one as a married couple.  We are pretty boring people - we will stay in and drink a bottle of champagne and watch dumb movies.  But that is what we do and we are happy doing it.  So the festivities will be reflected in my nails this year as well!

This is my first post in the Let it Snow Challenge too.  I am new to the challenge world but it is a weekly one rather than a daily one.  I think I can keep up with it...YAY!

So, let me explain my "logics" on this one.  I did a count down with champagne and the New Years Eve Ball.  

Close up of the "ball drop"

Here is what I used:

• Base Coat = Insta-Grip by Sally Hansen
• Polish = Katherine by Zoya
• Glitter polish = Santa's Magic by Finger Paints (also the "ball")
• The tower the ball is on is on BM15 and is stamped using Golden-I by Sally Hansen
• The numbers are on BM311 and I used Golden-I by Sally Hansen, Antique Bronze by Sally Hansen, Silver Dollar by Revlon
• The champagne bottles and glasses are on CH9 and I used the same polishes to stamp that.
• Top Coat = Seche Vite

I really like how they came out!  I hope you do too.  :)

Thanks for visiting,
Brandy

O' Christmas Tree

I'm back from my vacation to Florida to see the munchkins that are my niece and nephew.  It was exhausting but what can you do when you love them?  There is nothing like the joy on a kid's face when they are at Disney! 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...  Christmas has been cancelled at my house for a few years now.  I'm just not into it.  I love this time of year, but I am "over it" right now.  So, because I love the holiday spirit - even though I am not feeling too much of it, I wanted to do some holiday manicures.  My sister sent me a picture of her tree and it inspired my first one of the season.  This is as much Christmas Tree as I am going for this year. 

What I used:

• Red base color/balls on tree = Saucy by Revlon
• White stamp = Superstar! by Pure Ice
• White base color = Gaia by Zoya
• Green Tree color = Emerald Crush by Pure Ice
• Stamp = CH11
• Star bling from Cheeky

 

 



 

I struggled with this one for really stupid reasons.  I couldn't get the stripes to stick to my nails easily.  I am guessing I was too slow in my application.  This hand came out much better than my left but they still are cute.  I love this red color!  Not too shabby since it was in one of my recent hauls from CVS for $1.24!  The green is one of my new Pure Ice's that I procured while in Florida.  I will post those hauls later.  The pictures don't do Gaia any justice - it is simply gorgeous as an ivory with gold shimmer in it. 

 

Thanks for visiting!

Brandy

Minnie Mouse!

I'm gonna do this blog a little backwards...I am going to show my nails then my inspiration.  :)

I am headed to Florida in the morning to spend the birthdays of my mom and my niece at Disney.  Really, it is all about my niece who will be 5!  She wants a Rapunzel birthday party.  Both my niece and my nephew (2) love Minnie Mouse, so that is the inspiration I used for my mani this week. 

I used:

• red base color/stamp = Wet n Wild Red Red
• white base color/stamp = Pure Ice Superstar!
• black polish = Pure Ice Black Out
• polka-dot stamp = BM19
• bow stamp = CH1

I used a stamp for the dots but it didn't come out strong enough so I went back over it with a dotting tool and the white polish.  I did the ears free hand (kind of).  I found some stamps that had good curves to them and laid them down as a template for the "ears" and then filled in with the black. The definition is lacking a bit.  I added the white dots over the black as you couldn't see the red too well over the black and it needed some contrast.  I would do the black head part differently next time.  I am on borrowed time as I type this up since my flight is in the morning and I haven't started packing yet.  It is already almost midnight! 

Here is my other inspiration.  This is the Minnie Mouse hat my step-daughter got the last time we were at Disney World. 

Oh, and here she is with Minnie:

OK, with that, I am off of this computer (after I check in for my flight) and fixin' to pack!

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy