Another Halloween Mani...

I'm running out of days to do Halloween manis! 2 ideas for manis have been floating around in my head for a few days now, so combined the two and hoped for the best :) I was already wearing THIS color, and although I LOVE it, my index finger unfortunately had already started to chip. I type pretty hard, so I'm sure that doesn't help any.


I've wanted to do a Frankenstein mani since last year, but I didn't have any greens that I really liked until earlier this year when I found Orly It's Not Rocket Science. I remember looking at every Sally's for Zombie Zest after last Halloween in the clearance bins, but I never found it. This past summer I found the whole Cosmic FX Collection at an Ulta about an hour away from my house, and this had been sitting in my untrieds since then. What a perfect color for Frankie's head. This is 3 coats on my index and thumb.

'Sup??

I also got 2 glow in the dark polishes a RAOK a few months ago and I just had to try this out. The inspiration for my little ghost is the ghost from "Ghostbusters". I wanted it to glow in the dark, so after two coats of SH Whirlwind White, I applied 2 more coats of Dada Glow in the Dark and painted the little face (and Frankie's face) with WnW Black Creme.


Here it is in the dark:

I know I want to have a bumblebee (to match Bells' costume) mani for Halloween, but I'm not sure how to make it more Halloween'y, any ideas??

Orly Fowl Play

I have tried to majorly cut back on my polish purchases lately..and so far, I've been doing pretty good. I've gotten a few, but only of colors I REALLY like. This past weekend I stopped by Ulta for some hair products and I saw this. It's gotten lots of hype on MUA and after I saw it for myself, I picked it up. Fowl Play is from Orly's new Birds of a Feather collection. This is really the only color that grabbed my attention, so I passed on the rest.

Fowl Play is a red-tinted purple jelly (it reminds me of the color of grape slushes) with red flakies and purple, red, green, and gold micro glitter. The formula seemed a bit thick so I put a few drops of thinner. It was completely opaque with 2 coats. Unfortunately, I think I applied them a bit too thick, so I had some shrinking....BOO SV!!

Besides the shrinking...I like this color. I don't love it...but....I really like it.I keep looking at my nails trying to figure out why I don't absolutely love it, but I can't figure it out. This fall is a great season for new colors, and maybe the fact that there are so many choices is why I'm not wowed with this. I will definitely wear this again though :)

Simple French

I'm having a bit of a color block. I could not pick a color to apply for the life of me. We did housework all day long, so by the time DD&H were asleep, it was already about 10 o' clock and I was ready to go to sleep myself. I went with something quick, a simple french mani. It is so classic to me, you can never go wrong with a french mani.

I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlind White and Orly Bare Rose for the pink part, topped off with Insta-Dri Top coat and I was ready for bed

I cleaned up the tips with a little bit of acetone. I think French, a nude like OPI Bubble Bath (hmm...I think I will wear that next), and a red like this one are my fail-proof manis. (A really dark vampy like OPI Lincoln Park After Dark too, at least for me)

What's yours?

Leopard Blues

Remember the story about the remote's untimely death at the hands of the one they call Bella and her weapon the dotting tool of torture? This was all that was left of him...

I had a little too much fun on Photoshop last night, huh?

Ok, so I love blues. I think it's one of my favorite colors, so I constantly find myself reaching for blues when picking my manis out. I steer more towards brighter hues (a la Blue Me Away and Pacific Blue). I decided on a darker color, but still one of my more frequently used ones. OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui is described as a medium dusty blue creme. Dusty in my mind meaning "muddy". I used this color alot in the fall, but I think I can manage to get away with using it for a few more months. The weather really influences my color choices. I know it's crazy...but I can't help it :) I've been wanting to do a full on leopard mani because I've seen it a bunch of times on MUA. (Jiloverz does some pretty awesome mani's. Click here to see the inspiration). I think I will wait until my nails grow out a bit to do this on all of my nails. For now I just did two leopard nails:



I used Orly Glitz & Glamour for the base (I LOVE this gold). G&G goes on so smoothly, which is not the case for most foil finishes that I've used before. I got this on clearance at Sally's for 1.99 a while back...I'm bummed I didn't get more, lol.

I SUCK at freehanding, so used is Konad M59 and the spots were filled in using Zoya Cheryl and OPI Ya'll Come Back Ya Hear? And because I was feeling artsy here is what it looked like in my mind, lol

I wish the whole world was cross-processed :)

I love animal prints, what's your favorite??

Nail Art Challenge (Day 5)

So tonight I'm going to the Rodeo and I'm pretty excited. I'm about to give myself a full mani in a little bit, but before I do that I wanted to try this. I've seen this done a bunch of times on MUA, now it's my turn. I used China Glaze Crushed Candy over Orly Glitz & Glamour.

5 of 31

The first time I tried Crackle I was a little underwhelmed with the application. Now trying it for the second time, I see that it's all about the application. At first I was applying this like I was Black Shatter, and that was my problem. Crackle needs to be applied in thinner coats and a bit more carefully IMO. The brush is thinner than OPI's, so the application method is important with Crackle. You can't overlap coats like you can with BS because it won't separate. Have I said how much I LOVE Glitz & Glamous?!?! I got this at Sally's for $1.99 after Christmas, what a find! This applies really smooth and the end product is a super foily orangy-gold. It's perfect! Like the Gold version of SH Celeb City, which I think I will try under Crushed Candy next.

Wonder Woman Nails

I was so excited when I was told on MUA that these were out. So, I called MAC and to my surprise they had them in stock.


How ADORABLE are these!?!?

SPIRIT OF TRUTH/OBEY ME

I actually really like both of these colors. The colors are so rich. SCORE for MAC!!!

Obey Me is actually a bit jellyish so there is a slight VNL after 2 coats. I really like this shade of red. Most reds tend to make my hands look really orange, or the red itself pulls orange because of my olive complexion. This stayed red and didn't give me lobster hands. The bottle is just to die for...so that's a plus.

I was surprised at Spirit of Truth. This is a total one coater, and I imagine that it would be pefect for stamping. I love the bottle so much, I doubt that I will be "wasting" it on stamping. I used two coats here, but only because my application was so crappy that I wanted to make sure it pictured true to color. Also, how clever are the names??

I decided to play around with some WW nail art....what do you think??

Have a great weekend everyone...xox...L

Artsy Thursdays: Rodeo Inspired Mani

Ok, so I decided that I will TRY and do a weekly "inspired by" (insert random "muse" here) mani. I'm shooting for every Thursday. I'm starting off with a rodeo inspired mani. It's Houston, Texas. It's a HUGE deal here! One of my closest friends is a total cowgirl, so this is in part inspired by her as well :)

I used Orly Royal Navy with Konad M60. I LOVE RN...it is sooo pretty. The application was really easy, really even formula and I was surprised that it only took 2 coats for it to be even. 



It's a really rich blue with turquoise shimmer.  Below is without flash so the turquoise is a bit more apparent.

Originally I thought Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe would look good as a "texting thumb" accent. I have NO idea what in the world I was thinking!!! Here it goes...UGHHH...TOTAL EPIC FAIL!

Happy Thursday and thanks for looking :)