GG Challenge Day 8: Girls Just Want to Have Fun!!

I was overwhelmed with options with this challenge - there's so much fun in polishing my nails anyway, so what should I choose? Skittles? Animal print? Bright neons? Then I realized I could combine them all!!

I did this mani a while ago, but I've been saving it for this post. I used unnamed neon polishes from Primark, on a white base. I bought two sets and gave the other one away as a prize of my swatchcicle guessing game. I think these were two coats.

I freehanded a leopard print placing random dots of contrasting colour on each nail, and going around them with a black nail art pen.

As there were only four colours - I mean Where's The Purple!?! - I had to figure out something else for the fifth nail of each hand. So I used the brand new neon pink crackle polish, which I bought from Primark on the same visit.

 Maybe I could have added some glitter, but that excluded, this is as fun as my manicures will ever get.

So it's the last day of the Girly Girl challenge. I'd like to send a big thank you to all the girls who participated and especially to the person who came up with this challenge, created all the fun tasks, managed the link lists and whatnot: Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog!!!

Now let's see what fun the others have had:
Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind 
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch 

Emily of The Lacquerologist 

Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail 

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

The Versatile Blogger Award

 Yesterday I received The Versatile Blogger Award. Yay!

It came to me from Devilish Polish. Thank you, Kelly!
The rules are:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.
2. Let them know that you have nominated them.
3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
4. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your blog post

 I can't possibly think of 15 blogs I read and who still haven't received this award, so I cut my list of nominees to 5 bloggers:

1. Pauline at OMGNOODLES
2. Steve at Lacquer Man
3. September Lena at The Student's Guide to Nail Polish
4. Andrea at PlasmaSpeedo
5. Panderbear at Stupid Nail Polish Names

Mind you, these blogs are not just any 5 nail blogs, but truly versatile ones, topics ranging from food to makeup to culture critics to human rights to a girl's life in the navy to general fun. Check these out! They really, really deserve this award!

And here are my 7 facts:

1. I read the newspaper every single morning.
2. I'm not a pet person.
3. I'm hunting for the perfect pastel baby pink opaque in two coats polish.
4. We don't have a couch in our house. Nor a sofa, if that's what you call it.
5. I don't drink coffee. Sometimes I grab a decaf, but I'm really not into it.
6. I'm at home with people with strong will and opinions.
7. I've got small ears. I've heard you don't notice that at first, but once when you've got that thought, you can't help seeing them as tiny. 

I'll be back soon with the final post of the Girly Girl challenge!
 

GG Challenge Day 7: Raspberry Butterflies

Today's Girly Girl Challenge was "Sugar, spice and everything nice", and I definitely took on the sugary side..

This mani was inspired by the Lacquistry's Raspberry Toffee polish. It's a sheer pink base with tiny gold, silver, and baby pink glitter, plus some gorgeous fuchsia and gold hex glitters. There might be a lot more to it, but I can't possibly go to the Lacquistry Etsy shop to see the official description. I just wouldn't close the window without buying anything...

I created this also to get to use a polish I recently hauled from a clearance. It seems Catrice is making room for their new colours, and they had a bucketload on sale for 1,99e. One of the polishes I knew I HAD to get was Catrice Sand Francisco. Not for the colour (sheer yellow, sand-ish, golden shimmer), but for the name. Get it? SAND Francisco? I feel just a bit silly buying polishes just because of what the marketing departments have written on them, but who cares.

I thought of various layering options for raspberry toffee from baby blue to black, but ended up maximizing the toffee-effect with a taupe base. I used two coats of OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle (the "why do you have to buy a poo coloured polish?" -polish), and for the ring finger two coats of Catrice Sand Francisco. On the pinky, middle finger and thumb I added a coat (or a round of dabbing..) of Raspberry Toffee.

 On the pointer and ring fingers I needed to stamp something girly, so I chose the butterfly image from BM 205. (Or are those bows? I'd vote on butterflies..) For the stamping I tried out different pink cremes and shimmers, but they weren't working well with the larger stamped areas this pattern has. So I resorted to the foil finish that can handle any pattern, and picked up Color Club Hot Like Lava.

To accentuate, I slapped on some golden glitter pieces on the ring finger, and that was it. And here are the polishes.

 Now let's check the sugar/spice ratio of the other participating bloggers..
Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind 
Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch 

Emily of The Lacquerologist 

Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail 

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Astral Butterfly

This is a happy neon mani I made, just for fun! Isn't that how nail art should always be?

This post is dedicated to the dazzling and dainty C at certain classes I take. She complimented this colour recently, and I could imagine her wearing this, too. She always manages to make me laugh, no matter how surly I am, no matter how little clue do I have about what she is up to. If you know the type, you'll agree everyone should have at least one in their vicinity.

The base is two coats of Color Club Ultra-Astral, my new favourite pink. I eBayed it recently and from the moment I opened the package I've been regretting I didn't get the whole Starry Temptress collection.

Something was still missing after those two coats, and I remembered seeing all the Starry Temptress collection polishes swatched with the matching top coat. That one I didn't have, but I added a coat of Essence Colour&Go Space Queen, which gives quite a similar effect.

Lastly, I added a butterfly fimo from a chinese store and some dots with Wild and Crazy Montana and Sinful Colors Summer Peach. I almost got the right colours in this pic - propably because of the white polish I'm holding. I'll keep that in mind... And here are the other polishes.

That's it. Tomorrow I'll be back with more manis for the Girly Girl challenge - as if this wasn't girly, too.

GG Challenge Day 6: Who Inspires You?

 Today's Girly Girl challenge was to be inspired by a female role model. I don't know who I would have picked if I didn't have this mani planned in my head. Perhaps not Morticia Addams, the heart and soul of the Addams Family (portrayed here by Anjelica Huston).

Or maybe just her. Apart from her hair, nails, outfits and style, there is one thing why she really deserves to be called a role model. She is the one who lives her own way, with her loving family, and couldn't care less what other, "normal", people think. If there was more of that in the world instead of all the sheepishness, all the well-I-would-but-let-someone-else-start, world would definitely be a better place.

Ok, rant over. Onto the nails. The base of this mani was two coats of China Glaze Short & Sassy.

 The primary inspiration for this mani was the desire for some Lacquistry polishes standing on my desk. I got to use two of them by giving the ring finger a coat of Lacquistry Devil's Dandruff and the
other fingers two coats of Lacquistry Plucked Spider.

 These required two coats of topcoat, but laid perfectly flat on the nail and were easy-peasy to apply. Love!!! I want to make a glitter sandwich with the Dandruff and maybe yellow/orange right now!!

 The accent finger still lacked something Addamsy, so I went for a spider design. I used some crystal rhinestones for the head and body, and Essence Silver Nail Art Pen for the legs.

 And here are the polishes, like a tiny creepy family...

 Now let's see who others have picked as their role models. Oh, and their manicures, too :)

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind 
Amanda of Nox Nails

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch 

Emily of The Lacquerologist 

Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail 

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

GG Challenge Day 5: Chick Flick

As I revealed in my 7 random facts last week, I'm not really into movies. So todays Girly Girl Challenge - a mani inspired by your favourite chick flick - was, if possible, even harder than the runway one. But challenge is what I like.

Thinking back of the films I've really liked, only one seems to fit in this category: Some Like it Hot by Billy Wilder. I don't know if this counts as a chick flick, but at least it's got a lot of chicks :) And even males wanting to disguise themselves as chicks. I loved everything, from the black and white nostalgic atmosphere (which I tried to reconstruct on my nails) to displaying ladies independent and making music (which I chose to be the main tune for this mani).

The base I used was Esence Colour&Go Irreplaceable. It's irreplaceable at least in the sense that I don't own anything like that. It's a light nutria with loads of greenish gold shimmer, completely opaque in two coats.

 As I was going out and needed a simple and quick decorations until I had time to finish the mani, I stamped on the accent nails the piano keys from BM207 with Konad black special polish.

On the next day I moved on guided by the movie inspiration. I wanted to use softer contrasts, though, than in stamping and decided to look for charcoal and neutral colours rather than just black and white. I taped and painted strips on each nail with China Glaze Some Like it Haute (well, I HAD to include that...) and used Irreplaceable mixed with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Peachy Keen for the film strip effect.

Using a nail art brush and a dotting tool I added some notes with Color Club Revvvolution. A coat of Color Club topcoat (I was too lazy to get up from the chair and grab Seche Vite), and I was ready.
No polish bottle pic today, but let's see if someone else from our polish troops has had a better photo day :)
Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind 

Amanda of Nox Nails 

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch 

Emily of The Lacquerologist 

Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail 

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

The Last Snowflakes

Today's mani has the last snowflakes of the season:

 I came across a Flormar shoppe inside a shopping centre in Madrid, and succumbed to a slight haul.. ahem.

For this mani - to get to try these as soon as I could, I decided to combine Flormar U34, which is burgundy glass flecks in a coffee- brown base - slight duochorme to red/gold and Flormar U33, which has blue/multichrome glass flecks in black base.

 (The names on these somehow sound like war submarines..) The duochrome is stronger in the 33, you get an array of colours from cobalt blue through green to purple.

To blend the colours together more, I sponged each tip with the other colour. The result was pretty awesome, especially with the blue sponged on the burgundy!

My husband suggested snowflakes on these. I know this is propably not the most original way to snowflakify your nails, but I was lazy and stamped on some from m59 with Gosh Silver. I also painted on some smaller snowflakes with a size 0 nail art brush, and added some dots, too.

The mani was still missing some glitter, so I grabbed China Glaze Snowglobe. I first tried to paint it directly on the nail, but it was too dense and the result had more likeness to snow storm than peacefully floating snowflakes. So for the rest of my nails I just dabbed on some Snowglobe here and there with a dotting tool.

It's a simple design, but I'm quite happy with it, mainly because of the base colours. This is also the last "winter" mani this winter season, so enjoy it while it lasts. And then, let's move forward to spring brights and pastels! Say bye for now to these polishes!

Two Lovely Blog Award

I received an award from Danielle at  Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll! Thank you so much! I'm really touched!!

 I've actually received this award once before. It was from Iisa at Unglue your lips. But on the first round it didn't have this random facts -part, so it's practically a new award for me! To avoid getting the actual same award twice in the future, I added an Awards section to the sidebar. You can easily check that out, if you ever should consider awarding me.

So, the rules this time are:
1. List 7 things about yourself
2. Award 15 other bloggers

My seven things:
1. I'm not allergic to any food, and would eat practically anything.
2. My feet are (nearly) always cold. Fuzzy socks don't help a lot, they just insulate all the cold inside.
3. I sometimes don't have a clue which weekday/date/hour it is. I guess that's not so important to me.
4. I'm fascinated by cruise ships, airplanes and big highway junctions.
5. I never eat with a fork only, I always have to have a knife.
6. I fell in love with NYC at the first sight. I never expected that to happen.
7. I don't really enjoy watching movies. I guess I don't have too much empathy to waste on fictive persons.

My awarded bloggers:
I know many of you have received this award before or from Danielle, but I'd still want to hand this over to you all participating the Girly Girl challenge!!!! Myself and Danielle removed it's 23 bloggers altogether. I'ts amazing what an array of unique designs you have created until now, and I'm really looking forward to each posting day to see moooore! This is the thing that I love the most in blogging: to connect with people, getting encouraged and challenged to create something good together. That's why it's important for me to share this award to you, collectively:

 

Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road

Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of DevilishPolish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Lacquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Bonny of Over Stuffed 

Taylor of REJOICE! 

Jess of Nearly Natural Nails 

GG Challenge Day 4: Runway Splatter

Today in the Girly Girl challenge we were encouraged to get inspiration from the runway. As much as I love shopping for clothes and playing with my outfits, I don't follow fashion at_all. So I had to google. (I was sooo relieved when I read that's what some others did with today's challenge, too...)

I looked through an array of pics, and this one from Ladylux was an instant hit. I was debating  between the middle pic (imagine various greys and a dotting tool) and the one on the right, and the latter won.

The base I used to achieve that silver brocade look was a sandwich of Primark no name silver Base coat, Essence Nail Art topper Mystic Mermaid and OPI DS Original.

Not much of a holo effect, but wait and see... On the ring finger I added a coat of Lacquistry Silver Holo Shredded, which is like shards of a tiny cd on a clear base. (looove!)

On the other fingers I did my first ever splatter "design" (I mean, I had no control on the splatters whatsoever. Do you still call that a design?) with Catrice Lucky in Lilac, Astor Pop Color 141 (I do hate polishes without names!!) and Essence Show Your Feet Caribbean Sea. All three were from my untrieds - yay!

 Here's a few pre-cleanup pics..

I think the left thumb turned out quite nicely. I somehow liked the mani more before cleanup - maybe becayse the splatters are more clearly splatters when you see the whole splatter. (Try yourself putting "splatter" three times in a phrase..)

That's the final mani once again and here are the polishes:

Now I'll rush to see what the others have been up to:
Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll!
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind 

Amanda of Nox Nails 

Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch 

Emily of The Lacquerologist 

Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O' Natur Nail 

ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi 

CR of Color Me Silly

Amanda of Berry Polished 

Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins