Summer Challenge: Swimsuits & Ocean

Catch Up Post!

I'm posting two together to catch up so I've done them all. I'm being lazy with one but I just can't fit in another mani in 2.5hours. I have to be up early for my first day at orientation. I know, back to the real world. One month off is more than enough, right?

Summer Challenge: Swimsuits

Summer Challenge: Swimsuits

What is that?

So this design is from a swimsuit of mine when I was little. It was the first one I remember. I used to take swimming lessons and for being soooo good, my mom bought me this bathing suit. It had vertical black and white stripes on the trunk, and around the legs it had purple and green stripes outlining the leg holes. It's not a very good description but essentially it's what you see in the picture. I just remember being so proud of myself for earning that new swimsuit.

You did what?

Yeah, so when I went swimming the first time with it, my stomach was tanned in stripes! When I showered after, I couldn't figure out what was going on. Apparently, the white reflected the sun and the black absorbed it, but I had vertical tan lines all over my trunk. Funniest dang thing ever!

Products Used

Sally Hansen Miracle Growth

Milani White On The Spot

Acrylic Paint

I know it isn't the best and it's kinda sloppy, but I did it and I wanted to share it! So there. =P

Summer Challenge: Ocean/Sea

Summer Challenge: Ocean/Sea

You can read details on this mani here. This is the "underwear" for my dolphin/shark mani.

Products Used

Sally Hansen White On!
Sally Hansen Calypso Blue
Milani Beach Front
Milani Sail Away
Petites Night

The End

That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed this Summer Challenge by TheKaki (thank you Cuti-CLUE-les for the nickname!) and hopefully we will have another soon. This was fun!

Summer Challenge: Favorite Mani

Summer Challenge coming to a close...

Hey everyone, look who is on time today! Today is the last day of the Summer Challenge. Sniff. I don't want it to be over!!

Here's what I got for ya! Do you recognize the mani?

Summer Challenge: Recreate Favorite Mani

I chose to do Isabella's manicure seen here for Favorite Beach Mani. I, of course, can't read a thing on the page except for medusa was her inspiration and it was her first marble. Sorry Isabella! I need to learn how to translate pages...

Summer Challenge: Recreate Favorite Mani

I still think hers is better. It's a little more fluid and the way it looks is just magical. I can't even tell you what it is that makes me so enamored by it, but I seriously did a few nails on a nail wheel and kept telling myself to pick a different manicure because I couldn't quite get it, but I kept going back to it.

Playing with Needle Marbling on a nail wheel

Products Used

Sally Hansen Miracle Growth
Sally Hansen CSM Great Tea
Sally Hansen CSM Calypso Blue
Sally Hansen White On!
Shimmer Cassandra
Seche Vite

You may not care about base and top coats but I figured I'd start adding them in. I've gotten a few questions about what I like to use, so there you go! =D

Does anyone care to know what tools I've used? Dotting tools, brushes, pins, dentures, combs, tape? Or you'll figure it out on your own? =)

Dry/Needle Marble

If you've never heard of this technique, it's a pretty cool one that I hadn't heard of until I saw a post by Copy That, Copy Cat (love her and her blog!) in which she does a tutorial on how to do a smokey french tip. Basically, you paint your base color, let it dry (important!) and then do a fresh coat of base coat and quickly paint on your accent color(s) and then using a needle/pin drag the wet paint to make your design. It creates really cool wisps and if your paint is thick enough and you move quickly enough, it'll come back and settle in the lines you made.

If you have any questions, let me know. I keep thinking about starting to do tutorials, but I feel my stuff is pretty straight forward. Copy That, Copy Cat has a great video tutorial for it anyway!

I can't wait to see what everyone else did for today!! You should check them out too!!

P.S. The Penguin Makeup Challenge!

Don't forget tomorrow is the start of The Penguin Makeup Challenge! If you want to join in, there is still time! Email me so I can get you the info for the Inlinkz code!

Summer Challenge: Favorite Water Animal

Catch up time!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I'm late with this one, but here it is anyway! Trying to catch up, but I'm not sure I'll have it done in time to include in the Inlinkz widget. Boo.

I really had no idea what to do for today, I had high hopes for a sea-horse but it was way too complicated and I'm feeling lazy. I was googling images for water animals when I googled Starfish and Spongebob came up.

Favorite Water ... Animals?

Summer Challenge: Favorite Underwater Animal/Spongebob Nail Art

Confession time. I have no idea who Spongebob is, other than he has square pants and lives in a pineapple. Or something like that. Otherwise, nada. But he's popular and he's an animal right? Wait. He's a sponge. Sponges are animals...right? I did his friends too, which includes a starfish, so it counts!

Summer Challenge: Favorite Underwater Animal / Starfish Patrick Nail Art

Products Used

Sally Hansen Maximum Growth
China Glaze Caribbean Blue
Sally Hansen Calypso Blue
Acrylic Paint
Seche Vite

Here is a picture with top coat. Top coat is nice because it evens everything out, especially the eyes which can get pretty built up with all the dotting.

Summer Challenge: Favorite Underwater Animal / Spongebob Nail Art

I'm a bit embarrassed by this nail art. I had high hopes, but again, the fine details escape me and my proportions are off. Ahh well. Live and learn right? Every time I look at Spongebob I feel like he's on drugs. This is sort of a psychedelic interpretation of Spongebob and his friends ... =P

Nail Art Brushes

I need to invest in some good nail art brushes. All of mine are from kits for canvas painting, so 3/4 of them are bigger than my nail itself and the rest can't give me a nice fine line. I'm looking into MASH art brushes. Any other suggestions?

Enchanted Polish Swatches & Review

I was able to get some Enchanted Polishes from llarowe.com during a Scratch N Dent sale. If you have never heard of that sale, more on that later. Back to the point, I scored four Enchanted Polishes and I'm totally smitten with them. You have seen them as colorful beach umbrellas or under some stamping.

Disclaimer

I feel I should preface this post with a little info before I both excite and titillate you with these photos. Enchanted Polish polishes are all considered Limited Edition (per her old Etsy page) so I've linked where you can buy them (active at the time of publication) but I cannot guarantee they will be there when you check. I agree with her statement on her Etsy page, if you like it, don't let it get away!

Enchanted Polish in Magic Mirror, Disco Barbie, Gummy Worm, and Cranberry Cosmo

Enchanted Polish Magic Mirror is described as a "lilac with flake holo." I'd agree with that description except I don't think it's very flake-y. It's one of the most holo out of all the polishes shown, you can see a bit of the flame under regular indoor lighting. Available here and here.

Enchanted Polish Disco Barbie is an awesomely named hot pink with scattered/linear holo. It looks like it wants to create a flame, but mostly it's scattered. Great polish even indoors because the color is so bright and pigmented. Available here.

Enchanted Polish in Magic Mirror, Disco Barbie, Gummy Worm, and Cranberry Cosmos

Enchanted Polish Gummy Worm is a lime green scattered holo, likely the least holo out of all of them. Again, very pigmented so it's a fun color to wear regardless of the weather (ie sunlight) and leans yellow so it's super wearable.

Enchanted Polish Cranberry Cosmo is a gorgeous deep cranberry linear holo. I think it ties Magic Mirror for linear holo, look at that flame forming under indoor lighting! Great color, very pigmented, I'd wear this shade even if it wasn't a holo! Available here.

Scratch N Dent Sale

If you've never heard of this sale, I strongly suggest you follow Leah Ann on Facebook or Twitter, because these sales are phenomenal! You essentially pay 15USD for a bag of mystery polishes, and you get at least three polishes from her site that may have been damaged in shipping. Polish is perfect, but the bottle may have been spilled on so she can't sell it. 5USD per polish, essentially, for polishes that sell usually between 8-15 each. Totally worth it. And it's fun that you don't know what you're going to get, but really everything on her site is great, so you can't lose! I got each of these polishes for $5 each. Weee!

Get To The Point

Me Gusta:

• Gorgeous colors, very pigmented
• Nice color selection
• Nice holographic effect
• Great formula, self leveling, hardly any cleanup required

No Me Gusta:

• All colors are Limited Edition (according to her old Etsy page), wah!
• Holo effect isn't strong in some polishes

Verdict: LOVE. Will purchase more!

Bummer Weather

I'm sure you know how it goes when you wear a holographic polish, it's always raining or cloudy so you can't go outside and get good shots showing the holo flame. Here is what it looked like outside when I was wearing these polishes.

Boo!

Info

Enchanted Polish are 3 free and are sold at llarowe and Harlow & Co. Each polish retails at $15 for 0.5oz. You can follow her on Twitter here and on Facebook here.

Urban Decay Eye Shadow Comparisons

I have some Urban Decay eye shadow comparisons for you today. I depotted my Urban Decay eye shadows in some magnetic palettes and when I was picking and choosing what shadows to keep in certain palettes, I found some shadows that are super similar. Probably not a big deal, but if you really want a shadow from one palette, it'd be nice to know if you have one that's similar!

Comparisons

For comparison purposes, I've included indoor lighting on left and sunshine on right. Different colors look really similar in certain lights, but not in others. I'll say my piece after each, but really, you can decide for yourself if they're close or not.

  

Ace vs Gunmetal. Ace is a little darker and more blue, and Gunmetal is more silvery and has more shimmer to it.

 

Snakebite vs Deeper. Snakebite appears to be darker and have more gray in it. Both take on a more reddish appearance outside.

 

Sin vs Flow. Sin is more pink based, and Flow is more yellow based, but outside in the sun they look comparable. Both are awesome highlights, and it's nice to be able to use the one that matches the colors of your look.

 

Verve vs Midnight 15. Pretty comparable but Midnight 15 has the chunky glitter and is slightly darker.

 

Midnight Rodeo vs Sidecar. Midnight Rodeo is more golden and lighter, while Sidecar is darker and more brown based.

 

Absinthe vs Home Grown. Absinthe is more opaque and blue based with a golden shimmer, while Home Grown is more sheer and yellow based.

 

Toasted vs YDK. Toasted seems to have more pink in it, while YDK is more golden. In the sunlight, they both have a reddish tint and YDk appears a little darker.

 

MIA vs Hustle. MIA appears brown/red, while Hustle looks a little more grayish.

Those are the ones I spotted while moving eyeshadows around. Any dupes or other similar ones I should know about? I really want Fishnet, Graffiti, and Peace from UD, so I'm not sure if I have something similar already...

Oh! And did you hear? Urban Decay pulled out of the China market, so no animal testing! I'm sure it's old news, but I wanted to relay it since some of you may not have heard.  =)

Stuff & Some new Milani lip glosses

Update

I'm sorry I've been slacking on challenge posts this week. I had tried really hard to make sure I would stay on track, but this move was postponed and I'm still not settled in, so for that, my sincerest apologies. I am currently looking up designs/ideas for the themes I missed, and hopefully will be back on track tomorrow!

Deborah Lippmann on HSN

They're at it again! Five different sets on sale, different than the ones previously. I will tell you, I had a good experience with HSN and then a bad one. One of two orders I placed during the previous sale came with a broken polish. Instead of telling me that they wouldn't hold another item for me to replace the one I was sending back, they refunded the money (minus S&H to return it!). If they'd said I'd have to pay S&H to return AND I wouldn't get the same item back, I would've kept the original item since one of five polishes was broken, it was still a better deal on the four that were unbroken. Sigh. Just so you know...

Milani Glitzy Glamour Glosses - Summer 2012

See! It's not all boring. I have lip gloss for you! I've seen some swatches of the new Milani Glitzy Glamour Glosses going around and I thought two of them (CVS exclusives) were pretty enough to buy! I thought I'd share them with you because (1) you know I love me some Milani and (2) I love putting large pictures of my kisser on the internet for your viewing pleasure.

Here is what Milani says about them ...

A full-color liquid gloss that provides spectacular, shiny color that lasts. The formula feels smooth and silky, not sticky or tacky. The shimmer-shine colors dazzle lips with hyper-perle effects for the ultimate in glam-shine lips!

Milani Glitzy Glamour Lip Gloss in High Status is a beautiful sheer shimmery pink gloss that adds a bit of frostiness to your lips or layers nicely over another color.

Milani Glitzy Glamour Lip Gloss Show Stopper is a gorgeous light nude pink with creme coverage. Gorgeous color, but hard to pull off on some skin tones. It looks very mod and reminds me of the full coverage light pink lips of the 60s (70s?). Covers beautifully.

And the two layered! Pretty combination. It takes some starkness out of the pink and makes it much more wearable.

To The Point...

Me Gusta:

• Good pigmentation
• Sweet smell and flavor - they smell like watermelon bubble gum
• Decent staying power, but I do lick my lips a lot
• Pretty packaging, visually appealing

No Me Gusta:

• Wish they had a brush applicator
• Limited color selection

Verdict: Love 'em.

Milani Glitzy Glamour Gloss come in a 0.12oz plastic tube with a doe foot applicator and retail for $6.99. You can find them at CVS or online!

Week 23: Ombre

Ombre

Ombre nails have been such a big deal recently and I'm so sad I'm late to the party! These were quite fun and easy to do and visually interesting. It's fun to try and pick colors to use to create the ombre effect or to mix them yourself!

Here we have Week 23 of the 52 Week Challenge:

Week 23: Ombre

This one is a little more color accurate although it's warmed up to get the colors to show purple and not blue.

Week 23: Ombre

I used Julep Anne (middle finger), Sally Hansen White On (pinky), and Petites Night (thumb), and mixed the colors for the other two fingers.

Dupe?

Is it just me or does Julep Anne + Petites Night look a little like Chanel Paradoxical minus the shimmer? I fiddled with it a bit and got a few that are really pretty, but I can't really tell if it's close or not to the real thing... Makes me wanna franken!

Born Pretty Stamping Plate in M60 - Images & Review

Today I've got I received the Nail Art Stamping Plate in M60. I couldn't get a good picture of it without my face with my pink camera reflecting back, so we'll just use the Born Pretty store image ...

Before I started stamping my nails, I tried stamping a piece of paper first. A post-it, to be exact!

Born Pretty M60

I had a little trouble with image transfer, especially the plaid design. I will say that I was using regular nail polish and not stamping polish, which I think is where I had my trouble, because from what I can see, most people loved this plate and had no trouble with image transfer.

I did a little stamping over Enchanted Polish nail polishes, and I used OPI Alpine Snow and Petites Night for stamping, and I used a Konad stamper and scraper. I had decent image transfer, but I think most of my problem was not using the right polish. I haven't had much luck with stamping and you can see a difference just between my ring and index fingers, both using the same stamp but different polishes, and how different those transfered.

The Born Pretty Store has a lot more than just nail art products available (even though they have a ton of polishes, stamping plates, nail jewelry, tape, etc) they also carry iPhone cases, artificial nail supplies, makeup, and more! I was surprised and I have been snooping on there a lot recently as I'm interested in picking up a few more things from there!

I've already got my eye on the Nail Art Brush set and some glequins!!

Of course, they're dedicated to getting you guys great products at discounted prices, they included a discount code to use on your purchase - use RA7X31 to save 7%! They offer free shipping (no minimum required) and they ship internationally. I put a banner on the sidebar in case you want to order later but forgot the code!

Check them out on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or go shopping at the Born Pretty Store!

Product provided for review.

Summer Challenge: Favorite Beach Memory

Favorite Beach Memory

Hello there! Guess what? I'm back with our Summer Challenge. Surprised? No? OK then moving on.

Today's challenge is "Favorite Beach Memory," which is different than Favorite Summer Memory. I should've used that other post as my beach memory since we were at the beach, but it's ok, because I have another that happened at the beach. Incidently, both happened at the SAME beach. 'Twas a great vacation.

Summer Challenge: Favorite Beach Memory

This mani is supposed to show the sand and scattered sea shells and a single sand dollar. Can you spot him? He's kind of hidden. I did that on purpose since usually they're not easy to spy and are hidden amongst the other sea shells and shell fragments.

This is a memory with me and my mother. We were taking a walk one morning while it was still cool and the beach was nearly empty. We were chatting and laughing and walking in the surf and we happened upon this sand dollar. We weren't even looking and if you've ever been beach combing you know how hard these are to find intact. It's a small one, but I really do treasure it.

I know you're supposed to soak these in a mild bleach solution to whiten them, but I can't bring myself to do it. I don't want to make it more fragile. I do plan on getting a shadow box to put it in so it doesn't break.

Products Used

Essie Sand Tropaz
Acrylic paint

Ha! No Milani in this post!

Lighting

I'm sure you can tell that the first two pictures are done under a different lighting than the last one. The first two are in early morning light and they're more true to color. The last one is indoor lighting. The colors show up a bit more bold. I had to take down my home-made light box when I knew we were moving (darn if it didn't take so long to move, I shouldn't have taken it down so quickly), but I hope to get another one built once we move or find a good window and invest in some daylight/full spectrum lights.

Hope you enjoyed this post. I've enjoyed taking a walk down memory beach!

Wet N Wild Megalast Break The Ice

Does white polish say summer to you? Or white out? I think it screams summer. Beside all the bright and neon polishes, there is something calm and serene about a plain white polish. It makes me think of cool cotton shirts and white capris. It also makes me think about pina coladas in coconuts. =)

Wet N Wild's Megalast in Break the Ice is a beautiful white polish with silver shimmer. Can a color be be described as graceful? I have a friend who believes there are certain colors you wear on your toes (brights or glitters) and certain colors you wear on your hands (nude cremes and soft shimmers). She approves this one for hands and for work!

The pictures below are three coats without top coat. The polish is sheer and can possibly be built to opacity with enough coats, but I like a little skin tone showing through to make it a little off white which makes the shimmer stand out a little more.

Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice

Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice

Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice

Application was a little messy and I had terrible cuticle drag, but that may have been because I was rushing my application. It did run a little, so buffing ay ridges or using a leveling base coat would help in application. 

I decided to try layering it over a white creme polish (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On anyone?) to see if I liked it better as an opaque polish, and below is the result.

Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice over Sally Hansen White On!

Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice over Sally Hansen White On!

Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice over Sally Hansen White On!

I really like it over the white creme, but I think I prefer it alone. Or possibly somewhere in the middle. Either way, it's a great polish. I'm curious to try it over black! You can see it layered under Essie Stroke of Brilliance here.

I may have to do a comparison post soon (if anyone is interested, that is) because I believe I have two or three others similar to this. I hope once I get moved to do a long swatch session on my swatchicles (swatchcicles?) then I'll provide more info on similar colors I have when I show them to you!

P.S. I should be on the road (fingers crossed) and near Dallas about the time this goes live, so wish me luck on my 14 hour road trip today! I'm going to schedule some posts so my blog won't be lonely, but if I'm behind on commenting, I'm truly sorry. Things have been crazy around here and I haven't done my nails in THREE DAYS. Thank you Sally Hansen Salon Effects. =)

Summer Challenge: Sea Shells

Sea Shells

She sells sea shells by the sea shore. That's what I automatically think about when I hear "sea shells." Is that weird?

I went in a different direction today - 3D nail art.

Summer Challenge: Sea Shells

I've been trying to come out of my nail art shell and try some different interpretations and styles. I had picked up this Cina Nail Art Kit in Over the Rainbow awhile back at Sally's and I had yet to try it. I was trying to come up with today's design, and these little colored pieces looked a little crushed sea shells, so I thought they'd work nicely today.

Summer Challenge: Sea Shells

Top picture is without top coat, bottom picture is with top coat. The topcoat made it a little shinier and I think the colors faded a little with it, but it looks a little more dreamy don't you think? I'm not sure which I prefer.

Products Used

Essie Sand Tropaz
Cina Nail Art Kit in Over The Rainbow

Cina Nail Art Kit

Cina offers many different types of nail products, including nail art kits, glitters, stickers, decals, and more. I've seen them at Sally's, which is where I bought mine, but they are sold online and also at CosmoProf.

Cina Nail Art Kit in Over the Rainbow

I just used the colored pieces on the left, and I'm saving the glitter for another project.

This mani didn't last long, I didn't use the Bonder and Sealer Cina recommends, I just used top coat to attach it and seal it. The pieces were pretty rough when I scratched and I made a mess when I went to the bathroom. As in, the pieces came off and littered the floor, not in the way you were probably thinking!

What do you think of today's design? Should I have gone with some freehand drawing? Have you used any Cina nail art kits? I'm curious to know what else you can do with them?