Tuesday Blues

Hi lovelies!

Here I am again--hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was a bit quiet with just a walk through a nature preserve, volunteering, and a lazy, Supernatural-filled Sunday. It's one of my favorite shows :)

I just have a quick post for you tonight, as we in Buffalo brave our first "Winter Storm Warning."

Tonight, I'm going to show you a quick mani I did a few weeks ago, using a polish borrowed from my best friend.

OPI Swimsuit...Nailed It!

A gorgeous metallic foil blue. Nearly a one-coater. It absolutely glows from within and removal was great with barely any staining! Swimsuit...Nailed It! Is from the Miss Universe that came out in 2011. It included Miss Congeniality, It's My Year, and Crown Me Already!

As if this needed anymore shine, I decided to add some bling to it.

I used rhinestones from a Bundle Monster wheel, stuck them on with OPI topcoat and coated the whole thing in Beauty Plus Salon top coat. The rhinestones lasted longer than the polish. It was chipping within a few days. I'm trying to get my nails in fighting condition and it's going pretty well but I'm still having wear time issues.

What do you think? What were your picks from the 2011 Miss Universe collection? 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!! Thankful for anyone that reads my little corner of the internet :)

xo, ali

Quick NOTD

Well, well, well! It's me, keeping my end of the bargain and keeping to my posting schedule.

I don't have much for you lovely people but I do have something that I'm quite proud of. I rarely do nail art. That's mostly because I get frustrated if it doesn't work out or I'm too tired, etc. A couple Saturdays ago, I was feeling ambitious and had the perfect polishes to go together. I also had a great tutorial from Globe & Nail in the back of my mind that I wanted to try. I love Emma's blog. She does such great nail art and has gorgeous swatches. The tutorial looked pretty easy and I don't bust out my striping tape nearly enough. Here's my final result!

For this manicure, I used:

Two coats Orly Nail Armor (base coat)

Two coats H&M Come Along With Me (base color)

One thick coat elf Sea Escape (accent color)

One coat Beauty Plus Salon (topcoat)

Come Along with Me is a really pretty, creamy teal with sparse teal shimmer that you really have to suss out. It went on really easy with no application problems that I can recall.

Then i laid down a square of scotch tape, at an angle,to create the half moon and a piece of striping tape down the middle. Next, I painted a thick coat of Sea Escape, which is from the Ursula portion of the elf Disney Villains nail polish cube. Sea escape is a black jelly-esque polish with teal, grean, and blue sparkles. I painted each finger, one at a time, and pulled the tapes up as soon as I painted. Top coat, and done!

The only thing I can really see wrong with this is that my lines could have been a little cleaner. Other than that, I was really happy with this. I got a lot of compliments on it when I went for my volunteer session at the satellite cat adoption center for the Erie County SPCA.

I get to hang out with these cool cats:

Corncob (top) and Paige (bottom)

My life is hard ;)

That's all for me...I'm off to watch some hockey (go Sabres!) and Parks and Rec.

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Hmmm, maybe that's an idea for some nail art?

However, I, unlike April, happen to love Ann Perkins.

over and out!

xo, ali

PS-don't forget to follow me, via bloglovin'! Just click the bloglovin' banner to the right, above my pretty picture :)

A new way to follow Dancing Phalanges

Good morning, lovely people!!

Just a quick post to let you know that there is a new way to follow my little piece of the blogosphere.

All you need to do is click here.
You can also click the Bloglovin' button over on the right sidebar.

I have one follower (Hi, Kerry!), and she needs some friends, so make sure you follow me and keep her company! :)

Have a great day!!

xo, ali

Well I mathin' suck.

Sorry, guys. 

Listen, I really want to get this blog off the ground but a few aspects of life got in the way.

Namely, family and health. I have an autoimmune thyroid disease and it mucks about with my energy levels. Some days I can go, go, go but most of the time, it's all I can do to go to work, go to the gym, come home, and paint my nails. 

With family-my older sister is getting married in May and my younger sister and I are co-maids of honor. And we are organizing a bridal shower with the two other bridesmaids. The shower is four days before Christmas. We are insane, basically. Also, my older brother was up for his last visit to Buffalo. Why his last visit? Because my parents, who have lived in Buffalo a very long time, are moving to Charlotte after my dad retires in January.

Yup. It's no wonder I want to spend the majority of my time in bed or hanging with a cat or two.

I'm trying. 

Today, though, I have four polishes for you. Four awesome polishes. They're not indies or laced with diamonds. But they are 

ADVENTURE TIME.

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Yassssss....ADVENTURE TIME (caps lock necessary)

I was so excited to find these on clearance at Hot Topic. I was even more excited when I found out that all clearance was BOGO and I was able to get all four polishes offered for about $6.

Ready? Let's go!

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Bubblegum Princess is up first.

BP is everything a princess should be--kind, smart, and pretty.

Bubblegum Princess is a blue-toned pink crelly (creme-jelly hybrid). This is three coats and no top coat, plus a huge ding in my ring finger. Oops.

I love pretty pink this is...that's the best word I can think to describe it. Just...pretty. Much like the princess, herself.

Oh, my glob, you guys. Next is:

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Lumpy Space Princess. I can sum her up in one word-sassy. She's a princess and she knows it.

This shows how pink-toned the polish is.

I love this. Again-three coats, no top coat. Crelly finish. Shiny. Almost a neon lavender. Smooth application, no streaks or bald spots. And I didn't ding my fingers on this one, either!

Then, we have the boys. 

First

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Jake, the dog. He has the tendency to creep my sister out because his limbs are so...flexible. 

He's a smooth talker, but faithful to his viola-playing lady, Lady Rainicorn.

Again, three coats, no top coat. Crelly finish.

Jake is a mustard yellow. Putting this one on, I was definitely making some sort of face. I'm not a yellow girl at all and I thought my nails looked like I dipped them in mustard. I'll definitely keep this in mind for some nail artz in the future.

And, last, but certainly not least, we have Jake's partner in crime...

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Finn is the one responsible for all of this nonsense. The land is in his imagination. And damn, is it awesome. He harbors a crush on Bubblegum Princess. Along with that, he's adventurous (duh, name of the show) and daring.

Three coats, no top coat

This one was suuuuuuuper hard to capture true to color. It's a bright blue crelly. It's not as saturated as Nails Inc. Baker Street or Sinful Colors Endless Blue but it's bright. Clearly, my iPhone 4S camera could not handle this jelly (hah!)

On the whole, this little collection was a nice little find. I'd love to see more Adventure Time polishes released for other characters like Bmo, Marceline, Ice King, and Tree Trunks. They could have a lot of fun with different finishes for those four.

I'm trying to get on a semi-regular schedule for posting to turn this into something that people can say, "oh, Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday/what-have-you. Dancing Phalanges post!"

I have some other swatches and NOTDs that just need some minor editing and they'll be ready to go--little posts, but at least it's something, right?

So, what would your dream Adventure Time collex look like? What characters would it include?

okay, guys. That will do it for me.

Thanks for reading!

xo, ali.