Wallpaper: Retro

Hey there! I'm trying to complete all of my January Nail Challenge Collaborative manicures. This month's theme is wallpaper. When the theme was announced, I definitely knew I'd be doing some stamping so I decided to kick off the month with some.

For this manicure, I started with three coats of Revlon Enchanting, which came out last spring as part of the Bubblegum Days/Urban Nights collection and has since been made a core shade. It's a lovely, creamy lavender with a hit of pink shimmer that is a little bit more prominent in the bottle than on the nail.

Once that dried, I used BM-404 from the 2013 Create Your Own set and OPI I Carol About you from the Gwen Stefani holiday collection. I Carol About You is a great dark grape shade of purple with red shimmer throughout, which you can see in the macro shot above. The more coats you use in a manicure, the deeper it gets. I love it. It's also great for stamping!

I really loved this manicure and I actually still have it on as I type. I'm taking it off tonight but it has really held up, since Monday night!

Be sure to check out what the other talented ladies are producing, below!

xo, ali

August NCC #2

*some items won or gifted*

Hey! Happy Sunday. Sorry I haven't been around this week. My parents are in town and I was maid of honor in my best friend's wedding, last night. I've had the mani done and photographed but tonight, I was able to sit down and edit pictures and chat with y'all.

As you know, this month's theme is Tea Party and it can be interpreted a lot of different ways. For this mani, I took inspiration from a vintage tea cup that I found on Etsy. After all, what's a tea party without the tea cups?

We'll start with the inspiration and the colors that I used.

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I fell in love with this 1940's cup from an English tea set. Look at those little strawberries!!

I used four colors in this mani:

I used Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt, Gridlock Lacquer Bucket List (Niagara Falls Collection), Avon Garden Green, and Color Club Mamba

I already had my nails painted with three coats of Gridlock Lacquer Bucket List from the Niagara Falls collection that was released this summer. It's a pretty, pale, yellow-toned gold shimmer. Next time, I might layer it over a pale creme to save on the polish.

I stamped with Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt, that I won from stuff I (s)watched's 3rd blogiversary giveaway (Thanks, Rach!). I used an image from Bundle Monster Create Your Own set-plate number BM-406. Once that was dry, I used Color Club Mamba and Avon Garden Green to freehand strawberries. Here's the finished product:

I'm way behind this month but thing's should be quieting down so I can get the last two mani's in before September creeps up. 

Be sure to check out what the other ladies did, below!

xo, ali

Tea for Two

Hello! It's me! The phantom blogger. I'm back with another installment of the Nail Challenge Collaborative. August's theme is Tea Party. I don't know about you but I didn't really play tea party that much as a kid. If you can believe it, I was a tomboy in my formative years. I loved hitting the ball with my dad, riding bikes, and swimming. Tea parties and Barbies were more of my younger sister's bag. However, once I grew up and started getting interested in boys, all that changed. And this theme definitely let me experience tea parties.

For my first mani, this month, I pulled inspiration from my "NCC Inspo" board on Pinterest (you can follow me here). The first picture that jumped out at me was this:

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Check out how I interpreted it in my skittlette:

For this mani, I really pulled inspiration from the tablecloth. After painting my base color of three coats of Pixi Luminous Lilac, a shimmery, pale, pink-toned lavender, I topcoated with a quick-drying topcoat and then pulled out my Bundle Monster Create Your Own stamping plates and chose BM-404 for my index and middle fingers. For my ring finger, I figured that ladies who had afternoon tea also kept songbirds so I used an image from BM-407. Everything was stamped with Color Club Pucci-Licious. For a little bling, because these ladies always wear their finest jewels, I used Sinful Colors Full Spectrum, a GORGEOUS, clear-based holographic microglitter with pale pink hexes.

Check out the macro shots:

I have been tossing around so many ideas for this theme and I definitely will be paying tribute to the craziest tea party of all-time ;)

Hopefully once the next couple weeks are over, I'll be able to get some swatches and more nail art up for you guys. I just received my package from Rach over at stuff i (s)watched for winning her 3rd blogiversary giveway. A package of six gorgeous polishes and the first season of Friday Night Lights. I was a happy girl!

Be sure to stop by the other parties, below!

until next time-ali

Springtime Skittlette

Happy Monday! That really seems like an oxymoron to me, but I survived the day and I'm here to bring you a quick skittlette I did last week, while watching Frozen for the first time.

Why were lil Elsa and Anna so darn cute?!

Anyways. I was having a crappy night, one night last week and my friend brought me a little cheer-up gift, including a new polish. Let's take a look at how I used it.

This is the gifted polish-Sinful Colors Out of Bounds. This polish came out last spring, but it's dead on for Pantone's Color of the Year 2014: Radiant Orchid.

I also busted out China Glaze Fancy Pants, which was part of last spring's Avant Garden collection. Fancy Pants is a purple creme with pink and blue shimmer running throughout.

I also used Kleancolor Kiss Goodbye which is a mix of pink, blue, and gold microglitters in a clear base. It's got the typical Kleancolor smell but it's such a pretty mixture.

 I tried my best to channel the queen of Skittlettes-Marta from ChitChat Nails. Just look at any one of her posts. She's a master.

I did two coats of Out of Bounds and top coated. Then I took BM-404 and stamped my index and middle fingers with Fancy Pants. Kiss Goodbye was applied in one coat each on my pinky and thumb. A fimo bow from a Forever 21 wheel finished off the look.

What do you think? If only this would bring spring to Buffalo, really and truly!

xo, ali

Pickin' Wildflowers

Good evening! I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was a three-day weekend and it was spent on a wine tour, spending time with my sister, and saying goodbye to my parents. They moved to North Carolina today because my dad retired. I'm very happy for them to be able to start this chapter of their lives but I already miss them like crazy!

Part of this weekend was also spent getting a "professional" manicure. I use that term very loosely. I've had great manicures in the past and I even fell victim to the glamorous lure of acrylic nails. But, this weekend was, quite possibly, the worst manicure experience I've had. As you know, I rock square nails, or as square as I can make them. As you'll see below, they are now round. I actually had to request the manicurist to use a basecoat before she polished. I had to do clean-up when I got home.

I guess this is the catch-22 of being a nail polish addict. I may not be a licensed nail tech but I've become pretty picky over the years about my nail care routine and how my nails are painted. I know that this tech is just trying to do her job and doesn't bank on getting girls like me in her chair but your professionalism and customer service can go a long way!

/rant.

Thanks for letting me get that out of my system. Let's get to the real reason you're here.

After my professional mani (OPI Cajun Shrimp) chipped the day after, I decided to do my own manicure.

I used three coats of Revlon Parfumerie Apricot Nectar and stamped with Color Club Wildflowers

I had a really hard time getting this to be color accurate and it was super-frustrating.  I need to get a different set up for my pictures and lighting. The most accurate color of Apricot Nectar would be the bottle shots. It's a pink toned orange and reminds me of orange Creamsicles. Wildflowers is a pink-toned red that stamped really well. Of course, I was also using a Bundle Monster plate, so that helped a little bit ;)

I can't wait to use Wildflowers as a full mani.

That's all from me, tonight. See you on Thursday for GOT!!

xo, ali

Sweets for the Sweet

Happy Tuesday and Happy February! I can't believe it's February, already. But you know what that means! Valentine's Day nail art. Last year, I only had time to do one Valentine's Day mani but I have a few ideas, this year.

Let's take a look!

 Right hand.

Left hand.

For this conversation heart skittle, I used:

Thumb-Revlon Jaded

Index-Revlon Sunshine Sparkle

Middle-Revlon Cafe Pink

Ring-OPI You're Such a Buda-pest

Pinky-Color Club Evolution

Three coats of each and stamped with Kleancolor Metallic Pink and Bundle Monster 421 and 425.

I am absolutely "in love" with this manicure (hee hee hee) and I can't wait to do a few more.

I'll be back Thursday with another GOT installment. See you then!

xo, ali

Suzi and Dorien-A Blizzard Adventure

Hey, hey! I'm coming to you, live from my living room, as I begin my second straight day of being stuck indoors. The Blizzard of 2014 is "over"in the Buffalo area and now we start digging out. The driving bans are lifted and the expressways and thruways are open but the roads are a MESS. And I'm the worst winter driver.

I took this opportunity to do something creative with my nails, because I had a great block of time.

I started with two coats of OPI Suzi and the Seven Dusseldorfs on my thumb, index, middle, and pinky and two coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dorien Gray.

Suzi and the Seven Dusseldorfs is from the Germany collection that was released in Fall 2012. She's a gooooorgeous red-toned purple shimmer that covered well in two coats. 

Dorien Gray is a milky cement gray that I picked up in a CSM five-pack from Big Lots, last year. This covered decently in two coats but if I were wearing this as a regular manicure, I'd definitely use three coats to cover up any patchiness. I figured since I'd be stamping over, it would be okay.

I did all the base work in the afternoon and topped it with NYC Grand Central Station. Then I did what you should do on a snow day--take a nap! 

Later in the evening, I got out my stamping plates and picked BM-410 from the 2013 Create Your Own collection and stamped using Suzi and the Seven Dusseldorfs

(I don't know what is with the coloring on this one...)

I can't tell if these are fish bones or arrows but I really like this pattern. Suzi stamped so well! I was really happy with how the design came out. Of course, the awesome quality of the BM plates contributed to this, as well.

I top coated with OPI top coat, and, using a dot of top coat and a dotting tool, placed a rhinestone at the base. The rhinestones are from Bundle Monster as well and I think that it added a little something extra to the mani.

I'm really proud of this manicure and my nubbins are coming along, quite nicely, I think.

Did you get snowed in? Or are you guys popsicles? How are you staying warm?

I'll be wrapped up on my couch with 

Tim Riggins--hubba hubba!

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xo, ali

Bundle Monster Strikes Again!

Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a great weekend and are getting ready for Christmas. We got dumped on by the dreaded lake effect snow, over the weekend, and it just doesn't seem to stop snowing! I'd like one morning where I don't have to clear my car off before work!

Tonight, I have a quick stamping mani that I put together last week.

I started with base coat and three coats of Color Club Lavendarling, from the Blossoming collection that came out in Spring 2012. 

Man, my pinky has other plans than to line up right!

Anyways.

Lavendarling is a dusty purple cream, almost a grape purple. The first two coats were riddled with streaks and bald spots but once I calmed down and slowed down, the third coat evened everything out. After top coating, I used Sephora by OPI Just A Little Dangerous and BM 408 from the 2013 Create Your Own plate collection.

SOPI Just A Little Dangerous is a gorgeous red-toned dark purple, shot through with purple shimmer.

I picked it up from Sephora when all of their in-house OPI polishes were on clearance to make way for the new Sephora X Polish line.

This polish stamped insanely well! Any bald spots in the stamp are from user error. I just can't say enough good things about this collection of stamping plates from Bundle Monster. The designs are so unique and etched to the perfect depth. I love how this pattern mimics a crazy glitter-bomb that have been put out by a lot of indie polish creators this year. Removal was much easier, too ;)

Did you pick up any polishes from Sephora's epic polish clearance? What's been your favorite polish-related release of the past year? I'd love to hear about it, in the comments!

Until next time!

xo, ali.

She's always buzzin just like neon, neon

Good evening, lovelies!

I have a super-duper quick post for you tonight. This was for the Facebook group, Adventures in Stamping. I recently joined the group and followed their theme of a jelly sandwich with stamping. 

For this mani, I did base coat followed by two coats of Wet N Wild Wild Shine Vengeful Bride, which was out around Halloween times. I picked it up for .99 with two other colors from the collection.

After top coating with my trusty Beauty Plus Salon quick-dry, I stamped using an H&M white polish and Bundle Monster plate 409 from the CYO 2013 collection. More top coat and another coat of Vengeful Bride and a final layer of top coat completed the mani. 

I loved how bright this was. Perfect to perk up these December days in Buffalo. Despite this being a neon, this is pretty color accurate but it does dry to a satin/matte finish so top coat is needed to give it a shiny finish.

What do you think? I'd love to hear what you have to say!

xo, ali.

Dancing Phalanges! Dancing Phalanges!

I know it's been damn near two weeks since I updated and I'm so sorry. I don't have excuses. I just have a polish and a mani that I'm REALLY excited about.
If you're a Bones fan, you know where my blog title comes from. If not, here:

Bones is definitely my favorite show so I was THRILLED when I saw that  Girly Bits' Fall Sesaon Premiere Collection included three polishes inspired by Bones.  I was even more excited when one of those polishes was called Dancing Phalanges!! Pam describes Dancing Phalanges as a "raspberry pink glass fleck shimmer." And it's gorgeous. I'm sorry, but my pictures do not do it justice. Let's take a look!

As soon as I got this in the mail, I put it on. And so did my sister. I could not stop staring at it. I don't even know how to put into words how pretty this is. Juicy, bright, pink. It's perfect. This is my first indie polish and I couldn't be happier with it. This is three coats as it does start out quite sheer. It builds up opacity very nicely and this wore well, also. I had this on for at least three days before I broke down and removed it.

I also had gotten in the new Bundle Monster Create Your Own stamping plates so I added a little something extra.

I stamped using BM-416 and Wet N Wild Black Creme.

This is gorgeous. Girly Bits' polishes are absolutely gorgeous! But don't take my word for it. You can purchase them from her website. Pam offers not only pretty polishes but frankening supplies and nail care. Full size (15 mL) retails for 11.50 and she's offering free shipping in the US and Canada, right now. You can't go wrong!!

What do you think? Do you have a favorite Girly Bits polish? I'd love to hear from you!

See you soon!

--ali