Deck the Nails!

Happy Monday! I'm finding it hard to believe that it's December, already! With a new month, comes a new Nail Challenge Collaborative theme and this month's theme is dots! Lots of possibilities!

I decided to kick off this month with a holiday design, using gold, green, and red.

Flash

Overcast daylight

I used two coats of OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and topcoated it for shine and to enhance the shimmer in it. Then, I took my large dotting tool and dotted NY&Co Inverness and China Glaze Just Be-Claws from last year's holiday collection. A little bit more top coat and you've got a festive manicure!

Be sure to check out the other ladies and their first December manicures, below!

xo, ali

The Great Gatsby

Hello! November! It's flying by and I just spent the last week, digging out of 5 feet of snow! I live in Buffalo, as I've mentioned before, and we got SLAMMED, starting Monday night. Luckily, it's moved out of the area because my parents are getting ready to come up and visit, this week, for Thanksgiving!

This afternoon I have my first installment of November's Nail Challenge Collaborative theme: Inspired by Books! I'm kicking off this series of four with my favorite book-the Great Gatsby.

For this manicure, I took my inspiration from a symbolic object in the book and movie-the run-down, distressed billboard of Dr. TJ Eckleburg.

For this manicure, I started with a base of China Glaze Sea Spray, a shimmery, dusty blue. Then I sponged on Zoya Kelly and gilded the tips with Elf Pot of Gold from the Disney Villains polish cube. The rim of the glasses was done with Nailtini Champagne with Kelly and Sea Spray for the eyes.

I was really proud of this manicure. I think I translated Eckleburg's eyes onto my nails well, even if no one knew what it was. That was also one of my favorite parts of the manicure. From far away, it was a mash of subdued neutrals and gilded metals but you could see the detail up close!

Be sure to check out the first volume that the other ladies chose!

xo, ali

Striped Angles

I am a terrible blogger. I didn't finish my posts for October's Nail Challenge Collaborative :( I am rallying, though and I have my last two October manicures AND November's first manicure, this week.

We'll start with a quick stamped manicure. I used three coats of Essie Too Taboo and stamped using Konad plate m95 and China Glaze Queen B.

(this is the most color accurate)

I love stamping manicures because they are such an easy way to jazz up a plain manicure :)

August NCC #3-Dressing the Part

Hey! Happy Thursday! It's been a gorgeous week, here in Buffalo, perfect for my summer wardrobe, including lots of cute dresses. Today's mani for the August Nail Challenge Collaborative Theme is inspired by a dress that I wore to work this week and I thought it was perfect for a summer tea party.

I also branched out and tried a new technique today--the dry brush, or distressed, technique, made famous by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails. You can check out her tutorial here. I just left off the swipes of black nail polish.

For this mani, I started with a base of Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt, which is one of the best whites I've tried. I topcoated with a quick dry topcoat and once it was dry, I got my colors and went to work. I started with swipes of Essie Chinchilly, a gray-toned taupe. After Chinchilly came swipes of China Glaze Dance Baby, a cool, cotton candy pink. These two were followed by China Glaze For Audrey, a light robin's egg blue (or the color of those famous little blue boxes), and China Glaze Designer Satin, a vibrant magenta. I topcoated the whole thing once more. I was surprised at how little time this took. I was able to do the look from start to finish during an episode of Full  House (the one where DJ goes to see Uncle Jesse's band play because she's dating the guitarist).

What do you guys think? I got a few compliments on this at work and one co-worker said it reminded him of candy  :)
Make sure to check out what the other ladies turned out!

NCC Re-Creation #3

Hey y'all! I'm really cutting it close with my NCC manis this month, but I've been incredibly busy! Four concerts in one month was crazy! I've never done anything like that before. I'll be doing a post with three of the concert manis I did. The only one I didn't do a mani for was Phillip Phillips.

Anyways. Tonight, I'm sharing with you my third re-creation and I re-did this manicure:

I really liked the idea of this manicure so I changed it up with some lighter colors.

You guys get to see my Cinderella hand, tonight. It actually turned out better than my left hand.

For this girly manicure, I started with three coats of Color Club Sugar Baby, which is a cream jelly with iridescent shimmer. Then I laid down striping tape on 4 out of 5 fingers and painted a generous coat of Victoria's Secret Troublemaker, a bright fuchsia with gold flecks. For my accent nail, I dotted on Troublemaker, highlighted with China Glaze Dance Baby, and did leaves with Avon Garden Green. It's all sealed with Beauty Plus Salon top coat.

I really loved the color scheme with this one. It was a lot less in yo' face than my first attempt. What do you think?

Don't forget to check out manicure numero tres from the other NCC ladies!!

xo, ali

Nail Challenge Collaborative-Recreations

Hey there, everyone! We're back with another installment of the Nail Challenge Collaborative. July's theme is "recreate your first four nail art manicures." Kind of wordy, yes, but it's a great way to see how far we've all come!! Let's look at my first manicure for the month.

The manicure I'm recreating is this one:

You can read the original post from November 2013 here.

And now, 6 months later

I Summer-ized this look with some bright shades of coral. The base is three coats of China Glaze Flip-Flop Fantasy (old formula). I laid down scotch tape for the points and striping tape for the lines and painted over it with OPI A Definite Moust-Have.

I took other pictures of this manicure but I just could not get them to be color accurate. My lines are a lot cleaner this time around; I definitely took my time and it shows.

Be sure to check out what the other girls did for their first manicure of the month!

xo, ali

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The Never-Ending Pile Challenge: As Many As You Can

Hi! Just a quick post for you guys tonight, from my parents' couch in Charlotte. I'm having a great time here; the weather has been perfect!

The theme for May 2nd was As Many As You Can and I figured there is no better way to get in a ton of untrieds than by doing a Waterfall mani, as made famous by Sammy from the Nailasaurus. You can find her easy-to-follow tutorial here.

I used Revlon Gray Suede for my base. It is nude polish with subtle silver shimmer running through it. It's great alone, as a palate cleanser, and quite work appropriate.

To create the waterfall mani, I used China Glaze Immortal as the gray, Revlon Brilliant Strength Beguile for the dark blue, and Color Club Catwalk Queen for the vampy purple. All three of these colors are shimmery beauties that are better suited for late November, rather than early May, but I still love how this turned out. I felt sophisticated, rocking this nail art at work. 

I don't think it turned out too bad for my first try at a waterfall. They are pretty straight-forward to do but take a little practice to get used to the brushstroke. 

What do you think?

Be sure to check out what the other Pirates used for this theme. I know some got as many as 15 or 20 untrieds in!

xo, ali

The Never-Ending Pile Challenge!

Happy Wednesday! Tonight, I'm participating in a new challenge devised by Missy, the mastermind behind Gnarly Gnails, which is one of my favorite blogs. It's called:

I'm late to this party and missed the first prompt but I'm jumping in with tonight's prompt-pastel!

I chose to use China Glaze's Keep Calm, Paint On from the Spring 2013 Avant Garden collection (yes, again). Let's check it out!

The bottle shot shows off  the pearly sheen that this dusty mint green has running through it.

This is three coats, because after two, it was still streaky and a bit patchy. This wore really well on me with only minor tip wear and chipping after about two days.

I'm already thinking of the polishes that I can use for the next prompts!!

xo, 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

Sparkling Mimosas

Happy Tuesday! Just a quick swatch post for your viewing pleasure, tonight. From the "vault," which is very tiny. We've got two polishes from China Glaze.

This is three coats of China Glaze Mimosas Before Mani's from Spring 2013's Avant Garden collection. MBM is an orange-toned coral with a golden shimmer all throughout it. Application on this one was streaky and uneven. It definitely needed the three coats to even it out. This is shown with flash to display the true color.

To add a little sparkle, I added one coat of China Glaze Glitter Goblin, from the Halloween Collection that came out in 2012. I won this in a giveaway from the amazingly talented and sweet Heather at Peace, Love, and Polish.

Glitter Goblin is a mixture of silver holo and orange micro-glitters suspended in a clear base and is a a really fun, festive way to add some glitz and sparkle to a mani :)

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts!!

xo, ali

China Glaze Designer Satin

Happy Wednesday, y'all! I just have a quick swatch for you guys tonight. I hope you like it :)

This is China Glaze Designer Satin and part of their core collection.

-Two coats, no base or top coat.

Designer Satin is a rich berry-toned pink, perfect for Valentine's Day. While this was a little thin/runny and suffered from a bit of cuticle pooling, it covered well in two coats. This is definitely a go-to when I want a bright pink.

What do you think?

I'll be back tomorrow with another GOT installment!

xo, ali

GOT Challenge: Green

Hello, and happy Thursday! We're almost to the weekend and I can't wait!

It's Thursday so you know that it means Golden Oldie Thursday. This week's theme was green. Green and I have always had a weird relationship. I've never had a lot of greens in my stash. It just wasn't a color that I thought of when I thought nail polish. Then I started giving it a try and I've built up a nice catalogue of greens.

Tonight, I'll be sharing with you China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard from their Summer 2012 Neons collection. This collection was amazing. They weren't just straight, matte neons. Most of them had a vein of shimmer running through them, perfectly.

Let's take a look!

 Three coats with top coat. Flash photo.

Indirect light

Indirect light.

I'm With the Lifeguard is a neon lime green with shimmer throughout. It does dry down to a matte/satin finish, but that's because it's a neon. Topcoat will shine this bad boy right up.

This is in your face green and definitely not for the faint of heart.  That's why it's perfect for me ;)

Are there colors you've shied away from in the past? Everyone's got at least one!

Oh, and be sure to check out what the other ladies have dreamt up for this week's challenge!

xo, ali

GOT Challenge: Stripes

Gooooood evening loves! I hope that you are all doing well, tonight. I'm back with another installment of The Crumpet's Golden Oldie Thursday polish challenge! The theme this week was Stripes and I used it to branch out my nail art into something that I've never tried before and I think it turned out pretty good. Let's take a look at the process!

I started with three coats of Sally Hansen CSM in Mousseline, which is a light and airy ecru. I love the name of this polish because of my slight obsession with Marie Antoinette. Mousseline was the nickname given to her oldest daughter, Marie Thérèse.

[source]

*ahem* I've put my inner history nerd back into her cage.

This was such a good palate cleanser after the neon/holo mani I was sporting last week. It would also be a great base for lots of different glitter toppers.

Mousseline was sandwiched between Orly Nail Armor and NYC Grand Central Station.

I let this dry overnight and after my Saturday morning coffee, I got to work.

On all nails, except my ring finger on each hand, I put three pieces of striping tape and painted over them with one thick coat of China Glaze Snap My Dragon from last spring's Avant Garden collection. This was one of my favorite polishes that came out last year. It's such a gorgeous, saturated pinky red, shot through with pink shimmer.

On my ring fingers, I took a large dotting tool and dotted Snap My Dragon around. Then, I mixed Mousseline with Snap MY Dragon, and using a tiny detail brush, added some highlights. For the leaves, I used Avon Nailwear Pro+ in Garden Green, which is a leafy green with a silvery-blue shimmer.

I used the Nailasaurus' tutorial to make my little roses and, while they didn't turn out as perfect as hers are, I still think I hit the mark pretty well with these!

Have you been trying any new nail art techniques? I'd love to hear about it! And be sure to check out what the other lovely ladies have done for this week's theme!

xo, ali