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.

[source]

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

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

NCC Black & White-Week Four

Hey! Happy Monday (that's actually an oxymoron).
I have my final Nail Challenge Collaborative post for the month of June, tonight. Nothing like going down to the wire!!

For this cute kitty, I started with two coats of Zoya Storm on all fingers but my ring finger. That one took two coats of NYC French White Creme. I topcoated everything and waited a few minutes. Once it was dry, I took Wet N Wild Black Creme and drew my kitty friend. I started with a half-circle outline, filled it, added triangles for ears and added detail using Color Club Flamingo for the ears and nose, and French White Creme, Icing Get Lei'd, and Black Creme for the eyes. I let it all dry and topcoated once again. It was super easy and I'll definitely be doing this again for Halloween :)

I took the top two pictures in indirect sunlight, so below is Storm in full sun so you can see all the holo-y goodness.

I'm really proud of myself for doing all four manicures. I really want to impress the girls in this group-I look up to them all so much and have been reading their blogs for a long time. I can't wait to work on next month's theme!!

Be sure to check out the grand finales from the other NCC ladies, below!

xo, ali

The Nail Challenge Collaborative-Black and White #1

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. I know I did :) Saturday was my busy day-my dude BFF from this post came to visit and we went hiking. We got lost in the woods, but we made it out without snapping or yelling at each other, even once. After he left, I went to my other best friend's birthday party for a bonfire and some snacks. I was happy to be lazy on Sunday, have a Google+ hangout with my mom and play with some legos.

I also did a manicure for June's theme of the Nail Challenge Collaborative, which I was just accepted into. That was a very exciting day for me. I am in some amazingly talented company and I definitely have my work cut out for me. I'm really hoping that this will help me to hone my nail art skills and step out of my comfort zone.

For this mani, I started with two careful coats of NYC French White Tip and topped it with my quick dry Beauty Plus Salon. Once the white dried, I took washi tape and placed it at a diagonal. Then I used Color Club Revvvolution, which is a gorgeous black, linear holo. The finishing touch was a few dots of contrasting color on each side of the diagonal. More top coat and it was a done deal.

I really hope you all liked my very first NCC mani. I have lots of ideas for the remaining three manicures and I absolutely can't wait to see what each month brings.

Let me know what you thought in the comments and be sure to check out what the other NCC ladies did for their first mani of the month!

xo, ali

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

Nail Fail: Color Club Ms. Hautie

Happy Wednesday! Hope it finds you warm. It's not here, that's for sure. The calendar says spring but the temperature says mid-January, and I'm NOT happy! All it makes me want to do is curl up and watch TV.
But you're not here to listen to me whine about the weather. You're here for the polish!

I don't know if you know this but I put myself on a polish no-buy for Lent (unfamiliar with Lent? Here's a quick lesson.). Here's where I let my Roman-Catholic upbringing and practices show. My wonderful mother informed me that yesterday was the Solemnity of the Annunciation, which, according to the Bible, is when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she was with child. It's supposed to be a day of celebration and it's the one freebie you have for all of Lent. So, I bought some polish. Tonight, I'm going to show you one that I picked up yesterday--Color Club Ms. Hautie.

I wanted to use a few bottle shots because the polish in the bottle is absolutely stunning! It's a grayed out silver with holo micro-glitters and a pink iridescent flash. I was so excited to put this on my nails. 

But, as you can see, the glitters were a problem. Instead of translating onto the nail, the glitters left the manicure a bumpy mess :( 

Plus, the pink iridescent shimmer didn't come across on the nail.

Sad panda.

I mean, just look at the polish in the bottle!! I WISH it looked that great on my nails. 

I usually have such luck with Color Club polishes. Their holos are great, as are their shimmers but this was a definite miss for me. Good thing Color Clubs were buy one, get two free at my local beauty supply. They're clearing out old stock to make way for the newly branded and redesigned bottles. My Color Club collection has grown a little bit since I discovered that sale ;)

What do you think? Can this polish be saved? Love to hear about it!

xo, ali

Color Club Wildflower

Happy Tuesday! Hope you're all doing well in these last few days of winter! I just returned from a quick, weekend trip to Charlotte, NC for a bridal shower thrown in my sister's honor. What a great trip! It was the perfect weather for the shower and girl's night out on Saturday. Sunday was rainy and a bit chilly but it was cozy in my parents' new apartment with my whole family hanging out :)

I have a swatch post for y'all tonight of a color that screams spring for me. Check it out!

This is two coats of Color Club Wildflower, from their core collection. 

This is two coats and Color Club 0-60 top coat. 

Wildflower is a GORGEOUS, deep red-toned pink that is just so bright and cheery. I absolutely love it and will be wearing it again very very soon.

It's pigmented very well and is great as a stamping polish. I used it here with Bundle Monster plates and I think I'll be using it to stamp on my current mani :)

What's been your favorite polish for Spring? I'd love to know!

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

Wearing My Heart On My Nails

Hey Y'all! Happy Friday! We made it!

And Happy Valentine's day :) I'm spending it by going to the gym and hanging out with my sister, watching My Bloody Valentine.

Basically, Jensen Ackles is my Valentine and he just doesn't know it.

Yasssss. I can't wait. It's become a tradition. This movie was my gateway to slasher films.

I've done a few heart and Valentine's Day theme manicure this year and you've seen them on the ol' blog. Today I have one more for you.

Fluorescent Light

Flash

This is three coats of Sally Hansen Triple Shine in Slick Black. Slick Black is a black jelly stuffed with iridescent flakies that reflect in shades of aqua and pink. It's got a lot more dimension than just a flat black and I love that. It's a staple but with a bit more oomph.

Slick Black went on really smooth but needed the three coats to build up opacity. This is one of the two Triple Shines that I currently have and I can't wait to try more!

For the accent nail, I took Color Club Age of Aqua-rius and made three dots. All you do is connect the dots! I thought this was simple and cute. Plus I love the color scheme!

That's all for me!

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