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!

St. Patrick's Day, 2.0

Hey! Happy Wednesday from the midst of a blizzard! It's finally winding down, here in Buffalo, but it's been a long day. Started with little to no snow for my morning drive and it just started coming down. And blowing around. And they let us out of work at 11 am. I love adult snow days!

I've got another quick St. Patrick's Day manicure tonight, featuring the colors of the Emerald Isle's flag.t

I used two coats of  Essie First Timer from their Spring 2013 Resort Collection. This is a really pretty pale grass green creme. I was able to get even coverage in two coats. I know that sometimes Essie can have iffy formulas but I didn't have any problems with this one. The only thing I'd advise about is that if you go over the same spot more than once, it will drag a little bit. I really love how bright and happy this color is...it's perfect for spring.

Once I topcoated, I took bright orange studs from a wheel that I picked up at Forever 21 and stuck them on. I used Beauty Plus Salon topcoat once again to seal everything in.

What do you think? Is this something you'd try for your own St. Patrick's Day manicure? Do you have any special St. Patrick's Day traditions? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!!

xo, ali

The Crumpet's GOT challenge!

Good evening!

Tonight, I have a post that I'm really excited about. I'm participating in The Crumpet's Golden Oldie Challenge.

Basically the rules for this challenge are that the polish has to be at least a year old.

Easy-peasy.

Debbie is an amazing nail blogger. She always has great swatches, great stamping, and great nail art. I love reading her blog and I check it every day to see what she's posted.

This is the first challenge that I've decided to particpate in. I like that it's once a week and that it will force me to use some of my older polishes.

Today's prompt is Pink! Pink is one of my favorite colors and I know that I have tons and tons of different pinks in my stash but there was one that I really wanted to showcase tonight. And that's my first Essie polish!

For today's mani, I did three coats of Essie Pink Parka and an accent of two coats Color Club Harp On It.

Pink Parka came out as part of the Fall 2009 collection. I picked it up as part of a Halloween costume, last minute. I was a "scene kid."

It's a neon so there are some usuals that come along with it--streaky and dries matte. It took three coats to even it out and it's topped with NYC Grand Central Station to give it some shine.

I'm really looking forward to participating in this challenge and seeing what all the other talented ladies will come up with!

xo, ali

Baby, You're My Better Half

Well, hello! I know I've been a stranger but things have been NUTS over here at Casa de Phalanges. It feels like this weekend is the first chance I've had to breathe since the last time we got together.

Over the past two weeks, I've helped to put on a bridal shower for my older sister, celebrated Christmas, went to multiple family parties, and rang in the new year with my best friend. I'll share some quick snaps from all that at the end of the post.

Tonight, I'm going to share with you an Essie mini that I picked up just before Christmas. 

This is My Better Half from the Summer 2013 Bridal Collection that came out.

This is a sweet and simple pink-toned lavender that is shot through with a pearly purple shimmer. It applied really smoothly and I believe this is three coats with Orly Nail Armor base coat and Beauty Plus top coat. 

It was just a very simple, girly manicure and a great palate cleanser, as I wore this after the nail art I shared in my last post.

And before I go, I wanted to share a few peeks at the bridal shower I helped put on!

The shower theme was...

[source]

which is one of my all-time favorite movies.

So of course, I had to do my nails to match

What else could I use, other than China Glaze For Audrey? I did a Tiffany box as an accent nail using pearly white from my Migi Nail Art pen set.

(my phone case matched too..hee hee)

This is my younger sister, Ashley (upper left), myself, and our older sister, Aimee.

The bridal party girls!

It was such a fun shower and the food was delicious. It was great to honor my sister and spend time with family that I don't get to see that often!

What did you girls do to celebrate the holidays? Get any polish goodies for Christmas?

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and celebrated a happy New Year!!

xo, ali