Blogger Friends Forever: City

For my second challenge day, I chose cities!!! When I came up with it, I though of doing New York City, but then I remembered my favorite city in the world!

When I studied abroad in Rome I didn't like it all that much. Until I went to the Vatican. I absolutely LOVED it! I want to live there. Swiss Guards actually live in the Vatican and their families can too, so my plan is to marry one. This, as well as their requirements for the job make them match up almost perfectly to my list of desired qualities in a spouse. To symbolize Vatican City I painted Pope John Paul II's papal crest (Totus Tuus!), the Vatican flag, a spiral representing the spiral staircase in the Vatican Museum (or any of the many spiral staircases leading up the cupola, and the Swiss Guards' stripes!

I couldn't find a decent key that faced the other way for the gold key :/ Otherwise, I think it turned out pretty well!

Check out these virtural tours to see parts of my favorite city!

St. Peter's Basilica

Sistine Chapel

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Movies

It's finally my week! I thought cities was first, so I had it all planned out with no ideas for movie yet, then realized I was wrong haha. So I had to think about what movie I wanted to do since there are tons that I love, but I finally picked one. Can you tell what it is?

It's The Sound of Music! I absolutely love this movie. It makes me happy just thinking about it. The thumb and ring finger go together as one image (shown below). It's the lovely green field Maria spins around in at the beginning with the mountains in the background. The index finger is music notes since music obviously plays a huge part of the movie. The middle finger is an abstract version of raindrops on roses. For the pinky I recreated the curtain outfits the children wear as play clothes. I really love how this came out and how it reminds me of the movie as I wear it :D

Polishes used: China Glaze Kinetic Candy, Elephant Walk, Sally Hansen Whirlwind White, L.A. Colors Circuits, Orly Emberstone, Essence Julia, China Glaze Starboard, Color Club Object of Envy, Zoya Pippa, Sinful Colors Athens. Plates used: Fauxnad M73 and Mash 43.

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Texture

Emma's second choice for her week was texture! I've done a caviar mani before, so I wanted to do something a little different. I though sugar might be cool, but knew I'd probably be sleeping with this manicure on and didn't want to invite anything to a fest while I was sleeping. Blech! So I did salt instead.

I dipped my nails in salt one by one after painting them with OPI Call Me Gwen-ever. As the pictures tell, I was kinda scared to do clean up because the salt didn't stick very well. I think this looks kinda cool, but isn't very flattering to my nub nails. It reminds me of sugared fruit. This didn't last very long because it kept catching in my hair and I wound up just rubbing them all off after a short time. It sure did spice Gwen up a little. She was kind of boring at first.

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Coffee

It's Emma's week! I had no idea what to do for coffee, so I looked on Google Images. I found some awesome cappuccino designs, so I decided to water marble.

I tried to replicate the cool designs, but my nails are far too short for any of the designs. I water marbled using China Glaze Mahogany Magic and Kalahari Kiss. I'm not exactly sure what's up with the middle nail, but it has some bubbles and a weird scratch or something. The pinky is by far my favorite :)

Today is all cool and rainy. These nails are perfect and make me want to go drinks lots and lots of coffee.

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Black & White

Today's challenge is Black & White. I was really excited about this one because I absolutely love black and white designs. I'd also been itching to try out this stamp!

I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. I found 3 bottles of this last night on clearance and I could not be more excited. It's great for stamping and covers really well. Then I stamped with L.A. Colors Circuits and BM 314.

This stamp and my polish was doing some wonky things. Definitely not one of my best stamps, but I'm still pretty satisfied with it :)

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Music

For once, I was going to do today's challenge mani the night before I had to. And then tragedy struck! 

I was too mad to be inspired to do anything. I've since trimmed them all down to nubbins :( Then I could not come up with anything I wanted to do. In the shower this morning Barbed Wire and Roses by Pin Monkey got stuck in my head and I remembered Bundle Monster plate BM 323.

I started with two coats of Orly It's Not Rocket Science, which is more gorgeous than I expected. Then I stamped with Sally Hansen Rapid Red and China Glaze Passion. I didn't think these colors would work super well together, but I think it turned out awesome!

My black and white mani is sloppy, so I'll be redoing it tomorrow :)

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friend Forever: Neon

Kerrie's second theme choice was neon! I love neons this summer so I was super stoked.

I alternated between Orly Fresh, which is bright but not quite neon, and Finger Paints Pop Art Purple. Then since I knew I was going to be swimming in the sun today, I decided to top it off with Jade Psicodelica because who doesn't love a holo? 

To summerfy it even more, I added hibiscus flowers with Bundle Monster BM 313 and Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. So much fun! I questioned the combination of the green and purple. Before I stamped it, it reminded me of Barney or the Joker, but the stamping really helped to tone that down.

Now it's pool time with my awesome summer nails!

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Animals

Today's theme is animals! I was really excited to this one because I love animals :) I chose my top five to use for this mani. Here's the ones I freehanded:

My favorite animals are #1 Dolphins #2 Otters #3 Ducks #4 Tigers and #5 Lions. I had lots and lots of trouble with the otter and the detail on the duck was a challenge. In the end, I still think they're pretty cute. The lion is by far my fave. He just looks adorable! What's your favorite animal?!

Materials used:

Dolphin: Revlon Royal, Blue Mosaic, Bundle Monster BM 320, Pure Ice Silver Mercedes.

Otter: China Glaze Elephant Walk and black acrylic paint.

Duck: Kleancolor Neon Aqua, Zoya Pippa, OPI In My Back Pocket, black acrylic paint.

Tiger: China Glaze Desert Sun, black acrylic paint.

Lion: China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, Desert Sun, Orly Buried Alive and black acrylic paint.

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: 80s

Here we go for 80s day! Since I was only a fetus when this decade closed, I don't have any personal experience with it. I did some google and referenced The Wedding Singer for some help and came up with checkers, neons and splatter.

Checkers remind me of the 80s. Probably because of The Wedding Singer and his sheets. You mean you don't remember his sheets?! Good, you're normal. I started with a base of Pure Ice white, then stamped with Cheeky CH3 and L.A. Colors Circuits. Then I used straws to splatter with China Glaze Hang Ten Toes, Surfin' for Boys, Sun Kissed, I'm With the Lifeguard, Splish Splash and Beach Cruise-r. I was completely satisfied with my splattering and then decided to do one last blow on my thumb because it needed more purple.

That was clearly a mistake.

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Punk

While I was really look forward to the last challenge, I was kinda dreading this one haha. While I am definitely a nerdy bookworm, I'm not really punk, so I had no idea what to do for this challenge. (That's why they're challenges, to push you out of your comfort zone!) I asked the ladies in my birthday group and they had some awesome ideas. One of the suggestions was chains and I had a stamp for that!

I stamped one chain along the tip and absolutely loved it! The original plan was silver and gold chains all over, but I loved the funky French look and stuck with it. I decided it was a more inspired-by mani than direct inspiration haha. Plus non-conformity, so there's that lol. While it's still not really my style, aren't these hot?! Materials used: Bundle Monster plate BM 15, L.A. Colors Circuits, China Glaze Passion.

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:

Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Book Cover

I was so excited for today's challenge! I wanted to do a book cover for so long and finally had an excuse to! I chose The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly because I love love love this cover. I saw it at Hastings and knew I had to add this book to my buy list.

I read this book two summers ago, so I can't remember exactly what it's about. I do remember that I thoroughly enjoyed it and that it has a lot of fairy tale elements to it. I'm definitely going to start rereading it after this :)

I started with four coats of Deborah Lippmann Footloose. I was not a happy camper. A polish has to be pretty special for me to be willing to do three coats, and damn near magical for four. This was neither. And then I got shrinkage! I tried to use a stamp to mimic the vines, but either my stamp or my stamping polish wouldn't work :( I finally gave up and freehanded with acrylic paint and a dotting tool. I also used plate LO01 for the keys. Since my stamping polish wasn't opaque enough, I went over it with acrylic paint and my dotting tool. I did the index nail first before I really knew what I was doing. I eventually got better and the ring and middle are my favorites. Despite all the issues I had, I'm still pretty satisfied with the end result :)

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:
Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)

Blogger Friends Forever: Striping Tape

It's striping tape day as suggest by Pram! I was kind of worried since I've only used striping tape once and I didn't really like it. But that mani I left the tape on the nail and this one I used it as a polish block and took it off. I'm much happier this time around.

I started with two coats of Jade Deja Vu (amazing!), then place striping tape in the pattern I wanted. Then I polished over that with Zoya Carly and took the tape off. It was kinda difficult applying it with my left hand, but it was still pretty easy and was a really quick manicure.

I love how these two look together. And I had to take a flash picture, of course, to show the awesome holo. If you're thinking about getting Jades, take the plunge and do it. They're sooo worth it!

Here are the fabulous bloggers participating in this challenge:
Thiamere of On Beauty Stuff & What Else's

Pram of My Nail Polish Addiction

Bec of Lacquer Dreams

Kerrie of PishPosh and Polish

Caitlin of Caitlin's Creative Corner

Emma of Manicurity

Alyssa of Fancy Phalanges

Sally Of Nail Pron

And here's what we have in store! (My week is August 23-25)