Pink with a Metallic Accent

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! I have another manicure to show you for Monkey See, Monkey Do. Its a nail challenge where we take inspiration from or recreate a mani done by someone else. Anything you see on blogs, Facebook, Pinterest, or anywhere else online. 

This was inspired by an image on Pinterest. I could not find who did this pairing to give them proper credit. I just love the pink and silver. For my pink, I did three thin coats of No6 Bright Young Thing, a medium pink creme. For my silver accent, I used two coats of Wet n Wild Silvivor, a bright silver metallic. It almost has a foil finish to it, but leans a little more toward metallic. Both of these polishes have great application.

No6 retail for $3 at Payless (though I'm not sure how many still carry the brand). Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website.

If you are interested in other blogs doing the MSMD challenge, there are several talented ladies participating. :)

Debbie http://thecrumpet.blogspot.co.uk
Missy http://gnarlygnails.blogspot.com
Melissa http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/
Laurie http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.com/
Layka http://www.kawaiinize.es
Elizabeth http://nailpolishismycrack.blogspot.com/
Kristin http://www.manicuredmonkey.com
Erin http://erinsbeautybumbles.blogspot.com
Nayade at Toxic Vanity - http://www.toxicvanity.com
Jenn at Polish Crazed http://www.polishcrazed.blogspot.ca/
Jen http://jenspaintedtips.blogspot.com/
Amber www.amberdidit.com
Cristina http://theclockwisenailpolish.blogspot.pt/
Kirsten - http://geekyowl.blogspot.com/
Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges - http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/
Amber http://nevernakednails.blogspot.com
Emily Esqueleta: http://macabremanicures.blogspot.com/
Misha www.enigmatic-rambles.blogspot.com
Carrie http://lesamowen.blogspot.com/
Basia (or Bazzia) http://polishmymind.blogspot.com/
Helena www.nailwish.blogspot.com
Ana Cris http://www.estacerradaladrogueria.blogspot.com.es/
Kim www.apolishedaddiction.blogspot.com
Emma http://manicurity.blogspot.com/
arlene http://euzefelus27-nailart.blogspot.com
Gwenn http://www.sugar-nails.com
Ney "Neivys" http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.com/
Ana http://cherriessweets.blogspot.com.es
Isabel http://isaspinods.blogspot.com/
Stella http://mywetnails.blogspot.com

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 1 - Think PINK

Today is the very first day of the Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge. Several lovely bloggers are participating, so you'll have plenty of girly manicures to look at.

This challenge lasts a month and includes eight different days of nail art. Instead of trying to keep up with a new nail design each day, we have two each week. Day One is Think PINK: Wear your favorite pink polish and nail art.

Picking just one pink polish as my favorite is hard. But I went with the shade that's been my favorite for several years. No6 Party Punch. I also used Wet n Wild Tickled Pink. Who doesn't love baby and hot pink? I painted three thin coats of Party Punch on all of my fingers except for my middle finger, which I painted with three thin coats of Tickled Pink. I used a dotting tool on my index finger and a striping brush on my pinky, both with Tickled Pink. I think its a fun and very pink design.

Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. No6 retail for $3 at Payless (though I'm not sure how many still carry the brand.)

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amanda of Nox Nails
Amanda of Berry Polished
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly

Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll
Elly of Polishable

Emily of TheLacquerologist

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Jess of LuvMyLacquer

Jodi of CaptivatingClaws

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Kate of This Charming Kate

Kelly of Devilish Polish

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Stephanie of A Little Polish
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

Breast Cancer Awareness & New Polish

I have so much to talk about! First of all, its Monday. Which means PAA's Monday Nail Art Challenge. This week was Breast Cancer Awareness. I'm already big into raising awareness so the theme was perfect, and gave me a chance to use my new pink ribbon nail tattoos.

On all of my fingers except for my ring finger, I used two coats of No6 Pretty Young Thing. I love this polish and color so much, but I do not think you can find them anymore. I've searched high and low. If you find any, definitely pick it up; its worth owning. On my ring fingers, I used two coats of Love My Nails Innocent Pink then placed on one pink ribbon tattoo per nail. The ribbons were a little difficult to get on, they wanted to stick to the plastic covering instead of the paper, but I managed. 

I also still have my toes pink for breast cancer awareness. As I did before, I promise not to torture you with my toes. I have a swatch on my nail wheel of the polishes my toes have. A coat of a Bon Bons pink with Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter on top.

I cannot seem to stop buying polish lately, so I have some new ones to show (that do not include the collection coming by mail).

Top from left to right: Salon Perfect Cracked Silver, Sally Hansen Plum Power, Revlon Blue Mosaic, and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. Bottom from left to right: Pure Ice Iced Merlot, Sally Hansen Cherry Smash, and Pure Ice Cheatin.

The pictures are very color accurate for all except for the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears. Plum Power is a deeper purple and very much plum. Pacific Blue reminds of the Cornflower blue crayon from Crayola.

I know everyone has probably seen Blue Mosaic a million times along with its two glitter companions from this Fall's Revlon collection. But its so pretty, its worth another look. I snagged a Facets of Fuchsia awhile back, but this polish was no where to be found until today. I just love the green glitter thrown in the blue. Makes it a unique polish.

When I saw the Salon Perfect Cracked Silver, I was a little hesitant. I had never heard of Salon Perfect before, but I could not pass up a three dollar crackle. Once I got home, I googled them and realized I had heard of SP, but did not make the connection because they mainly sell false eyelashes. I could not find a thing online about their crackles. But I was optimistic. So I got out my nail wheel and swatched. I layered it over Sinful Colors Black on Black and No6 Party Punch. It looks so much better over dark colors, in my opinion. Even limiting it to wear over darker shades, its still a steal for only three dollars. If anyone is interested, I found mine at Walmart. They had several colors of crackles, along with the silver.

Two more bits of news, then I promise my long post is over. :) I reached 50 followers today. YAY! To thank you all for reading, commenting, and following, I will be putting together a giveaway this weekend. I hope it'll be something everyone can enjoy!

My last bit of news is that I wanted to share my happiness over winning part of Shadow Nail Art's 1 Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway. I'm very excited. I love giveaways, even when I don't win. Its so nice to see how giving this community of bloggers is. To host giveaways for their follows.

Patchwork Nails

This week's Monday Nail Art Challenge on Polish-aholics Anonymous is Patchwork. Its an interesting idea for a nail design. I did not have time for an entire patchwork manicure, so I did accent nails on my ring fingers.

For my patchwork accent nails, I used Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, Sally Girl Surf's Up, No6 Party Punch, and Sinful Colors Black on Black. On the rest of my nails, I used No6 Party Punch.

I think its cute as an accent nail, but I wouldn't want to wear an entire manicure of it. Its just not my thing.

Palest Mauve - A Lovely Pink

Sometimes I can keep a manicure for days. Other times, I want to change it everyday. Wednesday I used Vintage Dream (my first franken) and by the next day, I was wanting a different color. I love the polish, just needed change.

So last night, I sat down to wipe off the old and paint on some new. I could not part with my flower design just yet, so I kept it and decided to go with a color from the design. I chose the main flower color, Love My Nails Palest Mauve. Its a lovely shade of pink, think dusty rose.

Artificial Light, No Flash

Artificial Light, Flash 

I still have little bumps on my nails. Which I'm beginning to highly suspect is from my top coat. The bubbles were not there with just the pink polish alone. So either I misjudged and placed the top coat on too soon, or its bubble prone. I plan to buy a new clear polish tomorrow. Even if the problem isn't the top coat, I can always use more bottles.

By the way, I do not know how many people own Love My Nails polishes, but I would highly recommend them, especially if you're on a polish budget. I own eight of them and love each one of them. They are super cheap. I buy mine at Walmart for a dollar. And you can get chrome and duo-chrome ones for two dollars. They have a large selection of colors, more than any other inexpensive polish I've seen.

My First Franken

I've mixed colors before to get a polish a wanted, but its always been one or two drops, enough to last me through one mani. Though I've been wanting to mix a polish of my own. I had a half empty clear polish bottle and intended to just mix powder, but one thing led to another and I was mixing polishes in as well.

I went a little crazy with the adding. I started off with this pretty shimmering blue eyeshadow I've had forever but never use. The polish was too sheer, so I added some light blue polish. Not the right color. I thought adding two drops of light green might give it a nudge toward turquoise or aqua. But apparently two drops of green for the whole bottle forever made the mixture green. Things sort of spiraled down from there. I added in more blues and even some pale colors in an attempt to steer the shade closer to blue.

On top of the powder and clear polish I ended up adding in: Sally Hansen Peach, Petites White, Love My Nails Innocent Pink, Sally Hansen Creme, Pure Ice Wild Thing, Pure Ice Splash, and a dark blue that I no longer have a label for.

By the time I was done, I was very unsure about my franken. But I know better than to judge a polish by the bottle, so I waited until I painted the polish on to vote it a success or failure.

So last night, I set out to see how my polish would look on. One brushstroke in and I was in love. It was a pretty shade of green with a lovely shimmer. I wanted more than just a simple polish so I added an accent nail on each hand. However, given I'm a rightie, the work I did on my right hand with my left was bad. So I ended up repainting that nail and just going with a design on my left ring finger only.

The only thing about my franken that I'm unhappy with is the texture. It painted on smooth. But I noticed after it dried that I had little bumps. Now I'm not sure if its from the polish itself. Maybe I painted it on too thick. Or my top coat caused them. I'll have to see if the bumps appear next time I use the polish. But even with the bumps, I'm thrilled with the polish.

Artificial Light, No Flash

Artificial Light, Flash

The pictures without a flash are a better representation of the color in person. You can't really see any shimmer in the pictures of the polish on, but it is noticeable in person. Though you can see the shimmer while its in the bottle.

Artificial Light, Flash

Artificial Light, No Flash

I'm pretty happy with it. And I absolutely love the little flowers I painted for my accent nail. Though I cannot take credit for the idea. Its a design by CutePolish and the video can be found here. For my little flowers, I used Love My Nails Palest Mauve for the main flower color, No6 Party Punch for the accent flower color, and a mix of Pure Ice Wild Thing and Love My Nails Black Rage for the leaves.

I love the idea of naming one's polish creations. So I came up with a name for my polish. Vintage Dream. The green automatically makes me thing vintage, while the pretty shimmer inspired the second half.

Oh, I almost forgot... I know someone is sitting here reading this entry and wondering what in the world a franken is. Think Frankenstein. A franken is the result of frankening, which is the process of mixing different polishes, pigments, glitter, et cetera to create a unique polish or FrankenPolish.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my little franken adventure. Please comment and let me know what you think about Vintage Dream :)

Strawberry Splatter

I'm in love with my cute little design. The nail art theme for PAA was splatter. I tried doing it with a straw, but I think mine were too big, so I grabbed a sponge. Came out really cute, I think.

Artificial Light No Flash 

I used Sinful Snow Me White as the base color with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow, Pure Ice Wild Thing (Green), and No6 Party Punch (Pink/Red) as the splatter.

I was in love with the idea of using strawberry colors splashed across each nail. The red berry, yellow seeds, and green leaves.

The method to do this design was super easy. I'm going to make a video tutorial for it this week, my first one ever.

If you want something fun and easy, you should try it. The color combinations are endless.