February Nail Art Challenge - Animal Print

Happy Mardi Gras! However, I am not doing a Mardi Gras themed mani; since it is Animal Print day of the February Nail Art Challenge. So obviously, I had to use my favorite Konad plate; for my Zebra Print!

Polishes Used:

-OPI - Nail Envy

-Essence - Black is Back

-NYC - Fucshia Shock Cream

-Sally Hansen - White On

-Claire's - Cherry

-Konad - White

-Konad Plate m57

I really love this mani! It is super fun and I love when I use Zebra print! I wish I could have worn it to work but I had lots of meeting including some suppliers in from out of state so I had to keep it "calm". 

Zebra print can be perfect for any holiday; lol; just change up the colors, so you know you will be seeing a St. Patty's day Zebra, an Easter Zebra, etc. hehe

P.S. If you're still craving a Mardi Gras mani, here is a reminder of my NYE Party Gras mani!

AIS - Valentine's Day

No Surprise here, today's theme in Adventures In Stamping is Valentine's Day. Perfect fit.

Polishes Used:

-OPI - Nail Envy

-Claires - Strawberry (it's scented too - yum)

-Spoiled - Jewelry Heist

-Maybelline - Bold Gold

-BM-311

This mani was somewhat hard to capture, but I didn't want to just stamp over plain pink today so I added the glitter prior to stamping. I like the way that it turned out; although the gold is somewhat hard to see it's almost a casual look from afar but surprisingly complex when you get up close. And it smells like Strawberry gum too. lol.

Happy Sunday!

Fall Into Autumn Challenge - Fall Flair

Today is the last day of the Fall Into Autumn Challenge :( Fear not, there will be a fun winter challenge coming up so obviously, I will be participating in that! I really love this group of ladies that I am participating with, we are so diverse, from where we live, to skill levels, to even nail shape. It's wonderful to me to see what creative ideas everyone comes up with for the themes.

So onto my fall flair:

Polishes Used:

-OPI - Nail Envy

-Ulta - High Roller (Pinky)

-Sinful Colors - Snow Me White (Ring)

-Claire's - Orange (Middle)

-Essie - Size Matters (Pointer)

-Essence - High Spirits (Pointer)

-Essence - Time For Romance (Ring / Pointer)

-Sinful Colors - Hazard (Pointer)

-Zoya - Pippa (Pointer)

-Finger Paints - Caric-Art-Ure (Ring)

-Sinful Colors - Sunny Day (Ring)

-Liquid Laquer - You Give Me Favor (Pinky)

-OTD

Since it was the last day of this challenge, I decided to do a little bit of everything, with some Fall Flair Skittles. All of these nails feel like fall to me. and I will definitely be doing some of these designs on their own too (ring finger....)

I am looking forward to the Winter Challenge, I prefer the winter season to fall season just because I feel like it encompasses a lot more, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, Valentines Day, etc.  Although I don't love the winter clothing. In Pittsburgh we are lucky enough to experience all the seasons; I like spring and summer the best; what is your favorite season?

Claire's - Candy Shop

Moving right along trying out all the pretty polishes from Katee. In case you were wondering, I am trying them out in the order that I opened the packages in. Today's polish, is Candy Shop. This is supposed to be a dupe of DL Candy Shop and I love me some bargains (even though this was a gift it was something I would have bought myself!)

Polishes Used:

-Elmers Glue Base

-Claire's Candy Shop

-Gelous

-OTD

So, for some reason, I didn't feel like wearing something as a base color on this mani and I ended up with 3 coats of Candy Shop. It's very pretty but even with the Gelous and OTD it was still slightly bumpy to the touch - that was my fault though. 

You will notice that I am trying the Elmer's Glue as a base again. It worked really well when I tried it earlier this week and wanted to give it a second shot. My only disappointment was that the day I removed the glitter, my pinky nail broke and I had to file it down to a nub. Not sure if it had anything to do with the glue or not, but guess we will see when I take this off.

I Won A Giveaway & Butter London - Trustafarian

I recently won a giveaway hosted by Katee at A Girl and Her Polish. I was so happy to win and I absolutely love her blog!!

Here is a collage of the prizes she sent me:

Butter London - Shag
Butter London - Trustafarian
Claires - Candy Shop
Once Upon A Polish - Whosits & Whatsits Galore!
Venique - Twinkling Glitter
Milani - Twinkle
Rainbow Polish - Polish of my choice!!!

What a wonderful giveaway! I am SURE you're all following Katee's blog already but if not, make sure you check it out.

I am going to go through all of these polishes in the next couple of days, with the exception of the challenge mani's that I am going to be posting of course.

The first polish I am trying out is Butter London Trustafarian. These are my first Butter London polishes and I really like them.

Polishes Used:

-OPI - Nail Envy

-Butter London - Trustafarian

-OTD

Trustafarian is a lovely light green holo. I have on 3 coats for the pictures and, I know, I know, I put on top coat - I know you're not "supposed" to because it can ruin the rainbow/holo look but thats OK. I still love how this looks and you can still see the holo-ness.

Which of the polishes from Katee is your favorite? What should I try out next?

Pittsburgh Skittle Nails

Today I am showing you a mani that I did over the weekend for a Pittsburgh Pirates game. My husband and I have season tickets to the Pirates so I don't do a "theme" mani for each game, but for this game, I was going with some extended family so I thought I would spice things up :)

Polishes Used:

-OPI - Nail Envy

-Claires - Banana (P.S. This is scented and it REALLY does smell like Banana)

-Essence - Punk Royal

-China Glaze - Black Mesh

-Sinful Colors - Snow Me White

-Kiss - Nail Art Striper - White

-Kiss - Nail Art Striper - Black

-OTD

As we all know, I don't normally like to wear yellow polishes - they just don't really look good on my skintone, however, when you live in Pittsburgh and ALL of the professional sports teams colors are Black and Gold (and a yellow gold at that), you'll end up wearing it here and there ;-) 

What do you think? Which is your favorite design? Do you ever do team themed manis?