Blue Flowers for Autism

Hi y'all!!  Happy Monday!!  Only 5 more days until the weekend!!!  I'm trying to get two posts up for y'all today, so let's get to the first!  I joined some fabulous ladies in a month long Autism Awareness challenge!

Here's the schedule:

I Used:
Julep-Fiona (bright green crème)
Spoiled- Designated Driver (yellow crème)
Orly- Snowcone (light blue crème)
China Glaze- Blue Iguana (sparkly blue with purple shimmer)

So today was flowers....and I drew a blank!  I finally came up with a design:

It didn't turn out how I wanted, but I still like them.  I started with two coats of Julep Fiona.  Using a dotting tool, I made random dots in a sort of circle, ha ha.  Then using a detail brush (just a very thin, short bristled brush), I drew tear shaped petals using the lighter blue of Orly Snowcone.  I then used a liner brush and China Glaze Blue Iguana to add more depth to the petals.  I like the general idea, so I'm going to have to try these again.

Be sure to check out all the other wonderful ladies in the challenge (list below picture)!  And Happy Polishing!!

Alicia from Makeup and Nails, Not War

ChiChi from I’m Just Me... ChiChi

Cordia from Seriously Swatched

Erin from Paint Those Piggies!

Jessica from Nail Polish Anonymous

Jillian from Jilltastic Nail Design

Kelly from Peace Love Lacquer

Laura from Little Laura Loves

Lisa from Glittery Fingers & Sparkling Toes

Nicole from Dipped in Lacquer

Paulina from Paulina’s Passions

Rachael from Rachos Nail Love

Roxana from Beautylicious

Tina from Light of the Moon Nails

Ombre Water Marble

Hi y'all!!!  How are you doing?  TGIF, right?  So this week has been Spring Break for the little one, and for the most part it has been cold, 40's, and rainy.  I just looked at next week's forecast...sunny and in the 80's.  What the heck???  No fair. I want a do over!!

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed the new China Glaze Ombre sets (see review here) I said I would do a water marble with them and here it is:

I Used:
The polishes included in Grape Expectations were: (lightest to darkest)
Sweet Hook
Spontaneous
Grape Pop (yay it's finally mine)
Crimson (yay, and despite the name is actually a really dark purple)

Love this!!  Of course, I love purple, so what's not to love.  The China Glaze polishes worked really well, although no matter what I did when Grape Pop spread air bubbles appeared. Oh well, I still love it and hope you enjoy it too!

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go on a shopping trip with some fellow Atlanta bloggers and Pro make up artist to check out what is supposed to be a fabulous place to shop.  I will tell you all about it on Monday.  Does anyone else have big plans for Saturday?  I would love to hear about them!!  Just leave a comment.  Until later, Happy Polishing!!

Spring French Tips (Plus Orly Review)

Hello Dah-lings!!!  Well I don't know about y'all, but it's a miserable day here in the ATL!  It's cold and pouring down rain!!!!  I love my little fur babies...until they need a walk.  Especially since my baby boy hates being wet or dirty and refuses to use the bathroom outside.  He just looks at me like I'm nuts when I try to take him out.  My baby girl on the other hand, can't stand to be clean and it's a struggle on days like this to keep her out of the puddles.  Ah, the joys of parenthood.  I don't know about you, but on days like this, I just want to crawl back into bed and sleep all day...or read.  What's your favorite thing to do on cold, rainy days?

Ok, on to today's design.  It actually is making me feel a little better.  Today I have a Spring French tip for you:

I Used:

Orly- Melodious Utopia



Orly- Elation Generation

I started with three coats of Orly Melodious Utopia.  Melodious Utopia is from Orly's 2013 Spring collection and is a gorgeous Spring yellow with a pink shimmer.  The formula was great, not too thin, not too thick.  It did require three coats to get the color even and not streaky, but I find that is very typical of yellow polish. I love this polish...and it's extremely rare of me to like a yellow polish,  But this one you are definitely going to see more of this polish!

 The French tips are made free hand (just using the brush that came with the polish) with Elation Generation, also from Orly's 2013 Spring Collection.  Elation Generation is a pretty pink with scattered holographic micro glitter.  Yes please!!!  Love this polish too!  It's a pretty shade of pink (it looks pink in real life...I'm guessing it looks more orange here because it's layered over yellow and the camera is always seeing things I don't).  And a smaller amount of glitter than normal so if you're looking for a pretty, sparkly polish that isn't a glitter bomb, this would be a great choice.  I do suggest storing the polish upside down, or turning it upside down about 30 minutes before you are going to use it, as there is some settling of the glitter.

 

 I only bought three polishes from Orly's new collection (the other was used in Monday's water marble, High on Hope), but they were three I HAD TO HAVE!!!  And I'm not disappointed at all!  I hope y'all enjoy today's manicure design and that you are staying warm...and dry!!  See y'all tomorrow and Happy Polishing!!!

 

ABC Challenge: M is for Matte

Hello my Darlings!!!  I'm so happy for this challenge.  Mainly because I finally feel like myself again.  I just need to build my stamina back up.  So does the little one, although there is definitely an advantage to being 13.  And thank you so much to everyone for all the well wishes.  We are back at about 95% now and feel SO much better.

Now on to today's challenge.  It's the letter M.  So I've gone with a matte look over Nina Ultra Pro in Lilacing Discipline and China Glaze Razzle Me Dazzle Me...both untried!!  And then I used NYC Matte Me Crazy top coat:

I love this shade of purple!!  It's just a perfect Spring lilac.  The formula was perfect, as most Nina polishes tend to be.  I've always loved Nina Ultra Pro, I have some bottles going back 15 years from them...I'm just not sure what I think of their new "Professional double brush".  It's as wide as most of my nails...and wider than my pinkie finger.  I haven't decided if I like it or not. 

Then the pictures show one coat of China Glaze Razzle Me, Dazzle Me.  This polish has matte bar, large hex and micro round black glitter with small hex and micro light pink glitter.  I like this polish, don't love it, but like it.  It has nothing to do with the formula, or even that it's China Glaze, for some reason, it's just not my favorite.  And that is a rare thing for me to say about glitter!  The last picture shows it before the matte is added.  (I don't know why the index finger is a different color...shooting purples and blues is hard)

The top coat is NYC Matte Me Crazy.  Pictures show one coat, and I have no complaints.  The formula was fabulous.  And since matte isn't my favorite thing (hence the name of my blog), I like having a matte top coat so I can make anything matte.

I hope you enjoy my very rare matte design.  Be sure to check out what all the other fabulous ladies came up with for M.  Happy Polishing!!!

 

Without Matte

Light it Up Blue for Autism

Happy Tuesday my lovelies!!!!  I hope you're having an incredible day!

So you may have seen or heard, April is Autism Awareness month and today is:

And beauty bloggers everywhere have gotten together to paint their nails blue to bring attention to this cause.  It blows my mind how many children are affected by autism and yet we seem to remain clueless as to the actual cause of it and a cure.  Here is a quote: " It is estimated that 1 in every 88 children and 1 in every 54 boys is affected by Autism. It is so important that parents learn what to watch for so that they can get their children evaluated and diagnosed as early as possible! Spread the word on early warning signs for Autism: http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/learn-signs. Join us in spreading the word on Autism Awareness today and you could be entered into a drawing to win a fabulous prize from BeautyPopShop.com. Learn more here: www.facebook.com/beautypopshop" So I am more than willing to help bring awareness.  Here is my contribution:

I Used:
Sinful Colors- Sugar Rush (light blue crème)
Orly- Blue Collar (light blue crème)
Orly- Royal Navy (bright blue jelly with light blue shimmer)
Orly- High On Hope (dark blue with fuchsia shimmer)

I really love how this turned out.  I'm so sad that I have to take it off for tomorrow's M Challenge.

Click here for the water marble tutorial.

For some reason Blogger hates me today and keeps trying to delete this post, so I'm going to keep this short.  Be sure to check out every one's Light It Up manicures and on facebook...there is a lot of information on Autism today along with great fund raisers.  Until tomorrow, Happy Polishing!!!

 



Easter Water Marble

Hi Everyone!!  I hope y'all had a fabulous weekend and Easter.  We had a wonderful time with just us and way too much food.  And sweets.  But how can you have Easter without pigging out on chocolate bunnies and jelly beans?  And I had time to do an Easter water marble:

I Used:
Sinful Colors:  Unicorn (pastel yellow crème)
Sinful Colors: Cotton Candy (pastel pink crème)
Sinful Colors:  Sugar Rush (pastel blue crème)
Sinful Colors: Sweet Tooth (violet crème)
Sinful Colors: Orange Cream (peach crème)

NOTE: Step-by-step tutorial for water marble HERE!!!

I really like how this turned out.  It just makes me think of Spring, warm weather, flowers and, hopefully, the end of all the cold weather!  And I'm so happy...it's my first water marble without bubbles!

 

I hope you have a fabulous Monday!!  As for the little one and I, we are on Spring Break and we are feeling pretty good, so it's the best Monday we've had in awhile :D  Happy Polishing!!



The Sparkle Queen's Spring Nail Art Contest

Hi Everybody!!!  Just a quick post to tell you that I entered The Sparkle Queen's Spring Nail Art Contest and would SO appreciate it if you could take a minute and vote for my design.  Just follow this link to vote: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=504048816308926&set=a.501709036542904.1073741825.220558034658007&type=1&theater

THANK YOU!!!

P.S. Here's my design:

 

And here's the post: Easter Water Marble