31 Day Challenge: Day 15: Delicate Print!

I really didn’t know what to do for this challenge, so I stamped. My stamping collection is pretty limited, and I’ve seen this design lots of times, but here it is again. I actually like it. I’ve been dying to try out this base polish. I bought it on a whim at Ulta, only to find that when my Zoya shipment came they were nearly identical. This is OPI Significant Other Color, and the similar Zoya is Adina. Sometime maybe I will compare them. Of course I don’t think I could part with either. The color is gorgeous.

I suck at describing colors, but it is a violet iridescent duochrome (I think that is what is would be called.) Two coats in these pics. I stamped with Ulta Plum Perfect.

This pic shows some of the color shift in this polish. I just love it.

This was supposed to be posted Tuesday, so go back and look at the other girls’s delicate prints and check out what they have today!

Thanks!

Kelsie at Kelsie's Nail Files

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Amanda at Nox Nails

Jess at Nearly Natural Nails

31 Day Challenge: Day 7: Black and White!

Hey!! How is everyone doing today? Are you enjoying the challenge so far? I have to admit, it certainly is challenging! :) But fun too, and I am always up for a good challenge! Today is black and white, which I was not very excited about because I’m not a big fan of black and white color schemes. I always think of polka dots, but wanted to do something else. I’ve seen variations on this theme around on Pinterest, and I love it.

My thumb, middle finger, and pinky are free handed with nail art polishes and my index finger and ring finger were stamped with a Shany plate, using Spoiled Correction Tape and China Glaze Smoke and Ashes. I wish I had used a regular black polish but it turned out okay. Of course, a GEM on my thumb! :) I love the look of free-handed leopard spots but I need lots of practice.

While this isn’t an exact Monkey See, Monkey Do, I was ‘pin-spired’ by this mani which linked to here.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out the rest of the challenge participants today!

Kelsie @ www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Steph @ www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda @ www.noxnails.blogspot.com

Jess @ http://nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com/

-Erin-

Also don't forget the MSMD manis today! While I didn't really 100% participate, I know they cooked up something awesome today!

Laurie http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.ca/

Missy http://gnarlygnails.blogspot.ca/

Carrie http://lesamowen.blogspot.ca/

Cristina http://theclockwisenailpolish.blogspot.pt/

Nievys http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.ca/

Ashley http://followtheyellowpolishroad.blogspot.ca/

Kristin http://manicuredmonkey.blogspot.ca/

Emily http://macabremanicures.blogspot.ca/

Nayade http://www.toxicvanity.com/

Erin http://www.erinsbeautybumbles.blogspot.ca/

Debbie http://thecrumpet.blogspot.co.uk/

Melissa http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/

Kristin http://geekyowl.blogspot.ca/

Angi http://www.angelinaswelt.blogspot.de/

Julie http://ofknitandnails.blogspot.ca/

Kerrie http://pishposhandpolish.blogspot.co.uk/

Jewli http://www.fanningthefumes.blogspot.ca/ 

Alyssa http://www.fancyphalanges.blogspot.ca/ 

Jen http://jenspaintedtips.blogspot.ca/

31 Day Challenge: Day 6: Violet!

Hello and good afternoon! Did you all have fun celebrating Cinco de Mayo yesterday? I am a big dull dud and spend my afternoon filling out job applications and working on my International Business Operations final project, which is kinda cool because it requires me doing research on Zara, a wonderful clothing store that I wish we had here, and I just found out you can order online finally!!! Yay! Oh and of course I've been working on the Challenge!

Today is a double hit because it also satisfies the requirements of the Adventures in Stamping challenge this week: unnatural animals! So, I did violet nails, with blue zebra stripes.

Two more Zoyas today! They are probably my favorites of the moment. But I also own the most of them of any other brand so maybe that’s why. They have fantastic sales so I am always sure to take advantage! Speaking of sales, I found the entire Color Club Take Wing collection this weekend for $8! $8!!!!! Those colors are gorgeous and I'm so glad I bought them. Expect to see lots of them coming up. :)
This is Zoya Zara (purple) and Zuza (blue). I topped my ring finger with Pure Ice Cheatin’. I loved this mani! This is really my style as far as my nail art goes. I am not super inventive or adventurous. :)

I hope you like it! Check out the other girls’s violet nails today!

Kelsie @ www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Stephanie @ www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda @ www.noxnails.blogspot.com

Jess @ www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Erin

Queen’s Day: An Adventures in Stamping Post

Good afternoon! Are all of you having as lazy of a Sunday as I have had? Meant to study all day – got two assignments finished then got sucked into My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding – Holy cow! Does anyone else ever watch that?

Anyway, for today’s challenge, the theme was Queen’s Day, which is a Dutch holiday. On this day the Dutch celebrate their Queen by wearing the colors of the flag (red, white, and blue) and orange, the official color of the Queen and I think there is also a big flea market?  I didn’t have a suitable blue for red, white, and blue, and I don’t have any crown stamps. So I went with the orange/celebration/party theme.

(If my understanding/interpretation of the holiday is wrong please tell me!)

The orange is actually a neon but unfortunately is a little camera shy. I stamped using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes with a Shany plate, that looks like confetti-shredded glitter. Then a light coat of WnW Party of Five Glitters. I am trying to stay away from glitters for a few days but couldn’t help myself, I thought glitter was appropriate for this mani.

This was fun to do and I am glad I participated! The Adventures in Stamping group is a great group of ladies and it was fun to celebrate a holiday that means something to someone in another country. So, Happy Queen’s Day! :)

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin

Zoya Apple: A Tragedy

Well, here it is. The most gorgeous color I own, RUINED. Yep. This is the 2nd attempt at doing some sort of stamping/nail art on Zoya Apple, and both times I hated it. I wanted to try again after the first FAIL (which I may show you sometime soon) and had just bought China Glaze Liquid Crystal. Guys this was so awful. Plus, you can see on my ring finger where the glitter TOOK OFF part of the base coat after I seriously messed up the stamping.
But the Zoya Apple is great. This color really stands out all on its own so the extras just ruin it. (…covers my eyes while you look at this disaster…)

Do you see what I mean? I did not want to do this mani again, because I do not want to waste all of my Zoya Apple on ugly manis! So I left it as it was, and removed it immediately (OH and didn’t clean up either or do anything to my cuticles. I was too depressed.) I used Pure Ice Silver Mercedes to stamp the lizards, and the glitter is China Glaze Liquid Crystal. I had just bought the CG and was dying to use it.

Meh. 
Oh, and I just realized that my lizards have no heads. WTH.

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin

Inspired by Music: An Adventures in Stamping Post

Happy Sunday!! Well, I’m not gonna lie, I thought I was going to have a lot of trouble with this challenge. (I guess you can decide that for yourself!)  I am not a huge music buff. I only listen to a few favorite artists, and I don’t know singers, album titles, song lyrics, etc…I usually just listen to whatever my boyfriend puts on the stereo. Hence, this mani. Inspired by DEADMAU5!! In case you are not familiar with Deadmau5, it is the  name for electronic artist Joel Zimmerman. My brother and boyfriend are huge fans. I like his music too, but like I said, I am not a huge music buff. So anyway, Deadmau5 is pronounced Dead’mouse’, and he wears these huge mouse heads when he performs. So here’s my take on it:

side by side of the mau5 heads.

Here’s a pic of Deadmau5 on stage:

Several things I want to say about this mani:

1) When I stamped the dot background, the whole glitter topcoat SLID across my nail and I had to SLIDE it back…omg I almost died. Really. I did not want to remove all of that stinkin’ glitter and start all over!

2) Stamping dot background WHAT? you are probably thinking..Yes, I did stamp on these nails but it is very hard to see…:(

3) My middle nail looks awful in these pics…it looks like I chopped off a whole chunk of polish around my cuticle. Well, I am practicing my clean-up skills, (my makeup brush seriously SUCKS) and I thought I did a gosh darn good job – until I crop my macro shots. In real life, the flaw is barely noticeable. Instead of redoing it and taking new pics, I’m leaving it – hence why I call this blog Beauty Bumbles, because I feel like I’m just bumbling around with all of this nail stuff….

4) The base color is Zoya Sooki, I stamped with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes (so glad I took the recommendation of the ladies at Adventures in Stamping!) and Sally Hansen Black Out (must take other recommendations for black stamping polishes, because it looks horrible on Sooki), and I used a Claire’s glitter topcoat.

5) I bought Sooki mostly because I LOVE TRUE BLOOD! And Charlaine Harris’s books too, of course. :)

So that’s it! I did not match my right hand to this, the coordinating mani is actually for my challenge tomorrow, Monkey See, Monkey Do manis inspired by my Pinterest board. The two look really cute together.

I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin

Zoya Kimber for Breast Cancer

Hey guys! I did this mani for my dear friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She has been my hairstylist and friend forever! So, this is for Shelley and everyone else out there struggling with this disease and friends and family of cancer patients.

And I want to thank the lovely ladies on the Adventures in Stamping Facebook group for rockin’ some pink today!!

Thanks for reading! I hope you like it. I am still no whiz at freehand nail art but improving a bit, I think.

XOXO

Erin

Gradient with Two Stamps: An Adventures in Stamping Post

Good morning! This week was a fun challenge. We had several options this week since the vote was a tie: stamping over gradient nails, or using more than one stamp. I thought all week about what I was going to do, well…..on Friday I got my Zoya polishes in the mail (plus Riveting and Smoke and Ashes from my cousin!), and last night I got my new Shany plates! So all ideas went out the window and I of course had to use some of my new goodies. This isn’t anything original, as I have seen lots of variations of this theme,  but I love it and it screams ‘ME!’ Now I wish I was going on vacation somewhere. :)

There was something BLACK in my cleanup brush so you can see the flubs around my little finger and my thumb…not sure what happened there..!

What I used:

Orly | Top2Bottom, China Glaze | Sun Worshipper, Zoya | Kimber, China Glaze | Riveting, Sally Hansen | Black Out, NYC Top Coat

Plates: SH19 and m26

There was some discussion in the group as to what designs all of us do on our right hands; I usually match my designs but if the image is one that is hard to get centered I usually do something else. For example, for the Cardinals mani I did I just did a skittles mani with the colors I used. For this mani, my right hand is just painted with China Glaze | Riveting – a gorgeous eye catching color! So that’s what I do. What do you guys do?

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin

Happy Easter! An Adventures in Stamping Post

 My first post for the Sunday stamping challenge.This didn't exactly turn out how I envisioned, but still Easter-y. I don't have any Easter plates, so flower and butterflies will have to do. The base is FingerPaints | Tiffany Imposter. My new favorite, I think!

What I Used:

Happy Easter eveyone! I plan to celebrate by getting my fill of Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Thanks for Reading!

XOXO

Erin

P.S. I just got on Pinterest, so follow me there too! :)

Pink and Black <3

Originally I started out with a different idea for pink and black stamping designs but OMG it was awful. I took all the polish off and restarted and this is what I came up with. For some reason I’ve never tried the flower stamps yet but they really turned out awesome! Hope you like it!

I am still working on my cleanup skills, the black stamping is hard to get off of your cuticles!! :/

Here’s what I used:

Orly Top2Bottom, SH Xtreme Wear | Black Out, China Glaze | Pool Party, NYC | French White, NYC Top Coat

mash plate m60

I am thinking hard about what I want to do for Easter but none of my stamps are Easter-y...hmmm...


Thanks for reading!
XOXO
Erin

Just For Fun

What's more fun than winning free stuff?? Well, I just entered my first giveaway on The Collegiate Nail. She is giving away some really pretty glitter polishes. The link for the giveaway is here in case anyone is reading this and you would like to enter as well. Wish me luck!

Here's a pic I took a month or two ago, just for fun! :)

(cell phone pic, sorry!)

Follow Me on Glitter! 

My first mani/pedi! Ok, not exactly, but the first that I have photographed for blogging. Let me just say that I LOVE nail stamps and they are the main reason for my newfound obsession and hobby. I apologize for the quality of my photos, as I am still learning! My camera is just a regular Fujifilm Point and Shoot.

The inspiration for this look came from this polish:

Nicole by OPI: Follow Me On Glitter (Kardashian Kolor)

On my toenails I did a basecoat of black. Then I taped off a diagonal strip with filled in with a shimmery opalescent gray, followed by a gray glitter stripe, and last minute added a turquoise stripe.

(I know, I have really LOOONG toes! and teeny, tiny toenails, hence why there is only a design on my big toe!)

My fingernails were painted turquoise on 4 nails and stamped with black, with my index finger painted with gray glitter.

(Horrible cuticles. My job involves me to use my hands ALOT so they get ragged very easily.)

What I used:

Orly Top2Bottom basecoat/topcoat

Sally Hanson Xtreme Wear Black Out

Sinful Colors Let Me Go

Nicole by OPI Follow Me on Glitter

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

NYC Extra Shiny Top Coat

Konad Plate m63

XOXO

Erin