A few Random NOTD

Hello all! I have just a couple quick photos to share. Though I’ve not been blogging, I have been painting my nails. I discovered that I was spending too much time on this blog and not enough time doing other things (ie, school) and I felt it was time to take a break. I have been taking pics of all my manis so I will have quite a few to share in the future. I also have been buying polish like crazy so hopefully I will get around to sharing photos of those. Besides my Lush Lacquers, I took advantage of Zoya’s America sale and Butter London’s recent sale as well.

Nicole by OPI’s Kourt is Red-y For a Pedi and OPI’s Nicki Minaj Metal 4 Life (I think?)

The pink is Zoya Renee (an awesome bright pink jelly), the gray is Julep Dove I think? And holo glitter from Claire’s.

This pic is the most recent as you can tell I was sporting some serious nubs for a while. The blue is from Color Club’s recent summer collection, the red is Zoya Sooki, and I used Julep America and some Color Club holo flakies for the tips.

The quality of my pictures are about as good as they are gonna get for a while. I got tired of futzing around with getting good pics on my camera so you will probably see some cell phone pics here and there as well. I’ve also decided to stop water marking the photos.

Thanks for sticking around! Til next time,

Erin

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Pattern!

Well I am SO far behind on this challenge, it ended nearly two weeks ago. Kudos to Kelsie and Stephanie for finishing on time and posting everyday! I thought I was prepared for all the manis but…well…obviously that was not the case. While I enjoyed doing the challenge, I felt too rushed and would do mani after mani after mani, sometimes 5 a day…This way I get to enjoy my mani a little longer. This one I am pretty proud of. While it’s not perfectly polished, I think I captured my inspiration pretty well. I have seen lots of owl manis and many are wayyyy better than mine, but I still think its cute. :) Warning there’s lots of pics in this post!

The Pattern for my inspiration comes from my Nook Tablet skin. I love little owlies, they have become pretty popular lately. I just love this, every time I look at it!

And, the mani!

And two more:

Thank you all for reading!

*Erin*

I'm Still Here!

Hello lovelies.

 I am still puttering around on Blogger, however haven't had time to really do any cool manis or any time to photograph and prepare posts. I have been painting my nails, but I have been alternating between Nicole by OPI Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi, and Kim-pletely in Love. Seriously in love with both of those polishes and haven't had time for anything too complex.

As I''m sure you all have been dying to know what I have been up to: I am still waiting to hear back from the interview I had last week, I am trying to stay positive but am worried I didn't get it. 

I finally got an estimate on my trunk from when my cousin backed into me, and I am having a heck of a time dealing with the insurance company over it. You'd think I caused the accident or something, seriously. 

I am going on a float trip this weekend so have been making mad dashes getting prepared for it. I am so excited to have some fun with friends and celebrate my boyfriend's birthday!

The most exciting news of the day: I finally have been able to order some indy polishes! I am so excited! Everytime I go to check out any of the handmade polishes on Etsy, the shops are closed or I have to get on a waiting list. I am seriously too lazy and not motivated to keep up with that, so once I saw these in stock, I had to order them! And they are really reasonably priced too, which was the big selling point for me!

Here is the Etsy shop I ordered from. I ordered Lite Brite (OMG you don't understand my excitement for this one!!!), Paradise Cove, and Salt n Pepa. 

I leave you with this: I just love these things.

I was also nominated for some awards but haven't nailed down the post for those yet. I promise I'll get to it eventually! And sometime this year I will finish the 31 day challenge. lol.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 31: Inspired by your favorite challenge!

Today I am going to show you one of Kelsie’s challenge manis, recreated by moi. Kelsie’s manis are gosh darn perfect every time. I mean, it was so hard to choose one of hers to do because A) she is infinitely talented in nail art and there were so many I admired and B) I also had to choose one that was within my skill level! :)

My first attempt at Half Moons on Day 18 was sort of a fail. This time, they turned out much much better. Using Kelsie’s Day 18 mani for inspiration, here’s my recreation:

I didn’t have good light for photos but you don’t really  need it; you can all see what it is! I painted my nails white using Spoiled Correction Tape, I stamped zebra designs using Sinful Colors Black Out, and then I tried three coral polishes before I had to settle on this orangey red Sally Hansen Insti Dry in Sonic Boom. All of my coral polishes were too sheer and you could see the zebra through them.

Here’s is Kelsie’s beautiful mani, which can be found here.

All of her manis are simply gorgeous and I am so envious of her perfection! I feel as though I just slap-dash crap on my nails all the time.

I still have quite a few challenge manis to catch up on, and I will get to them soon! I started my summer class this week and already SWAMPED. Boo!

Check out Kelsie, Stephanie, Amanda and Jess!

www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

www.noxnails.blogspot.com

www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

Thank you all for following me thru this challenge! I have to say it was pretty hard and am not ready to jump into any other challenges for a looooong time!!

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 24: Inspired by a Book!

Once again, so many choices! I love to read! I was going to do an owl mani because my Nook has a really cute owl skin, but since the new Sookie Stackhouse book came out last week I decided to do Sookie Stackhouse! There were so many ideas I had for this one I had to cut them down to only 5.

If you do not watch True Blood or if you are working your way thru the book series by Charlaine Harris, don’t read any more unless you want to know what happens!

The thumb of course supposed to be teeth marks and blood, using Zoya Sooki for the blood!

The pointer finger represents Bob, Amelia’s boyfriend who was turned into a cat.

The middle finger is meant to be Diantha, Mr. Cataliades’s niece (a demon). But also reminded me of Sookie just cuz she’s sexy!

The ring finger is the lips from the TV series -  I tried to do smoke but you get the idea.

The pinky is just moon and stars, representing all the supernatural things in the books.

Other ideas I had: a bikini because Sookie likes to lay in her lounge chair and tan; a witch for Amelia; wings because Sookie is part fairy; a dog/wolf thing for the werewolves; etc etc.

I topped everything with a healthy coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Disco Ball, because all of the books have glitter on the covers.

The purple base is Orly Mysterious Curse – appropriate name, no?

Not quite the way I wanted them to turn out but still pretty cute regardless.

So that’s my catch up for the day; I apologize the past 3 manis were done so hurredly and not a clean and neat as I want to achieve.

Please check out Kelsie, Stephanie, Amanda and Jess’s blogs to see what they are up to!

www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

www.noxnails.blogspot.com

www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 23: Inspired by a Movie!

This was hard to pick – there are so many movies I love and I had so many ideas. But I decided to go with my initial idea: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Ever since I had bought Fingerpaints Tiffany Imposter I wanted to do something with this theme…of course I wasn’t the only one with this idea because there have been tons of Tiffany inspired manis, using CG For Audrey. I thought I was really original! Ha! Anyways, I did them anyway.

Again, cuticle oil. Sorry but my hands are a mess – I have been neglecting them in my time off!

I used Fingerpaints Tiffany Imposter for the blue, I dotted Pure Ice Silver Mercedes for the necklaces, and of course stick on gems. The pink is Zoya Renee (a lovely hot pink jelly!) and I stamped with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and Sinful Colors Black on Black.

I wished I had done these a little neater; they always turn out so much cuter in my head.

Check out the other girls’s manis!

Kelsie – www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Stephanie – www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda – www.noxnails.blogspot.com

Jess – www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 22: Inspired by a Song!

I’m back with a few quick posts. I tried to do these kindof in a rush so I apologize for the cuticle oil and the messy polish around the cuticles. I have been so so so busy which you may know if you read my post from last week.

Anyway, this challenge was ‘inspired by a song.’ I don’t really know the words to many songs, and I mostly listen to Deadmau5 and Skrillex which have no words really so I decided to do a new Nicki Minaj song, ‘Starships.’ This song is probably going to be my summer anthem, you know what I mean? Every time you hear it you roll the windows down and the speakers up?

The lyrics talk about going to the beach, and in the video Nicki is on the beach as well. So I did little beach nails.

Originally I wanted to do starships but I really am not good at free hand nail art. So I did beaches.

Check out Kelsie, Stephanie, Amanda, and Jess!

www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

www.noxnails.blogspot.com

www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

Thanks for coming!

-Erin-

Quick Update

I know you all are just waiting in extreme anticipation for me to catch up on this challenge. So sorry! I am on break from school, however I am even busier than I was during finals! My cousin just shot a local commercial for a local gym; she has lost over 130 pounds and is now a bodybuilder. So I have been shopping with her, doing her nails, her makeup, going with her to her hair appointment, and I went with her to the commercial shoot yesterday. Then, I have been dealing with my insurance company over hail damage on my car, and now my cousin's husband backed into my car while it was parked at their house, so now I'm starting all over again with the estimates and running around. Plus, I have had two job interviews this week so now is not really the time to be running around with crazy nails. AH! Anyway I know you all really wanted to hear about all of this but I just wanted to let you know that I will be catching up on the challenge soon!
Thanks for sticking around!
-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 21: Inspired by a Color!

I have so many favorite colors and polishes it was hard to figure out what I wanted to do until I spied it: Claire’s Candy Shop. I bought it a month or two ago and has sat untried until yesterday. Apparently it is a ‘dupe’ for a Deborah Lippmann polish by the same name. I don’t own the Deborah Lippmann (and never will, I draw the line at $18 for a bottle of polish) but the Claire’s is so darn cute.

This is my attempt at drawing a lollipop. My free hand skills are a little crude but it turned out okay. Would you know that was a lollipop if I didn’t tell you? Be honest! I thought I could ‘swirl’ some wet polish in the center, but no I couldn’t. Be proud of me that I messed this up once, and I actually removed it and tried again instead of saying Eff it! lol.

I gave Candy Shop a little extra boost with Sephora by OPI’s Sparkle-tacular. That polish is just dripping with glitters. One brushstroke and you’re covered.

My cuticles are so damn dried out from all these manis. I was actually going to keep this mani on until this happened:

It was like I just FORGOT I had just painted my nails. D’oh!

I think I might try this again. I wish I had a stamping plate with lollipops, candy, etc. I’ve seen them but don’t own them. :(

Check out the other inspirations today!

Kelsie at www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Stephanie at www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda at www.noxnails.blogspot.com

Jess at www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

Thanks for coming by!

-Erin-

PS I can’t believe there are only 10 days left in this challenge! May is flying by!

31 Day Challenge: Day 20: Water Marble!

There are no words to describe the anguish and frustrations I felt when attempting water marbling. I had a beautiful base mani of Nicole by OPI Kim-pletely in Love on from yesterday (new all-time fave) that got ruined! I tried to water marble using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Concrete, CG Turned Up Turquoise, and CG Refresh-mint. DISASTER. I think I had one nail that could have passed, but wanted to try again.

This time I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Concrete, and Ulta Plum Perfect and Blue Streak. Same results. I didn’t want to waste any more polish so I just have a water marbled accent nail to show you. I suspect that this is one of those things that once the whole thing would have been cleaned up it would have turned out awesome. Kindof like when I stamp: that first nail always looks meh but when you are all done and top coat it, it looks kick ass.

Needless to say, I love the look of water marbling but I am a very impatient person so I don’t think this is something I will try in the near future. I can’t wait to see the other girls’s water marbles though, I have seen so many beautiful water marbles out there.

I just realized now that maybe my links to the other girls’s posts haven’t been working. I am so sorry about that. Let me know if these work.

Kelsie at www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Stephanie at www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda at www.noxnails.blogspot.com

Jess at www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

Have a happy Sunday and come back tomorrow for Inspired by a Color!

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 19: Galaxies!

This was a trend that I had never seen nor heard of until I started blogging. I thought it looked sooo hard to do – after a quick Google search, I discovered this is SO easy to do and it really is super cute! I think it would be really hard to mess this up since there is no precise design you have to follow.

The base is CG Smoke and Ashes, then I sponged with a whole bunch of colors. Mint, turquoise, a coral, a shimmery blue, white dots for stars, and all topped with glitter. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Disco Ball.

I feel as though I redeemed myself from that horrid tribal print I did yesterday. These galaxy nails are so cute, so easy to do, and I would definitely try this look again. I am looking forward to seeing how the other girls’s galaxies turned out!

Kelsie at Kelsie's Nail Files

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Amanda at Nox Nails

Jess at Nearly Natural Nails

Thanks for coming by!

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 18: Half Moons!

Catching up with yesterday’s challenge. Half moons. I thought this was going to be easy peasy pie. NOPE. The reinforcements did not work on me. Not sure what I did wrong but they looked awful. The lines are smudgy, smeary, not clean and crisp. Oh well. I love the color combo I chose. Zoya Tosca is the reddish/coralish/pinkish color and I used Zoya Shay as the nude. Not my favorite nude, but it’s still a nice color. I really like the half moon trend so I may have to try again sometime. Especially since I have 2000 reinforcements to use.

Tosca is a wonderful pedi color. My toes look awesome. I think I’m going to remove these half moons and do all Tosca. Maybe I’ll do that new cocktail mani the China Glaze is promoting. You do your thumb, pointer, and middle finger with and eye catching color on your ‘cocktail’ hand, and paint all the rest a different color.

Later today is galaxies! Now that is mani I LOVE! Check out what the other girls have been up to.

Kelsie at Kelsie's Nail Files

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Amanda at Nox Nails

Jess at Nearly Natural Nails

Thanks for reading!

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 16: Tribal Print!

Tribal nails. Eh not my favorite trend, and not my style at all. Plus it was hard to do!! :)

Here’s the pics. I used lots of different color for the stripes (I built on top of my stripe mani) and I used a black sharpie for the stripes/dots/etc. I didn’t even bother top coating this because I could not wait to remove it.

Anyway, I guess it turned out okay. Another mani that looks awful up close but pretty good at a distance.

I am laughing at my middle finger. Not sure what I was trying to do there.

So while this trend is not for me, I think other tribal manis I have seen are so well done and look so cool. To me, this mani was a FAIL. Maybe I cursed myself by using that horrid stripe mani as a base.

This is the last of my catch up posts for now, thanks for coming by! Check out the other girls’s half moon manis from today, and check back tomorrow for my half moons, and galaxy nails!

Kelsie at Kelsie's Nail Files

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Amanda at Nox Nails

Jess at Nearly Natural Nails

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 14: Flowers!

I am really happy with the way this mani turned out! I’m not a flowery person but this, I will definitely do again. I’m thinking it would be a super cute pedi.

This challenge is fun because it gives me an opportunity to play with a bunch of untried polishes. The base for this mani is Zoya Parker (one of three nudes I bought during the Earth Day promotion), the flowers are CG Riveting, Nicole by OPI Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi (a new fave!) and dots are CG Turned up Turquoise.

My new favorite top coat: Color Club. Not sure exactly what it is, but it came with my Take Wing Collection. It is SUPER SHINY and dries really fast.

I’ve been playing around with hand poses etc, I think I prefer the pictures without the nail polish bottles. I always felt like I would squeeze onto it for dear life. I think I’ll be bottle-less for the time being.

The other girls did flower last Monday, but go see what they have for today!

Kelsie at Kelsie's Nail Files

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Amanda at Nox Nails

Jess at Nearly Natural Nails

Thanks for coming by!

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 12: Stripes!

I’m baaack! I am so sorry that I didn’t keep up on the daily challenge, but unfortunately I had a lot of things going on last weekend that I didn’t really anticipate, so I didn’t have the time to dedicate to doing nails. But, I am going to catch up, as promised!

Stripes. UGH! I thought this would be easier, but apparently I suck at tape manis and my free hand leaves something to be desired. I love the color combo, but the lines are too unclean. However, you know how it goes: it still looked pretty good on my hands, just don’t look too close! I only have one picture because I wasn’t impressed with any of my photos. But you get the idea:

This is one I’d like to try again sometime. My pinky and ring finger I tried with tape, my middle finger, pointer, and thumb were freehand. As you can see, not much difference. Oh well!

My partner’s in crime:

Kelsie at Kelsie's Nail Files

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Amanda at Nox Nails

Jess at Nearly Natural Nails

Thanks for coming by!

-Erin-

31 Day Challenge: Day 17: Glitter!

Sorry I have been slacking so much on this challenge! I was crazy crazy busy last weekend due to my brother's graduation and a huge group project due (that I worked on for TWELVE HOURS STRAIGHT on Sunday) plus final exams, etc, and I finally see some light at the end of the tunnel so I will be able to keep up and play catch up for the challenge! This was a scheduled post otherwise wouldn't have had anything for today either. :(

Glitter! I have been waiting for this day, as if it matters because I incorporate glitter somehow into nearly every mani I do. I just love it!  I hate the removal, though, so of course I did my favorite technique: Glitter tips/gradient!

The first picture is taken outside without flash, the other is inside with flash. I did two coats of Sephora by OPI Nonfat Soy Half Caff. I probably don’t mention it often, but after glitters, my second favorite polishes are nudes. This polish in particular is probably one of my top 5. I wonder if they still make it, I love it so much I should by another bottle. I wanted something muted so the glitter really stands out (I hate doing full nail glitter, it is SO hard to remove and so rough on your nails!).

The glitter is Spoiled Pet My Peacock. A new purchase, and I love it! Well, I love all glitter so whatever.

Check out all the glittering manis on the other girls’s pages today! I can’t wait to see all the sparkle!

Amanda at Nox Nails

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Kelsie at Kelsie’s Nail Files

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin

31 Day Challenge: Day 13: Animal Print!

Oooooo my favorite!! When I first got my stamping kit, the only stamp I would use over and over is the leopard. I just love it. This leopard is from my Shany plates. I like it because the spots are a lot smaller and more compacted.

I know what you are thinking – what is with those silly stripes? Don’t they remind you of knee high athletic socks? LOL! I had wanted to stamp with hot pink, and I couldn’t find the particular plate I wanted. Really, where could it be? Anyway, I used a different stamp, you couldn’t even see it, so I attempted to go over it with nail art polish. I stopped at the two stripes. I didn’t want to try anything else and mess it up. Then I added Milani Hot Pink glitter, which I wish now I had left off. But over all I like it. I still think KNEE HIGH SOCKS when I look at it. That would be a cute idea for a mani sometime, wouldn’t it?

Check out the other animal prints today! Yay!

Kelsie @ www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Stephanie @ www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda @ www.noxnails.blogspot.com

Jess @ www.nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com

xxErinxx

Stripes Will Be Up Later Today! :)

Sorry I missed the stripes yesterday folks. I thought I would have time to get it done yesterday but ended up spending the whole day with my family celebrating my little brother's graduation. And today I have a huge group project to do before I get to do any nails. :/ Check back later today, and I will have yesterday's mani and today's up as well!

Thanks! Erin