Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday!

Small confession – I had seen this photo on someone’s Facebook foreverrrrr ago and I fell in love with it then. I looked for the perfect mint green polish, I ordered one from Avon, they sent an ugly light blue instead…then I couldn’t find the photo again so I couldn’t quite remember what it looked like. Guess my excitement when I saw it on Pinterest! This mani is what first drew me into nail art, really. I mean, I always liked to paint my nails, and ‘sometimes’ I played around with my stamping plates, but this picture is IT. I mean, look how cute!

Here is a side by side. The original was uploaded by ‘user’ and the watermark links to here.

Well. I think I did a pretty good job! I could work on my dotting tool skills. Her dots are super crisp and opaque looking. I just bought Spoiled Correction Tape so maybe that will improve. I also used Nicole by Opi Follow Me On Glitter for the striping. I also like how the original mani has more of a swoopy French effect.

The base is China Glaze Refresh-Mint or something like that. I have another confession – I don’t really like China Glaze polish. While I LOVE their colors, the formula just doesn’t do it for me and the brushes are always ragged. Every crème color I have chips after one day of wear. I don’t get it. Has anyone else experienced this and can you fix it? Unfortunately this cute mani had to come off after one day.

I hope you like it! Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin
Check out other MSMD manis on these awesome blogs! Let me know if you participated and are not on the list!

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/ 

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

Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday

HI! Well, you know that yesterday I posted my Deadmau5 mani. That was on my left hand. I wanted to do something that  matched but then I thought, AHA! Do your right hand for Monday’s Monkey See, Monkey Do!!

The idea about Monkey See, Monkey Do is to do nails inspired by your Pinterest. The pic inspiration linked back to here.

Nothing special here, as I’m sure you have realized that glitter gradients are my favorite.

I don’t care for the silver polish as a base color, it’s kindof streaky , thick, something..? It’s Pure Ice | Silver Mercedes with Claire’s Glitter Topcoat. BUT, Silver Mercedes stamps GREAT!! I used it on yesterday’s mani.

Well, that’s it. I hope you like it! I will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Zoya polishes from their Earth Day promotion. :)

Thanks for reading!

XOXO
Erin

ETA: Ok, here's some beautiful manis for MSMD! Check them out!! ( I hope I included everyone, if I left you out please email me or just add your blog in the comments!!)

Dressed Up Digits
The Crumpet
LeSamowen
The Clockwise Nail Polish
The Manicured Monkey
Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Maquiclub Girl
Macabre Manicures
Polish Crazed
Toxic Vanity

Gnarly Gnails 

Fanning the Fumes

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

Riley’s Post

It was time to redo Riley’s nails, and I used Sinful Colors in Kissy. This color is so pretty, on Riley’s nails I used two coats.

As you can see she just LOVES getting her nails painted. Haha!! You really have never seen a more laid back dog. She layed JUST LIKE THAT while I painted her nails.

I was just playing around and this is not meant to be a serious post or swatch!! LOL!! I am not that crazy of a dog lady. ;) 

I’ve been busy studying for my accounting mid-term so haven’t done much to share, but I did get some new dotting tools and my Birchbox! I got some good stuff!

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin and Riley

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

Let’s Go Cardinals!

Hey all! Well, this is my very first attempt at free-hand art using a nail brush…I think I did ‘ok’, I think I need a thinner, smaller, stiffer?  brush. Tomorrow is the home-opener for my home team the St. Louis Cardinals (who, if you do not know, won the World Series last year) so I wanted to do a Cardinals theme.

Here’s a side by side in case you don’t know what the Cardinals logo looks like. I guess its not too bad for my first attempt! Practice makes perfect, right?

Here’s what I used:

Orly | Top2Bottom, Avon | Vintage Blue (used on my pinky but appears white in pics), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear | White On, Ulta | Indigo-go Girl, Essie | Lollipop, and NYC Topcoat

I have some goodies coming in the mail very soon, like some Zoya polishes, some new stamping plates, some dotting tools, and my Birchbox! So lots of goodies to share in the next week or so!

Thanks for reading! I hope you like it!

XOXO

Erin

Orly Oui, Glitterized!

Once again, a mani that did not turn out as I wanted – but I still love anyway! I know I just did a glitter tip mani last week, but I can’t help myself! Orly Oui is my most favorite color of ALL TIME, forever, and ever! Seriously, I love it. I wanted to stamp on Oui with another purple, but the gold shimmer is too dominant so the stamping got totally lost. So, when in doubt, use GLITTER!

This picture shows how it looks in shade and sunlight – and HOLY COW my cleaning up sucks! It always looks great until I take closeup shots. :)

Here’s what I used:

Orly | Top2Bottom, Sally Hanson | Ring-a-Ding!, Orly | Oui, Ulta | Plum Perfect, NYC Top Coat

I’m sure you all took advantage of the Zoya Share the Love program – I now have coupons for TWO free polishes! I am splitting them up into two orders, then ordering two more to get free shipping (I would rather pay $8 for a polish than $7 for shipping, ja?) So far on my list I have Apple, Kimber, and Sooki. There is also a navy color with some micro glitters, I think, that I want…any other suggestions? What are your faves?

Thanks for reading! My next mani I have coming up is going to be so awesome, and will NOT be glitter gradiant/tips! I promise! :) Let’s just say I am a big baseball fan and the STL Cardinals are my team, baby!

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! :)

ULTA!!!

 Look at all these pretties!

Holy crap guys, I went a little crazy today (for my standards). Ulta had buy 2, get 2 free. So of course I bought 4. Then I found one of my favorite colors ever, so I had to get that. Then it kept snowballing from there. PLUS, my cousin picked up the China Glaze Hunger Games colors Riveting and Smoke and Ashes for me. Score!! :)

From left to right:

Sally Hanson | Ring-a-Ding!, Ulta | Blue Streak, Bam-Blue-zled, Plum Perfect, Indigo-go Girl, Goddess, Oh!, Scene Steel-er, High Roller, Revlon | Whimsical, Orly | Oui, and NYC Matte and Quick Dry topcoats (I got those two at Wal-Mart).

Can I just say that I have seen Whimsical swatched a dozen times, and I was all meh. It was OK, but wasn’t getting too excited about it. Until I saw it at Ulta today. They had like 5 of them. And it is AWESOME.

I’m really excited about Ring-a-Ding!, Whimsical, and Oui. I’ve been wanting Oui for a while now…:)

I also bought this today:

Tomorrow I am doing a fresh mani for me, and my mom too! I can’t wait to try these puppies out!

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin

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

Ulta on Thursday!

Howdy fellow nail polish addicts!

Well, I see I have some followers now, Thanks so much ladies! I don't have much to add today, since I have class tonight and haven't had a chance to do much. Today has been kind of crazy, I had to take my dog to the vet because she has allergies and a sinus infection! Well, $176 later, and we have 2 kinds of medicines and some new heart worm medicine as well.
But I wanted to ask you ladies: I'm going to Ulta on Thursday, I believe they have buy one, get one on the Ulta brand polish. What colors, or other polishes, are your favorites from there? Let me know! :)

Here's another pic of the beast, just for fun. What a hard life she has. ;) 

I Joined a Group....

....but I didn't participate in the theme this week. The theme was any unstamped mani. My nails from Friday are still going strong and I have been no where for anyone to admire them yet (HA!) so I'm keeping it on for another day or two. Hopefully I'm up for the challenge next Sunday! 

I did paint my toenails, but I can't say I love it. But I'll share anyway. I don't like French tips on my toes but they look gorge on other people's. What can ya do?

Also, I added a GOTTA HAVE IT! tab at the top, I've been admiring so many swatches on everyone's blogs lately, so I guess it's time to start a wishlist so I can keep track! The list is pretty short for right now.

I'll leave you with a picture of my little Riley.