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

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 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 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 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

31 Day Challenge: Day 10: Gradient!

Does this mani remind you of something? Yesterday’s rainbow mani, perhaps? I didn’t realize how similar they were until I was editing photos! When I like something, I really like it and of course it didn’t help that I did this mani immediately after the rainbow mani. I used Zoya Zuza, Apple, and one of my new Color Club polishes. Blues/greens are my favorite so no surprise I was drawn to these colors. I topped it all with Spoiled Pet my Peacock, because these colors reminded me of peacock feathers. I wish I had a cool feather stamp or peacock design.

Enough talk, here’s the pics:

Do you see again the troubles I have with these type of polishes? My cuticle areas are a mess! Just ignore that part and look at the GLITTER!

I really liked this, I hated to remove it. Tomorrow is polka dots, so be sure to come back tomorrow and in the mean time, check out my partners in crime!

Kelsie @ www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Steph @ www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda @ www.noxnails.blogspot.com

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

Thanks for reading!

Erin

31 Day Challenge: Day 9: Rainbow!

Today’s challenge was rainbow. I interpreted this to mean simply a rainbow of colors, since we are still in the colors portion of the challenge. Thank goodness, because I absolutely suck as using nail art brushes so drawing a rainbow would have been very interesting.

Here goes:

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to clean up foil/metallic/glass fleck polishes??? Every darn time they are nearly impossible to remove from my cuticles, and they leave shimmer residue all over my skin! So I apologize for the cuticle-y polish-y mess, but I had the hardest time getting it cleaned up. As you can see, my thumb turned out nice so I suspect it is the type of polishes I used! I use regular acetone and makeup brushes, but it’s not working with me on this!

For this mani I used a series of Color Club polishes which I believe might be a new summer release for a series called “Take Wing.” I was really impressed with these; they are my first Color Clubs, and they were only $8 for the whole set of 8 (7?) polishes! I also used Zoya Sooki for the red, and Apple for the green. Those four fingers were topped with Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada. My thumb is Ulta Bam-Blue-Zled. I think that Ulta cremes are my favorites, they formulas are excellent and the polishes always look perfect. Then Spoiled Correction Tape dotted on for clouds.

Check out the other rainbow manis at:

Kelsie @ www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Steph @ www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda @ www.noxnails.blogspot.com

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

-Erin-

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 2: Orange!

Well, it’s day 2! And I’ve learned that I really don’t like orange! haha! I tried THREE manis before this one made the cut, which just goes to show you how bad the other two turned out! First thing, is neons photograph horribly. The second thing is, the two oranges I have are so great on their own that the nail art should be great, well I am not so much great with the nail arts. So, this is what I came up with.

So I took a tons of pics and none really captured what this is all about. That neon just makes my little camera freak out. I used China Glaze Sun Worshipper on my pointer, with Sally Hansen Ring-a-Ding! for the glitter. The rest is Dots Neon Orange. All topped with a matte top coat but you can’t really tell. :/ No matter what, the neon is super eye catching, so still a win in my book. These colors really stained my cuticles, though. Haha and I just spied a piece of spare glitter on my thumb! Yikes! Honestly, sometime I should take a pic when I am in the middle of trying out some nail art because I make a holy hell mess. So no surprise I have glitter in strange places. ;)

Make sure you check out what the other girls did today! I loved the red manis from yesterday – I’m not much of a red nail polish person but maybe that will change. ;)

Kelsie @ www.kelsiesnailfiles.blogspot.com

Steph @ www.alittlepolish.blogspot.com

Amanda @ www.noxnails.blogspot.com
and Jess @ http://nearlynaturalnails.blogspot.com  has joined us as well! Lots of fun manis to look at today! Let's hope they turned out better than mine. :/ 

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Erin

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

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