GOT Polish Challenge: Skittle

Hello!

For those of you who are regular readers, this looks a bit familiar! I swatched Cult Nails Mayhem for yesterday's post and realized I was well on my way to this weeks GOT Polish prompt, "Skittle".

I started with a base coat, and the following polishes:

Indoors, direct filtered sunlight, no flash.

Left hand, thumb to pinkie: Essie Armed and Ready, Zoya Ibiza, Zoya Arizona, Pure Ice Wild Thing, and Color Club Gossip Column. All of which definitely qualify for the challenge as they're all at least a year old!

Indoors, direct filtered sunlight, no flash.

Right hand, thumb to pinkie: Sinful Colors Amethyst, OPI Koala Bear-y, Barielle Lemondrops, Zoya Robyn, and Models Own Pink Punch. Amethyst and Pink Punch are newer polishes, but the rest have been around awhile. I'm counting 8 of 10 polishes as good enough here!

I added one coat of Cult Nails Mayhem, a holographic topcoat, to unify the look. Then, I placed rhinestones and shapes from a nail art wheel on each finger adhered with topcoat. Fun and vibrant!

More soon! ^_^

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish Challenge: Orange

Hello!

Today's GOT Polish Challenge prompt is "Orange"! I double-dipped for inspiration this week!

I started with two coats of China Glaze Riveting over my base of Seche Clear. Riveting is the best orange polish -- It's so gorgeous! I then stamped the orange slices from Bundle Monster plate BM-308 in Konad Special Polish White. I sealed that with one coat of NYC In a New York Minute.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Then, I used one coat of Zoya Coraline, another oldie but goodie (so old, in fact, it was one of my very first swatch posts!), to create a stamped jelly sandwich. I finished that off with one coat of Seche Vite.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Finally, I added one coat of Butter London Matte for this shimmery, juicy look.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish Challenge: Chevron

Hi!

Today's GOT Polish Challenge prompt is "Chevron"!

I started with two coats of Wet'n'Wild Red Tape, which is definitely one of my older polishes. I did take swatch pictures of it before I continued on with the nail art, so expect to see a full-fledged post on that in the next few weeks. I remember that I purchased Red Tape sometime in 2010, soon after I moved out here. I hope it's still available from Wet'n'Wild in some form because it's a vibrant red-orange unlike anything else I have.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

After that was mostly dry, I sponged Barielle Lemondrops over Red Tape in random places. I hit that with one coat of Seche Vite. Once it was all dry, I used the fantastic chevron image from Bundle Monster plate BM-201 and Konad Special Polish in Black. A quick coat of NYC In a New York Minute and voila!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Bright and fun! I did attempt to do a nude and black chevron-shaped french tip before these, and it was a complete fail. So, in my frustration, I nubbinized my nails and went with this look instead! When all else fails, stamp it!

More soon! ^_^

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish Challenge: Valentines

Hiya!

Today's GOT Polish Challenge prompt is Valentines!

While I love pink polish, I wanted to go in a slightly different direction for this Valentine's Day-themed mani. I started with two coats of China Glaze Sweet Hook over a base coat combination of Duri Rujuvacote and Sinful Colors Nail Hardener. One coat of Seche Vite followed that.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Once dry, I used China Glaze Snap My Dragon and Cult Nails Nevermore to stamp several images from these Bundle Monster plates: BM-03, BM-H17, BM-317, and BM-09. I sealed everything with one coat of NYC In a New York Minute.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I had a terrible time stamping! No matter what I did, I got the faded, distressed, and just not clean image transfer you see on every nail! I couldn't find my Konad Special Black, which might have solved this problem, so the hunt is on! At least the distressed look is consistent throughout, so, yeah... I meant to do that! :P

More soon! ^_^

GOT Polish Challenge: Green

Hello!

Today's prompt is green.. my least favorite polish color of all... welp, let's get on it!

I started with one coat of Sinful Colors Base Coat, two coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge Halcyon, and one coat of Seche Vite. Once that was dry I attempted to stamp a floral design in pink (which you can sort of see on my pinkie), but had no luck. I think either my stamping plate isn't etched deep enough or the pink polish I tried to use has gotten too thick. So, I abandoned that idea for the ivy pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-312 and Cult Nails Nevermore, which worked out much better! I randomly stamped parts of the image around my nails to evoke the sense that the ivy has started to get overgrown on my nails. I think it turned out quite nicely.

Indoors, artificial, light, no flash.

I like the somber look of this. There's something reminiscent of The Secret Garden about it. I like how the pink shimmer in Halcyon adds a bit of interest and intrigue. Okay, Green, you can stay... in small quantities.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

GOT Polish Challenge: Dots

Hello!

Today's GOT Polish Challenge prompt is "Dots"!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I was inspired by two different bloggers here. First, I used Chalkboard Nails' tutorial for the placement. Second, my color choices were inspired by this post from A Girl and Her Polish. I started with a base of Sinful Colors Unicorn. I used a few different sized dotting tools to place dots over Unicorn with Color Club Wildflower, China Glaze Riveting, and Zoya Robyn. One coat of NYC In a New York Minute left this smooth and glossy.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

After that, I tried this out mattified. Love it both ways! Check out the rest of the dotticures!

More soon! ^_^

GOT Polish Challenge: Blue

Hello!

Today's GOT Polish Challenge prompt is "Blue"! And here's my blue mani:

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I started with a base coat of Seche Clear and two coats of Contrary Polish Santorini, which is so gorgeous. Why don't I wear this more? Sheesh! Anyway, I continued on with a coat of Seche Vite, and once that was dry, I stamped the snowflakes from BM-323 with Konad Special Polish in white. I finished it up with a coat of NYC In a New York Minute and then one of INM Northern Lights.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Has this design been done to death? Yes! But I hadn't done one yet! I love snow and cold, and we have that here this week. I love it!

More soon! ^_^

GOT Polish Challenge: Stripes

Hello!

Today's GOT Polish Challenge prompt is "Stripes"!

I used my two picks from last year's Hologlam Collection from China Glaze, Strap on Your Moon Boots and When Stars Collide. These are not quite a year old, but close. I think that collection came out in March or early April. Anyway, I swatched them once and never wore them again... what a shame!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I started with a base coat combination of Duri Rejuvacote and Sinful Colors Nail Hardener. After that, I layered on one coat of When Stars Collide, and topped it with one coat of Seche Vite. When that was dry, I used striping tape to create the look and one coat of Strap on Your Moonboots. Once the tape was removed, I used another generous coat of Seche Vite.

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

This turned out clean and crisp. I love how the two polishes work together, but the holo is so subtle!

Here are the rest of the participants' take on the prompt:


More soon! ^_^

GOT Polish Challenge: Pink

Hello!

For next few months, I will be participating in a challenge set up by a Facebook group I belong to, Crumpet's Nail Tarts, which is curated by Debbie from The Crumpet. This challenge is called the GOT - Golden Oldie Thursday - Challenge. You can read about it more here, but in short, it's supposed to be a reminder to look at your stash and see all the polish you've loved in the past but never have worn again in lieu of new polish. And, man, do I have a lot of polish! My current count is somewhere around 400 bottles. I went through them all last weekend, and there are so many phenomenal polishes that I loved but, sadly, only ever swatched once. Most never were worn as a full mani.

This challenge is perfect because it not only makes you focus on older polishes, but is also very doable for me at one challenge per week. I like to wear my nail art for awhile and usually only have time for polish related things on the weekends. Challenges with more than one prompt a week are really a stretch for me to complete since I have to do all the prompts for the week in one day, and whichever one I do last, is the one I end up wearing. It's a lot of effort just for photos, and I hate having to remove a design I loved right away.

The first prompt is "Pink"! My favorite polish color! I've got dozens of great pink polishes, but I picked up Zoya Shelby to start this one. It's a fresh and fun cool-toned pink. I swatched it about a year ago, and aside from using it as undies for a few glitter swatches since then, I haven't actually worn it. Never seen the light of day outside the swatch room. So, before I even did any nail art on this pretty, I wore it alone for a few days and loved it. I was still really into the simple, clean look, so I did a small design using dotting tools and OPI Koala Bear-y, another polish crush I haven't paid any attention to in far too long. I finished with one coat of NYC In a New York Minute.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This design is not my idea. At this point, I'm not sure I can come up with anything original! It's because I've got so many manis pinned to my pinspiration board that are floating around in my head, I don't think I can come up with anything of my own until I get them out! This look is inspired by this pin, from My Life in Turquoise, which she did during the 31 Day Challenge. Simple and cute! Sometimes less is more!

We're using Inlinks to round up all the participants -- so you can view everyone's Pink Mani easily!


More soon! ^_^