Time Periods Challenge: Ancient Egypt

Hello everyone! You'll notice a bit of a difference in my nails with this post. Three of my nails broke last week. I filed them down pretty short and found out the hard way a few hours later that they weren't filed enough. One of them caught and broke again! My nails had to be filed shorter than I've had them in a good long while � so short that the tips of my fingers actually hurt where the extra length of my nails usually protected them.

But enough about that. Here is my post for the Time Periods Challenge. Today is Ancient Egypt. I've seen so many hieroglyph nails and the rarer death mask inspired nails that I wanted more than anything to do something different. Here's my attempt to think outside the box.

I'm not an expert, but I've always been slightly fascinated with Ancient Egypt. The pharaohs, the Gods, their way of life � it's all so interesting to me. Did you know cats were highly revered by the Ancient Egyptians? Some cats of royalty were dressed in gold jewelry and allowed eat from their owners' plates!

What better way of thinking outside the box than to do a cat nail for Ancient Egypt? I used a saran wrap base of Color Show Bold Gold and Funky Fingers Platinum Record. The cat is a representation of Bast/Bastet � most often shown as a black cat with gold jewelry or a woman with the head of a black cat.

I couldn't find my nail art brush so the cat was done with a combo of dotting tool and sewing needle (for the ears, tail, and collar).

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Watermelon Nails

Wow, is it time for another post already? I was going to use yesterday to get my pictures all nicely resized and watermarked and, if I had some extra time, get a few posts typed up for auto-posting ... yeah, that didn't happen. Lol! I spent the past two days doing extreme cleaning. I don't know about you but cleaning makes me hungry and there's nothing better than a nice refreshing watermelon!

This design was originally done by The Polish Well. I fell in complete and total love with this idea after seeing her nails posted on Beautylish. I debated doing them on my own nails since she had already done such an amazing job on them ... but you should know by now that I have no impulse control. I couldn't resist.

I knew immediately that I wanted to use Funky Fingers' neon Kingston for the flesh of the watermelon. For the skin, I decided to go slightly more realistic by using China Glaze Holly-Day as a base and dabbing on a light speckling of Sally Hansen Green with Envy. I also used this color to draw the squiggles onto the watermelon.

I wish I had had a watermelon on hand (no pun intended) so I could have pictures of this mani next to a real watermelon. My family were amazed at how real they looked when we went shopping while I was wearing this mani.

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Neon Sunbeams

I'M BAAACK!!! Well, I've been back for a week but I needed time to mourn the loss of the beach. I missed it horribly this week. Gasp, I didn't even want to do my nails this week! However, that's over with, and I'm ready to get back into my usual posting schedule. I have a few nail designs saved up for you but I want to share my beach nails in this post. The design for this post was inspired by Neon Rays by Chloe's Nails. I thought they were the perfect nails to arrive at the beach with. And these nails are amazingly easy to do. The hardest part was actually cutting the tape since I don't own any striping tape.

I'm not sure where the idea came from, I remember reading it on a blog somewhere, but the easiest way to cut the tape is to take a strip of the tape and place it on a sheet of wax paper. That way the tape doesn't stick to your scissors and you can get nearly perfect 'beams' every time. Simply peel them off once your base polishes are dry and create the beam pattern. I used the fairly standard beam pattern but you could turn the beams around, do different beam patterns on different nails or even do something else like zigzags.

Speaking of the base polishes, you gals should know by now that I always use two (or more) coats of white to make the neons pop. This time I used two coats of China Glaze White on White. The neon polishes are China Glaze Sun Worshiper, Color Club Yell-Oh! (which looks slightly green to me and these pictures agree), and Funky Fingers Kingston. I didn't do or use anything special to get the polishes lined up on my nails. I tried using a nail art brush but they were simply too small to work with so I used the polish brush and carefully painted stripes on either side of my nail and finished with a stripe down the middle. These colors took two coats and I was extra careful with the final coat to touch up any mistakes I made with the first. It may sound daunting and there is a moment of panic before you begin (how could such a large brush make three lines without overlapping horribly?) but it's really not once you start! Trust me! You will want to be careful with the wider brushes such as some of the Sally Hansen brushes and the Wet n Wild Pro brushes. If you just have to use one of these brushes try tipping the brush in it's side. That will give you a slimmer brush to work with.

Let your base polishes dry. You can add a top coat before taping for extra protection against chips and bleed through and also to give a smoother finish if you like. After your polishes are dry simply tape your pattern. Make sure the tape lays flat and remember to fold the ends of the tape over your nail tips and work it into the creases of your fingers. Coat your nail (and the tips of your nail between the tape) in your top polish. I chose black but again it doesn't have to be black. Once you have your top polish on immediately remove your tape. I use a pair of tweezers to grasp the tape (less messy and a smaller chance of smudging already completed nails) and get best results when I pull the tape slowly and smoothly back over my nail from the tip ... much like waxing in slow motion. :)

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Neon Splatter

If there's one thing I love it's neon nail polish. I really don't think there's much better ... except maybe neon splatter nails!!!

Splatter nails create such a unique look for your nails. You'll never get the same design twice even if you use the same polishes. And, all told, they're really not that hard to do. All you need is polish, a piece of paper, some tape (for easier cleanup), and a straw. Tape around your nails, drop some polish onto a piece of paper, dip your straw into the polish and blow in one hard puff over your nail. Be sure to keep the piece of paper under your hand so you don't ruin your workstation. This may not always get a splatter but just keep trying until your straw picks up enough polish.

My problem with splatter nails? I don't know when to quit! I just keep adding more and more splatters until my base polish is practically covered and the splatters are everywhere. I think I managed to reign myself in more than usual with this splatter, but there's still a lot of them.

My right hand is less covered with splatter, but I did have a major drip on my middle finger and couldn't manage to get very many on my ring finger. Also, I somehow managed to smudge the polish on my index nail. I have no idea how. One moment it was fine and then next it was bunched. There was simply no fixing it.

And here you can see the thumb of my right hand. It has a good splatter pattern and managed to get a good splatter of each color.

Overall, I think this turned out really great. I definitely want to do more neon splatter nails. I'm thinking Sun Worshiper would make an amazing base color.

Polishes Used

Color Club - Yell-Oh!

Color Club - Mrs. Robinson

Funky Fingers - Kingston

China Glaze - Sun Worshiper

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Sun Rays

Another post already?? Yes! And you'll be getting one tomorrow too and maybe the next day! Are you excited? I know I am.

I'm pretty proud of these nails. It is my first time doing a design like this. I wasn't sure of it at first but I came to enjoy the overall look. I do wish I had gone with my first thought and used brighter under colors, but it is what it is. :)

I started off with two coats of a white polish over my base coat. Then I used a flat nail art brush to paint on each color, beginning with a dabbing motion and using a clear polish to blend them together. After the polish dried I used tape to create a sun ray design. I think this was the hardest part because I don't own striping tape. This meant I had to cut pieces of tape to the correct size. I went through a lot of tape before I finally got the hang of it!

Once everything was taped up, I used one coat of black over the tape, let it dry for a moment and peeled the tape off. It left behind a near perfect sun ray design. Be very careful not to leave the tape on for too long! I did this very thing on my right hand and the tape peeled off a strip of not just the under colors but the two coats of white and my base coat!! Thankfully I was able to touch them up but you could totally ruin your entire mani this way!

The first three pictures were taken in the shade and brightened with my camera's light filter. (My first time using this filter. Let me know what you think.) The last picture was taken in full sunlight. The colors are truer with the last picture.


Polish Used

• Borghese - Brilliante
• LA Colors - White
• LA Colors - Black
• China Glaze - First Mate
• China Glaze - Secret Peri-Wink-Le
• Revlon - Blue Lagoon
• Funky Fingers - Sugarplum Fairy
• Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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Cracked Neon

Hello all you lovely followers! I hope everyone is doing okay. I was going to have this posted sooner but I got horribly sick this weekend. I'm happy to say that I'm feeling much better now though.

Today's post is a very simple mani, but one that I think is so perfect for summer.

Summer is the perfect time to catch the eyes of those around you, and what better way than with such of burst of color?

The thing to remember with neon polish is that you get the most color when it is layered over white. That's why, for this mani, I used two coats of white polish under two coats of neon before adding one coat of white crackle. This makes the neon color really pop.


Polish Used

• Borghese - Brilliante
• LA Color - White
• Funky Fingers - Kingston
• Funky Fingers - White Scales
• Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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From The Vault: Simple Glitter

... or maybe not so simple glitter.

This post is coming to you from the vault (or what I call my forgotten nail folder) since my nails are still painted Ocean Sunrise. They're holding up very well, showing simple tip wear on only one finger. Amazing! So, I decided to keep them until they start chipping.


With this in mind, I decided to post my before Easter mani. This mani was painted for one day of wear; between Paint Splatter to Hoppy Easter. I didn't want something I wouldn't want to take off so it had to be kept simple. This is what I came up with.

I used the polish that is quickly becoming a favorite of my collection. Maybe not my all time favorite but definitely within the top 10 ... maybe even the top 5 of the polishes I own. This is 2 coats of Wet n Wild Megalast in 'I Need a Refresh-Mint' with one coat of Funky Fingers 'Flashing Lights'.


Flashing Lights is a blue (or blue/green) based holographic glitter that I picked up at Five Below last month. The glitter is always catching the light and shifting colors. My two-year-old niece was fascinated by this mani and wouldn't let my fingers go for nearly five minutes, insisting she wanted her nails to look like mine. It must be something great if it can keep a kid that age distracted for any length of time!

What glitter post is complete without a blurred photo? This is just one coat of holo polish; you could certainly get a more eye-catching look with more glitter. However, I tried to keep the glitter (and thus the cleanup) to a minimum.

I thought I would take a moment and add a picture of the bottle so you can see what I mean when I call it a blue based holo. This is Flashing Lights compared to Sand & Stilettos, a purple based holo.

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Ocean Sunrise

I am so excited for today's post!! The women of my family started what we hope is a yearly tradition last year by going on vacation together. My mom, my sister, her three girls, and myself went to the beach for a few days. We're going for a full week this year!

My favorite part of being at the beach (besides everything!) was sitting on our hotel balcony every morning with a cup of coffee watching the sunrise over the ocean. I think I got more pictures of that than nearly anything else.

I don't think this is a design you look at and immediately think beach, but I'm getting a gym membership soon in hopes of toning up a bit for the beach. I needed motivation!! I look at my nails and see the overwhelming beauty of every sunrise I saw over the ocean. It's just what I need.

Thumb

I had such fun doing this mani. It was like truly painting on tiny canvases. I mixed up my own colors and swirled them around on my nails to get just the right look. I put the sun on my ring finger and edged the sunrise out to the purple and blue of a night sky just being touched by the sun's rays.


So, what do you guys think of my motivational beach nails?

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Paint Splatter - Image Heavy

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing great today. It's looking pretty nice here. The sun is shining, there's an Easter egg hunt later, and the kids are off school. Not my kids though since I don't have any�they're my sister's kids and it will be great to watch them hunt for Easter eggs. :)

The mani I have for you today is one I've been dying to try since I did The Hunger Games nails. Paint splatter!! I thought of doing pastels for Easter but I've fallen in love with the Funky Fingers neon orange color, Kingston, and decided to work around that instead. Wanting to give it a chance to really shine I used blue, purple, and yellow with the orange.


This post is very image heavy since I took pictures of nearly every stage of doing these nails. So, prepare yourselves. :p

The first part of doing these nails (after painting your base color) is taping your fingers. This will make cleanup much easier. This is 3 coats of LA Colors white. I've tried many whites (both cheap and expensive) and none have held up as well as this white. The whites I use chip within the day but LA Colors held up for multiple days and are only showing slight wear and tear to the tips. I definitely recommend hunting this polish out if you have trouble finding a good white because not only does it hold up well, I found it at my local Dollar Store.

The next step is gathering your supplies (polish and a regular old straw. I used a bendy one and it worked perfectly) and getting your station set up. You'll need something to put under your fingers while you 'splatter' or you'll end up with this mess all over your work station instead of on a piece of paper. This is just the mess from one hand. I switched papers for my right hand.

Even with the tape your nails will need some cleanup.

Direct Sunlight

Shade

Right Hand

I had trouble getting splatter on my right hand. It came out of the straw in blobs or small sprays, but in all I think it actually turned out better. I'll have to remember that less splatter looks more realistic when I do this again.


So, what do you guys think? Ready to try splatter nails? If you are, I recommend using your cheaper polishes. Splatter nails waste a good bit of polish, both with the actual splatter and with the large drops of polish you dip your straw into.


Polish Used

• Borghese - Brillante
• LA Colors - BCC 561 (White)
• Funky Fingers - Kingston
• Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away!
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• NYC - Prince Street
• Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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The Hunger Games

In honor of my finishing The Hunger Games trilogy and in anticipation of the first movie, I decided to do Hunger Games nail art. I think this is one of the only books I've ever read where I didn't prefer any one character over any other; I just plain liked them all: in various different ways, yes, but still ... I tip my imaginary hat to Suzanne Collins.

The first nail, the thumb, is the mockingjay of course. I mean, what else could possibly say Hunger Games better than the mockingjay? Not my best work, I admit. I'm guessing it looks more like a blob than a bird with an arrow if you don't know what you're looking for.

The index finger is to honor Katniss Everdeen, The Girl on Fire, one light shining gloriously in the dark of District 12 (and all of Panem). The flame, the dark surrounding it, and a little bit of coal using black crackle to show where she comes from.

Next is the one nail I desperately wanted to do but debated endlessly on just how to accomplish it. Even with my love and sorrow over Rue, I was left agonizing over what to do for her. I already had the mockingjay, but that was for the overall series. I could do an orchard tree but that didn't feel right either. Finally, I decided to follow Katniss and honor Rue with flowers. So, I tried covering the entire nail in nothing but flowers. I reworked this multiple times. I can't tell you how many times I had to use nail polish remover. Finally, I used a combination of stamping and a brush to fill the flowers in with different colors. The flowers cover the peephole into another world; one where Rue leaps through the trees like a bird with the whistles of her mockingjays singing that she's safe. Yeah, I'm a big ol' sap!

After that is the forest, stream, and the cave from the Arena. Again, it's not my best work, but I lost a good deal of canvas space. I haven't done a nail art design this intricate since I cut off a lot of my nail length. Still, I'm very pleased. Blue Year's Eve makes an absolutely stunning stream! All that bright blue glitter gleaming from the darker polish just speaks of hidden depths, and whether what lurks in those depths is good or bad will only be found out when you dip in a toe. I tried to add a muddy-ish, sandy bank and some odd rocks before it leads into the greanery of the forest. I'm pretty sure it was the other way around in the books: the forest leads into the barren stream riddled with a mess of rocks and the cave, but I couldn't see filling a whole nail with rocks.

Last but not least, I wanted to do something to encompass the violence of the Hunger Games. I knew I wanted blood, but wasn't sure in what way until I happened upon the trailer while searching out ideas. I saw the reaping of District 12, and when I saw the drab gray blues of their clothes (Katniss's horrific dress especially) I knew what I had to do. The blood spatter is done by straw as per a tutorial I found on Youtube. However, the original idea goes to thepolishaholic.com.


Not sure if anyone wants know this but I thought I would include it just in case. You can totally skip over this. :)



Polish Used
Thumb

• Wet n Wild - Goldmine
• Funky Fingers - Platinum Record
• Petites - Bronze Baby

Index

• L.A. Colors - Black Velvet
• Pure Ice - Siren
• Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• Funky Fingers - Black Scales

Middle

• Sally Hansen - White On
• Revlon - Tangerine
• Sally Hansen- Sun Kissed
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• Pure Ice - Siren
• Borghese - Buon Viaggio Mauve
• Sinful Colors - Beautiful Girl
• Sinful Colors - Feeling Great
• Bon Bons - Blue

Ring

• Sally Hansen - Green with Envy
• Sally Hansen - Emerald City
• Pure Ice - Free Spirit
• Funky Fingers - Platinum Record
• Wet n Wild - Metallica
• Sally Hansen - Wet Cement
• L.A. Colors - Black Velvet
• China Glaze - Blue Year's Eve

Pinky

• Revlon - Cloud
• Pure Ice - Siren

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Red Leopard

Hello my lovely readers! I feel like I'm really late with my posting. It's been such a busy week and I've gone through my polish pretty quickly. I have this post and two others, and the polish I have on now is starting to show wear on the tips. But that just means more posts for you to read!


That said, I'm so excited! This blog has hit 20 (+1) followers. I never expected so many of you!! In honor of that number I've decided to do a giveaway. I already have the prizes ... bought by me with my limited funds�I just hope they're good enough to show the depths of my appreciation. Now I just have to figure out how hosting a giveaway works. I'll have it put together and posted soon!! I have high hopes to one day have great prizes, random giveaways, and lots more for milestone follower numbers. Be on the lookout in the next few days for your chance to enter.


Now, onto the post. This was inspired by a Pinterest pin. I clicked the wrong thing before I could repin and the page reloaded. Sadly, I can't for the life of me find the picture again. I did a few searches but nothing. However, a google search brought up Reverse Rockabilly by The Daily Nail. The picture isn't the one I saw on Pinterest but the design is near exact. I feel I have to give credit somewhere so it goes to The Daily Nail. :)

I only managed to get one good picture of these nails completed. I have really got to finish making my light-box; I hate my pictures being at the mercy of Mother Nature. I did manage to get two pictures while I was working on them though that I'm willing to share.

Look at that mess! Not so pretty while I work on them, are they?

I was feeling extremely shaky the day I did these; so much so that I actually dropped my nail polish brush/cap and splattered gold all over my keyboard. That has certainly never happened before. I just didn't trust myself with a nail art brush; I was already imagining the absolute horror if I attempted it, so I just used my stamper and the leopard print image plate (Salon Express plate SE11). I'm really beginning to love stamping. I prefer to hand paint but it's great for those days when my hands are shaking too badly for detail work.

Here they are before I added the pearls. I went shopping with my sister that day and we got some sunlight while driving. Of course, I spent no time enjoying this little ray of sunshine. I used this break in cloud cover simply for picture taking. I have such a one track mind! Don't you love it? :)


Polish Used
Funky Fingers - Platinum Record
China Glaze - Poinsettia
LA Colors - BCC 585 (Black)


*Pearls bought from the Born Pretty Store. Definitely worth at least a browse through.

• Also, check out the new additions I added today. There are now Facebook like buttons below every post and if you look to the top left you will now see buttons to both follow me on Twitter and one to like my Facebook page. You can also look up at the top and find the new page additions�About Me, Contact Me, and my Disclosure. Take a moment to read them if you have time. :)

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