Playing With Polish--Ugly Tribal/Easter Egg

Okay, so I had this great idea that I would create a pastel tribal pattern on my pinkish manicure. Little did I know how positively hilarious this would turn out! See for yourself...

This was definitely a "miss" in my book. The manicure which was supposed to be a pastel tribal, ended up looking like an ugly Easter egg! Oh well, here is to next time! *cheers*

Time Warp Challenge--Day 8

This is sadly the final day of the "Let's Do the Time Warp" Challenge.  I think this was my favorite challenge ever.  It was so much fun and everyone participating was so encouraging.  Thank you to all of you for making this so wonderful.  And a special THANK YOU to Lindsay from Neverland Nail Blog for hosting and creating this challenge.

Today's challenge is... 

Let's do the TIME WARP again!

This challenge was basically to recreate a manicure of another participant.  This was such a difficult challenge.  The manicures were all so amazing and well executed that I was intimidated to recreate any of them.  However, when I saw the manicure created for Day 4 (Lights, Camera, Action!) by The Polished Squirrel I new that this was the one I wanted to attempt.  Stephanie was inspired by the classic fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses.  Here is her incredible manicure & a bit of the story if you're unfamiliar with it.

The version I grew up with was slightly different from the one Stephanie recounts.  The book I remember is this one:

I always loved the story, but the illustrations in this particular book were to die for.  They were so stunning.  The story I remember is different from the one Stephanie told in that the soldier in her story was a gardener in the above tale AND in the one above the princesses were under a curse.  To solve the mystery, the gardener was given a magical golden flower to put into his lapel that made him invisible unlike the cloak of the soldier.  Due to these differences, I changed the manicure ever so slightly to include the flower instead of the cloak.  Below are the trees of the silver, gold, and diamond forests with the magical flower on my pinkie.

 I adore this manicure.  Thank you so much Stephanie from the Polished Squirrel for your inspiration and your beautiful manicure.  I could never do it justice!

Polishes used: SinfulColors Black on Black, Barielle Granite Glitter, Barielle Gold Digger, China Glaze Champagne Bubbles, NfuOh 61, Barielle Green Opal, OPI Stranger Tides, and marquis rhinestones

That's all.  Thank you to all of you for your wonderful comments and support throughout this challenge:)  Here's a quick recap: 

OPI Stranger Tides

This is my last week at the beach:-\

While digging through swacthes & past manicures to post about, I realized that I had only shared 2 of the 4 OPI Stranger Tides minis I own!  This is the perfect week to share the other 2.  Today I'm sharing Stranger Tides, the namesake of the 2011 spring collection.

 

This color is a greyed-out dusty, dingy sage.  This cream polish required 3 coats to even out & reach opacity.

The Verdict:
I love the color but hate the application.  ALL of my mini OPIs are a pain to apply because of the dinky brush with stiff plastic bristles.  I think if I had a full size of this it would have been a different application.  This color is kind of ugly, but it's so ugly it's pretty.  I found myself staring at this color all day at work when I wore it.  I guess I'll have to track down the full-size:)

OPI nail polish retails for around $8 and can be found in many beauty retailers.  This collection is no longer available, although Ulta's summer collection contains many polishes from this collection.

Summer Fun Challenge--Day 5

Lindsey at the Neverland Nail Blog is so incredibly creative.  I love her blog so very much and about 3 weeks ago she announced The Summer Fun Challenge.

Day 5: ARE WE THERE YET?

I have been traveling quite a bit this summer so this phrase hits rather close to home.  I'm actually at the point that I'm sick of traveling & all I want is to stay at home.  Unfortunately that is not going to happen...yet.  So to celebrate this mantra what could be better than MAPS:)  First you should be impressed that I even own an atlas, even if it is an old German atlas:)  

 I'm rather directionally challenged so my husband thought it was hilarious that I painted maps on my nails.  I always have some sort of GPS in my car at all times!
This manicure began as a base of some Sally Hansen white polish.  The beige looking squiggles (mountain tops) were actually created with OPI Skull & Glossbones, but my brush was a little dirty for some reason from a crazy pigmented red and made it look a tad pink.  The green parks/forests were made with OPI Stranger Tides.  Then I squiggled Barielle Berry Blue for rivers & lakes, made dots for cities out of Sinful Colors Black on Black, and finally connected the cities with Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby roads.


I like how this turned out, especially since it was created while I had a migraine.  Yay for maps!

Take a peek at the other Are We There Yet? manicures: