Neon Rainbow Crackle with bonus stamping mani!

I feel like such a blogger failure.  Things have just gotten so busy, with kiddo starting school, work, and card night with my cousins (anyone else ever play Peanuts!, it's so much fun).

I did a neon gradient rainbow mani for the challenge, but I am still really bad at gradients so I topped it with O.P.I. Black Shatter to try and hide how bad it was.

Color Club Mambo, Wham! Pow!, and Almost Famous on top of SinfulColors Snow Me White, with O.P.I. Black Shatter

Color Club Twiggie, Pucci-Licious, and Chelsea on SinfulColors Snow Me White, topped with O.P.I. Black Shatter

This is the mani I did instead of a Water Marble, cause I just can't muster up the courage to try that yet...

SinfulColors Midnight Blue and Secret Admirer stamped with Rain Song

I <3 this mani so much, the color change that Rain Song does on Secret Admirer is so awesome, I couldn't stop staring at my hands while at work!  Unfortunately I had a crack on my right ring finger, and have been patching it while waiting for it to grow out.  It finally grew out far enough, but then I broke another nail right before I went to grab my file.  So I am now sporting nubs, again. :(  

I'm working on getting a new post up of my polish set up now that Kiddo's stuff is back in his own room and I have more storage space for the ever growing stash!  So much love for bargain stores and clearance sales!

My First Ever Influenster VoxBox...

...and it was a flop.  I received a Strawberries & Cream SlimFast shake, a martini glass, and 4 recipes to make cocktails/mocktails featuring the 4 flavors of these particular line of shakes.  

Because I live in Southern Florida, and it is super hot here right now, the shake curdled/soured in my mailbox :(

Polka dot nails for this week's challenge.

O.P.I. Black Satin as a base color, with Not Like The Movies on middle and pinkie fingers, and SinfulColors Rain Song on pointer and ring fingers.  Dots are SinfulColors Snow Me White.

Blue frost for Autism, a new base, and a nostalgic love.

I failed at trying to do a flag-inspired mani last week, and I haven't gotten around to doing this week's challenge, so here's my mani that I did for Autism Awareness.

I used Color Club Chelsea, and sponged Wet'N'Wild Break The Ice for the tips.  I loved how shimmery and  frost-like it looked.

I bought the O.P.I. Original Formula Nail Envy at Marshall's for $7.99, and it came with this adorable charm bangle.

Also, I love Ring Pops.  One of my favorite candies from my childhood, along with those bug-shaped SweetTart-like candies in the jar that could be reused as a bug jar.

Candy Corn! Week 4

Whew, what a long weekend.  Went to a local farm for their Pumpkin Festival on Saturday.  It was so much fun, kiddo had a great time and was super happy to get to pick out his pumpkin!  We also picked up some produce that grew on the farm from their produce stand.  While we were standing in line for the hayride, they shot off the Pumpkin Cannon, and I actually caught a video of it! (coming soon)

On to the polish portion of this post.  I figured I'd get a head start on this week's challenge and do a candy corn gradient.

basecoat

2 coats Snow Me White

Color Club Almost Famous for the yellow

Color Club Wham! Pow! for the orange

topcoat

I wore it like this all day Saturday, and actually had one lady compliment me on it at one of the booths (where they were selling some indie polishes along with their handmade soaps and bath stuffs. I didn't pick one up this time, but did pick up their card to see about ordering some later when I have some more money.)  But it was way to bright and loud for my tastes, and I just had to mess with it.  

(Please ignore my lack of clean-up, I was rushed to do these before my cousin's birthday party!) O.P.I. Black Shatter and Wet'N'Wild Black Creme helped tone down the neon-ness, and also gave me an chance to finally use my striping brush.  I was really shaky, but it looked all right I think.

I also managed to find a Kleancolor What Girls Really Talk About Mini set at R.O.S.S. for $4!  They also had a bunch of Color Club multi-packs that didn't really wow me, but I couldn't pass up these glitters!  

Until next time

Jess

Pucci-Licious Crackle - Challenge Week 3

I recently got a set of Color Club polishes for a steal at an outlet store, and have been trying out different looks for the Reddit week of the challenge.  It's the Poptasic collection, and the color I finally settled on was Pucci-Licious, a great shade of purple that I thought would look great with black crackle.  I know it's not really original or creative, but I don't really venture on Reddit that much and was't really inspired by the photos I saw, but did like seeing all the different crackle patterns and ways people mixed it up.  I've always loved crackle paint for those little wooden boxes you can get at the craft stores, so it's no wonder that I've been drawn to crackle nail polish as well.  Trying to get a color-accurate picture was tricky, as this house has crappy lighting and the sun would not come out today. My clean-up could use some more practice as well, I know.  I'm used to just waiting till my polish is dried, then scrubbing off any polish on my skin, but that still leaves my cuticles flooded and uneven :(  I bought some acetone and a cheap paintbrush and am starting to get better at cleaning up that way.

2 coats SinfulColors Snow Me White

2 coats Color Club Pucci-Licious

O.P.I. Black Shatter

Sally Hansen Top Coat

until next time

Jess

Stash and Set Up Post

While I'm trying to come up with a blue nail design for this week's challenge, I figured I'd post the polishes I have now at the start of this blog adventure, and my set up for now.  I usually end up doing my nails late at night, after my son goes to bed.  I have most of my stuff set up at my desk in my room, but I have a pair of clippers, a file, and a cuticle pusher on the cabinet next to my chair in the living room for when I want to fidget with my nails while watching a movie or something.  My buffing block is out there too right now, come to think of it.

Here's my desk set up.  The black and red box is usually over on the computer tower, and my tools pouch is usually under the monitor.  Chromebook (Cr-48, the Pilot Notebook from Google), my awesome Thermos that keeps w/e I'm drinking cold for hours.  Big bottle of pure Acetone, and a bottle of regular nail polish remover.  In the box is my SinfulColors and Insta-Dry polishes, and in the lid is the rest.  My top coat, Elmer's Glue base coat, and cuticle oil are up by the monitor.  Cotton balls, make-up sponges, and q-tips on top of the tower.  Tools in pouch, and a little glass tea light holder that I use to hold acetone for when i use my nail brushes (currently has a cotton ball in it that I used to wipe off excess cuticle oil from my finger nails).

The tools in my pouch:

I got the pouch at Big Lots for $4, had a bunch of Ms Manicure items.  Left side has nail clippers, cuticle nippers, dotting tool, cuticle pusher, nail file, and 2 brushes I got at Michael's, one for nail art and the other for clean-up.  Right side has toe separators, Salon Express stamper set, old gift card for scraping, Born Pretty Store Hello Kitty plate I got for free one random night, and 2 MASH plates I got for a penny each on Copious.  Paper hole reinforcement stickers and couple of orange sticks are also in there.  

 

Now for the polishes.

Kleancolor Chunky Holo Bluebell, Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple, NYC Matte Top Coat, Color Changing Blue/Green chrome, O.P.I. Turquoise Shatter, O.P.I.Black Shatter

Sally Hansen:

Nail Prisms Lapis Amethyst, Xtreme Wear Invisible, Complete Manicure Black Platinum, Advanced Hard As Nails Strengthening Top Coat, Xtreme Nails Blinding Blue, InstaDri Brisk Blue, Crackle Overcoat Cherry Smash, InstaDri Rapid Red, InstaDri Blue-Away

 

Tokyo Pearl, Ruby Ruby, Snow Me White, Last Chance

Frenzy, Cinderella, Ciao Bella!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City, SinfulColors What's Your Name, SinfulColors Queen of Beauty, Wet'n'Wild Black Creme, Wet'n'Wild Magnetic Igniting The Spark, and Wet'n'Wild Fantasy Makers Glow in the Dark Go With The Glow

I also have a SinfulColors Let's Talk, but my camera hates it and I can't get a close enough color accurate pic, so have a Google search image:

That's it for tonight, until next time

Jess