Summer Challenge Day 10- Tropical Drinks

Hi all! Well today I bring you yet another well...failure. I had this idea in my head of a great manicure that would look like I had little limes on my nails, but it didn't quite work out that way. So I started off actually trying for half moons that looked like limes, but that REALLY didn't work so then I used my dotting tool and a brush to try and get little limes, but that also didn't quite work out so well. I started off with two coats of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in "Green with Envy" then I used my Kiss nail art white for the little limes and added Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in "Going Green" on top and then more white for the little lines. (which there aren't enough of, but that's what I could get to fit on them) The whole idea came from this awesome bourbon limeade that my friend makes during the summer, but unfortunately the idea in my head didn't exactly come out quite right. So without further ado here are the pictures of my not so wonderful limeade nails.

I am gunna try really hard to come up with something totally awesome for the next challenge! I am really gunna try and get something to work and look super cute for it so wish me luck! :-)

Back on Track! Summer Challenge Days 8/9

Hi everyone! Sorry I missed out on the last challenge post and this one is a bit late too, but here goes! So for day 8 the challenge was beaches so I thought I would do a gradient manicure that looked like the water kind of turning into the sand. Well I think the idea was okay, but the execution was a bit off...I had never tried the sponge method before and I guess I should have practiced a bit more before, but I sort of ran out of time. So here is my first ever attempt at a sponge gradient manicure.

I started off with two coats of Essie's "Coat Azure" and then sponged on Orly's "Nite Owl" for the sand color. Of course I now realize that to really do this right I should have put both the colors on the sponge so they blended a bit better. I think I will have to try this one again sometime soon and really test it out because I love the look of a good gradient manicure.

So now onto day 9, which was summer memory. Well my favorite part about summer is being able to wear flip flops. I also have a really cute pair with pink polka dots so this manicure is my memory of my flip flops. :-)

I started with two coats of NYC Color's "Sidewalkers", which is my go to favorite grey ever and then I used my trusty Jordana black striper for the thong part and then Essence's "Ultimate Pink" for the polka dots. Well everyone, I hope you at least slightly enjoyed these and I am oh so very sorry for being late with them, but I was having much too much fun in the sun with my friends and my sister for the past few days. :-) Until next time! Enjoy! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 7- Ice Cream

Hi everyone! Well today I have a pretty sweet manicure for ya! (hehehe sorry I couldn't help myself!) My favorite flavor of ice cream inspired this one so here goes! I loooove me some mint chocolate chip ice cream so I started off with two easy breezy coats of Wet n' Wild's "I need a refresh-mint" then I topped that with a coat of "Shredded" from Icing, which is a really cool black flake top coat in a clear base. Then I topped that off with a thin coat of Essie's "Marshmallow" for that jelly sandwich effect and to make it a bit more mint chip-ish. I really like the overall effect and to me it is totally yummy! Hehehe sorry again I just can't seem to help myself! :-) So onto the pictures!

Hope you all enjoy this one as much as I do! Now I think I might have to go get myself some ice cream! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 6- Favorite Summer Color

Hi everyone! Well today I have an awesome color for you! My awesome sister again is to thank for this one because she is too lucky (or unlucky depending how you look at it) that she lives down the street from an Ulta so she finds some special yummy polishes and shares from time to time. :-) SO! She found China Glaze's "Custom Kicks" and I love it!!!!!!!!! SoOoOo without further ado onto the pictures!

I loooooove this color so much! I think it is a really unique color because of the strong gold shimmer that runs though the deep teal color. It looks like the ocean on a sunny day to me, with the sun shinning and reflecting off the water. Anyways, this is my idea of a summer color! :-) Hope you enjoyed it too! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 5- Fruit

Hi everyone! So I am loving this manicure so much! I started off wanting to try out a new polish that my wonderful sister picked up for me recently. So I started off with 3 coats for full and even opacity of Wet n Wild's "Steel the Spotlight" from their limited edition chrome collection. I am totally and utterly in love with it! I actually buffed my nails down yesterday just as part of my monthly routine and then I decided to try this color out and it is fantastic! It is so pretty and summery and totally distracted me all day yesterday lol! After that I added my little cherries on top with Sally Hansen's "Cherry Red", (very appropriate I thought) my Jordana black striper for the stems, Orly's "Wandering Vine" for the leaves and my Kiss nail art polish in white for the highlight. I love this look! It is super adorable! So here are the pictures! :-)

Hope you all enjoyed this one! I know I am enjoying it a ton! :-) Till next time!

Summer Challenge Day 4- Palm Trees

Hi all! Well sorry this post is so late, but I have been feeling a bit under the weather and after work and running some errands I accidentally fell asleep for a bit. I am sure you don't really need to know all that, but whatevers! :-) So onto the nail polish! I had been slightly dreading today's challenge because I just couldn't get any really different ideas for how to do palm trees and I was afraid that they would come out really wonky. Well, I wasn't totally wrong on that since I think they did come out a bit wonky, but oh well. I started off with two coats of Zoya's "Kimber", which I thought was pretty appropriate given that it is part of the Zoya Beach and Surf collection. Then I just used my handy-dandy trusty black striping polish from Jordana and did some silly free hand palm trees. Sorry there isn't more to tell about this one, but here come the pictures.

I really liked "Kimber" and I suppose the overall effect here isn't bad, but for my perfectionist-ness it doesn't quite cut it. The formula on "Kimber" was really great though and I will certainly be using it again sometime soon! :-) 

Happy 4th of July/Summer Challenge Day 3 - Summer Song

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I usually really enjoy the 4th since it is a nice fun day off in the summer to enjoy hopefully good weather and relax. This year of course was a bit different since I had to work, but I did have a good time in the evening watching fireworks with friends from a rooftop. So here I decided to use Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" for my summer song because it reminds me of the 4th of July, which to me is quintessential summer. I am totally in love with the end result and I got tons of compliments and some shock and awe when I told people that the whole manicure (including doing my right hand which was a bit tricky) only took me about 20 minutes.

I started off with two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Cherry Red" then I used Sinful Colors "Lagoon" for the blue stripes and using a paint brush with this color I did the blue stars. I also used my Kiss nail art polishes in white and silver glitter in this manicure. I used the white one for the white stars (D'Oh) and the silver glitter I used to outline all the stars. I also added a light and very imperfect bit of sparkle by adding some Confetti's "Ice Ice Baby" to the center of all the stars. I got the idea for this manicure from Julep's tutorial here, but I tweeked it a smidge just to make it a bit more me. Overall, this one is a keeper since it is too cute for words (in my opinion) and actually wasn't all that difficult. I think the thing that made this simpler was that by outlining the stars you get a lot more wiggle room so if you mess up a star then the outline can usually save it.

Here is a picture of the skyline just for your enjoyment since I thought it was super pretty. Hope you enjoyed and I'll be back here soon! :-)