piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2013

I'm so honored to once again get the opportunity to participate in the annual piCture pOlish Blog Fest. This year, piCture pOlish is celebrating the Year of the Blogger by challenging the participants to create our ‘most amazing nail art manicure ever’ using 3 piCture pOlish which were sent to us. In addition we were asked to create a step by step tutorial for the look. No pressure, right?

Actually, if that wasn't pressure enough, there is the promise of an amazing Blog Fest Award. Three lucky bloggers who are participating in this year's Blog Fest will get the chance to collaborate with the gals at piCture pOlish and create their own shade. One winner will be chosen by all the lovely fans, one by the participating bloggers and one by the piCture pOlish gals themselves. Since I have already had the privilege of creating Sea Jewel, I'm not eligible for the Award, but I'm so excited to see all the manicures and vote for my favorite. I hope you'll be doing the same.

With the Award off the table for me, the pressure was lessened and I got to dreaming up my manicure using the 3 shades sent to me... Citrus, Flirt and Splash...

Ruby Wing Crowd Surf...

Anyone in Seattle will tell you that you have to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts because around here summer is short. I'm savoring every bit of sunshine that I can and what better way to enjoy it than with a Solar Active shade from Ruby Wing. Even if you are the type of person who doesn't like going outside, these will make you want to go out just to watch it change...

Nicole by OPI CVS Exclusive

Today I would like to show you some recently released CVS Exclusive Nicole by OPI beauties. The moto here is to "think neutral, not boring!" and I would have to agree. I have been showing you manicures featuring these polishes over the last few weeks and I hope you'll agree that they have not been boring. There is a nice range of polishes with colors from light to dark and finishes including metallic, cream and jelly...

Polish Days: MAN-icure

You may have already heard the term Movember combining the words men and November. It is a wonderful month long event to raise awareness for men's health such as prostate and testicular cancer. According to Wikipedia, Movember started when a group of young men decided to raise awareness by growing moustaches during the month of November. Moustaches have since become the symbol of Movember.

It is only fitting then, that this month's theme for Polish Days is a MAN-icure to honor the event or the special men in our lives. I toyed with the idea of just doing the iconic moustache, but ended up with something a bit different and personal for me...

Sunday Stamping: Over Glitter

Kind of a late post today, but I'm getting a late start on the day in general and just taking it easy after having a wonderful time with friends at a Halloween party last night. It was so fun to see everyone's costumes this year. I went as a witch, if you are curious ;)

This week the theme for Sunday Stamping in Adventures in Stamping is "over glitter". It gives me the perfect opportunity to try a polish that has been in my untried stash for way too long. Plus, I got to play with some of my new plates and polishes that I showed you yesterday...

Black and White Challenge Day 5 - Color Base with Black

I'm back from vacation and trying to catch up with all that I missed, including your lovely comments to my scheduled posts. I'm sad to report that I did not see a sunset like the one I dreamed of here. Hawaii got hit with a major storm which lasted the entire week and included torrential rain, flooding, loudest thunder I have ever heard, lightening, high winds, hail the size of golf balls (luckily on the other side of the island) and more. The first few days we barely wanted to leave the hotel room, wearing rain ponchos whenever we went out. The last few days it started to clear up, but the tours around the island were still cancelled due to washed out roads. The storm is similar to one in 2006, which happens to be the last time I was there. Maybe I bring the bad weather with me? Oh well, it was still nice to get away from work for a week and spend quality time with my mom! :)

Now back to the matter at hand, Day 5 of the Black & White Challenge. The challenge was to create a manicure using a color base with black. I started out with a Color Club fuchsia polish that unfortunately does not have a name. It comes from an All About Color collection that I believe was released in 2010. I will post swatches of it soon. Using reinforcement labels, I blocked off random areas of the nails and applied one coat of Sinful Colors Secret Admirer, a pretty black with a silver shimmer. After removing the labels, I topped everything off with a top coat.

UPDATE: The Color Club polish is named Overboard. See swatches here.  

One thing that I learned is that not all reinforcement labels are made equal. I got cheap ones at the dollar store and while they do stick to paper, they refused to stick to my nails. I had to fight them to stay down the whole time, which resulted in a wobbly edge. I will definitely be trying this manicure with different labels next time...

I hope you enjoyed this manicure and I would love to know what you think of it!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)