Happy International Women's Day!

It is March 8th which means International Women's Day! I wish all the wonderful women out there a day filled with love, happiness and good fortune!

It seemed appropriate to show you a flowery manicure today. I actually created this a few weeks ago in response to a prompt by Nail It! magazine for a chance to be featured in the next issue. I won't know if this made it into the magazine or not until it hits the news stands in a few months, but regardless I'm quite excited about how it turned out...

Epilepsy Awareness

At the beginning of this month I was contacted by a lovely reader asking me to create a manicure in support of Epilepsy Awareness month, which happens to be November. She has been living with the disease for many years and continues to struggle with it daily. Her story just breaks my heart and creating a manicure for her and this cause is the least I can do. I'm ashamed to admit that I lost track of time and November slipped by way too fast which is why this manicure is sneaking in on the last day of the month. Hopefully this is a case of better late than never...

Rimmel London Wild Orchid with Holo

My boyfriend and I spent an expended weekend out of town with some close friends. It was great to get away and just relax for a bit after a hectic June. The weather was decent, but certainly not the sunshine that I was hoping for. Even the drizzling rain didn't stop us from enjoying the beach and I even found pretty shells that matched the manicure...

Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

Quite honestly I wasn't feeling very inspired by the supernatural for today's challenge. There are lots of ways this could have gone, but I was not in the mood for anything loud and crazy so I decided to keep it simple. Plus, I wanted something that I would be able to wear in public :). I chose to do another take on galaxy nails and throw in a few UFOs for the supernatural effect. Yes, those little silver blips at the top of the nails and one that landed on the tip of my index finger are supposed to be UFOs.

It may not be the best take on the challenge, but I do like the manicure and I hope you do to...

The polishes used for this manicure:
- Borghese - Mezzanotte Blue (base)
- LA Colors - No name metallic blue
- Rimmel - Violet Metal
- Essie - Braziliant
- Wet 'n Wild - Silvivor

I'd love to know what you think. Are you sick of galaxy nails yet or still loving them?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 21 - Inspired by Color

Happy 11-11-11 everyone! I really wanted to post this at 11:11am, but my camera battery died at the worst time and I didn't make it. :D

Today's challenge was to be inspired by color. Not being one that can settle on just one color, I was inspired by all the colors of fall. I love seeing the red, pink, orange, gold and green (just to name a few) on the trees this time of year. Plus all the leaves on the ground making gorgeous mosaics. Who could resist that?

I sponged different color polishes over my base and then stamped it with a leaf pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-205. The technique is the same as used to create galaxy manicures, so here is my galaxy of fall colors...

For the manicure I used:
- Barielle - Cashmere or Loose Me (base)
- Zoya - Isla
- Essie - Braziliant
- Color Club - Almost Famous
- Rimmel - Rags to Riches
- Cosmetic Arts - (no name gold foil)
- Bundle Monster plate BM-205

And just a little fun corner snapshot of 11-11-11 at 11:11am as I was working on the images for this post :D

I'd love to know what you think! Have you made a manicure inspired by the colors of fall?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

2 Month Haul...

I have had a really bad migraine for the past two mornings and just the thought of the smell of nail polish is making me queasy, so instead of doing my nails this morning I thought I would show you the reason why I should not be allowed anywhere near Ross or nail polish for that matter with a credit card...

In addition to the 50 polishes from the Wet n Wild haul, over just two short months, I got...

Cosmetic ARTS polishes. These are from the Forsythe Cosmetic Group, the same brand that makes Color Club. Unfortunately none of them have names, but most are from the Fall & Winter Collections that you can get more info on here.

Color Cub Back to Boho sets 1 & 2 and Foiled

LA Colors - Modern Metallics

Prisma - Fresh & Fabulous and Pastel... has anyone heard of this brand before? They look identical to LA Colors in packaging and bottle shape...

Elf sets -
Top set (l-r): Twinkle, Golden Goddess, Cranberry
Bottom (l-r): Mod Mauve, Sunset, Plum

That's it from Ross for now... they had lots of other LA Color and Prisma sets, but believe it or not I had to stop somewhere...

At Ulta I got...
Ulta Salon Formula (I just love the new bottle shape)
Top (l-r): Ruby Slipper, Army of 1, Chic Peek, Wild Night, Femme Fatale
Bottom (l-r): Chocolate Kiss, Devious, High Roller, Love my Blackberry, Smoke Screen

Essence Colour & Go (l-r): Irreplaceable, Choose Me!, Walk of Fame, Movie Star, Where is the Party?, Date with the Night

From Apothica, I got..
Sparitual minis:
Top (l-r): Epicurean, I Feel the Earth Move, Howl, Delight, Sacred Ground, Running with Wolves
Bottom (l-r): Spellbound, Emerald City, Idyllic, Smoke 'n Mirrors, Surreal 

Drugstore finds...
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear (l-r)- Plum Power, Red Carpet, Lacey Lilac, Flirt, Midnight Sky, Deep Purple, Grey Area

Sinful Colors (clockwise starting from the polish with "http://" on the cap :D)
Tokyo Pearl, Envy, Gogo Girl, HipHip, What's Your Name, Out of This World, Rise and Shine, Nirvana, This is It, Seaweed, Rich in Heart, Under 18, Easy Going, Daddys Girl, Amethyst, Hot Spot, Mercury Rising, Mint Apple

Wet n Wild Fast Dry -
Top (l-r): Gray's Anatomy, Buffy the Violet Slayer, Blue Wants To Be A Millionaire, Silvivor, Hannah Pinktana, FuchsiaRama
Middle (l-r): Teal of Fortune, Everybody Loves Redmond, The Gold & the Beautiful, SaGreena the Teenage Witch, 9.0.2.1.Orange
Bottom (l-r): How I Met Your Magenta, Cougar Attack, Behind Closed Doors, Buy Me a Drink, Ready to Pounce, Jungle Fever

Other (l-r): Wet n Wild Diving for Pearls, Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, Rimmel Rags to Riches, Oke.doke in Camo Loco, Goldilocks, and Pink This

Well that should last me a life time...

I'm putting myself on a self imposed no more hauling until I swatch at least half of my untrieds... although even as I type this I have a feeling it won't stick... :(

My mission after I finish the 31 day challenge, is to swatch like crazy!
If you would like to see any of these sooner rather than later, please let me know, because I have no idea where to even start!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 6 - Violet - Rimmel London Violet Metal

We now return to your regularly scheduled programing, which happens to be day 6 of the challenge. For this I chose Rimmel London Violet Metal. It is a dark violet with a gorgeous blue shimmer that you can't miss. Unlike the shimmers that are only seen in the bottle, this one pops right off the nail and sometimes even overpowers the violet itself. The formula and application were easy to work with. The double wide brush suits my nails very well.

This is two coats plus a top coat...

Sunshine...

Shade...

What do you think of the Rimmel brushes?

Brand: Rimmel London Collection: Lasting Finish Pro Color Name/Number: Violet Metal, 350 Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) and Camphor

China Glaze Cracked Concrete over Rimmel Posh Pink...

This color has been on my pedicure for the past week and now my nails actually match! Don't panic, there will be no toes shown here :)

Rimmel Posh Pink from the Lasting Finish Pro collection is a bright pink. It borders on the line of neon, but is not quite there. The formula with this one was great, application very smooth. This is two coats plus a top coat...

I wanted something to break up the pink, but didn't have much time to do stamping or other nail art, so out came the crackles... In particular out came the gray China Glaze Cracked Concrete crackle. I love the pink/gray color combo, although my boyfriend still insists I should have used a black crackle...

Most of them cracked fairly even, except for the middle finger which refused to crack on one side...

What do you think of this color combo?

	Brand: Rimmel London Collection: Lasting Finish Pro Color Name/Number: 330 Posh Pink
	Brand: China Glaze Collection: Crackle Glaze Color Name/Number: 979 Cracked Concrete

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Stamping surprise...

Didn't have much time this morning to redo my Rimmel Steel Grey manicure from yesterday, so I decided to just refresh it with some stamping. Plus, it has been a while since I have done any stamping at all so it was perfect. I wanted the stamping to be subtle, so I chose Petites color Capri (263). In the bottle it looks similar (to Steel Grey) taupe color with just a hint of pink. I have not used it in a long time so I thought it was a light shimmery color and completely forgot how pigmented it really is. Capri turned out to be amazing for stamping and really surprised me just how much it stood out and stole the show.

Outside, early morning sun... way earlier that I'm usually awake :)

For the stamping I used Bundle Monster Plate BM-204...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Rimmel - Steel Grey

I still chuckle every time I think of buying this nail polish. I must have been studying it very carefully at the store because a girl walking by told me I would not regret buying this one... she has it and loves it. At the same time an elderly lady standing nearby decided to have a "separate" conversation with a sales clerk loudly stating that she doesn't understand these ugly brown and gray nail polishes... who would possibly think anyone would wear these? The girl and I exchanged glances and smiled as I put the polish in my cart. :)

This is Steel Grey from Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro. I would call it more of a taupe color than grey, but regardless of the name, the color is gorgeous. It was opaque in two coats and application was very smooth. I did apply three coats for my mani though since I wanted to see how it builds up...

Outside, overcast...

The one thing that surprised me about this polish was the size of the brush! I personally loved it, but it would probably be difficult for someone with narrow nails. Just for a quick comparison: a standard sized brush on the left, Borghese brush in the middle, and the Rimmel brush on the right. Silly me, I thought that Borghese brushes are big... :D

I must say, I certainly do not regret buying this one! :)

Brand: Rimmel Collection:Lasting Finish PRO Color Name/Number: Steel Grey, 270 Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) and Camphor free