Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

I often get lines from this particular song stuck in my head, so it was shoe in for today's challenge. The challenge was to be inspired by a song and I chose the "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" for my inspiration. An adorable song about a shy girl that is afraid to be seen in her new bikini.

I started with two coats of Color Club Almost Famous and added black dots using acrylic paint. The pattern created by alternating different size dots using a dotting tool. The result may be my loudest manicure to date, but I think this would make for a fun bikini. Definitely one that will get you noticed, so no use hiding. :D

What do you think? Would you wear this bikini (or manicure) out in public? :D

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 :)

Nail Mail...

Just a quick little post today to show you what I got in the mail yesterday! About a month ago I won a giveaway from Laura at Sawan! Make sure you stop by her blog and check it out :)

I got my choice of three piCture pOlish nail polishes. I chose aphrodisiac, camo, and voodoo. They are so gorgeous I cannot wait to try them :)

Thank you so much Laura, I love them :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 20 - Water Marbled

Let's just pretend that this was my first water marbling attempt ever! Tada! Didn't believe me? Yeah, I wouldn't either... I confess, it was not my first or even my second attempt, but I was determined to make something decent for this challenge. My first few attempts were months ago and all of them very unsuccessful. I even had one of my cousins be a guinea pig for me as I repeatedly (and stubbornly) dipped her finger into one marbled pattern after another. She never did get a full manicure (I think I owe her one), but she still recalls the experience fondly ;)

Ever since those failed attempts I have been trying to figure out how to get the pattern out of the water and onto plastic so that I could transfer it to my nail in a less messy and more predictable way. My only problem was that I couldn't figure out how to get the plastic under the marbled image to lift it out until I stumbled on a genius post on More Nail Polish and realized the plastic goes on top of the polish, not underneath... Duh! Make sure to check out her tutorial on the technique. I was so pleased with the result that I have been wearing this manicure all weekend long and that's really saying a lot :)

For the manicure I used Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar and Black on Black

I need to get more practice, but now with a technique that works I'm so excited to try more...

What do you think? Have you tried the out-of-water water marble?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Dr.'s Remedy Fall Fever

Today I have a few swatches of Dr.'s Remedy Fall Fever collection. It consists of three fall perfect shades including (left to right): Balance Brick, Defense Deep Red and Noble Navy.

Balance Brick - A reddish brown polish with a great cream formula that covered well in two coats. It is the lightest of the three polishes in the collection. Perfect for a more conservative workplace. I was afraid that it would not work well with my skin tone, but I was pleasantly surprised.

This is two coats with no top coat...

Brand: Dr.'s Remedy Collection: Fall Fever 2011 Color Name/Number: Balance Brick Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Defense Deep Red - A perfect deep wine color. This one took three coats for full, even coverage. It required a very light touch as the polish has a jelly finish with a tendency to drag. The brush, however, was easy to work with and made light application possible. This color is very close, if not a dupe for Zoya Sam, one of my favorites. I couldn't resist doing a pedicure with it, but have no fear, I won't be posting photos of that here. :)

This is three coats with no top coat...

Brand: Dr.'s Remedy Collection: Fall Fever 2011 Color Name/Number: Defense Deep Red Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Noble Navy - A gorgeous deep navy creme. My favorite out of the three polishes. It applied in two easy coats. I love that even though this polish is very dark, it still shows off the blue hues and does not turn completely black.

This is two coats with no top coat...

Brand: Dr.'s Remedy Collection: Fall Fever 2011 Color Name/Number: Noble Navy Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I was so excited to get the chance to review this collection and it did not disappoint. I cannot seem to get enough gorgeous dark colors such as this. They are one of the reasons I love fall :)

Dr.'s Remedy polishes are available at www.remedynails.com. You can also like them on facebook or follow them on twitter for more information.

** These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 19 - Galaxies

Sometimes the things I'm most scared of turn out to be less scary than I thought. This was one of those things. I have admired galaxy nails from the first moment I saw them pop up on other blogs, but have been too scared to try them myself. This is despite the fact that most bloggers reassured that they were easy to do. Today, I finally had to face my fear for Day 19 of the challenge.

I should had trusted all those other blogs sooner as this really was so easy to do and the result is stunning. I started out with the base of Wet n Wild Blackmail from this morning and then sponged different colors on top for the effect. I topped the whole thing of with a light layer of Spectraflair top coat, followed by a regular topcoat.

My only wish is that I had started with a different base color. I thought that the microglitter from Blackmail would be visible in the end and give it a star effect, but after all the sponging that went over it, the glitter completely disappeared. Since I used three coats of Blackmail and a topcoat on top of that, before I even started sponging and adding two topcoats here, it came out thicker than I prefer. Next time I will be starting with a one coat polish for sure. Oh, and since we are talking about next time, maybe less gigantic white "stars"...

I drew my inspiration from the Bubble Nebula found on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day. If you have never seen this blog, make sure you check it out for some amazing photos of the stars and galaxies above us. Isn't it gorgeous? The manicure just pales in comparison to the true beauty...

Polishes used for this manciure:
- Wet n Wild - Blackmail (base)
- Zoya - Stacy
- Essence - Just in Case
- Color Club - Almost Famous and Chelsea Girl
- LA Colors - no name metallic blue
- Spectraflair topcoat (don't let the Wet n Wild bottle fool you...)
- Wet n Wild - French White Creme

 

What do you think? Will you be trying your own galaxy nails soon?

Is is silly that I'm no scared for the next challenge? Oh, the water marble, how you have frustrated me in the past...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Wet n Wild - Blackmail

I'm sure you have seen the Wet n Wild beauty before, especially with Halloween in the not so distant past. It is called Blackmail from the Megalast collection. A black base with copper, silver, and greenish micro glitter. It took three coats to build up to full coverage that you see here. I have to admit, I was really questioning it after the second coat, but it redeemed itself in the end. The glitter adds a lovely touch to an otherwise black polish.

This is three coats with a top coat...

And in case you were not able to get your hands on the limited edition Fantasy Makers Black Magic, you can still get the polish (minus the cute tombstone bottle). I bought Black Magic for someone else, so I will not be doing any comparison swatches, but I am 99.9% sure that Black Magic is a re-release of Blackmail. Just as Purple Potion is a re-release of Night Prowl. Can anyone that owns both confirm or dispute this?

What do you think? Do you love dark colors as much as I do? :D

Brand: Wet n Wild Collection: Megalast Color Name/Number: Blackmail, 218 Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)