Monday, September 12, 2011

31 Day Challenge: Day 12

Good afternoon everyone!
Today's theme is Striped Nails and I have a fantastic stripe mani for you today!

I knew I wanted to do some sort of abstract stripes, but I had no idea what colors.
So I looked at my "shelf of untrieds" - the place where I lay all my new polishes before I swatch them and put them away. And I realized that H&M had already picked some colors for me!


I got this set of polishes at H&M in Toronto, I believe this would be considered their fall set. They had all sorts of other cosmetics and accessories with this striped pattern.
So of course I knew it would make a great striped mani!


The five colors are Coral, Berry, Mustard, Purple, and Petrol.
I'm going to show you swatches of them alone, before I show you the lovely stripes.


This is Coral and it is just lovely. It is more of a true pink than a coral, though. The formula is great, it covers in 2 coats, and dries really quickly.
I swatched this one last week, and I ended up having to quickly run an errand with this polish fresh on one hand, no top coat. It did not get one dent or scratch! I was totally impressed.


This is Berry which is a nice berry color (obviously) that also covers in 2 easy coats.


Aaaaand this is Mustard which I also swatched before I cut my nails. I'm going to let your imagination run with a color description for this one. It is such a yucky color, I have considered throwing it away. But it ended up working well in my stripey mani, so I'll let it hang out in the little package with the other polishes.


This is Purple, what an original name. This one has harder to capture, this second picture is more accurate:


This is similar to other deep purples I have, but more of a true purple.
Again, 2 easy coats.


Petrol is yet another 2-coater with a great formula. A blue-teal shade, not quite like any others that I have, I don't think. I've worn this as a pedi and it did stain a bit, but it lasted well!

Not only is the formula great on these polishes, but the brush is really awesome too. I found that the brush held enough product in it to paint all 5 nails on one hand, without flooding or letting off too much on the first few nails. Not many brushes allow this! I really liked it.
My complaint is the bottles. Having such thin bottles makes it very easy to tip them over, especially when you try to wipe off the brush on the lip of the bottle.

Time for the stripey mani!! I've included a bunch of pictures because I really like it.


Cute, right? And so perfect for fall!


And see how the ugly Mustard polish actually looks nice next to the others?


Not only is it cute, but it was easy to do. I used Berry as my base coat, and used a striper brush to add uneven, random stripes of the other colors.
It doesn't need to be perfect or even, the uneven look is the point!


The polish colors all match the packaging colors really well, except for Mustard. I don't know which was wrong, the package or the polish. I actually think I like the Mustard color better than the one on the package, at least when you see all the colors together.


What do you guys think? Successful stripey fall mani?

And don't forget! Tomorrow is my birthday, which means my giveaway closes tonight! Someone is going to win a bottle of GOSH Holographic tomorrow!
Make sure to enter, today is your last chance!

25 comments:

  1. What a great set of colors--love your stripes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. this is a great set of colors, love the stripes, sucks there is no H&M here I would be running out for this :-P

    ReplyDelete
  3. The berry color is just yummy. And the stripe look is cool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really love all these colors! They look so great together!

    ReplyDelete
  5. These look awesome! & I actually like the mustard colour :) x

    ReplyDelete
  6. These colors are so pretty, I hope they still sell it when I go to H&M.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is gorgeous, as always! :) Happy Birthday for tomorrow! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great stiped mani! I have this set as well and I actually bought it for the mustard color :P I love it hehe ^^

    ReplyDelete
  9. *SQUEAL* I love this so much! It looks so fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  10. AWESOME STRIPES!! And Happy almost birthday!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. love it! this colors from this set together make me think of bill cosby's sweaters on the bill cosby show from when i was little! lol

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like the stripes that you did! Very pretty mani :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Loving the combination that the set gave :]

    You know the 31 day challenge; was it intended to be over an exact month or just whenever type of thing?

    ReplyDelete
  14. This turned out great! Love the colors!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love it! really cute :)
    Can't wait to go to h&m to buy this set!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This design was one of my favorites from the challenge. :) I love the colors - even though they're so different, they complement each other really nicely. I might try this with Essie's Brand New Bag collection. They're perfect for fall and they go really well together too. :)

    Thanks for keeping up with the challenge instead of abandoning it like so many bloggers do with their challenges. Some will start a personal challenge .. something like, I don't know .. 7 days of animal print and give up in 3 days. It's like they get too ambitious for their own good. So, thanks .. I really loved all your entries. I've been following your blog from *almost* the beginning and it's been awesome watching you evolve and take on your own path and style. Keep it up!! <3

    ReplyDelete