31dc2012 - day 23

Hey! Did you think I was about to lose the challenge? Think again! It's 11:30pm, I've got a half hour to spare!

Today's theme is Inspired By A Movie.
I struggled all day to come up with an idea for this theme. Literally all day, I drove myself crazy trying to think of something.
I think the problem is that there are just too many movies you could possibly pick so you're on sensory-overload and nothing seems right. Or everything seems too over-done.

Finally I managed to settle on a design after consulting my (relatively small) stack of DVDs.

Juno! This used to be one of my favorite movies, I think I watched it about 100 times. It's been a while since I've last seen it though, but now I'm in the mood to watch it again!

Not only did I incorporate the recognizable orange and white stripes, but also Juno's hamburger phone! Haha! (Credit to my friend Emma for suggesting the hamburger!)

I really like the stripes! I can't handle fully-orange nails but I can handle them with stripes. Heh.
I did them using a stamping plate from Essence - the image is meant to be used for diagonal stripes but I used it sideways and still managed to cover my whole nail which made me really happy.

The orange, which is a perfect match for the Juno orange, is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Sun Kissed.
The stamping and the hamburger were done with Nail Art Diva stamping polishes.
I forgot to include one polish in the photo - Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails - Myth, which is the color of the hamburger bun.

And a final close-up of my hamburger phone. I did the black details with a sharpie because there was no way I had the patience to freehand that right now.

Now I want a hamburger phone!

Okay, holy crap, let's hope I can do tomorrow's challenge with a bit more time to spare. I'll put on my thinking cap straight away!

31dc2012 - day 1

Hello and welcome to Day 1 of the 31 Day Challenge 2012!
I'm happy to see that a ton of people have started this challenge already today and I look forward to seeing all the amazing manis throughout the month.

Day 1's theme is Red.

When I think of red nails, what first comes to mind is Christmas-themed manicures. It's a little early for Christmas...
So I kept thinking about red things, and here's what I came up with!

Apples!

I'm certainly not the first person to do apple nails, but I think they're pretty darn cute!

I love the mini-print. Polka-apples, if you will!

I recently made my blog a little wider to accommodate the x-large photo option. Do you guys like seeing the bigger photos? Or are they too big? I'm undecided!

I wanted to take a picture of these nails with an apple... But we had no apples. I settled for a box of apple juice! Hahaha!

I used my new favorite nude polish as the base color for this manicure: Orly - Decades of Dysfunction.
The red is OPI - Comet Loves Cupid, my favorite red creme.
Finger Paints - Sketchy Character is the brown - finally a time has come for me to use this polish that I have been keeping around "in case I ever need brown."
For the green I used a stamping polish, Nail Art Diva - Wreath Green, just because I didn't have the right shade of green otherwise.

These nails may look difficult but when you break it down, they are very simple!
My friend Jini from MakeUpMom123 asked if I could do a tutorial so I've done quick step-by-step photo montages of both types of apple designs!

I hope you guys like the tutorials! I think they're pretty cute.

One last photo:

This picture is totally over-exposed and weird but for some reason, I like it!

What's the verdict on these apple nails? I think they are cute as hell!

And in case you wanna see what's coming up this month, here's the challenge photo again! Thanks to Sarah at Chalkboard Nails for making this pretty image. See you tomorrow with orange nails!

31 Day Challenge: Day 22

Good morning!

Today's theme is Inspired by a Song.
As you might remember, I have previously done nails inspired by Nicki Minaj's Super Bass video, so I knew I wanted to do another type of video-inspired nails for this challenge.

I landed on this one, my guilty pleasure song:



S&M - Rihanna.
This video is crazy. And probably should be PG-13. Or higher.
There are some interesting patterns and scenes in the video, and I chose to do skittles based on 5 of the patterns you see in the video!

They don't match at all but I love the way they look! Crazy and random, like the video.

Here's what I used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Whirlwind White
Wet N Wild - Black Creme
Nail Art Diva - Daffodil (yellow)
Wet N Wild - Tickled Pink (light pink)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Presto Pink (darker pink)
H&M - Coral Summer (blue)
China Glaze - Recycle (gray)

The lace pattern is Konad m57 and 71 together.
The chains image comes from Bundle Monster BM12.
The zebra image comes from Bundle Monster BM16.

I took some screenshots from the video to show where the nails came from!

The zebra inspiration is easy to see!

So is the blue with X's.

Polka dots are always cute!

If you look closely you'll see that I tried to do the newspaper nail trick but it just didn't work very strongly so I added the chains image to those nails for a better look.

The lace nail doesn't come from one particular scene but there is lots of lace going on in the video!

What do you guys think? Do they suit the video?
:)

31 Day Challenge: Day 15

Hi guys! Before I start my nails post for today I'm going to talk a little about my Hello Kitty cake that I showed you yesterday:

I got a bunch of emails and comments regarding how I did this cake.
It is so much more simple than you think - Wilton makes a Hello Kitty Cake Pan.
You bake the cake, and you frost it following instructions that come with the pan.
You can buy the pan here on amazon for less than $14 or you can buy it in craft stores or baking specialty stores.
I got mine in Canada at a Bulk Barn for $16.

It is really easy to do but does take patience. Good luck to those of you who try it!

Now, nails!
First of all - I apologize for the state of my cuticles in these photos. I did these nails very quickly this morning before leaving for university and I clearly did not take the time to make sure I removed all traces of yesterday's neon fuchsia!
Just pretend you can't see it :)

Today's theme is Delicate Print which is a bit of a strange description, I guess it could be all sorts of things but I decided to go with a lacey print from a Konad plate.

I started with 2 coats of Zoya - Caitlin which is a beautiful dusty gray with blue-purple tones. Sometimes it looks purpley, sometimes it looks bluey. I don't know what to really call it!
(I forgot to take a picture of this before I stamped my left hand so you get an awkward right hand photo!)

Bam! Delicate print. Pretty lacey image from Konad m71, stamped using a Nail Art Diva stamping polish called Ice Blue.

As you can see, depending on the angle, the stamping is either very subtle or very bright and shimmery.
I love this sort of stamping combo.

I really like this image, and I want to use it again when this challenge is over so I can wear it for more than one day! Haha.

I hope I can complete the challenge - my schoolwork this semester seems to be more intense than ever, so I'm really hoping to be able to keep up with doing my nails/posting every day, but I apologize in advance if I end up having to slow down my posting routine.

As Seen On... Ivana Thinks Pink

(This is a scheduled post. I'm on vacation!)

Good morning, and welcome to my final As Seen On post!
(Which also means my last day in Toronto! Boo hoo!)

The nails I've recreated today have been on my mind for a while. Since Valentines day, to be exact.
Ivana Thinks Pink is a blog run by a lovely girl named Ivana (duh) in Slovenia!
Every polish this girl shows on her blog, I want. Her photos are just amazing! And her nails are perfect. I always drool over them.
And she is super sweet too!

On Valentines day, Ivana posted this manicure. And I fell in love!
I actually went out and bought Orly's Lollipop because of this mani! I needed to have it. It's a perfect shade somewhere between pink and purple.

I had almost all the right polishes and stamps to do it perfectly.

The only real difference is my index finger!
The polishes I used are:
Thumb: Essence - No More Drama + Bundle Monster BM02
Index: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Lacey Lilac + Konad m3
Middle: Orly - Lollipop + OPI - Show it and Glow it sponged on
Ring: China Glaze - Something Sweet + Bundle Monster BM02 
Pinky: China Glaze - Rich and Famous + dotting tool
The white is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Whirlwind White
The red stamping is Nail Art Diva - Heartfelt Red
The pink stamping is a mixture of the white and red!

So darn cute. I love skittles!
I need to come up with some skittles as cute as these. It's been a while since I came up with some!

The I♥U on my thumb goes out to my followers! I love you guys!

The combo of all these colors and girly stamps is just so pretty. Great job Ivana!

Well that is the last of my As Seen On posts! I really hope you guys enjoyed this series!
I had a lot of fun doing it, despite how time consuming it was to do all the nails and then write the posts! Haha. I hope you guys followed some of the blogs I featured and will enjoy them like I do.

I'll be arriving back home late tonight, and tomorrow I'll tell you about my trip! (If I have time and I'm not too tired! Haha!)
Have a great day!