Polish and Repeat: Essie Bikini So Teeny

Friday, September 6, 2013

31DC2013 Day 6

Hey, hey, hey! Its Friday! Soooo...yesterday was supposed to be blue day, but I was unable to prepare a post in time because I was celebrating my mother in-law's birthday! Instead I got to get some good grub and spend time with the family! I did originally try to paint my nails blue in the morning with the idea that I would dash home, stamp, and photograph them but of course other obligations called my name again and I didn't have time. So, there I was sitting with a blank blue canvas when I decided to add some purple stamping on top. Its kind of like day 5 (Blue) and day 6 (Purple) all in one! If you have glanced down at the photos your probably saying; "That is not blue with purple, that is blue with blue!" I would totally agree if I didn't paint them myself. I've noticed my camera has had problems with certain colors in the past, I guess this is just another. Both colors look much darker than they actually are, I suppose I should try to figure out why that it. The colors I used are Essie Bikini So Teeny and Pure Ice Jail Bait. I tried to find swatches of Pure Ice Jail Bait online, but all I found were bottle shots. However, you can clearly see it is technically purple! That all being said, I love how it turned out! The stamp I used is BM 306.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Flowers For Mom Nail Art Challenge: Perfect Gift For Mom

Hello, first I would like to say that I did in fact miss the second day in this challenge...I had a tough time with it, I orginally tried to use my Bundle Monster stamping plates, but it was beyond frustrating trying to use those things! I dont know if I got bad plates, or if its the polish. I think I am going to try to buy actual "stamping polish" and see if thats any better. Since the stamping failed and frustrated me, I just made a simple design that was kind of cool, but just didnt remind me of mom. So, I am saving that for another day! For todays challenge I chose to paint Daises on my nails. They are my moms favorite! I did the petals free hand and then used a dotting tool for the yellow centers. I have a set of nail art brushes, but cant seem to master the art of using them...guess I need to watch some more tutorials! The main color I used for the base color was Essie Bikini So Teeny. It has tiny sparkles in it, but they are barley visible. I even bought the one that had the most sparkle to it, yet it is not that visible. Either way it is still a great color. I know everyone loves Essie, and I do too. However, I have always noticed that Essie is not the easiest polish to apply. The first coat for me is always horribly streaky, but the second one is better. With two coats its nice. Since I am on the knit picky train, I would like to talk about top coats. I have to have a fast drying top coat, and originally tried Seche Vite, and loved the finish and the quick drying time, but didn't like how goopy it got about half way through. So, upon recommendation I tried Out The Door top coat. After using Out The Door for many manis now, I find that I do not like it. I find that it doesn't actually dry the polish as well as Seche does. My biggest problem with Out The Door is these tiny annoying bubbles it creates in the polish! You can actually see what I am talking about in the two photos below on my pinky nail. I am totally going back to Seche Vite, and I have learned a few tips on how to handle the goopy-ness. This is the first year I didn't get my mom flowers, I got here clothes instead! So, I put the flowers on my nails! Below is a list of others participating in the challenge. :)