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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Winter Holiday Challenge: Festival of Lights

Quick post for the third and bright day of the Winter Holiday Challenge: Festival of Lights!



I chose to keep it simple, but colourful. One coat of Date in the Moonlight (Essence) composed the perfect dark night sky. The silver thread connecting all the lights was striped with Bring On The Snowflakes (Sephora by O.P.I.).
The colourful bulbs were dotted using several different polishes. Red (011), green (067), and orange (028) were Milano, that my grandma bought me in France. Blue was also Essence: Gleam In Blue. Yellow was a no name neon from Salomé on top of Amarelo Pop Art (Colorama). New Lilac (Pure Ice) was imposed chosen by my sister. Also upon her request were Bronze Sculpture (Finger Paints) and Morgan Le Fay (a england). The last touch of sparkly was Na Mira 3D (Impala).

I loved doing this mani. It was probably the quickest I've done in a long time, and it turned out so cute and cheerful! :-)


xoxo

PRIS




Friday, December 7, 2012

Winter Holiday Challenge: Gingerbread and Candy Canes

Onto the second day of Crumpet's Nail Tarts' Winter Holiday Challenge! And it's such a sweet one! But no matter how sweet, it turned into a disaster. Nothing came out as I expected and I ended up with plan F (fail)... :-p


Last night, I started alternating Snow Me White (Sinful Colors) and Velvet Bow (China Glaze) to get that candy cane-y red-and-white striped look. I went to bed, worked the whole day, and spent most of my evening in the kitchen, making different desserts I've been craving. And, while preparing these amazing meringues with candy cane, I accidentally gave myself a (real) chocolate french tip. Had I actually tried to achieve this look, it wouldn't have been as perfect!!


After cleaning up (both the kitchen, and myself), it was time to finalize this sugary mani. Since stamping worked so well for one of the last challenges, I thought it'd be quick and easy. Oh boy, was I wrong... Maybe it was the polish (I used the same as the above), maybe I wasn't getting the technique right, it just didn't happen for me. I used Bunny Nails Holiday edition plates HD08 and HD10. My candy canes didn't come out that neat, and my gingerbread man is missing a leg. Hubby must've eaten it! ;-)

Time to spice it up, 'cause nothing worked as I'd planned! Bring on the BLING! (yeah, I tend to go back to old challenges...). Pinky fingers received a coat of O Canada! (Julep). Middle fingers were topped with Love Always, Candy Cain (Pretty & Polished), fishing for some of the big glitters. Thumbs closed the bling-y portrait with Ring In The Red (China Glaze).

The glitters cheered me up a bit. Not enough to make me like the results, though...

Hopefully I'll be more satisfied with the next ones.

Can't wait to see the sweet concoctions everybody else came up with! :-D


xoxo

PRIS





Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Three Challenges, Two Manis

Cheating last time wasn't enough. This time I had to combine three challenges! However, it's two completely different manicures... :-p

First up is #PolishDays #BLINGnails edition! The lady running it all forgave my cheating last time, let's see if she'll accept it this time around. Hopefully the many sources of 'bling' will make up for it! (To read a bit more about Polish Days, check my debut!)

Hannah (aka Polly Polish) asked us to "get our bling on!" inspired by her recent engagement (Congrats, btw!). I started to Gleam in Blue (Essence)! But even before even thinking about the sparkle, the first thing that came to mind was my white gold wedding band. Perfect chance to try on Ninja Polish's He Went to Jarred, a 12K white gold flake top coat.


Onto the next blingy source: jewelry! Most of the jewelry I own were gifts from my grandma. There's this white gold heart with a light blue centre that I love (have I mentioned blue is my favourite colour?).  The pendant was drawn in Bring On The Snowflakes (Sephora by O.P.I.) with a small brush.

Grandma recently gave me a (silver) bracelet full of pendants, among them an Eiffel Tower (Paris is her favourite place in the world). That transported me directly to the night hubby and I were admiring the sparkly tower. I reproduced it in Na Mira 3D (Impala) over Black Expressionism (Finger Paints), using a striper.


Enough bling!

Next up is the "Winter Holiday" Challenge - Snowflakes and Snowfall. It was represented above as a snow fall of white gold, and with the sOPI polish. Could there be a more appropriate name? ;-)

I'll redeem myself with the last up, which is also acceptable for the previous challenge: "Let It Snow!" Challenge - Snowflakes.

Base colour was Fire (Revlon) and I stamped the snowflakes from Bunny Nails Holiday edition plate HD05, using French White Tip (New York Color). It was the first time I was actually happy with a stamping attempt. Guess I'm finally getting the hang of it, although I'm still far from perfect!


Rounding up, I have a blingy mani (that ended up being sentimental as well), featuring a white gold flake snowfall, and a red wintery snowflake mani. How's that for kickstarting the challenges and the holiday season? :-D











Can't way to see the other ladies' manis in all three challenges!


xoxo

PRIS