Layered Double-Stamping

Hello gorgeous! I'm baaaaaack!!!

So today, I decided to do a layered mani! I've been seeing a LOT of double- and triple-stamped manis and I've been wanting to try one. So then I got this Pueen stamping set and thought today's the day! So I started planning a mani and gathering my stuff, to find that I didn't own the plate that I had based the entire plan on... It was one that I ordered in a group buy on Facebook that hasn't been shipped just yet... /Headdesk...

SO I decided to keep the colors I had originally grabbed, and change the plan. I grabbed some saran wrap, and my new Pueen plates and decided to go to town. I picked one plate, Pueen 77, and used two of the patterns on it. 

I also used my new stamper for this, and OH MY GODS there is a GIANT difference between my original stamper (an old, old, OLD one that came with the original Salon Express) and the marshmallow stamper. Just SUCH a drastic difference, and I may not use the Salon Express one again... (I'll keep it around, though... Just in case...)

I also took pics for you guys to show how I made this mani: 

Step one (after laying down a white base): Saran Wrap mani. I used Sally Hansen's Kiss Me Here.
I topcoated after this with my Diamond Claws to prepare for stamping.

Step two: First layer of stamping, using Finger Paints Pop Art Purple

Step Three: Stamping with Sinful Colors Black on Black.

Step four: Cleanup and topcoat!

You can kinda see what patterns I used to stamp. 

I actually like how my right hand turned out more than my left ROFLMAO

As you can probably see, I'm rocking nubbies right now :'( My nails were completely destroyed by the move. Both pinkies broke past the smile line and have been very painful, as has a couple of hangnails that got a wee bit infected. Holding the steering wheel for 1.7k miles was definitely a challenge :( They're feeling better now though!!

So in other news: I'M OFFICIALLY ENROLLED FOR SCHOOL!!!!!!!!! I start on February 3rd, and HOOOOOLY MOLY am I excited!!! Also, funny story, the admissions agent that enrolled me was a former coworker! We had a pleasant time catching up :) It was suuuper embarrassing though,  because I hadn't done my nails just yet... So I showed up to the school with broken, chipped, messy nails, after telling Kelly that I'd been blogging for a while and all of that. SO EMBARRASSING.
I had also gone on a date with nasty broken nails and spent the evening very super self-conscious of my hands >.< But now they're all pretty again!!! Yaaay!

I still kinda feel like these are incomplete.. Got any suggestions on what I should add? Maybe some rhinestones or glitter? Comment down below! Please also don't forget to subscribe, there are now TWO options to do so, through bloglovin' and Google Friend Connect! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

HPB October Halloween Mani Link-Up!

Second post in a week? Am I sick?! Why, yes I am... But fear not, I seriously have a real post for you today!

So I recently joined a group on Facebook called Hobby Polish Bloggers. HBP is a fun and informative group of lovely ladies who are always there to give feedback, helpful tips, and answer questions. I'm so thankful to have found this group, and they've helped me so much! One of the fun things they do is a monthly mani linkup, and this month's theme is hardly surprising: Halloween!

My bestie, Whitney, is in looove with Nightmare Before Christmas. So I decided to a mani for her (I will also probably do this mani on her)! I found this pin, and decided to do something a little different.

This is what came of it:

What a happy Jack!

So happy!

Uh-oh. Someone pissed him off...

I'm pretty pleased with the way these turned out. I'm not in love with the ring finger, but everything else? Ooooooh yeeeeeah. LOOK AT THOSE JACKS, I AM SO FRIGGIN' PROUD OF THEM!!

To create this, I used two brushes, five polishes, and a some red striping tape. For the polishes, I used Sinful Colors' Tempest, Enchanted, and Black on Black, Sally Hansen's White On, and Pure Ice's Kiss Me Here. I topped with glow-in-the-dark and NYC's Turbo Dry Topcoat. I was planning on doing the stripes using striping tape, but after struggling with the tape on my ring finger, I decided to do it by hand. No regrets.

To explain what a linkup is, basically down below there's going to be some links and previews of other bloggers' manis, as well as mine. You can click the links to view the others' posts! Fun, right?

As always, please subscribe off to the right, share, and feel free to leave a comment!

An InLinkz Link-up

October Challenge: Week 3

Hello lovelies! This week you're getting TWO blog posts!! How awesome is that? Today's post is Week Three of the October Challenge! This week's theme is:

I realized after I did Week 1 that I'd already used spider webs, and felt like a dolt. But I've been wanting to do a mani like this for forever, so I just went with it. 

Turns out I had some bad karma or something going when I was doing this, because NOTHING was working with me. It was a very frustrating mani :( I had intended on having newspaper print going, the webs were supposed to be black glitter, and the spider on my thumbs were supposed to be stamped. But I couldn't find my spider stamping plate, my bundle monster binder for my plates broke (still usable), my rubbing alcohol is missing, and neither vodka nor water worked for the newspaper transfers, and the black glitter I have bleeds into the topcoat. Oh, and I tried to freehand a spider with no reference. My first attempt looked like a tick. ...You very nearly didn't get a Week 3. 

But I persevered and I survived, and I've already gotten a few comments on them!

They glow in the dark! But my camera can't capture it and it is impossible to find a black light smaller than 2' in this teeny tiny town.

Ooooh spoooooky misty green!

Holy crap I didn't see how many stringies I have :(

For this mani I laid down a layer or two of Rue Beaute's Mint, and then dabbed on China Glaze's I'm With The Lifeguard, Finger Paints' Silkscreen Green, Sally Hansen's Limestone, and LAC's Limelife using a makeup sponge and some foam I cut up from some kind of packaging. I then did a thick layer of Seche Vite, because I just KNEW I was gonna mess up. Holy moly am I soooo very glad for that forethought! This is when things went... downhill. I'll spare you the gory details. I freehanded the spiders and the webs using a thinned Sinful Colors' Black on Black and a medium-length striping brush. Previously my arch-nemesis, it has become my favorite brush. Topped with a final coat of seche and I went to bed.

I really wish the newspaper transfer had worked out, but I'm still pretty satisfied with this mani. And I know it's messy, but I am damn proud of my spiders (not pictured, but the one on my left hand is actually much smaller). 

And just a reminder of what's coming up next:

October Challenge: Week 2

Hello lovelies! I hope you're enjoying your October, I know I am! Halloween is my favorite time of year. Lovely weather, pumpkins, lovely trees, and piles of leaves! I love how the air smells and the birds sound. October is my favorite month! And I'm keeping on with the challenge, so here's week two!

Inspired by this pin, which takes you to a slideshow of nails (all of which have no sourcing). I tried finding the original source, but after 10 minutes I can't find anything outside of more pins or unsourced lists. :(

I tried and I tried, but I can't catch the orange lines on my middle fingers.

No one's sent me anything to post for week one. I'm hoping I'll get some submissions for week two!

Happy October!

October Challenge: Week 1

Good morning! Sorry this is a wee bit late, I have some company. In this week's challenge, I'm doing "nude." And I decided to keep it simple and go for a purple gradient French tip. Which felt too simple, so I added some webs, just 'cause I need the practice and also because they're totes adorbs (sorry. I don't know what happened there). 

I am very proud of what my left hand achieved on those spiderwebs.

Please ignore my pinkie nubbins. I lost them both on the same day after weeks of superglue and coffee filters.
It was very sad. 

For the gradient, I used NYC's Strawberry Cream, Sally Hansen's Pronto Purple. Strawberry Cream is a lovely translucent soft pink, with barely a hint of shimmer. It's absolutely perfect for this type of nude gradient.

For the spiderwebs, I used Revlon's Spirit and Kleancolor's Metallic Fuchsia and a medium-length line brush. All fairly simple, really :)

I topped this with a mix of Seche Vite (which has already caused some shrinking, booo) and Pure Ice's Glow In The Dark.

I can't wait to see what you guys come up with for the challenges! You can email me your submissions at pinkies4apenny@gmail.com if you don't have your own blog, and you can always post to instagram, twitter, tumblr, or any other social media using the hashtag #OctoberChallengeP4AP. Hope to wake up to some gorgeous nails :) 

Sunset Over the Skylines

Hello luvvies! Hope you are excited for this weekend, I sure am!

At my Dollar Store, we've been getting some really awesome steals lately. Particularly in the makeup section, so I've been keeping an eye there, and very recently, I scored! I found some Maybelline New York COLORSHOW Nail Tattoos in style 30, called "Skylines" and I immediately knew what I was doing with them! Sunsets!

I absolutely love these, so I took WAY too many pics! Sorry-not-sorry lol

This one is my personal favorite

For the sunset, I started with a dot of Sally Hansen's Mellow Yellow, then put a ring of Salon Perfect's Haute Pink (which is really an orange, if you ask me), followed by a ring of Zoya's Charisma, followed by a ring of Pure Ice's Last Chance, and then the rest of the sponge was Sinful Colors' Endless Blue (I thought it was going to be darker, but the sponging lightened it up considerably).  Over the Last Chance and the Endless Blue, I dabbed some unnamed LAC glitter.

Doing a round gradient opposed to a linear gradient was actually much harder than I was anticipating. Anyone have any tips?

I have had an AMAZING amount of strangers and friends commenting on how much they love them. I love them too!

I hope you guys have an awesome Friday and an even better start to your weekend!

Purple Waterfall

Good morning, luvvies! I have such pretties to show you!! No real inspiration for the look, other than my mom's favorite color is purple and I miss her. She loves these, I just wish I could show her how lovely they are in real life!

They make me feel so pretty and dainty. I haven't done a French manicure in years (can never get my nails even enough to feel comfortable doing one), and if I don't look right at these, it almost looks like a classic French.

Basically, I just grabbed a bunch of my favorite purples, and then used my smaller striping brush to create the stripes. I added silver just for a bit of flair.

The base is Sally Hansen's White On. For the purples I used Zoya's Charisma, Wet'N'Wild On A Trip, Kleancolor Metallic Purple and Metallic Fuschia, and an Unnamed BonBons. There may be more purples that were used, but Kiddo thought it would be adorable to play tea party with my nail polish bottles (He was right, silly boy!) and he maybe lost a couple. For the silver, I used Pure Ice's Silver Mercedes. Topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust and NYC's Turbo Dry Top Coat. 

I am in such love with these :) And after wearing them for about 4 days, there's only one chip. These guys have some staying power! I base coated with Pure Ice's Buh Bye Breakups.

What colors would you choose for a waterfall?

#FightForLifeAndLive

So today a lot of bloggers are doing green manis to support the #FightForLifeAndLive movement to raise awareness of mental illness, in honor of Robin Willaims' passing. Many are also sharing their struggles with their own monsters, and I felt it appropriate to do the same.

First though, my nails:

I used Pure Ice's Wild Thing and Kleancolor's Metallic Green, stamped with BM-321. Very basic, but I really love these polishes. The plate was a bit difficult to work with, but I don't know if that's Wild Thing's fault or the plate's. 

And now, my story:

My mother has always had depression and anxiety. She believes she inherited it from her father, and she passed it on to me. Mental health is often genetic, passed through generations. Other times, it just... appears. My mom's depression is consistent, while mine is sporadic (though it used to be consistent, we'll get to that in a minute), usually rearing its nasty head during times of high stress.

My depression appeared when I was 10 years old. My fifth grade teacher was a bully, dad left, and I just couldn't shake this feeling of desolation. At 10 years old, I decided to kill myself. My mom found and stopped me just in time, and I was taken to a mental health hospital for a couple of weeks. They put me on medication and got me going to therapy. It worked, for a couple years, but at age 12, I attempted to commit suicide again, and again tossed into a mental health ward (for only a couple weeks at this time). A routine appeared after this attempt, with me trying to kill myself about twice a year. At age 14, I was admitted to a long-term facility for 6 months, but it wasn't effective. At 16, I was again admitted to a long-term facility, for a stay of 9 months. Throughout this rigamarole, I was placed on more medications that I could name, suffered many side effects (one of which was long-lasting. I can still lactate thanks to Risperdal), and was given waaay too many diagnoses, the list ranging from bipolar disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder, all the way up to borderline personality disorder. 

One thing they don't really tell you about adolescent depression is that there is no medication effective for it. In fact, if your body isn't matured to a certain point (around age 18), they often come with some nasty side effects: stronger depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal attempts.

At age 17 I decided to say fuckitall and stopped going to therapy, and I took myself off of my meds. And a miracle happened: I was fine. For a long time, I was okay. Free from the thoughts, free from the weight on my chest, and free from feeling numb and empty. It was a relief.

April 11th, 2011, my son was born. June 2nd, 2011, I was diagnosed with postpartum depression. I refused medication and opted for therapy-only, and it worked fine for me. Using the tools I was given as a child, I was able to cope. However, the postpartum depression evolved into real depression, which, 3 years later, hasn't really ever left me. It follows me like a shadow that I can't hide from, and it came with its own little sister, Anxiety, for which I have accepted medication (panic attacks at work are no bueno) and FMLA. I check in with my doctor every couple of months, and I lean on my support network. 

My real medication is nail polish, nail art, and blogging. The creative outlet is healthy for me. Having to take my time and work with the teeny-tiny details that come from working with a teeny-tiny canvas is therapeutic. Taking my time and focusing banishes the evil thoughts. It is my therapy. I truly believe nail polish has saved my life. 

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. I hope, in May, you will join me in raising awareness about mental health. We are not evil. We are not faking it. We are not taboos. We are humans, trying to overcome an illness no one would ever wish for, that affects everyone's lives whether they have it or not. 

R.I.P., Robin Williams. You are dearly loved and dearly missed. May the afterlife bless you with rest from your woes. 

Stripes and Daisies

I love daisies. And this color palette. So why not put them together? Inspired by this pin, I decided to have a go at it. I was not impressed by my freehand skill, so I decided to use a stamp. Much better!

Freehand

Yeeeeah, I'm not a huge fan of that. I couldn't get the lines thin enough, even with using acetone.

Stamped

For this mani, I used Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, NYC Lexington Yellow, Wet'N'Wild I Need A Refresh-Mint, and Revlon Spirit. 

I laid down three coats of Lexington, and then placed striping tape down where I wanted the yellow to show. I then painted Kiss Me Here and pulled off the tapes after about 5 seconds. I got really clean lines this way, for the most part. I then did a layer of Seche Vite, in case I needed to erase a mistake later. I decided to freehand the I Need a Refresh-Mint, as using the tapes was starting to wear on my patience lol. Another layer of the Seche Vite, and I was done for the evening lol

Before the daisies

The next evening, I tried to do the daisies. I still suck at freehand, but practice makes perfect, right? I gave up and pulled out my stamps, instead of trying to use my left hand. The stamps look best, I think. What say you?

Barbed Wire and Roses

Happy Friday!!

So with my recent paycheck, I got a hefty bonus and decided to treat myself. So, I bought 28 bottles of nail polish, 10 more swatch wheels, and a new storage system for my polishes. I'm very excited about all of it, because the items that were shipped weren't supposed to be here until at least Monday, and I got them all between Wednesday and Thursday! 

So on Wednesday night, I just had to use the polishes that came in, which were the Kleancolor Metallic collection and the Kleancolor Chunky Holo collection. I ended up just using the Metallic collection, though.

I keep hearing Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" whenever I look at this design

Stamped with Pure Ice's Silver Mercedes, which decided to soak up the purple pigment -_-

For this look, I used Kleancolor's Metallic Fuschia, and stamped with Pure Ice's Silver Mercedes. On the accent, I laid down two coats of Sinful Colors' Black on Black and stamped with Kleancolor's Metallic Pink. I used Bundle Monster's BM-323 stamping plate. I'm loving this look! I absolutely love the Metallic Fuschia, it's an insanely gorgeous color, possibly one of my favorites.

I got the swatch wheels and the Kleancolor Duochrome collection on Thursday, so I'm going to be playing with those tonight. I've already gotten the polishes swatched, going to be putting everything away soon and playing with the new colors a bit more. Maybe do some reviews for you guys if anyone's interested?

Have a great weekend! Please subscribe and share, and if you have any questions or requests, please leave a comment!

Argyle Nails, Striping Brush Fun

I have never gotten along with my striping brush. I have never managed to get a straight line with it, but after several attempts of struggling with my striping tape (are you sensing the pattern here? I am...) I gave up and dug out the nemesis.

Sooo glad I did, these nails turned out WAY cuter than they would have!

Today I got my hands on OPI's Int'l Crime Caper from the Muppet's Most Wanted line. My Walmart's Smart Style salon had it in their Buy One, Get Two Free promo, and since kiddo was getting his hair cut... I had to grab some. And then I had to use this one! Inspired by this, found on Pinterest, I went with a totally different color scheme, and I'm really pleased with it!

The colors used are OPI's Int'l Crime Caper,  Salon Perfect's Blue Ribbon, Pure Ice's Kiss Me Here, Revlon's Violet, and Revlon's Spirit. I used Seche Vite for top coat, Orly's Nail Armor as a base.

After two coats of Nail Armor, I laid down a layer of Int'l Crime Caper. Once it dried, I sponged on two layers of Kiss Me Here (I put Int'l Crime Caper on the sponge too). I freehanded the diamonds, and then used my striping brush to finish. Topped with Seche Vite and lookit how gorgeous! Must say, I'm tickled pink with how this turned out.

I'm going to start trying to post every Friday, as I have Thursdays off regularly now. With my recent hiatus, I do have some posts saved, in case I ever need backup again. Thank you guys for sticking around for me, glad I have some loyal people around.

Have a lovely evening!

Dusty, Ditzy, Dandelions

Hey guys, sorry about the long hiatus, life got super busy and hectic and stressful and I haven't even had time to do my nails lately. Hopefully things settle down soon and I can post regularly again.

I finally had a moment last night, so I did a design I've been wanting to do for a bit. Dandelions!

I love these colors together. I used Essie's Bikini So Teeny and Pure Ice's Kiss Me Here for the base colors, and then threw in Pure Ice's Silver Mercedes for the gradient and the fan brush art. The dandelions were done in Revlon's Spirit.  I created the dandelions using a 10/0 spotter brush that came in a Walmart paint brush pack, cleanup was with a 1/4" angle from Michael's. Fan brush was part of a nail-art brush set I bought on Amazon.

I had a lot of fun with this design. Took a while, but it turned out really cute :)

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

It's my favorite time o' the year, the salt beef stewin' in the pot, the praties are boilin' on the stove, the Guinness flowin' from the keg.

Okay I'm just kidding. I don't like Guinness, my heritage be damned, it's too much of an acquired taste and I don't have the time or money to acquire it.

LOVE corned beef and taters, though. And the color green.

Augh the kitchen smells so good. What's your favorite foods associated with holidays?

Flowers Freehand

As soon as I saw this , I knew I had to try to recreate it, despite the fact that I'm still no good with freehanding. Buuuut I got some new brushes and I want to try them out, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

They turned out pretty well, if you don't look too closely.

I did this from memory, and i'm still pretty pleased with them :)

I'm really digging these nails!! I wish they'd turned out better, but that's what practice is for, right?

Two coats of Pure Ice's Superstar, and then I dabbed Sinful Colors' Lavander (it's weird how that's spelled wrong, and I triple-checked), and Essie's Bikini So Teeny randomly on the corner or my nail, and let that dry. I dabbed some Oh Baby! by Pure Ice in the center, then went to town making ) shapes with the brush. Which is not particularly hard, it's just not easy getting the polish to stay the same consistency.

I thinned the polish with some acetone to try to get it easier to work with, and it actually worked :D

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Christmas Trees! Pictures! Boyfriends!

My boyfriend is the bestest! He fixed my phone! Pictures may now commence!

These were the nails I wore for the BF's family Christmas event.

I used a layer of Sinful Colors' Under 18, and two layers of Hit the Floor by Pure Ice. I then stamped the trees using Maybelline Color Show in Bold Gold using Gals' GA27 stamping plate.

I very much liked these nails! I had intentionally attempted to stamp with a green, but none of the greens I own stamped brightly enough to be seen. Guess they just weren't opaque enough.

Anyone have a suggestion for greens to stamp with?

A picture of my awesomesauce boyfriend for your pleasure. And he's wearing a bow!

O.P.I. Solitaire Snowmen

I FINALLY got my hands on some O.P.I.! My Walmart has a hair salon that sells OPI, and they occasionally have their wares Buy One Get 2 Free when they're on clearance. So I picked up Solitaire, Vesper, and Honey Rider. I've been wanting Honey Rider for forever, because it looks like sand. But then I saw Solitaire, and realized it looks like snow!

Next I know, I'm making snowmen and snow drifts :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Turkey Day here in the 'States, which means a lot of people are either going to be stuffing their faces with stuffing here soon.

I'm going to be stuffing my face with my family and then going to work (I'm getting paid double, who am I to complain?). My son's gonna have a blast with his Grandie while I man the phone lines. If you have DishNET Wireline as your ISP, call in to threaten to cancel and say hi :)

This Grunge look has been really popular lately, if you've been watching Pinterest. I liked it, but then i got bored of the one-direction and threw in some side-slashes. Now I love it. Honestly, I'm not a huuuuge fan of browns and oranges and gold so I'm not 100% sold on it, but it is pretty.

After struggling with my camera for a few hundred pics, I just went with my old cell phone... It seriously has a better camera on it than my Nikon, which I can NOT for the life of me get to take pics that are up-close. So frustrating! I honestly think it's broken. *sigh*

ANYWAYS I hope you Americans enjoy your holiday! Eat, drink, and be merry!

*SEMI-POLITICAL RANT, PLEASE IGNORE*

I feel that Thanksgiving is a time to be together as a family. Retailers should NOT be forcing their employees to work today. Me working today is totally voluntary, I requested it, as did my coworkers. I will NOT be shopping until after Thanksgiving is over, even if I have to pay full price for the items I'm keeping my eye on (I'll probably go nuts at Cyber Monday too). It's called Black FRIDAY, and in my opinion, that means it STAYS ON FRIDAY. 

I also feel Christmas should stay out of November, but I think that's because I'm a December baby.