Manicure catch up!

August 25:

Has it really been a month? Woops.

Here are some manicures that I have sported recently!Fourth of July Manicure

Zoya Areej (a gift from Rita, thanks!)

Milani Cyberspace

Sally Hansen Cafe Au Lait

Until next time,

Happy painting!

The Nailventuress

Wet Cement and Bacon

March 27:

The giveaway is going great so far thanks to everyone who is entering :D You still have lots of time to enter here, good luck!

Last weekend I went to a Rockford Icehogs hockey game and the mascot for the team is a hog (duh) so I decided I would try to do something for the team. Usually if I am going to a Blackhawks game I will paint on jerseys or team feathers but I didn't really feel like doing that for the Icehogs. Instead I decided to go with the hog theme and stamped some bacon on my nails. Weird, yes, but oh so fun!

This manicure was three coats of Sally Hansen's "Wet Cement" which I wore as my Jane Eyre manicure. I thought gray was a very fitting color for watching the movie. Then I used OPI's "2o Candles on My Cake" which is one of my favorite reds for nail art. Unfortunately I think this color may be discontinued now so when I run out of this bottle I am not sure what I'll do :( Hopefully it is not and I am just imagining things.

Yesterday while at the radio station my co-host/fellow nail polish addict (the one who got me hooked on nail polish) surprised with a ton of gorgeous nail polish (I have one of the shades on now) and killed a HUGE lemming of mine with a tube of Sephora's Blue Waters lip gloss. I repeat, I am now the owner of blue lip gloss! I never thought I'd see the day and I was so surprised! Thanks so much Rita, I don't know if I can say it enough!

I'll have pictures from some of these polishes soon! Also, I am thinking of adding some other makeup bits on this blog, thoughts?

Until next time,

Happy painting!

The Nailventuress

A Rose for a Tudor

February 10:

Since my senior year of high school I have been obsessed with the Tudors. AP European History is to blame. First it started with Elizabeth I after we watched "Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen". Then it moved on to Henry VIII and his six wives. In honor of my favorite royal house I decided to do Tudor Rose nails. The colors of the Tudor house are green and white and the rose is red and white. I had an idea for a manicure like this for a long time but only put it together yesterday. This is also in anticipation for my Rescue Beauty Lounge "Catherine" manicure!

Just a warning, this a pic heavy from here on out. I am so in love with this manicure!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tudor_Rose.jpg

On my pinky and middle fingers and my thumbs I have three coats of Nina Pro "Salsa". I have never used this brand before and I definitely approve. This color was the perfect "Tudor" green. I also used this for the leaves for the flowers.

On my ring and pointer fingers I have three coats of Sally Hansen "White On". For the first time this polish actually behaved.

To paint the flower I used OPI's "20 Candles on My Cake" and a dotting tool (I can't live without this!). Then I drew a little dot in the center of the rose with Sinful Colors "This Is It" (I'm not entirely sure that is the correct name). And of course added the leaves with Nina Pro "Salsa".

This totally feeds my Tudor addiction. Now I think I shall lug out one of my giant Tudor biographies and hunker down later today. Anyone ever choose a favorite Henry VIII wife? Mine was always Anne but then I feel bad because I like Catherine too...and Anne of Cleaves...and Catherine Parr...

Until next time,

Happy painting!

The Nailventuress

Blizzard of 2011 Manicure

February 1:

As some of you may or may not know, the Midwest is being pounded by a crazy snow storm of...well...East Coast proportions. Having grown up on the EC I don't think it will be too bad, but everyone else thinks it is. In the hopes that my college would cancel class on Wednesday (they closed school twice in the past 30 years for snow), I decided to do a winter mani. Kind of like a rain dance but better. And the good news is that my snow day blizzard mani worked. Our college canceled classes for tomorrow already!!!

To do this manicure I started off with three coats of Sally Hansen's "White On". Since I was painting my nails while doing homework I actually allowed the coats of polish to dry. After I finished with the white I topped it with one coat of Orly's "Winter Wonderland" for a snowy effect. This is probably one of the best combinations that I have ever done on my nails. I even considered just leaving this as my manicure but I had planned on doing snowflake stamps so I kept with that idea. WW is such a unique and fun polish. I don't think it would be too good on its own since it is sheer but layered over white it turns into wintery snowy goodness!!!

The snowflake stamps were from the bundle monster plates and I used OPI's "OPI Ink" and "Russian Navy" for the stamping polish. I found it very funny that both OPIs did not look like the bottle color when they stamped, but the color combo is gorgeous. I was even able to take a picture of my nails with the snowflakes on my scarf!

My sister loves this manicure so much that she wants me to paint it on her nails too. Tomorrow, my wonderful snow day, will be full of pajamas, movie watching, knitting and nail painting! If you live in the Midwest stay inside with some tea and layers of blankets!

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

First Chirstmas manicure!

December 4:

So I actually did this manicure during finals week to kick off the Christmas celebrations, but I haven't posted it until now. Good thing it is early December and not January when I am remembering it.

The reason why I am not posting another vacation manicure is that I still have on the Illamasqua Scarab mani. Can you believe it? I've lasted 5 days without one change to it, this is the beginning of a long and loving relationship. I am planning to get to Sephora sometime within the next few days and pick up a few new nail polishes, of course Illamasqua is on the list. From the feedback I got, I think Rampage is definitely one of them.

This manicure was pretty easy to do and looked great, though because of the glitter was a pain

to take off. I started off with two coats of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Hard as Nails "White On". After that dried I did one thick coat of China Glaze's "Party Hearty". The end result was a Christmas party on my nails. Perfect for those final hours of studying, right?

Apparently I had not used SH's Xtreme Wear polishes in a while because I forgot how awful the formula is. It was so runny that even though I liked the brush, there was no way to control the polish with it. It looked like milk running all over the nail. Eventually I worked out a system but it was still messy. On a more positive note, it was opaque in two coats which for a white is pretty good, and the dry time was fair.

The China Glaze glitter was great. It was not terrible to work with, the base was not too thick or thin, it was overall a great polish. Just when it came to taking it off I had issues because all the glitter seemed to grab at the cotton ball. I know I could try the foil method of removal but my nails beg me not to.

Up next I think I shall do a short post about the Illamasqua Scarab mani. Sometime today I will take off the polish and put on a fresh one, but for now I am still loving this manicure!

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress