{CLOSED} I can't wait...here it is, the giveaway!!!!

March 23:

I am too excited for this giveaway so here it is :D

The winner will receive:

1 bottle of Sinful Colors "Nail Junkie"

1 bottle of Wet'n Wild "Kaleidoscope"

Sinful Colors 5 piece mini set

Rules:

-Must be a follower through GFC (+1 entry)

-Leave follower name

-Leave email for me to contact you if you win

Extra entries:

-like The Nailventuress on Facebook; leave your profile name in the comment(+1 entry)

-tell me what you would like to see more of on my blog (+1 entry)

-blog about my giveaway; post the link in the comment (+1 entry)

This will run until Saturday April 9 Midnight CST. The giveaway is open to international followers as well. Good luck!!!

Happy painting!

The Nailventuress

Giveaway Preview!!!

March 14:

This is my 50th post yay!

To distract myself in between finals I went shopping for the upcoming 50 Followers Giveaway I'll be giving when I hit 50 followers.

Originally I was going to pick up a few larger sinful color but I found a mini set that was so cute so I got that instead. It has five colors: red; orange; yellow; green; purple. I am not sure of the names, there are none on the packaging but there may be some on the bottom side. On the left is one of my favorite glitters Wet'n Wild's "Kaleidoscope." I am sure this glitter would be great for frankening. The other glitter is Sinful Color's "Nail Junkie" because I am a self professed nail junkie!

More details to come soon!

Happy painting!

The Nailventuress

Christmas Manicure #2

December 18:

Seeing as it is one week before Christmas I figure it is the perfect time to post about my second Christmas manicure of the season. This one was inspired by a snowglobe...though I don't get that effect so much when I look at my nails. Instead it looks like it is snowing at night on my nails. Basically a fun holiday manicure!

I used two coats of China Glaze's "Little Drummer Boy" as the base. This polish was extremely pigmented and would have been fine in one coat but I used two jut in case. Unfortunately the formula in this one sucks. It was kind of thick, though not gloopy, and was just hard to work

with...hence the uneven edges at the cuticles.

To add a snowy effect I decided I would have to use a glitter on top of LDB. At first I was going to use SOPI's "Flurry Up!", which is a silver hexagonal and small round glitter top coat, but that was too much for this manicure so instead I pulled out Wet and Wild's "Hallucinate/Hallucination". I bought this polish thinking it would be a good white/silver glitter for topping on polish but I didn't realize how awesome this glitter in this was. It is a mix of dark and light blue glitter along with clear/white glitter and silver and gold glitter. None of this is visible in the bottle, instead it just looks like a milky looking polish. When I swatched it over LDB I fell in love! It is so gorgeous and over a dark blue looked like snow! I used one coat and it dried smooth.

To complete the look I used two Cina Snowman appliques. This was my first time using Cina products and I was very impressed. They were easy to use, laid a lot flatter than I thought they would, and lasted while I had them on. I just now noticed I am missing two stones, one on each snowman, but it is not noticeable. Instead of leaving a round indent there is the silver backing so it looking like they were designed like that.

Overall I am very happy with how this turned out! It is too bad that I chipped it a lot today while Christmas shopping/wrapping, but I am making gingerbread houses tomorrow so I figure I need a new manicure for that.

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

Harry Potter: The beginning of the end...

November 18 9:14 pm:

We are in the final hours before the first part of the last Harry Potter is released! I ordered my tickets a week ago, but I've been counting done since the 6th movie came out. Even though I had my lucky Blackhawks mani on I decided that I should do a Harry Potter mani to celebrate the release of the movie. I knit myself a Weasley sweater and a house scarf, I think I should have a matching mani as well.

The whole day today I was planning out how I would paint my nails an after brainstorming a few ideas I decided on this one. This might be on my nails for only a few days but I love it, and it is a great way for me to use a few different polishes in one mani!

To paint the house colors I applied the base color (whichever was the lighter of the two) and then on half my nail I applied the other color. Then on my thumb I applied a base color and drew on a "H" with bronze polish.

Hufflepuff (Pinkie): 3 coats Sinful Colors Lets Meet and 1 coat of Wet and Wild Black Creme

Slytherin (Ring): 2 coats Orly Shine and 2 coats Orly Enchanted Forest

Gryffindor (Middle): 2 coats OPI Glitzerland and 2 coats China Glaze Phat Santa

Ravenclaw (Pointer): 2 coats Orly Shine and 2 coats OPI Dating a Royal

Hogwarts (Thumb): 1 coat Wet and Wild Black Creme and NYC Bryant Park for the "H"

This was pretty fast to paint and I applied 1 coat of Seche Vite to quicken the drying time.

Now I just have 2 hours and 34 minutes left to wait until I get to watch the movie! Well I'm off to the magical world of Harry Potter...

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

Here come the Hawks...

November 16:

So let's just say that I enjoy hockey quite a bit. In reality I am obsessed with it! My favorite team has been the Chicago Blackhawks since my friend invited me to a game for her birthday. It was exciting to watch the players in the Olympics but more importantly watch them win Lord Stanley's cup!

The Blackhawks are actually what got me into my nail polish obsession because I started painting my nails with their colors to support the team.

This manicure I did on Sunday after having my previous manicure on for only 12 hours or so

because the Blackhawks were on a losing-streak. I figured to try and change their luck I'd paint my nails. It worked! They won, in over time, with a goal from Stalberg!

Here is how I painted my nails. The two jersey's are Jack Skille #20 and Viktor Stalberg #25, both of whom scored this weekend! Lets go Hawks!

To paint the feathers:

Pinky: 1 coat NYC Tangerine Creme 1 Coat Sinful Colors Cloud Nine for the base. NYC French White Tip for the lines.

Ring: 3 coats Sinful Colors Lets Meet for the base. OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue for the lines.

Middle: 3 coats Sinful Colors San Francisco for the base. Sinful Colors Lets Meet for the line.

Pointer: 2 coats NYC Madison Ave. (notice that I chose a red that is called Madison Ave. since the Blackhawks play at the UC on Madison Ave!) for the base. NYC French White Tip for the lines.

Jerseys:

2 coats of OPI The Thrill of Brazil for the base. 2 coats NYC French White Tip for the white. 1 coat Wet and Wild Black Creme for the lines. NYC French White Tip for the number.

Viktor Stalberg on my right hand. (1 goal against Anaheim Ducks)

Jack Skille on my left hand. (2 goals against Nashville Predators)

And the players themselves:

Viktor Stalberg:

http://detnews.com/article/20101115/SPORTS0103/11150332/1128/Blackhawks-edge-over-Ducks-in-overtime

Jack Skille:

http://bleacherreport.com/gallery/Chicago+Blackhawks+v+Nashville+Predators

I have so much pride in my team, lets hope they do great on their road trip!

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

N.Y.C. and the belated Halloween manicure...

November 3:

This is a short post on my halloween manicure. This was fun and the nail polish I used with rather inexpensive, coming in at a whopping .99 yet it lasted the three days I had it on without chipping!

I used N.Y.C.'s "Times Square Tangerine Creme" which applied opaque in two coats. I loved the color so much I would break it out again for accents, stamps, and summer manicures, but I think that it might have seen its first and only use for 2010. On top of the orange I painted two layers of Sally Girl's "U Glow" to make it more festive. This polish is also .99 but it comes in a tiny bottle. On the plus side, it is incredibly glowy. The bottle starts to glow in shade and the nails polish definitely glows in the dark!

To top it all off I added some bundle monster stamps. I used the bats on my ring fingers and spiders and spider webs on my thumbs. I think the plate is bm13. Originally I was going to stamp with Wet and Wild's Black Creme but for such a thick polish it was not transferring to the stamp at all so I ditched it in place of OPI's "William Tell me about OPI" I ended up loving the purple on top of the orange quite a bit!

Overall I am happy with the cheap nail polishes and of course with OPI. The NYC and Sally Girl applied well and they lasted which is great considering they are not salon quality polishes.

Well that's it for this manicure but up next I think I shall sail back to Essie to taste "Mint Candy Apple." This is my first actual manicure for November and it is a fun break from the darker shades I had been sporting in October.

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress