14 Days of Pink: Pink Zebra stripes

I'm digging pretty deeply now, arn't I? This is a much harder challenge than I thought it would be! lol!

So why not a pink gradient zebra? The gradient was actually some of my best work...the stripes...eh. But it was still pretty!

Sally Hansen Sweetheart, Rose Amore, Pure Ice Jamaica Me Crazy and Art Deco white

Inspired By: Birthdays: Cupcakes! It's my birthday!

Today is my birthday! Well, not JUST my birthday. I'm a triplet. I have two brothers. We were born in 1981 when triplets were totally a rare thing. My mom carried us for 38 weeks. We were all full term and BIG for triplets (Brother A was born at 9:59 am at 6 pounds 4 oz., Brother B was born at 10:00 am at 5 pounds 9 oz and I was born at 10:01 at 5 pounds 1 oz).  No NICU time for us! We all came home with my mother at 2 days old. Crazy business.  At any rate--it's cupcake day! Hot diggity! I made some super fun Shirley Temple cupcakes to eat AND got my nails did with the same theme!

Happy Birthday to ME!

This was a lot of fun and super easy with a dotting tool! I love it! I kind of wish I hadn't added the flecked topcoat (Sally Hansen Glass Slipper) but who can resist it!?

Pure Ice Love and Super Star!, Revlon Cherries in the Snow, Milani no name, Wet N Wild Everybody Loves redmond and Art Deco Hot Pink. No pictured: Glass Slipper (SH) topcoat.

Fun With Dots: Rainbow

This manicure was fast and easy. I LOVE these dotting tools my brother got me for Christmas. THESE are the ones I have.  My husband works all over the place and he happened upon a Sally's beauty supply shop. He called me to ask if I "needed" anything--um, yes! Finger Paints just came out with this amazing Special Effects collection that are flaky bits of pretty in a top coat. Apparently that sneaky husband of mine bought the whole collection for me, but he only gave me Asylum for now.  My birthday is just around the bend so I only have to wait a bit longer! But look how lovely:

Fun with Dots: rainbow

I'm not so crazy with how the yellow and green turned out, but eh. I'll just have to find the time to try again, right? Here's the line up of polishes I used:

Art Deco Pink, Yellow, Green, china glaze Purple Panic (I added this to my thumb nail), Pure Ice Black rage, Finger Paints Asylum, Dotting Tool.

And yes, somehow I didn't get the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away in this photo. that was a lot of polish for one nail "didding"!

Inspired By: Monarch Butterflies: Pink

This is so much fun. HERE is the tutorial.  Remarkably easy for the non-artist that I am.

Monarch Butterfly nails

 I SHOULD have done orange, but I really wanted to try out this pink. It went on really well!

Pure Ice Black Rage, Super Star, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Hot Magenta, Art Deco Black

Zebra stripes: Gradient: purple and silver

Weee! Another crazy zebra stripe gradient! I started off with two coats of Wet N Wild Eggplant Frost. Next, I sponged (using the edge of a cosmetic sponge) a layer of Wet N Wild Fast Dry in Gray's Anatomy, followed by the tips in Wet N Wild Fast Dry Silvivor. I LOVE Silvivor. After the job was done I used my Art Deco thin tipped brush in black and made some fun free hand zebra stripes.

Zebra stripes gradient

See? Pretty easy and WILD looking! Ha! fun fun!

Wet n Wild Fast Dry Silvivor, Gray's Anatomy, Wild Shine in Eggplant Frost, Art Deco in black

Inspired By: Holiday Funky French Freestyle

How's THAT for a name? This is actually an Amanda original! It's fun, different and easy enough for even my left hand.

The Funky French Freestyle

This was a quickie. I started off with 2 coats of Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Red Red. Next, I just eyeballed a funky french with Pure Ice Super Star (white). Normally I would have taped, but I was in a hurry and I knew i would use the glitter to cover up any "whoops". I then added a swoop of Bright Green by Art Deco and then a swipe of Art Deco silver glitter. Quick and fast!

Wild Shine  Red Red, Art Deco in silver glitter and Bright Green and Pure Ice Super Star

Inspired By: Holiday Half Moon manicure

I hesitated to even post this or not. I bought this nail polish at CVS yesterday on a whim. Big mistake. The application was watery and just funky. I tried my best to work with it, but alas, it was not what I was needing. At any rate, I persevered through this nail polish for you, dear reader. I'm also going to switch around the order of my photos--finished product first and then what products I used second.

Holiday half moon manicure

I kind of wish I had a photo of it before I added the streak of glitter--but eh. I used this tutorial HERE for the half moon manicure (that's so popular!). So easy using the Reinforcement labels (available in any office suppyl section).  I just did a million layers of the green--which my 5 year old referred to as "Shrek Swamp Green". BLAH. I must have done 5 layers to get it that dark. Once dry, I put the reinforcers on and painted over with the red. Again, a majillion layers required. Once that dried I used my LA Colors Deco Art in silver glitter and just did a quick cover up job. Here are the culprits it took to make this look:

Reinforcement labels, Confetti Red Carpet, Confetti My Favorite Martian and Art Deco silver glitter

Fun With Dots: White/Black/Grey

This was my first manicure with so. many. dots. It was kind of gutsy for not having a real dotting tool (like THESE).  Like most things in my life, I had to improvise to get what I wanted. In this case--it was bamboo skewer cut in half. Here are the colors I used:

 Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, L.A. Colors Art Deco and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.

The first step was 2 layers of Pure Ice Kiss Me Here. Part of me is so torn with grey nail polish. I love some tones of grey and others just make me feel like I have "morg fingers" or I look kind of...dead. I like this shade though. Next, I randomly dotted flowers on my fingers using a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen. This stinkers are EXPENSIVE, but worth it for dots. It sort of just looks like a glorified white-out pen to me though. Then I took my rigged-up bamboo skewer and dipped it in my Art Deco black for the centers. Not too shabby!

Zebra stripes: Gradient: purple and turqoise

Yesterday I decided to finally get brave and use a L.A. Color Art Deco thin brush nail polish. They can be found at practically any "Dollar" store (Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar... you name it!) for .99. I love the peacock gradient but I wanted a little something MORE on it--so this is what happened! I'd never done a zebra/tiger strip before but I like it! HERE's a tutorial on youtube if you want to see how easy it can be!