Llama Nails: ABC Challenge! K is for Kirby!

Hello all! I am excited about today's nails. As my readers should have noticed, I am a nerd. A nerd who loves "old" video games. I have done Yoshi nails and Luigi and to add to the collection, for the letter K I would like to present my Kirby nails! Kirby is one of the cutest video game characters of all time and he is my #1 choice for Super Smash Bros. He flies and has the ability to steal other abilities. Anyways here are the nails:

At first I painted my nails two coats of Sally Hansen Coral Reef but it wasn't the right pink, (it was a little too dark), so then I painted over it with Julep Carrie. I used Coral Reef for the cheeks though. I wanted to do several of his cute faces. I just LOVE the way he came out, just sooooo cute!!!

 I just can't stop smiling! These nails are so cute. I now have the urge to play Super smash bros. Might need to convince the boyfriend to play with me. Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I will be going out of town and that means that I will probably be M.I.A. for the next few days. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Until next time,
Erin

ABC Challenge: H is for Happy Faces , I is for Icicles , J is for Jalapeno

Hello all! So this is the last post with three different letters. From now on it will be one letter at a time. I finally caught up. I also would like to announce that I am going to start doing Sat-art-day challenges and at some point a holiday challenge. YAY FOR CHALLENGES! Ok so let's get started with H. I had no clue what to do for H and then I realized I had done some smiley faces a week ago and never posted them, so they became happy faces! They are happy so it works.

H is for Happy faces

I used Sally Hansen Lightening for my base color and also for the stamping color on my ring finger. The stamp is BM 304.

I is for Icicles

For I, I wanted to do something fun and since an igloo would have taken so long, I decided to do icicles. I thing they came out pretty but they don't look exactly like icicles haha. For my base color I used Sally Hansen White On. I then used essence Gleam in Blue and mixed it with the white for some of the icicles. To create the look I used a thin tipped nail art brush.  

J is for Jalapenos 

I let Blake choose what I should do for J. He replied with jalapeno...on a stick. For those that don't get the reference, it's from a Jeff Dunam joke. So I had this pepper stamp and decided to do the jalapenos. The base color is L.A. Colors Wave Length. For the stamping I used BM 06 with OPI Jade is the New Black. 

I will be posting K as soon as the inlinkz is posted on the Llama Nails FB page. :)

Until then,

Erin

ABC Challenge: E is for Elephant, F is for Frog, G is for Giraffe

Hello! So I am going to squish in E, F and G in today's post! Up first is E. Something I love that starts with the letter E is elephants. I just think they are amazing creatures, so I created an adorable elephant across my nails.

E is for Elephant

I used Sally Hansen Coral Reef for my base color and for the details on the elephant. The elephant himself was done with black and white acrylic paint. For F I decided to do a frog, not sure if it looks like a frog, but I liked the way it came out.

F is for Frog

For my base color I used Nubar Reclaim. I will never stop loving this polish. Anyways. I also used Piggy Polish Blue-ing Romance for the base color on my ring ringer. I then used OPI Jade is the New Black, along with BM03. I then used BM 19 with NYC Skin Tight Denim. The frog and flies were done with acrylic paint. For G I thought I would keep up with animals, so I immediately thought of giraffes.

G is for Giraffe

The base color is Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow. I then used BM 215 with China Glaze Street Chic. The giraffe was painted with acrylic paint. I've been noticing that I use acrylic paint a lot but it's so much easier to work with and it's pretty cheap too. 

I will be posting H, I, and J within a couple of hours and K will be posted tomorrow along with everyone else! I am almost caught up, yay! 

Until then,

Erin

PS Read more to see the inlinkz collections for each letter! :)

ABC Challenge: C is for Cat, D is for Dog

Hello all! I have more letters for you today, C and D. When I was thinking of doing this challenge, I really wanted to do C is for Cookie BUT I had no time so I am kind of cheating... Way back in October I did a guest post for Ashley from the blog Passion for Polish. I made nails especially for Ashley but I never posted my guest post here on my blog, so since the nails were so cute and they were of a cat, I decided to use it for the C.

C is for Cat

To see what polishes and techniques I used, check out the guest post here.

So then I thought, "Hmm... what should I do for D?" There's nothing better for D than dog, since it goes great with C for Cat.

D is for Dog

This is a pretty simple design. I painted my nails two coats of Sally Hansen White On, then I took black acrylic paint and painted on the spots and face. Voila! 

I'm excited for E, F, and G. I will probably post them when I get off work tonight! 

See you then!

Erin

PS Read more to see the inlinkz collections for each letter :)

Llama Nails: ABC Challenge! A is for Apples, B is for Balloons

Hello all! I know I have been on a little hiatus but I promise I am back! After doing so many challenges, I needed to take a mini break, as did my nails. (Plus a bunch of crazy family stuff has been going on...) Of course now that I am back, I plan to start a couple more challenges! I know, I know... I have an addiction to doing nail art challenges. I have the most fun doing them and though at times it can be frustrating, I really feel like I am improving on my skills! With that said, let me introduce to you the new challenge I am starting today. It's called the ABC Challenge and it's from one of the awesome groups I belong to on Facebook, called Llama Nails. If you are into nail challenges like I am, check out the group page here.

Normally the challenge posts will be every Wednesday but since this challenge actually started back in September, I have to catch up a little. I only found out about this group a few weeks ago and by then the challenge was well underway but it's never late to join right? Plus why not start from the beginning.

A is for Apples. When I think of the letter A, I generally think of apples. I don't know why but I do. I just bought a giant bag of Red Delicious apples from the store and thought that the dark red color would be perfect for my apples.

I used Sinful Colors Happy Ending as my base color and Orly's Grave Mistake for my apples. The rest was acrylic paint that I applied with a thin tipped nail art brush. 

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B is for Balloons. I'm not sure why I came up with balloons for B but I just love the way they came out! I am definitely going to do this design again, maybe for a birthday mani!

For my base color I used OPI Skull and Glossbones, then I used a fan brush and applied some white polish. For the balloons I used Sally Hansen Pacific Blue,  SH Mellow Yellow and Ulta Non-stop Red. I created the balloons using a large dotting tool and a small one. I placed the small dots right at the base of the larger ones. I then outlined the dots and drew a small line for the tied part of the balloons.

I hope you enjoyed my post for today. Stay tuned for C and D!

Until next time,
Erin

No H8: Eradicate Hate in the Nail Polish Community

Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay. 

Most of us are, thankfully, residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish blogging community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color...even to our polish application techniques. To marginalize anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog.

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement. Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.

Hello! Today is a special post, for me and for many others. As it reads above, I wear purple nails today to show my support against bulling and also to bring awareness to the bullying that goes on in our nail community. Not only that but I feel today is about showing no hate in any aspects of our lives.

I, like many others, was a victim of bullying growing up. It was a daily thing. Kids would tell me I was ugly and make fun of my hair or my glasses. It was a nightmare. It took me a long time to get over it and there were days when I felt like I should end it all. No child, no person should ever feel this way. 

I have been blogging for almost a year now and I have been fortunate enough to only come across kindness and support. I finally feel like I have my own little place on the internet, creating nail art with so many beautiful and kind souls. Unfortunately, there are some not so kind people in this community. I am a firm believer if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all. If people have the courage to share their nails with the world, don't cut them down if you don't like them. That is not what the nail community is about. I have learned throughout my year of blogging. that many bloggers are helpful to those starting out. They provide tips and tutorials of all sorts. Bullying someone just because their work isn't perfect just isn't right! We should all support one another. 

Here are my nails for today. Not perfect but that's ok. We are all human and we all make mistakes. We need to show each other support and love, especially for something we are all so passionate about.

Hearts have become a symbol for love and that's the point of my nails today, we should so love toward one another not hate! So if you are new and starting out, don't be discouraged. So what if you manicures aren't perfect? No one is!  Heck I'm not! I share my nails because I love to paint them and I know others would like to see what I come up with. Thank you to all who have shown me nothing but kindness and support, I am very grateful. And much thanks to all the wonderful people participating in today's No H8 post.

If you or someone you know is experiencing bullying, please don't hesitate to reach out to these helpful sites:

Stopbullying.gov

Report Cyber Bullying

National Suicide Prevention Hotline - 800.273.TALK (8255)

EradicateH8

Halloween Mani! Cheshire Cat Nails and Costume

Hello all! So yesterday was one of my favorite holidays, Halloween! I didn't really get to do anything exciting outside of work but work was a blast! Most of the staff dressed up as Disney characters and I was the Cheshire Cat from the movie Alice in Wonderland. My friend, who told me about the job, dressed as Alice! It was fun because we totally didn't plan it together. She did my face paint, which scared a couple of kids and most of them told me they found it creepy. haha. Oh well most of them could tell who I was suppose to be, which is fun. I'm going to share with you my nails I wore for the occasion and the costume I made!

As for my nails, I decided for each of my thumbs I would do the Cheshire's face. For my right hand I only did the smile because I'm still not that skilled painting with my left hand due to being right handed. For the rest of my nails I did his stripes. I painted the purple first which was a bad idea because it made the fuchsia color much darker than it really is, you can tell my looking at the thumb with his full face. 

I'm pretty happy with the way the nails came out. I started doing this mani with tape but I don't have proper nail tape so I lose patience and start painting the stripes themselves. So that's why they aren't perfect.

I was so surprised that I had proper Cheshire Cat colored polish! I do love my bright colors! 

What I used:

• Base colors: 
• Striped nails: LA Colors Fun in the Sun
• Left thumb: Zoya Charisma
• Right thumb: Sinful Colors Black on Black
• Stripes: Zoya Charisma
• Thumbs: White, black, yellow, red and pink acrylic paint
• Nail art brush and dotting tool

So I made my costume with furry ribbon stuff, safety pins, a sweater and jeans. I also made my ears with a headband, felt and cotton balls (genius idea thought up by Tara). I'm pretty happy with the way it came out.

The idea behind my costume was that I was the Cheshire Cat disappearing. In the original Disney movie he says, "Most everyone's mad here. You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself." He says this while he is vanishing. Below is the picture I used for my inspiration. 

I hope you all enjoyed the nails I painted to go along with my costume and my costume itself! What did you guys where on your nails for Halloween? And if you dressed up, what was your costume? I hope everyone had a fun Halloween this year!

Until next time,

Erin

"This is Halloween" Challenge! Day 11: Recreate Your Favorite Manicure

Hello! It's HALLOWEEN! AHHHH! I am excited! I get to dress up at work, along with all of my co workers! It should be fun, the theme is Disney! Can you guess who I will be? I will be posting my costume nails tomorrow, along with me dressed in my costume! (Maybe if I get a good picture!) Anyways it's the last day of the "This is Halloween" Challenge! The objective was to recreate your favorite manicure done by someone else. I choose to recreate this adorable mummy gradient mani done by Amoki's Corner.

Aren't they just the cutest mummies ever?! I loved the way Amoki did her nails and what an amazing idea for the gradient challenge! I was very impressed and really loved her look, thus why I recreated it. :)

It wasn't that hard to do, I am actually rather impressed with myself on how clean my lines look. That was all done with my shaky hands people! WOO! I definitely have on my smug suspenders today. 

What I used:

• Base color: Sally Hansen White On
• Gradient: SH White On, essence Irreplacable and Sally Hansen Golden-I
• Black, white and red acrylic paint for the lines and eyes.
• Nail art brushes and dotting tools

I wore these nails yesterday and had lots of compliments on them! This is definitely a look I will be doing again, I think they came out so cute! I'm said that October is basically over! It went by way to fast. I hope you all stick around to see more of my nail art. Thank you to my followers both new and old, I share my art for you! :) HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Until next time,

Erin

Halloween Challenge! Day 10: Recreate Your Favorite Manicure

Hello all! It's the last day of the Halloween Challenge since today is Halloween! I am so excited! I get to dress up for work and it's going to be a blast. I will make sure to post my costume manicure tomorrow so make sure to come back to see it! Anyways today's challenge was to recreate your favorite manicure from the challenge. I choose to recreate The Manicured Monkey's Bump in the Night nails. She made an adorable Frankenstein manicure and I couldn't help but love it! Mine varies a little but I hope you like it!

So like the Manicure Monkey, I did a Frankenstein face and then some stitching for the rest of the nails. She used two different greens but I decided to just use one. I think he came out so cute but I wasn't too happy with him so shiny so...

I threw a matte top coat over him! I think it is so much better! Sometimes matte is the way to go. What do you guys think?

Here's a comparison of the two top coats. The shiny normal top coat came be seen on the left and the dull matted top coat is on the right. Which do you like better?

What I used:

• Base color: Sinful Colors Happy Ending
• Black and white acrylic
• Fine tipped nail art brush
• Dotting tools
• Warpaint Beauty Mattify (matte top coat)

I had just a blast with this challenge! My favorite nails that I did where my Monster nails from Things That Go Bump In the Night. I hope you all loved my manicures and my recreation of The Manicured Monkey's adorable Frankenstein nails. Hope you visit my blog again soon!

Until next time,
Erin

"This is Halloween" Challenge! Day 10: Trick or Treat!

Hello! I have a simple candy corn design for my Trick or treat nails! I thought about stamping but I know a lot of people have been doing that as their trick or treats and I wanted to be different. Though I am not that different because I saw a design just like this and just loved it! Unfortunately  for the life of me I can't remember where I saw the design, so I can't properly give credit. Candy corn is a Halloween candy staple and one of my favorites of the season. I really like the variety pack with the original, cocoa and pumpkin ones!

I just painted my nails with a holographic polish, in this case OPI DS Extravagence, and once dry, I painted the candy corn shapes. First with white acrylic paint, they I painted most of it with the yellow and then the middle with orange. It was pretty simple and I think it came out so cute!

Now it's time to recreate my favorite from another challenger! I loved so many and this was a hard choice but I am currently wearing my recreation so look out for it tomorrow! Halloween's eve! I can't believe how fast time has flown. We get to dress up for work and I'm pretty excited. I'm doing special nails (which I will post probably on November first) and hopefully I will get a picture of me in my costume to share with you guys!

See you tomorrow!
Erin

"This is Halloween" Challenge! Day 9: Graveyard

Hello! Another late post. Apologies but life has been rather hectic as of late. I am just so excited that Halloween is in a couple of days! AH! I had fun doing today's challenge. Graveyards are spooky and perfect for Halloween. I choose to do some headstones and a dancing skeleton, I hope you guys like it!

What I used:

• Base color: NYC Skin Tight Denim
• A coat of Wet 'n Wild Teal of Fortune
• Black and white acrylic paint
• Sinful Colors Mint apple

I've been seeing some awesome graveyard manicures! Mine are simple but I like them. Only two days left of the challenge! I love doing challenges, I'm just a little sad that I didn't put my heart into the Halloween ones as much as I would have liked but starting a new job and having my family emergency has been very distracting. Up next is Trick or Treat nails, my design is simple but I hope you guys like what I came up with.

Until then,

Erin

Halloween Challenge! Day 9: Influenced By a Scary Movie

Hello all! Another late post...This post was suppose to be influenced by a scary movie. Well I am not a scary movie fan so I choose to do a spider mani. Why? Because spiders terrify me and I figured there are scary movies about spiders like Arachnophobia, so it works right? I found this awesome pin on pinterest, so I decided I wanted to replicate it. Over the darker orange, I used a regular orange color using a fan brush. So the orange over the dark orange is in small strokes. Sadly, it doesn't really show up on the photos but I figured I would mention it.

I think this mani came out pretty creepy and cool. What do you guys think? I used masking tape to create the black section of the nails. I then stamped silver spiders over the dividing lines of the two colors. 

What I used:

• Base color: Ulta Sun of a Gun
• Fan brush used with Sally Hansen Sun Kissed over Sun of a Gun
• Sinful colors Black on Black
• Stamp: BM 13
• Sally Hansen Silver Sweep

Only one challenge left! It's going to be hard to choose a manicure to recreate! I think it's more fun to recreate another challenger's mani but there are so many good ones! Everyone did such a cool job! Decisions, decisions!

Until next time,
Erin

"This is Halloween" Challenge! Day 8: Witches

Hello all! I've been rather busy lately and haven't had time to do much of anything. So this post is several days late but that isn't going to prevent me from showing you what I came up with for witch nails. I wanted to make like a witches brew but I wasn't sure how to do it, so I choose to just do a simple stamping design with witch hats and a cat. I hope you guys like it!

What I used:

• Base color: Nubar Reclaim
• Stamp: BM 301
• Ulta Sun of a Gun
• Ulta Plum Perfect
• essence Lime up!
• Stamp: BM 209
• Black stamping polish

Only three days remaining! I am so excited for Halloween! It's my absolute favorite holiday. 

Until next time,

Erin