Flip/Flop February: Day 28

Hi there! Can you believe it's been an entire month of manis already?! That time flew by! The last challenge for Flip/Flop February was to recreate a previous look. Because I kinda cheated on my outline nails by using nail decals for the base, I decided to redo that look.

I put down a base color (that same weird gold/silver as the decals!), stamped on a ring pattern after I realized my Bundle Monster plates didn't have a fishnet design, quickly painted the outline, then topped the look off with top coat. When I recreated this look I did it as a temp design, so I opted to use cheap topcoat. You can see the disastrous results on my ring finger there... the topcoat pulled the design and made it bubble a bit. Ick!!!

Anywhos, it was super fun to partake in this challenge! I'll definitely be doing more in the future... although I'm not sure about a month long. Maybe some weekly challenges next... we'll see! :)

Flip/Flop February: Day 27

Hello there! Today's challenge was to recreate someone else's look from Flip/Flop February. I picked a look at that Heather at I Feel Polished did for her abstract challenge... I just swapped out the colors a bit.

I LOVE this look! It was easy to recreate and looks really striking... it's a concept I'll be playing with more as spring gets closer and pastels are more acceptable.

Colors Used:
Ruby Wing Gypsy
L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented
Color Club Black
Funky Fingers Dark Knight

Flip/Flop February: Day 26

Alrighty! Today's FFF choice was between my favorite polish or a missed challenge day. Umm... who can pick out just one favorite polish?! Not me, that's for sure! So I went with a missed challenge: a mani inspired by a YouTube tutorial. 

I went with CutePolish's OPI Spotted tutorial using black over Zoya's Aurora. I had one hell of a time getting this to work! The spray hand sanitizer I had sprayed way too hard (not a "fluff" of sanitizer, but a jet stream!), which just shot the polish into a clump. Then I tried other spray items around the house, including hairspray, leave-in conditioner, and body spray. No, no, and no. I finally opted to screw on one of the pumps to a different bottle of hand sanitizer we had around here. It worked... kinda... the polish was just floating around the water and refused to transfer without slipping away from my nail. Definitely a look that needs a bit more practice... and better sanitizer! :P

Colors Used:
Zoya Aurora
Sinful Colors Black on Black

Flip/Flop February: Day 25

Hello there! Today's FFF choices were between a tape mani or a look inspired by a YouTube tutorial. Since I am a master of tape tutorials, I opted for a tape design!

This is the mani I did for the week before Halloween... bright colors and glitter! Haha... there's never a better combo! :D

Colors Used:
Funky Fingers Riot
Funky Fingers Green (no label information)
Zoya Jancyn
Sally Girl Glitzy
Color Club Black

Flip/Flop February: Day 24

Hello there! Today's Flip/Flop February choice was between tissue paper or rainbow nails. I'm not a big fan of the tissue paper look, so I went with rainbow! I opted for a subtle rainbow look... rainbow glitter instead of all the different colors combined (... I have yet to get a good creme yellow to make rainbow looks with... oops!).

The glitter polish used was Lush Lacquer's Lite Brite. How gorgeous is this?! Again, I used my favorite gold (OPI's Curry Up Don't Be Late!) as the base color. 

Colors Used: See above. :)

Flip/Flop February: Day 23

Hello! Today for FFF we had lightning versus bows! I went with lightning and eh. I had an idea for this look that didn't turn out well in execution. But here it is anyways!

I started off with a black base with silver glass specks, then taped my bolts off and did a coat of silver magnetic polish, then finished with silver glitter. The variance looks a bit cool, but I think it's too monotone.

Colors Used:
Sinful Colors Secret Admirer
Layla Magneffect Silver Galaxy
Color Club Fine Silver

Flip/Flop February: Day 22

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! YAY! 

With that out of the way... today's choices for FFF were between mustache and plaid. I just cannot get behind the mustache trend that's popped up... so plaid it was!

Just a basic grey-scale color selection with a pop! of neon pink thrown into the mix.

Colors Used:
Funky Fingers Pop Artist
Petites Twilight
Color Club Black
Color Club Fine Silver
It's So Easy Stripe Rite White

Flip/Flop February: Day 21

Hmm... dots or flames? I went with dots! Please enjoy this cruddy toe picture... this was one of those last-minute manicures (er... pedicures) I had to do to fit into this challenge.

I still have to figure out how to properly use my dotting tools. It never seems like my dots are perfect/ uniform enough. 

Colors Used:
Funky Fingers Pink/Gold Duochrome (no bottle information)
Funky Fingers Kiss the Girl
Zoya Ziv

Flip/Flop February: Day 20

Alrighty! Today's challenge was between v-gap and flowers. I really wanted to do a v-gap mani, but in the essence of timing, I had to go with flowers. This is a stamped design (Bundle Monster Series 1 plates) that I'm going to half-assedly qualify as flowers, even though they are clearly vines. Deal with it. xD

Anywhos... just your basic black stamped over my favorite gold polish EVER, OPI's Curry Up Don't Be Late! You can tell this picture is from the summer... see the green grass?!

Colors Used:
OPI Curry Up Don't Be Late!
Sinful Colors Black on Black 

Flip/Flop February: Day 19

Hello! Today's FFF choices were wings or outlined nails. I've kinda been envious of the outlined look but always thought it took too long to do. WRONG! It was actually kinda simple. Of course, it helped that I cheated and did this over my Sally Hanson nail strips... but I really enjoyed the look!

These looked super sophisticated in real life... I'd love to try this with neons in the summer!

Colors Used:
Sinful Colors Black on Black

Flip/Flop February: Day 18

Hello all! Today's FFF choices were galaxy or rhinestone. I've done rhinestones before (I just ordered more for my birthday, actually!) so I opted to go with galaxy nails!

I followed the basic technique for these- dark background color, sponge on white then additional colors, add white stars and a bunch of glitter and BOOM! Galaxy nails. I'm quite happy with how these turned out... I never quite understood the trend until I had the look on my fingers. Not too bad!

Colors Used:
Pure Ice All Night Long
Sinful Colors Secret Admirer
Funky Fingers Pop Artist
Ruby Wing Gypsy
Dots Purple (no bottle information)
Wet n' Wild French White Creme
Sinful Colors Agaci

Flip/Flop February: Day 17

Alright... today's choice was between newspaper or delicate print. I went with the thing I've never tried before, newspaper, and eh.... I do not like this look. 

I went with the rubbing alcohol method. I tried a Japanese newspaper I had been saving strictly for this reason but the ink wouldn't transfer. Poo. So I went with the solution to the crossword puzzle from our local paper. As you can see, I somehow got actual paper to stick on my pinkie and the ink was kinda smudged. Ick.

Color Used: Covergirl #260

Flip/Flop February: Day 16

Hi there! Today's challenge was between animal print and stripes. I went with some neon stripes I did over the summer. Wow, are they bright!!!

I got a lot of compliments on these nails... I loved wearing them! :D

Colors Used:
Funky Fingers Like Clockwork
Funky Fingers Atomic Poppy
Funky Fingers Pop Artist
Funky Fingers Power Play

Flip/Flop February: Day 15

Hello! Today's choice for Flip/Flop February was between stamping or jelly sandwich. I've done a lot of stamping... but I've never done a jelly sandwich before! So I pulled out my one (just one!) jelly polish and gave this look a try. Apologies for the out of focus picture... it's the only one I took that showed the depth of my sandwich.

I'm not sure that I like this look. I feel like I should've done a layer of jelly, then glitter, then jelly, then glitter, then jelly. Instead I did jelly, jelly, jelly, glitter, jelly. Oh well... live and learn!

Colors Used: 
Colorama Espuma
Ooh La Lacquer Pink Wednesday
I used something else  but I can't remember what! >o<

Flip/Flop February: Day 14

Happy Valentine's Day! Today's FFF choice was between French tips or Valentine's nails. I kinda did a combination of both... but if I had to categorize them, I'd pick Valentine's nails. Please, please ignore the shitty pictures. One was taken with an iPod and another was taken with my webcam. I loaned my camera to my parents for their trip to Florida and they don't get back until tonight. Anywhos... to the pictures!

The second picture has the accurate color for this manicure. I began with a shimmery nude color and a top coat of duochrome gold/purple flakies.  Then I did a basic silver tip with a bit of glitter over the top, then pink dots covered with purple dots, then purple hearts on my ring/pointer fingers. I finally finished the hearts with some spectraflair topcoat. I'm not sure I like them... but they'll do for now! ^_^;

Colors Used:
Sinful Colors Cotton Candy
Funky Fingers Riot
Funky Fingers Kiss the Girl
Hit Polish Cheshire Cat
Starlight Polish Starlight

Flip/Flop February: Day 13

Water color or sponging? That was today's decision! I'm not a huge fan of sponged looks so I went with watercolor. Lucky for me, Mom happened to pick up a bottle of acetone a bit ago so I was able to create this look quite easily. (Ignore the tip wear and dry skin... I took this after washing dishes!)

I chose a combination of greens and blues, with a little purple thrown in (it ended up looking blue anyways!). I then made the unfortunate decision of adding in a silver foil polish. Eh. It looked WAY better before I did that. Oops! 

Colors Used:
Blackheart Bright Night
Zoya Natty
Piggy Polish Ivy Leaf in Santa Claus
Funky Fingers Green (no bottle information)
Funky Fingers Riot
OPI Your Royal Shineness

Flip/Flop February: Day 12

Hello there! Today is day 12 of Flip/Flop February which means that my choices were between drips and matte. I did drips one year for Halloween (the standard black and red blood drips!), and I felt as though I was not taking advantage of my recently purchased mattifying top coat, so I went with matte!

These are special matte nails; I started off with white as my base color, then did a layer of my matte top coat. I then took my Prismacolor colored pencils and sketched on some designs. Another coat of matte top coat to seal in the pencil and there you have it! Fun, matte doodle nails!

Colors Used:
Wet n' Wild French White Creme
Warpaint Mattify
Various Prismacolor Pencils

Flip/Flop February: Day 11

Hello there! Today's choices for Flip/Flop February were between splatter nails and cocktail nails. After researching what the heck a cocktail manicure is, I decided that was a silly idea and instead went with splatter!

Voilà! My first successful splatter mani! I used a pink base, topped with dark blue, purple, and hot pink splatters. Then I went back in and followed up with some blue-purple micro glitter to make it a bit more interesting. 

Colors Used:
Funky Fingers Kiss the Girl
Funky Fingers Pop Artist
Funky Fingers Mirror, Mirror
Dots Purple (Doesn't have bottle information)
Pure Ice Cheatin'

Flip/Flop February: Day 10

Today's manicure is a special one! The choice was between fish tail braid or half-moons. I've wanted to try the braiding method for a while, but I didn't have the time to in this challenge. Therefore, here are some half-moons!

This manicure is dedicated to my Grandpa, who passed away last year. He commented once on a half-moon mani I was wearing, so I wore this look to celebrate that moment we had. <3

Colors User:
Sinful Colors Bleeding Heart
OPI Your Royal Shineness
Color Club Black

Flip/Flop February: Day 9

Ok-dokey! Today I have another awkward toe picture for you! ^o^ The choice was between abstract and plastic wrap. I wanted to try to replicate all of the cool manicures I see online with swooping lines and dots and glitter (the ones that just scream "I went to a nail salon for this!" to me). Yeah... not so much. I tried though- and this is what happened!

I think I need a new black striping polish. Or just a striping brush... eh.

Colors Used:
(I think it was) Wet n' Wild Bijou Blue
Zoya Ziv
Color Club Black

Flip/Flop February: Day 8

Today there was a choice between color-blocking or black & white. What a pair of opposites! I went with color-blocking because color is fun! Plus I had bought my first actual yellow polish (!) that needed to be used. :D

Who says that color-blocking needs to be in blocks? I went with triangles for a funky look!

Colors Used:
Ruby Wing Gypsy
Funky Fingers Belle
Petites Daze
It's So Easy Stripe Rite White

Flip/Flop February: Day 7

Wow- a week already!? Crazy! Today's choice was between sugar spun nails or pattered nails. I chose to go with pattern because I didn't have the time with this to do sugar spun nails before the challenge started and I had a stamping picture hanging around. It's not the best, but it'll have to do. 

The stamping plate used was from the first Bundle Monster set (the one with the teeny-tiny images).

Colors Used:
The lighter color is Funky Fingers... but I have no bottle information. :(
Funky Fingers Riot

Flip/Flop February: Day 6

Hmm... glitter bomb or fan brush? GLITTER BOMB!

I used a lot of indie glitters for this one... I'm too lazy to go shuffle through the bottles to get the names right now. ^_^;

Colors Used:
Jindie Nails Burrrberry
Up Colors Flocado
Ooh La Lacquer Pink Wednesday
Ooh La Lacquer Grosky Lil; Beotch

(I won both Ooh la Lacquer polishes in a giveaway... they are super high-quality and are GORGEOUS! Plus the gals over there are super nice... definitely give them a look!)

Flip/Flop February: Day 5

Alrighty! Today we have the day 5 challenge: 3D or decals. Because my definition of "3D" in regards to nails is something small like a rhinestone, I decided to go with decals! Seriously though- the 3D options that are floating out there on the web intimidate me a bit (fimo canes, baubles, chains... ahh!). I think they also lack functionality and practicality; sure they look cool, but can you cook/ clean/ type/ live with the extra embellishments? I dunno...

Shown are Sally Hanson Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Misbehaved. I'm not sure if these are technically decals, but it's what I had to work with! :P

Flip/Flop February: Day 4

Alright! Today's post features some new nails- my toes! Haha... because I didn't have enough days to work through all the challenges on my fingers. xD Anywhos, this is my first new manicure (er... pedicure) for this challenge. The choices were between ombre and one stroke: I went with ombre.

Look at all that similar-colored goodness! I figured that I'd be doing blues or greens when I first knew that I'd be needing 5 colors. But I wanted to use all cremes so yellow/orange it was! 

Colors Used Include:
Covergirl #245
Covergirl #240
Zoya Jancyn
Funky Fingers Like Clockwork
Ruby Wing Wildflower

Flip/Flop February: Day 3

Today's choice for Flip/Flop February was between water marbling and dry marbling. I went with a good ol' water marble! 

Take a look at those colors together. Yes, yes, YES! Gorgeous! :D This is an older mani, but I can't help but want to do it again. 

Colors Used Include:
Pure Ice All Night Long
Sinful Colors  Love Nails
OPI Lourve Me Lourve Me Not
Sinful Colors Bleeding Heart
Funky Fingers Power Play
Sally Girl Glitzy (#812031)

Flip/Flop February: Day 2

Alright! Time for Day 2 of Flip/Flop February! Today's options were stained glass or an accent nail. I took a look other stained glass manis on the web and I decided they were not my thing... therefore, today I selected to do an accent nail!

This is a simple design I did way back in the summer (see the green grass?!) with a sparkly silver accent nail. I really like this look and think I'll try this again soon with another glitter combo. 

Colors Used Include:
Petites Twilight
Glitter from eBay

Flip/Flop February 28 Day Challenge: Intro and Day 1

Hello there! 

I decided way back in December that I would be participating in Jilltastic's 28 Day Flip/Flop February Challenge. FFF is a nail design challenge where you are given a choice of two nail designs to post for the day. I've decided to attempt some new techniques and will also be posting some of my older manicures (because changing nail polish every day is not something I have time for).

Here are the challenges for each day (click to make the image bigger):

So without further ado, here is my first day!

Skittle! This is a very old manicure of mine... probably 2 years old now. I wanted to get this challenge off to a better start, but oops. I only had so many weeks to get the other challenges completed and they took first priority, so this'll have to do. ^_^;

Colors used include:
Funky Fingers Pop Artist
Funky Fingers Riot
Assorted glitters and tape purchased from eBay