The Fancy Side: Untried Polish Challenge

Showing posts with label Untried Polish Challenge. Show all posts

Untried Polish Challenge: Was a Gift

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 6/05/2013 01:39:00 PM

HOLY CRAP PEOPLE!! It's the last day of the Untried Polish Challenge. I've successfully made it through my first polish challenge. WHOOP WHOOP! I've loved participating in this challenge and getting to know all the lovely ladies who have been a part of it as well. A big THANK YOU goes out to Jonochi of Just Add Polish for organizing this and bringing us all together.

Today's theme is "Was a Gift." This polish was given to me by my lovely friend Valerie and her son Sam. It was for St. Paddy's day so I would be unpinchable. This color is beautiful and perfect for the fall. Its a deep forest green filled with lovely emerald green sparkles. It is yummy. So thanks to Val & Sam for this wonderful polish.

As always, go check out the other ladies who are participating in this challenge. You can see them below:

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Uni at Acetone FIles

Alison at UKNailRunner

Enjoy & until tomorrow, Amy Lee

*all products featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Creme

Monday, June 3, 2013 6/03/2013 08:55:00 PM

It's day 16 of the Untried Polish Challenge and that means I only have 1 post left after this one. The end is in sight people, I've almost made it.

Today I chose a simple swatch of a creme polish that I have always picked up, looked at, and then put back down. But not this time, this time I've used it.

I give you China Glaze's Hanging the Balance. This is a beautiful medium bright blue creme. I love it. However it stained the crap out of my skin during removal and once again gave me smurf fingers. Why do the blue polishes always do this to me? WHY?

As always, go check out the other ladies who are participating in this challenge. You can see them below:

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Uni at Acetone FIles

Alison at UKNailRunner

Enjoy & until tomorrow, Amy Lee

*all products featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Glitter

Thursday, May 30, 2013 5/30/2013 02:24:00 PM

Day 15 y'all and this time I'm on time. Can I get a whoot? WHOOT!

Don't forget to go like my new Facebook Page, you can find it here.

Today's theme for the Untried Polish Challenge is Glitter. I've had this particular glitter for quite some time and as usual, I'm kicking myself for not trying it sooner. I give you Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Mermaids Tale.

Mermaids Tale made my camera freak out. It was so hard to capture all the shiny goodness of this polish. This polish has a dark blue jelly base filled to the brim with small blue glitters and medium sized blue and green hex glitters. It's the perfect jelly sandwich in a bottle. You cannot go wrong with this polish people, I know its still available so I highly recommend bringing it home with you. I've also heard that this polish is a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe. While I can't deny or confirm this, its certainly a much cheaper and easily accesible option.

Also, I got some exciting bloggy news today and while I can't say anything yet, I'm 99.5% sure it's going to involve my first ever giveaway! EEEK!!

As usual, go check out the other lovely ladies participating in the Untried Polish Challenge. You can find them below.

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Uni at Acetone FIles

Alison at UKNailRunner

Enjoy & until tomorrow, Amy Lee

*all products featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: In Season

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 5/29/2013 01:07:00 PM

And I officially suck at life, because while I had the pictures ready for this post and intended that it go up on time, I totally forgot about it. The 3 day weekend threw me off my game.

Anyways, today is day 13 of the Untried Polish Challenge and the theme is In Season. It's almost summer here so to me that means BRIGHT COLORS.

I started off with a base of Butter London's Diamond Geezer. This is a silver foil that is absolutely amazing. However, removing it sucks, but that is the nature of all polish like this.

After waiting for Diamond Geezer to dry, I painted on half moons in Essie's Shake Your $$ Maker. This is from their Neon Summer Collection, It's a super bright neon jelly, that freaked my camera out. I couldn't get the color to show anywhere near its actual brightness.

To spice things up, I lined the Half Moons with Blue Sequins or Gleequins as they are called. This was a really fun mani to wear, and I'm glad I branched out and tried half moons. I'll try these again in the future now that I know how easy they are.

What does "In Season" mean to you?

As usual, go check out the other ladies participating in this challenge. You can find them below:

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Uni at Acetone FIles

Alison at UKNailRunner

Enjoy & until tomorrow, Amy Lee

*all products featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Prettiest

Friday, May 24, 2013 5/24/2013 11:34:00 AM

Day 12 of the Untried Polish Challenge and I am back on schedule! WOO!! Today's theme is Prettiest. Would someone like to explain how you are supposed to pick one of your pretties as the prettiest? That doesn't even make sense. It's like loving one child more than the others. It's just not fair I tell ya...

Anywho... on to the pretties. I've chosen China Glaze Seduce Me and China Glaze Pizzazz for this manicure.

Seduce Me is a luscious raspberry red crelly from China Glaze's Roses 'n Berries collection. I don't know why I hadn't used this yet, but I'm kicking myself now for waiting so long. It applies easily, is opaque in two coats, and makes me happy. For the accent nails I went with China Glaze's Pizzazz. Pizzazz is a mix of light blue, green, orange, yellow, fuschia, and pink different sized glitters. It is so freaking pretty. Pizzazz went on easily and very thick, I honestly think I could do two layers of this polish and make it opaque.

As usual, go check out the other ladies participating in this challenge. You can find them below:

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Uni at Acetone FIles

Alison at UKNailRunner

What do you consider your prettiest polish?

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Ugliest

Thursday, May 23, 2013 5/23/2013 11:37:00 AM

It's day 11 of the Untried Polish Challenge. I know this one is late, but I'll be all caught up for tomorrow now. The boyfriend and I joined Title Boxing, a boxing/kickboxing focused gym, where you do mainly boxing/kickboxing classes on heavy bags. OH MY GAWD!!! Immediately after that, I went over to a friends house, who is ready to pop at any moment, to entertain her kiddos (aka my nieces, I'm Crazy Aunt Amy) for a bit. Have you ever played Kangaroo on the trampoline? It's harder than it sounds. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time I got home, and couldn't even lift my arms, let alone a finger, to change my polish.

Anyways, enough story time. On to the polish. Today's challenge is Ugliest. I really struggled with this one. I don't have any polishes that I consider "ugly" so to say, but I do have this one sitting in my untried well, because I don't like it. So here it is.

This is Sinful Colors Dancing Nails, a rose polish with a frosted finish. This was given to me as a gift, and I've never been a huge fan of the frosted finishes on polishes. They just look dated to me. I have a feeling my Mother would love this color. It seems right up here alley. What do you think Mom? Want to add this one to your stash? (Yes, she reads my blog. And shows it off to everyone she can.)

Application and formula wise Dancing Nails was a dream. It goes on smoothly, is opaque mostly in one coat, and dries glossy.

As always, go check out the other lovely ladies participating in this challenge.

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Uni at Acetone FIles

Alison at UKNailRunner

What do you think of the frosted finish on polishes? Love it or hate it?

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Most Expensive

Saturday, May 18, 2013 5/18/2013 03:05:00 PM

Todays feature in the Untried Polish Challenge is Most Expensive. I chose to use four Butter Londons. I bought these in a pack from Ebay, so I got them a bit cheaper than normal, but their normal price is $15 a pop.

I chose to do a skittle manicure with Lillibet's Jubillee, Scoundrel, No More Waity Katie, and Muggins. These all went well together because they all had purple leanings and they just flow well.

For this look I painted No More Waity Katie on my Thumb and Ring Finger. I then painted a base of Scoundrel on my pointer, Muggins on my Middle, and Lillibet's Jubille on my pinkie finger. I stamped the lattice pattern on my ring finger with Lillibet's Jubillee and Bundle Monster plate BM 310. I also stamped polka dots on my middle finger using Scoundrel with the Bundle Monster Plate BM19. I wish I'd taken the time to free hand polka dots with a dotting tool, but the stamp was alright.

Don't forget to go check out the other ladies participating in the challenge. You can find them all below.

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Which polish from this design is your favorite?

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Cheapest

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 5/15/2013 02:04:00 PM

Day 9 people! Can you believe I made it 9 days with this challenge so far? I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty damn proud of myself. Today's theme for the Untried Polish Challenge is Cheapest. Today I have for you, coming in at $2.99, Color Club's Sky High.

Sky High is actually a glass fleck polish with a blue and purple duo-chrome finish. I have no idea how people photograph duo-chromes. I took around 100 pictures (that may be an exaggeration but I for the life of me, couldn't get the purple to show in a single picture.

I love the way this polish looks. The only bad news, is this is a stainer. Big time. Not only do you get the little glass flecks all over your skin, it turns you blue like Violet Beauregarde from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. It's a total bummer when polishes do that.

If you have tips on photographing duo-chromes, let me know? Please and Thank You!

Don't forget to go check out the other lovely ladies participating in this challenge. They can be found below.

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Newest

Sunday, May 12, 2013 5/12/2013 11:30:00 PM

Day eight of the Untried Polish Challenge brings us to the Newest untried polish. Does getting a polish in the mail then waiting half a day to apply it count? I totally think so. Today, I have Lush Lacquer's Neon Lights. I've been eyeballing this polish for ever. And I mean forever. I can't remember which blog I initally saw it on, but it's been sitting in my favorites on Etsy for quite sometime. I finally pulled the trigger and I am ever so happy that I did.

Neon Lights is a creamy white base that only takes two coats to reach opacity. It is filled with neon pink, neon yellow, neon green, neon orange, and big neon pink hexes. This polish is a pre-made jelly sandwich heaven neon bomb! I love love love this and I'm so glad that I finally bought it. This polish is the perfect compliment to summer. I can't wait to rock it poolside.

Which neon color in this polish is your favorite?

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Oldest

Thursday, May 9, 2013 5/09/2013 01:53:00 AM

Today is post number seven in the Untried Polish Challenge. For those of you keeping track that is almost half way done. I'm so happy I decided to take part in this challenge. It's pushed me in new ways and I love getting to know the other girls participating.

Today we are supposed to do a manicure using our oldest polish. I've got two that I bought around the same time and they've been lonesome and forlorn together in my melmer. Not anymore. Today, they get to show off how pretty they are.

First I started off with two coats of China Glaze Rougish Red. This red actually leans alot towards orange, but I couldn't get my pictures to reflect that. It's a perfect summery red. Now that I know how it wears, I can see rocking this all summer. Rougish Red applies like a dream, I would expect nothing less from China Glaze.

I then added a glitter gradient with China Glaze Electrify. This is a glitter topper with gold and red glitters. The red glitters turned out to be the exact same red as my base polish so it had an interesting effect. The reds blended in, letting the gold stand on its own until you got up close. I really enjoyed how the two polishes worked together.

What colors do you love to pair together?

Don't forget to go visit the other ladies who are participating in the challenge.

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Cool

Monday, May 6, 2013 5/06/2013 11:06:00 AM

I'm back again with another installment of the Untried Polish Challenge. Day 6 is Cool. After my Hot Chocolate Nails all I could think was what drink cools me off. Can you guess?

First I started with a base of Jade Seduca Rosa. This is a light pink holographic polish and boy is it filled with rainbows. Jade is a Brazilian polish so not easily found in the States, but I know you can order them from Llarowre and other resellers if you are interested in getting them.

I had to include one more shot, because SO PRETTY! Anyways, after letting Seduca Rosa dry, I added half circles in Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Yellow Kitty.

I then painted in lines to define the lemons in Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ivory Skull. And there you have it Pink Lemonade nails. Are y'all keeping track? That is two freehand nail art designs in a row. I am really branching out with this polish challenge.

What drink do you prefer on a hot day? Are you a pink lemonade girl like me?

Be sure to visit the other ladies participating to see what they came up with for todays challenge. You can visit them here:

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Warm

Friday, May 3, 2013 5/03/2013 09:47:00 AM

Day Five of the Untried Polish Challenge calls for Warm. When I was thinking about warm polishes, I decided to go with China Glaze's Mahogany Magic from their Hunger Games collection. I don't know what it is about this brown polish, but I love the warmth it has.

While I was thinking about warm things, I got onto the thought of "What keeps me warm?" and after picking Mahogany Magic, it hit me. HOT CHOCOLATE!!! I'm a Hot Chocolate feind in the winter months, so this was a natural progression for me. (Insert rant here about how it snowed yesterday...in MAY!)

People, I am way proud of this manicure. It is my first foray into freehand nail art. I worked super hard on this and may have spent way to much time carefully painting the details onto my nails.

On my thumb and middle finger, I painted marshmallows. Everyone knows you need a good 'mallow or two or five when drinking Hot Chocolate. All of the white in the manicure is done in OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls which up until now I've only used layered under other polishes, that makes it an untried right? I'm saying yes. They are outlined in OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? (tan) for some depth.

On my pointer and pinky fingers I've sponged on a combination of My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Did You Ear About Van Gogh? to simulate the foam that you get on the top of your Hot Chocolate. You know, after your 'mallows start to melt? Yum! I topped it with a homemade franken holographic topper to give it some shine. If you look close you can see the rainbows in my pictures.

Finally on my ring finger, you have a mug of Hot Chocolate with steam and marshmallows. The weather here has still been cold enough to keep me drinking my Hot Chocolate, so I'm going to enjoy this manicure as long as possible.

Don't forget to see what the other ladies did for day 5 of the Untried Polish Challenge. You can visit them here:

Jonochi of Just Add Polish

Masha of Lost in Lacquer

Amanda of Designer Nail Accents

Raine of Lacquer Lily

Sam of Polished Art

Patricia of Polished and Glittered

LizJane of Organic Neglect

Anna of Blueberry Nails

Kristina of Lacquer Fetish

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me

Untried Polish Challenge: Neutral

Tuesday, April 30, 2013 4/30/2013 10:47:00 AM

Remember way back when I showed you this polish fail and y'all made it my most viewed post ever with almost 800 views (that's alot for me, don't laugh). Well saddle up, because we are going to try for a new high because I have an even bigger polish fail for you today. And this time, I even finished it and documented it with pictures for you.

So day four of the Untried Polish Challenge brings us to Neutral. I wanted to try a new (to me) technique for today as well so I choose Needle Drag or as some call it Dry Marbling.

I choose 3 untrieds for today, three neutrals that I bought and then didn't use. The colors are Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Pumice and Without a Stitch. I also used Essie Mochachino. Things went horribly wrong.

It looks like a baby puked on my nails. Ick! I'm not sure if it was the color combonation that made it horrible or the design I picked but my-lan-ta it's horrible.

Just look at how gross it is. Suffice it to say, this manicure lasted no longer than 30 seconds after the last picture was taken. No way in H-E-double hockey sticks it was making it out the door. I did do a little skittle swatching for you, so you could see the three colors on their own.

Individually I really like the colors. Mochachino (pointer) is a medium grey brown polish with a lovely shimmer in it. Without a Stitch (middle) is a beautifully nude polish that leans a little yellow on me. Pumice (ring) is a greenish grey that is very reminiscent of a pumice stone, hence the name. It's funny how three pretty colors when combined are horrible.

So, what do you think of my huge fail? Is there a way I could have saved it?

Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee

Untried Polish Challenge: Three Colors

Saturday, April 27, 2013 4/27/2013 03:51:00 PM

Day three of the Untried brings us to three colors. Today I also have another untried polish technique to show you. Granted this technique has been around for quite some time, but it is the first time I've ever given it a try.

So after watching about 100 Youtube videos, I give you my first ever (EVAH!) water marble.

Let me tell you, water marbling makes a hell of a mess. I taped off my fingers and did all the little tricks that they said you should do, and polish was everywhere. What a clean up job this was.

The three colors that I used for this manicure are Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Lavender Cloud, Essie Lights (pink), and Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush. I started with a base of Lavender Cloud a white polish with subtle lavender purple leanings.

This polish was a bit gloopy in application (gloopy is totally a word and I know you know what I mean) and left some patches. I think next time, using very thin coats, I could avoid this problem. However, since I knew I would be covering this up with my water marble I wasn't to overly concerned with my how my base looked.

Next I dropped alternating colors black, pink, lavender into my water, swirled them together and....

this was my end result. I really enjoyed this color combo, I feel like the light and dark of Lavender Cloud and Onyx Rush really stand out against the bright pink of Lights. My personal favorite design happened on the thumb.