Sparkle Saturday Meets 11 Week Mani Challenge

Hello Lab Partners,

This is week four of the 11-week mani challenge. The prompt for the week: a zebra or other striped mani OR a mani with the colors of your favorite sports team or alma mater. Before checking to see what the theme of the week was, I had already decided I wanted to do a mani with ring and thumb as accent fingers, which seemed to fit perfectly when I saw the prompt. Initially, I wanted to go with the colors of the Orlando Magic, but the thought was too depressing given the current state of NBA affairs. Instead, I went with the black and gold of my alma mater, the University of Central Florida. Simple enough: black on most fingers, with gold on the ring fingers and thumbs. As I was selecting a gold polish, my eyes landed on my brand new Color Club Gingerbread from the Beyond the Mistletoe collection. A-ha! The perfect opportunity to try this holographic gold glitter! On all fingers, I applied two coats of Zoya Raven. On the thumbs and ring fingers, I added two coats of Gingerbread:

Inside, artificial light

Inside, with flash

Inside, with flash

I took a couple of flash photos to show how the holo glitter lights up when it's hit by direct light.















In case you're wondering how difficult this glitter was to remove . . . I used the foil method on it and had no problem!


Until next time, sending lab love your way!

Allison

11 Week Challenge: Week 3 Mani

Hello Lab Partners,

As you may recall, we're participating in an 11-week mani challenge. This week's theme is a mani based on your favorite polish or a mani featuring hearts and/or stars. I'll tell you now I took the easy way out! No fancy schmancy mani from me this week--just straight-up color! I don't actually have one favorite polish, but the one I picked is in my top ten favorites: Zoya Rica.

Zoya Rica, looking more orange-coral.

Rica is a metallic that applies super smoothly. What I love most about it is the way it appears more of a pink coral in some light, and more of an orange coral in others. I wear a lot of coral clothing, especially in the spring and summer. Please keep in mind I live in Florida, so when I say, "spring and summer," I'm basically talking about eight months out of the year! In general, I'm not terribly concerned with matching my polish to my outfit, but I'll admit that I dislike it when nails and clothes clash, and corals can be tricky in this regard. Put on a pair of salmon pink shorts with orange-coral polish and . . . ouch! Hence, my love for Rica--next to salmon, she appears a pinkish coral; next to warmer colors, more an orangey coral.

Here, Rica looks much pinker.

So there you have it: the reasons Rica is one of my favorites. It makes me happy just to look at it! Each time I apply it, I think, I forgot how much I love this color!







So what do you think of Rica?


Lab Love,

Allison

11 Week Challenge: Week 2 Mani

Hello Lab Partners!

As you may recall, we're participating in an 11-week mani challenge, and this week's challenge is to create a mani inspired by an upcoming holiday. The obvious choice would be a Halloween-themed mani . . . but alas, I'm just not into Halloween (please refrain from throwing virtual candy corn at me). Why am I not into Halloween? My theory is I got sick of having my November 3 birthday celebrated with witch cakes and black and orange streamers. Incidentally, my friend Ace's birthday is tomorrow, Novemeber 1, and she's not a Halloween fan, either. You see? I think there's something to this birthday theory!

So if not a Halloween-inspired mani, then what? Well, I searched for silly, bizarre holidays and found that November 2 is "Look for Circles Day." Sounded like a great excuse to break out my dotting tools and do a twist on an "eyeball" mani! Oh, I did use black and orange, as my obligatory nod to Halloween:

Outside, natural light. Alright, so some of my circles are more like amorphous blobs . . . I prefer to think of them as circles with lots of character.

Outside, natural light

The base color is Color Club Wham!Pow! from the Poptastic collection. For the circles, I used Kiss Nail Art Paints.

Icky iphone pic, but I was wearing an orange top, so I couldn't resist!

It's not too late to join in the 11-week challenge! Join at any time, and feel free to post your challenge mani pics on our FB page.



Until next time, sending you lab love!

Allison

11 Week Challenge: Week 1 Mani

Hello Lab Partners!

We're participating in an eleven week mani challenge here at The Polish Lab. This week's challenge is to do a mani inspired by your favorite cause. I have several causes dear to my heart, and one of those happens to be The National Breast Cancer Foundation. Like many families, mine has a history of breast cancer, including a recent diagnosis of this disease in a male family member. As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this was the perfect time to do something I rarely do: paint my nails pink. It's not that I don't like pink; it's just that it clashes with my red hair, so I don't wear it often. And yes, I realize it's neurotic to worry about my nails clashing with my hair.

I started my Week 1 Challenge Mani with a base color of Ulta Salon Formula Baby Doll, a very pale cream pink. I recently purchased several Ulta polishes, but I hadn't used any before trying Baby Doll. I've heard conflicting opinions on Ulta polish, so I was unsure what to expect. My experience with this polish can be summed up in a single word: YUCK. The first coat of Baby Doll applied unevenly, dragging on the nail and streaking. I hoped that the second coat would smooth out the unevenness and streaks, but it actually applied worse than the first coat! It dragged worse, tended to bubble, and left visible brush strokes. Credit for any evenness whatsoever goes to Posche top coat:

Ulta Salon Formula Baby Doll. Inside, artificial light. Unevenness, streaking, visible brush strokes

At this point, I faced a dilemma: did I want to go forward with the mani I had planned--a two-toned chevron French--or remove Baby Doll and go back to square one. I compromised: I went forward with my mani but with a change. I decided that a regular French tip combined with a bit of art across the nail might cover enough of the bubbles, brush stroaks, and uneveness for me to tolerate the Baby Doll base. So I sponged the tips with Color Club Poptastic, a neon pink, then applied Big Ruby nail tattoos to cover a bit more of that horrid base color. I adore Big Ruby tattoos. They couldn't be any easier to apply! They're a great way to spice up a mani quickly, without stamping or free-handing.

Tips sponged with Color Club Poptastic. Big Ruby Nail tattoos. Inside, artificial light

To further distract from the unevenness of Baby Doll, I applied a coat of Butter London Frilly Knickers, my absolute favorite micro-glitter. Frilly Knickers sounds like its name--its nothing if not girlie and delicate:

With addition of Butter London Frilly Knickers, Inside with flash

Overall, I'm not as dissatisfied with this mani as I feared I might be. I'm enjoying the pop of pink for a change, and the bright tips and lines draw my eye away from the many imperfections of Baby Doll.

If you'd like the join us in the 11 Week Challenge, please see our post containing more info, including a list of the weekly prompts. Feel free to post photos of your challenge manis on our FB page.

Until next time, sending lab love!

Allison

11 Week Mani Challenge Starting Tomorrow

Hello Lab Partners!

We wanted to let you know about a manicure challenge we'll be participating in. In starts tomorrow, October 17th. Each week will feature a prompt or a choice of prompts, and participants have one week to do a mani based on the prompt. This challenge will run for eleven weeks, ending on January 1, 2012. We hope you'll consider participating along with us! You're more than welcome to post photos of your challenge manis on our Facebook page.

Here are the prompts:

And don't forget--tomorrow is the last day to enter our A Blog is Born Giveaway! Until tomorrow, sending you lab love,

Allison