Tag Archives: Zoya

Challenge Your Nail Art (9/15 – 9/19) – Pirates: Sea Creatures

15 Monday Sep 2014

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Jessica over at Be Happy and Buy Polish hosts one of my favorite challenges. They are bite-size and last no longer than 4 days. She polls the Facebook group for the most popular prompts and compiles the top themes. Jessica hosts a different challenge every few weeks. I find these challenges more hardcore than daily monthly challenges because the themes are more unique and specific.

I cannot tell you for sure if I will complete each day (be prepared for a double 31DC2014 manicure tomorrow) but I will certainly try.

I hope you like my sea creatures manicure. I especially like the double stamping of bubbles. This look was loosely inspired by Pandora, the National Zoo’s late  Giant Octopus, who passed away last February. Unfortunately since then, the Invertebrate House has lost even more funding and was shut down a month or two ago.

 

Pirate's Nail Challenge (9/15): Sea CreaturesI made a gradient using a make-up sponge, Sally Hansen Blue My Mind (cuticles) and Zoya Dream (tips). I sealed the gradient with INM Northern Lights (Silver).

I double-stamped bubbles with Milani Power Periwinkle, Peacock and MoYou London plate 08 from the Sailor collection.

I used MoYou London plate 04 from the Princess collection and Essie No Place Like Chrome. I love stamping with this polish but it shows every little flaw!

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Don’t forget to check out the other sea creatures below!

#31DC2014 – September 12: Stripes

12 Friday Sep 2014

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Sorry about the not so great lighting, I’m trying to find better over the weekend!

I’ve fallen a bit behind because on day 10 I experienced a hit of exhaustion. I wanted to incorporate day 10 and 11 but everything I tried was a real nail fail and I lost steam quickly. I have an idea of what I want to do and hopefully it turns out how I want!

Anyways, here are my stripes for today…I am really stretching the prompt but as I see it, the design is made of up stripes, right?

I hope you like it. I am a little annoyed though, I sponged the base but it just came out like I smeared the stamp 😦

 

DSCF0861_fotorI used 3 coats of Zoya Goldie as my base. This time I actually remembered to use the shimmer-y polish as my base so clean up was so much easier!

I sponged with Sinful Colors Chick Chick and Julie G White Orchid. 

I stamped with MoYou London Back to the 80s plate 02 from the Time Travelers collection.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other stripe manicures below, there are some real stunners in the collection today!

#31DC2014 – Day 8: Metallic

08 Monday Sep 2014

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Metallic bases with black stamping work nicely but I wanted a little extra from yesterday’s nails so I water-colored gold for a braised look. I cannot decide whether it looks cool or just muddy. What do you think?

I hope you like it either way!

 

31-Day Challenge: September 8, 2014 - Metallic | The Rite of Aging…EarlyI used 2 coats of Chanel Peridot as my base.

I stamped with Milani Swift Black and a Bundle Monster plate (sorry, once again do not have it in front of me!)

I used pure acetone and Zoya Goldie.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other metallic nails below!

#31DC2014 – Day 6: Violet Nails/FingerFood Theme Buffet: Marbling

05 Friday Sep 2014

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See sidebar for more information.

 

I am kind of super excited I am a day ahead in the 31 Day Challenge. It gives me a little wiggle room in case I lose steam during the month. I decided to kill two birds with one stone because I was itching to use some of my neglected purple polishes.

I avoided water marbling. I tried a couple of times but they were fails and I felt discouraged. I attempted ziploc marbles but I was too impatient for them to dry so I tried a toothpick marble. It is hard! I kept scraping my base and I could not really “marble” but I liked the end result. Without top coat, the design resembled the Picasso Swirl technique; with top coat, it looked a lot more like what I was after.

I hope you like my manicure today! I like the cloudy, floaty feel (if that makes sense) of the creams on top of the flaky base.

 

#31DC2014 - September 6: Violet Nails | The Rite of Aging…EarlyI started with 2 coats of Zoya Payton and 1 generous coat of Nfu Oh Opals  Nfu 51 (one of my severely neglected polishes…sometimes I wish I used it more, sometimes I want to save it because it was discontinued!) as my base.

I marbled with a toothpick, Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess, Essie Smokin’ Hot and Milani  Vivid Violet.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other violet nails for the 31-Day Challenge!

 

 

…and the marble manicures for the Theme Buffet!

Depression Awareness – #fightforlightandlive

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

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My submission for the hashtag #fightforlightandlive. The idea behind my manicure – fly free: free from depression, free from the weight it brings, free to be who you are without fear.

Here is my question for the world: Depression sometimes goes hand in hand with autoimmunes. Is it because it is hard to cope with a life-altering diagnosis? Is it because autoimmunes are inflammatory diseases, affecting all organs including the brain? 

I suffered from depression, on and off, long before I ever felt my first arthritic pains, but I wonder now if it has gotten worse because I still cannot wrap my head around my new disability or because inflammation runs rampant in my body.

 

Five minutes after I applied top coat I had to wrestle the Saachi for something and everything smudged. My left hand came out with the least damage so I photographed that hand.

 

DSCF0563_fotor-001I used 2 coats of Zoya Giovanna as my base. I used 1 coat of Deborah Lippman One Short Day (from the Wicked collection) on my thumb and ring finger. I used 1 coat of Serum No. 5 Forest Lights and 1 coat of Zoya Opal on my index, middle and pinky finger.

I stamped with American Apparel Parakeet and MoYou London plate 02 (from the Mother Nature collection).

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Don’t forget to check out everyone who went green for Depression Awareness. Use #fightforlightandlive across all social media!

Tri-Polish Tuesday Challenge – August #3: Blue, Yellow, Red

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

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I used 2 coats of Sinful Colors Chick, Chick and 1 coat of Seche Vite as my base.

I sugar-spun with Zoya Cheryl and Payton.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

GOT Challenge: White Base

14 Thursday Aug 2014

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Check out the sidebar for the link to the Facebook group.

I am not going to lie…I love how this came out. It is super cute and fun. I cannot stop looking at my hands! The stamping could be better but this afternoon I could not even fill out a simple UPS DHL slip without my fingers getting stuck and painful. My hands went past shaky right to pulsating so I expected the worst when I lift the stamper. It smeared the base but I was totally okay with that today! (The top coat masked the flaw! Yay!)

I hope you like my GOT manicure this week. Since my Nails Inc. glitter has blue and pink glitter I went with a gender symbol design. When I flipped through my stamping plates I knew it was perfect with the other colors!

 

DSCF0539_fotorI used 3 coats of Nails Inc. Sprinkles Sweets Way (thumb, index, pinky) and 2 coats of Milani Peacock (ring) and Zoya Reece (middle) as my bases. To bring the blue creme and pink shimmer together I added a generous coat of Sally Hansen Color Frenzy Candy Drops and 1 coat of INM Holographic Top Coat – Silver.

I stamped with butter London Cotton Buds and Bundle Monster plate BM 310. The butter London polish became so thick after a few uses I could no longer stand it as a base. I reserved the remainder for stamping and it worked really well!

I sealed everything with 2 coats of Seche Vite because the glitter ate the first coat!

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other white base manicures below!