Matte Halloween

For-ev-er.  You're right, that's how long it's been since I last posted. 

Know that I feel bad, but make no apologies.  I moved, started a new job, quit an old job, injured a knee twice leaving me pretty immobile, traveled across the country, and just found a desire to polish again.  It's been a very different, crazy year for me, but good in the long run.  I just needed some "me" time to stop my head from spinning!

Hopefully I'll spend much more time here now!

I really wanted to start off right with the Crumpet's 52-week Challenge, but really didn't get myself in gear to make the deadlines for them.  I've been sporting nekkid nails for a while now, out of exhaustion, and was ready to dive in.  I got super excited about jumping in for week 3, but apparently the InLinkz is already closed. 
So, I may not be feeling this Challenge...I was excited to have some inspiration to start trying new things again, but I don't really like that it's closed off to anyone who hasn't been accepted into the Facebook group (I think they're pretty open to adding members, though!) and I didn't realize they were going to be such sticklers with the timing of posts.  Please understand that this is NOT a judgement on anyone who is on board (I fully intended to be until about 10 minutes ago when I went to post!), Crumpet's Nail Tarts, or the Challenge itself.  I actually think it's a great idea and may use some prompts, but it looks like I just decided I'm not "officially" participating.

One of this week's prompt options was matte.  I'm not a huge fan of matte finishes (I LOVE the feel of a shiny top coat when I touch my nails), but a challenge should be just that--stretching out of a comfort zone!

So, here's my first Halloween mani of the season:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Orly R.I.P.
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out (accent)
*1 coat Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor (accent)
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love

R.I.P. by Orly is a black, relatively sheer/jelly base with orange large hex and micro square glitters.  The glitter settled at the bottom of my bottle, but some shaking and resting it upside down while I started fixed that easily.  I used 2 coats, and may opt for 3 in the future due to how sheer the base is, but 2 careful coats are not bad at all!  With a shiny top coat, it gets the depth of a jelly sandwich.
I wanted a little something extra, so I used my black creme and dotted on eyes.  I used Pearl Harbor for just a little extra sparkle on the black.  I like this look a lot with a top coat and will have to do the combo again!
I used Matte-ly In Love on all the nails for the prompt.  While I don't really like the feel of it, I must admit that glitter looks so cool with the matte finish on it!  I'm not converted from a high-shine topper, but I'm not disappointed either!

So, what's your favorite way to rock matte?  Is there something I should try that will convert me?  Do tell!

Back to school...

I've been wanting to try chalkboard nails since the 31 day challenge at the beginning of the year.  A contributor in The Crumpet's Nail Tarts posted some and I forgot to write down her name, so if you posted them back in January let me know!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*OPI Danke-shiny Red
*China Glaze Mahogany Magic
*Color Club striper in White
*1 coat Out the Door
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love

I fell in love this the pin I found of apple nails Cosmetic Cupcake did, so I added it as an accent.  I used a small paint brush and Danke-shiny Red for the apples and just a dash of Mahogany Magic for the stem.  I left these shiny and like how they turned out.

I used Black Out for my chalkboard base and painted in white over the top.  Things got a little dicey on my right hand, so these did not get worn out in public, but at least I gave it a shot!  I can never quite find the right brush to use when it comes to freehand art.  I was going to use a small paint brush for the letters, but decided to give my striper a try.  The brush on it is very thin but long, and did not give me the control that I needed.  Yeah, that was supposed to be a heart on the pinkie...oh well!

I really like how these looked.  I'm going to give them another go with a little more work on the art part, but if you haven't tried chalkboard nails, I recommend them--they are easy (in theory) and super cute!  More importantly, for me, they are a little love letter to my momma as she starts the first grade!

New 31DC: Pink

"Pink" is kind of a tough challenge for me because it is my favorite color. Ever. I remember being young and not really having a favorite color, so I kind of just said it was whatever other people liked (like teal or purple or black...seriously?). Then, all of a sudden in high school, everything became pink. It hasn't worn off and carries heavily into my polish collection. It's hard to make a choice for today, but I had this pin stashed that I wanted to use as inspiration, so I recreated it.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*3 coats Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Heart of Stone
*2 coats China Glaze Doll House
*1 coat Out the Door
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love

I didn't have the exact same polish as her, so I used Heart of Stone for my base.  I realized tonight that, in addition to owning many (all different, in some way) pink polishes, I also don't own many cream finish polishes.  The vast majority of mine are glitter, shimmer, or foil finishes.  I guess I'm too easily distracted...but this cream is one that I own.  It is rather sheer, so I used 3 coats as my base.
Doll House is another polish that my mom gave me.  I know it's not necessarily the aim of this challenge, but I am trying to work in as many untrieds as I can.  This pretty, light pink hex glitter is much more sparse than I thought.  I sort of swirled my brush in the bottle to get pieces on it and then scooted them a bit to get even coverage.  Trust me, that sounds like much more work than it actually was!

When I saw the mani that she did, I thought that it was a matte finish.  I don't think it actually was, but I decided to make mine one.  I like the idea of matte finishes, but don't think I really like them in reality.  I used a coat of Matte-ly In Love over my finished mani to see how it looked.  I don't know that I'm totally sold on it, but I kind of like how glitter looks under matte.  I still think I'm a sucker for a super-shiny finish, but this did turn out pretty cool!

This looks much more monochromatic as a matte than a shiny finish. How do you feel about matte toppers?  Do you have a color bias that tends to take over?  Do you try to break out of it or give into what you love?