Bonus Post! Crazy Matte Mani

Yesterday I got too lazy to finish the rainbow nails on my right hand, so I did.. this.. instead. It might be hard to tell, but I actually used a matte top coat. I've never really been a fan of this, but I'm giving it another try. This one came out ok. Putting it over glitter kinda makes the glitter look crazier. Hard to tell from the pics.

31 Day Challenge: Day 10 Gradient

Well hello there. (That was said in a creepy seductive voice. Wink, wink.) I'm in a weird mood. I think it's because I'm watching Hart of Dixie and this show often causes me to drown in a sea of raging hormones and lust. *sigh*

For this gradient I only used two colors, but it looks pretty sweet... kinda like an ocean! (The blue/green color is called Ocean. Co-ink-ee-dink?) The picture makes it seem like everything is blurry, but that's actually just how the silver looks. It's a weird chunky metallic color. But I likes it.

 

  

31 Day Challenge: Day 9 Rainbow

On Friday I trekked up to College Station for my sister "Puddy"'s ring dunk! This is the one Aggie tradition that I'm jealous of. I feel like I should throw my ring in a pitcher and chug it just because it's bad-ass. She had a pretty decent time (1:18) even though she ignored my advise to drink a shitty beer like Bud Light and went with Shiner Blonde Light. Who does that? Bleck.

Back to nails. The other day I came across a tutorial about doing "blow dry" nails, so I thought it would be a good idea for today's challenge - rainbow nails! The basic idea is to take polish, dump a bunch of polish thinner in it, blob it on, and then use a blow drier to spread it all out and blend it. I completely failed at this and gave up after 2 blobs. Instead, I kept using the tinned polish and just blobbed it on with a brush. I think it came out ok. You can definitely see where I went to grab something and smudged a few nails.... but not it just looks more blendy. To me, this looks like something I made in 2nd grade with watercolors. I could never actually paint something other than a blob with watercolors, and I'm not really sure how anyone else manages.

31 Day Challenge: Day 8 Metallic

Yesterday I went back to UT for a SWE meeting - as a corporate rep! I felt like I had never left... and also like I was the oldest person in the world. It's weird to think that I've been done with school for almost a year. A year! How did that happen?!

Anyways, today I'm reppin' a polish I've had for like a zillion years but never really wear. I think I don't use it because I like it so much and don't want it to run out... I guess I should just start looking for a new bottle!

Sally Hansen Crystal Ball

I think this polish looks awesome just by itself, but I added a little extra glitter.

Pure Ice Strapless

31 Day Challenge: Day 7 Black & White

I have so many things going on right now!! First, my AC has been out for a week. My apartment complex has given me every excuse in the book about it... if it's not fixed by tomorrow, someone is getting a boot to the head.

On Saturday and Sunday I participated in the BP MS-150, which is a bike ride from Houston to Austin that raises money for MS research. I've been training for months, but I was still really terrified that I would die in a ditch somewhere along the way. Obviously, I didn't. After I finished, I was told it was the most brutal ride they had seen in like 15 years. We had a 15 mph head wind the entire first day. It was so intense that if you tried to just coast down a hill, the wind would push you BACK UP THE HILL. That made me want to die... But now it's done! Hooray!

Somewhere during the 180 miles of biking, I got extremely sunburnt, windburnt, and ---- I chipped a ton of nails. Ridiculous. Anyways, I did what I could to make this look decent. I was all psyched to do a stamping mani for this challenge, buuuut.... I had a rough day and took the easy way out. Forgive me.

31 Day Challenge: Day 6 Violet

Attention Earth-dwellers (and emissaries from distant planetoids) I'm finally really proud of one of my creations! I didn't make it too bland, and I didn't go too far. Huzzah!

Today's challenge was violet nails. I do not know what makes violet different than purple... are they the same? I feel like violet is a little lighter..? Someone explain the color wheel to me. Anyways, I used three different shades of purple today in order to potentially capture one that is violet. I was bouncing around other nail blogs and came across a tutorial for how to do a color gradient. Usually these tutorials just make me feel like a failure, but this one actually looked really simple. And it was!

The first step is to put a base layer of polish down. I used the middle layer (Revlon Top Speed Violet - violet!!) If you want it to come out a little lighter, you can use a white base instead.

Next, grab one of those makeup sponges - you can buy like 20 for $2 - and cut the fat end off until you have a smaller flat surface. It should be a little larger than your nail size.

Now apply the stripes of paint! I used liberal amounts, since it soaks into the sponge a little. Don't worry about being perfect, because you're going to blob it on anyway.

Side view - I made it a little less fat, too, since my nails aren't uber long.

Here's the fun part! Dab the sponge onto your nails. Do this a few times, moving it around a little, so that the paint will blend. I could have done a little more blending.. Here's a picture of post-sponged-pre-cleanup nails.

After a lot of scrubbing and the addition of a top coat, I came up with this!

The three colors I used: China Glaze Spontaneous, Revlon Top Speed Violet, Elf Royal Purple

Although just the plain gradient looked awesome, I wanted an accent nail. I added a layer of Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals.

P.S. Pottermore was released to the general public!!! Potions are really difficult.. but I'm having a blast and cannot stop playing.

31 Day Challenge: Day 5 Blue

Guess what!! I got a light box!! I think it's defective... but I rigged it up to work juuusst fine!

How it started off...

Finished!!

Today's challenge is blue nails. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time today making my brother's senior poster, sorting all of my polish, texting Kelley and Laura about how much we hate the tv show we all refuse to stop watching, and searching for Game of Thrones online... so I didn't get to do as much with this one as I wanted to.

Although I didn't do much, I also did too much. I should have stopped after the flower and let the glitters off. One day I will learn.

31 Day Challenge: Day 4 Green

Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen! I really like this color! It reminds me of these awesome green shoelaces I used to have on my Vans. Yup, I was really cool.

One Time Lime from Nicole by OPI (from the Justin Bieber collection)

In order to spice this shit up a bit, I added some glitter! I attempted to do a fading glitter line, so it isn't supposed to look perfect.

Fresh Frog of Bel Air from OPI (from the Muppets collection)

31 Day Challenge: Day 3 Yellow

I should have gone a little crazier with yellow. Next time! I also forgot to take pictures until a day later, so they're a little beat up...

31 Day Challenge: Day 2 Orange

Orange! Hooray! One of my two favorite colors, and my absolute favorite flavor! For this momentous occasion, I got an orange-scented polish from Sally Girl. Perfect!

To jazz this up a bit, I added a layer of Shine of the Times by Essie.

My Life In Ridiculous Pictures

It's been a while since I've dumped all of the pictures off my phone! Let me catch you up on what I've experienced lately...

The dumpster in my apartment is in a terrible location. This is not an uncommon sight.

The Voice comes on right before Smash, and it is the worst thing I've ever endured for 3 minutes at a time. For what seemed to be 5 weeks in row, Xtina wore this ridiculous disc hat. Just to annoy me further.

My friend Colby got married!! And I got an adorable name tag.

Jordan and I went to SXSW for a weekend. This terrifying human painted herself gold, put a fake baby in a frying pan, stood like a statue on a street corner, and wanted you to "give mama some $ugar." I didn't give her any, and she in turn gave me nightmares.

Approximately one block down the street from her was this longhorn bike. Although this was still terrifying, I did not have nightmares. I didn't notice the bucket labeled "Puppy's" next to it until later.

I didn't realize that The Library had a steering wheel. But I'm glad that we discovered it! We also had a lot to drink.

Further proof of excess drinkage. Jordan went up to strangers and convinced them to give him their giant glow-sticks.

I've been training a lot for the MS-150. April 21-22! Last Saturday I unhappily did 74 miles.

At a going-away party for a girl I barely know, I was re-introduced to her friend Jason-Statham's-Twin. Unfortunately, this was the best picture I could get without being completely obvious and weird.

For one of the training rides, I got to ride in the official BP MS-150 truck!

Smash is a weird show. This is their idea of a fancy restaurant in New York - terrifying faces drawn on the wall only add class.

Driving home from work one day, I encountered Jesus. Just walking down the street. 

I went to a training class for work, and THIS is where their valve testing facility was located. It was a good 2 hours away from other humans. I only narrowly escaped with my life.

On Saturday a bunch of hot air balloons were just flying around. If you look closely, you can see another one coming up in the bottom right.

ABITA STRAWBERRY!!! I was fairly convinced that I had missed out on this delicious beer for the season, but my wonderful mother found some for me!

And there you have it!!