Tuesday, October 30, 2012

In Loving Memory...

Hello, friends!

Today I'm going to share with you a mani that I did for a very dear friend of mine. She is my vocalizing partner in crime and I love her so very much.  Last week her Father passed away.  I immediately wanted to hug her and make it all better the moment I heard.  It's such a terrible loss for her and her family :(  When she asked me if I would paint her nails for his memorial service, I was thrilled!  It was finally a way that I could help my friend in this process.

When she told me she wanted Denver Bronco nails because that was her Dad's favorite team... I was floored.  Panic almost set in and I thought, "There is no way I can do this!".  I only had to start over once lol...


I wish that I had written down the names of the polishes that she brought over for me to use, but alas I did not... dumb me haha.


 Personally I feel like the Bronco looks more like a dragon than a horse *sigh*.  But the helmet on the other hand... I think it turned out nicely :D

Football, Denver Broncos, blue, orange, horse, helmet, nail art, nail design, mani

Overall she was really happy with it and I was happy that I could make her happy!  Today is her Dad's memorial so my thoughts and prayers are with her.  Wuvs you Nini <3

Until next time!

Stef <3

Monday, October 29, 2012

Julep Demi & Essie Leading Lady

Hiya!  How's it goin'?

So the mani that I want to share with you isn't really nail art.  It's more of a polish swatch, which is not something that I really do.  Not that I'm disinterested!  I just really enjoy crafting nail designs, but I couldn't resist sharing this luscious polish with you in it's lonesome glory :D

The elusive polish is Julep's Demi.  I love it... LOVE!!  It's a beautifully deep red creme polish.  I paired it with Essies' Leading Lady which is a deep red almost-jelly with glitter...


 I used 2 coats for Demi and 3 coats for Leading Lady


Julep Demi, Essie Leading Lady, red, glitter, ruby slippers, swatch, nail art, nail design, mani

 The one thing I will say about working with Demi that I disliked... cleanup was atrocious!  I've never used a red polish that turned into liquid stain immediately after coming into contact with acetone.  I appreciate the formula's amazing pigment but after all the scrubbing I still wasn't thrilled with my end result :\



Yay for red!  I hope you all have a fabulous Monday, don't work too hard ;)  I have a very special post to share tomorrow so I hope you'll check back in.

Until next time!

Stef <3

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Church Mani: Feeling Rosy

Happy Sunday everyone!

I have been absent because of illness, my apologies.  It was one of those weeks where I was sick and feeling unmotivated.  I didn't want to do anything but curl up under a blanket and veg in front of the TV *sigh*.  I did attempt a few mani's while I was on hiatus, tho I'm not really crazy about any of them lol.  I'll be sharing a couple with you this up coming week :)  Onto today's mani!

This mani was inspired by a fan nail of the day that I saw on Julep's blog page (by the by, they shared my Princess Jasmine inspired nails this past week on their Facebook page! *squeals*).  I loved the idea and thought it would be subtle enough for church.

Julep Lisa, grey, white, pink, roses, stripes, french, nail art, nail design, mani
 Colors Used: Julep - Lisa and Hoch, Revlon - Temptress and Tuscan Sun, Wet n Wild - French White Creme, China Glaze - Love Letters


What I like... I think it's cute and fun :)  I've been crazy about grey polishes from the get-go and Lisa is just creamy beautiful-ness (it's practically a one-coater, I'm just a bit of a perfectionist and prefer 2 coats haha)


What I don't like... I need to work on my roses.  They look like something a child would do, definitely not a look I'm striving for lol.  The stripimg is alright. And I don't know what those farbeedoo's are hanging off of my nail but they were driving me crazy!


Overall tho, I am pleased with the way it turned out :)



That's all I have for now.  The next post I'll have for you might qualify as my first "swatching" post.  I dunno... either way it should be interesting!

Until next time!

Stef <3

Friday, October 19, 2012

Hey, Jasmine... Be Jealous ;)

Good morning lovelies!

It's Friday and payday (well at least for me it is) and I love that combination :D  I'm looking forawrd to a weekend of being domestic, i.e cleaning the apartment, grocery shopping, buying little odds and ends to decorate for fall... I'm excited!

Anywhosie... for today's post I want to share a mani that I did weeks ago.  I completely forgot about it, which is a shame because I'm kind of in love with it.  I was inspired by Princess Jasmine.  We'd been watching Aladdin a lot at work recently so it was a natural progression.  Just a forewarning, this post is a little pic heavy...

 Colors Used: Julep - Gwyneth, Felicity and Robin


 I started with 2 coats of Gwyneth, a "sheerest pink clear" polish according to Julep.


 I then swiped on 2 coats of Felicity, by far my favorite gold polish in my collection.  If I wasn't already married, I'd marry it!  <3


 Then I added Robin on top (also 2 coats).  Again, it's such a beautiful color.  I just love it...


I believe I topped it with Out The Door quick dry top coat, but I'm not positive :\
Julep, Robin, Felicity, Gwyneth, Princess Jasmine, frenchie, french tip, nail art, nail design, mani

Simple but oh so pretty :)  If you haven't tried Julep's polishes/Maven program, I highly recommend it.  They are an awesome company and the product is fabulous.  It's the best 20 bucks I spend every month!  :D

Before I forget, I added a new page to my blog.  It's just an inventory of my polish collection.  I put it together so that I stop buying duplicates of polishes that I already own and so that I can keep a count.  I don't expect you all to be terribly interested lol.  Just a heads up in case you were curious :)

Well that's all for now...

Until next time!

Stef <3

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

The winner of my 100th Post Giveaway is Iroshi! 

I sent her an email last night at she has already responded with her acceptence :)  Thank you all so very much for your participation in this giveaway.  I really do enjoy sharing my silly hobby with you and I truly appreciate all of your support.  You guys are the best!

Congratulations Iroshi :)

Stef <3

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A Vampy Plaid?

Good mornin'!  How is everyone fairing this week??  I for one am ready for it to be Friday ;)

My post today is going to be short and sweet because... well, I'm just not that crazy about this nail art.  I had an idea in my head and I just don't think I executed it well.  It took about an hour for this inspiration to even come to me in the first place!  I'm a little rusty I guess :\

The idea I had in my head was a vampy plaid.  Like if Elvira were to suddenly decided she wanted plaid nails or something.  They came out a hot mess...

 Colors Used: Sinful Colors Nail Art - My Day (red) Time Off (black), Sally Hansen - Pumping Iron


 What I cannot stand is that the black pops off of the nail and looks like a weather vein/telephone pole!  It's seriously driving me crazy!!  

I feel compelled to fix it... right now... brb...


Yeeeaaaahhh... not any better.  Gaaaaaaahhhh!!!

C'est la vie hahaha.  Just a reminder that there's only a few more hours to get your entries in, so get to it ladies :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Monday, October 15, 2012

Tryin' Tribal

Hello hello  :)

Sorry for my absence, I had a very VERY busy weekend.  One of those weekends where you need another weekend just to recover haha.  I also can't shake this droopy fatigue I've got going on.  I woke up this morning with the worst sneezing and itchy face.  I took some allergy medicine and now I feel like a zombie... bleh!

But that's enough ranting about me.  Let's get to some nails!

Today's mani was created by using Julep + Trina Turk polishes that I received last month... Gunta and Hoch.

 
Gunta is the blue, Hoch is the green.  What's interesting about Gunta is that it's not supposed to be a navy blue.  It's more of a royal blue.  When I received my bottle, I thought it was strange but not the end of the world.  And then last week I recieved a "Mystery Color" from Julep in the mail.  It's the exact same shade.  I'm a little bummed, not gonna lie.  I don't even like blue all that much :(


 I used striper polishes by Sinful Colors to draw my lines.  Time Off (black) and Bad Chick (White)

 

 With my dotting tool, I applied Julep's Felicity.

Julep, Gunta, Hoch, tribal, accent nail, nail art, nail design mani

Tada!

That's all for now.  I'm kind of having a nail crisis at the moment.  This last month with the wedding a packing/moving really did a number on my hands.  I neglected them and now they're have their revenge.  My middle finger nail on my picture hand broke so badly that I had to give it the chop and now my nails just look disasterous D: (hence why I pulled this mani out of the vault)  So do I continue painting mani's and hope that you'll forgive me or wait until it grows back to an acceptable length?  Decisions, decisions...

Until next time!

Stef <3

P.S. Don't for get to enter the giveaway if you haven't already.   3 more days!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Late Night Halloween Nails :D

Good afternoon all :)

In case you missed yesterdays post, I am having another giveaway!  You should go check it out.  And while you're at it, you should go tell a friend ;)

Today's mani was done a couple of nights ago when I couldn't sleep.  My new husband and I are having a very tough time sleeping in the same bed together, he moves around a lot and I like to sprawl out lol.  Needless to say, I've been reluctant to climb into bed :\  So I busted out my polishes and kep myself occupied for an hour haha...

 Colors Used (L to R): Confetti - Lonesome Dove, Revlon - Posh, Wet n Wild - Nerd Alert Screech, O.P.I. - Just Tea-Sing!, Wet n Wild - Straight A Jesse, Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow, Sally Hansen - White On, Rimmel - Black Satin

Phew!  So many colors!


The Frankenstein and mummy were inspired by pics I saw when I Googled Halloween nail art images.  There were A Lot of them...

Halloween, Frankenstein, spider web, candy corn, mummy, RIP, tombstone, nail art, nail design, mani

Sooo... it's 20 day's 'til Halloween and this may be a little premature, but I think I've outdone myself and I had to post it lol.

I suppose that's all for now :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

100th Post Giveaway!

Good morning guys and dolls :D

This is my 100th post!!!  Woohoooo!!!!  To celebrate, I have a nifty giveaway for all of you.  Here is the prize....

Oooooo... Ahhhhhh!

It includes  6 glittery Color Club polishes with 1 clear coat polish, a set of 6 mini lipglosses with 1 lipliner pencil and a diva-fied makeup bag.  This is my way of saying thank you for being awesome and sticking with me :)

I will be using the Rafflecopter widget again for this giveaway.  I know that there was confusion for some people about how it works so...

PLEASE READ THIS NEXT SECTION IN IT'S ENTIRETY :)
  • I have made it mandatory that you follow me on Facebook by liking the Fairly Charming Facebook Page.  "Liking" the page will get you 5 entries in the giveaway and therefore ups your chances of winning. ;)  
  • If you are a follower of the blog via Google Connect/Blogger that gets you another 3 entries.  
  • Following the Fairly Charming board on Pinterest gets you 2 entries.  
  • Leaving a post on my blog with some helpful advice gets you 2 entries.  
  • And if you spread the news about this giveaway via FB, Twitter, your blog, etc. that will get you 3 entries.  You have the option of sharing this giveaway daily, so you could rack up a lot of entries! 
  • If you do all of these things just once, that makes a total of 15 possible entries for you in this giveaway!!  :D 
  •  YOU MUST PRESS THE "DO IT!' BUTTON ON THE WIDGET TO SUMBIT YOUR ETRIES.  RAFFLE COPTER WILL PICK A WINNER FOR ME SO IF YOU DON'T PRESS THE BUTTON, YOUR ENTRIES WILL NOT BE IN THE DRAWING.
  • The contest ends on Thursday, October 18th at 12:01 a.m. EST.
  • Unfortunately I am unable to open this to any followers outside of the U.S. and for that I apologize.  
  • This contest is not affiliated to any company/organization.  I'm doing it all by my lonesome :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Good luck and may the polish gods be with you!

Stef <3

P.S. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message on the Fairly Charming Facebook page!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Getting Into The Spirit :)

Good morning, all :)

After yesterday's post, I decided to get back into the swing of things with a simple Halloween themed mani.  I think it's a good start...

 Colors Used: Wet n Wild - Straight A Jesse, Maybelline Color Show Shredded - Carbon Frost, China Glaze - Fairy Dust


This is the first crackle polish that I've used that I've really been able to get big cracks from... I like it!  in general, I'm not a big fan of crackle polishes.  They're a little to edgy/grungyfor my taste.  I put the Fairy Dust on as an after thought to jazz the mani up a bit.  I think it turned out pretty decently :)


Now, this is post #99.  Which means the next post will have... a GIVEAWAY!!  Yayayayayayayyy!!!  I can't wait to share it with you :D  

Until next time!

Stef <3

Monday, October 8, 2012

Be Bold!

Hello, hello lovelies!

We've moved, we're married... I'm ready to get back to blogging :D

As you all know, I haven't really had any time this past moth to do my nails :(  So the mani I'm sharing with you today is about a month old.

 Colors Used: Julep - Delaunay, Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow, Love & Beauty - Crystal Silver, Rimmel - Satin Black


I didn't really have an inspiration for this mani.  It was just a "paint and see what happens" kind of a thing haha.  If I remember correctly, it was 2 coats for each polish and I used a striping brush for the design.  One of the little boys at work told me that I was confused... I was supposed to pick one color for all of my nails!  Boys... they just don't get it lol.

Julep Delaunay, yellow, holo, holographic, glitter, arrow, feather, leaf, nail art, nail design, mani

Overall I really like the way that this mani turned out :)

With the holidays just around the corner, I have a lot of work to do!  So many mani's, so little time o.O

Until next time!

Stef <3