Layering with the new Carrie Underwood Collection

I recently had on a layered mani using.. glitter. I hate glitter unless it's gel because it's so hard to get off and gels you have to soak off anyways so it's worth it. I started with the great greenish blue dusty shade Goodbye Shoes from the NOPI Carrie Underwood collection and topped my accent finger with a glitter from the same called Sing You Like A Bee (love this on it's own and matted btw), then topped all with one coat each of Nubar Black Polka Dots and White Polka Dots. It's a simple but easy and relatively fast mani to do. The Nubar glitters weren't that bad to take off so in that sense, it was a win.

Winter Nail Art Contest and Giveaway Info!!

Hey Monkeys! I'm hosting a winter nail art contest and a giveaway on the blog. You can participate by submitting nail art or just be a voter, there's 2 winners.. official page HERE when voting begins. In the meantime, submit a mani!

Submit your best winter nail art- it can be freehand, non-freehand, holiday or non-holiday, traditional or not- where ever your creativity takes you! Nail Art entries are due by November 27th, 5pm pacific time (email manicuredmonkey@gmail.com). I'll announce shortly after that when voting will begin (give me a day or so to get photos posted). 

There will be two winners: 1st winner will be the winning nail art participant (will have priority choosing prize).  2nd winner is someone who participated in voting (you can get multiple entries daily to increase your chances). Nail art participants can also vote daily for themselves. Prizes are shown below and I'll have an image with a direct link you can re-pin\tumblr\tweet when voting begins. Let the nail art commence! 

OPI: Black Spotted Over Neons!

I'm obsessed with OPI Spotted! I'm still learning to work with it but here is a neon skittle mani that I did with it. I started off with a white base coat then used China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada and Nubar Hot Fuchsia as an accent color. I then let it dry (no top coat) and did super thin passes with the Spotted. I honestly didn't think I had that much on the brush but it kept going and going and going. I have no idea how this polish works but I'm a whole lot of loving it. My favorite is my accent finger but you can get so many different variations, more so than with Shatter. What do you think?

My Giveaway!- open internationally

Nubar: Hot Fuschia + CH48

Another mani using the new Cheeky plates, CH48. I started with two easy coats of Nubar Hot Fuschia, a very neon pink. In the bottom picture there is no top coat, you can see it dries semi matte... looks rubbery. I stamped using Milani Black and Sally Hansen Celeb City (my fav silver glitter to stamp with). This is kind of like a girly super hero or comic book mani... the whole plate is themed around things you'd see in a comic book. The exclamation points were a little smeary because again, these are just beta plates and not the final ones. Check out Cheeky's facebook for more previews and as they're revealed I'll have manicures for you to see shortly after :)

Purple Split Mani with Rhinestones

I have more It's So Easy nail art for you today. This one's simple, you could do it! I started with two coats of Nubar Lavendar- the perfect lavender creme then I taped off and used Essie No More Film from the 2012 Resort collection. No More Film is a dark purple with blue intentions. I used one of the Stripe Rite from It's So Easy that had holo and silver glitter in a clear base (blurred for your pleasure). Then I grabbed to different shaped rhinestones and added those in. 

There is one awesome thing about the rhinestone box I received for review... it's a picker upper tool that is amazing. You can see the tool and the rhinestone box. The tool has little silicone feeling cupped ends and it picks up the stones without doing a dot of clear polish to get it to stick to the tool.  I have never used a tool like this for rhinestones and I must say, it makes it super easy and convenient, especially for the odd sized or shaped stones because you can rotate the picker upper and not be rushed because your stone won't stick to your tool if you take longer to place it. 

Check out their site to see where to purchase these and you can look at your local Sally's Beauty if there's one in your area. 

*art products sent for review*

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Summer Challenge: Swimming Pool (using CH36)

There's a new challenge that was started and you'll see me participating throughout the summer months. You can check out everyone else's below :) Today's theme was "swimming pool" so I created this mani using the new Cheeky plates (you can see part of the new set HERE and follow them for more previews).  I started with a white base then one coat of Orly Skinny Dip which is a shimmery light baby blue, topped with a coat of Ozotic 506 for texture/sparkle and on my accent finger I did 2 coats of Nubar Hot Fuchsia which is a great neon. I stamped the sunglasses with it and the umbrellas using Milani Yellow Whiz and the suns using Milani White About Now. The flippers were stamped using Milani Black Magic. I really enjoyed creating this design for the challenge. I have another one for you tomorrow so stay tuned, but in the mean time, check out the rest of the swimming pool manis and follow Cheek on Facebook to see more plate previews!

Nubar: Angel

I got the beauty from the hubbo for Christmas. Nubar Angel is a sheer pink champagne frosty shimmer polish. It has hints of duochrome from pink to peach. It really is a beautiful. I layered it over a Deborah Lippmann Naked (I think, it was a while ago and may have forgotten!) and added coats. I would have liked to add some black stamping to this but I enjoyed the clean look of Angel. It's a great alternative to having a nude mani but still staying neutral. Also, did I mention I love the name! <3 My hubbo rocks!

check out my giveaway and you can tweet once a day for extra entries! 

Nubar: Indigo Illusion + RA117

Nubar Indigo Illusion has been on my list for a while and I was glad to cross it off! I used two coats of this duochrome. It is like a green smokey teal and flashes pink/purple/green. I stamped it using Red Angel 117 because I loved the faces! I put a fimo bow on the girl and a fimo crown on the one next to her. It's like they are on a date! =^.^=   I wore this for about 3 days before I started picking off the fimos.  I wish I could leave them on longer but 3D art starts to bother me after a while getting caught when I do my hair and stuff. I like this mani though and would for sure stamp the faces again :) 

Current Giveaway! Don't forget you can tweet once a day, enter it into Rafflecopter for your extra entry!

Nubar: Absolute

I've had Nubar Absolute for a while in my untried box. It's from Nubar's Prism collection and is technically a holo. The light teal has a slight holo to it, it is quite faint, even in direct sunlight. I applied three coats for mostly opaque coverage. I thought it looked a bit like water so I pulled out a stamping plate (think this one was a mash plate) and stamped a swan image using konad black polish. You can see it smeared a bit but overall it's a great image that is clear of what it is. I wouldn't say this is my favorite blue holo by any means because it takes 3 coats and is barely holo, but it is a really pretty shade and would probably be great layered over a medium blue.  I've been showing alot of my mani previews on Facebook if you'd like to be friends and get a sneak peek :) I'll also be previewing giveaway stuff there too :)

Nubar: Jewel and 3D flower

Oh how I love Nubars! This was a mani I wore for Thanksgiving.  Nubar Jewel is a cappuccino medium brown with holographic glitter.  It was opaque in two coats which rocked.  I added a 3D acrylic flower to my accent fingers. It was a solid blue so I added China Glaze Fairy Dust over it to add more sparkle to it and also used a silver foil polish to define the center of the flower.  It's a great easy mani the only thing that bugged me was removal. Since it's a micro glitter polish it was painful to remove, not as bad as a glitter bomb but more effort than a holo polish.  Totally worth it though because it's a gorgeous color.

News: almost to 1000 followers and I've been coordinating a giveaway with multiple winners and awesome stuff up for grabs, so stay tuned :)  The blog's also on Facebook if anyone's interested; I post previews and news and stuffs!

Giveaway: Ends 10/16, Opened Internationally

Hey everyone! Today's post is as promised the next giveaway for TMM. I'm changing it up a bit, this giveaway includes some hot polishes right now and some of my favorites:

CONGRATULATIONS AMANDA H. I HAVE EMAILED YOU!! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED :) 


 Nubar- 2010 and Brilliant (pink holo)
Wet N Wild- Tangled in your web, correction tape, behind closed doors, cougar attack, Fantasy Makers glow in the dark
Orly- Fowl Play
Headband- from my Etsy shop, you will get to choose what color/shape/finish you would like.

Rules:Must be 18 to enter or have your parents permission, Required fields in form must be filled in, you must be a public follower, One form submission per person.
Giveaway ends on October 16, 2011 at 6 pm, pacific time and is open internationally.
I will be verifying entries and verifying the winner before I announce them, so be honest. 
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China Glaze: Coconut Kiss, and Stamping

Aloha monkeys! By the time you read this, I will be in Hawaii on vacation.  Of course I still have posts for you everyday though, because that's how I roll and spoil you all.  For this mani I used China Glaze Coconut Kiss which is a metallic medium purple and was opaque in two coats. For my accent finger I used Nubar Purple Rain Glitter which is a really reflective dark purple glitter and really fun! I stamped using Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver using my Konad Hawaii plate. Then I added rhinestones in the middle of the flowers to jazz it up a bit.  I've used Coconut Kiss in water marbling and it's wonderful so I'm glad I got to show you how it looks on the nail as a primary color. The Nubar is stunning as well with it's sheen. It didn't eat the top coat too much, a thick quick dry coat worked like a charm.  So I've mentioned this before but here's a recap of "news" about the blog: 

~I have some great guest bloggers set up for you this week, show them some love and monkey hospitality :)

~My giveaway is still on and kicking- enter and kill a few lemmings

~Sidenote: it's a long shot but if I end up hitting 1000 followers before the current giveaway is back, I'm going to do a giveaway for you with Hawaiian goods (some Hawaiian polishes, chocolates etc.)

Nubar: Fall 2011 Press Release

This season, Nubar brings you eight new and enticing fashion forward colors of our premium carcinogen and cruelty free nail lacquer with the Polished Chic Collection.  Offering contemporary colors perfect for work, casual daytime wear, and even a night out, every woman can look to Nubar's Polished Chic Collection to update her look. 

Always free of DBP (phthalate), formaldehyde, and toluene, the nail lacquers included in Nubar's Polished Chic Collection are:

NPC301 – Classic Camel, an updated buff creme

NPC 302 – Faded Putty, a modern pale putty crème

NPC 303 – Edgy Umber, a deep brown crème

NPC 304 – Beguiling Carmine, a brick red crème

NPC 305 – Vogue Vert, a contemporary light green crème

NPC 306 – Mod Aqua, a light turquoise crème

NPC 307 – Stylish Peacock, a perfect teal crème

NPC 308 – Elegant Indigo, a sparkling blackened blue

nubar offers the salon professional a complete line of manicure and pedicure products, including over 300 shades of nail lacquers, soak-off gels, skin care products, and implements.  An innovator in the industry, nubar has been committed to creating non-carcinogenic, vegan, cruelty-free products for ten years, and is known for exceptional quality and creative colors.  Our expertise in producing safe, exciting products for the salon professional is unsurpassed.

Nubar: Reclaim

I've been so excited to post Nubar Reclaim that I think I got too excited and created a busted mani.  Reclaim is a great strong holo kelly green. It flashes orange/gold/blue and was opaque in 2 coats.  In a failed effort to give you more nail art and to try out my striping brushes... this is what happened....



I added a fimo flower, which I liked alot but then tried to add a stem onto it using my striping brushes.... not so much. I took black and Sally Hansen Celeb City to mix together and create a very sad excuse for a stem.



After I messed up on this, I figured I would try some striping with the brushes just on the tips to practice control with them. My goal was not to hide the holo, I wanted you to be able to see that still: so in that respect it was a success ha! Anyways, to make up for this bad nail art, here's a close up of the holo beautifulness that is Nubar Reclaim :-)

Nubar: Prize

Today I’m going to introduce you to Nubar Prize, a coral/pink scattered holo. I received this from a friend who is awesome at finding the great places to shop (Thanks Jamie!).  I used 2 coats for it to be opaque and the formula is great, I did not have any pooling (where the polish collects where your skin meets your nail).  The scattered holo in this is really pretty and mostly has the gold glitter, but you can see blue really well and if you look hard enough, purple!  The pictures show Prize as more of a coral or pink salmon color but it really is more pink than it shows.  I’m a fan of the Nubar handles and brushes too, easy to grip and the contour is nice because I feel like I won’t drop the handle or it won’t slip out of my hand while I’m applying polish.  So far I love my Nubar polishes and I have more holo ones to show you like Reclaim! Great stuff!!

Nubar: Mali-Blue and holo top coat

Love this Nubar!  I was lucky enough to have a friend find a bunch of Nubars for me (stay tuned for holos too!). Mali-Blue is a frosty cool blue. It was opaque in 2 coats and I just love the hue! This color also dries fast which is really  nice.

I didn't top coat it because... wait for it.... I added a Spectra Flair top coat over it! for those who aren't familiar with Spectra Flair, it's a paint additive used for auto body painting that turns the paint holo.  I added two coats of SF which is in a clear bsse, then topped it with a quick dry top coat.  

The color changed quite a bit to a more gray/silver blue, but the trade off is the major holo that you get.  You can enlarge and see the linear rainbow.  I like the SF but I really want it to not dull the color so much because Mali Blue is gorgeous!

Nubar: Iris Dust

I recently did a trade with someone and got Nubar Iris Dust in exchange.  This polish is nuts in the bottle! It's purple and gold with a hint of green all duo-chromed out.  I started with Orly's Frolic and then did two coats of Iris Dust.


Irish Dust is much too sheer to be a base color and even as a top coat, I wanted to do 2 coats.  It's so pretty. It turned purple into gold, green, bronze and changed in the light and angle which you viewed it.







I took it to my light box to manipulate the lighting and try to show you how it changes with angles.  Look at my index finger, it's a nice shimmery plum, then it changes to a gold shimmer.. It's a great top coat and really transforms a polish color.

Another great thing about putting a top coat color on a polish is that it can change your manicure with minimal effort and it can cover up any imperfections you may have had when polishing.  Overall win in my book.

Wet N Wild Sea Witch and Nubar 2010

Let me introduce you to my new purple polish: Sea Witch by Wet N Wild, from their Mermaid's Cove collection.  It's a deep purple that shimmers blue. I did two coats. It looks so pretty under any light, I love this polish!

Recently I did a swap with Jeanie from Midnight Manicures and check out what I got...

Nubar 2010! It's a top coat flakey that changes to all sorts of colors! The flakies turn gold, orange, green, yellow, purple.  One thing I really love about these flakes is that they lay flat.  They're small enough that you can still see the base color underneath.

I topped with one generous coat of SV and it was glossy, smooth and gorgeous!
Nubar 2010 is a dupe for the hard to find Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure. Seriously love this mani. 

Have you entered the current Giveaway yet?  :-)

sOPI: Mermaid to Order, and stuff

 So you guys saw a little of Mermaid to Order from my challenge post, but this is what I had done with it before that. 

OPI's Sephora line is sometimes a hit or miss, this one's... well... both.  Hit: the formula is great, this was 2 generous coats and the color is beautiful.  Miss: the color is not unique and I felt like I wanted to do something else with it.

It's a frosty teal that flashes purple, gold, dark blue and in that sense it's pretty, just not unique. 




In an attempt to make it unique, I thought I'd stamp a peacock from the Bundle Monster plates.... yea.... um.... The feathers kept coming out all wrong, so I decided that it would just be an accent finger peacock. Then I added Nicole by OPI's Nicole... Spotted.  *THEN* I went for Nubar's Sour Candy for chunky glitter.  hhmm... where to start.
 
Numbar has the chunky hex holo glitter with smaller round and mini glitter... miiinniii glit-ter! It's suspended in a clear teal-esque base, so is Nicole Spotted but in a different hue.  I'd say these two glitters should be friends because the look good together, especially over a frosty teal... but that peacock!

 

I like how white looks on the polish so maybe stamping something like stars over it would be prettier.  This mani wasn't a fail for me but it wasn't a total win.

News: have you guys checked out Manicured Monkey on you tube or on the You Tube tab on the blog? :)

I've also been thinking about starting the 200 follower giveaway early, say at 190.  What do you think? What would you like to see in it? I've had some feedback and kept that in mind when I went shopping :)

Have you entered my Giveaway?