Milani Charcoal Charm + BM 413,H06

check out the current giveaway HERE for a chance to win a gift card from JORD wood watches!

Another ghoulishly mani for Halloween! I started with two coats of Milani Charcoal Charm which is a fantastic dark graphite gray. I then stamped the scary pumpkin face and the sugar skull from Bundle Monster plates 413 and H06. I wanted to jazz it up a bit so I added orange rhinestones to the eyes of the jack o lantern face and purple rhinestones for the eyes on the sugar skull. Another simple yet fun and eye catching mani for Halloween!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to everyone who celebrates it! I have been rocking this mani all week, I originally designed it for the US Men's World Cup soccer team on Tuesday and have kept it on because well... it's kinda rad.

 I started with a white base on all the nails because I wasn't sure which way I was going... for the blue I used Zoya Ling which isn't  a perfect American blue but I like that it's lighter in color. The red is Coca-Cola Red from OPI and the white is the amazing Finger Paints Paper Mache. I added some chevron stripes using vinyls as templates then pulled out the rhinestones! I went a bit overboard on my index finger but that was the first one I did so I didn't know any better :)  I like the way the 3 silver stars look on my ring finger. On my right hand I have everything opposite, so I have 3 blue nails and 2 chevron striped. I love doing this when wearing a skittle mani, makes it more interesting to opposite the pattern. I have a few more for you that I'll keep posting over the weekend... it is after all, a holiday weekend full of slacking :)

Nude Studded Mani

Hi Monkeys! I rocked a simple mani recently which I loved and had to share. I used two coats of OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around then added matte black studs on it.

 I was inspired by an accent nail from one of the Jamberry nail manis I did a few posts back. Something very chic about nude nails with matte black studs. I'm rocking super short nubs right now because I'm a real person and do stuff around my house etc so breaks happen.. they just all happened at once this time! The nude polish is great for the nubs to look clean and the studs add some edge. Total win.

Jamberry Mani- Mixed Media\Patterns

Hi Monkeys, I had some friends over for a Jamberry party and thought I'd share 2 manis that I did. The idea was to have mixed textures, patterns and colors- a mixed media mani. While I don't remember the exact colors used, I can give you an idea of how to achieve the look.

First up was a simple skittle mani using mostly the OPI Brazil collection (the index finger is the new NOPI core collection purple). Jamberry accent was an animalish print with a multi colored gradient underneath so I played off of those colors. Very Spring inspired and fun!

Next up was more of a mixed media mani and I love how this turned out. The accent finger is Jamberry- it's a minty green with yellow polka dots. The little finger is Don't Bossa Nova Me Around (OPI Brazil) with three matte black rhinestones, the middle is Zoya Cosmo (Magical Pixie), index finger is OPI 4 In The Morning (Gwen Stefani) with two light blue rhinestones, top coated then matted.. the thumb was Milani white as a base followed by chevron nail vinyls painted over in Milani Black Swift, then removed to show the chevron design.

Each mani is quite different and unique. I like each for completely opposite reasons: the first for the pops of color and who doesn't like a skittle mani, and the second for the mixed patterns and textures.

Overall, two pretty cool manis.

Summer Challenge: Pink and Blue

Today's challenge for the Summer Challenge was a blue and pink mani. I chose Little Roo Flaming Drongo from Sarah who blogs at Shatter Me Claire. She has really great formula polishes and is quite the creative one :) Flaming Drongo is a frosty medium pink that was opaque with two coats and was not runny or patchy. For the blue I chose another untried I had lurnking: Essie's Beam Bum Blu which is a silver blue frost. I then took tear drop rhinestones from my It's So Easy assortment and did a blue flower.. a huge different toned blue flower. Granted this mani would not be realistic to wear for a few days but for an evening, I'd totally rock the huge rhinestone flower.

Check out everyone else who participated today :)

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*

. 

Star Water Marble

It's been a long time since I've marbled. I think I got caught up with swatching all the holiday collections/polishes I received. So this mani is a bit different. I used Spoiled My Button Fell Off which is a super pale pink and was a pain to apply (more on that in another post), Sally Hansen Purple Potion and Gun Metal. I wanted to use my star rhinestones so I did a pattern that all met up in the middle like a flower/reverse star burst. Usually I like my marbles really bright and obvious so I wasn't too impressed because of the Gun Metal being a bit muted, I think a black or white would have been much better... even Celeb City.  Anyways, it's a different pattern of mani so I hope you like it :) 

My Giveaway!!!! and my Julep NOTD entry, go vote for me please if you like it :) 

Water Decals: Hello Kitty Lady Bugs

I have a cool guest post for you today: Jen from Jen's Painted Tips used some water decals I madefor her (can buy them from my Etsy store).  Thanks to Jen for the guest post!!

From Jen: 

Among other things, the AWESOME Manicured Monkey sells water decals.

I have a thing for ladybugs. She made me some. She is all different kinds of neat.

:) I love these! They are just too cute!!!

I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Lavender Cloud and the Monkeys stickers, topped with Seche Vite :) I wore this mani for 4 days with absolutely no chips, no tip wear, NOTHING.

My giveaway with 4 winners, make up, cool polishes and stuffs!

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.)

Flomar: Purple with Kleancolors and Cupcakes

This is a mani I did for my friend who is also into nail polish (shout out to M!).  I used Flomar neon purple for a base color. This polish is awesome, it's a one coat polish and purple.. total awesome.  I got this polish in a swap from Brazil a while ago.


I wanted to jazz up the polish so I used Kleancolor Holo Fuchsia (one coat) over so it flashes blue, purple, pink, orange, green- it's rad!


Because my friend loves cupcakes, I stamped a cupcake, topped it with a rhinestone from Born Pretty. But that wasn't enough so I cut a cupcake slice from a fimo stick and put that on.
To put the cupcake on, I sliced the fimo cane with a razor, then used nail glue to adhere it to the nail. I did a thick coat of SV over the cupcakes and a normal coat over the other fingers.
I really liked the way this mani turned out, feel free to click on the images and get a closer look at the color shift in the Kleancolor top coat.

It's always hard to take close pictures of someone else's hands in my light box, but I think you get the idea :-)

Revlon: Ocean and nail art

I kind of failed at taking pictures without the nail art, so sorry for that! This polish is yum though! I recently won ColoresdeCarol's giveaway and Revlon's Ocean was in it.  It's honestly been so long since I've tried any Revlon nail polish so this was a super great surprise.

Meet Ocean: a teal shimmer/metallic that goes on incredibly smooth, this was two coats, and dries even quicker! I used special white polish with a bundle monster plate because the little whispies off the stars reminded me of crested waves.  I then rocked out the mani with star rhinestones.  I topped it off with a generous coat of SV.

I wore this mani for probably 4 days and I must say that I did not have any chips, just normal tip wear, and there were no rhinestone fatalities.  You may see this mani soon on a fellow blogger's site as I submitted to be a guest blogger (will keep you posted).  This mani was fun.

For those who have never used rhinestones or wonder how they stay on, I used Sally Hansen's top coat as a little dot in the middle of the stamp then placed the star on top of it.  Since I sealed it all with a generous coat of SV, the stones and polish went nowhere :)


Don't forget to enter TMM give away! (I have a special treat coming to this soon)!! I just added another goodie as well :D