Violet Beauregard Inspired...

Today I have a very special reader requested manicure to share with you. A few days ago I got a request for a manicure inspired by the outfit of Violet Beauregard from the original Willy Wonka movie. I pried a little as to the significance of this particular movie character for her, partly because I was curious and partly to draw inspiration. The answer was simple, she has autism, she loves Violet, and these happen to be her school colors. Enough said!

To create this manicure I started out with a bit of Liquid Palisade (LP) covering the half moon of each nail. I must really be determined to see how manicures I can get out of the little tube since I seem to be using it a lot lately. I then painted the nails with Barielle Blue Capri (full swatches coming soon) and removed LP. Using a detail brush and OPI OPI...Eurso Euro, I added the dark blue collar. Using red acrylic paint, I added the red stripe for a belt and accented the belt with a gold rectangular stud from the BornPrettyStore. I painted the center of the stud using Barielle Big Apple Red. The 'buttons' are little gold studs that I got from Cult Nails a while ago...

Next to the inspiration character herself... :)

Thank you to my lovely reader for this request! I hope you like it.

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Feather Skittlette

You may have heard of the Skittlette contest hosted by Marta on ChitChatNails. Skittlette is a term that Marta has come up with to refer to her unique manicure style. Unlike the typical skittle manicure where each nail is different, a skittlette by Marta's definition is "a manicure consisting of two, or three, different accent nails on each hand". I like to think of it as two to three nails are the same and the rest are different.

I was really excited to challenge myself to create this style and I honestly love how it turned out. Of course I waited until the very last minute to enter since I wanted my nails to grow out as much as possible after the break. Take a look at what I created and you can see more incredible skittlette contest entries on ChitChatNails...

This manicure features feathers which were given to me by a friend. After seeing my last feather manicure, she offered to collect a few feathers from her gorgeous blue and green parrot for me. The feathers were all naturally shed so no sweet birds were harmed for this manicure. I used the tips of smaller feathers in the manicure itself and I'm holding one of the larger feathers in the photos. The colors of the feathers inspired the colors of my manicure...

On my ringer finger is SinfulColors Happy Ending, a beautiful lime green with a gold shimmer. The rest of the nails were done in Cult Nails Time Traveler, a super pigmented dark navy blue. I thought it was so appropriate to use Cult Nails for Marta's challenge as it is her gorgeous photo spreads of the lacquers that made me want to get this polish in the first place.

I added the feathers on my index and middle fingers and covered them with two or three layers (I can't remember for sure) of top coat to smooth it all out. The feather image on the ringer finger was stamped using Cult Nails Time Traveler and Mash plate Mash-29. Time Traveler is thick and pigmented enough that it worked perfectly for stamping. For the pinkie finger I used a lime green round rhinestone to match...

I'd love to know what you think of this manicure and don't forget that you can see more incredible skittlette contest entries on ChitChatNails...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Joining the Cult of Cult Nails

I don't often post photos of my hauls, but joining the Cult and by that I mean Cult Nails is different. I resisted for quite a while, but I was too weak to resist the attraction of Flushed. It is said to be even more gorgeous than Max Factor Fantasy Fire which has been one of my lemmings for a long time. I even begged a friend who was living in London and oblivious to my affliction for nail polish to look for it. She was unsuccessful, but all that doesn't matter now since I have Flushed! This, ladies (and gentlemen... man?) is what happened when I tried to order just one bottle of Flushed...

It also happened that at the time I was ordering, any order over $50 received a grab bag full of surprises. Can I just say how stuffed this little grab bag was. All this fit into the beautiful damask print bag that is in the above photo. I never expected it to contain so many goodies...

Here is what I ended up with...
Purchased: Flushed (x2), Time Traveler, In a Trance, Disciplined, Charlatan, Seduction, bronze rhinestone studs, multi-sized silver studs...
Grab bag included: Happy Ending, Wicked Fast, a glass nail file, multi-colored square rhinestones, multi-sized clear round rhinestones, square gold studs, small round gold studs, large round silver studs... phew!

Both the square rhinestones and the clear rhinestones are something I really wanted to purchase, but they were out of stock at the time. I was so excited to get them in my grab bag...

P.S. I just have to put it out there that I blame a certain lady named Marta at ChitChatNails for this haul. Her incredible photo shoots of all the Cult Nail beauties are always in the back of my mind. If you have not seen them yet, what are you waiting for? You will not regret it! When it was time to order I spent a good hour (probably more) going through her blog to make my decision. There were so many I wanted that I'm surprised I managed to stop myself ;)

Have you joined the Cult of Cult Nails?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)