The Digit-al Dozen Does Food...At The Diner... Pie!

So I know I have been missing this week for the Digit-al Dozen. It's monsoon season here in Arizona and that means my anxiety kicks into high gear. But I did get one mani out. It's a special mani, because the ladies at the Digit-al Dozen have created an amazing blog hop for you to partake!

Bon Appetite!

Welcome to the grand finale of Food Week here at the Digital Dozen. We had an idea do do something a little off the rails today for our big finish. So, Welcome to the Digital Dozen Diner. Please look through our menu and check out what our chef's have in store for you today!

As you can see, all our chef's have their own diner food specialty cooked up for today.

I have a special pie just for you! (well, not that kind of special, no magical brownies here!) When I decided to create a pie mani I thought no problem. Um, problem. Did you know that if you look on Pinterest for pie mani, or pie nails, or pie manicure, etc; you get barely anything. At one point I had no search results! I thought I'd broken Pinterest! :) 

But I did it! (I did it! I can't believe I did it! - thank you Dora) I decided to create an apple pie. But you know me, I can't just create any ol' apple pie...it's gotta be a geeky apple pie!

Hee-hee! You see what I did there? I used BarryM Green Berry and Konad Black with Cheeky CH16 for the formica diner countertop. I then whipped up an Apple logo using MoYou London Geek 07 and Konad White. Attempted a decal of Pi (muwahahahaha!) using Nailways Back to Basics 123 ABC with Konad White. And mixed in a bunch of different colors of BarryM polishes (Mocha, Caramel, and Lychee - whoa! Those are so real ingredients! Nailed it! Bah!) I added a little Orly Shinning Star for some cinnamon/pie filling glisten and a dollop of BarryM Coconut for the ice cream. This pie is a little over cooked, so it's a bit more brown but it still tastes fabulous! (I wouldn't recommend eating it, seriously though, don't. Do you see how 3D-ish the pie is? So many many layers of polish).

I hope you enjoyed your meal and remember to tip your waitress. Don't forget to follow the InLinkz below if you are still hungry and check out what the rest of our kitchen staff has cooked up. And don't forget to check out Instagram account @digitaldozen for a full run through later in the day!

Please Come Again,

An InLinkz Link-up

* thank you Amanda from Lady Maid Nails for the layout of this post!

The Digit-al Dozen Does Winter Wonderland: An Attempt (err fail) of Vintage "Ornaments"

Keep walking, nothing to see here, nothing at all...........

Today is the final day of The Digit-al Dozen Does Winter Wonderland and I bring you my wonderland fail! These, these are suppose to be ornaments. >_< I was inspired by this photo. (See? Can't you totally tell!? Pfft!) I really love the look of that photo so I wanted to re-create it using more vintage deeper colors. Ah......nope. I need a smaller brush and bigger nail beds and longer nails. Oh and freehand artistic ability! Hahahahahaha! :)

So here's my epic fail of this week and the polishes that joined with me (I'm sorry polishes! I'll try and be nicer next time!): BarryM Lychee (two coats base), BarryM Caramel (dark lines), BarryM Chai, Mustard, Watermelon, and Crush ("ornaments"). Orly Mirrorball (an attempt to make glittery "ornaments"). Essie Shine of the Times (to fill in the empty space. Haven't used this polishes in ages!), and Poshe to top coat this work of "art".

 Please go check out the other ladies and their actual works of art for the final day of Winter Wonderland!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Winter Wonderland: Holiday Stripes or Daleks?

Another day of The Digit-al Dozen Does Winter Wonderland and today I have a tape mani in holiday colors or are they holiday Daleks? Hmmmmm.......

I was inspired to create these when I saw Bad Girl Nails do these in blue. I think they are perfect for the holidays!

I used Orly Mirrorball as my base (two colors). How amazing is this polish! I then used China Glaze Red-Y & Willing and Models Own Golden Green. I used Poshe to help hold the rhinestones in place!

Don't forget to check out the other ladies and their Winter Wonderland manis!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail-Art-A-Go-Go Challenge Day 3: Warm vs Cool

For the warm vs cool prompt for the challenge I decided to do a gradient. I really love how this turned out.

The colors I used are: Zoya Sooki, Sally Hansen Crushed, Finger Paints Art Nouv-Yellow, China Glaze Def Defying, China Glaze Electric Beat, and China Glaze Gothic Lolita.

I then stamped over it with KleanColor Metallic Jungle and Metallic Pink using MoYou Sailor 03. I topped it off with NYC in a New York Minute Top Coat. But I wanted to see what it looked like matte.

And this was the final version after two coats of NYC Matte Me Crazy and one coat of Orly Matte Top. Didn't go as matte as I wanted but I still like the softening of the gradient, especially on my ring finger.

Don't forget to check out what the other ladies have done!

GOT Polish & The Lazy Blogger's 31 DC: Blue Book?

Two different challenges today. GOT Polish where we only use our golden oldie polishes that are a year old and the prompt is Blue. The Lazy Blogger's 31 DC prompt is Book. Ugh. 

So someone made a comment (you know who you are! wink wink) that combining these to challenges doesn't really make me a lazy blogger. But I say it does! Kill a two birds with one stone! Boom! But it can be tricky trying to find inspiration with those two prompts.

Blue Book....seriously, I almost looked up what a Kelly's Blue Book looks like (it a guide for pricing used cars). But I thought I couldn't do that! Think think think. Nothing came to mind until I look up and saw a journal sitting there. And not just any journal......

How about River Song's journal! Yep, it is a blue book!

I mixed together Sally Hansen Blue Me Away with some China Glaze First Mate to create the base color. Then I used mixed them together again but used more First Mate and drew the squares. I used a bit of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls to add the distressed look. And topped it with Orly Matte Top.

So what do you think? Blue Book! :)

This is River Song's Journal but I can't show you what's inside because.....

 

Don't forget to check out Emma's awesome nails over at Manicurity!

If you would like to join GOT Polish click the photo above! And don't forget to check out the other ladies and their oldies!

Some Winter Sparkle for You!

Just a quick post for a quick and easy mani! I think it is very frosty and sparkly and perfect for this time of year!

I used two coats of Essie Marshmallow. I then lightly brushed on Orly Halo. Topped it off with NYC In a New York Color Minute Top Coat.

I was inspired by Glitter and Nails.

Super easy!

Technique Tuesdays: Fan Brush

Welcome Owlets to another new feature that I want to try out: Technique Tuesdays! This is where I will try out those intimidated (to me at least) techniques that I have created a file of. And I will post them no matter the result! It'll kind be like those Pinterest Nail'd it photos you see (you know, where they actually really didn't nail it!)

I'm actually excited about this because if I don't completely succeed I am still going to let it be up on my blog. Because, gosh darn it, not everyone can do those nail arts perfectly! So some Tuesdays you will cheer with me when I succeed, other Tuesdays you can laugh along (or cry, there could be tears) with me! :)

So today is the fan brush. I used Neverland Nail Blog's: Fan Brush Gradient + Tutorial for reference. I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as my base. Color Club Mamba and Sally Hansen I-Rush Luck were the colors I decided to use, trying to make a holiday gradient. I topped it off with Orly Prisma Gloss Gold and NYC In a New York Minute Top Coat. 

No I don't think this is a fail. I think my colors kind of muddied a bit. But I love the markings of the fan brush. So this is a win for me because I didn't totally botch it! :)

What do you think? Did I nail it?

The Digit-al Dozen Does Red, Gold, and Green: Gradient!

Day 4 of The Digit-al Dozen Does Red, Gold, and Green, and I am busting out a gradient! Look at me, just getting back into the groove of things doing tape manis, waterfalls, and now a gradient! Boo-yah! :) Hahaha!

I really do love a good gradient, they are just gorgeous! For this gradient I used China Glaze Starboard and Zoya Sooki. I then applied on the three fingers Orly Shining Star but it wasn't enough so I added Orly Prisma Gloss Gold. Yep, there's the gold sparkle I was looking for!

For my accent nail I stamped using Barry M Gold Foil Effects and Bundle Monster BM-302. I fished out some glitter from Ho Ho Ho by Glimmer by Erica to accent the holly berries! I topped it off with my good ol' trusty top coat HK Girl.

Don't forget to check out the other ladies and their manis!

ABC: I and Born Pretty Nail Art Stamp Review

Welcome back to the ABC challenge! Today is the letter I. I chose to use Max Factor Intense Plum and Orly It's Not Rocket Science. I wanted to add a little more pizazz to it so I added a stamp!

This is Nail Art Stamp Template Beautiful Star Flower Round Pattern M85 from Born Pretty Store. I was asked to review this plate and I love it! The design I used was what drew me to this plate. I love the circles.

Look how well it stamps! I used BarryM Foil Effects. And the lines are crisp and clean! A great plate for nail art!

Know what I love? Look how the stamp from Born Pretty, mimics the O in Orly! Bah! I love it!

I want to thank the Born Pretty Store for allowing me to review this stamping plate! I can't wait to use the other images!

And guess what? Born Pretty Store has created a 10% off coupon code for my readers! Click on the coupon and check it out! They have a lot of amazing items for nail art!

ABC: H is for Orly High on Hope and Essence Hello Holo

ABC challenge and today is H. I recently got Orly High on Hope at Sally's on clearance and it is gorgeous! This is two coats and it was easy to apply! I love the pink shimmer it has! Just stunning! I wanted to add something to make this mani pop so I used three coats of Essence Hello Holo. All topped with HK Girl Top Coat.

Aren't they both just lovely! I really liked this mani a lot. Simple, but classy and made a statement!

The Digit-al Dozen Does Fashion: Sewing Pattern

Day two for The Digit-al Dozen Does Fashion! And today I have for you symbols you would find on a sewing pattern!

I used two coats of OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, I used Sinful Colors Black on Black for the symbols, I then did a thin layer of HK Girl Top Coat to seal in the black followed by Orly Matte Top Coat. This is my first time using the Orly Matte Top and I like it, it has more of a satin finish to it.

The symbols from left to right are: Seam lines, button holes, cutting (where to cut), and grain line. This didn't turn out exactly like I had planned but I still thought they were fun and different! :)

Photo Source

Don't forget to check out the other ladies and their fashionable manis!

ABC: F is Orly Fowl Play, KleanColor Fashionista, and China Glaze Fairy Dust and a FAIL!

Today is brought to you by the letter F: Orly Fowl Play, KleanColor Fashionista, and China Glaze Fairy Dust. F is also for FAIL! Hahahaha! I attempted a saran wrap mani........totally chose the wrong colors! I used China Glaze Fairy Dust to help camouflage it! :)

Started with Orly Fowl Play. So pretty! Look at all those flakies! Looks like a melted grape popsicle on my fingers! This is where I should have ended the mani. Nope, I was feeling like trying something new. Bah!

Here you can sort of see the saran wrap mani effect. I should have chosen better colors. As much as I love KleanColor Fashionista (love baby poop greens!) it doesn't look nice on your fingers and cuticles when it doesn't come straight off with acetone cleanup! Hahahaha! I was able to get most of it off but for a while....ew! :)

I really do want to try this technique again, but I will try to have at least one bright color. I think that is why this failed, they were too dark. Put that one into the book to remember what not to do! :)

Untried Polish Challenge: Prettiest

Today's prompt for the Untried Polish Challenge is: Prettiest. Ugh, that's so hard! How do you choose the prettiest? I mean, aren't they all pretty? Isn't that why you chose them?

This here is two coats of China Glaze Snap My Dragon. It is a super gorgeous hot pink that capture more red in my photos, sad day! But at least you can still see the shimmer! Which is one reason it's the prettiest.

Kept it simple and added one coat of Orly So Go-Diva, a copper/brown glitter in clear base. Pink and brown are a fav combo of mine!

A close up of So Go-Diva. Wow, camera and polishes not playing nice today. I promise the glitter isn't black but actually brown! :)