40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Geeks

As you can see, this is a late post. To be honest, I had almost thrown in the towel on blogging this week. I really thought I was done. I had even created a mani for The Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn Week, but I couldn't get it to turn out the way I wanted it to and so I became anxious and gave up. I told the DD ladies that I didn't know what to do anymore. 

But! I woke up this morning with an idea for a mani! A mani that fits both themes that I needed today! I needed a Digit-al Dozen Autumn mani and I needed 40 Great Nail Art Idea: Geeks mani.

And I did it! I did it! I can't believe I did it! Yay! (Hahahahahaha, I hope someone sung that song while reading that).

I am hoping you all can tell where I got my inspiration. (pssst, my own blog!) 

Owl and colors I used = Autumn. Steampunk and Owl = Geek (because that's me!). Boo-yah! I tried to match the colors as close as I could (thought I did a pretty fantabulous job). 

My blog designs were all created by a dear friend of mine Missy (from Gnarly Gnails) (girl, I wish you were still blogging!I miss your face!). Looking over the icons and avatar and header she created got me thinking about the past couple of years. I realized that though I myself haven't grown so much as an artist (I think this is as good as it gets) but I do know that I have grown as a person. You all have been there for me, complete strangers, and yet we are all connected. And that is why I love the nail polish community!

So I chose my own blog design because the prompt was Geeks and I am a big huge Geek (with a capital G)!

I used BarryM Chai for the base of three of my nails (actually, this mani was a full mani....yep, all ten! Woot woot!). My accent finger is Pretty & Polished In the Buff (a gorgeous dusty mustard! Yummy!). I stamped using BarryM Cancun and Barry M Mustard using Messy Mansion MM43 for the Steampunk aspect. I used Konad Black and Born Pretty BP-L019 for the owl (I think he looks a lot like my little tab avatar guy). I used HK Girl Top Coat.

Guess what. I did this mani in an hour. All ten fingers! All with first try stamping! I think the polish gods were smiling down on me. I think I should take this as a sign. ;)

This is the collage for last week's 40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Teal (+ a pattern). I love these collages!

Don't forget to check out the other DD Ladies and their Autumn manis!

An InLinkz Link-up

Also don't forget to check out the other Geeks among us! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

The Nail Challenge Collaborative Presents Skittles - Grey!

Third post for The Nail Challenge Collaborative Skittles and today I chose the best color ever! Grey! As many of you know I have a grey polish addiction so I knew I had to give it some skittle love!

Thumb: Dandy Nails Bound to Fall (two coats)

Index: Essence Romeo (two coats) with Dragon Lacquer Geeky Owl (my custom made glitter!)

Middle: Essence Romeo (two coats) stamped with BarryM Foil Effects Silver and Messy Mansions MM19

Ring: Zoya London (two coats)

Pinkie: Essence Romeo (two coats) with a 14 grade Holo Top Coat.

All sealed (except my ring finger!) with HK Girl Top Coat! And my index and ring finger both have OPI Glitter Off as their base (love this stuff!).

I really loved how this turned out! I am really starting to love skittles now!

A shot of Dandy Nails Bound to Fall. A gorgeous grey with blue flecks! Fabulous!

Don't forget to check out what the others have done for their 3rd day of Skittles!

An InLinkz Link-up

Just Glue Some Gears On It (and Call it Steampunk): The Neverending Pile Challenge and The Nail Challenge Collaborative

Another day of combing two challenges! Again it is The Neverending Pile Challenge (Boutique Polish) and The Nail Challenge Collaborative (Post 2 of Movies/Music/TV).

I started off with my untried boutique polish Illamasqua Radium (two coats). Boutique polish had a lot of different definitions. I chose to follow the definition of higher end polish found in only a few shops. I got this from Sephora when they were clearancing them to $7! I really love this color and the formula was fabulous!

I stamped using BM-415(gears) and MoYou Sci-Fi 02 (Owl). I used KleanColor Metallic Brown. Holy crud, do you know how long it took me to do this mani? The stamping took forever! Over a half an hour! Stupid KleanColor! I thought it would work since it's a metallic and my others work like a charm. Um, nope! But I really wanted the metallic sheen to it. Should have gone with my Essie metallics. Oh well. I added four dots under the owl because I had positioned him too high and there was no way I was redoing it! Hahahaha! I topped it off with HK Girl Top Coat.

So how does tie into The Nail Challenge Collaborative? How about a song called: Just Glue Some Gears On It (and Call it Steampunk). A hilarious Steampunk song about just because you've put gears on it, that doesn't make it Steampunk. I can admit of being guilty of this! :)

Don't forget to check out the other boutique polishes!

An InLinkz Link-up

And don't forget to see what the others chose for their day 2 Movies/Music/TV posts!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen Does Book Week - Owly

Day 4 of The Digit-al Dozen Does Book Week and I am so extremely excited to show you this mani! This is Owly, and his little friend Wormy the worm by Andy Runton. This is my favorite Graphic Novel! I own them all (almost, new one isn't out yet!) and they are just so cute!

Photo Source

Here is Owly and Wormy before the top coat. I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (a wonderful base for nail art) as my base. Owly and Wormy are created with craft paints and I wrote Owly using a Sharpie. I seriously cannot express my feelings on this mani. I really thought I would butcher this one. I actually squealed when I finished! I never wanted to take it off either! :)

Photo Source

Just look at all those books! Visit Andy Runton's website for more Owly things!

This is with HK Girl Top Coat. Just had to put in one more photo! :) I think this is my favorite mani of all time!

Look! An animated video! :)

Don't forget to check out the other ladies and their books for the day!

Owl Week: Indie Month Day 10: TGIF: Sonoma Nail Art Powlish

Ok today has three different titles! It is day 5 (final day) of my Owl Week for my birthday celebration. It is day 10 of my Indie Month posts. And it is TGIF: Thank Goodness, Indy Indie Friday! And I am able to tie all three with one amazing polish! Sonoma Nail Art: Powlish. Boo-yah! Or should I saw Whoo-yah!? :)

Here is one coat of Powlish. I had to have this polish because of the picture and the name! I also love the color! :) These polish applied without any problems and no glitter fishing!

The description and inspiration for this polish is found on Sonoma's etsy page:

Powlish is inspired by the burrowing owls of Sonoma County. These little owls who live in burrows in the ground were dwindling in numbers, until some North Bay kids got together with Sonoma Birding and the Sonoma Land Trust last year to dig out areas and install tubing and burrows for the birds to inhabit. Powlish is a tan based polish with glitters in a variety of metalic shades.

Here is two coats of Powlish and oh? Who's that? Another geeky owl! :)

Here's my little geeky owl that I created on a page protector, peeled off, then applied to nail! I used OPI Get In The Expresso Lane, OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, OPI Candle Lite, China Glaze Def Defying, Wet N' Wild Black Creme, and Milani White on the Spot.

This polish is so unique in my collection and I love it!

Powlish is not currently available, not sure if she is making more either.

Here is a link to Sonoma Nail Art etsy shop.
And to stay up-to-date, Sonoma Nail Art Facebook Page.

 

And don't forget to check out Emma's TGIF post over at Manicurity, my TGIF partner in crime!

Owl Week: Geeky Owl

Day 4 of Owl Week in celebration of my birthday week! I love doing this type of owl mani! Super easy and very fun!

I used reinforcements to create the non-polised space. The body of the owl is L'Oreal Owl's Night, so are his belly spots. The belly is Orly Nite Owl. The geeky glasses are China Glaze Def Defying. I used KleanColor Metallic Mango for his beak, Wet N' Wild Black Creme and Milani White on the Spot for his eyes.

Stay tuned for my Indie Month post in a few hours. :)

Owl Week: Tutorial - Make Your Own Decals with Stamping!

Day 3 of Owl Week in celebration of my birthday week! Today I tried a new technique stamping and creating my own decals!
 
**edit** just thought I would let you know (because for some reason I forgot to mention this in the post. Note to self, don't write blog posts while having a migraine!). You can also find a fabulous tutorial on this over at Messy Mansions -- Stamper Decals. Her's is for a basic one stamped image on a stamper but the same concept! :)

I used L'Oreal Owl's Night (two coats) as my base. I stamped using Konad White and an Essence plate that was sent to me from across the pond! The accent colors on the owls are: China Glaze Def Defying, Essie Jamaica Me Crazy, and Essence Bella. I also used HK Girl top coat.

 

Ok, so here starts my step-by-step on how to make your own decals by stamping! First apply a good coat of clear polish onto a page protector (also heard wax paper can work. Just need something that the polish won't stick to!). I used HK Girl top coat, allow to completely dry.

Stamp your image onto the dried clear polish. Be careful as too much pressure can bring up the clear polish off the page protector (personal experience!).

Apply accent colors (to make sad crying owls! hahaha!). I used China Glaze Def Defying, Essie Jamaica Me Crazy, and Essence Bella. Allow to completely dry.

Trim away the excess clear polish, unless your nail is that big! Please pay no attention to the naked thumb nail. I was in the middle of trying different techniques while letting the different polishes in this tutorial dry! Yep, I'm weird. :)

Place on your nails and apply top coat to adhere them! If your base polish is still a bit tacky it will help to keep them in place, but don't press too hard on the decals as it might squish your base polish. Add these remove easily because after all they are just polish! Voila! Easy multi-colored stamped nail decals!

Stay tuned for my Indie Month post in a few hours!

Owl Week: Nail Decals

Day 2 of Owl Week in celebration of my birthday week!

I used two coats of L'Oreal Owl's Night on my index and pinkie fingers with two coats of Orly Nite Owl on middle and ring fingers. I love the color and shimmers of these two polishes! I used my owl nail decals I got from ebay. Also used HK Girl top coat.

I'm a little bit upset that these nail decals weren't clear and that the background still shows up. But they were cheap so I can't be too upset right? But I still like them and thought them totally appropriate! Especially sense the owl is the same owl I use for my Wednesday's Reads image! (barring the color changes and added glasses that I did!)

Stay tuned for my Indie Month post in a few hours!

Owl Week: My Birthday Mani!

So begins Owl Week here at Geeky Owl! This is in celebration of my birthday, which is today! So of course I had to celebrate with my favorite animal! I ended up only using my owl themed polishes (except for stamping and nail art colors, so pretty much base colors), stamps, decals, and nail art! I hope you enjoy it! I had fun doing it and coming up with ideas! :)

So for today I used my one of my most favorite polishes: Orly Nite Owl. I am so glad that this is part of their core line now! This is two coats. I stamped using Bundle Monster BM-309 (the main reason I bought this set!). And I used Konad Pearl Black. This is the first time I have stamped with this black. I heard it doesn't stain as much as the normal black! I also used HK Girl top coat.

Here you can really see the pearl effect in the Konad Pearl Black. I love the added effect! And I am so happy at well my stamping turned out!

Stay tuned for more my Indie Month post which will post in a few hours! Yep, this whole week (except for Friday) I double post! Shocker! I know! I rarely double post but I wanted to continue using my Indies! :)

Enjoy!

Fall Haul-age!

 

So I haven't posted about my hauls in like almost 2 months! But I have been saving them up to do in a bigger post. Now, this isn't a crazy big post because I tried not to go crazy! :)

But check out my new little mascot that I found at Target! How perfect is he?! I try to get an ornament each year that represents that year and this one is perfect because of my blog! :) He is my image on my facebook page.

Ok, this isn't polish related but I had to show you this! It's hilarious! The picture on the right is how you deposit the money and retrieve it! Got to love Target! :)

First up, some new Pure Ice polishes. These are their newest lines too! (l-r) Viva Las Vegas, Grunge, Black Velour. Grunge and Black Velour are part of their Velour Finish line!

Now, you have seen most of these already on TGIF: Thank Goodness Indy Indie Friday. But I figured I should show them to you with the rest of my haul! (l-r) Glimmer by Erica Spicy Pumpkin, Glimmer by Erica Harvest Moon, Glimmer by Erica Season's Change (TGIF tomorrow!) and Lacquistry Witches Warts.

More Indies! Rainbow Polish's Star Set 2! (l-r) See CP Ohhh, B-Fett, Chewie, and Sky Walker.

Had to show you the backsides of (l-r) See CP Ohhh, B-Fett, Chewie, and Sky Walker. Can't wait to use them! :)

Some clearance shopping and then some not! China Glaze Elephant Walk, China Glaze Gothic Lolita, and OPI Don't Talk Back to Me.

More clearance! Orly Preamp and Finger Paints Sketchy Character (I heard this one stamps well. We shall see!)

Essie Power Clutch (got it in my Birchbox), Essie Recessionista (my Klout perk!) and Color Club Put a Pin In It (Birchbox). Love free (free-ish because I do pay for the Birchbox subscription) polishes!

Wet n Wild Black Creme (I found this at my Halloween store and had to grab it because I am almost out of my other bottle!) and Sally Hansen Presto Pink (I needed a stamping pink but then didn't use it for a mani. But might need a stamping pink again soon!).

 

So I was at Ulta the other day and was just browsing (had to use my $5 off $10 coupon of course!) and spotted the one new color that I think is just gorgeous! This is Orly Miss Conduct. And she is a beaut! :)

And oh my goodness...shut the front door....get out... shut up! Look what else I found at my Ulta! Holy flip! I thought these looked really pretty (a bit goth, but hey it's a vampire line so that's a given right?) but thought I'll have to pass because they'll only be available in Europe or random stores in Washington (please explain to me how they get all the cool things!?) (Hahahaha!) But nope! Good ol' Arizona had the Essence Breaking Dawn Collection! (l-r) Alice Had a Vision - Again, A Piece of Forever, Edward's Love, Jacob's Protection. Now I'm not a gold person but I had to have the complete set and at $1.99 I couldn't resist! :)

And last and certainly not least, my Vivid Lacquer VL-003 stamping plate! So excited! Look gears! Sweet steampunk gears! And bio hazard symbol and stitches and the no symbol (cross-out circle) and a target and books and so awesome! Love this nerdy/geeky plate! Can't wait to use it!

Just the cute backing of the stamping plate! :)

So that's my haulage since September. Have you had any great hauls lately?