30 Days of Color Challenge: Sodo Mojo (ft. Bundle Monster Work it)

Hello Readers!

As promised, today I am sharing my baseball themed mani for the 30 Days of Color Challenge. The prompt is "recreation", and for me, baseball holds a special place in my heart. It's the only sport I really ever played as a child, and the only sport I've ever taken an interest in at a professional level.

As such, this mani is dedicated to my baseball team, the Seattle Mariners. I don't live in Seattle anymore, but I did spend quite a bit of my childhood there as well as a few of my adult years. We used to go to the Mariners games as a family and also as a church youth group, and I have some very fond memories of cheering on the team, and the excitement we felt when our team won. One of my favorite memories was in 2001 when the Mariners made it all the way to the playoffs, and the whole city was excited. This was back before smart phones, so everywhere we went strangers were talking to each other about the current score; listening to the game on the radio in public spaces. I just loved the sense of community I felt during that time.

So this mani is done in Mariner's colors, with the compass which is a symbol for the team.

As part of the challenge, we are encouraged to use untried polishes in our manis. My untried is the Sally Hansen "Tempting Taurus", which I really really loved! Great formula, great opacity, and a really lovely color. 

30 Days of Color Challenge: Recreation ft. Bundle Monster Work It

Hello Readers!

It's a new week over at the 30 Days of Color Challenge group, which means a new prompt! This week's prompt is "recreation". When I read this prompt, the only thing that came into my mind was sports, games and hobbies... though the blogger Olivia Jade Nails pointed out that that word could also be pronounced "re-creation". Actually though, I am happy to use this prompt as I originally pronounced it in my head, because I have some plates from the Bundle Monster "Work It" collection that have yet to receive any love and they are definitely recreation themed.

I bought this plate because last spring I put my 5-year-old in soccer, though I think we will skip it this year because he is a lot busier now that he is in school and he spent more time running around kissing the referee's feet than playing actual soccer. Also, for some reason they have the games kind of late at night for small children. Like, at 8:30 on a school night? For five year olds?

Today's mani is soccer themed, and my untried polish is Sinful Colors "Queen of Green", which can be found at Walgreens and Kmart right now in the St. Patrick's Day collection displays. And it is a beeeeeuatiful green! I feel like it looks exactly like the sunlight shining on a dewy soccer field. I love the gold shimmer running through it!

Nail Crazies Unite: Ugly *Harry Potter* Sweater

Hello Readers!

For this week's challenge we are over in the Nail Crazies group with an "ugly sweater" prompt. Originally I was going to use my Bundle Monster Christmas-sweater themed plate to go with a classic ugly sweater look, but then I remembered Harry Potter.

For those not familiar with the story (or those who need a refresher), every year at Christmas-time Mrs. Weasley would knit sweaters for each of her children for Christmas, and also one for Harry. Ron always bemoaned the "ugly" maroon sweater he was inevitably given by his mother, though Harry quite appreciated receiving any Christmas gifts at all.

My design is based off of Harry's first year at Hogwarts, and the sweaters that were received by various characters in the book.

Harry's is the green, Ron's is red, and of course I had to include Fred and George, as it reminds me on one of my favorite jokes in the book:

“You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid-we know we're called Gred and Forge.”

So for these fingers, I basically started with a nude base and then painted over it in the appropriate color. I left some nude at the top to represent the character's neckline when they are wearing the sweater.