Here We Go! Mish Mash Challenge, Week 1 - Purple Fan Brush Nail Art

Nothing to Disclose

*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK, with the exception of NPB Elle La Vend Aire. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** 

Hello Lovelies! Today marks the beginning of a new nail art challenge for us ladies, and I am so thrilled! I tend to do a lot of Indie Polish swatches, which I love, but I miss nail art. These challenges give me an opportunity to squeeze some in, and to hang out (virtually anyway!) with all of the awesome bloggers that join in these challenges.

This mani is late, but hey, it's my Mom's Birthday, and also one of my busiest days in weeks. I was running around like a chicken on speed all day. Now I am about ready to fall over, but I have swatching to do. And it's important. I MUST show you more of the Fandom Cosmetics Daft Punk Collection. I simply must!

This week's challenge is..dun dun dun! PURPLE! Now there's a color I can get behind. I swear, it would have been yellow I may have curled up under my polish table and hid. As much as I love yellow, yellow nail art is the bain of my existence. Anyway, it's purple, which is awesome.

For this mani I decided that I wanted to play around a bit. I love Fan Brush Nails, but they seem to be everywhere lately. The last Fan Brush Nails I created (way back at the end of the 31 Day Challenge) came out so awesome that I knew I wanted to do it again, but I wanted to see if I could blend the colors a bit more to create more a slab-o-marble type effect.

I started with a base of Nail Pattern Boldness Elle La Vend Aire, a gorgeous Lilac Crelly. Then I grabbed my trusty (yet incredibly cheap) Fan Brush and used OPI Vant To Bite My Neck for the first set of stripes. Then, while Vant To Bite My Neck was still wet,  I used Orly Wild Wisteria, brushing the polish on a little heavier with the fan brush and using the bristles to blend that in with VTBMN. I repeated with Orly Charged Up. The result was fun, but was lacking some pop, so I added Essie The Girls Are Out, a bright but darker Pink with silver flecks for some color. I liked that more, but...well, you know me. I just can't leave anything alone. Plus it just seemed kinda flat. I grabbed some Fuschsia rhinestones and added a simple row down the center of each nail , topped it all off with a coat od Glossy Glam and Voila! It's not perfect, and certainly not rocket science, but it's fun and a neat effect. I must have done something right since while I was out and about today I had a good 15 people asking how I did it. That's a good sign, right?

Ok, so it's not *exactly* like a slab of marble, but I do dig the effect. The big downside for me is the spots between and next to the rhinestones where the top coat settled. Thankfully not as evident in IRL.

What do you guys think of this mani? Do you prefer the usual Fan Brush Technique or with some blending?

Don't forget to check out all my awesome polish sistah's and their Week One Purple Nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

I'll be be back tomorrow with some Fandom Cosmetics! I also have more from Love Angeline, Luscious Potion, and Gypsyanna Polish coming up!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber




*Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK, with the exception of NPB Elle La Vend Aire. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** 

Nothing to Disclose

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2012 Mani

Good morning lovelies! Today's post is one of my more serious posts, but it is an important topic. Please take a moment to check out the links and share with others.

Today marks the 14th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. A somber topic, I know, but it's one that needs to be shared. I have lived my life, and raised my children to believe, that hate in any form is wrong. That nobody, regardless of race, religion, sexual preference or gender identity should ever be made to feel bad because they are who they are. Nothing upsets me more than to see or hear about someone being mistreated simply for being themselves. This is NEVER okay. I've read that every 72 hours a Transgendered person is murdered. And for what? Because some hatemonger doesn't understand it? There are so many things in life that I don't understand, but I'm not going to kill someone over it. This is unnecessary and downright evil. It has to stop.

I've known several transgendered people in my life. All of which were some of the greatest people I have ever met. It takes a lot these days to be who you are, and each of every one of them was proud, and strong. We take our ability to be ourselves so openly for granted. Every day transgendered people around he world experience prejudice and hate, solely because society as a whole has an innate inability to understand anything that they themselves have not experienced. How hard is it to understand that those that are transgendered simply do not feel comfortable in their own skin as the gender that the universe chose for them? Who you were born as on the outside does not always match the person on the inside, and I cannot imagine trying to live life as something you are not. We always preach that we should be true to ourselves and be who we are, right? Why is it any different for a select group? Intolerance seriously chaps my ass.

Today several of us have banded together, with the incredible Lacquer Lad at the helm, to show our support for Transgender Day of Remembrance the way the us nail bloggers know best - through a manicure.

I took my inspiration from a photograph I found at UR Pride Centre. It resonated with me and I really wanted to translate it onto my nails. Unfortunately, disaster struck! I ran out of tape, so my lines are all wonky. The colors I chose ended up being not so opaque, so my mani is a bit thick and kinda lumpy. But because I believe in this day, I'm posting it. An imperfect mani for an imperfect world.  And an imperfect world we shall remain until everyone is free to be themselves openly without fear.

So my Transgendered friends, this one's for you. May the world stop being asshats, and may we take this day to remember those that have lost their lives for nothing more than being true to who they are.

The image that I used for Inspiration can be found here. I didn't want to blatantly steal it :)

And my poor, less than stellar manicure. Damn you empty roll of tape! :)

The blue, pink, and white stripes are in the order of the Transgender Pride Flag. The Purple is for remembrance, and the symbol on my accent nail is the Transgender Symbol. If you take a peek at the image I used for inspiration, you'll see exactly what I was going for here.


For this poor, uneven manicure (lol!) I started with a base of Bettina Grape. Then I added the Center Stripe with Bettina Haze, and the white stripe (where I ran out of tape!) with Finger Paints Paper Mache. then I made the diagonal lines with Orly Charged Up. As a final touch, I added the Transgender Symbol in Black. I love the idea, but my execution isn't stellar. IRL the imperfections aren't obvious, but we all know how macro mode is. I really wanted this mani to be perfect. I hope you all like it anyway.

So today, take a moment to remembered those that were taken from this earth for doing nothing more than being who they truly are. And imagine what it would be like if *YOU* were treated like that for being who you are.

Be sure to check out all the bloggers participating today:







Thanks for stopping by and Happy 14th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance!
-Kimber

31 Day Challenge (v.2!) Day 30: Inspired By A Tutorial

Hello loves! Happy Thursday! It is getting pretty cold out here in the desert and I'm actually using the heater now. I love cold weather and the Holiday Season, but man! It is wreaking havoc on my skin and cuticles already! Time to break out the big guns, right?

Today's Challenge is Inspired By A Tutorial. I really dig this challenge prompt. There are so many awesome nail art tutorials out there - it was very hard to choose. In the end I chose something that I had never really thought of until very recently.

Have you ever busted out your nail art brushes and wondered "What in the heck am I supposed to do with this fan brush?!?!"? Me too. A few weeks ago, I ended up googling it and found some really cool nail art using the fan brush. Let me show you what I used mine for!

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lickety-Split Lime (I regretted this choice since the formula was a nightmare! Thick, goopy, and even stringy! Yuck!!!). Then I grabbed my fan brush and used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue, Orly Charged Up, and Lickety-Split Lime to create the pattern. I actually repeated the colors twice to get the effect I was looking for.

I really like this look! My mani didn't come out nearly as well as the video, but I still love it. I really want to try this with all sorts of different colors and finishes. I also can't wait to try out some other types of fan brush nail art. If I had only googled this sooner!

Here is the tutorial I used for this look:

Isn't that a great idea for using a fan brush? Love, love, love it! One of the things that I really dig about this particular technique is that you can change the look of the mani just by changing how you pull the polish across the nail. Light strokes in a single sweep leaves stripes like in the video. One stroke to place the polish and a few "dry" strokes over the stripes blends the polish creating a tie-dyed look. So cool!

What do you think of this mani? Will you be trying some Fan Brush Nail Art?

Be sure to check out all the tutorial based nails the Varnished Vixens have created today!

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish 
- Robin Sparkles  

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back Sunday for the final Challenge!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber