DollarTree scavenger hunt and How the heck. . .

. . .did I end up with more polishes?! Before I ever thought about writing a blog, I owned less than a dozen nail polishes. I had what I needed. But for some reason, the more blogs I read and the more polishes I learn about, the more my collection seems to grow. (Damn you, addictive blogs!) Ha ha, now I have bottles all over my room. I don't even use my microwave because I've stacked my polish in front of it!

I miss you too, Microwave.

Thank god I'm not alone in polish hoarding. And that my stash is still relatively small (I only have what, 40 bottles or so?), though for how long is questionable.

Does anyone recognize that evil bottle in the red circle?
Take a wild guess!

   Of course, I gotta tell you about my latest haul (oh god, I'm calling it a haul too). Some of the blogs I follow have mentioned Sally Hansen's discontinued polish line- Nail Prisms (you know, the shiny holographic looking polishes). When I saw how gorgeous the purple polish was, I went DollarTree hunting.
   Here's how I justified my search: "Oh hey, purple is my favorite color and I can never have too many purples. And it's holographic! I don't even own a holographic polish. Definitely need one of those. Plus, it's only a buck. Come on, go look for it."
   Yes, I talk to myself. Don't ask.
So I searched. No luck. All I found were the scary, murky polish colors. . . and I get the feeling that they weren't those colors originally. . .ew.
   Anyway, the other day, I got lucky! Found me that purple! Not only that, I found the red one too!! Whoo-hoo! Slight dilemma: They were sold in two-packs, but not together. That means I would end up with two extra bottles of nasty polish. Hmmm. Luckily every pack I came across was already torn open. I switched the polishes so that I would end up getting the purple and red together. The cashier lady didn't care either way, and I got two pretty polishes for a buck! Ah, it was a worthwhile search.

Can't wait to try these pretties out!

I also caved and bought these things (even though I'm not a glitter fan)-

Now, I have a question: What other colors did Sally Hansen have besides the red and purple? These bottles are gorgeous and I want to get the other colors too (if they even exist, that is). Anybody know?

Guest Nails: Cristal

Cristal's nails again! We started off marbling all her nails with different bright colors: It was. . .not pretty. So, we just stuck to two colors. Green and pink. Have to say, they turned out nice.

Excuse the messy cuticles. Like the dope I am, I did the clean-up after I took pictures. I might never learn to do it the right way.



Her thumbs. Me likey.

And have a happy Turkey Day! (Or just a happy day in general!)

Keep on keeping on.

Whew! Painted my nails before I chewed on them (yay, me!). Kept my gold theme going for November and also kept it simple- my hands were shaking so bad when I was previously working on the penguins' faces. Freehand is definitely not my friend, even for simple dots.

So, started off with gold nails. And by the way, this is the most beautiful gold I have ever used, but it's not even mine! It's my roommate's. She bought this at Forever 21, so I went hunting for it. All they had was bronze. Humph. I think I might have to steal this from her. (Actually, I'm going to visit my family in a couple days, and luckily, they live in a real city unlike me. One that has two Forever 21's. So guess who's going to be hitting up the stores as soon as possible? Hell, I'm buying several bottles if I can find this gold!)

The bottle says Love & Beauty.

Then threw on two different patterns from my Bundle Monster plates. *God, I love my plates!* Then centered each "flower" with a stone-looking sticker.


Intentionally not showing my thumb.
It's an embarrassment.

This hand is slightly messed up.

Yeah, my right hand's not as nice. There's smudges of paint on my index finger. I forgot to take pics before I did a manicure on my friend's nails, and then I suddenly remembered to. Haha, it was a funny moment-

Me (while in the middle of painting her nails): Oh shoot! Be right back!
Cristal (walking into my room): What are you doing?
Me (squatting by my lamp with my camera): I gotta take some pictures of my nails!
Cristal (backing away): Oh, o. . .k. . .

She probably thought I was nuts.

Sad day.

My nail split- again. This time was worse, much worse.

Ugh. Right where the smile line is. It tore when I was opening some stupid juice bottle. I guess I should be grateful (it could've torn all the way across and caused some bleeding). Still. I'm not happy. Had to clip the nail down before more damage was done.


Sigh.

Nubbin again. Eek, and it looks like it will take over a month to grow this beast out. Now, I was torn between filing down all my nails so that they'll grow evenly together, or just maintaining their length until my thumb grows out. The second option won out. (I've never had nails this long before)! Since I've shown you my torn nail, I figured I might as well show you my naked nails. Be warned.

Argh! I'm so tempted to chew on all my nails now! Gotta paint them, fast!

The Winner!

Whew! Has it been a week already? Good lord, that was quick. Anyway, I tallied up all the votes and the winner of THE DUEL (by a good mile too, might I add) is Jenny from Polishology! Congrats! The rest of the contestants (myself included) were all one point away from each other, but Polishology blew everyone away with her marbling design! So Jenny, which Tres Risk set would you like? (It's a tough choice because I like every set. . . and that's why I have all of them, haha!)

Thank you .little green heart. and Swååfie for participating! I really loved your designs and I wish I could send you guys something too (but shipping's so expensive!). So, here is the least I can do: for everyone out there who hasn't or isn't following either of their blogs, you'd better start! They do some really cute designs and don't just swatch polish colors (and for that, I thank them).

Once again, congrats to Jenny and this concludes THE DUEL (for now)!

THE DUEL: Voting Time!

Alright everybody, you ready for this? It's time to post everyone's designs! I am so impressed with everyone's nails; I freaking love nail art! (And I wanted to say thank you to each lady who participated. You guys were so nice, unlike some people I've been running into lately.)

Contestant 1:  .little green heart.  (click for her blog)
Her design: Freaking cute kittens!


Ahh! They have such cute faces!



Contestant 2: Swååfie  (click for her blog)
Her design: Wonderful fall foliage!

I absolutely love the color gradient!
I think I see gold, red, and orange.

Contestant 3: Polishology  (click for her blog)
Her design: Nail marbling with coolio tips! (Which I almost did myself!)

Her tips are actually stamped!
Click to take a better look.

Contestant 4:  Me!

My design: Gold penguins!

   And here's how you vote: Make a list of the designs, starting with your favorite one first. Make sense? List your favorite design first, then your second favorite, and so on and so forth. (I'm giving out points based on the ranking of the designs, but if you are torn between designs, then go ahead and clarify which ones tie for what place).

   Voting is open from now until about the end of the week (so ladies, get as many people to vote as you can!). Just put your votes in the comment box. Oh, and I don't care whose blog you vote on, I will be checking and double checking all of them.

**And on a side note, I'm not lying when I say this: The three ladies that entered happen to be the ones whose blogs I like the most! Seriously. No joke. No lie.

(How awesome/weird/cool is that?)

Ladies, don't forget!

Last day to submit your DUEL entries! My nails are done and photographed, so I'm ready to go. I'm so excited about giving away a prize! (And seeing what you guys come up with!)

THE DUEL: The Challenge Begins!

I know, I said I would take on only one follower. . .but seeing how this is my first ever challenge, I should be able to alter the rules slighty. 
So, I've decided to take on everyone this time around! (Come on, there's only 3 of y'all, how tough can it be?. . .) So, here goes!-

I, Starving Nail Addict, hereby challenge: (click on their names to check out the competition their blogs.  ^_^

Swååfie


.little green heart.


Polishology

to THE DUEL! We shall each create our own nail designs (with gold in them) and have them photographed by this Sunday, November 14, 2010. (Just email me your pics and I will send you mine. Also, if you don't mind, I will email the other contestants your photos as well!).
My email is starving.nailaddict(at)yahoo(dot)com.

AND- to make up for altering the rules at the last second, I've decided to include a prize (albeit cheap, I am a starving nail addict after all) for the ultimate winner!
You get to pick from three different sets of polishes by Tres Risk. (And yes, I got them at Ross for $4.99 each).


The Glamorous Life collection.



Click to see the names better.



The Out To Party collection.



Click to see the names better.



The Some Like It Rich collection.

Click to see the names better.

I am just using my bottles as samples. I will send the winner an unopened set of their choice. Of course, don't get used to me sending out prizes. This is just to kickstart THE DUEL!

Oh, and I have a special way of voting, but more on that later! Good Luck Ladies!

Guest Nails: Cristal

Today's nail post is of my guest, Cristal. (Hooray, more designs!)
For her mani, she wanted a red and black theme. Here's what we came up with (actually, she chose most of the designs herself), and they came out great! I combined water marbling with stamps from my Monster Bundle plates.

We used Tres Risk Reddy To Go.
It worked really well with her skin tone.

She has such petite hands and her nails were so tiny!

Argh! I smudged her middle finger
during cleanup!

Check out her thumb.

I couldn't get a clear pic of her thumbs, but they were my favorite.

THE DUEL (rules and regulations)

     Ok, so I have this idea: bear with me while I try to explain it. I want to start a nail challenge with my followers, but one-on-one style. I haven't finished up the finer details but this how the challenge (aka THE DUEL) will go:

1. Anyone who wants to take me up on the challenge must be a follower and leave a comment on this post letting me know you are interested in participating.

2. I will choose one person by random (actually, more like who I want to challenge) and contact you either via email or comment post.

3. We agree on the duel specifics (for example, using a certain color or following a certain pattern, etc.)

4. We come up with the creation on our own nails, photograph them, and exchange pics by a given deadline. And no, you cannot reuse old pics (although you can redo an old mani design).

5. Both of us will post about the THE DUEL on our separate blogs and have our followers and/or friends vote TWICE (one on each blog, but with the same vote: i.e. say persons A and B duel, and I think A should win, I will vote for A on both A's blog and B's blog). If you don't have a blog (or don't want to blog about it), you can just get people to vote here on my blog. Voting will take place in the comments section.

6. Should you win against me, you shall have bragging rights for now. (If this idea launches, I want to start sending out prizes). Also, I will start a Page of Fame listing the winners of each challenge.

Sound like fun? Let's get started!

   As you probably know, I paint my nails once a week. In honor of November, I've decided to include gold in my manis this month. So, for my first ever challenge:

1. You must include gold in your mani somehow.

2. Designs may be freehand, stamped, stickered, glued, beaded, marbled, whatever. (But no fake nails with the designs already on them. And no minx or minx-related nails or any of those full nail peel-and-stick designs. Know what I'm talking about? Like what Incoco or Essence has. If you're not sure, just ask me).

3. You have to paint on your own nails (not someone else's).

4. You must be willing to have your design finished and emailed to me 3 days after I have chosen you for THE DUEL.

Leave a comment if you want to sign up for the challenge. Hurry, because I plan on redo-ing my nails this Friday and I already have an idea of what I want to do! Stamping, here I come!

Guest Nails: Amanda

Check this out, I have a guest nail post! Today's guest is Amanda, and she has a thing for dark reds, pinks, and muted colors. I kinda talked her into doing a nude polish from Color Club (I forget which one, but it's from the Rebel collection), and I threw on a pair of lips from my Monster Bundle plates. To be honest, neither Amanda or I thought much of the lips until we paired it with the nude polish. 

Wow! Her nails look good! (Why can't my nails look good too?. . .)

Added a stone on each thumb!

I absolutely loved taking pictures of her nails- they look so fantastic!

If it's November, I'm wearing gold!

So, I've decided for this month, all of my own nail designs will have gold somewhere on them. For this design, I was aiming for fall colors (you know, burnt red/orange and a tiny bit of green). I'm not used to wearing these colors, but I think it looks alright. Monster Bundle stamps are my best friends right now.

My right hand. Green on the ring!

And of course, my left hand.

I would have shown my right thumb as well. . .but one of the stones fell off while I was sleeping (I didn't put on a top coat until the next morning. Didn't want any smudging, you know?) and I haven't gotten around to replacing the stone yet.

Coming soon!

So I haven't posted anything since November started (even though it's only the 5th), but I have a good reason: I found me an extra set of hands to paint! I've been busy trying to come up with some fall designs for nails and my roommate gave me some fantastic ideas! She's even willing to lend her hands and toes to me! Be on the look-out for new pics within the next couple of days!