An attempt was made. Zig-Zags were had.

So this is the final week of the A-Z Challenge. Technically this was going to be posted yesterday BUT I thought it would be too close to my last post. I like at least a good 20-24 hours between posts. Anyway here we are 26 weeks later. Now I will admit I didn't do all the weeks, but I did most! I also was rarely on time, but I still got around to it! Overall I really liked doing these challenges, as it was a nice way to get a creative jolt. I can't wait to start the next challenge. ARE YOU ALL READY FOR MY TARDINESS?!?!?!

The final week was Zig-Zag. I had this idea in my head that I would do these really cool zig-zag water marble nails. I even found around 3 tutorials for it. Well long story short, water marbling with precision is hard. Zig-zags aside I'm honestly lucky I got a solid water marble. As neat as I thought they looked in the end I really wanted zig-zags, so I got out my NailVinyls and used those. I was a bit worried that the pattern underneath and the black on top would look weird together, but I ended up loving it even more!

And the polishes I used were China Glaze Stoked To be Soaked, Sinful Colors Pull Over and Milani Dude Blue.

Left Hand

 Right Hand

To see all of the people who did the challenge, head on over here:

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Wild Weather

I need a rain jacket guys. I am the kind of person that prefers overcast and drizzly days, but I hate that my jacket isn't waterproof. Because then I end up feeling cold, even when it's somewhat warm outside. I will say despite my hatred for hot weather in general one of the things loved about when I was in Trinidad was that the weather was so warm the rain was like a shower.

Speaking of things that are cold, my cold is MUCH better. It appears that it wasn't a bad cold, as it never got to the point where I felt like I needed to lie in bed wish tissues by my side all day. While it wasn't a horrible cold it still sucked any extra energy I had to spare, and I just could not bring myself to do my Wild nails for my A-Z Challenge on time. So here they are finally.

Because I was still feeling under the weather when I did these I wanted to keep them simple. They are really fun leopard print nails. I used Picture Polish's Mad Magenta for a base,  and Barry M's Majesty and Zoya's Dahlia for the spots. It was quick and easy!

No top coat

Top coat

Ok, THIS post is late: Things are getting hairy

So I have missed a few weeks of the A-Z Challenge, but one week I didn't want to miss was unusual. I feel like in the past I did a lot of weird manicures and I kind of miss doing them like I used to. I though this would be a great time to try something I had been wanting to give a go for a while. And since I was busy the week of this challenge I never did it until the other day.

Back in December someone in a Facebook group I'm part of posted a video that shared 3 nail polish tricks. One of them involved making a striping brush out of your own hair. I thought that would be great to try with my hair, my natural hair. My hair is currently a bunch of different textures, so I decided to cut a little over an inch long coil from the end of my hair(after I cut it I stretched out the coil and it was over 7 inches long. Not surprising as it's curly and I have shrinkage), and tape it to the end of another brush handle. Then I went to town painting with my own hair. First I used pink and orange acrylic paint, then I used Orly Charged Up for the purple. Obviously because my hair is curly I'm not going to get stripes, but I did like the design I ended up with. It was like a combination of splatters and flowers :P

 The "brush" I used :P

I'm not late!!!: V is for Valuable

For oce I had my A-Z nails done on time, but I will be honest with you. I was just lazy and didn't take photos till hours after I did my nails. And if I'm going to be 100% truthful I still haven't taken photos yet :P

*takes photos*

I finally took the photos.

This week the letter was V and the word Valuable. Originally I wasn't sure what direction to go in, and was thinking of using a polish that valuable to me. Then I realized that I haven't done proper nail art in a while. The more I thought about it the more I started itching to do more some! So my inspiration today is something that is valuable for a number a reasons, The Rosetta Stone. On it there is text written in Hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek text. Since the Greek text was the easiest to copy I just did that. Also mine doesn't say anything, it's just random letters. I wish I had used a lighter gray, but I still like how it turned out.

 

 

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It's been a long, weird week...

Kind of bad, but kind of good. You know when something crappy happens, but you know it's for the best, and even better things will probably happen because of it? That's been my week.

Anyway here is last week's A-Z Challenge, Silver.

 Used Avon's polish in Foil(It's a super old polish), a franken Robyn made, and Orly's Liquid Vinyl. As well as nail studs from KKcenterHK and Nail Vinyl's!

Pretty Ugly

This is going to be another quick post. This was actually what I was going to show you for the A-Z challenge for the letter O(Old). This is Avon Dark Denin. It's not my oldest polish, but it is an oldie(at least 12 years old. One of the reasons I chose it was because it came with its own loose glitter for nail art in the lid. Long story short it was a hot mess. The polish itself was beautiful, a silky blurple that was opaque in two coats. The glitter was a nightmare. It went everywhere and just looked ugly.

What do you think of this polish? What about with the glitter?

I FINALLY UNDERSTAND THE JOYS OF STAMPING!

Ever since I started stamping it has kind of been a massive pain. It would take me FOREVER to get simple designs correct. And up until now I always thought it was MY fault. Well guess what? It wasn't! It was all my stampers fault! I had one of those double ended pink and green ones, with the rubber stamper. I couldn't do full nail designs because the stamper physically couldn't stamp over my whole nail as my nails were too long and it was too hard to easily squish around it. But thanks to Robyn I now have a squishy stamper! It's like night and day. For the first time I was able to do full nail designs! Not only that but I was able to do it on the first try. I didn't even have luck like that with smaller designs on the bad stamper! I have seen the stamping light, and it is beautiful! All hail Robyn!

So today I have the A-Z Challenge. Last week I didn't do it, but not because I forgot. I actually took photos, wrote a post and then ditched it when I saw the photos. The nail art was garbage, and it wasn't my fault(This post should just be called "Don't blame me for my sub-par art"). It was just a bad product. Maybe one day I will post it.

Anyways for today the letter was P for Pale. I thought this would be a great chance to use one of my pale polishes. I have maybe 7 pale polishes so I decided to use what I think was my only untried. Sally Hansen Piqué Side(I have had this polish for months and I just got the name. Pick a Side. French Fail). The polish was a pale pistachio green with gold shimmer, and the formula was ok. Nothing really bad about it, but it didn't blow me away. I needed two coats for full opacity. Overall I loved this colour and it will be great for spring! For the stamping I used Sinful Colors Gold Medal, which I have used before for stamping, but with my new stamper it was sooooooo much easier to work with! Then I added some studs from the Born Pretty Store to just complete the look.

All in all I am pleased with this, and I can't wait to do more stamping!

Check out more from the A-Z Challenge!

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Oh...

So this weeks A-Z challenge(N for New) was actually an accident. Originally I was just going to swatch Rose Hip, as Valentines day was coming up and this was one of the few pinks I own. I decided I wanted to add a kiss decal to the swatch as I felt like it wouldn't away from it, and it would be Valentine-y. Huge mistake. Turns out I hate how the kiss looks on the nail. So in order to fix this I quickly had to turn this into something new. So I added Barry M Majesty, to cover up the kisses, as well adding it to make dots on all the other fingers. Now It's not crazy nail art, but it's simple and pretty!

Rose Hip, a pale pink pastel, went on easily. It was 3 coats, because the first two were patchy, but I kind of expected that from a pastel. Despite that I was pleased with the formula and didn't have any issues with the actual application. I am not a big fan of pink polishes, but when I do find one I like, it is usually a pale pink like this.

Yucky decal. BLAH!

 Much better!

Check out all the A-Z challenge participants!

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History eh?

This is actually the second time during the A-Z challenge I have done something that was Egypt themed! And I am not complaining, I am a lover of history even if King Tut isn't my strong point. Fun fact: I actually got into Royal Holloway, University of London for History, but decided not to go because while I LOVE history I don't love it enough to want to make it work. But if I ever change my mind I know at least one school will have me :P

Anyways for this I used the Born Pretty Store stamping plate BP-05, OPI's Blue My Mind and Sinful Colors Gold Medal. Now I would have LOVED to use one of the full nail designs but alas I can't. And you know what? I don't think it's because of me! I really do think it's my stamper. I have one of those generic double sided stampers and it makes stamping(especially bigger images) super hard. One reason is because the stamper itself doesn't sit in the holder properly so it doesn't pick up, or stamp they way you want it to. Because I love this plate and all the other ones Born Pretty has to offer but when it comes to big designs the current stamper I have is just not doing it for me anymore.

What stamper would you suggest I use?

If you would like this plate go here and get it for only $2.99(USD). And don't forget to use our 10% discount code (EAL91). Because who doesn't like discounts? Also make sure to check out all the other people who did that A-Z challenge and see what they came up with. Oh and the challenge was L for lines. Something I forgot to put at the beginning...

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*Stamping plate sent for honest review.

Happy (Belated) 3rd Birthday, Varnishe Valkyrie!

I feel a bit bad because I didn't post anything on Varnished Valkyries actual anniversary on the 21st. I really wanted to but I was just so tired. Ever since I got sick a couple weeks ago I have just felt so lethargic. Didn't matter if I woke up at 5am or noon by 8pm I was struggling to stay awake. Luckily that seems to be passing and I'm feeling much more alert through the day! So here is my belated post!

I can't believe I actually kept this up for 3 years. Before this I had blogs and whatnot, but after their novelty wore off they were left for dead. But this one beat the odds! Also big thanks goes out to everyone who reads the blog, whether you comment or not, it all makes me happy.

I was originally going to do cupcake nails, but I felt like with the shape of my nails Ice Cream Cones would just look better. And they are just as tasty and festive! So it's still a win! Also this is doubling as my (Belated) A-Z Challenge mani. The letter this week was K for Kitchen Sink. I interpreted that as Kitchen Sink -> Kitchen -> Freezer in the kitchen -> Ice cream. Boom, it works.

A-Z Challenge - Inspired: Tonight, we gotta live for, we gotta live for, these days! + 500th POST!!!

So after a break I didn't forget to do the A-Z Challenge, I was just really tired yesterday and made an executive decision not to do my nails.

I've had quite the week. Remember how I said this year I was going to do more performing and whatnot? Well this week I did 2 shows and 1 audition :) And in an effort to motivate myself I have decided that for every show, or audition I do, I will have a chocolate from my tin of Quality Street chocolate. And that is the only time I can have those chocolates! Huzzah! Also this is Varnished Valkyrie's 500th post! Double Huzzah!

Back to nails! My inspiration today is my favourite boy band in the history of everything, Take That, and the outfits they wore when they performed their first single 'These Days' on the X Factor in November. As well as their logo, and the number III(Which is the name of their new album, because now there is only 3 of them). And you know what? While I do miss Jason and dynamic he brought to the group, TT3 is growing on me. It's a slightly different dynamic, but different doesn't have to be bad.

All I used for this manicure was Orly Liquid Vinyl and white acrylic paint.

 

Who here loves Take That? Or am I the only one here :(

Take That - These Days (X Factor performance 23... by ilabarlowed

Check out more fab A-Z Challenge manicures!

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A-Z Challenge - Holographic: Ice Ice Baby

I'm a day late, but today I have for you my A-Z Challenge nails. This week was H for Holographic. As you may remember yesterday I showed you Beyond The Nail's Winter Wonderland but because I wanted to wear it alone before covering it up, I didn't get to finish my art for the challenge.

I decided I had to do waterfall nails, which I first saw done by done by Sammy at The Nailasaurus. Personally they have always reminded me of icicles, so I though that it would go perfectly with Winter Wonderland. I decided to stick with a blue theme, with Winter Wonderland as a base, and England Tristam, Sinful Colors Endless Blue, Essie Smooth Sailing and an random silver, no name glitter I own. Personally I think the glitter really adds to it. This isn't crazy in your face holo, but I think that's what makes it perfect!

This is random but I'm sad I have yet to watch Home Alone 1 and 2 yet this holiday season. I could watch those movies over and over again!

 Natural Light

These were all taken with FLASH. (AH-HA!)

To see more holographic nails, check out some other bloggers doing the challenge!

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A-Z Challenge: Gold (Fingers)

Short post! For this weeks challenge I actually knew what I wanted to do for a while. I knew I just wanted it to be a hint of gold. And I also thought it would be neat to have the base be mattified, so the sparkle popped a bit more. I really like how this turned out, minus the fact that the matte topcoat turned suede really quickly.

I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White, China Glaze Gold Medallion and Born Pretty's matte top coat.

To see more fantastic manis check out these links!

An InLinkz Link-up

A-Z Challenge - Fashion: ????????????

So that time of the week has rolled around once again, the A-Z Challenge. This week was F for Fashion which I was SUPER excited about. Fashion would have to be one of my favorite things I look to for inspiration. And I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this manicure. I wanted to recreate a fashion inspired manicure I did back in 2012. I never shared it because I didn't like how it turned out, but I did save the photo of my manicure and the photo of the outfit that inspired me because I still wanted to give the design a go at a later date.

Long story short I found the photo of the old manicure on my old laptop, but I could not for the life of me find the photo of the outfit. So my design is mainly based on my old manicure. It's frustrating because I can see the outfit in my head. It looked like a semi-sheer white raincoat made out of all these squares and rectangles, that were outlined in black, and layered to create the jacket.

If you have ANY idea where my inspiration originally came from please let me know. This is driving me up the wall!

This was the closest thing I could find to what my original inspiration was. Now instead it was structured less like a normal coat and more like and artsy coat made out of squares. This is the best description I have :/

For more fashion inspired manicures check out these awesome blogs!

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A-Z Challenge - Elegant: En Pointe

First off to all my American readers I hope you have a great Thanksgiving weekend. Now today A-Z challenge letter was E for Elegance.  When I saw this is wasn't 100% sure what I wanted to do, but I kept going back to ballet. Specifically Misty Copeland, an American ballet dancer, who was also the first African American soloist in this history of the American Ballet Theatre. Ballet it's in my opinion the perfect fusion of elegance and strength. Especially when watching dancers like Misty.

For this manicure I used a base of Essence Sweet as Candy. The glitter is a some loose pink glitter and some silver glitter from Sally Girl(I can't find a name on it). For the pointe shoes I used CND Rosebud.

Misty Copeland

To see more amazing manicure check out what the rest of the ladies doing the challenge did!

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A-Z Challenge - Dark: Are You Local?

So some of you may know this about me, but I love writing comedy. In fact one day I would love to be a comedy writer with my own show. I am currently in a sketch troupe so of course there are other sketch troupes I look up to. One of my favourites would have to be the dark comedy stylings of The League of Gentlemen. They are very much the kind of humor I like and the style I prefer to write. I love going to those dark, twisted places that make you laugh, but at the same time make you think "Wow that is kind of messed up". When I saw the inspiration for the A-Z challenge was Dark, I knew I had to do something League of Gentlemen related.

My manicure today is inspired by the sign leading into the fictional town of Royston Vasey and the roads on the sides represent the new road they are planning to build into the town.  The new roads are especially alarming to  Edward and Tubbs, They own a Local Shop and you can see it in the photo with the sign. They don't like ANYONE who isn't local(hence why the road is a bad thing), and they have a tendency to murder people. They are also married as well as brother and sister.

If you are into dark comedy you NEED to watch this show yesterday! Here's one of my favourite clips from it. A cop goes into Edward and Tubbs shop, looking for a missing hiker(who they killed). And as you guessed it hilarity ensues.

Are there any fans of this show who also read my blog?

FUN FACT: This post was written in it's entirety before the manicure was even started.

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A-Z Challenge - Copy Cat: Watercolour Flowers

It's that time of the week again! Time to do the A-Z Challenge. This week the letter was C and we had to go off of Copy Cat. For this manicure I decided to recreate someone elses mani with my own twist.

This is actually something that I had saved on my phone and was going to do eventually. It's originally done by the amazingly talented _lastrega. Mine was done using acrylic paint and white polish. The one thing I was trying to do was get my flowers to look solid, but bleed together. It kind of did that on my middle finger, but because the flowers dried quickly it was hard to bleed them.

I'm super please with how these turned out. I wasn't even going to wear them as a proper manicure, just some quick art. Does any one else ever do that every now and then? Just do art for the sake of art and then take it off right away?

Without Top Coat

 With Top Coat

 The Original

A photo posted by @_lastrega on Oct 10, 2014 at 2:03am PDT

 

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A-Z Challenge - Bold: Nefertiti and the Nubbins

So my original idea went out the window after a few screw ups(I blame the short nails), but I am happy with what I settled on. The theme for this week is Bold. So I chose to take my inspiration from someone who was bold. Nefertiti.  She was the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, and together they reigned at what was one of Ancient Egypt's most wealthy periods as well as creating a new religion. I doubt someone who was timid could do that.

ETA: I started this post on Thursday and intended to post it that night BUT I was super busy getting ready for a show. As soon as I took the photo for instagram I just took off the mani w/o taking proper photos. So you'll a)Have to forgive me for being late 2)Forgive me for the photo.

ALSO as you can see for the first time since I have been doing my nails(4 years), I had a break bad enough that they all had to go. Now they are uneven and blah. #prayercircle.

 

Here is the bust. The colours are a bit faded, but then again that's what a few thousand years does.

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