Bee Polished: monkey see monkey do

There's gold in them thar hills!

It's time for another Monkey See Monkey Do Monday!! But before I get onto the art work I want to introduce you to one of my most favorite polishes! It's Catrice In The Bronx. In the Bronx is a bronze-y, coppery, shimmery delicious polish which is an absolute dream to work with. It's a metallic, which is great but it's not flat like some other metallics I have (Barry M Foils, I'm looking at you). Instead it's laced with endless amounts of shimmer and it's just gorgeous in the sun AND in the shade. This is two coats of it and you'll notice that there's no streaks, no balding and a wonderful shiny finish. It's just amazing and it ranks in my top ten polishes in my collection. Yeah. I love it THAT. much. So what better a choice for my Monday mani? For this Monday I wanted to do something subtle (I know, never!) and I wanted to try out a new technique I've seen floating around the blogger world. Cling wrap manis...you heard that right. Cling wrap. This is actually REALLY easy and it looks great but it's a bit tricky the first go round. Here's my mani:

I used Catrice In the Bronx for my base and then I topped it with Seche Vite (cause I'm super impatient!) and let it dry for roughly 30 minutes (just to be sure!). Then I added a single coat of Orly Green With Envy. Then I used a wadded up plasic bag (I didn't have any cling wrap) to press lightly into the polish, thus lifting off parts of the green. I did one nail at a time and wiped the plastic in between with a paper towel so I could reuse it. I also only pressed once per nail although I've seen people use smaller pieces to press numerous times. The only advice I really have is to press gently and to realize that the polish will spread as it dries so even though gaps look pretty big when you initially press, they'll close up some. My pinkie was the first nail I did and I used a lighter touch with the others but you can see the difference in effect. It's something I'd definitely like to do more with in the future!!! Here's the original inspiration:

It comes from Jems from Jenny. She used a more red toned base and a brighter green, but the effect is the same. These are so easy! It's definitely art that anyone can do and it only takes a few minutes which is another big plus! Have any of you done cling wrap nails?

7:00 AM
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Monkey See Monkey Do Monday: Sold Out Seventies

monkey see monkey do

It's time for another Monkey See Monkey Do Monday challenge!! This week I chose a design from a French blogger named Camille. Her designs are mostly simple but also very stunning! You can read her awesome blog in English but I prefer to read it in French! :P So don't let the language barrier stop you from checking out her page! At any rate I didn't have the two polishes Camille used in her design so I chose to use Catrice Sold Out Forever and Barry M Block Orange. It had a very seventies sort of boho vibe to me. I really had to resist adding some additional details and I also simplified a bit by doing only one accent nail versus her two! I do like the contrast of colors on hers better. She used a more red-orange and a green which was a bit warmer. But I still loved the look on me! Thanks for following along!!

7:00 AM
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Monkey See Monkey Do: Dandelions

China Glaze

It's time for another Monkey See Monkey Do Monday!! Are you all impressed with me that I'm actually doing two in a row? I am...lol. It's difficult for me to keep up on these challenges but I really like this one because there are so many wonderful designs I see that I'd love to try but I don't want to infringe on other people's originality either. So this is a nice balance. :) Anyway today's art is one I've had on my Pinterest board for like, a million years. I LOVE the color combination and the softness of this mani. It looks a lot harder than it really is although mine isn't AS nice as the original. I'm fairly certain the original artist used a base of China Glaze Sea Spray so I did as well and then I finished off the design with Models Own White and Black art stripers. I love, love, LOVE the completed look. If only it didn't have to come off so soon!! I would really love to give credit to the original poster of this artwork so if anyone knows who did the original or is the original artist please let me know! I took it off a pinterest board which redirects to this picture on Polyvore:

***UPDATE***

Thanks to one of my wonderful readers, I think I've found the origin of this artwork!! It comes from a blog called MaD Mani's! As it turns out, there are tons of other really great mani's on the website so check it out if you get some time!! :)

I hope you all enjoyed today's artwork!! Thanks for following!

7:00 AM
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Monkey See Monkey Do...

monkey see monkey do

You might remember that awhile back I joined a group called The Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge. The group was started by two of my very best polish friends, Debbie and Claire. This was back when the only other challenge I was doing was the Pink Wednesdays (what happened to that?!). When I joined the group there were four members including myself. And I'm so proud to say that the group now has just under 200. Since the original days of the PCFC there have been many new features and challenges added. One of these is called Monkey See Monkey Do. Now, at the moment I'm working so much that even keeping up with the regular challenges in my life is too much! So I'm definitely not committing to do this every single Monday. But this past week I was surfing The Crumpet and I found a mani too cute to resist. I really wish I had taken more time to do this but I had to kind of rush through it and I didn't have a striper so I had to use only a dotting tool. I think I could have done much better!! But I had so much fun recreating it! My inspiration comes from A Girl and Her Polish. Here is a picture of her original ladybug manicure: