Birthday Nail Polish Rack!!!

Hello, hello!! First of all, I apologize for simply leaving in the middle of the 31DC2014 - I really didn't want too, but personal stuff came up and sometimes, as much as I love doing my nails, there are other priorities. I've decided that I'm going to keep on doing the challenge regardless because it's a great incentive plus it really gets my creative gears going. 

Buuuut, before I get on that, I want to share with you guys the best birthday present a nail gal could get: My very own, personal, handmade NAIL POLISH RACK!! I've been wanting a way to organize my polishes for a while now, I contemplated Helmer's but I really like looking at all the pretty colours so I kept going back to a nail polish rack. My wonderful boyfriend agreed to make me one for my birthday and I'm absolutely in love with it!! 

A shot of both racks, one on top of the other.

Below are the step-by-step pictures of the making-of process, warning - it's picture heavy!

31DC2014: Stripes

Day 12 of 31DC2014 is stripes and originally I wanted to do this whole thing with striping tape which took forever annnnnnd didn't really work. LOL. So I went back to basics and decided to play with some nude stripes that I hadn't had a chance to do before. 

 

31DC2014: Polka Dots

So yes, this is late. So I late. I was so close to catching up too!! But sometimes, personal life gets in the way and your weekend ends up being way more busy than you intended it too. That being said, let's talk about the mani that is up today!!

31DC2014: Gradient

Day 10 of the Nail Challenge is Gradient - which I must say is not my forte. I really should work on this method more so that I can accomplish the flawless effect it deserves. Buuuut, in the mean time, let's get down to it. At least the blending is sorta okay?? Sorta??

31DC2014 - Taste the Rainbow

So here's a fun fact about Lili that you should know: I have a sugar tooth. And my downfall, my kryptonite, the one candy that I can't resist is by far SKITTLES. So, when I thought about today's challenge: Rainbow, the first thing that came to mind was doing something Skittles inspired. After all, TASTE THE RAINBOW!! Hahaha...

31DC2014: Metallic Studs

Metallic!! Now, I'll be honest, this was the first time in the challenge where I had to stop and think to myself what exactly that meant. I mean, all the other themes seemed so much more simple than this one. Metallic? Damn, I knew I should have bought OPI's Push & Shove when I had the chance! 

So I did what I always do when I'm stuck, I looked at other blogger's past designs for inspiration. I came across this one by Paulina's Passions that she did for 31DC2013 and I liked how it turned out so I went off of that! 

31DC2014: Black & White - Mix and Match

Hello, hello. For today's mani's I was inspired by a bunch of different design's I've been meaning to try out that were black and white, including my all time favourite new thing; dry marbling!!

31DC2014: Purple - Skittles Design

Day 6 is Violet - But of course I think (alongside many others) I ended up going more purple than violet, haha. Oh well! I saw this online on the Reddit Laquerista thread and figured I'd give it a shot. I like how subtle and simple it is, but still really pretty!

31DC2014: Blue - Puzzle Pieces

Riiiiight, so here's the thing. Sometimes, you're on a roll, you've got a good momentum going and then you;

 a) Have a really bad day at work 

b) Develop a super bad cold 

c) manage to misplace your camera's SD Card 

All of that added to the mix that I didn't have internet at home (perks of just moving!) and you get a skipped day of blogging. Sigh. I really didn't want that to happen, but life is life! So here's my Day 5 nail art, whose prompt was Blue.

31DC2014: Green - Dry Marbling Method

Green!! My favourite color deserved me to try out some new methods which I've been meaning to do for a while now. This Dry Marble method was inspired by the amazing Sveta Sanders on Instagram. She has some amazing tutorials and nail art and you should really go check her out!

31DC2014: Yellow - Leopard Prints

Yellow is one of my favourite colours, and I never wear it as often as I should, but when I do I really appreciate the soft sunshine that I get on my nails. So for today's themed I wondered how I could play with tons of yellow and figured I should attempt leopard prints again!

31DC2014: Orange Vitamin Water

Next up on the list is Orange, this one was inspired by a Vitamin Water I saw while at work and it just seemed like a really good theme. I really liked how they came out, the colours contrasted nicely and even my writing came out pretty well, haha. 

31 Day Challenge: Rules + Red!!

Am I crazy? Insane? Have a strong desire to do too much with too little time? All of the above!! Haha, I couldn't help myself this year - I just had to at least try to participate in this event, so I figure dI'd suck it up, even if I'm a few days late I would try my very best to complete this!!

Here's the complete list of all the themes for those who want to join in on the fun - it's not too late!!

Day 1 is Red, and since it's the first day I knew that I wanted to keep it simple, so instead of playing too much with decorations and stuff I played with polishes and textures.

100th Post + First Giveaway Goodies!!

Hello, hello!! Guess what, guys?! Today, on Polishing It Up 

It's the 100th post!!! 

Can you imagine?! A little under 2 years (barely too, my first post on this blog was Sept. 22nd, 2012) and I've finally reached 100 posts!! I know that for some people, that's not a lot, but I'm quite proud of this little milestone. Hopefully a lot more to come!! 

So, for today's commemorative post, I wanted to share with you guys the amazing giveaway prizes that I won from Candice of ConstantlyPolished!! Guys. I can't even begin to describe how many goodies there were in this box. I will have enough play things to last me another 100 posts!! 

Less talk, more look - yes?? 

(Warning: This post is picture heavy)

My eyes were HUGE when I saw the amount of stuff, this is like nail polish heaven!!