Take Two, Day 7 - Black and white nails: Chess nail art, or, This is a Queen's court, have you not noticed?

Only 6 more days to enter my nail art contest!

The goal: to design a socially engaged manicure that supports

a cause and raises awareness about an issue that you care about.

The 50 first participants get a prize!

So I'm a bit behind on the Take Two challenge, but I shall conquer!

Speaking of conquering, here's a game that's all about conquest and war: chess! Chess being a white vs. black type of thing, I thought it would be perfect for this theme, which is "Black and white nails".

Please do notice that there is no king in this court... just a queen. :)

Swatch: Champagne themed nail polishes! Mavala - Oslo, China Glaze - Champagne Bubbles, and Julep - Vivien

So I just got my December Julep Maven box in the mail, and in it was a beautiful champagne-themed colour called Vivien. Every holiday season, nail polish companies always seem to release at least one champagne-themed shade, and every year, I can't wait to get my hands on them. Or get them on my hands, rather.

Today I will present swatches of three champagne-themed nail polishes: Mavala's Oslo (not officially a champagne polish, but the colour is too perfect), China Glaze's Champagne Bubbles (from the 2011 Holiday collection), and of course, Julep's Vivien.

Here they are side by side. I have posted more pictured of the individual polishes further down.

And here's a sneak peak at my favourite combo, pictured at the bottom of the post:

Julep Maven - The December 2012 Box, "It Girl" edition: Harper, Ivy & Vivien

I want to share with you once again the joy of being a Julep Maven! I get so happy when I receive these neat little packages in the mail. They even gave us a gift of a blank nail polish ring! I'll definitely take forever to choose which polish to use on it...

Being a Julep Maven means you receive three new nail polish releases in your mailbox every month for 20$, shipping included. You get to choose between 5 different sets each month, or you can skip any month at all if you don't like the choices... But let's face it, it's nail polish. I always like nail polish. :P

You can actually get your first box for just $0.01! That's what got me hooked... I thought, "Hey, 3 polishes for a penny! I'll just unsubscribe after." Which you totally can - if you've got more self-control than I do, anyway, haha. But after I got that first box with those lovely colours, I just knew I would remain a Maven.

You can get your first $0.01 Maven box by doing the following:

• Visit the Julep Store. (This is my referral link, thank you for using it!)
• Subscribe to the Maven program.
• Enter coupon code "PENNY" at checkout.
• You're done!

From the top, going down: Harper (a holographic small-to-medium-sized green glitter), Ivy (a glass-flecked duchrome which shifts from royal blue to a vibrant purple), and Vivien (a champagne-themed large beige glitter with fine silver dust).

Take Two, Day 6 - Inspired by an animal: Platypus nail art... yeah, you read that right.

Don't forget about my nail art contest.

The 50 first participants get a prize!

Today's theme in the Tale Two challenge is "Inspired by an animal". Well who can resist the weird, dorky platypus? Such a silly creature, really, with a duck's beak, otter's paws and beaver tail... Aaaannnnd they lay eggs. Did you know platypuses (platypi?) are venomous? That's right, the males have a special poisonous claw on their hind legs. Seriously, platypus?

Also, the French word for platypus is "ornithorynque". Isn't that great?

So we've got its silly little face on my thumb, its silly little paws on my pointer and middle fingers, its silly little tail on my ring finger, and... its silly little eggs on my pinky.

Take Two, Day 5 - Cartoon theme: Winnie the Pooh nail art

Check out my nail art contest, the first 50 participants get a prize!

Today's theme for the Take Two challenge is cartoons. So... Pooh bear! I don't think he needs any introduction, really. What an endearing classic. And it's straight to the nail art with this one!

Swatch: Essie - Snake, Rattle and Roll

I was at the drugstore the other day and saw these new magnetics by Essie. They come in 6 colours but I only got one - at 14.99$ a piece I don't imagine I'll buy the whole collection!

I do really like the pattern in this magnet, it's kind of fishnet-like or snakeskin-like. Have a look.

Take Two, Day 4 - Flowers: Christmas poinsettias inspired by Robin Moses

Nail art contest! The 50 first participants get a prize!

Today's theme in the Take Two challenge is "flowers". I really felt like doing something christmassy already... I mean, we're in December so it's fine, right? Right?!? Soooo I did some poinsettias. I followed an awesome Robin Moses tutorial to paint the flowers, the link is at the bottom of the post.

Here they are! So festive!

Icicles on my cuticles... My winter themed nail art.

Nail art contest over here! The first 50 participants get a prize. :)

So this week is "Winter" week in the 52 week challenge! Completing two challenges at once is no small feat, let me tell you. But as you will see in the following pics, this mani was way too appropriate to pass up on.

Bonus easter egg: can you spot the difference between my two hands?

Take Two, Day 3 - Inspired by your country: Cardinals in a canadian birch forest

Nail art contest! 50 first participants get a prize!

Just yesterday, a cardinal landed on the roof of the garage that's right outside my kitchen window. The neighbour grows some grapes there every year, so it was eating whatever grapes has not been picked. So I grabbed my camera and started snapping pics.

This was the male half of a couple of cardinals that comes back every year on their way down south and again in the spring when they travel back up north. Cardinals aren't that rare, but you don't exactly see them all the time in the city. I was pretty excited - they're beautiful birds, and I love photographing plants and animals. You can see two of my photos of the cardinal at the bottom of the post.

I thought it appropriate to let this beautiful bird inspire me to create the following mani, which I am actually quite proud of! I hope you like it too. It's my very own canadian landscape, painted for day 3 of the Take Two challenge, with "Inspired by your country" as a theme.

Take Two, Day 2 - Flag nails: My provincial flag, Québec's Fleurdelysé

Don't forget about my nail art contest.

The 50 first participants get a prize!

Today's theme for the Take Two challenge is "Flag nails". What better flag to do but one's own? This flag represents a lot for me. Most people identify with a country, but here in Québec, many feel that their identity is more closely related to our province rather than to our country, Canada. Being a predominantly French-speaking province and almost constantly at odds with the rest of the country on every political issue, and with our past as a French colony overtaken by the English, is it any surprise that we've had two separate referendums to vote for independence?

Here are my Québec flag nails. You can read more about the evolution and history of this flag on Wikipedia, right here.