Nail Fail: Red Watercolor and Hit Polish Glitter

Hi there! I've got a nail fail today. I made an attempt at a watercolor mani, hated the way it looked, then decided to add some glitter topcoat instead. The saving grace here is the glitter from Hit Polish... it's so pretty! There were heart-shaped glitter in the mix too, but I couldn't get any out of the bottle.

Taken in natural daylight, via cell phone.

Lessons learned? I should stick with a lighter base color, or should pick swirl colors that are super contrasting/ darker than the base color.

Polishes Used
Julie G Cherry On Top
Dots Metallic Bronze
Zoya Dakota
Wingin' It Lacquer Burning Leaves
Hit Polish Queen of Hearts

Neon Laser Beam Manicure! Pew pew!

Hi there! Has anyone else been missing their neons?! I sure have and can't wait for summer to come so I can wear them more often. I decided to brighten things up to break away from the winter gloom with this cute laser beam mani.

Taken in natural/ artificial light combo.

Good ol' striping tape played the largest role here and helped me create these lines. Of course, the neon's not as bright as it should be (darn camera!) but there was quite a contrast in-person. I'm also loving Concrete Catwalk that Sean got me for Christmas. A gorgeous grey, one coat coverage, and super shiny!

Polishes Used

Color Club Koo Koo Cachoo

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

Remix! Berry Princess

I inadvertently created a look that was similar to something I had previously created.... so welcome to my first remix post! This is a remixed look of my Berry Princess mani that I posted over the summer. 

Taken in natural daylight.

I kept the V half moons (gotta love tape manis!) then added small blue rhinestones and half pearls to alternating nails. I think I like the original look more, where I outlined the Vs... but I didn't want this to look too much like the original and I didn't feel like outlining by hand. :P

Polishes Used
Sinful Colors Snow Me White (as the base color)
Jindie Nails Burrrberry
Zoya Aurora

Blue and Purple Glitter Bomb, Featuring Broadway Nails Seduction Night

Hey there! Today I've got a look that was super difficult to photograph, but was ridiculously stunning in-person! It also features my first Broadway Nails polish, which I received as a gift from my aunt.

Taken in artificial light.

I started off with a coat of Mirror, Mirror which is a gorgeous blue shimmer with a purple duochrome (which unfortunately didn't translate to the nail that well). I then topped it with 1 1/2 coats of Seduction Night and painted some freeform triangles with an outline.  

Taken in natural light.

This looks was so sparkly! The first photo shows the design a bit better, but the bottom one is more color-accurate. Unfortunately, neither pick-up all the sparkle!

Polishes Used
Funky Fingers Mirror, Mirror
Broadway Nails Seduction Night (#4)
Milani Purple Outline

Valentine's Nails: Two Looks To Share!

Holy wow, it's been a while! I swear I'm here... I've just been lacking motivation to post. Yuck. To make up for that, I've got two looks to share for Valentine's Day!

Taken in indirect sunlight.

The first look is my 2nd foray into the world of textured polishes. I won another giveaway from Paint Those Piggies! and this gorgeous shade by Julie G was one of the prizes! I knew I had to highlight it, so I used it for the main nail color and as an accent for the hearts (they're upside down in this picture, by the way!). I accented with pink glitter and silver dots, then left the textured parts topcoat-free.

Taken at dusk with artificial light.

Let me tell you, winter around here makes in nearly impossible to take good pictures! This is the second Valentine's look I've got-- a mix of pastel-y colors with some stamping and rhinestones. I need to practice color combos before I actually stamp... and need to buy an actual pastel pink. But this turned out pretty cute, so I'm fine with it!

Polishes Used (Look 1)

Julie G Frosted Gumdrops Crushed Candy

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

OPI Your Royal Shineness

Polishes Used (Look 2)

L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented

Fresh Paint High Voltage

Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet

Pueen 2013 Plate 001

New Year's Glitter and Stamping: Featuring China Glaze Concrete Catwalk and Pueen Stamping Plates

Hi there! Long time, huh? I've been super busy at work lately and haven't had time to get around to blogging... but here I am! I'm back and I've got my New Year's nails to show you!

For Christmas my boyfriend gave me the 2013 Pueen stamping plates and my first ever China Glaze nail polish (along with a gorgeous OPI shade)! So I decided to highlight them both in my New Year's look. I stamped this design using plate #5, then added some glitter and mattified half the look. Kinda reminds me of fireworks or something!

Polishes Used
Sinful Colors Black on Black
OPI Your Royal Shineness
China Glaze Concrete Catwalk
Lush Lacquer Lite Brite
Color Club Black Striper

Influenster: My Shining Moment featuring Sally Hansen Triple Shine

Hello there! Today I wanted to share with you the story of my first solo road trip/ business trip!

I drove by myself down to Columbus for a 3 day business trip at The Ohio State University, which I was a bit nervous about. I've never taken a trip by myself, stayed at a hotel by myself, or spent time with my boss for so long! :P

For some reason, the color is really off here...

Luckily I had painted my nails with Sally Hansen's Triple Shine polish in Reef-Raff, which made me relax about my nails. This stuff goes on in one coat (this is two because I missed some areas on the sides of my nails) and doesn't even need a topcoat. Look how shiny it is!

I also didn't have to worry about chipping my tips, which gave me the confidence to tackle all the hands-on work I had to do for iTunes U. And since it was such a simple look, I didn't have to face the uncomfortableness that sometimes arises from too much attention focused on my nails. All-in-all, wearing this made my trip enjoyable and allowed me to shine around my colleagues!

I received this complimentary item for testing purposes from Influenster. Want to join? Send me a message for an invite!

A Day Late... Christmas Skittles!

Hey there! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas holiday and (maybe) enjoyed some time off of work. Sorry I've been so scarce... I've been swamped with work and took my first ever business trip last week! Keep an eye out for my next post for more info on how that went. ;)

As for the look I have today, it's my traditional Christmas skittles! There's just something so fun about this time of year and all the nail art possibilities that I can't help but mix up my look with 10 different designs.

(Click to enlarge!)

This year we've got a doticure, penguin, gold glitter bomb, green with red glequins, and a glitter half moon on the left hand. On the right, we have a glitter striped pinky, glitter bomb with heart rhinestones, snowman, snowflakes, and candy stripes. Whew! Not my best work, or the most creative, but it's enough for the season!

Polishes Used (from left thumb to right thumb, and I'm not listing duplicates for each nail. :P)

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Sinful Colors Bleeding Heart

Sinful Colors Amazonian

Zoya Ziv

Funky Fingers Dark Knight

Color Club Black Striper

CoverGirl #245

Funky Fingers Star-Studded

Nicole by OPI Gold Texture

OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air
Color Club Gold Glitter Striper
Daring Digits Robin

Orange Saran Wrap Mani

Hey there! Today I've got a simple look to share-- an orange saran wrap manicure. Doing these are so, so easy! Paint on your base coat and let it dry, paint on your second color, then quickly pat the nail with crinkled up saran wrap. Add your glitters and top coat and there you go! A quick mani that's super pretty.

Polishes Used
CoverGirl #240
CoverGirl #245

Copy Cat: Jelly Pumpkins

Hey there! Today I've got a late-ish Thanksgiving design to share. This is my rendition of Adventures in Acetone's Pond Pumpkin nail art. I saw this and instantly went "OMG! I have the polish to recreate this! And how adorable!" So I gave it a try for Thanksgiving and this is what I ended up with.

Picture taken in my bathroom under yellow-ish lights.

This is 5 coats of OPI and 4 different "layers" of white pumpkins. It turned out super cute and had more depth than my crappy picture shows. The only bad thing about this mani cure was the polish removal... stain city! :(

Yuck! And this was after I did a baking soda soak to get the major staining off... yikes! Also, I definitely picked this polish off since it was so easy to peel (as a jelly). BAD! You can totally see the white marks on my nails from the damage... bad bad bad...

Polishes Used
OPI Ya'll Come Back Ya Hear
Sinful Colors Snow Me White
It's So Easy Stripe Rite White