Patriotic Nails

I know, I know, I'm a day late!  I was on Pinterest last week looking for some inspiration for my toes and found this pin which I had seen before but somehow hadn't pinned.  At any rate, I used the inspiration for my toes.  I did some much simpler designs for my nails through the week and decided to match the toes for the weekend.  I really wanted to find the source of the image and give proper credit but even an image search was not helpful.  So just know these are not my original design and if you know who I should give credit to, let me know in the comments!

For these I used Sally Hansen Pacific Blue (original), OPI Over and Over A-Gwen, and Zoya Snow White.  The anchor is one of my own vinyl decals made smaller to fit the design and all topped with 

Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat.  These were really quite easy to do, so much so that I may use the design and use other colors...I'm thinking mint and navy with pale gray....

Don't Be a Flake!

I picked up a couple of the new China Glaze polishes at Sally's the other day and couldn't wait to play!  Here is the look I came up with for Don't Be A Flake.

Other colors used, OPI My Vampire is Buff, Nicole by OPI It Starts with Me, Essie In the cab-ana, Julep Princess Grace and Sally Hansen Black Heart.  All topped with Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat.

If you don't already, be sure and follow me on Instagram, sometimes I post mani pics there that don't make it to the blog for whatever reason!

Snow Day!!

I had another snow day today!  While I often feel overwhelmed with work, I am very thankful to be working for a company that puts the safety of their employees first.  

Since I had an unexpected day off, I had some time to do my nails and try out some new polish.  I also purchased some stamping plates before Christmas and have not had much of a chance to play with them either so today was the day! 

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud on all except my middle finger.  My bottle seems a bit wattery so I actually used 3-4 thin coats then topped it with Seche Vite.  My middle finger is 3 thin coats of Julep Love from the February box.  I used Pueen plate 35 for the design on my ring finger with nails inc. victoria for the stamp color.  Finally, I added some studs from Born Pretty Store that I painted with victoria so they would blend in with the look.

33 Day Challenge- Day 18 - 2 Patterns

For today's theme, I did a "double accent nail".  My middle and ring fingers started with a base of Zoya Kristen, then I added some striping tape and painted on Sally Hansen Black Heart and a topcoat.  For all the rest, I used a base of Essie Raise Awareness and once dry stamped with Black Heart and Pueen plate 26.

Abstract Nails

Day 14 of the 33 Day Challenge!  You really can't go wrong with abstract nails, even if it doesn't turn out quite right...it's abstract so who is going to know?  One of the most forgiving styles in my opinion.  There are many ways to achieve an abstract manicure, I chose an acid wash.  I have done only one in the past and loved the way it turned out, you can check it out here.  This time, I started with a base of Julep Ingrid, a beautiful harvest orange, then layered on Julep Charlotte, a dusky purple shade, and topped it all with Sally Hansen Black Heart.  After a few minutes of dry time, I took a brush dipped in acetone and went to work "erasing" spots.  When I was satisfied with how it looked I added a topcoat (this time one by OPI)  It's a very fun style and I love how this one turned out as well.

Inspired by...a pillow?

Today's theme for the 33 Day Challenge is "a pattern in your home".  I had done something like this before with my trashcan nails, so it wasn't much of a stretch to do it again; this time with throw pillows.  I wasn't able to exactly match all the colors (8!) but I'm still pleased with the results.

First off, here is the pillow.

And the results!

Colors used are: OPI My Vampire is Buff

Essie Mochacino 

China Glaze Mahogany Magic and Desert Sun

Butter London Lady Muck

Julep Susie

Zoya Dree

Sally Hansen  Black heart

33 Day Challenge Day 4: Tribal Nails

Tribal nails are something I haven't attempted in the past, so I was a bit nervous about this one.  I opted for just an accent nail but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Essie: Cute as a Button
China Glaze Aqua Baby
L'Oreal The Perfect Trench
Ulta Celebutante
Sally Hansen Black Heart

Inspired by a Pinterest Find

I have been spending more time on Pinterest lately than I probably should....it is so addictive!  I had stumbled across this pin a while back and thought it was amazing but never had the time to try it out until today!  Credit for this design goes to A Girl and Her Polish, the original post can be seen here, while you are there check out the rest of her super-amazing blog!

 For the base of mine, I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Ion the stamped with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart.  Red dots are Nails Inc. Charing Cross. Such a fun design!

New 31 Day Challenge - Day 27

Today's theme is "inspired by you".  If you have read my "About Me" section then you already know I am a nurse 'in real life' so this one really had to be about that.  I started with a base of L'Oreal Walk on the Beach on all but my middle finger which is Sally Hansen Black Heart.

I drew a bandage on my pinky with China Glaze Dress Me Up and outlined with black acrylic paint, stethoscope on ring finger with black acrylic paint then Zoya Lara.  I also painted the 'RN' with Lara then layered white/pink dots around the edges; index finger is Disney Villains polish in Cruella DeVil.  I added a little pink stud from Born Pretty Store to the stethoscope for the diaphragm.

I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with for this one!

A New Twist On Classic

I can't really tell you what inspired the idea for this mani but I love the way it turned out regardless.  I wore OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on it's own the other day (love it) and wanted to do something quick to add to it the next day.  I was going to just do the stamp, but I kept having issues getting the image to transfer fully, so I added "blocks" of black.  Once I did that, I thought it looked sort of "unfinished", so I added the silver hexes (termed "glequins" by the ever talented and witty Nailasauraus).

Base is My Boyfriend Scales Walls stamped (Bundle Monster BM 306) and "blocked" Sally Hansen Black Heart accented with sliver glequins and topped with Out The Door.  I got loads of compliments on this mani and I actually kind of wanted to leave it on for a few days but I had a job interview so I had to remove it and go with something more subdued.

Mizzou Nails!!

I must admit, I'm not a huge college sports fan...but, having your best friend's little brother make the team is kind of a big deal.  I grew up in a very small town...48 people in my graduating class and we were a big class.  So having someone from there make it as part of the team at MU is HUGE.  So, I did these nails to show my support.  I am actually pretty stoked with how they turned out and I am sure that once the season starts, I will be doing nails for some pretty big fans!

I used Zoya Purity for the base, sponged Sinful Colors Pull Over on the tips and stamped with a generic black stamping polish and Cheeky CH2 plate.  I used a small detail brush and Sally Hansen Black Heart for the letters and NYC as the topcoat.  

Pucker Up, Buttercup!

 Today's Summer Challenge theme is "Buttercups".  I made this theme into a sort of mini challenge for myself to try to do it freehand and with only drugstore polish.  All things considered I'm pleased with the way it turned out, especially after yesterday's disaster.  I do sort of wish I had used a darker base color though; alas, live and learn.

Base: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Lavender Cloud
Flowers: Revlon Buttercup, Sinful Colors Pull Over and Olympia
Scrolls: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Golden-I
Topcoat: NYC Grand Central Station

What do you think?  Please be sure and use the tab above or links below to check out what the other girls came up with!

Post V-Day Epic Haul!!

So I have talked before about living in the middle of nowhere with really no beauty stores nearby. However, they have recently opened an Ulta about an hour away so today I decided to go. I found several deals and made it out with several new polishes and then stopped at a few drug stores along the way to see what I could find...

Top L-R : OPI Skull and Glossbones, Stranger Tides, Mermaids Tears, Revlon Coconut Crush and Sublime Strawberry (both scented) then Ulta Army of 1 and Maine Attraction and the one on the end is Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice

Bottom L-R : Butter LONDON Knackered and Bossy Boots, Essence Luxury Secret, Where is the Party, High Spirits, Glamours Life, and You Belong to Me and a pack of the Vanilla polish remover pads

They also had a special going for a free gift with purchase of $17.50 worth of Ulta product (I also got one of their mascara) so this was what was in the gift bag. The polish is called Lav-ish.

Top L-R : Wet N Wild Wet Cement, I Need a Refresh-Mint, Undercover, Disturbia, L'Oreal Walk on the Beach and Eiffel For You, Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty and Lavender Cloud

Bottom L-R Sinful Colors Call You Later and Nicole by OPI It's Not Me, It's Blue

Top L-R : Sinful Colors Glass Pink, Nail Junkie, All About You, You Just Wait, Unicorn, Nirvana and Cinderella

Middle L-R : Sinful Colors Exotic Green, Tutu, Easy Going, Love Nails, Purple Diamond, Gorgeous, and Sally Hansen Night Flight

Bottom L-R : Revlon Plum Night, Ruby Ribbon, Emerald City, CQ Rustic Dream, Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal, Blank Slate and L'Oreal Caught Red-Handed

This is probably the most polish I have gotten in one day, a good mix of textures, colors and finishes and everything from high-end to drug store brands...now if I just had enough hands to swatch them all ! :)

Pink Wednesday!

Ok guys, this is my very first Pink Wednesday! I had a few ideas on what I wanted to do, but for this one I just went sort of simple. I first applied my base coat (Bonder) and then 3 coats of Sally Hansen Heart of Stone. Once dry I topped it with two coats of Wet 'n' Wild Sparkled.

It was tough to get a good pic of this one but you can still (barely) see the pink under all that luscious glitter!

Pure Ice All Nighter and Gradient Nails

So after a very long night at work tonight I wanted to do something sort of simple for today's post. I had an idea in my head for a killer color combo for a water marble, but alas, my colors didn't want to play together. I tweaked it some and still no luck so on to something else! I had an vision in my head of what this mani should look like and what I got isn't quite what I had pictured. I'm still not sure what I think of it so I will let you decide.

I started off with two coats of Pure Ice All Nighter. It is a beautiful red satin shade.

Then I sponged the tips with NYC Bowery Black and then topped that off with a black glitter polish from Hard Candy. The Bowery Black is a much more sheer shade than I had anticipated (it is in the bottle in this pic) but still very pretty. I topped the whole thing off with a top coat of Insta-Dri top coat from Sally Hansen.