Looking Brighter

Sorry I've been gone for a while guys, just sort of lost my way for a while.  Life was getting complicated and some adjustments had to be made but it seems to be looking brighter now.  I've been able to get back into the swing of things and hopefully will be able to post regularly again which I am excited about!  For today I have a bright look featuring China Glaze Flying Dragon and Aqua Baby. I love the way these two look together!

Added blue tips and matte topcoat.  Which look is your favorite?

An Experiment with Layering

I had this idea in my head the other night about a combo that I thought would look really awesome.  I have had my bottle of Zoya Gilty sitting on my little side table since I first got it waiting for inspiration to come to me about what to layer it over.  I thought a deep mauve color would be pretty, so I pulled out Essie Angora Cardi and tried it.

Evidently I missed getting a shot of it with just the Gilty over Angora Cardi because then I though it might look better with a matte finish so I tried that...I'm not sure what I think about this combo.  Opinions?

Marble Nails

Today's theme is "saran wrap nails".  This is a new technique to me, I had seen it before but hadn't tried it yet.  I started with a base of Sinful Colors Black on Black.  Once it was dry I put some random dots of China Glaze Admire and Cherish.  The tutorials I read said to ball up the plastic and dab it on the nail to remove some of the polish.  I started with that technique but found that if I just pressed the plastic to the nail and peeled it off it worked better for me.  I applied one coat of NYC Grand Central Station as a topcoat.

Then I applied a coat of NYC Matte me Crazy.  I think I like the matte look better for this one, what do ya'll think?

New 31 Day Challenge - Day 8

Today's theme is "duochrome, flakie, or holo", there is a whole lot that can be done there!  However, as it turned out I had a super long night at work tonight and just got home so I ended up deciding to just update what I already had on to make it fit the theme.  I wore OPI Roadhouse Blues to work today so there was some tipwear that I touched up first.  Then I sponged the tips with Seduction by Cult Nails.  And because I  LOVE the way flakies look with a matte topcoat, I added a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love.  Love the way these turned out!

Be sure and check out what the others have come up with, they are a talented group!

Sunset Matte

Today's theme is Gold.  Funny that I really never wear gold jewelry because I prefer silver, hate silver on my nails but don't mind gold....at least not this one!  I got this polish in a swap a while back and this seemed like the perfect time to give it a shot.  I own very few Nubar polishes but I'm in love with Sunset Matte!

Blue Midnight for World Diabetes Day

 A few days ago I saw a few posts on Facebook about bloggers doing blue manis for World Diabetes Day.  As a nurse, raising awareness for this disease is part of what I do so if I can do it in a way that fits into my "other life" as well that's just an added bonus!  I found this polish while I was on vacation and picked it up because I hadn't seen them locally and I am so glad I did!  I have quite a few Pure Ice polishes, for less than $2 they are a great deal and they really have some fun colors.  There is nothing on the bottle that hints that it is a matte/velvet polish but there was a huge display that indicated that part of them were.  I found this one to be very easy to work with which is especially great for a budget-friendly polish!

Pure Ice Blue Midnight

Check out the other bloggers participating in this cause by clicking on their links below!

Shrimply Devine Pink Wednesday!

I'm really excited about today's Pink Wednesday for a couple of reasons.  1. It's PINK, 2. There is glitter.  The glitter craze is sort of growing on me with the sudden boom of all these colorful and amazing indie polishes hitting the market.  I have been snapping them up when I am able to and have quite the little collection going.  I keep thinking I am going to find the time to go through them by brand but that isn't working very well...

Anyway, today I finally decided to try one of the indies I own from All That Glitters on Etsy.  I have several of her polishes and a few more on the way and I love all of them!  So for today's pink Wednesday I layered Spotty Dottie Dark over Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Shrimply Devine.  LOVE it!  I had a tough time with Shrimply Devine and wound up needing three coats for full coverage but it was worth it for that slightly coral hot pink.  I added a coat of SDD and then a coat of Seche Vite.

Gorgeous isn't it?  See how dark that bottle is?  That is because it is PACKED with glitter!  The base is perfectly clear and it is a very easy to use glitter.  This one is currently out of stock but there are other colors as well. Then I wanted to try it matte since I also seem to have a fascination with it all of the sudden too.  My current favorite matte topcoat is NYC's.  I'm not sure which version I like best....

Moody Blues

Sorry for the lack of posting the past few days, crazy work schedule! Today I have for you Moody Blues from Ulta. This is a gorgeous navy blue cream polish that applied like a dream!

Two coats, no topcoat.

Then I wanted to see how it would look "mattified"... I think I'm in love!

Two coats of Moody Blues with one coat of NYC Matte me Crazy

Leopard Print Nails

I am not usually an animal print person but when I got this plate I was sort of drawn to this pattern. For this mani I started with my usual base coat (Bonder) and then applied two coats of Revlon Hot for Chocolate. I love this shade all on its own! It is a luscious deep brown shade but still light enough to be able to tell it isn't black. Once dry I stamped it with China Glaze Magical from their Romantique collection. As a side note, all of the polishes I have tried from that line work great for stamping! I topped it with a coat of Seche to help all the layers dry and then decided I wanted to try it matte so I topped it with Hard Candy's Matte-ly in Love. What do you think?