I'M BAAAACCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long absence, but I was away in Las Vegas for a week on a vacation, which was awesome, then I was busy hanging out with my sister and then it was my birthday! So now I am back after all sorts of excitement! I decided before I went away I wanted to get a Shellac manicure so that I wouldn't have to worry about my nails while away on vacation so that actually lasted longer than the week in Vegas. I finally took it off while at my sister's place and then redid my nails for my big birthday night out so that's what I have to show you today. I wanted something super sparkly for my birthday since I looooooove some sparkles! I also had a lot of trouble deciding between a few color combos so I decided to go with the cocktail nails trend and do two nails on each hand a different color. So I started off by painting one coat of Sally Hansen's "Silver Sweep" on my thumb, ring and pinky fingers. Then for my other two nails I did three coats of Nicole by OPI's "It's Not Me It's Blue". Then I did one coat of Essie's "Set in Stones" over all of the nails. The end result is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I looooove it! So without further ado here are the pictures! :-)

I have been falling more and more in love with "Silver Sweep" recently since the metallic thing was pretty big for a minute and with all of the so called metallic polishes this is the only one I think actually looks good. I guess it could be that the wider brush allows for one swipe to cover the nail and avoids the visible brush strokes or that the slightly thicker formula covers nail ridges better or both, but for some reason I LOVE this nail polish. The Nicole one I also love because to me it changes color based on where it is and what angle you look at it from and in this look I love the contrast between it and the silver glitter from "Set in Stones". I seriously think this look is awesome and it is really sparkly even in the dimmer lighting of bars and restaurants where I was hanging out for my birthday. Overall I love this look I think it is sparkly and sophisticated and very trendy too. So I hope you all enjoyed it and now that most of the craziness is over until I actually start school I will be back to posting although I don't think my nails could take it if I tried to post every single day! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 16- Recreate your favorite manicure of someone else's

Hi everyone! Well for today's challenge I had a ton ton ton of fun! I saw one of the wonderful ladies did this manicure for the favorite color challenge and I loved it so I was really excited to recreate it for this challenge. It was actually pretty easy too even though it was a little bit on the tedious side it wasn't the worst I have ever attempted lol! SO! I started with a base of Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in "Lavender Cloud" then I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Cherry Red", Sinful Colors "Orange Alert", Finger Paints "Lemon Sour", Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Going Green" and "Blue Me Away" and finally Essence "Break Through" for the polka dots. I used my dotting tool to create this look and just had lots of fun with it really! So here come the pictures!

Love this look! It is so awesome and fun and adorable! So pretty much that's it for this challenge and I had a lot of fun! After this though I am going on vacation to Vegas (YAY!!!) for about a week so I will be scheduling a post and crossing my fingers that it actually works! :-) So until then enjoy!!!! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 15- Ocean

Hi everyone! Well today I have a very very very cool manicure to share with you all! I LOVE this one! I am really proud of how it turned out since I have had mixed results with water marbling. For this challenge I thought that water marbling would be the perfect technique to use. So I started off with three coats of Chameleon's "Blue Frost", which I have to say was awful! I found the formula to be thick and streaky and it seemed like every brush stroke just wiped away whatever had been put down. Also "Blue Frost" ended up with bubbles and a very uneven texture. I then used Borghese's "Mezzanotte Blue, Avon's "Vintage Blue", Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Blue Me Away", and Essence Holografics "Blue Ray" (this one is not a holo really, but more a duochrome). There are a million tutorials and tips and things out there on the web for how exactly to do water marbling so I won't go into that and I will just get to the pictures!

Please excuse the messy-ness all over my skin, but I was very excited to take the pictures that I didn't wait until I had finished all the clean up. I actually didn't have a ton of clean up to do though because I coated my fingers (except my actual nails) with Vaseline so the excess polish just slid off. Anyways, I LOVE how this turned out actually and I love the variety in the patterns and how fluid it looks. (cheesy, I know and I am sorry, but it's true!) So I hope you enjoy this one too!!! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 14- Swimsuit

Hi everyone! So for today's challenge I am going to use my favorite bathing suit as my inspiration. Here is a picture of that just for reference:

So I started off with about 3 yucky coats of Wet n Wild's "French White Creme", which I say was yucky because I honestly hate painting my full nails in white because they come out way too streaky for my taste. So then I used my Jordana black striping brush to add the zebra stripes and there you have it and here come the pictures!

So I think I am totally in love with the zebra stripe nails because they are so cute and actually pretty easy, also they can be any color combo you want! So I am thinking this might have to happen more often. :-)

Summer Challenge Day 13- Dolphins!

Hi all! So for my favorite sea animal I chose dolphins since I have always been fascinated by them. I even got to do one of those swim with the dolphins things when I went on a cruise with my parents in high school. So anyways, I thought it would be cool to do a dolphin jumping out of the water so I chose a very appropriately named polish for the water, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Deep Blue Sea", then I used my trusty Jordana black to draw my little dolphin only on my thumb because it was way too hard honestly to try fitting it on all my fingers. After that I just used a light blue striping brush to add little lines by the tail so it sorta kinda looks like the dolphin was jumping out of the water. All in all I thought this was cute and not too over the top. :-)

I actually really love that blue also. It is super sparkly and very pretty! :-) Hope you enjoyed this one!

Summer Challenge Day 12- Favorite Beach Memory

Hi everyone! Well today I have a really adorable (in my opinion) little manicure for you all. So for my favorite beach memory I thought about how when I was a kid, I would go visit my great aunt at her house just about every weekend, especially in the summer. Her house is right on the beach and as a kid I would be down there all the time and I remember the best days were when you could see all the kites being flown all up and down the beach. It looked really cool and I just loved seeing them all lined up so kites are what inspired me today. So on my thumb I used some scotch tape to create the classic diamond kite shape and then I free-handed some stripes and the black outline. To start though the background color is Essence "Gleam in Blue", which is suuuuch a pretty blue! I looove this color so much, so I owe my sister another shout out for finding and buying this one for me. Thanks!!!! :-) So back to the kite. I used two more Essence colors for the stripes. The purple is Essence "Break Through", the pink is Essence "Ultimate Pink" and the blue is Ulta's "Blue Streak". I used my Jordana striping black for the outline and then I used Wet n Wild's "French Creme White" for the clouds. I used my dotting tool to add the clouds around the kite as well as on my other four fingers. Overall I love this look so much! So here come the pictures!

So I hope you all enjoyed this look! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 11- Sea Shells

Edit: SO sorry that this posted so late! I set it to post automatically, but that didn't quite work out so well so here it is a bit late, but still it's here! :-)

Hi everyone! So I actually really love how this manicure turned out for today's challenge. Yay! So first I thought I would show my inspiration for this manicure.

I had the idea to do use the ruffle manicure technique that Chalkboard Nails shows here and using some colors similar to the shell above. I think that it is a bit of an abstract take on it, but I think with seeing the shell that was my inspiration it makes more sense. Anyways, I started off with a base of Wet n Wild "French Creme White" then I added a layer of of Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength in "Dazzling Diamond". For the ruffles I used NYC Color in "Canal Street", Rimmel London's "Steel Grey", and Essie's "Armed and Ready". So without further ado here are the pictures! :-)

Well I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did! I actually think that I might have to do the ruffle manicure again sometime with some more fun colors. :-) Until next time! Enjoy!

Summer Challenge Day 10- Tropical Drinks

Hi all! Well today I bring you yet another well...failure. I had this idea in my head of a great manicure that would look like I had little limes on my nails, but it didn't quite work out that way. So I started off actually trying for half moons that looked like limes, but that REALLY didn't work so then I used my dotting tool and a brush to try and get little limes, but that also didn't quite work out so well. I started off with two coats of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in "Green with Envy" then I used my Kiss nail art white for the little limes and added Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in "Going Green" on top and then more white for the little lines. (which there aren't enough of, but that's what I could get to fit on them) The whole idea came from this awesome bourbon limeade that my friend makes during the summer, but unfortunately the idea in my head didn't exactly come out quite right. So without further ado here are the pictures of my not so wonderful limeade nails.

I am gunna try really hard to come up with something totally awesome for the next challenge! I am really gunna try and get something to work and look super cute for it so wish me luck! :-)

Back on Track! Summer Challenge Days 8/9

Hi everyone! Sorry I missed out on the last challenge post and this one is a bit late too, but here goes! So for day 8 the challenge was beaches so I thought I would do a gradient manicure that looked like the water kind of turning into the sand. Well I think the idea was okay, but the execution was a bit off...I had never tried the sponge method before and I guess I should have practiced a bit more before, but I sort of ran out of time. So here is my first ever attempt at a sponge gradient manicure.

I started off with two coats of Essie's "Coat Azure" and then sponged on Orly's "Nite Owl" for the sand color. Of course I now realize that to really do this right I should have put both the colors on the sponge so they blended a bit better. I think I will have to try this one again sometime soon and really test it out because I love the look of a good gradient manicure.

So now onto day 9, which was summer memory. Well my favorite part about summer is being able to wear flip flops. I also have a really cute pair with pink polka dots so this manicure is my memory of my flip flops. :-)

I started with two coats of NYC Color's "Sidewalkers", which is my go to favorite grey ever and then I used my trusty Jordana black striper for the thong part and then Essence's "Ultimate Pink" for the polka dots. Well everyone, I hope you at least slightly enjoyed these and I am oh so very sorry for being late with them, but I was having much too much fun in the sun with my friends and my sister for the past few days. :-) Until next time! Enjoy! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 7- Ice Cream

Hi everyone! Well today I have a pretty sweet manicure for ya! (hehehe sorry I couldn't help myself!) My favorite flavor of ice cream inspired this one so here goes! I loooove me some mint chocolate chip ice cream so I started off with two easy breezy coats of Wet n' Wild's "I need a refresh-mint" then I topped that with a coat of "Shredded" from Icing, which is a really cool black flake top coat in a clear base. Then I topped that off with a thin coat of Essie's "Marshmallow" for that jelly sandwich effect and to make it a bit more mint chip-ish. I really like the overall effect and to me it is totally yummy! Hehehe sorry again I just can't seem to help myself! :-) So onto the pictures!

Hope you all enjoy this one as much as I do! Now I think I might have to go get myself some ice cream! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 6- Favorite Summer Color

Hi everyone! Well today I have an awesome color for you! My awesome sister again is to thank for this one because she is too lucky (or unlucky depending how you look at it) that she lives down the street from an Ulta so she finds some special yummy polishes and shares from time to time. :-) SO! She found China Glaze's "Custom Kicks" and I love it!!!!!!!!! SoOoOo without further ado onto the pictures!

I loooooove this color so much! I think it is a really unique color because of the strong gold shimmer that runs though the deep teal color. It looks like the ocean on a sunny day to me, with the sun shinning and reflecting off the water. Anyways, this is my idea of a summer color! :-) Hope you enjoyed it too! :-)

Summer Challenge Day 5- Fruit

Hi everyone! So I am loving this manicure so much! I started off wanting to try out a new polish that my wonderful sister picked up for me recently. So I started off with 3 coats for full and even opacity of Wet n Wild's "Steel the Spotlight" from their limited edition chrome collection. I am totally and utterly in love with it! I actually buffed my nails down yesterday just as part of my monthly routine and then I decided to try this color out and it is fantastic! It is so pretty and summery and totally distracted me all day yesterday lol! After that I added my little cherries on top with Sally Hansen's "Cherry Red", (very appropriate I thought) my Jordana black striper for the stems, Orly's "Wandering Vine" for the leaves and my Kiss nail art polish in white for the highlight. I love this look! It is super adorable! So here are the pictures! :-)

Hope you all enjoyed this one! I know I am enjoying it a ton! :-) Till next time!

Summer Challenge Day 4- Palm Trees

Hi all! Well sorry this post is so late, but I have been feeling a bit under the weather and after work and running some errands I accidentally fell asleep for a bit. I am sure you don't really need to know all that, but whatevers! :-) So onto the nail polish! I had been slightly dreading today's challenge because I just couldn't get any really different ideas for how to do palm trees and I was afraid that they would come out really wonky. Well, I wasn't totally wrong on that since I think they did come out a bit wonky, but oh well. I started off with two coats of Zoya's "Kimber", which I thought was pretty appropriate given that it is part of the Zoya Beach and Surf collection. Then I just used my handy-dandy trusty black striping polish from Jordana and did some silly free hand palm trees. Sorry there isn't more to tell about this one, but here come the pictures.

I really liked "Kimber" and I suppose the overall effect here isn't bad, but for my perfectionist-ness it doesn't quite cut it. The formula on "Kimber" was really great though and I will certainly be using it again sometime soon! :-) 

Happy 4th of July/Summer Challenge Day 3 - Summer Song

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I usually really enjoy the 4th since it is a nice fun day off in the summer to enjoy hopefully good weather and relax. This year of course was a bit different since I had to work, but I did have a good time in the evening watching fireworks with friends from a rooftop. So here I decided to use Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" for my summer song because it reminds me of the 4th of July, which to me is quintessential summer. I am totally in love with the end result and I got tons of compliments and some shock and awe when I told people that the whole manicure (including doing my right hand which was a bit tricky) only took me about 20 minutes.

I started off with two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Cherry Red" then I used Sinful Colors "Lagoon" for the blue stripes and using a paint brush with this color I did the blue stars. I also used my Kiss nail art polishes in white and silver glitter in this manicure. I used the white one for the white stars (D'Oh) and the silver glitter I used to outline all the stars. I also added a light and very imperfect bit of sparkle by adding some Confetti's "Ice Ice Baby" to the center of all the stars. I got the idea for this manicure from Julep's tutorial here, but I tweeked it a smidge just to make it a bit more me. Overall, this one is a keeper since it is too cute for words (in my opinion) and actually wasn't all that difficult. I think the thing that made this simpler was that by outlining the stars you get a lot more wiggle room so if you mess up a star then the outline can usually save it.

Here is a picture of the skyline just for your enjoyment since I thought it was super pretty. Hope you enjoyed and I'll be back here soon! :-)

summer challenge day 2- picnic!

Hi everyone! Really quick post today from my phone since i don't have internet at the moment. Please excuse any typos! :-) so I thought for today i would focus on my favorite picnic food, which is watermelon! So I bring you my own watermelon nails! :-) I can't actually remember the name if the base color, but I know it was from Rimmel. Then I did a stripe of white using my kiss nail art white striper. On to of that i did a thin stripe of Orly's "wandering vine" then I used my trusty Jordana black striper to add some seeds. Some of my seeds did go a little wonky, but i still love it! I think this is super cute and fun for summer especially! :-) hope you all enjoy!

Summer Challenge Day 1- Bees!

Hi everyone! So I meant to be all prepared for the start of this challenge, but of course that didn't quite work out so I am just going to do a quickie post to start off this challenge, but I promise I will do better with the next ones! So I started off with two coats of Finger Paints "Lemon Sour" then used my black Jordana striper to add the stripes. (Duh!) So without further ado. Picture time!

Honestly not too happy with this one, but since I have just worked 14.5 hours today alone helping the family I work for move....I can't even think anymore to finish this sentence properly so done. Good night now! Until next time!

EDIT:
Here is the challenge list by the way...told ya I can't think anymore...sorry.

Peachy + Pirouette my Whistle

Hello everyone! So today I bring you a manicure that I am a bit iffy on. Now don't get me wrong I love love love the end result, but I have some mixed feelings overall. I started off wanting a very simple and summery manicure so I chose an untried of mine, Revlon's "Peachy", which I have always liked, but never been too keen on actually wearing. After one coat it was VERY streaky, but I thought no problem a second coat will even it out. Well a second coat helped and those less obsessive might have been fine with it, but for me it was way too patchy. Unfortunately, I tried to fix it with a third coat and that was a disaster since the formula got thick and goopy and ended up making it all worse. If I had let it dry completely between coats maybe that could have been avoided, but I did wait about 5 minutes between coats and that is about the limit of my patience. I did absolutely LOVE this color though so I didn't want to totally start over so to cover up the imperfections and add a bit of sparkle I added a layer of OPI's "Pirouette my Whistle". I love the combination, but I am a bit sad that the one time I wanted to keep it simple with just a single color I really just couldn't do it. So without further b*tching here are the pictures so you can judge for yourself. :-)

As you can see there was some serious bubbling and in person it was very oddly thick in some spots and thinner in others so it looked a bit wonky.

Like I said at the beginning, I really do LOVE this look, but I just was a bit upset with how bad the formula was on "Peachy" since I really loved that color on its own. Oh well though I guess all that matters is that I did find a pretty combination in the end. :-) Until next time then! :-)