Can't Find My Czechbook Striping

I think some of my favorite manis are striping based looks. They are just so clean and classy to me. And I love geometric shapes more than is probably normal so any time I get to make an interesting design using only lines, I'm immediately in love. 

I recently became the proud mother to OPI's Can't Find My Czechbook, which is a fabulous blue from their Euro Centrale Collection. LOOK AT THIS COLOR! unf. 

I love it. It's fabulous. Let's move one. 

As I've mentioned before, I finally bought a new bottle of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls (yet another unhealthy obsession). I decided to whip out my striping tape and put my new bottles to use. 

Some spring time colors...because I said so!

I had such a clear vision of what I was going to create tonight that I was positive I would have no problem executing what I saw in my mind's eye. However, I came to find out that my brain and hands were not on speaking terms tonight and what ended up on my nails, while similar in concept and colors, is no where near what I had originally intended. That being said, I really love how this turned out! I am so ready for these bright colors and I love what I see when I look down at my fingers. I may have ended up at Sally's today to partake in their Orly sale and maybe I bought China Glaze's Re-fresh Mint and maybe I felt like I was going to explode if I didn't get this stunning color on my fingers immediately. After that, Lime Crime's Creme de Limon and L'OREAL's New Money began their incessant begging to be used with their new friend. Yes, I am personifying my nail polish. No, that's not weird. 

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 5: Blue

Grrr!

I have been so completely stuck on an idea for a blue mani. You would think that because it's my favorite color for nails lately I would have ideas up the wazoo, but alas, I struggled over the past week trying desperately to come up with something to do. I finally complained to my boyfriend about my horrendous first world problem and got a sarcastic "I'm sorry, babe". However, he soon after disappeared into the garage and returned with his hands behind his back...and he produced two new BLUE China Glaze's that are apparently part of my Valentine's Day gift!?! How great is he!? Now to restrain my urge to go in search of my gift that is living in the garage. I was so incredibly excited to have new colors to play with but...I realized that I was STILL stumped. Ugh. I ended up just painting and seeing what happened and this is what I came up with. I'm not even close to in love with it (boo!) but I guess I can't have that with every thing I create. Anywho, my man is basically excellent :D

Caviar Beads

Somewhere along my path to nail polish hoarding I acquired some "Caviar Beads" for nail art. They've been sitting in my kit since I got them over two months ago and I've contemplated using them a few times but never got around to it. I finally decided to change that and just go for it the other night, so this mani is the result of that. 

The beads were surprisingly easy to work with and didn't stick out on my nail as much as I was expecting. The problem with these, however, is the fact that I'm a very tactile person. I like to touch and pick at things and little plastic balls stuck on my nail are a pickers dream. Needless to say, these only lasted about a day before I could resist the urge to pick them off. 

Sparkle Gradient with BL, CG and SOPI

Today's nail art challenge is Sparkles! I'm really loving this look and it's super simple to create. The base color is Butter LONDON's Royal Navy and the gradient is made with China Glaze's I Herd that and the chunky glitter is Sephora by OPI's Only Gold for Me top coat.

Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe

I was so spoiled this Christmas. Not only did I get to spend 10 days in Costa Rica, my boyfriend bought me enough polishes to keep me busy for a LONG time! Yay! He ended up getting me the entire On Safari collection from China Glaze which I fell in love with from the first moment I saw it. It's a Trap-eze! from their Cirque du Soleil collection was also included. If that wasn't enough, I got 3 new ButterLONDON's AND my very first Deborah Lippmann!!! To top it all off, I got a new Shany image stamping plate that I absolutely love. I can see myself using every single one of these stamps. I am so excited about all of them and feeling so fortunate for everything I have right now :)

I fell so hard for the Deborah Lippmann that I had to put in on immediately. I went with something simple and ended up using two of my new China Glaze's as well, Man Hunt (blue) and Exotic Encounters (green). And of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone so I added a stamp using my new plates! I really love this look...possibly because I am back to my favorite colors ;)

Let sleeping nails lie? Pfft!

I am incapable of just letting things be. I like to tinker. I will change my phone background every few days because I'm bored with the current one. My blog background, style and layout will no doubt change several times in the coming months. The same happened with my nails tonight. It's a wonder I've been with the same guy for 7 years ;) 

Tonight, I was especially jonesing to paint my nails but I was still completely in love with my mani from last night. So I started browsing patterns online that I could possibly make work with what I already had going on. About 3 pages in and I came upon this one: 

Source: http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=all&includes%5B0%5D=tags&search_query=navy+blue+pillows&page=1

I could have gone with a free hand attempt at this, but I wasn't really in the mood for the potential screwup that could occur and the fallout afterwards. So I went with taping instead. Still a pretty terrible idea! 

I ALMOST gave up on this pattern and had to get pretty innovative in order to make it happen, but here is the result. 

I even managed to get both thumbs!

Happy Polishing.

Blue ombre makes my heart happy!

I used to think I was strictly a red/pink polish kind of girl. However, Essie's Butler Please converted me to blues in two seconds flat. Lately whenever I see a blue polish I've been snapping it up and I finally have enough blues to attempt an ombre look.

Most ombre nails I see have the thumb painted white and then the chosen color gets progressively darker as you move toward the pinky. I'm not always a fan of white and in this case I felt like it would have been far too drastic a change to go from white to dark navy blue. Instead, I went with a blue to grey sort of ombre effect and I love it. I get to use Butler Please, as well ast my new Zoya Natty!

From the left:

Essie Butler Please

Kleancolor Neon Sapphire

Zoya Natty

Sally Hanse Gray by Gray

OPI I Have a Herring Problem

Electric blue with Butler Please all the way over to a shimmery/glittered out grey with I've got a Herring Problem. I wasn't sure I would like having the glitter mixed with all the cremes, but I think it adds some extra pizazz.

There are many color options for an ombre mani. I'm thinking as Thanksgiving nears I'll go with some oranges and reds for a fall look. 

Happy Polishing.

Outfit inspired

Someone challenged me to do a manicure inspired by one of my favorite items of clothing. For me, that happens to be an awesome skirt made by CottonOn, an Australian based clothing store that has amazing deals and excellent quality clothing. Here's a terrible picture of the pattern to give you an idea of my inspiration.

I recently purchased Essie's Butler Please and I'd like to spend a moment just remembering how stunningly amazing this polished looked on. When I put this baby on my poor neglected fingers, I about fainted from how crazy amazing it was.

An electric and "indulgent bright blue" with a creme finish that may be my favorite blue to date. 

I mean, let's be serious. That is so stunning. I may have stared obsessively at it the entire time it was gracing my nails with is presence. Alright, so electric blue isn't exactly understated in its own right, but since I matched the blue with my skirt and fell in love, I decided I couldn't part with it and went with just my thumb for the rest of my design.

I apologize for the overkill of photos, but I just love this these colors. Yes, I want to marry them. 

The Butler Please is 2 coats and Seche Vite on top. The striped thumb is (colors from left to right):

Navy--Kleancolor Neon Sapphire 

White--Milani White on the Spot

Blue--Essie Butler Please

Lavender--Kleancolor Lavenbaby

Orange--Zoya Natalie

Happy Polishing.

Gradient? Err...sort of

I really like the look of gradient nails and had always been curious if I too, could hop on that bandwagon. Well, I sort of did? My attempt isn't the traditional smooth look that so many have been sporting, but I like it nonetheless. 

I used Essie's Turquoise & Caicos as my base color and let it dry for as long as my impatient brain would allow for before beginning the gradient. I suppose I should have researched a bit more into how most people do a gradient, but I had heard that THE thing to use is a makeup sponge. I had several lying around and gave it a shot! (without watching any tutorial on the "proper" method of application...oops!). Anyway, instead of painting both colors on the sponge and rolling it over your nail a few times as is now convention, I painted just my gradient color (Sally Hansen's Gray by Gray) onto the sponge and dabbed away!

While my "gradient" isn't necessarily a smooth transition between the two colors, I am still in love with the look I've created. It's understated but with a little bit of a surprise ;)

They remind me a bit of watermelon or candy or I don't know...magic? Anyway, next time I shall attempt using the proper method, but for now, I am in love. 

Happy Polishing.