Saran Wrap and Chevrons

I'm really excited to share this mani with you all tonight! I am really happy with how they turned out :) Yay! 

I've been wanting to try the saran wrap method for awhile now and decided to give it a go tonight. For those who don't know, the saran wrap method is pretty simple method to create some cool texture to your nails. PackAPunchPolish has a great tutorial on it which can be found here. I believe she originally got the idea from Katy over at Blog Nailed It. Essentially though, using two colors (one painted on top of the other), you dab the wet polish with a crumpled up piece of saran wrap to create texture between the two polish colors. Pretty simple! I didn't actually have saran wrap and made due with cup up sandwich bags, but I think it had a similar affect. I ended up using a light shimmery pink as my base color, with a hot coral and purple mix as my top polish colors. I'm really happy with the way they came together. 

Free Hand Paisley

If you ever get the strong desire to do free hand paisley print, just stop. Don't let the thought even blossom because let me tell you, it will be the most frustrating evening of your nail arting life! I worked for 3 hours tonight on this mani I while I don't hate every single finger, I dislike pretty much all of them. I HATE when this happens! It was so incredibly difficult to be as intricate as I needed to be in order for these to work. I couldn't get my curves to look clean, my lines straight enough, or my dots even. All around, just frustrating. I almost quit and I almost didn't post these! D:

I did my index finger first and actually really liked how it turned out so I persisted and continued on to the rest of my nails. I decided that, while I like the look of my index finger, I should probably mix up the design and do a few different paisley patterns. Well, it turns out that I did not like those other patterns as much as my original :/ By the time I figured this out though, I was way too fed up with the whole design to go back and do all of them in the style of my index finger. Anyway, I have a feeling this mani will only be lasting a day and then we'll be onto something else. But I suppose that's how it goes. Can't love them all ;) 

Mosaic Flowers!

Alright, I guess I can officially say that based on my past few manis I am completely ready and/or excited about spring colors! Tonight's look is keeping with that theme. Somehow I ended up with what I would call mosaic patterns on my nails and I'm really loving how they turned out. They definitely are not perfect (I mean, those big photos and all make it hard to hide any flaws D: ), but I love how they look on my fingers. Imperfect perfectness! 

These are pretty simple to create. I did something similar to my Stained Glass Nails and began creating my pattern with my white striper. I then went back in with my different colors and from there it was just coloring in the lines. I thought about going back over the white lines again, but I like that it's not perfect. Anyway, happy almost-ish spring! :D

Candy on my fingers!

I'm super excited for how tonight's look turned out! About a month ago I bought Gloss n' Sparkle's Unicorn Spawn from the amazing people over at Llarowe and never got the chance to use it. Well, I'm kicking myself now for waiting so long! I LOVE this polish. It's so fabulous and such a fun color for spring...or any time! 

Re-fresh Mint Chevrons

I've got something super quick and dirty for you all today. It's using one of my absolute favorite new colors, China Glaze's Re-fresh Mint. I think this is just the perfect robin's egg blue and perfect for spring. Only slightly obsessed ;) I wanted to show off this color so I went with a super simple white chevron on both my ring fingers as an accent. I'm loving the simplicity of this :)

GLITTER Stripes

Part of my Valentine's Day Haul from the Boyfriend included the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection (I also got a BUNCH of nail art pens that I am so excited to get to using!) and I decided to use two of the polishes from that, as well as one of my recent acquisitions from my trip to Sally's Beauty. This by far one of the sparkliest manis to day but I like it so much more than I was expecting to! I used China Glaze's Water You Waiting For and Running in Circles and Orly's Bubbly Bombshell and made super simple stripes. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy!

February Nail Art Challenge - Day 6: OOTD

So I ended up loving my water lily mani so much that I skipped Day 5 of the February Nail Art Challenge whose theme was "Candy". I wasn't overly excited for that one so I'm okay with skipping it! So, I'm moving forward with the challenge! Today's theme is Outfit of the Day (OOTD) and because it was over 80 degrees here today (isn't it February!?!? What is going on!?) I got to wear one of my favorite sun dresses all day long :) This is a favorite for a few reasons. I feel like it's flattering on my body, I like the funky pattern, and it's one of the ones I wore a bunch on my trip to Europe two summers ago so there are lots of memories associated with it. 

So here's the dress in question! This is front of the giant ornate door of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. Oh Italy, I miss you dearly.

Water Lilies!

I set out tonight thinking I was going to do the Candy theme for February's Nail Art Challenge...however, I found this amazing water lily painting in the style of impressionism and I knew I had to try to recreate it. So, sorry if you were looking forward to the Candy theme, but I just couldn't resist!

In total, I used 14 different polishes for this mani! That may be a new record for me! I thoroughly enjoyed painting this, likely because as I managed to roughly execute what I wanted. It could very easily have been a frustrating endeavor. I apologize in advance for the ridiculous number of photos I took of this mani...

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. 

Yeesh! Indecision much??

Those who know me would not say I am good at making decisions (big or small...I'm working on it!). Tonight was yet another example of that. I went through three manis tonight. Goodness gracious! 

First up, we've got a simple black and white mani that I actually really love. Simplicity is always a favorite of mine. The black is my nail art pen and the white is, you guessed it! OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

Accidently bumped these and was going to have to restart...instead, tried two polishes I've had for a little but haven't gotten around to yet. This is Orly's Snowcone and Cameo Colours Lacquer's Stroke of Midnight. 

and finally...China Glaze's I'm Not Lion and American Apparel's Office. Super super simple and while I feel like so many people have done this color combo, there is definitely a reason for it. There is something so fun and pretty and classy about it. 

Have you got a favorite? 

Happy Polishing! :)

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 6: Purple

I'm finding that the colors I most love painting my nails are giving me the biggest problems with this challenge! Perhaps I don't want to create something that doesn't do those colors justice. Regardless, I had to think a bit about what to do for the latest installment of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I actually tried a few things before landing on this...and I think I like it haha I haven't done anything with taping in a long while so it was fun to get back into that. This is a pretty simple design and easy enough to recreate :) The base purple is Creative Fantasy from last night's swatching and I've added Lime Crime's Lavendairy, OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls (have I mentioned I'm obsessed with this color?!?), and the grey is my new OPI, French Quarter for Your Thoughts (also ridiculously obsessed with this color now). 

China Glaze Creative Fantasy Swatches

After I finished my smooch mani tonight, the boyfriend disappeared again into the depths of the garage, only to reappear holding what is apparently another part of my Valentine's gift. Can it be the 14th yet so I can see whatever else he has hiding back there!?! He was pretty excited to give me China Glaze's Creative Fantasy and I was even more excited to receive it! It is such an incredible royal purple that has a very unique formula. I was going to try and hold off on swatching this since I JUST did my previous mani, but I honestly couldn't wait to try this out. It took me 3-ish coats to get to this opacity, and though in the pictures it still looks a bit sheer, in person it's hard to tell. This is definitely more jelly than opaque. I added a top coat to this because I'm impatient, but it has a really neat rubbery finish that is very unique. I'm just incredibly excited about this purple!! :D

February Nail Art Challenge - Day: Smooch!

Of all the themes for this month's nail art challenge, I was least excited for this one. I'm not really one to want lips...on my finger nails. I did, however, decide to give it a go and dug around in my nail stamping plates to see if I could find something suitable that could work for this one. Well, not only did I find one lip stamp, I found out that I apparently have an ENTIRE plate of lips. That's 6 different designs! Of lips! Who ever would need that many types of lips stamps is beyond me...although, I did use 4 of them for this design...but that's beside the point! I actually really love this purple by SOPI called Ms. Can't Be Wrong. It's got some really pretty holo/shimmery-ness happening that I love. I let that color lead the way and ended up with these!  

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

February Nail Art Challenge - Day 3: XOXO

I am giving myself a little pat on the back right now because this is the first time that I've actually kept up with one of these challenges as well as stay on time with one of these challenges! This was a more difficult theme for me as it's a fairly simple concept and therefore only so much you can do with it. I know since it's February, everyone always wants to use pinks and reds and purples in their manis (especially when you're doing an "XOXO" theme) but I'm so burnt out on them!...Yes, I know I've only done one mani with those colors :p Maybe I'll make it through the whole month without using overtly Valentine's colors together!?! Err, not likely...anyway! I went with two of my absolute favorite colors together on this one--Turquoise and Caicos and the lovely coral Tart Deco! 

These were super simple and quick, but I think still fun and hopefully unique-ish :)

February Nail Art Challenge - Day 2: Flowers

I'm not really a "flowers on my nail" kind of gal and while there are some amazingly awesome flower nail art designs out there, I typically stay away from them myself. Hence, my initial struggle with finding inspiration for the latest theme in the February Nail Art Challenge. I started searching google for some flower inspiration in hopes that I'd find something that was a little different and exciting to me. Using a ridiculous number of polishes, here is what I came up with. 

YouTube Tutorials?

I'm not sure if I'm sold on this yet or not, but would anyone be interested in me putting together some YouTube tutorials/videos? I feel like everyone and their mother in the Nail Art world has a YouTube channel (and blog :p) so I feel like it might get lost among all those. I'm also afraid this will be my YouTube career: 

Source: http://www.mandatory.com/2012/08/17/a-collection-of-animals-being-stupid-gifs/

(Obviously, I'd be the brown dog...) ;)

If I did do this, is there anything in particular that you all would enjoy seeing, design/nail art wise? I still need to figure out how to use iMovie and how to edit and put together a video, but I'm willing to learn! :) 

I'm off to contemplate whether or not I should take off my super bright orange polish and put on something a little less...vibrant. We shall see! Today marks the start of the "Flower" theme of the February Nail Art Challenge and I still have to keep going with the 31 Day Challenge and get a blue mani going. So many things to do and not enough nails to do them on! Hope everyone's Sunday was fabulous! I'm finishing up the end of the Super Bowl and snuggling with the Fonz ;) 

Very sleepy!

Happy Polishing! 

February Nail Art Challenge - Day 1: Hearts!

I contemplated continuing with the 31 Day Challenge today, but thought better of it when I realized that  today was my last day to pretend like I will keep on schedule with the February Challenge. I'm off to a great start! BUT, I made it! The monthly challenge only "requires" you to complete your nail art between the days listed so I'm still alright. Phew! The theme for today's challenge is hearts and as I just recently did a very Valentines-y mani with a heart, I wasn't quite ready for the pinks and reds again. As shown in my last post, I have now acquired/hoarded some of Lime Crime's fabulous (and summery) nail colors and I couldn't resist using all of them in this look! I wanted something a bit non-traditional and I think that this mani accomplishes that. Maybe? What do you think?  

February Nail Art Challenge!

Because I want to be even busier with nail art, I'm going to attempt this month's nail art challenge! This one gives you a few days to complete each theme and because I really like a majority of these themes, I'm going to try and keep up with this one! I'm excited to get started with it!

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 4: Green

Can I just say that I'm pretty impressed with myself that I'm actually keeping up with this challenge (well, in that I'm actually doing it still...)! I was a bit stumped at first at what to do for my green manicure. I think part of it is that I really loved my stained glass nails which were GREEN and so a lot of my creativity for the time being went into those. However, I ended up coming up with something that I have fallen madly and disgustingly in love with. As I type this, I am looking every few seconds at them in the way you stare at a newfound crush that you're pretty sure you're in love with...yes, you are all invited to the wedding. Maybe that's a bit too much build up and my apologies if you all see these and think I'm crazy for loving them oh so much. BUT beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I'm not budging on my stance ;)