The Digital Dozen does New & Improved - Day 3: Mod Floral

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Hi, all! Quick post because I'm exhausted! I'm a day behind where I'd like to be for Digital Dozen week but I'm hoping to squeak in my day 3 mani on day 3!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been recreating past floral manicures for New and Improved week to see how far (or not) I've come. It's been interesting so far because I feel like I've made improvements, but it in no way detracts from the love I feel for the original manis that I did.

The Digital Dozen does New & Improved - Day 1: First Flowers

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Hello, all! It's Digital Dozen week yet again and I'm excited to say I'm actually going to be able to partake this month! We're all joining in on the theme of New & Improved meaning we're all going to be either recreating past work to show how much we've improved or attempt techniques that we've tried and maybe failed at before.

For me, I'm taking the approach of recreating past manicures, past floral manicures in particular. I'm sure you all know by now that I love my floral manicures...but did you know I didn't always feel that way? ;) I actually wrote that I wasn't a "flowers on my nails kind of girl"...oh how much you can change in a moment!

Themed Thursday - December 17: Santa Claus & Friends

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Hi Guys! Another short and sweet post because I am exhausted! I've been so busy but I've got a bunch of Themed Thursday posts coming your way as well as a few more reviews so let's dig in! :D

So this Themed Thursday post is actually meant for last Thursday, December 17th but I was super busy and just emotionally drained so the idea of doing nail art was just...bleh! Not going to happen! Anyhow - I am SO excited about how today's manicure turned out! The theme for the 17th was Santa and Friends so I of course had to paint Santa and his Reindeer!

The Digital Dozen does Floral - Day 5: Dabbed Flower Nail Art

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Squeee! I am so freaking stoked that I made it through Digital Dozen week ON TIME! This hasn't happened in ages and I'm hoping this will be a trend in the future :) I think today's mani is definitely my favorite of the week and I'm excited to be finishing off the week with something I really like. Today's looks is roughly inspired by this pin :) 

This look isn't overtly 'floral' but I think it's still reasonable to call it floral. Right? Regardless, this is Day 5 of Floral week and I love this mani. I apologize in advance for the especially long post - I couldn't narrow down my photos very well! And read through to the end of the post to see the video of how I created this look!

The Hunt - Mani Monday: Fall Aztec Nail Art Tutorial

Hello, all! I'm finally getting back into doing Mani Monday posts over on The Hunt's blog and I'm super excited for today's mani! Head on over to the hunt's page to check out my how-to for this look and let me know what you think!

Happy Polishing :)  

Floral Fixation - Nail Art & Tutorial

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Hello all! So I have a super quick post to share with you today. I've been in a bit of a nail art slump lately and haven't really been in love with much of what I've been doing lately. Perhaps because it wasn't a floral look? ;) Even though I should have been doing a mani for the 31 Day Challenge 2.0, I chose to spend the evening doing nail art just for me. I even got inspired and did a video tutorial on it!

The Heir Chronicles - The Dragon Heir: Opal Inspired Nail Art & Tutorial

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Hello, all! Today I have a nail art tutorial inspired by the Cinda Williams Chima young adult series, The Heir Chronicles! In a few short weeks, the final book of the 5 part series, The Sorcerer Heir, will be released and in honor of that occasion, a massive blog tour has been underway. 

Those with magical powers in The Heir Chronicles series by Cinda Williams Chima are known as the Weir. The World of Weir blog tour leads up to the release of the can’t-miss series finale, The Sorcerer Heir (in-stores October 21^st) by celebrating the magical fantasy world and the five types of magical guilds. Follow along for playlists, nail art, and more inspired by the series, plus exclusive excerpts from the upcoming finale.

The third week in the tour is all about book 3 in the series, The Dragon Heir. The magical guild of this book are the Seers and one of the main characters ends up coming across a powerful talisman with a giant opal in it called the Dragonheart (which you can see in the above book cover!). So, I've created an opal nail art look inspired by the opal on the book's cover and in the story! 

Click through to see the tutorial for this look and to learn more about the series and blog tour!

Monday Monday - Neon Floral Nail Art Tutorial

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Hello, all! It's time for another mani monday tutorial! I've put together something bright and different for today so be sure to check out the full tutorial for this look over on The Hunt's blog! Let me know what you think :)

Happy Polishing :)

The Hunt - Mani Monday: Mermaid Tail Nail Art Tutorial

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Hope everyone is surviving their Monday! Here are some happy nails to help you get through the day just in case ;)

I put together this fun mermaid-y look for my friends over on The Hunt! Be sure to head over to the Hunt blog to see my full mermaid tutorial and let me know what you think :)



Happy Polishing! :)

Mani Monday - The Hunt: Pastel Galaxies

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Hope everyone is having the happiest Monday possible...even though Monday's make it hard to be happy ;) But Mani Mondays help make it a little easier to be happy, right? I've put together a tutorial for this pastel galaxy look over on The Hunt's blog so be sure to check it out and let me know what you think or if you've got any questions in the comments here!



Happy Polishing :)

Barielle Summer Keys Collection - Swatches, Review, Nail Art & Tutorial

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Hello, all! I've got swatches and a quick review of the new Barielle Summer Keys collection to share with you tonight! As a bonus, I've also done some nail art and a tutorial as well because I like you guys!

These are some bright shades that scream summer, but could easily be wearable year round (always love a collection like that!). Overall, the formula on these was great - I had no problems with application and all the shades need 3 coats tops - which I'm coming to expect from Barielle. I also love that these polishes are big 5-Free! Two of the shades in this collection were very similar, but I think this is a nice set of polishes to help round out your collection. Read on for individual swatches and reviews!

Vintage Floral - The Love Affair Continues...

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Happy Freakin' Friday, all! I had a pretty rough work week and I am so beyond glad that it is time to relax and not stress for a few days. To celebrate, I did a mani just for me. Not for a tutorial or a challenge, but for me!  I found a pattern I loved and just did nail art for the sake of doing nail art.

While I love doing challenges and tutorials (okay, I don't love tutorials, but I do them because I love you guys!), they can be really taxing when you're not feeling in the mood or are lacking inspiration so painting my nails with something just for me was incredibly cathartic and refreshing for me. This was one of those manis that I was literally squealing with joy once I had finished them. I am so incredibly smitten with how they turned out. 

Mani Monday - The Hunt: Summery Herringbone Print

Happy Mani Monday, all! I've put together another tutorial for The Hunt that you should all definitely check out ;) Find the full tutorial here!

Happy Polishing! :)

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Deb Shops - Mani Monday: Pastel Tribal Print

As seems to happen around here often, I've got another mani monday post to share with you all! I've put together this easy how-to for these fun pastel tribal nails which you can hopefully soon see over at blog.debshops.com. Since there is a bit of a delay in the tutorial being posted to their site, I'm going to share it here instead! Let me know what you think and be sure to check out the Deb inspiration dress! 

The Hunt - Mani Monday: Daisy Crazy

Happy Monday! Let's kick off the week with a simple daisy look, shall we? I put together a quick how-to inspired by this top I saw on the hunt. You can see my full tutorial now over on blog.thehunt.com! 

What do you think? Hope you're all making it through the start of the week! I'm wishing I was still on vacation ;) 

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The Hunt - Mani Monday: Coral Floral

Happy Monday! Time for another Mani Monday look :) This time I was inspired by this coral floral piece over on the Hunt. Be sure to check out blog.thehunt.com to see my simple how-to and let me know what you think!

Happy Polishing! :)

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The Hunt - Mani Monday Pineapple Nail Art Tutorial

Happy Monday, all! It's Mani Monday time over on The Hunt and I've put together another cute tutorial for you all! I was seeing tons of adorable pineapple prints popping up in Hunts and couldn't resist putting something together inspired by them. Not going to lie, kind of obsessed with these little pineapples! Head to blog.thehunt.com to check out my easy how-to for this look! 

Happy Polishing :) 

The Hunt Mani Monday - Gem Nail Art Tutorial

Hi all! Happy Monday! I'm very excited to share that I'm going to be partnering with the lovely folks over at The Hunt for the next few months do do a Mani Monday tutorial each week! They have recently done a soft launch of their blog, with a full launch coming next week, and you can see all my future looks over there soon :) You can also easily browse their iPhone app to post and find hunts, as well as just browse for general inspiration. 

To get things started with them, I decided to do a tutorial inspired by The Hunt logo! It's a really cool looking gem in varying shades of reds and I thought it would look fantastic translated into nail art form. This is definitely a trickier mani, but if you've got the patience and the tools, it's definitely doable for anyone. If painting this on all your nails seems daunting, try doing an accent nail instead - and don't be afraid to mix up the color scheme :) 

Tutorial: Underwater City Nail Art - Inspired by the Novel DEEP BLUE

As an avid reader, I always love seeing a new fantasy novel make its way to the shelves. One of my favorite authors, Jennifer Donnelly, has recently come out with a new novel in a genre that has yet to be tapped...and I'm pretty excited about it!

DEEP BLUE is the first novel in a series of epic tales set in the depths of the ocean, where six mermaids seek to protect and save their hidden world. Yes, mermaids! I love it! While reading the book, I became enthralled by the world that was being woven and couldn't resist creating my own "under the sea" look (and tutorial!) inspired by the mermaid city created in DEEP BLUE. Read on to see my how-to for creating your own underwater world!

The Beauty Buffs - Radiant Orchid Trend: Nail Art & Tutorial

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Hello, all! It's time for another theme from the ladies of The Beauty Buffs! This week we're taking on "Radiant Orchid" and I'm so excited about it! I've been looking forward to this theme for awhile, but I've been so busy this week that I wasn't sure I'd be able to get something done for today - I'm so glad I squeezed it in :) 

As many of you already know, this year's color of the year is Radiant Orchid so it's only fitting that our group gave it a shot. I decided to take a very literal approach to this theme and went with painting an orchid instead of doing something more abstract with the color. And because I've never painted orchids before, it was a fun challenge for me.