Glitter gradient

Today's manicure started with Sally Hansen Blue Me Away. I knew I wanted to do a glitter gradient. The hard part was deciding which glitter to use. I wanted to use one of my loose glitters and I have, I think, 10 different kinds. I ended up choosing a black micro glitter.

I think they turned out fantastic. Well, this hand did. When I was "glittering" my right pinky, I bumped my nail with the paintbrush. I probably could have fixed it but I thought, "Meh. I'm only photographing my left hand." Ha ha. Other than that, they look great!

Bubbly dots

I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my nails. I opened my silver box and laying on top of the other colors were Zoya Kelly and Wet n Wild Black Creme. So, that's what I went with. 
 

 

Kelly on my index, middle, and pinky fingers. Black Creme on my ring finger and thumb. Then, I used a dotting tool and OPI Alpine Snow, SH Celeb City, Zoya Kelly, and Wet n Wild Black Creme. I love it. The dots remind me of bubbles.

My tiny nails.

Since removing my artificial nails last week, I've been using Nailtiques After Artificial Treatment. It says that you CAN use the treatment with nail polish, however, you'll see better results using the treatment alone. I couldn't do it. I tried. I really did but my nails are hideous! I couldn't stand looking at them anymore. So, I painted them. 

I decided to do an all Sally Hansen manicure. (Mostly because of my recent obsession with Celeb City.)

 

First, a couple coats of Snappy Sorbet. Then, Celeb City stamped from my Bundle Monster plates. I used BM-203. I like this look. The colors look nice together and I enjoy the retro style design. It takes some attention away from the horrible condition of my nails. Now, I just need them to grow out. Now. :)

Aaaand, they're off!

I have had artificial nails for the last almost year and a half. A few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to go back to natural. So, Wednesday night, I took them off. Boy oh boy, are my nails in rough shape. I bought the Nailtiques After Artificial Care kit so, hopefully, they'll be healthy sooner rather than later. Well, needless to say, my nails are in no condition for public viewing. So, any manicures I will be posting in the coming posts will be ones I've done on others.

Last night, the girls came over again for movie night. As is customary in our little group, I did their nails for them. They both chose their own designs and I just made it happen. 

Heather wanted something simple and girly. That's usually what she wants. This is what she decided on.

The base is Cover Girl Pink-finity and we used Wet n Wild black cream for the tips. Heather said that they remind her of 1950s poodle skirts. I agree. :)

Trisha wanted something sparkly. She spent several minutes playing with different colors deciding what she liked. She chose this.

This is OPI Purple With a Purpose and Silver Shatter. My camera absolutely hated this one! There's the purple that it never wants to capture properly and there is so much lovely shimmer and shine to the shatter that my camera can't handle it. Trisha was happy with it, though, and that makes me happy.

Gradient

Ever since I bought Sally Hansen Celeb City, I have been completely obsessed with it. It's just so pretty and sparkly! So, when I was deciding on a manicure, all I knew was that I was starting with Celeb City.

I have this white plastic sheet that I use to play with my polishes on. I practice designs on it, test color combinations, etc. So, I painted on some Celeb City and tested a bunch of colors with it. When I saw it next to the purples, I knew that was it.

I started with Celeb City as the base and then sponged on OPI Purple With a Purpose and Planks a Lot. As we all know, my camera hates purple. Purple With a Purpose is truly much more of a royal purple and not this blue.  

Pretty. :)

Girly like a princess.

The girls were over again tonight to continue our Disney movie adventure. Tonight we watched Dumbo and Bambi. Such great movies! 

I did Heather's nails tonight, too! She wanted something subtle and simple. The design plan changed several times. We ended up deciding on a simple spin on a french manicure.

We used Cover Girl Outlast in Pink-finity. It is such a pretty light pink cream. It's a little on the streaky side so application can be a bit tricky, but it's lovely nonetheless. Then, we did french tips using a loose pink iridescent glitter. I love it and so does Heather. She says that they are, "Girly like a princess." She also says that you must excuse the condition of her cuticles. She's working on it. :)

Pretty clouds

I went to the store the other day looking for a specific polish. I found it! I also found that all of the Sally Hansen was on sale. So, I left with three polishes instead. I never seem to be able to buy just one. Even when I visit the mother ship (ULTA) with the hubbs, he's all, "Why don't you get another one?" :) He's wonderfully supportive of my obsession hobby. Sometimes, he picks the colors out for me.

Anyway, I decided to use a couple of my new colors today.

I started off with a couple coats of Wet n Wild Black Cream. Once that was dry, I did the first layer of the design in Sally Hansen Blue Me Away. It's a really pretty blue cream. When that dried, I finished the design with SH Celeb City. I think this is my new favorite polish. It's such a pretty silver foil. There's so much depth and sparkle! 

I love this manicure!!! I adore these three colors together and I think the cloud design is adorable. Yay, nails!

Patchwork

I started off doing a water marble design tonight, but it was NOT working out for me. I kept bumping the cup and ruining the design right before I stuck my finger in. Or, I would scrape my finger along the side of the cup on the way out, scraping off most of the design. It was so frustrating. So, I scrapped it and started over. I still wanted all four of the colors I was using, but I went with something simpler and far less tedious.

 

I started off with a coat of Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. Then, I taped off sections and painted them using OPI Purple With a Purpose, Love & Beauty Green, and OPI Blue My Mind. Because my camera sucks, especially with blues and purples, you can't quite see the brilliance of these colors here. Blue My Mind is a vibrant electric blue with a hint of shimmer. Purple With a Purpose is a gorgeous royal purple. Love & Beauty Green is a beautiful emerald green loaded with shimmer. The three colors really play well against each other and the silver.

Cheshire!

Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that my favorite book of all time is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. So, naturally, my favorite Disney movie is Alice In Wonderland. (This is going somewhere. I promise.) 

I was craving a new manicure but could not figure out what I wanted to do. I sat there, looking at my polishes for, literally, half an hour. Then, I glanced over at my flocking powders. The fuchsia and purple were lying there next to each other and it hit me! Cheshire Cat stripes!

 

Aren't they great? Such fuzziness! I just happened to have coordinating colors on hand, too. OPI Planks a Lot and OPI That's Berry Daring. Then, it's just some tape cut all wavy-like and let the fluffiness begin!

 
I think this manicure can best be described by Agnes from Despicable Me. "It's so fluffy!!! I'm gonna die!!!" :D It's not necessarily the most practical manicure and fuzzy nails feel weird but it looks FANTASTIC!!!

Mani Party!

A few weeks ago, my girlfriends and I decided to watch every single Disney animated feature film in chronological order. Tonight was the second installment. We watched Pinnochio and Fantasia. What a blast. You've got to love the classics. I also did their nails for them while we watched.

First up is Heather. We decided to do a half-moon manicure for her. 

I used Wet n Wild Black Creme and Zoya Kelly. Then, I just used loose holographic silver hex glitter to accent the half-moon. Then we topped it all off with NYC Matte Me Crazy. I love this look on her and she's pretty happy with it. That's enough for me!

For Trisha, we did a gradient manicure. 

I started with a couple coats of OPI Planks a Lot. After I top coated and let that dry, I sponged on Essie Wicked. Then, more top coat and done. Clean up was a bit of a chore but I didn't mind. Her nails look fantastic. :)

All-in-all, it was a successful Disney/manicure night.

Dots!

As much as I loved my last manicure, I've been itching to redo my nails for a couple of days now. I finally broke down today. I've been wanting to do this design for a while but never did because I thought it would be too time consuming.

 

It was! Well, it took me no time at all to do my left hand. The right hand, however, took a while. Regardless, this was such a simple design. I started with Sally Hansen Silver Sweep over my entire nail. Top coat, let it dry, tape off half of my nail and then a coat of OPI DS Mystery. Top coat, let it dry, and then lots of quality time with a dotting tool. Top coat, let it dry and tah-dah! Ha ha. It's well worth the effort, though. It's a nice twist on your classic polka dots. Yay!

Shiny Stripes

I wanted to change my nails and I wanted to do something really cool but I didn't want to put in any effort. Ha ha! Well, what's cooler than stripes and what's easier than a little nail polish and a few strips of tape?

My camera can't handle the shininess! Top to bottom : Love & Beauty (from Forever21) Light Blue, Love & Beauty Green, and OPI Save Me. The photo doesn't do it justice. The glitter is SO SPARKLY!!! It's like diamonds. I love it!!!

Matte play!

As I sometimes do when I have nothing better to do, I went to Ulta today. (It's my favorite store. My friends and I sometimes call it the Mother Ship.) Of course, I left with a new nail polish. Of course, I HAD to put it on my fingers. :)

Zoya Kelly. Isn't it pretty? It's a purple/grey/blue cream in person but, since my camera sucks at capturing colors properly and I have a terrible habit of only doing my nails when its dark out, it looks much more blue in the photo.

Then, a nice coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy because I'm obsessed with it and put it on everything. They look like little chalkboards! :)

A dotting tool dipped in top coat later and . . . pretty polka dots! I love this look. It's subtle at a glance but edgy. Hubby says, "That's awesome!" I agree. :D

Just peachy. :)

I wanted to do something lighter and brighter on my nails this time around. It took me a while to decide on a color. Eventually I decided that I wanted to do something in the orange family.

I went with ORLY Orange Sorbet. It's a gorgeous orange/peach shade with a lovely golden shimmer. Well, it lasted maybe two hours before I decided that it still needed something.

I topped it with Nubar 2010. The golden tones in Orange Sorbet really bring out the golden tones in the glitter flakes. So pretty. I wanted to play with my NYC Matte Me Crazy so I slapped some of that on.

I LOVE IT!!! The matte top coat tones down the orange and makes Orange Sorbet a gorgeous peach color and you still get a pretty sparkle from the flakies! Lovely. Let's see how long this lasts...ha ha!