A little behind

I know I haven't posted in a few days. I've got several manis to post, I just haven't been able to do it. Hopefully, by the weekend, I'll be able to get them up. Lots of pretty nails coming soon!

The girls' nails

I'm in need of some 'nail maintenance' so I didn't do my nails today. I did, however, do the girls' nails.  

Trisha already knew what she wanted and I chose the colors for her. I thought something with purple and turquoise would be pretty and I wasn't wrong.

We used OPI Purple With a Purpose on every nail other than the ring fingers. For those, we started with Love & Beauty Green topped with Love & Beauty Turquoise. We let that dry, and then made our design with striping tape and painted over it with Purple With a Purpose. Remove the tape and it's Mardi Gras! Ha ha! We love it, though. The color combination is fantastic.

Heather, as usual, knew exactly what she wanted. She even had her colors chosen. She wanted a neon french manicure, and that's what I gave her. 

The base is Cover Girl Forever Fawn which is the PERFECT nude for her skintone. The colors we used for the french tips are (from thumb to pinky) Sally Hansen Fuchsia Power, Sally Hansen Sun Kissed, Sally Hansen Lightening, Sinful Colors Innocent, and Sally Hansen Blue Me Away. I am thrilled with this. It looks fantastic on Heather, and she's happy.

Nubby nails :/

While my nails have grown out about halfway since removing my artificial nails, they are still extremely weak at the tips. Between yesterday and today, I've had at least 5 breaks! I had to cut them down and now they are all nubs again. Ugh! Oh well. I think they're just 2 or 3 more weeks from being completely healthy again. Then, I can grow them out long and strong.

On another note, I ordered some striping tape and it came in the mail yesterday. So, of course, I had to use it today.

Aaah! I love it! I started with base coats of (from pinky to thumb) OPI That's Berry Daring, OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Purple With a Purpose, Sally Hansen Blue Me Away, and Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet. I let them dry completely and used my striping tape to create abstract patters and then used Wet n Wild Black Creme. I used tweezers to remove the striping tape. Before I used a top coat, I let the black polish dry for a few minutes just to be sure I didn't get any streaks. 

I'm ridiculously happy with this manicure. I have a feeling that I will be finding a ton of uses for this striping tape. :)
 

Some more matte

I'm still in the midst of my dark colors phase, I grabbed OPI Live and Let Die and knew I HAD to use it. I painted my nails with it and that's as far as I got for a few hours. I had no idea what I wanted to do next. So, I cooked dinner and cleaned the kitchen. Then, I still didn't know what to do so I took the easy way out. Stamping. Ha ha. I mixed it up a bit, though, and stamped using matte polish.

I picked a very pretty floral pattern from BM-225. This mani turned out very pretty. I like it. It's a little too subtle from a distance so I don't know if I'll do this again. Hopefully, I will be more inspired tomorrow.

Pretty and Girly

Today, I wanted to lighten things up but I still wanted to use a dark polish. I really had a hankering for OPI DS Mystery. It's just so dark and gorgeous and sparkly. I thought french tips using Mystery would be pretty.

I used Essie Imported Champagne because it pairs so well with Mystery. I also used mystery to stamp a pretty all-over design from BM-201 and also for the tips. I LOVE the way this turned out. It's way better than I was expecting. It's so pretty pretty pretty. <3

More Patchwork

I've really been in a dark polish mood for the last few days. I don't know why. Maybe it has something to do with the sun almost never coming out in Michigan this time of year. Regardless, I like my dark polishes. I started off knowing that I wanted to do something with black. I thought a mostly black patchwork mani would be fun.

 

I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. I stamped a design from BM-223 in Wet n Wild Black Creme. Once that was dry, I taped sections off and used Black Creme again. When that dried, I taped off again and topped some sections with NYC Matte Me Crazy. I like the mix of textures and the pop of metallic against the black. It's sleek and a bit edgy.

 

 

Mixed Patterns

I did Trisha's nails for her last night. She had an idea of what she wanted but she wasn't 100%. She wanted something plaid-like. We played around with some color combinations and then I suggested adding in some polka dots. She loved the idea.

 

The base is OPI Alpine Snow. For the dots, we used OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous. The plaid is Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous again, alongside OPI Moonraker and Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet.

I loved the idea of the mixed patterns so I did the same. I went with a monochrome look, though, and more patterns.

I used Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, as well, but I paired it with Zoya Kelly. From pinky to thumb I did polka dots, rays, checkers, gradient, and horizontal stripes. I'm super happy with this manicure. From afar, it's subtle. There's a lot of sparkle, though, and that's just how I like it.

V-day simplicity

I could not, for the life of me, decide what I wanted to do for my actual Valentine's Day manicure. I made another attempt at the water spotted look, but that was not happening. Out of sheer frustration, I decided to do something simple. Very very very simple.

The half moon is Maybelline Born With It and the tips are Wet n Wild Lavender Creme. Initially, that was it. I thought it needed a little something so why not a bit of bling from Sally Hansen Celeb City. This manicure matched my V-day outfit perfectly, too, so that's a nice bonus. :)

Flowers

I was looking through my collection trying to find a color I hadn't used in a while. I realized it's been a bit since I've done an orange manicure. With orange being my favorite color, that's unacceptable. So, I grabbed my favorite orange and went for it. I also grabbed my stamping plates because they're easy and I'm lazy. :P

This is just a couple coats of OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby and for the stamping I used a pretty floral all over design from BM-224 with OPI Purple With a Purpose. Pretty pretty flowers. :)

Something geometric

Today I realized that doing my nails has become a major stress reliever for me. Something about focusing on minute details for a while is just so relaxing. Anyway, today I wanted to do something blue. I pulled out all of my blues and decided on Forever 21's Love & Beauty Light Blue.

I used a nice geometric design from BM-208 and stamped in Wet n Wild Black Creme. I like it. It's simple yet, intricate. Also, it's hubby approved. :)

So much sparkle

So, I thought I'd take a break from the pink manicures and do something a little darker. Still sparkly, though.

 

I started with OPI Live and Let Die. The tips are OPI Save Me. Live and Let Die is a crazy gorgeous color. It's a blackened green loaded with golden green shimmer.

 The flash from that shimmer is nuts! I love it.

More hearts

My original plan was to do an Alice in Wonderland themed manicure because we were going to watch that and Peter Pan last night. Well, Trisha couldn't make it so we didn't want to watch them without her. Instead, Heather, hubby, and I played a board game and watched something else. Of course, I also did Heather's nails.

Heather knew exactly what she wanted. I just delivered the goods, ha ha!

We used Cover Girl Pink-finity (Heather's new favorite, haha) on every nail other than her ring finger. There, we used Wet n Wild Black creme. For the hearts we used Pink-finity again and Wet n Wild Candy-licious. In typical Heather fashion, it's simple and girly. :)

Well, hubby wanted me to try a water spotted manicure. I tried. It's a really cool effect, when it works. I did one hand. I had one successful nail. I photographed only that nail. 

I started with a gradient of Sally Hansen Silver Sweep, Wet n Wild Candy-licious, and Wet n Wild Lavender Creme. For the water spotting, I used OPI Danke-Shiny Red. I love this look. I'm definitely going to need to practice this technique. Anyway, I took this picture, scrapped the entire manicure, and started over with something else. 

I stuck with Danke-Shiny Red and paired it with Sally Hansen Celeb City. Do these colors look fantastic together, or what? I really love this. It, for some reason, makes me think of Minnie Mouse. <3

Purple Hearts

My mother-in-law asked me to come over and do her nails today. Her favorite color is purple so I pretty much knew that we'd be doing a purple manicure. I was right. She wanted purple and hearts.

The base is OPI Planks a Lot. The hearts are from BM-202 and are stamped in OPI Purple With a Purpose and OPI It's My Year. Over that, there's a coat of Nubar 2010 for a little sparkle. I think there is definitely enough purple here to satisfy any purple fiend. :)

I thought it would be fun to do a matching manicure on myself. I didn't want quite as much purple, though. Instead, I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow.

Other than the white, it's exactly the same. Purple With a Purpose and It's My Year for the hearts and a coat of Nubar 2010. I love it!

You will have to excuse my blue fingers. Time Traveler really did a number on me. For being such a dream to apply and wear, it was a nightmare to remove. :( 

I'm really excited for tomorrow's manicure. I can't wait for you guys to see what I have planned! Good night!

Wibbly Wobbly

I got my first Cult Nails polish the other day. I was looking for a specific shade of blue. Anyone familiar with Doctor Who will know what I mean when I say I was looking for a TARDIS blue. Well, I found it. Cult Nails Time Traveler. Yes, DW fans, it is named for the show. Anyway, that's where my manicure started. Then, hubby helped me choose a "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" (another DW reference) design from my Bundle Monster plates. He picked an all over design from BM-209. The stamping was done in OPI Moonraker.

By the way, Time Traveler applied like a dream. Love it! The perfect TARDIS blue polish!!!

Valentine's Day water marble

I was talking to my sister-in-law yesterday and mentioned that I didn't know what I wanted to do with my nails. She suggested hearts. I thought that was a great idea, with Valentine's Day being right around the corner. So, I figured a pink water marble with a few hearts would be cute. I started and things went horribly wrong. I might be exaggerating a bit but they definitely could have gone better. I just kept going, though, and figured I could use the hearts and a few polka dots to cover some of the ugly parts.

I started with a base of Maybelline Born With It. The colors I marbled are Essie Wicked, OPI Alpine Snow, Wet n Wild Lavender Creme, and Wet n Wild Candy-licious.

They aren't terrible but they are far far FAR from perfect. I don't get it. My first water marble, around Christmas, came out great. Yet, the last few times I've tried, it's been a frustrating mess. Oh well. They'll do for a bit.

Pretty pink

The other day, I was looking through my stash and noticed that it was severely lacking in pink polishes. Well, that was a problem since I wanted to start trying out some Valentine's Day manicures. So, hubby bought me three! He's the best. I've been trying out different manicures over the last few days. The last two were such disasters that I refused to photograph them. After such failures, I decided that I wanted to wear something simple and easy. 

Some Wet n Wild Pink Creme and then a dip of the ring finger into loose glitter and voila! Pretty pink manicure. I love the glitter! It's part of a pack of glitter/flocking powders that I bought at a craft store for $15. Hubby picked out this glitter for my mani.

It's a pretty, light pink glitter mixed with a clear, iridescent glitter. The only thing is that this glitter swallowed my top coat like crazy. I used three coats of Seche Vite and still couldn't get a smooth finish. Oh well. I love it anyway!

So many manicures!

The girls came over again, for Disney movie night, so it was manicure time! I did Trisha's nails first. She really wanted to try a fan brush manicure and I was more than happy to oblige.

We started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow. Then, with a fan brush, we striped on Sally Hansen Blue Me Away, Sally Hansen Fuschia Power, and just a bit of Sally Hansen Celeb City for some glitz. She's super happy with the results. I aim to please. :)

For Heather's nails, we decided it was finally time to do a Doctor Who manicure. (She is the reason for my DW obsession.) I thought it would be fun to start with a galaxy manicure and then add a little DW nail art over top.

The galaxy manicure turned out fantastic! We started with Wet n Wild Black Creme. Then, we sponged on SO MANY COLORS! I honestly don't even remember how many colors, or which ones, we used. I should have written it down, ha ha! We used some blues, purples, greens, silvers, white, and more black. Then, we splattered on white acrylic paint for the stars. My "TARDIS" colored blue isn't nearly opaque enough to use over a dark background so I used blue acrylic paint. You'll have to excuse my preschool drawing on her ring finger. It's a TARDIS. I ran into some problems. Ha ha! She loves it, though. On her thumb, the Doctor Who logo. 

One of the movies we watched was Cinderella. So, I thought it would be fun to do a Cinderella inspired manicure on myself. I wanted something light and very girly.

I went with Covergirl Pink-finity. Then, on every nail, other than my thumb, I used two coats of Nubar 2010. On my ring finger, I stamped a crown from my Bundle monster plates. It came from BM-215. On my thumb, I stamped an all-over design from BM-213. Shoes!

For the stamping, I used Sally Hansen Celeb City because I'm obsessed and because the foil bits totally look like glass slippers!