I heart water marbling!

I don't know why I love water marbling so much. It's time consuming, tedious, messy, and it is so easy to mess up. Yet, when you finish, if you haven't thrown your polish-swirled water at the wall in a tantrum of frustration, the results are beautiful.

Well, today, I had a lot of time on my hands. Hubby had plans after work and I had nothing to do so I figured a water marble could help pass the afternoon. I decided to only marble two colors for this manicure.

I used Essie Armed and Ready and Bikini So Teeny. I think they look fantastic against each other!

Meow!

I had no idea what I was going to do with my nails today so I grabbed one of my Julep polishes that I haven't used yet and slapped it on. It's Julep Simone which is a very pretty lilac creme with a bluish/lavender opalescent shimmer. I was looking at it on my nails, trying to get inspired, when I felt something nuzzling my arm. It was one of my cats, Zola! She's an adorable tuxedo cat and seeing her little black face and bright green eyes gave me the inspiration I needed. Kitty nails! So, I got to work.

 

I used Sally Hansen Black Out and a nail art brush to paint on the kitty. The eyes are Art Club White and NYC Highline Green with more Julep Simone for the ears. The paw prints are done with a dotting tool. I think this manicure is super cute. (Even if the kitty's eyes are REALLY creepy.)

Striping tape! Whoo!

I haven't used my striping tape in quite a while so I knew that I wanted to use it. I just had no idea what I wanted to do with it. I had several striping tape designs floating around in my head so I just used them all! That's what we indecisive people do. :)

The base color is Sally Hansen Celeb City. After it dried and I made my designs with striping tape, I used ORLY High on Hope.

Movies and Manicures

It had been a few weeks since the girls could both come over for movies and manicures. Schedule clashes, ya know? We would usually get together on last night but Hubby and I got tickets to a baseball game. So, the ladies came over today, instead! 

Trisha wanted polka dots and I was more than happy to oblige. I do love my dotting tools! I also suggested a few accent flowers and she was totally on board. This was the end result!

She chose Wet n Wild Private Viewing as the base color with NYC Highline Green for the dots. The flowers are done in NYC French White Tip and Art Club Purple Rain. Pretty springy dots!

Heather was very specific; she wanted a pink and blue gradient. I was ready, sponge in hand!

We used Essie Bikini So Teeny and ORLY Fancy Fuchsia. Don't her nails match the sky nicely?

I went the pastel route, as well. I started with a pastel skittles manicure, and then I jazzed it up a bit. :)

Adorable, right? I used (from pinky to thumb) Wet n Wild Candy-licious, Essie Bikini So Teeny, Julep Blake, ORLY Jealous, Much?, and Butter London Trout Pout. I topped all of them with Julep Camille and then added cute, goofy little monster faces with Art Club Black and White. I love these sparkly, pastel monsters!!!

Ouch!

Yesterday, at work, I had an unfortunate run-in with a knife that had catastrophic results. No, I didn't lose a limb or go to the hospital. I'm not going into the gruesome details so let's just say that I will not be posting any photos of my left hand for several weeks.

On a related note, I have recently discovered that I have quite a difficult time photographing my right hand. Not only is it hard to use my camera with my left hand, I couldn't make my right hand behave. For being right-handed, I have surprisingly little control of my finger positioning. Anyway, after a frustrating 15 minutes of hand/camera gymnastics, I found a workable method.

I got a late start on this manicure and I wanted something quick and simple. I thought it would be a good opportunity to use some of my newer polishes. 

This is ORLY Jealous, Much? and Julep Vivien. Mint and gold is not a combination that I would usually come up with but I saw them next to each other and they spoke to me. I think this looks fantastic. Vivien is LOADED with gold and silver microglitters and large gold hex glitters and it looks fabulous over Jealous, Much?. I seriously stared at my nails all day because I loved this combo so much!

Textured Animal Print

Let me just start by saying that I am IN LOVE with this textured nail polish trend. I have three textured polishes (one Julep and two OPI) and I can't wait to get more. For this manicure, I used the Julep textured polish or Sea Salt Finish.

This is Julep Jill. It's a smoky beige with a lovely textured, matte finish. I thought some stamping over top would be fun and I chose an all-over cow spots design from BM-222. I did the stamping in Art Club Black. 
 

Springy Goodness

What do you guys think of the new look? I wanted something a little sharper and cleaner looking. On to today's manicure...

Today was an absolutely GORGEOUS day here in Michigan. The sky was clear and the sun was out. It only hit 60 degrees out but that was better than the snow flurries we got yesterday. It was so lovely out, that it inspired some spring themed nails. I even got to take the pictures outside!

Are these precious or what? I had so much fun doing these! The background is a gradient using Sally Hansen Blue Me Away and Funky Fingers Cyclone Sky. For the grass and the flower stems/leaves, I used a small paintbrush and NYC High Line Green. The flowers are done with a dotting tool, OPI Planks a Lot, NYC Times Square Tangerine Creme, ORLY Fancy Fuchsia, and Julep Blake (for the middles).

I love being inspired by the weather and Mother Nature. There are so many possibilities!
 

Galaxy

I have always loved galaxy manicures. I've tried one on myself before but I wasn't happy with the results. A while after that, I did it on a friend's nails and was much more pleased. So, today I thought it was high time I tried on myself again. Boy oh boy am I glad that I did!

Aren't they fantastic? Oh, I love them! I got a bit carried away; I ended up using eight nail polishes! I just kept sponging them on. Here they are outdoors in direct sunlight!

Here's everything I used:
Base color - Sally Hansen Black out
Sponging colors - ORLY High on Hope, Art Club Neon Green, ORLY Fancy Fuchsia, NYC French White Tip, OPI Suzi & the Seven Dusseldorfs, NYC Blue Moon
Stars - NYC French White Tipe (large), loose white pearl glitter (small)

For a touch more sparkle, I also threw on a coat of Nubar 2010.

Aaah! I couldn't be happier! Don't they just make you want to explore the depths of space?

Neon Spots

I was in the mood for polka dots today. Dots are my favorite pattern. Also, dotting tool manicures are so easy and quick but you can get some great looking results.

I used Sally Hansen Celeb City for the base color. For the spots, I used four different sized dotting tools and four Art Club nail art polishes. The purple is Purple Rain, the pink is Technicolor Doll, the green is Neon Green, and the orange is Daytona. Super pretty, if you ask me. :)

Mixed Textures

Hubby and I went to Ulta today (not even for nail polish) and, on the way out, something caught his eye. It was the OPI Bond Girls display. He is a pretty big James Bond fan, so he was really interested. All six of the Bond Girls shades are Liquid Sand polishes. They are all so damn pretty! I couldn't help but get one. I ended up grabbing Jinx. I was so excited because this is my first textured polish.

This polish is amazing. Hubby and I both agree. It applies just as well as any good polish. Two coats does it. I paired it with Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet.

I wasn't 100% sure whether or not I was on board with the textured polish trend. Jinx sold me. I love it. It's hard to capture the textured finish with my camera indoors (as usual it's too dark out) but it's great. Just rough enough to add some visual and textural interest but smooth enough that it doesn't feel scratchy or distracting. One thing's for sure, no camera can capture just how sparkly this polish is. There is a stupid amount of shimmer, sparkle, and shine that you almost forget that it's a matte finish. 

I can't wait to get my Julep Sea Salt polish to see how it compares to OPI's Liquid Sand.

Julep Gradient

I ordered the new Julep Sea Salt mystery box last week and I can't wait to get it. It's going to contain at least one of their new sea salt polishes which are Julep's answer to the textured finish polish trend. There are three possible colors and, from what I can tell, they are all lovely. I'm so excited. Well, anyway, I thought I would play with some of my other Julep polishes today.

I used Janel(pink) and Ally(blue) for this manicure. Both of these colors are GORGEOUS and, in true Julep fashion, apply like a dream. I think one of my favorite things about these colors is that I don't have a problem with staining. Usually, bright colors like these (especially blues) stain my cuticles when I try to clean up the edges of my nails. Not these beauties! I think Julep is quickly becoming my favorite brand of polish.

Dotting tools!!!

Last night was movies and manicures night again. We took a break from the Disney movies and watched some Ellen Degeneres stand up comedy, instead. We had a few laughs and played with some polishes.

I did Heather's nails first.

 

This was a very simple, very quick design. We used Essie Case Study on every nail except the the ring finger. There we used Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet. Then, we used Case Study and a few dotting tools to accent.

Trisha requested something turquoise. Other than that, she let me do what I wanted. I used Julep Marion on every nail. I accented her ring finger with a sweeping french tip in Sally Hansen Celeb City. Then, I used a dotting tool and Wet n Wild Disturbia to add a few polka dots.

For my nails, I was accidentally inspired by a color combination. I was trying to decide on a base color for my design. On my plastic sheet, I painted on a little  NYC French White Tip, Funky Fingers Cyclone Sky, and Wet n Wild Private Viewing. I loved these colors together so much. They reminded me of the 50s which inspired this sort of mod pattern.

I used Private Viewing for the base. I then added stripes using French White Tip and Cyclone Sky and used a dotting tool with the same colors. Lastly, I used a smaller dotting tool with Private Viewing.  I think this turned out amazing.

Blooms

It's been raining for three days now. I thought about another rain inspired color scheme but I decided on something bright and Spring-y instead.

Sally Hansen Twisted Pink is the base color. I did the stamping and the tips in Art Club White. The floral pattern comes from BM-224. For a hint of sparkle, I added Nubar 2010. Lovely flowery nails!

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

It's been another lovely, rainy day here in Michigan. I love it. Everything feels so fresh after a nice long rain. I took inspiration from the rain, again, but this time, I took a more literal route.

Adorable, right? (Other than the very visible ridges in my nails. There's still a little damage from the artificial nails.) The base is OPI Moonraker. For the clouds I used a dotting tool and Art Club White. The raindrops are NYC Skyline Blue. The umbrella is Art Club Black and Venice. Too cute! I love it!

Diagonal Stripes

I haven't done a tape manicure in a while so I thought that I would today. I picked out some pretty colors and went to town. 

I love these types of manicures because they are so quick and easy but they look fantastic! I started with Sally Hansen Celeb City as a base. Once completely dry, I put a strip of tape diagonally down the middle of the nail. I painted above the tape with Wet n Wild Disturbia and below the tape with Wet n Wild Teal of Fortune. Then, I removed the tape and top coated. Done! I love these three colors together!

Rainy Days

Spring is not my favorite season but I do love rain. There's something about rainy weather that just makes me so happy. I know most people get depressed or feel lazy when it rains. Not me. I have more energy on rainy days.

Anyway, when I planned my manicure, I knew what I was doing but wasn't sure on the colors. I decided to take inspiration from the rainy weather we're having in Michigan today. 

What says rainy days better than blue and gray? I started with Love & Beauty Light Blue. When that was completely dry, I used hole reinforcers to tape off a small section and painted the rest with Julep Stefani. I love the combination of these two colors. So rainy and pretty. :)

Black and Holo

My original plan was to do something with holo and neon but I ended up not liking any of the combinations I came up with. I still wanted to use something holo, though, and black goes with everything. :)

By the time I had given up on the neon idea it was getting pretty late and I was in a hurry. That's why these are a little sloppy. I still like the final results. Julep Rebel as the base and Art Club Black stamped from BM-209. I also used the black to freehand some tips.

Pastel Splatters

Back to some lovely spring colors today. I toyed with a few design ideas in the color scheme I used today but nothing really spoke to me like the splatter did. 

The base is Julep Blake. The splattering is done in Wet n Wild Candy-licious and NYC Skyline Blue. I should have used a more opaque blue but I loved this shade against the yellow.

More Baseball!

Tomorrow is the home opener for the Detroit Tigers. For those unfamiliar with baseball, that means that it's their first game of the regular season at home. In Detroit, this is a HUGE deal. It's basically a holiday. People around here take their baseball very seriously and hubby and I are no different. So, of course, I HAD to do a Detroit Tigers themed manicure.

Woo hoo!!! I love love love this! I'm always happy to do a Tigers and/or baseball manicure. 

The orange is OPI A Roll in the Hague, the blue is Cult Nails Time Traveler, and the white is NYC French White Tip. The zebra stripes and the stitching on the baseball are in Art Club White and Red. The old English D's are actually...wait for it...temporary tattoos!!! You can use any temporary tattoos (you know, the ones you apply with a wet cloth) and use them as nail decals. You apply them just like you do on your skin and they come off with nail polish remover. I topped everything off with Sally Hansen Snow Globe because I wanted a little bit of sparkle to girl things up a bit. EAT 'EM UP TIGERS!!!

Matte/Glossy Pastel

It's late and I'm super sleepy so this will be another short post. Sorry.

This is Julep Robin topped with Sally Hansen Snow Globe. I used China Glaze Matte Magic on half and top coat on the other. The glitters in Snow Globe look really great with a matte finish.

Playing With Metallics

Just a quick post tonight. This manicure was done using all metallic polishes.

The base is Butter London Shag. I stamped a design from BM-212 in Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. Then, I used a dotting tool and Butter London The Full Monty to accent. :)

Baseball!!!

So, in our household, we are huge fans of baseball. Huge. Well, today is opening day for the baseball season. It's a big deal. At least it is to us. Ha ha! We, and a lot of our closest friends, are really excited. The beginning of the baseball season signifies that summer is right around the corner. That means beautiful weather, cookouts, hot days or cool nights at the ballpark.

Anyway, my manicure today is baseball themed.

The chicken drumstick on my index finger is supposed to be a baseball bat. Ha ha! The base color on my index to pinky nails is NYC French White Tip. The baseball bat is in Sally Hansen Slick Slate. The threads on the baseballs are in Art Club Red. The baseball mitt is also Slick Slate along with OPI Berlin There Done That. For the MLB logo on my thumb nail, I used Art Club Red and OPI Blue My Mind for the base. I used Art Club White to do the detail work. Yay! Baseball and nail polish!!!