Matching Nautical Nails

It had been far too long since I had done my best friend, Heather's, nails. So we got together for a little mani time yesterday. Now, I love Heather but she's a bit indecisive. (If you're reading this, love, know that I mean that in the nicest way.) ;) While she was pondering on what she wanted me to do, I took the reins. She had picked out a gold and a blue and I know she has a love for the nautical. I picked a few more colors and went to town. Well, I ended up loving the design so much that I did the exact same thing with my nails! So we matched!

Fizzy Funky French

I don't know how many of you are feeling the effects of "Winter Storm Hercules" but we sure are. Here in Michigan, we got quite a bit of snow over the last 24 hours. In our area, we got between 12-15 inches! I love it! Unfortunately, with the ridiculous temperatures (the windchill right now is -35 degrees!!!) the snow is pure powder and I can't even build a snowman! :(

Today's manicure has absolutely nothing to do with the snow. I just love the snow! :)

Snowflakes

I wanted a nice wintry design because, frankly, it hasn't felt all that wintry here in Michigan. The temperature is all over the place and we haven't had a decent snowfall yet. Since we are less than three weeks away from Christmas, I want to be in a snowy frame of mind. 

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. :)

Catching up

I know, I know, it's been way too long since my last post. I'm making up for it today, though. I have eight manicures to share with you. So this is going to be a long and picture heavy post. Let's do this.

For this, I used Sally Hansen Blue Me Away on every nail except my ring finger. For those, I used Kiss Nail Dress strips in Gown. I love these. They are super easy to apply. Just cut them to fit your nail, stick them on, and file off the excess. I was surprised at how well these stayed on. When I wanted to remove them, they peeled right off with no residue. 

 

This is Wet n Wild Pink-finity. With different sized dotting tools, I used Wet n Wild Black Creme, OPI Alpine Snow, and Sally Hansen Celeb City.

For this, I started with OPI Planks a Lot. I taped off stripes with striping tape and then used Cult Nails Time Traveler.

I wanted to try the "glue trick" for glitter nail polish. I painted a coat of glue on my ring finger and, while that dried, I did the rest of my nails. My pinky is OPI A Roll in the Hague. Middle finger is a gradient of ARitH and OPI That's Berry Daring. I used TBD on my index finger. On my thumb, I started with Sally Hansen Celeb City. I taped off different sized stripes using scotch tape and striping tape. For the stripes, I used both ARitH and TBD. Lastly, I used three coats of OPI Rainbow Connection. I love the way this turned out. Also, the "glue trick" works like a charm. When I was done wearing this manicure, the glitter peeled off without leaving a trace. Amazing.

This is OPI It's My Year with stamping done in Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. Sorry, I don't remember which Bundle Monster plate I used. I topped it all off with NYC Matte Me Crazy.

These are Heather's nails. She wanted a Union Jack accent nail. We started with a base of Cult Nails Time Traveler. On her ring fingers, I used Art Deco nail art polish in white and OPI Danke-shiny Red.

This is a cling wrap manicure I did using two Love & Beauty polishes. I borrowed them from Heather and she's had them so long that the names have worn off of the labels. I started with the blue color. It's a pretty blue with a gold shimmer. I let that dry and used the purple, I think It's called Dark Purple. I used cling wrap to get the marbled effect. I posted the picture of the polishes I used since I don't know the names.

I've finally gotten my water spotting technique down! I started with a gradient using OPI A Roll in the Hague and Funky Fingers Power Play. For the water Spotting, I used NYC French White Tip. 

Well, that's it! Phew! I hope you enjoyed this epic post. See you 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.

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. :)

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.

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!!!

Cling wrap!

Christmas is over so it was time to get rid of the red and green nails. For this manicure I wanted to try a technique that I hadn't used before. I settled on cling wrap marbling. It's an extremely easy technique with a really unique result. 

I went to Forever 21 today and thought about getting a Love & Beauty nail polish. I left with four. Ha ha. I used one for the base color.

This is Love & Beauty Light Blue. It's a bit on the sheer side so this is three coats. Pretty. :)
Then, to top it off with the second color. OPI Alpine Snow.

A few dabs with a wad of cling wrap and viola! Marble! I love the way this looks. Hubby loves it, too. That means it's a keeper. :)