Ocean Flowers

I thought this looked nice and summery.  This is 4 coats Essie Turquoise & Caicos on all but the ring finger.  On the ring finger is 3 coats Essie Blanc.  I stamped the white onto the teal fingers and attempted to stamp the teal onto the white finger... but failed, lol.  I added the flower shaped goodies on top on the white finger only.  I love the color of Turquoise & Caicos, but it's so sheer!  I hate putting on 4 coats of anything, it feels wasteful.  I was disappointed in the pigmentation of that one.  The Blanc isn't all that opaque either, but at least it's a regular 3-coater.  And I can see where I stamped it!  Lol.  It kinda gave a tonal effect to the stamping that I didn't anticipate.

I liked this mani, but I didn't love it.  I think it could have been done with similar colors in my collection that are a lot more opaque and less annoying.  Sorry, Essie, this one didn't win me over.  Add more pigment and you'd have a winner!

Essie: Chinchilly

This is 3 coats Essie Chinchilly with 2 coats Seche Vite.  I was actually surprised how much I loved this color.  It is a little on the sheer side, so it definitely needed 3 coats and it actually could have used 4.  I had no issues with the formula, it went on smooth and I didn't get bald spots.  This is a really clear grey, it's not very dusty which is kind of weird to say about a gray, but I think it's fairly accurate.  I think this would have looked amazing with some shimmer or something on top too.  Maybe next time.  If you like grey, this is definitely a must have!

Essie: Haute as Hello

I love this color!  This is one of the summer colors from Essie called Haute as Hello.  It's an awesome bright coral/peach. It's definitely got a pink tint to it, but it's too orange to be pink... and delightfully bright!  I added stripes with Stripe Rite Pink Glitter.  Application on this wasn't bad, but wasn't awesome.  It started out a bit streaky, but evened out after more coats.  This is 3 coats Essie Haute as Hello with 2 coats Seche Vite over the whole thing.  It lasted a good few days too, which is great.  I love this and all bright colors for summer, yay!  There's just something about bright nails that makes me feel good.  Which is good!  :)

Patriotic

I wanted to do something fun for the July 4th weekend.  It's America's birthday!  I didn't want to get too involved and do like a flag or anything crazy.  But I definitely wanted all the colors, which are red, white and blue.  I started with one coat of Wet 'n Wild Cherry Pop on everything by my ring finger topped with 2 coats of China Glaze Ruby Pumps.  Then I used Stripe Rite White for the white stripes and Milani Bolting Blue for the blue stripe.  On the ring finger I did 3 coats of Essie Blanc on the whole nail.  Then did a slanted tip with the red combo.  Then I added 3 blue rhinestones.  Topped everything off with 2 coats Seche Vite.  There are some bubbles around the rhinestones, but oh well.  I think it came out cute.

Full sun, makes the Ruby Pumps look weird, lol.

Valentine's Day

These actually came out cuter than I thought they would.  I was second guessing my choice of a purple and pink design and almost changed it all to pink.  I like it this way.  Hopefully you do too!

I started with a base of Essie Baby Cakes, sponged on OPI Meet me on the Star Ferry once about 2/3 of the nail and again just on the tip to darken it.  One quick coat of Orly Etoile (a very subtle silver/purple glitter) over the whole thing for some sparkle.  Then I used Avon Fuschia with a fairly dry brush to make two fat lines which made a small heart shape.

OPI Haul

OPI Haul!  I got a bunch of new shades from OPI, but also picked up the Essie matte about you top coat.  I've been wanting to try a matte look.  Hopefully I can do some new looks with these colors soon.

clockwise starting from the bottom left:
All 4 are from the Hong Kong collection.
Pearl of Wisdom - it turned out very peach in the photo, but in real life, it's a very light opalescent pearly color
Jade is the new black - a dusky green, looks a little more hunter green in the photo than it does in real life
Meet me on the Star Ferry - a purple and gold shimmer
Suzi says Feng Shui - dusky blue, still fairly bright

Left to right:
Essie, matte about you - a matte top coat
Mad as a Hatter - Alice  in Wonderland collection.  A rainbow glitter, but heavy on the silver glitter
DS Classic - a nude beige rainbow shimmer

Blue Flower

I actually expected the base coat to be a little lighter and more opaque.  It looks more like I have nothing on the nail, but there is a slight rainbow hue.

I started with a base of Essie Gladioli.  Then I used a dotting tool to make a large flower in OPI Yoga-ta get this blue!  I did a few flicks and some tiny center dots on the flower with Stripe Rite White.