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!

Retro Chic

I didn't really have much in mind for an idea when I picked these colors.  I knew I wanted to use Icing Laura's Fave since I just got it from Katrina.  And I picked out LA Colors Baby Pink striper to go with it.  After I put it all together, it totally looks 80's fab.  I have to say, I love 80's music and I laugh at the fashion, but I think it was fun and I was part of the era.

This is indoor, florescent light.  3 coats of Laura's Fave, everything topped with 2 coats of Seche Vite.  Inside, the polish looks more blue.  Really it just looks straight blue.  You can see the shimmer better inside too.  Such a pretty color.  It has the subtle icy feel that pairs well with the pale pink.

Outdoor, sunlight.  It looks more teal/aqua outdoors.  Really, when I look at it, I see a color in between these two photos.  A bluer teal.  Who cares, it's an awesome color either way, no matter the light.

And thank you all for the kind words, it's much appreciated.  I'm trying to take every day for what it is and trying my hardest not to dwell on things I can't change.  That's the hardest part really.  I'm a worrier by nature and it takes it's toll.  One day at a time...

PS - When did I get 50 followers?  I should put together a giveaway.  Any requests?

Summer already?

This past weekend was just gorgeous here.  The sun was out, the breeze was easy and I didn't want it to end!  I was feeling like I wanted to go to the beach, so I thought something bright and fun was in order.  I took out the neon pink, but then I saw this little gem hiding in my stash...

This is 3 coats of LA Splash Golden Seahorse.  I love it!  I purchased it a bit ago (find it in my haul) but never used it.  It's looking a bit green in both this shot and the bottle shot in my haul post, but it's definitely an aqua color with gold glitter.  It really could have stayed at 2 coats if I'd done a better job with coverage, haha.  I love that it has the texture with the glitter.  I don't know if it's just the name on the bottle, but this totally reminds me of sandy beachy goodness!  Haha.  Anyway, then I couldn't leave it alone so I added a flower with Cover Girl Pink Taffy and then some yellow-orange jewels on the thumbs!  For some reason it reminds me of Hawaii, but I've never been there.

All I can say is... bring on the sun, it's making me feel great!  However, it's supposed to be in the 90's (F) tomorrow, which is not so fun.  I'd rather have the spring sun than the summer heat.  BUT I can't complain too much, it'll still be gorgeous and it will still feel good to be hugged by the sunshine.

Wishing I was on the beach

My area got hit hard with some snow a couple weeks ago and we had a tiny bit last week and we're due for more this coming week.  But yesterday was BEAUTIFUL!!  The sun was out and the snow was melting.  It still wasn't all that warm, but at least it felt better.  That got me to thinking about the spring and summer... and I LOVE the beach.  When I took a look at my little stash, I came across the OPI DS Classic and thought it looked kind of sand-like.  It was so pretty I didn't want to put much on top.  It's almost a mannequin hand look on me.  I like it tho, it came out cute.  :)

I started with 2 coats of OPI DS Classic.  I painted a little flower/leaf design on the side with China Glaze For Audrey and shaded it with Sephora by OPI Ocean Love Potion.  I put a little bit of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top of the flower just because the base is sparkly and I wanted it to be uniform.  Topped the whole thing with 2 coats of Seche Vite.