I love the '80s!

So awesome!!!!!  Haha, neon and crackle... totally '80s

and glitter, right?  LMAO.  This is 3 coats of Color Club You Got Soul-ar a neon orange with glitter in it.  I topped it with China Glaze Crushed Candy which is a crackle polish.  Then, because you can never have enough... I topped it all with Color Club Starry Tempress Top Coat which is bling-tastic!!!

So pretty!  Haha.  I hated it at first because of the colors.  But then once I decided it looked like the 80's, I was into it.

Check that glitter!!!  Oh yeah... lol.  What do you guys think??

4th of July!

I know I'm late posting this, but I left it on for the whole week anyway, so I kind feel like I'm not late.  Does that make sense?  Maybe not.  Oh well.  On with it...

The red is one coat of China Glaze Hey Sailor.  I love that it's one coat, so wonderful!  Great red.  The blue is 2 coats Orly Royal Navy.  Both are topped with one coat of China Glaze Lightning Bolt.  I added the crackle on an angle (or tried to anyway) which I thought would be more interesting.

I know this is pretty much a cop-out as far as nail art goes.  I mean, I looked at my mani from last year and damn!  I really wimped out!  Hahahaha.  But I kinda liked the simplicity of it.  I thought it looked cool.

The other hand!  OMG!  Hahaha.  I did them opposite, obviously.  I think I'd liked there being more red on this hand.  But I didn't like the crackle as well on this hand.

Color Club Total Mystery

I had plans to put all kinds of nail art on this one.  But then I saw how cool the color was and scraped it.  Turns out the color is only really cool to me because no one else could even tell there were more colors in here.  Oh well.

This is 3 coats Color Club Total Mystery.  Yeah, this shot is completely blue.  This was a little sheer in application too, but by 3 coats, it covered pretty well.  Again, I liked it a lot better in the bottle than on.  But it's one of those secret ones that's prettier to the wearer than others.

This one shows the purple flecks better.  They're in there... look close!!  Wait, I'll help out, here:

Check that out!  Pretty, right?  But unfortunately that's about how close you have to get to see it, lol.

I got the blues...

Lol.  I loved the bright yet dark quality of the blue in the China Glaze Anchors Away collection.  It's just such an amazing blue!  It's dark and navy-like, but still bright and royal.  It's a very amazing color.

This is 2 coats of China Glaze First Mate with a black and silver glitter stripe, both from Stripe Rite.  I added a butterfly decal on the thumb and ring fingers which are from Viva la Nails.  I thought it would show up a little bit better than it actually did.  The China Glaze applied like a dream, it gives great coverage and it's just SO pretty, you could lose yourself in it!!

Excuse the mess, lol.  I hadn't cleaned up my fingers yet.  But how pretty is this?!  I love it.  It's so creamy and beautiful.  LOVE!  What do you guys think?

Models Own Beth's Blue

I have to say... I absolutely love this color!  I love Models Own polish in general.  But this color is just so pretty!

 This is 2 coats of Models Own Beth's Blue.  You can't really tell, but I topped it with a coat of Nfu-Oh 40 for some flakies.  Then I added some interest with LA Colors Silver stripes.  I loved this mani even though it's so simple!

You can see the flakies a bit better in this shot, but not really.  It wasn't much better in real life either.  But how awesome is this color?  It's a greyed out light blue but not so gray that it doesn't look blue.  I don't know, it's just so pretty!

Application was amazing.  Very smooth, good coverage, good wear.  If I wanted to leave it on, it probably could have lasted a week.  But I'm just not that patient, lol.  I would definitely recommend this brand and this color.

Night Sky

This mani is so dark and pretty.  I love the shimmer... you can get lost in it!

This is 2 coats of Models Own In the Navy topped with 1 coat of CND Sapphire Sparkle on top.  I added some stars and moons to finish it off.  Both polishes applied like a dream.  The Models Own has great coverage and smooth application.  CND effects pack a good amount of "effect" in each stroke of the brush, hah.  When I first used one, I thought it was going to be very subtle, but it's really not.  In some cases, the effect can change the whole color of the polish, but not so much here.  It was a little bit lighter, but pretty much the same shade.  I love this combo!

So pretty!!  What happened to the moon on my ring finger?  Who knows, lol.  Whatever, the rest of it looks awesome!  hahaha.

Snowflakes?

I wanted to do snowflakes, but I was in a bit of a rush, so I did dots with sparkles instead.  Haha.  It's sorta snow like.

This is 3 coats of Orly Snowcone.  I make dots with a dotting tool and Sally Hansen White On and topped them with OPI Simmer & Shimmer.  I think it came out cute and a little abstract, haha.

I love that blue, it's so clear and intense, yet light.  Does that make sense?  It's a great color.  You may recall I had a bit of trouble with it previously.  But I shook it up good for a couple days before I used it this time.  I shook it up, let it sit and then repeated, lol.  Seemed to take away that weird oily problem I had.  I try not to shake my polish and roll them instead, but I think this one needed a good shake and then time to settle the bubbles.  Whatever, it worked and I was much happier this time around!

BOO!

Hehe.  Scared you, didn't I?  :)  I free-handed these ghosts... and honestly I didn't like them.  But a lot of other people did, lol.  I was going for a night sky thing with the ghosts swirling around.  I liked it, I just didn't like the ghosts, which is kind of the whole point, but oh well.

This is 3 coats of Nubar Night Sparkle.  Soooo pretty and sparkly!!  I used Color Club Worth the Risque for the dots and ghosts.

Love these colors.  I had no problem with application on either of these.  The Nubar gave fairly good coverage, which was surprising to me since it's a glitter.  But the base is blue too, so it covers pretty well.  And the holo of the Color Club stood out even among all that sparkle.

I wound up liking this one because of the color combo and because it was kind of anti-halloween, haha.  These aren't the usual colors for Halloween, so it caught people's eyes.

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.

Orly: Royal Navy

This is one of the new Orly shades, Royal Navy.  It's definitely more royal blue than navy.  This is 3 coats Orly Royal Navy with 2 coats Seche Vite.  Application was fairly good.  It was a little gloppy, but that could also have been since I was working near a fan.  It's been darned hot here lately.  Look close and you will see the wonderful teal shimmer in this lovely blue.  I have to say, I could not stop looking at my hands with this color on.  It's bright, but not crazy.  I love love love the shimmer and it's jelly!  Who doesn't love a blue jelly with shimmer?  If you like blues, I would definitely recommend this shade.

After a day of plain, I decided to go nautical and painted on an anchor with Orly Luxe on my ring fingers.  I was going to do a red and white stripe, but I didn't want to cover up too much of the gorgeous blue!  Hehe.  You can see the shimmer better in this shot too.  Absolutely LOVE this color!

Sally Hansen: Sea and Be Seen

This is one of the new Sally Hansen colors.  It came out with the Hidden Treasure greatness.  I loved this color in the bottle.  On... not so much.  This is 3 coats of Sally Hansen Sea and Be Seen with 2 coats Seche Vite.  It's fairly sheer and probably could have used a 4th coat, but I didn't think it was worth it.  Application was pretty good, I like the wide short brush.  In the bottle, there are flashes of green and purple along with the blue.  But on, I saw virtually none of that.  I looked at it in all kinds of different lighting and blah.  It's just a blah blue.  It's kind of on the icy side too, which is more wintery than summery.  I'm not sure if it was the icy quality or the tone itself, but I just did not like this color.  I only left it on a couple days, I couldn't stand it.  I think it would have been better with a base of an opaque blue, but even still, I didn't get all the pretty colors that I see in the bottle.  Anyone else have this issue?

Models Own: Peacock Green

I was soooooo excited for this color.  I saw a couple other bloggers post it and fell in love.  This was actually my whole purpose for my Models Own haul!

So pretty!  This is Models Own Peacock Green.  It looks really blue here, but it looks more teal in real life.  Such a gorgeous color.  It's shimmery and eye-catchingly beautiful!  I didn't even do any art, it didn't need it.  I did throw on a holo top coat after a day just because I had messed up a finger and didn't want to take it all off, haha.  I definitely love this shade.  Application was a bit rough on the first coat.  This is 3 coats topped with Seche Vite.  It all evened out in the end.

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?

Midnight Shimmer

Ooooo... pretty!  My last mani started chipping like crazy, so I had to change it.  It was late at night and I didn't want to do anything too involved.  So I grabbed a couple new polishes that I bought from GoIndulge.  I did 2 coats of CND Asphalt and topped it off with one coat of CND Amethyst Sparkle.

I have to say, these are my first CND polishes.  I absolutely love Asphalt!  It applied like a dream and was nearly opaque with one coat.  If you do a thick coat, you can get away with just one.  It's a very nice grey creme.  I hate when dark grey looks too black, but this one is definitely grey.  And I love the Amethyst Sparkle as well.  It changed the whole look.  It looks almost like a blue mani in the above pic.  In real life, if you catch the shadow, it just looks grey, but when you catch the light it flashes with pink/purple.  It's not really a glitter and you can't feel it at all, but it's fairly dense shimmer-like.  I really like this mani.  And I got lots of compliments on it as well!

Orly: Snowcone

I had to do my nails before my trip to Colorado and I wanted something snowy... so I picked Orly Snowcone!  I have to say this is a lovely Robin's Egg blue.  However, the consistency of mine is very strange.  It's almost oily.  Has anyone else had that issue?  I rolled mine in my palms for a good while and there was still a ring on the side that looked not-completely mixed.  I started painting it on and it totally dragged off in the center of a few nails.  I've never come across this problem before.  This is 3 thickish coats with 2 coats Poshe on top.

And yes, I tried Poshe again.  And yes, I still don't like it.  My nails started chipping after a day and after 3 days, the TC peeled off!!  What the hell!!  And on top of that a bunch of my nails broke off so now I have nubbins.  Very disappointing.  I'm seriously considering going to get gel nails.  I hear they can do them fairly natural looking and thin.  Anyone out there have gels?  Opinions?

OPI: Suzy Says Feng Shui

My last mani started chipping after a few days and I kept forgetting to throw on another coat of Seche.  By the time I was done work yesterday it just looked awful, so I took it all off and threw on OPI Suzy Says Feng Shui.  I have to say, I was wary about this one as a full mani.  I thought it would look better just as an accent.  But once I got it on, I'm in love!

Ooooo!  So pretty.

This is the most amazing bright true blue.  It's not neon.  It's a straight cream and gorgeous!  Application was a little iffy.  Super streaky with one coat and still had "see-through" spots after two.  This is 3 coats with 2 coats of Seche Vite on top.  I would definitely recommend it though.

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.