Beachy?

This one reminded me of the beach, not sure why.  It's green and shimmery and it reminds me of the photos of the crystal clear water and the how the sand looks so warm and inviting.  I could use some of that about now, lol.

This is 3 coats of Maybelline Gentile Blossom.  I love this shade of minty green, it's so pretty.  And then it has the added bonus of shimmer!  It went on fairly well and had good coverage.  I felt like it needed something, so I added stripes with Stripe Rite White.

I think it turned out cute!  I like it.  And to me, it looks nice and summery.

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.

Christmas Mani

Yay christmas!  I know pretty much everyone was doing candy cane style manis for christmas, but it's just so cute, I had to do it!

How cute!  This is 3 coats Sally Hansen White On topped with China Glaze Salsa.  I used a BM plate to do the stripes, but they didn't cover the whole nail, so I had to use a small brush to extend the lines.  When I added the first coat of top coat, the red smeared, so I went over the white again a bit.  I also added a coat of CND Crimson Sparkle on top.  I love that it's very subtle, but makes it look like a sugary candy cane.

On the thumb, I skipped the stripes and used a BM plate to add some holly leaves with China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald.  I used little red balls for the berries.  Unfortunately, they bled when I added the top coat also.  So I had to add some more white.  I used the CND effect on the thumb as well.

I love this one and of course, got lots of compliments.  Sorry to post this late, but I was having some computer troubles.  Merry Christmas all!!

Funky Frenchy

For this mani I wanted something simple, but still pretty.  For some reason I just love the french mani look.  But it's kinda boring unless it's a "funky french" which is just using a color instead of white.  Anyway, I liked how it turned out and I got lots of compliments!  This is actually a bit of an oldie... but I love it!

I started with 2 coats CND Putty which is pretty sheer beige.  It basically just evens out your nails so they look perfect.  Application on that was amazing, as usual.  I love CND polish.  Then I added 2 coats of OPI Yodel Me on My Cell for the tips.  I put a stripe with Stripe Rite White on the bottom edge of the teal to cover up my not-so-great edge, lol.  I also put some Stripe Rite Silver Glitter on that edge.  Then I added some stickers from Viva la Nails and topped it all with 1 coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, a very small holo glitter.

Pretty!  Now to me, this looks like straight up teal.  However, I had a few people ask if I had on "Eagles green."  I guess they're close, but not really the same to me.  Not to mention I could really care less about sporting football colors on my nails.  I happened to wear this mani on the weekend, so I guess that's why people assumed.  Oh well, lol.

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.

Broadway Nails Review

I was at the drugstore looking at polish and normally go right past the fake nails.  However, these caught my eye!  At first, I was just going to take a pic and try to re-create it myself, but I figured, what the heck, I'll buy them.  They looked super cute.

These are Broadway Nails Fashion Diva Nail Kit in Harajuku Style.  They are a mismatch plaid in pink, orange and green neon!  How cool!  These are the "short" length which turns out is just about the same length as my own nails.  They have the little tabs for application.  I didn't use the glue that came with them, but it does come with a pink tinted glue.  I have to say, I love the look and I easily found nails that fit, which is the most important part.  I left them on for 5 days.  None of them were falling off, but the edges had started to come loose by the end.  Not sure if this is due to improper initial application, or if the nails were starting to go.  I haven't put on fake nails in years, and I've never done so on a consistent basis, so it's possible this was a user error.  They did show tip wear by the end, but none of them had chipped horribly and you couldn't tell unless you had my nail up to your eyes anyway.  I got them off by just soaking cotton in Acetone and placing it on the nail.  After a few minutes, the fake nail puffed up and slid right off.  (This is my normal process for taking off nail polish except I usually just use remover and not straight Acetone).  Overall, I was very pleased with these nails and would definitely get them again.  They come in various designs and lengths.  This would be a great alternative for a quick mani for a special occasion.


[These nails were purchased with my own money for my own personal use.]

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?

Pink and Gold Goodness

Ahhh, pink and gold.  Two very good colors, hehe.  I love pink and I have tons of pink polish.  And although it looks great with silver, I figured gold was like sunshine and I was loving the sun being out this weekend.  I actually needed sunglasses yesterday even with all the snow that was still falling.  Thankfully it didn't stick very well and there was no shoveling involved.

I didn't feel like doing much today, so I just did a simple side swipe.  I used 2 coats of OPI Cozu-melted in the Sun for the base.  Then I did the lower diagonal half with 2 coats of Ulta Strawberry Smoothie.  I did the stripe with Stripe Rite Gold Glitter.  Then I thought the pink looked too boring, so I put a coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment over the whole thing.  Topped with 2 coats Seche Vite.

Hot Pink

I LOVE the new brush Sally Hansen has in the "Complete Salon Manicure" line.  The brush is shorter and rounded, completely flat and tapered so it's thicker towards the handle.  It makes it so easy to apply without streaking.

I did a base of Sally Hansen Shrimply Devine.  I did some stripes in black and gold glitter using Stripe Rite.  Then I made a dot flower in the corner using Avon Golden Twilight.