Fishtail Braid Mani

Here's my last mani I took pictures of before my camera died. I had this on my nails for almost a week because I loved it so much! I used this tutorial to help me create this look.

First I did two coats of OPI Fiercely Fiona, a slightly greenish yellow, on each nail. Then to create the stripes I used butter LONDON Slapper and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City, a silver foil.

I'm also still really digging the oval nail shape on me! I haven't broken a nail since! I think I'll keep him :)

First Video Blog! July Favorites

It's my first video! I lost my camera battery charger so I can't take pictures at the moment. I wanted to post SOMETHING so I decided I'd make a video! I'd been wanting to make a Favorites post for a while so here are my July favorites.

Aaaaand....I forgot a favorite so I made a second video! (Yes, it was that important!)

Hope you enjoy the videos! Let me know if you liked the videos and what topic you think I should talk about next!

P.S. Sorry about the horrible lag between the video and audio on the first video. I'm not sure why it's doing that. I'm going to try to fix it right now.

Neon Ruffians and New Nail Shape!

Notice anything different about me (other than my bangin' manicure)? I decided to try oval-shaped nails for a while and see how I like them. Before I started growing my nails out a couple years ago, my nails were oval-shaped because I just trimmed (or bit) them down to the nail bed and my nail bed is naturally oval-shaped. They weren't an intentional, graceful oval shape though, they were just ragged and ugly! Anyway, I was constantly breaking the corners of my rectangular-shaped nails and having to cut them down and file them to get them to be even again, so I thought I'd try a new shape and see how it works for me. I didn't really like the shape at first but now it's growing on me! And I haven't broken a nail so far!

Anyway, for my first mani with my new nail shape I thought I'd try something that would emphasize the oval-ness. I did a neon ruffian manicure using hot pink and orange! On my thumb and ring fingers, which were my accent nails, I did two coats of Revlon Tulip, a nice hot pink. On my other fingers, I did two coats of OPI A Roll in the Hague, a bright reddish orange. After my base color dried, I used the opposing color to create the "ruffian" style. It's pretty easy to do because you basically paint the second color like you would paint your nail normally, following the curve of your cuticle, just up a little higher! I did two coats of the second color too, just to make sure I didn't have any patchiness.

What shape do you prefer your nails in? What do you think of the ruffian manicure style?

Skittle Gradient!

I have been in such a nail rut the past couple weeks! I have been wanting to attempt a gradient mani for a while now but always assumed it would be time-consuming and difficult. Then, I checked out this tutorial by The Nailasaurus and realized how easy it was! I also saw this mani while browsing through the Tumblr blog Fuck Yeah Nail Art and I loved the color scheme, so I decided to translate it into a skittle gradient mani!

First, I did two coats of OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?, a light putty color, as my base color. I did it, yes, at midnight, and let it fully dry overnight before starting the gradient. Following Nailasaurus' tutorial, I started on my thumb with Essie Tart Deco, a neon coral-pink. On my index finger I used Essie Mint Candy Apple, a bright minty aqua, and on my middle finger I used Essie Smooth Sailing, a shimmery cornflower blue. Looking at my finished mani, I wish I had a brighter, more pastel cornflower blue because I don't think Smooth Sailing really goes with the other two colors as well. I repeated the pattern for all the rest of my nails.

Sammy's tutorial is SUPER easy and FAST! I think it only took me about 15 minutes to do all of my nails. The gradient came out a lot smoother than I thought it would too. The only thing I will do different next time is use a different sponge. I decided to do this gradient on a whim so I didn't have the nice soft makeup sponges that she recommends. All I had was a really rough exfoliating sponge that, as I'm sure you can see, left me with a bunch of little fibers all stuck to my nails! I will definitely pick up some makeup sponges at Walgreens in the next couple days and you can expect to see a bunch more gradient manis in the future!

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

Here's a picture of a nail polish that has been all over the blogs lately, but I still must share it because I'm surprised at how much I love it! This is OPI Just Spotted the Lizard from the latest Spiderman collection, which is kind of a weird movie for a nail polish brand to team up with (although I guess it's not much weirder than the Hunger Games).

I picked this up because it's a known dupe for Chanel Peridot, that much-sought-after polish that came out last year. I thought Peridot looked cool, but I would not have paid $25 for it. So when it came out for $8, I decided, why not. I surprisingly LOVE IT! The green-gold duochrome effect is so mesmerizing in person. Although my boyfriend kind of ruined it for me a little bit when he was like, "Hey! Green and gold, just like [our high school] colors!"

P.S. Does anyone else think of this clip from Friends when they hear the word Spiderman? I love Friends!

NOTD: Another Hefesto masterpiece!

Gorgeous!

I've been dreaming up different layering combinations I could do with Speciallita Hefesto - a sheer holographic top coat - ever since I got it last week. On my first post about it, commenter Monica suggested I try it over a black or grey polish, and I thought that was a GREAT idea! I had never seen a true grey holo before. To bling it out even more, I decided to go with OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, a shimmery charcoal grey with hints of green and purple shimmer. With one coat of Hefesto over it, I couldn't stop staring at my nails! The sun even peeked out while I was driving, and I kept stretching my fingers out on the steering wheel so I could sneak glances at the rainbow goodness.

I love Hefesto for layering over a tired creme, but layering it over another glitter/shimmer polish is just out-of-this-world amazing. Great suggestion, Monica!! Any other ideas, folks?

NOTD - Coral and Gold

We had some weird weather in Chicago this weekend. On Friday, we had our first major snowfall this winter. I think it was about 8 inches by the end of the night. Then, last night, we had a rain and thunderstorm. Whaaaa? This morning, almost all the snow was melted, leaving huge gross muddy puddles, and the sky was gray and misty. Gloom and doom all the way. I needed something to remind me that we are on the other side of the winter solstice and spring WILL be here soon, darn it!

Flash - It's not really this pink

I thought that OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster, a bright coral with subtle gold shimmer, would look gorgeous layered with Essie As Gold as it Gets, a gold flaky topcoat. I was slightly disappointed the first time I ever wore Lobster because the gold shimmer didn't really translate onto the nail, but with a coat of As Gold as it Gets over the top, it becomes everything I ever wanted it to be!

I had a hard time photographing this polish! Under the flash, it came out looking pure pink, and you couldn't really see the gold flakies. In artificial light, it looks closer to its true color, although it's brighter than it looks in the photo. I'll have to try it outside tomorrow, if we have any sun. Pleeeease let there be sun tomorrow!!

On a side note, I just realized that twice in the past few days, I've layered an Essie luxe effect over an OPI polish. I guess they make a good team :)

Artificial light - This is more true to color

NOTD - Sunrise at Sea

Just a quick NOTD - I call this one Sunrise at Sea because it reminds me of orange sunlight reflecting off calm waves on the beach in the morning :) I started off with two coats of OPI Stranger Tides from the Spring 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean collection. I absolutely love this polish - it's a very unusual, yet soft and gorgeous, murky sea foam green. I layered one coat of Essie Shine of the Times, an orange-green shifting flakie, over the top. I did not start getting into nail polish until after the original Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure was officially HTF, so I was over the moon when this Essie dupe came out. I prefer it over pastel colors such as this because I think it brings a softer, more ethereal look to the flakies, as opposed to the harsher color shift I see when it is layered over dark colors.

I love this mani! Have you snatched up this Essie polish yet? What is your favorite color to layer under it?

NOTD - Unintentional Chicago Bears mani?

These nails started out honoring my brother's request for a "blurple" nail polish. My mind immediately jumped to OPI Russian Navy. I love this color, and I don't wear it enough. It's a lovely dark navy blue base, but what makes it special is the pinky-purple shimmer running through it. It's unnoticeable indoors, but when the sun hits it, it glows.

Then, I was browsing through nail blogs, and I saw this amazing manicure. Chevron or V-gap manis are my favorite type of nail art because they are so easy and they allow you to experiment with different color combinations. Plus, they make my nails look longer and narrower, which is always a plus :)

I loved the olive green and glitter combination that Nailside used, but I had literally just finished my blurple mani! I didn't want to immediately remove the Russian Navy loveliness from my nails just yet. I dug through my stash to see what color would look good with it. I decided to go with OPI DS Classic, a beige-tan holographic glitter, for the V. To add a splash of contrasting color, I decided to outline the V with American Apparel Lopez Canyon, a pumpkin-orange creme one-coater.

V-gap mani using OPI Russian Navy, OPI DS Classic, and American Apparel Lopez Canyon

I used the Orly detail brush to outline the V with DS Classic, then used the OPI brush to fill it in. I layered two coats of DS Classic to build up opacity. I wasn't too concerned with keeping this part very neat, because I then used the Orly striping brush to line the edges of the V with Lopez Canyon, covering up any messiness. I really like the way this mani turned out! I can't wait to go out in the sun tomorrow to let it really come to life!

Do you ever try nail art, or do you just keep it simple with one color?