Outline/Zebra-Print Nail Art!

Hey my lovelies!

I know I haven't posted in awhile, sorry about that! :( 

But I have some pretty nail art that I did over the weekend to show you! :) 

My nail-spiration for these actually came from Pinterest, I saw a lot of people mixing bright colored outlines and animal print, so I decided to give it a try! And of course, that leads to pink and zebra stripes obviously! ;p  

 

This was my first real try at outline nails, (other than my playstation nails) and I like how it turned out!  

I used the un-named pink for the Kiss - Nail Artist Paint & Stencil Kit, and the White and Black Konad Stamping Polishes. I've found that stamping polishes have a really good formula/consistency for nail art! (I still need to practice my actual stamping, so far my attempts haven't been very picture-worthy. :p) 

That's all for today! What do you think about the Animal Print + Bright Colors trend that's going around? Let me know in the comments! I like it, I think you'll probably be seeing more manis along those lines from me! :) 

OPI Mariah Carey Collection - Pink Yet Lavender Swatch!

Hey lovelies! I have a goooorgeous swatch for you today! :) 

This is from the OPI Mariah Carey Collection, and it's a stunning glitter topper called "Pink Yet Lavender." 

The name is definitely fitting, because that's exactly how I would describe it's color! It sort of reminds me of the color of rose gold. 

Pink Yet Lavender is a gorgeous glitter topper, with a clear base with large "pink, yet lavender" colored hex glitters, and pink/lavender holographic micro glitter!

A bottle-shot to show it's prettiness close up! :) 

You definitely do not have to fish for the glitter at all, even the larger glitter pieces come right out on the brush, and I didn't find myself having to "place" the glitter too much at all either. 

The clear base is a little thick though, so you don't want to do too thick of a coat at once. Instead, I did two thin coats an built it up. Other than that though, I had no problems with this polish! :) 

I did a base color of Sephora by OPI - A True Romantic and then two coats of Pink Yet Lavender, and sealed it off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

I loooove the way this glitter looks! I got this from my sister as a birthday gift, and as soon as I pulled it out of the box and saw it, I was in love! 

I can't wait to try this with other base colors and see how it looks! :) 

NOTD: Fun with Zoya Happi!

Hello there my lovelies! 

For today's Nails of the Day, I'm re-swatching Zoya - Happi, and also having a little French Mani fun with it! :) 

I got Happi back in January during the Try 3 Free promotion, and it's definitely become one of my top favorite polishes in my collection now! :) 

Happi is a pretty, summery, pink with coral shimmer, and in in the right lighting you can even see a hint of green shimmer! :) 

It's perfect for Spring and Summer, and now that warm weather is finally here in PA, I'm super-duper loving this one! :) 

I tried to capture the green shimmer, but it's tough to see on camera. You can see it in person though, especially in the sunlight! You can definitely see the gorgeous coral shimmer though! :)

Now, time for a little mini French Mani Fun! 

For this one I used a base of the nude color from the Mark. Mode & Trend Collection, which is a light nude with pink shimmer. Then I added on Happi for French Tips, and sealed with a coat of Seche Vite! 

I think the shimmer of the nude really complemented the shimmer of Happi, and the result was a nice Springy, shimmery French! :) 

I hope you're all enjoying nice weather like we're having! Spring coming around always puts me in a happy mood! :) 

BONUS! Check out this gorgeous rainbow! This came out over my neighborhood the other day after it had been storming all day long. It was so bright and beautiful, and it was perfectly arched all the way around! I haven't seen one as bright as this in a long time. :) 

Flip/Flop February Day 22: Plaid/Mustache!

Hello Lovelies! I'm all caught up on this Challenge, and now it's time for Day 22! :)

Today's Flip/Flop was Plaid/Mustache and... I did both! I did plaid with a mustache accent nail!

For the plaid I used:
Sephora by OPI - What Aura Gonna Wear?, I'm Wired, and Read My Palm.
For the mustache I used: Zoya - Storm (because why not have a sparkly mustache?! If I could grow one I'd totally cover it in glitter all the time. :D)
Then I sealed with Seche Vite top-coat. :)

Make sure to check out all the other bloggers manis! :)

Flip/Flop February Fay 20: Flowers/V-Gap

Hi lovelies! Time for Flip/Flop February Day 20!

This days Flip/Flop was Flowers/V-Gap!
I'm not big on floral print myself, and I already did some flowers in this challenge, so I decided to give V-Gap a shot.

Now I'm not gonna lie, I have to google what V-Gap was LOL. I don't know how why I've never seen this style before, but I had no clue it existed. I like it, it's a cool new style. I'm not completely in love with it, but I could see myself wearing this again.

There are a few different ways to do V-gap, I went with a technique that I saw on a YouTube tutorial, and painted the base color and then used a striping brush to paint the shape in the center.

For the base color I used Rimmel 60 Second Dry - Climax and for the v-gap shape I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Rockstar Pink. Then I sealed with a coat of Seche Vite top-coat. :)

Don't forget to check out the other bloggers manis! :)

Flip/Flop February Day 7: Sugar Spun/Pattern!

Hey lovies!! Its Day 7 of Flip/Flop February!!

Today's Flip/Flop is Sugar Spun/Pattern, and of course I went with the Flip!! I looove me some sugar spun! It's one of my all time favorite nail art techniques, it's so fun!

For those of you who don't know, Sugar Spun is a fun technique in which you get some polish (the thicker the better!) and let it sit for a moment, then stir it around so it gets nice and tacky. Once it's tacky, you pull it back and get those "strings" of polishes then you twist and drape them over your nail until you're satisfied with the look.
The best part about it is that it's pretty much impossible to mess up! The whole point of it is that it looks crazy and imperfect, so if it turns out sloppy, that just means you did it right!! ;)

For my base color I used Sephora by OPI - What Aura Gonna Wear?
And for the "strings" I used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow
Wet'N'Wild Shine - Sunny Side Up
And Wet'N'Wild Shine - Tickled Pink.

I was going for a kinda sunset-y quality. :p

The first photo is without top-coat, the second is with top- coat. :)

And of course, don't forget to check out all the other bloggers manis!! :)

Flip/Flop February Day 5: 3D/Decals!

Helloooo! :) time for Flip/Flop February Day 5!

Today's Flip/Flop is 3D/Decals. I guess you could say I sort of did a mixture of both? What I did was make DIY decals out of 3D textured polish! :)

For idea of doing crackle hearts, i was actually inspired by this photo i saw on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/154881674657121258/
So credit to the artist for my inspiration! :)

I decided to combine the idea of crackle hearts and decals, so I made crackle heart shaped decals!! :D
If you're interested in how I make the DIY decals, I actually did a tutorial on for a guest post I did back in August of last year for Tall Girl With Pretty Painted Nails. So if you'd like to see the process of how I make them, you can find the tutorial here: http://www.tallgirlinheels.com/2012/08/takeover-thursday-katie-from-nails-by.html?m=0

To make them crackle, I did the whole process the same way, but for my base coat I used the same pink that I painted my nails with, then let that dry and did a coat of the crackle over it. Easy peasy lemon squeezey! ;)

I really love the way they turned out, they almost look like zebra stripes! (And you know me and zebra stripes!! ;D)

Then, just for the fun of it, on my opposite thumb (on my right hand) I did a little free-hand crackle heart. Obviously it didn't come out as good as the decals, but I still liked it! :)

The color I used were:
E.L.F. - Fab Fuchsia
China Glaze - Black Crackle

As always, don't forget to check out the other bloggers flip/flops!! :)

Flip/Flop February Day 4: One Stroke/Ombré

Hello again my lovelies! :)
It's time for Flip/Flop February Day 4!

Today's Flip/Flop is: One Stroke/Ombré.

I went with the flop today, since I've never done one stroke before. Plus I don't have any acrylic paints at the moment, at that's really the best way they come out. Excuses excuses. :p

So I went with a simple pink ombré! :)
(P.S. Is it just me, or does anyone else automatically think of the F.R.I.E.N.D.S episode where Joey was a cologne sprayer whenever they hear the word ombré? Cuz it makes me think of Hombre. No? Just me? Moving on...)

The polishes I used for this were (in order from lightest to darkest, or thumb to pinky.):
Sephora by OPI - A True Romantic
Wet'N'Wild Shine - Tickled Pink
Zoya - Happi
Sephora by OPI - What Aura Gonna Wear?
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Twisted Pink

Make sure to check out all the other bloggers creations as well! :)

Flip/Flop February Day 3: Watermarble/Dry Marble (Failure :p)

Hello folks! Welp, I'm a day late again. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;p

Ok so today's Flip/Flop is: Watermarble/Dry Marble.

I've only said this about a million times: I suck at water marble. So I went with the Flop and chose to do dry marble, and boy was it a flop. (Terrible pun, I know. Sorry I'm not sorry.)
Wanna know what I found out? I suck at dry marble too. Yup, just any kind of marble in general, I FAIL. :P mwahaha.

So, yes, these are a gigantic failure. Sorry. :p

The colors I used were:
Zoya - Happi
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Posh Plum

Please make sure to check out all the other lovely bloggers creations, I promise they'll be better than my abomination. :P

Zoya - Happi Swatch!

Hello lovelies!
So when I did the Zoya "Try 3 Free" promo, this was the second one I got! :)

Happi is an absolutely gorgeous, almost duo-chrome, sheer polish. It's so pretty, and has a really good formula. It's opaque in 2 coats, (though I did 3, because I'm OCD about coverage LOL) normal drying time, no streaking at all, and has a really nice, shiny finish. :)

The color is a beautiful coral/pink, and what I didn't realize just from the bottle is that in certain lighting, it has a bit of green in the shimmer! Pink + Green is one of my favorite color combos so I looved discovering that!

Below the swatch of this beauty, I added Zoya - Opal on top of it. I reeeeaaaaallllly love this polish combo! Not only does it make them sparkly, but the blue-green color of opal really brings out the green shimmer of Happi! :)

Love this polish by itself, and paired with opal! Perfect for warm weather! (Which needs to hurry up and get here already! :p)

French Mani Fun!

Hello lovelies! So, I decided to do a French mani last night, and I decided to go with something a little different than just the classic one color mani.

I did black (which my favorite to do for French Manis) and then, to spice it up and make it more fun, I added a hot pink accent nail! I really like the way it looks. :)

The colors I used for this mani are:
Black: Ulta - Little Black Dress
Hot Pink: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Twisted Pink
Clear Top Coat: Sally Hansen - Hard As Nails Strengthening Top Coat

What do think? Let me know in the comments! :)