Purple Tuxedo

So yesterday I finally found a store in my area that sells Essence polish. I managed to exercise some self control and only buy about half the colors they had available. Pretty good, considering they were only $2 a bottle!

Well I had to try at least one of my new purchases and I knew exactly which one it would be. I started with a base of Essence colour & go 132 Break Through. I only used 2 coats, but if I were to wear this polish on its own, I would use at least 3 to make it more opaque. 

Can I just say that I LOVE the brush in these polishes. Wide, flat and slightly rounded at the edges, they are perfect for the way I like to apply my polish!

After letting the base dry, I cut tape into long thin slices and put one down the center of each of my nails. Then I painted 1 coat of A England Bridal Veil over top and pulled off the tape. Can I just say, that A England was everything I wanted it to be an more! I have read such rave reviews about it and it really was fantastic. Perfect consistency, like painting your nails with oil, but covers in one coat and beautiful! I am officially a fan.

The edges of the black are not all as neat as I'd like them, but I got a wonky brush in my bottle of bridal veil, so I did my best. 

On my right hand I got smart and cut a thinner piece of tape for my pinky, but good luck trying to get a decent shot of my right hand.

It hasn't been really sunny here lately, so to give you an idea of the sparkle of bridal veil I had to get my hand obnoxiously close to the flash on my camera; hence the super washed out skin. 

As soon as I finished painting it, I realized it reminded me of tuxedo stripes ... hence the title of this post! I am loving this mani! What do you think?

See you again soon!

Stamped Tips

This is not exactly the design I set out to create when I started my nails today, but it is growing on me. 

I started with 2 coats of NYX Myths. The formula was fairly nice and it was opaque in 2 medium coats. It is a gorgeous aquamarine color. My camera refused to capture it properly, but imagine it slightly more green and a bit darker in real life. 

This was the original look I was trying for. BM plate 212 stamped with China Glaze Deviantly Daring. It actually looks quite nice in this photo (other than missing a chunk and being crooked, which were to be expected for my first try at a full nail stamp). In reality though, you could barely see the stamp. Maybe I should have channeled my inner Bregje and embraced the subtle stamp, but it was just too subtle for me, especially when I was so excited to stamp with deviantly daring. Another time, I guess. 

After a couple more failed attempts, I ended up stamping BM-217 with Konad special polish in white. 

Then a layer of OPI Rapid Dry top coat, which made this particular base super shiny ... loved it. 

But something still wasn't quite right. Probably because it wasn't at all what I set out to do, I was not totally feeling this look. So I added a coat of CND Effects Sapphire Sparkle just over the tips. It added a nice subtle shine that you can barely see in the photo below (it's more evident in real life) and softened the harsh contrast of the white tips.

Unfortunately, you can also see that my top coat bubbled a bit. It's mostly on the nails I kept redoing with different stamps, so I suppose I can't complain too much. Certainly not one of my proudest mani moments, but it is growing on me.

See you again soon!

Update: This manicure lasted so well it almost made up for my previous disappointment ... after 6 days there was almost no tip wear! However, when I took it off it had stained my nails a sickly shade of green. Win some, lose some. 

Taped Flakies

So I've been home sick for a couple of weeks now and I thought trying out a new manicure would be a for sure pick-me-up. Now maybe my expectations were just too high, but this manicure did not excite me as much as I had hoped. 

I started with 2 coats of NARS Saratoga. The formula was nice, but I think I would wear 3 coats to make it even and opaque on its own.

Then I put on 1 coat of Nfu Oh 51 and 1 coat of OPI Rapid Dry top coat. I had really high hopes for Nfu Oh 51; I've seen some fantastic swatches of it and was sooo excited to try it on my own nails for the first time. Honestly, I was underwhelmed. Maybe I should have done more than one coat or used a different base color ... I will certainly try those things in the future. This photo is no flash under a fluorescent lamp.

While I was trying things for the first time. I also wanted to do my first taped mani. It was easier than I thought it would be. I taped off the corner of each nail and added a layer of Essie Matte About You.

In some lights the whole manicure is underwhelming, not much flakie goodness and the matte corners look like there's some strange layer of glue on my nails. The photo below is inside with flash.

In other lights, you can really see the gold/orange/green flashes from Nfu Oh and I like how different it looks from anything I've done before. 

What do you think? Were my expectations just too high? Suggestions for next time?

See you again soon!

Neon Matte Stripes

I hesitate to post this link because then you'll all know what this manicure should actually look like, but I must give credit where credit is due. So here is the bright stripes manicure from the Polished Perfectionist that I was aiming for.

I used 2 coats of China Glaze Pool Party, then I put striping tape on my ring finger followed by 2 coats of China Glaze Recycle and I finished the whole manicure with a coat of Essie Matte About You. The pink is brighter in real life, more like what you see in the bottle, and of course being neon, it dries matte even without the top coat. 

This was my first time using striping tape and you can see the lines are not as clean as they should be. So hopefully we can all learn from my mistakes and next time I won't let the polish start to dry before removing the tape which will be easier if I use a one coater for my accent color. 

Overall it was still a super bright, happy manicure. 

At the time when I wore this manicure I was planning a black light party. Turns out Pool Party (like most neon polishes) glows under black light!

See you again soon!

Dotted Accents

Here goes nothing ... my first nail post!

This is a manicure I had on a couple months ago. The first thing you'll notice is my terrible cuticles. They do look worse in the photos than they did in real life, but they do tend to get a little dry during the fall/cold/flu/wash-your-hands-like-crazy season and I don't always take care of them like I know I should.

Cuticles aside ... I used 2 coats of OPI Ski Teal We Drop for the base and dotted my thumb and ring finger with China Glaze For Audrey. I'm not usually much of a green person, but these teals had just enough blue to keep me happy.

This was my first ever dotted manicure, so my dots aren't as even as I'd like them. You can also see that I've smudged them a little with my top coat. I think I used an old Sally Hansen top coat for this and couldn't get enough out of the bottle to polish my nails floating (without letting the brush touch the manicure). Oh well, this manicure still made me smile to look at it, so live and learn. 

Chances are I won't be posting as often as many of the blogs that inspired me to start this. I'm pretty busy with school and usually change my manicures at most once a week (especially the ones I really like ... it always makes me so sad to have to remove them). Hopefully they'll be worth the wait though.

See you again soon!

Welcome!

Well, I'm new to this whole blogging thing, so if you've just stumbled across my blog, I hope you'll bear with me. I've always been slightly obsessed with nail polish and in the last few years have been trying to get more creative with my nail art.

There are so many polishes, embellishments and tools out there for your nails it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. Recently, I've been inspired by some great nail blogs that are out there (Oooh, Shinies!, The Polished Perfectionist, and The PolishAholic to name a few).

Now it will certainly be a while before I'm anywhere near their league, but I figure there's no such thing as too much inspiration! So I'm throwing my hat in the nail blogging ring and hoping some of my ideas help you discover some of your own.

Hope to see you again soon!