The Sky Above My Home

I was looking out the window last night and I decided to do a blue gradient mani decorated to look like the night sky!  Once I had finished, I decided to add the Flatiron mountains outside the city.  I feel like there's some kind of subconscious shtuff going on about this, but I think it just looks cool.  I dig it.

I used the following polishes:
Love My Nails Star Bright (I only used it for the stars)
Sinful Colors Hottie
China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara
Sally Hansen Blue Me Away
NYC Empire State Blue
OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue!
Revlon Black Lingerie
And of course my Out the Door Quick Dry Top Coat!

The Flatirons!

China Glaze water marble

This is the first water marble that I've done in a few months, mostly because I don't have many creme polishes to use, as cremes are the best when marbling.  For this one, I used China Glaze Recycle and China Glaze Evening Seduction over the base of Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl. For the first time, I actually really liked how it turned out on both hands.  This is what I came up with: 

I put up my Christmas tree in my dorm room! So here's both my hands! Love it.

And even better, one of my best friends showed up to watch Glee last night with my Christmas present! Behold why my friends are the best:

Swatches to come soon!

Claire's Gold Glitter

Claire's Gold Glitter.  It's a really chunky holo, but takes about 3 coats to build up full opacity with visible nail line.  However, over another color, it looks really great.  In these swatches, I only included the Gold Glitter.

Band Prom

Whoops, I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted.  It's been over a month! And as such, expect today to be post spam.  Anyways, we had our formal band banquet a few weeks ago and I wore this cute little blue dress that I got at Plato's Closet for only $12! It was an epic purchase.  Shocking enough, I found some glitter that matched perfectly!  The glitter I got from Hobby Lobby and was laid in a gradient over Revlon Black Lingerie. 

Perfect! The song of the night was Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO, as our DJ was phenomenal.

OPI French Tips

These are my nails that I did yesterday.  I was having a really bad academic day and I was starting to really stress so I took off my college nails and did these instead.  I really like them, actually.  I started with two coats of OPI Let Me Entertain You, then I freehanded some french tips with OPI Lucerne-taintly Look Marvelous.  Below are some pictures indoors in shade, indoors with flash, and natural lighting.  The pink color really changes in these pictures, but it is the most accurate in the second picture.  :)  And another thing, no, my pinky and first finger aren't painted darker or with a different color, they just get weird shading whenever I take pictures.  Weird.

Song of the day today is going to be.........hmmm.........

Renegade by Styx.

Oh I Forgot!

I forgot to post the song of the day for today!  It's most definitely:

You and I Both by Jason Mraz.  Woo hoo!!

September 26

I went clubbing for the first time a few days ago! So much fun! I did my nails up special for the occasion and I DIDN'T TAKE A PICTURE!!! I was so mad at myself because I was so in love with them, I didn't take them off until they started chipping like CRAZY.  But yesterday I texted my good friend and asked her if her nails were painted and she said "No please paint them!"  Now who am I to say no to that??

So she came over and I painted her fingernails and toenails. She really wanted crackle on her fingers, and I was hesitant because I'm so over that fad right now but it was what she wanted and I actually really liked what we came up with.  Sorry about the blurriness, she wouldn't sit still, haha!

This is Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet with my old Mia Secret Crackle in Black over top.  Really really cute, actually.


So while we were waiting for her nails to dry, what else was I going to do than my own nails? So I did these really quick.

I have Sally Hansen's Calypso Blue layered with OPI Ink and OPI Let Me Entertain You.  Over top is the Sally Hansen Twinkle, Twinkle and Wet N Wild Party of Five Glitters.  While this one isn't my favorite that I've done, it's sparkly and twinkly and colorful so it will just have to do until it chips ;)

OPI DS Extravagance

Okay, so two days ago I got a new nail polish, and I have fallen in love with it.  I love it so much  I'm just wearing it plain!  Crazy, I know.

Oh and I was playing frisbee the other day and broke my middle nail, so I'm sorry that it's so stumpy :(.  Here's the swatches:

 In sunlight.  You can see how it's holographic, but not holographic enough to write home about.  The camera didn't really capture it as phenomenally as I was hoping it would.  The base color is a cross between burgundy and pink with tons of holo glitter and shimmer in the polish.  This was two coats, but it would be opaque in a thick one.

 In artificial lighting, with flash.  This captures much more of the glitter and glam, but the polish isn't really this pink in real life.

I freaking love this polish, and I'm thrilled that I'm wearing it right about now, not going to lie.

This post concludes my catching up from the month I was away from the computer, and the song of the day is.............drumroll please.................


Separate Ways by Journey!

Only because we're playing it for the football games and it's stuck in my head. 

P.S. Love the tight leather skirt.  Oh the good old days.

Stars!

Another quick one, this one took about 15 minutes with drying time.  However, the thing I noticed about Ulta colors, is you really need to wait for each coat to fully dry before applying another one, as even with my super fab top coat, I had one of the WORST chipping episodes I have ever had.  And I went home for the weekend so I didn't even have my polish box with me! Believe me, it's taking a trip too next time.  Anyway, here's what I did:

 

So here I have Ulta's Celebutante purple cream.  Wonderful, wonderful polish.  Then over top, I have one of Bundle Monster's image plates (BM05) for the large stars, and the BM14 plate for the small ones.  I stamped them on with Sally Hansen White On.  

And again, the chipping was so bad, I can't even post the picture I took because it gives me nightmares.

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*shudder*

Red Tips

So the second post I have for you today is from a couple weeks ago.  Here goes:

I was in a hurry to leave so excuse the bits I got on my skin haha.  I fell in love with this one right after I did it,  I just kind of wish I used different colors.

The base color was another one I got from idonails.com, called Copper Foil.  This was 2 coats, then I used my red striper brush to make the tips, followed by some Konad stamping, using plate m60 with my Revlon Black Lingerie.  It turned out decently enough, I think.

Whoops!

So it's been exactly one month since my last post....oops!  I guess college life just caught up with me!  I have a few pictures of manicures and a swatch from the time I've been away from the computer, and I guess I'll upload them all today since I have a bit of time on my hands!

So I did this one a few weeks ago, I believe, and it literally only took 15 minutes, including dry time.  The base color (Crystallized Pink from idonails.com) I did 2 coats of, then used the L.A. Color Art Deco striper brushes in pink and silver to make the lines.  Really simple and quite pretty.  Ooh la la

Song of the Day

It's my last day home. Song of the day:

Last Day of Work!

So today was my last day at work before winter break, and it was really quite bittersweet.  Of course, all of the attractive men at work just recently started coming through with their "maybe we could have dated" thoughts.  Awesome.  Stupid men.

Anyway, as a going away present for me (and for winning a sales contest), my managers took me to the store salon and I got a free "manicure" (as in a polish change).  The lady was really nice, though and added some crackle polish over the top.

Now I have an issue with crackle polish only because it's such a fad right now, and I was totally in on the crackle thing before it got all popular and stuff.  Keep in mind that this was free, so I know that it could have been a lot better, but the whole "free" thing makes it more okay.

Both are OPI, but I'm not sure what exactly she used, because I wasn't really paying attention.  The bottom color was a dark purple that flashes slightly duochrome, kind of like "Ink".  The top shatter color I'm just assuming is the "Blue Shatter."  Original name, I know.

I took this picture at night, so don't give me too much grief. :D

Orly Sparkly

I should have posted this a couple days ago...oh well.  I've been busy :D

As always, don't mind my terrible cuticles; the dryness here in Colorado is really wearing away at my hands.

I don't love Orly, and I never have, something to do with the chipping issues I always seem to have with them.  But this might be my exception; I just couldn't walk out of my local Sally's without it.  Even in the pictures, you can't really catch the full glimmerfication of this polish (look at me, I love it so much, I'm making up words). 

You can't really tell how freaking wonderful this is.  It's just great, especially from an arm's length away. 

This is 2 coats of Orly "Bubbly Bombshell" over a Nabi 98 Ace that I purchased at a small, little mall store.

Maybe next time, I'll just build up the Orly all on its own. Hmm...

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear has quickly become one of my favorite brands.  I just started wearing them a few weeks ago, and I haven't looked back.  Many of them are one-coaters, and the formulas are typically fantastic.  However, it has been a recurring problem that the brushes aren't of the best quality.  Yes, they spread perfectly, but the bristles are kind of everywhere. 

So on to the polish.  The color does not disappoint, and with 2 thin coats, was completely opaque, but if you tend to use thicker coats, it would be opaque in one. The formula is great too; it doesn't streak or anything.

Please don't mind my awful cuticles. 
Shade:

 Sunlight (there is a reflection on my index finger, not a problem with the color):

Overall, I love this color!

Sally Hansen Heart Mani!

This is the design I just did today (I apologize for the spots on my cuticles), I got the inspiration from a Youtube video by cutepolish.  The link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwB0HXvbTc4

I used the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 270 (Lacey Lilac) as the base color, then sponged the same brand's 300 (White On) over it.  Then with the Art Deco striper brush (in pink), I made the hearts, then sponged 802 (Silver Glitter) that I purchased from idonails.com over that.  Granted, the silver glitter I actually added some extra smaller loose glitter to, so that the coverage was better.

Just another nail blog

I know there's a ton of nail blogs out there, and I'm not expecting mine to be any better (at all), but I needed a place to put all my nail stuff.  So....here it is.  Now I'm still a beginner and it would be nice for some feedback, so leave as much as you want! Thanks!