Today's nails are actually nails from 3 days ago. Whoops. I thought I was posting them here too. It's a shame you can't link your blogger account to your Instagram. The theme for day 6 is purple. So I decided to do the gradient stripe design using my Zoya Pixie Dusts.
The center stripe and index finger are Tomoko. The middle stripe and ring finger are Stevie. And the outer stripes and pinkie are Carter. All are 3 coats and I really enjoyed how this ended up. Hope you guys like it too!
I have enough Saran Wrap mani for you today. I've never tried it with bright colors. I've gotta say, I love the result. This is using Zoya's Paz and OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls.
Totally crazy right?! I love it. Hope you guys enjoy it!
I'm starting up another challenge. Hopefully I can finish this one. :) I meant to post this yesterday and forgot.
Day 1 is red so I started with a base of Zoya's Livingston (2 coats) on all my nails except for my ring finger. My ring finger has Tomoko (2.5 coats). I waited for Livingston to completely dry and then I added a thick coat of Flynn. Using a sandwich bag I dabbed off some of Flynn. Once that was completely dry I added a top coat and fell in love. This just screams Fall to me. And these colors remind me of caramel apples. So I'm going to be creating some short of drip mani with apples and caramel. Hope you enjoy my red nails and be on the look out for orange nails later today. :)
Today I have a design from Paulina's Passion. She did these amazing kite tail nails that I knew would be perfect for Bow Day. What is Bow Day you ask? I started a new challenge on Instagram. The Alphabet Challenge. Today is B for Bows. Yesterday was A for Aztec but it'll be featured tomorrow for YTT. You can view Paulina's design here!
Polishes used:
Zoya's Kristen
Zoya's Wednesday
Zoya's Katy
Zoya's Mira
Zoya's Paz
Julep's Something Blue
China Glaze's Fairy Dust
So what do you think? I love them.They were easier than I was expecting which is certainly a plus after working on a Monday. :) Hope you guys enjoyed today's Monkey See Monkey Do Monday.
Today I have a YTT from PackAPunchPolish. Her video takes Saran Wrap Manis to a whole new level. Check our her video below.
How awesome are these? Here is my attempt.
As you can see I did not add the stars in. I think it looks much better without the flags, and you can still see what it is. I used OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Pure Ice's Celestial, and Zoya's Quinn. I hope you guys like this edition of YTT!
Hey everyone Today I have the comparison shots from my Julep Secret Store purchases. First up we have Sally.
We have Julep's Sally, OPI's My Vampire Is Buff, and Julep's Kennedy. I honestly grabbed Kennedy by mistake thinking it was Sally. As you can see via the bottle these all look quite different.
The swatches aren't similar at all either. Thumb, index, and pinky are all Sally. Ring is MVIB, and the middle is Kennedy. Sally has a more peach tone to it where as MVIB has a very white base to it. Kennedy is also khaki as described compared to Sally. Now if I was going to pick a favorite out of all of these, it would certainly be Sally. MVIB is so streaky and thin. It took 3 coats to get it smooth. Kennedy and Sally are both 2 coats. Kennedy is just a strange yellow khaki that I wouldn't use for a flesh tone at all. While Sally doesn't match my skin tone at all, I still think it's the best option for a flesh color if you're doing nail art. Next we have Korin's comparisons.
They all look fairly similar. We have Zoya's Mitzi, Julep's Korin, Sinful Colors' Innocent, Wet N Wild's Toss Me A Lifesavers, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Lickety-Split Lime.
On the thumb we have Mitzi, index has Korin, middle has Innocent, ring has TMAL, and pinky has LSL. Mitzi and Innocent are completely dupes of each other. Mitzi just happens to have a matte finish. They are both very close to Korin, it's just a bit darker. A person who's not obsessed with nail polish would tell you they are the exact same polish. TMAL is a dark shimmery green and LSL is lighter than TMAL without the shimmer. Korin is $14.99, Mitzi is $8 and Innocent is $1.99. If you're looking to save money then Innocent is what you need to pick up. But formula wise you need Korin. Mitzi is very streaky and you can even see the bumps in this picture. Innocent isn't that bad with 2 coats, but Korin you can totally get away with one. It all depends on a personal preference. My pick is Korin hands down. Those were my comparisons. If you'd like to see more leave me a comment and I'll start working on more of these. I hope you enjoyed today's post!
Hey everyone Today I have a fantastic new spin on traditional animal prints. The design was originally done by Very Emily. She was nice enough to also include a tutorial as well.
The polishes I used today were Zoya's Sookie, Zoya's Paz, Zoya's Katy, and Julep's Alaina. I just adore how this turned out. You can read Emily's post here. I hope you enjoyed today's MSMD Monday.
Hey everyone I have some nail art for you today! This is one of two designs that I did for 4th of July. The 2nd design I'm going to feature on Tuesday for YTT. This design is a drip mani.
I started off with a base coat and 2 thin coats of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I then tapped off my nails using striping tape. I added 1 coat of Zoya's Sooki and added a coat of Seche Vite. Once it was dry I then used Pure Ice's Celestial to make the drips. Using a toothpick I finally added the smaller dots and added a final top coat of Seche Vite. What do you guys think of my first 4th of July mani of 2013? Stay tuned for more manis!
Hey everyone For this edition of Monkey See Monday Do Monday we have Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails! She's my favorite blogger and anytime I can replicate her nails, it's a win in my book. Today's pattern is a stamp design. Now I haven't done an actual stamp in forever. Stamp Sunday quickly ended. This is my warning that they are not perfect, but stamping isn't always perfect.
I started off with OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls on all of my nails except for my ring finger which has Zoya's Katy. I then added Maybelline's Clearly Spotted on my ring finger. (Look out for the full review of 3 of the new Maybelline's Polka Dot collection soon!). Using Wet N Wild's Black Cream and Salon Express Plate SE22 I created the checker pattern on the other nails. Here's Rebecca's nails here. I hope you guys like them and that I did Rebecca justice! :)
Hey everyone Today I have a new type of mani for you. Have you heard of a Saran Wrap mani? It's where you paint 2 different polishes and while the 2nd is wet you dab some off with Saran Wrap balls. Sound confusing? That's what YTT is all about. I'd never done one before, but it was the challenge for 6/10/13 on Instagram (I know I'm a day late). So I went to Youtube and found the video below from GetNailedd.
Sounds super easy right? Well, not if you forget to buy Saran Wrap. So I had to use a pleated sandwich bag. Which is not as sticky, but still got the job done.
I used Zoya's Wednesday and China Glaze's Mahogany Magic. To be honest I should have used a darker brown. I was going for the look of a tuquoise stone, and I still think I nailed it. What do you think? Have you tried the Saran Wrap (Sandwich Bag) Mani? How did yours turn out?
Hey everyone I know I just posted 2 hours ago, but I couldn't resist showing off Godiva. I went straight to Ulta when this collection came out. I only purchased Godiva, but after swatching the whole Summer collection, I have to have the rest of the Winter collection.
Oh look old watermark and acrylics. Yeah I've had this in my pending folder for a while. I'm not sure why I didn't post it, but I'm glad I waited now. Godiva is a beautiful nude texture polish. I could not get over how perfectly this matched my skin tone. (Zoya if you're reading a need a cream finish of the exact same color) It is my go to polish when I need to have "tame" nails. I've worn this to work a few times now. 2 thin coats, remember the thinner the better. If you use a thick coat you won't see as much of the texture finish and it won't be as matte. Once I get the rest of the Winter collection I'll post a review on that collection as well. Hope you've enjoyed my Zoya Fest today!
Today I have a real treat for you! I'd seen swatches and the press release on the PixieDust Summer Collection and knew I had to have it. While I was using Bloglovin I saw a giveaway provided by Michelle at All Lacquered Up. I never thought I'd win, but thought it was worth a shot so I entered. I was at work right before my vacation started and got a DM on Twitter saying I was one of the winners. I was so excited. I couldn't believe it. I won! I got all 6 bottles full sized free of charge! Seriously Michelle & Zoya, my bank account thanks you guys so much! This post is going to be very picture heavy (a total of 12 photos), but you are going to love every minute of it, I promise!
Hey everyone This week's YTT is special. I'm actually going to be showing you 2 different videos that I followed for my most recent mani. Both videos are from TotallyCoolNails. On Instagam I'm doing a challenge where certain days through the month we have a specific design. This one was for flowers. I actually found this Stitch video first.
But I wasn't a fan of the flowers, I think they are actually leaves. But I wanted to do these nails so I had to find a different flower video. So I found this one.
I thought it was perfect because it matches the color scheme that was I was using. Here is the final product!
They turned out so great! I love them. And they were super popular on Instagram which completely made my day. I was so happy with how they turned out.
Colors Used:
Zoya's Sooki
OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Kiss Long Brush's Soft Blue
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Blue Away
Pure Ice's Celestial
Art Deco Long Brush's White
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Black Out
I hope you guys enjoyed my nails and YTT this week!
Hey everyone Today I have nails that I did inspired by Sammy at the Nailasaurus. I seriously love her work. She's in my top 5 nail bloggers. This mani features striping tape, accent glitter nails, and roses. It is one girly mani that's for sure. But I got a ton of compliments on it. I even got a complement from the nail salon by my work. That basically means I have arrived in case you didn't know. :)
I seriously loved these, they turned out so cute. The polishes I used were Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Mint Sorbet, OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Sinful Colors' Starfish, Zoya's Katy, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Green (leaves), and Pure Ice's Beware. I posted these on Instagram first (like always, check me out on Instagram!!!) and Sammy even commented. She said, "Amazing. And that was so fast!" I totally had a fangirl moment. Here's a link to Sammy's nails HERE. I hope you guys love these nails as much as I did!
Hey everyone Can you tell what today's theme is? Star Wars!!! Yesterday was Star Wars Day and today is a little special too. I could not think of anything to do for these nails. I almost went with a Lego Star Wars theme. Until I thought of my nephew. He's obsessed with Angry Birds. He's played since it first came out and he's so much better at it then me. If I can't beat a level I had my phone to him and he beats it with 3 stars. He's a true genius. He became obsessed with Star Wars once they released Angry Birds Star Wars so why not!
I love how they turned out! I used a lot of polish for this one.
OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Zoya's Ibiza
Love & Beauty's Midnight
Zoya's Sooki
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Blue Me Away
Pure Ice's Kiss Me Here
Art Deco Long Brush's Black
Art Deco Long Brush's White
Sinful Colors' Star Fish
Nail Art Long Brush's Cocoa
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Sun Kissed
China Glaze's Trendsetter
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's Black Out
Zoya's Trixie
So many polishes. I ended up having to go onto Youtube to see how to draw out the birds. Took me quite a bit to finish, but I'm so happy with the results. My sister showed my nephew and he said, "Oh my god. I can't believe she can do that. She needs to make Minoauk Pig and Boba Fett." Totally felt like a rockstar. Hope you enjoyed the nails!
Hey everyone I recently did 3 different cheetah manicures in the span of 2 days. I had to go on a business trip to Ohio recently. Before I left I watched the Devil Wears Prada and I was inspired by Andie's coat. That's where this first mani comes in.
This is a half moon mani using Revlon's Jaded Night, Sinful Color's Nude and Orly's Prince Charming. I love how this turned out so much. It made my nails look so long and I have little nubbins! I also took my son to his very first zoo as an early birthday present, so that's also why there's an animal print theme. Next my friend Courtney came with us and wanted me to do her nails. So I packed a bunch of neon colors and did a different cheetah design.
This is using OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Wet N Wild's Limelight, Zoya's Paz, Essense's Wanna Be Your Sunshine, and Pure Ice's Celestial. These turned out super cute and she loved them. So it was perfect.
This last one is one of my favorite manicures I did for the month of April. This features Sinful Color's Nude and Zoya's Phoebe. I just love the color combo and I'll have to use it again.
Hey everyone I have a real treat for you today. This mani is actually a live update. There's 40 minutes left of Tuesday, I just did this mani and am currently still wearing it. I also really don't like the way these turned out. Typically I'm pleased with everything. Not so much this time around. And it's of no fault of the artist. I suck today. :P Today's video comes from TotallyCoolNails.
The video is wonderful. I love the way her nails turned out. I think my biggest problem is she is using paint and I'm using polish. And my striper is getting old, I need a new one.
So much smearing. I'm really disappointed by these. And I though the trunk of the tree looked so great. It's the top of the trees. Look at my middle finger! That's like some Chucky Finster hair. Polished Used:
NYC's Tudor City Teal
NYC's Midtown Mimosa
Zoya's Jancyn
Kiss' Pink
Kiss' Lilac
Art Deco Long Brush's Black
Orly's Snowcone
OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Wales
Orly's Prince Charming
I'm also going to include some full swatches of Jancyn.
These are some old swatches. Look at that old watermark. I also got this color on sale. I thought it was Arizona when I first grabbed it. Then I saw it wasn't, but was still on sale. Close enough for me.
I will say it can stain a bit, so always make sure you were a basecoat.
What do you guys think? All right comparison or epic fail?
Hey everyone Today I bring to you a design done by Jacki at Adventures in Acetone. She did these Hungry Hungry Hippos nails that I just adore. I loved playing that game as a kid, but I didn't get to play it very often. I was always a little over eager and so I slammed on the little lever causing a lot of noise. I had to recreate these nails for the little girl that never got to play for very long.
I did do something a little different. To represent the little marbles that they were after I had to attach some pearls for that 3D look. I love how they turned out. The little blue guy is my favorite just because his smile is so cute. Polish:
Blue Hippo Skin: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away
Blue Hippo Details: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue Me Away
Yellow Hippo Skin: Essence in Be My Sunshine
Yellow Hippo Detail: Zoya in Pippa
Green Hippo Skin: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet
Green Hippo Detail: Zoya in Veruschka
Coral Hippo Skin: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Carribean Coral
Coral Hippo Detail: FingerPaints in MichelTangelo
Base and Eyes: OPI in My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Details: Art Deco Long Brush in Black
Red: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen
Yeah that's a lot of polish, but the end result is totally worth it. Here's the link to Jacki's design: LINKAGE I hope you guys like this weeks edition of MSMD Mondays.
Hey everyone This Tuesday's video is again from Luxurious Nails. Last week she posted her cartoon nails. I have done them already and followed a different tutorial (I just haven't posted them yet).Which one did I like better read on to find out!
How cute is her voice? I'm from Kentucky myself and love hearing someone else's twang. Honestly I am not good at the whole "rimming" design. Can we also think of a new way to describe this design, rimming kind of skeeves me out.
I think they turned out good. My lines were way too thick. I need a new striper bottle, mine is near it's end. I can always tell because they get so goopy. My preferred method is like a ruffian. You start off with a black nail and cover it with the color of choice leaving an edge. The only reason I prefer it is because of the awful job I do when tracing the edge of my nails. But the other method leaves you with limited color choices so I'll probably be using this method more once I get a new striper. I posted these on Instagram and tagged Zoya since I used Katy for the pink polish. They commented on my nails and told me they were cute. It made my entire day! Here's the my nails using the other method (the ruffian).
The polish featured here is Zoya's Pheobe. I loved the matte shimmer, but I had to put a top coat on it so it wouldn't chip. Did you attempt this tutorial? Send me your links below and let me know what you think!
