Green and Gold

I don't have much to say about this manicure.  I think the pictures say it all.

Sorry for the tip wear here.  I forgot to take pictures after day one or even day two, so this is how the polish appeared on day three.  I think it held up pretty well.

For this design I used a base of Zoya Yara, then stamped Orly Luxe on top using M.A.S.H. plate m63.  I love these two polishes paired together.  I love how the gold sparkles in Yara seem brighter when paired with Luxe.  I like how well Luxe works as a stamping polish.  I like how well the image transfers from the M.A.S.H. plate to my nail.  What do you think?

Broken Hearted Dove

Did you know that mourning doves are monogamous creatures and form strong attachment bonds?  That's why I had a bit of a chuckle when I looked at the names of the two polishes I used to create this manicure.  I picked Zoya Dove and a crackle: China Glaze Broken Hearted.

Dove is one of my favorite colors from Zoya.  It's a very light, opaque grey but it comes out very streaky and I need three coats to get full coverage.  Broken Hearted is just an awesome hot pink crackle.  

High Contrast

Another quick post here.  I haven't done a whole lot of stamping lately and I thought it was time to dust off the stamping plates.

This is four coats of China Glaze White Cap for the base with M.A.S.H. plate m64 stamped on top using Sally Hansen Black Out.  I'm really liking the strong contrast between White Cap and Black Out.  I do wish I had less visible nail line going on.  I think next time I'd sponge my tips with a strong color then apply a final coat of White Cap on top to make it appear more blended.  Or maybe I should just use a thin white base coat.

Week 8: Corset Manicure

Welcome to Week 8 of the 52 Week Challenge!  This week is corset manicure and I used the tutorial created by Nihrida to create my manicure.

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out as my base, a line of Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Caribbean Frost, and then So Easy Stripe Rite in Black to make the laces.  I really like Caribbean Frost.  It's an absolutely gorgeous green and I really like wearing it.

Be sure to check out what others have done for this challenge by visiting their blogs:

LizMarie at I'm Simply Complex • Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... • Caitlin at Addicted 2 Nails • Sarah at PrncessSarah02 • Charlotte at Charlotte's Nails :) • Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together • Rachel-Karina at Polished Criminails • Liz at Nothing But Nail Polish • Fun With My Nail Polish • Operation: Nail It! • Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails • Square Polish • Only Always Soccermom  • Hurr Did, Nails Did • Olivia Writes • The Dragon Lady • Kaki at Glitter Obsession • Isa at IsaBella's World • Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter • Jackie at MeMa's Mani's  • Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog

Kennedy

This was a nail polish I had to have based on the name, just like Kristen.  To me Kennedy is a last name, not a first name, but whatever.  I know it best as a last name and that's the reason I bought it.  Here is Zoya Kennedy in all of its glory:

Zoya describes this polish as "a full coverage, pale, french beige cream" but to me the color looks more lavender on my nails.  I think this is an ideal color for wearing to work and I really like how it makes my hands appear.

Have you ever bought a polish based on its name?

Glittering Flowers

Happy Pink Wednesday!  For this manicure I used two new-to-me nail polishes and it was my first time using rhinestones on my nails.  Many firsts here :)

I'd ordered the M.A.S.H. twelve color rhinestone wheel in January but hadn't really found an application to use the rhinestones.  Suffice to say, I'm going to try and incorporate rhinestones into a lot more manicures - I love how this looks!

This is three coats of Essie A Crewed Interest stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Presto Pink using Bundle Monster plate BM-224.  I'm not really pleased with the formula on A Crewed Interest: it just doesn't cover well.  It's opaque, but incredibly streaky.  I probably should have done a fourth coat of it because there were still patchy areas, but since I was stamping I just went with the three.  Formula issue aside, I LOVE wearing this.  I love that the colors have high contrast (for being in the same color group) and I love the sparkle of the rhinestones.

To adhere the rhinestones I'd added a drop of Presto Pink where I wanted to place the gem and then used a tweezers to lower the rhinestone into place.  I added a thick layer of Seche Vite to keep everything together and so far it's holding up great!

More Hearts

Happy Valentines Day!  Just another simple Valentines Day manicure over here.

This is three coats of China Glaze Strawberry Fields as the base.  I then stamped the hearts image from M.A.S.H. plate m78 with Orly Luxe.  I picked this color because it perfectly matches a sweater I'm wearing today!  It's bright pink with small gold accents, just like Strawberry Fields.

Week 7: Valentines Day Manicure

Happy almost-Valentines Day!  Welcome to week seven of the 52 Week Challenge, Valentines Day.  I did Sweetheart Candy Nails and I'm loving how fun these look.

For this manicure I used Finger Paints Chrysanthe-Mum's The Word (pinkie), Zoya Kristen (ring finger), Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle Loyal Lavender (middle), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow (pointer), Zoya Maya (thumb), Zoya Tamsen (text), and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White (heart). I used Nail Art Diva plate From the Heart 1 for the text and M.A.S.H. plate m46 for the heart.  The first time I did this I smudged all the text when I applied Essie's Matte About You top coat so that it looked like the text was dripping blood.  The second time I did this I applied a top coat of Seche Vite before my coat of Essie Matte About You.

Be sure to check out what others have done for this challenge by visiting their blogs:

LizMarie at I'm Simply Complex • Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... • Caitlin at Addicted 2 Nails • Sarah at PrncessSarah02 • Charlotte at Charlotte's Nails :) • Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together • Rachel-Karina at Polished Criminails • Liz at Nothing But Nail Polish • Fun With My Nail Polish • Operation: Nail It! • Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails • Square Polish • Only Always Soccermom  • Hurr Did, Nails Did • Olivia Writes • The Dragon Lady • Kaki at Glitter Obsession • Isa at IsaBella's World • Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter • Jackie at MeMa's Mani's  • Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog

Tying up Love

After I took down all my Christmas decorations this past weekend my apartment was looking super bare.  Gone were the cheerful colors and the sparkles.  Since I was out shopping at Target I wandered around for a while looking for something Valentines Day themed to use for decoration, but nothing really jumped out at me.  The next best thing?  Valentines Day nails!  

Okay maybe not the best thing for decorating my apartment, but it works great for decorating me.  This is two coats of China Glaze Ruby Pumps then stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM11 using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White.  I love the sparkles peaking out from behind the "rope" as I like to think of it.  What I don't love is that the stark contrast between the red and white reminds me of candy canes and Christmas.  I'm trying to get past Christmas!

Pink Lace

Happy Pink Wednesday!  I'm trying to get caught up on my blog so this will just be a quick post today.  I had Valentines Day in mind when I was creating this manicure.

I used two coats of Zoya Zanna as my base, then using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White I stamped the lace image from Konad plate m71 on top.  I always have the worst of luck stamping with my Konad plates.  I'm not sure if the engraving isn't as deep, but I don't get good results for the transfer of an image to the stamper.  I don't have this problem with my M.A.S.H. or Bundle Monster plates.

Liebster Blog Award

In January I was given an award by Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... and Kaki at Glitter Obsession.  I wasn't able to blog as much as I would have liked in January due to my PhD examination, but I was really touched that they had decided to honor me with an award.

"Liebster is a German word, meaning dearest or beloved, but it can also mean favorite.  The idea behind the Liebster Blog Award is that it is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers in order to create new connections and bring attention to these wonderful blogs!"

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal the five blogs you have chosen and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award onto your blog.
4. Request that the people you have sent the award to forward it onto their favorite bloggers.

I'd like to share the love and these are the five blogs I chose to give the Liebster Blog award to:
Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter
Raeven at Let Me See Ur Peacock
Alyssa at MUSEd About You
Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog
Stella at My Wet Nails

Electric Flowering Beat

This past weekend I was able to go polish shopping!  For the last several weeks I've been locked up in my apartment studying for an examination I had last week.  Most of my posts over this period were scheduled in advance so that I wouldn't have to worry about trying to maintain my blog when I had other stuff going on.  This past weekend I was able to do many things that I've wanted to do but haven't had the time for; such as taking down my Christmas decorations, going polishing shopping, playing video games (anyone play SWTOR??), wash my car, clean my apartment, and spend some quality time with my boyfriend.  I had a pretty awesome weekend!

One of the polishes I picked up this weekend was China Glaze Electric Beat.  There were two polishes I wanted from the China Glaze Spring 2012 Electropop Collection: Electric Beat and Make Some Noise.  I was very happy to find them both!

Today I have China Glaze Electric Beat for my base color, with China Glaze Platinum Silver stamped on top using Bundle Monster Plate BM20.  I can't tell you how many times I've picked cat fur off my hands only to see another strand I missed showed up in the photos.

My short little nails make me sad but I know they'll grow out.  Just not as fast as I want them to!

Week 6: Half-Moon Manicure

The challenge for week six of the 52 Week Challenge was to create a half-moon manicure.  I've done a couple of half-moon designs before but this time I wanted to spice it up.  I originally saw this style of half-moon from Colores de Carol and thought it would be perfect for me to try.  Then I ran across this funky design from the Daily Nail and fell in love.  You see, I'd stopped stamping because I was bored of using just black, white, and silver.  I want to start doing more stamping but with colors!  Lots and lots of colors!

For this manicure I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Choco-Latte as the base, then I stamped plate m57 on top using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Out.  I mixed a drop of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White with two drops of Sinful Colors Nirvana to make the light brown spots.  This I topped with a light coat of Out the Door.  Next up came the hole reinforcement tape and four coats of Zoya America.  My word, I didn't realize how much the spots would still show through with that many coats of America.  And you can still seem them (from the distance the photos were taken, not from normal viewing distance).  A final topping of Seche Vite and everything was beautiful!  This was much more involved than my previous half-moon designs but a good way for me to unwind after a very stressful week.

Speaking of stress...you think you have gotten rid of a terrible habit and then eight hours of testing later you discover that no, that habit is still there.  Le sigh.  I've got short nails now but I'm hoping they'll grow fast.

Be sure to check out what others have done for this challenge by visiting their blogs:

LizMarie at I'm Simply Complex • Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... • Caitlin at Addicted 2 Nails • Sarah at PrncessSarah02 • Charlotte at Charlotte's Nails :) • Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together • Rachel-Karina at Polished Criminails • Liz at Nothing But Nail Polish • Fun With My Nail Polish • Operation: Nail It! • Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails • Square Polish • Only Always Soccermom  • Hurr Did, Nails Did • Olivia Writes • The Dragon Lady • Kaki at Glitter Obsession • Isa at IsaBella's World • Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter • Jackie at MeMa's Mani's  • Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog

School of Hard Rocks

Just a quick post here; this polish choice is sort of ironic for me.  For the last couple of weeks I've been studying for sort of a placement exam for PhD programs.  It's an eight hour exam spread over two days...today is day two.  The exam sucks, a lot.  For this occasion I'm rocking a part of Essie's Winter 2011 Collection, School of Hard Rocks, a deep dusty green-teal.

I really like this color.  It's definitely suitable for today.

Just realized this is my 100th post!  I never thought I'd come so far!  Bummer that I'm too anxiety ridden to do much besides this though. :(