Orly Cake Pop

I was digging through my pink drawer trying to figure out what to wear when I stumbled upon a nail polish I'd forgotten I'd had.  I'm not sure when I picked it up (maybe a FabFitFun Box?) but nonetheless, it's part of my collection, now.

Here I'm wearing three coats of Orly Cake Pop.  The formula was okay, a bit streaky, and I ended up with more coats than I'd normally like.  This is a soft white cream with a dash of pink.  Wear time less than optimal coming in at two days before it chipped and I removed the polish.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose!  It's all holiday nails all the time now and this week's flashback Friday is no exception.

For this manicure I used OPI My Vampire is Buff as my base, then used Zoya Sookie and Orly Lucky Duck to create the red and green chevrons.  My reindeer was created using Zoya Chanelle, Sally Hansen Black Out, Zoya White Out, and China Glaze Ruby Slippers.

Pillow Inspiration

While browsing Apartment Therapy this past weekend I found a throw pillow I just needed to have (this house tour if you're curious).  I tracked down the pillow to its source, Designer Fluff, where I was completely dismayed at how much it cost. Needless to say, you will not find one of these pillows on my couch.

You will, however, find a similar design on my nails. For this manicure I used two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff, stamped Bundle Monster plate BM-422 on top using Konad Special Polish in Purple, then added gold accents with a dotting tool and Orly Luxe.

Orly Charged Up with Sticks 'n Stones

After wearing a lot of neutrals, it's nice to wear a bright saturated color for once.  Earlier this year when Orly changed their bottle/the logo on the front, the employees of Sally Beauty let everyone who purchased something select a bottle for free.  I picked this pretty purple called Charged Up from the 2008 Orly High Voltage Collection.

Here I'm using two coats of Orly Charged Up topped with a glitter topper: Cover Band Lacquers Sticks 'n Stones.  If I'm not mistaken, Cover Band Lacquers now goes by Ninja Polish and can be purchased on their site, NinjaPolish.com.  Sticks 'n Stones is similar (but not the same) to Lynnderella's Connect the Dots. When I first acquired Sticks 'n Stones, Connect the Dots was quite the pain to acquire but since since Lynnderella is now selling directly on her eBay store it's a lot easier to obtain.

This black and white glitter topper is a nice addition to any cream base and I enjoy the appearance it creates on the nail.  I fully understand why this is such a popular topper!

Four Leaf Clover

Today's manicure is based off of a tutorial from Zoya's blog: Four Leaf Clover Tutorial.  I used their tutorial as the basis for my design, but I tweaked one little thing.  Zoya Ivanka is much too sheer to use on its own.  After three coats I still had visible nail lines so I took everything off and started over - this time with a base to make Ivanka pop.

For my base I used two coats of Orly Lucky Duck, a basic green cream from Orly's Fall 2011 Birds of a Feather Collection.   Next I used two coats of Zoya Ivanka on top of Lucky Duck - it was a little streaky after one coat even over Lucky Duck.  For my accent nail I used two coats of Zoya Ziv although it was completely opaque after one.

To create the clover design I used a small dotting tool to make hearts using Lucky Duck over Ziv.  I did try going straight to Ivanka with no base green, but it took so many coats of Ivanka to be opaque that I wound up smearing the clover leaves when I added top coat.  It was a little frustrating.  On my third try I was able to get the non-smeared design you see here.  Whoo!

Snowflakes

The only time there is ever too much snow is when it's outdoors.  Says the person who grew up in Blizzard Alley.  Heh.  Today it's snowflake nails.

To create this look I used four coats of Orly Angel Eyes from the Naughty or Nice Holiday 2012 Collection.  On top of this I used a coat of Seche Vite to distance the glitter from the stamping I was about to do.  In order to create the snowflakes I used Konad Special Polish in White and the following plates: Bundle Monster BM14, BM-319, BM-323 and Konad m59.

Nite Owl

A lot of time the holidays are so "go go go" that it's hard to get a moment alone to think, much less do my nails.  It makes sense then that while I'd love to be doing my nails in snowflakes, presents, and Santa Clauses, I usually just have time to throw on a nice nude polish!

This is three coats of Orly Nite Owl from the Fall 2011 Birds of a Feather Collection.  It's a gorgeous shade of taupe with tiny flecks of silver thrown in.  It's one of the most perfect shades of polish to wear to work if you're in a conservative office as well.

Fall Leaves

Autumn is fully upon those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and if you're lucky to live in the colder climates you've probably gotten to enjoy the changing leaves.  Now Thanksgiving is here and it's time to enjoy the last of the nice fall weather before everything becomes snowed over.  Zoya Yara is one of the few quintessential fall polishes I have and I couldn't resist doing a manicure with her then dressing it up for the season.

This is two coats of Zoya Yara stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM04 using Orly Luxe.  The combination is quite subtle but nice.

Happy Anniversary Delta!

Back in August my sorority chapter celebrated its 20th anniversary.  Whoo!  For the celebrations that day I dressed up my nails in my sorority's colors and mascot.  This November (today to be exact) my sorority celebrates its 29th anniversary.  Whoo!  It's getting old ;)

The sorority colors are royal blue, white, and silver.  The sorority mascot is a dolphin.  So for my festive nails I used two coats of Orly Sweet Peacock stamped with Bundle Monster BM-320 using Konad Special White.

Happy anniversary Alpha Omega Epsilon!

Week 15: Easter Day Manicure

The challenge for Week 15 of the 52 Week Challenge was to create an Easter Day manicure.  So far I've done chickens, sheep, and a pastel water marble.  I felt like that left me with two choices for today: eggs or bunnies.  To add diversity I decided to go with eggs, and I'm rather wishing I'd done bunnies because maybe that would have been easier!  Also, do you know what sound bunnies make?

The polishes I used were (in order of which they appear): Essie A Crewed Interest, Zoya Areej, Zoya Snow White, Essie Turquoise & Caicaos, Zoya Breezi, Orly Lucky Ducky, Essie Bangle Jangle, China Glaze Electric Beat,  and Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow.

It's come to my attention that I'm missing participants in my "other challenge participants" list.  If I'm missing you, please let me know by commenting and leave a link to your blog.  I'll add you to the list!  Conversely, if I've got your name listed and you're no longer participating, please let me know.

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  •  Marie at Polish, Polish, Polish...  • ChiChi at... •  Esra at Oje Sihirbazi (Wizard of Polish) •  Nails, Actually • Treselaine at Tres Chic Nails • Carol at Nails by Carol

Baaa! Baaa!

Keeping with the Easter/adorable animal theme, today I present to you little sheep.  The design for these sheep are based off of Chalkboard Nail's sheep tutorial and are super cute.  I just love their little sparkly pink noses!

For my base color I used two coats of Orly Lucky Duck, the sheep body is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White, the eyes and legs are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, the ears are China Glaze Pelican Gray, and the nose is Zoya Happi.

Week 12: Skittle Manicure

The challenge for week twelve was skittles.  The closest I've come to a skittle manicure before was my Valentines Day manicure.  This was a bit more intense than a simple skittle manicure however...it was a watercolored skittle manicure!  What are water colored nails? Rebecca Likes Nails has a photo tutorial on the technique and Beauty Geeks has a video that you can follow.

These are the colors I used.  Thumb (blues): China Glaze Shower Together, Zoya Robyn, Zoya Kristen.  Pointer (pinks): China Glaze Make Some Noise, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Pink I Can, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Presto Pink.  Middle (greens): Orly Lucky Duck, Sally Hansen Insta-Dru Lickety-Split Lime, China Glaze For Audrey.  Ring (orange/red): Zoya Jancyn, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet, Zoya America. Pinky (purples): Zoya Kieko, OPI A Grape Fit!, Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle Loyal Lavender.

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

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?

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.

Fowl Play

Fowl Play is a polish I've had for a while now but just haven't gotten around to wearing.  It's a darker color that I would normally wear so I'm guessing it's the less than hours of sunlight that's drawing me to use this color.  I am ready for spring to be here!

Anyway, here are the glory shots of Orly's Fowl Play:

Predominately, this is a dark purple jelly polish with large orange flakes.  I saw other photos of this polish where the orange flakes would turn other colors (like red and green) but all I see is orange.  There are however little bits of blue and red glitter, plus even smaller pieces of silver microglitter that combine to make this a polish that is ever changing its appearance.  

Fowl Play is still not one I'd wear on a regular basis but is a nice color to have on hand for when a darker color strikes my mood.  Does anyone else feel the same way I do about this polish?  From the way I've heard people rave about the color I definitely feel like I'm committing some sort of nail polish color sin.

Orly Nail Rescue

Vile Wrench Holder

I have fallen in love with Orly Nail Rescue.  I bought it this past fall and used it a couple of times then, but it wasn't until now that I've gotten the hang of using it where I can get good results.  The other day I was trying to pull out an 8 mm wrench from its wrench holder and wound up causing a break between the nail plate and the free edge for half of my nail.

I had two options:
1) Carefully remove the broken piece
2) Use Orly Nail Rescue and save my "long" nails!

Option one involved reducing the length of my nail by a little over 1/4th of an inch (yeesh!) so I chose option two.  The Orly Nail Rescue kit, which I bought at Sally Beauty, includes brush-on glue, repair powder, and a little file.  I haven't used the file because I find its shape awkward and hard to hold.

The kit is very easy to use.  Simply paint a little glue over the crack, then dip your finger in the powder.  I've found that if I complete three full cycles of glue, dip, brush off excess glue that the break will stay held together really well.  It also helps just to put glue along the crack and not anywhere else on your nail.

Check out this before and after using the nail rescue kit:

Filing the glued area till it's level ensures that the fix is invisible under nail polish.  Okay - sometimes it's a little lumpy (look at my pinky and middle fingers in this post) but I'd rather have lumpy that stubby.  I've had this crack in my middle finger since December 19th and I'm pleased that I've been able to keep my nail long until I can file the nail to match the others.

I prefer this kit to the tea bag method because I suck at cutting bags that match the shape of my nail bed and I find that I file away the tea bag way too easily.

Have you used Orly Nail Rescue before?  What are your thoughts on fixing breaks?

Day 20: WATER MARBLED

I scheduled this post because I'm off in Minnesota visiting my family for Christmas.  I didn't do much in the way of Christmas, or any other holiday, manicures this year but I thought it would be cute to do a red white a green water marble combination for Day 20 of the 31 Day Challenge.

I used two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Whirlwind White as a base for the marbling, then alternating drops of Zoya Sooki, Zoya Snow White, and Orly Lucky Duck for the swirls.  I used a white base because when I tried dipping naked nails Lucky Duck was very sheer and I had major VNL.  I topped everything with two coats of Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine Kaleidoscope, a color I received earlier this year as part of my Polish-aholics Anonymous Secret Santa (thank you Amanda!).  A final coat of Seche Vite holds everything in place and gives a nice shiny finish.

(If you'd like, you can now follow my blog with Bloglovin since Google has announced the end to Google Friend Connect.)

Snowflakes

My favorite shade of blue is sapphire, and this nail polish from Orly is definately what I would call sapphire.  Sapphire foil with with silver that glitters, glimmers, and catches all the light.

Orly's Sweet Peacock is a lovely, lovely color.  The blue and silver here reminds me of chilly winter days, so what better to spice up this manicure with than some snowflakes?  This my first winter-themed manicure of hopefully many.

To create the snowflakes I stamped Konad Special Polish in White on with Bundle Monster plate BM-213.  I love how this looks!  I think it's very pretty and very appropriate for December.