Mad and Crazy Plaid

I am so excited to show you this nail art! It's a bright and colorful plaid that's perfect for warm weather. The best part is that it looks complicated, but is super easy to do!

Here are the polishes I used: I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow. It usually takes about one and a half coats, but you'll be covering most of it up anyway. Then I used a new Kiss Nail Artist pack I got waaaay back in winter but have never used. It has blue, purple, and pink. Then I finished it off with some Seche Vite.

So here's how you make the pattern (which I do completely on one hand and then do the other). Paint on you base color and allow it to completely dry. Then choose your first color, which will be under all of the others. I chose the purple because it was the lightest. Then take the brush and paint two vertical lines with plenty of space in between. I also made slightly off-center and then close to the side. Do this on all of your nails on one hand.

Wait a little bit for the color to dry (it won't take long), and paint two horizontal lines with the same color. Basically, you make a tic-tac-toe box. Once it is completely dry, you do the same thing with your next color (I chose blue).

This last part was where I deviated. For the final color, which is usually the most eye-catching (the hot pink in this case), I normally do a big cross, with the vertical line near the side of the nail and the horizontal across the middle. But this pink was too good to waste! I added another vertical line and got an amazingly busy nail art.

If you want to do this mani yourself, I highly recommend the Kiss Nail Artist sets, or something like them. If you don't want to buy those or don't have a striping brush (a really super thin brush), then I suggest using a dotting tool. Remember, you can make your own with sewing and bobby pins!

Striped Chic

Last week I received a very special academic award. It's called the Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar Award, and it's a pretty big deal. You have to have at least a 3.85 to even be considered, then faculty recommendations and personal qualities determine whether you get the award. This year, only seventy-five students (my university has just under 15,000 undergraduates) were honored.

Anyway, I was one of those students and I thought that deserved some special nails. I decided to go with a look I've been wanting to do for a while: stripes.

To create this mani all you need is scotch tape. First you paint your base color, which should be the lightest. I used OPI Tutti Fruti Tonga. Let it dry, add a top coat, apply the tape, and paint on another color. My second color was Essie Master Plan, a gray I absolutely adore (thumbs up if you heard that in an Olsen twin's voice).

I am very excited to tell you about the top coat I used. It's called Seche Vite and I've been trying to get my hands on it for months. You know that I've been searching for a good top coat and this is the one that a lot of nail bloggers flock to, and I can see why. I bought two tiny bottles because they were only $2 and the big bottle was $10.

I really like how this mani turned out. It feels young, but sophisticated. I also can't help but think of elephants when I see the pink and gray. I just love elephants (along with cats, of course).

The striping wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. You just have to make sure that you're precise with your tape. Cutting out all of your tape strips ahead of time helps, too. If you want to try this technique, try this tutorial that I used.

The Girl on Fire

I haven't posted my nail pictures in a while, and this one is especially late. I went to see The Hunger Games (oh my goodness, so many emotions!) and of course I had to do my nails especially for the occasion.

My polish of choice was China Glaze Electrify, which is from the Capitol Colors collection (yes, the highly controversial HG polishes). This gold and red glitter is so amazing. This one is supposed to represent District 5, the power district. I layered it over OPI Thank You Very Muchness and finished with a top coat.

The result was a mani I could not keep my eyes off of. I was constantly checking out my nails because they switched between looking like molten gold and actual fire.

This polish sparkles like no tomorrow. This is a picture of the glitter blurred so you can get more of an idea of how much bling is in it.

It's been a while, but I remember it applying fairly well. I was afraid that the glitter would be very sparse, hence the base color, but it turned out to be quite generous. The polish lasted quite a while, but taking it off was a pain. I found it was better to peel and chip it off myself rather than use nail polish remover. I'm still looking for ways to remove glitter easily.

And in case you didn't realize how much I love The Hunger Games, let me show you what else I wore to the premiere: It's a necklace I got from Etsy and I absolutely love it.

It's a old-fashioned pocket watch with a different HG-related charms. It has the mockingjay with the arrow, Peeta's pearl, and a tree. The finished package is more related to Catching Fire, but definitely still appropriate. I also like that because there are different parts, you wouldn't know it's based on the series at a glance.

Do you like The Hunger Games nail polish? Have you seen the movie? Have you ever bought book/movie inspired jewelry?

Vampsterdam

"Vintage Minnie Mouse" Combines My Obsessions

Yesterday I gushed to my sister about how much I love nail polish as I bought a new pink (OPI Tutti Frutti Tonga). Now I'll have a few more pinks to buy because OPI has made a line inspired by Minnie Mouse!

 

The limited edition collection, which hits stores in June, features four adorable and sassy shades of pink:
Nothin' Mousie About It - Don’t squeak it – SHOUT IT! This confetti light pink is tops!
If You Moust You Moust - You gotta pink what you gotta pink.
I'm All Ears - Tell me how much you love this magenta shimmer.
The Color of Minnie - You had this little mouse at “red.”

I already know that I want to buy the entire collection, especially Nothin' Mousie About It. That one takes the cake. Hopefully if the collection does well, there will be even more Disney collaborated nail polishes with OPI. Afterall, the success of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Muppets probably led to this.

What do you think of Vintage Minnie Mouse?

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Metallic Dots

I did my very first manicure using a dotting tool, and I have to say, I'm pretty happy. I am also proud that I came up with this idea on my own, instead of looking at other manis for inspiration.

The base color is OPI's I Have a Herring Problem, from their Holland collection. Let me tell you, it is so gorgeous! It's a lovely blue-gray with little, itty-bitty shimmers in it. For the dots I used Sally Hansen's Time to Shine, a bronzey-gold, which I also adore.

To make the dots I actually used a sewing pin! I mean, why buy a professional dotting tool when you have things around your house that do the same thing? I just rubbed the rounded end of the pin on the brush, tapped the excess polish onto a piece of paper, and then pressed the polished pin to my nail.

For the design I did four dots in a vertical line on each nail, with five dots on the thumbs. Since I'm new at dotting, they're not all equal, but I still like it. They ended up reminding of jeans because the blue looked like denim with brass buttons. Talk about a fashion mani!

Seafoam

Revlon's Whimsical Lives Up to Its Name

A couple of weeks ago I was walking through Wal-Mart's beauty aisle when this polish jumped out at me. So naturally I went, "Ooh!" and bought it.

Whimsical is a light blue with little circles of silver glitter and big blue and pink hex glitter pieces. What was unexpected is that it's a jelly, which means it's meant for layering. I decided to put a thin coat of OPI's Alpine Snow on as a base color and layered four, yes FOUR coats of Whimsical over that.

At the time, I didn't know that Revlon's Whimsical was a straight up copy of Deborah Lippmann's $18 Glitter In The Air. I was just aware of how pretty the polish was. Now that I do know, I feel a little bad.  Anyways, back to my nails. You'd think I would have super thick nails with five coats of polish on, but it's no different than my usual two.

Okay, so what did I think. I love it! The light blue is so cute and while it was a little difficult at first to get the glitter pieces it was totally worth it. I like that you can see some of it buried in the other layers.

This mani feels really fun. As strange as it sounds, it reminds me of eggs. Like, I look at my nails and I think of Easter eggs, robin's eggs, and even dinosaur eggs (I don't quite understand that one myself).

I'll be wearing it a lot in the Spring. And because it's a thin jelly, you can change up the look by simply swapping the base color. I can't wait to try putting different blues and purples underneath. What do you think of Whimsical?

Nail Polish Shopping Spree!

What started out as a quick trip to Ulta for a new top coat turned into a polish extravaganza. Upon realizing that said top coat was out of stock, I proceeded to buy five nail polishes.

The first thing I grabbed was Essie's Matte About You. I've been lusting over this top coat that has the ability to turn glossy nails matte with a single coat.

Next, I looked through the whites. My Sally Hansen Insti-Dri White separated beyond repair, so I needed a new one. I chose OPI's Alpine Snow, which is a straight up pure white.

I Have a Herring Problem is my favorite of the polishes I got. This dusty blue with gold and silver shimmer is from OPI's Holland Collection. It's so pretty!

I wanted a nude color (to hop on the Spring trend), but all of the true nudes looked weird against my fair skin. I ended up going with OPI's Bubble Bath. It has just enough pink to compliment my skin tone.

Finally, I grabbed my first Zoya in years. Edyta is a sparkly, shimmery olive green with a metallic finish. It has itsy bitsy flecks of gold, orange, yellow, and blue. I'll probably break it out during March.

Which one should I try first?!

Creamy Coral

On Stranger Tides

 

I love this outfit so much I've had dreams about this bag.

Change of Plans

I have some sad news, you guys. My fingernails all broke to the point of hopelessness, so I cannot do this week's manicure challenge. It's not just that they're short, it's that I basically have no free edges. I'm going to let them grow out and get stronger, and then do the sparkle rays next week.

To make up for it, I painted my toes and did a fun little design. I used Jade in the Shade from Nicole by OPI for my base color. It's a beautiful color that reflects the light wonderfully. The design is Kiss Nail Artist black (of course).

I applied two coats of Jade in the Shade. The second coat had to be a bit more generous due to the odd fact that my toe nails aren't exactly flat/smooth. The color photographed a little darker than it looks in person, but you still get the idea of what it looks like.

For the design, I chose this simple star shape. I didn't want it to look perfect, so I painted it with little flicks of the brush instead of smooth, careful lines.

Let's hope that my nails recover so I can do the manicure challenge. Please feel free to comment with any suggestions for building longer and stronger nails!

Next on My Lust List

After the Glitter Gradient Manicure went so well I want to do it again and again. So, I need more glitter polishes. Since I loved the way that OPI one went on, I found another one.

Let me introduce you to DS Temptation. It's a purple glitter with flecks of light blue from the OPI Designer Series. I think it will look great over the grays and blues I have, and of course, the purples.

Have you ever used DS Temptation?

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Glitter Gradient Challenge: Success!

 Earlier this week I told you that I would be attempting a glitter gradient manicure. Last night I busted out my polishes, and not only was it was a success, I'm in love!

For my base color I used Royal Flush Blush by OPI. It's a glossy color that goes between pink and peach, depending on the lighting. For the glitter, I used Extra-Va-Vaganza. I was worried that the two wouldn't go together, because in the bottle, the glitter looks like a red-brown with some gold.

 But oh was I wrong. Extra-Va-Vaganza actually has gold, red, and green flecks with a bit of light blue and purple throw in. Surprisingly, I love the green. It looks (ironically) fabulous against the pink.

I applied two coats of Royal Flush Blush and let them completely dry. Then, I made sure that the Extra-Va-Vaganza brush had very little glitter on it. Instead of going from the middle of the nail up towards the tip, I went the opposite way and started at the tip. This ensured that the most glitter was at the end of my nail. Then I just kept adding more glitter and working my way back.

This glitter polish was wonderful for this type of manicure, but if you wanted to use it for your whole nail, you'd have to apply a base color first. It's basically just glitter in clear polish.

To finish, I added two different top coats. It's a bit unorthodox, but lately my OPI Start to Finish Base & Top Coat has been making my colors run, so I applied Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails first.

This is now my favorite nail art.