Flower Blossoms

I used Essie Turquoise & Caicos, SinfulColors Nirvana, Essie Blanc, and Ulta 14 Carat.

Starting Left to Right, Top to Bottom. 1. Two coats of Turquoise & Caicos. 2. Using a small paintbrush, draw branches using Nirvana. 3. With a dotting tool, create the petals of the flower on the branches. 4. Using the dotting tool again I used 14 Carat to create the center of the blossoms.

Minnie Mouse Inspired

I used OPI Lincoln Park After Dark for the polka dots and then added little mouse ears here and there.

Right: Using a dotting tool, make dots 2/3 up the nail. Left: Use the dotting tool again to create the ears on a few of the dots you already made. This makes the Minnie or Mickey Mouse ears.

Indoor Lighting

Right Hand: Sunlight

Left Hand: Sunlight

Little Bow Ties for My Sister

I used Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Sephora by OPI A-ha! Moment, and Orly Instant Artist Jet Black.

From top to bottom: 1. Using a small paint or nail brush, draw a triangle shape on the nail with the base starting at the tip of the nail. 2. Use the paint brush again to make a thin line above the triangle. 3. Using a dotting tool, dot the outline of the bow tie. Meaning, put a dot in the center and one dot at each tip of the bow. Then fill in the rest with the black color. 4. With another color, create a little dot in the center of the bow. 

Chinchilly and Pink Glitter

 I used Essie Chinchilly and A Cut Above and China Glaze Sex on the Beach as the base color for the accent nail.

Sunlight

Funny Little Design

I used Ulta Duty Free Shopping Spree, Essie Lapiz of Luxury and Shine of the Times. I called this a funny little design because I have never seen it before and I don't know what to call it. It was inspired by one of the dresses Ariel from Little Mermaid 2 wore and I entered it for a Mermaid contest on Instagram hosted by nic_tchelly.

I decided to show my entry picture as well.

Stripes and Glitter

I can't remember which polishes I used except the glitter. It's Essie A Cut Above.

Polka Dots on Polka Dots

I used Orly Sweet Peacock and OPI Purple With a Purpose.

Wedding Dots

I used Essie Delicacy and Ulta Silver Lining.

Pink and Brown Stripes

I used Essie Secret Story and SinfulColors Nirvana.

Chevron Manicure

OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress and Lincoln Park After Dark. I used Scotch tape as a guide for the chevron.

1. Two coats of I'm Not Really a Waitress. 2. I applied the corner of a piece of tape at the base of my nail. 3. I painted the nail (over the tape as well) using Lincoln Park After Dark. 4. Immediately but slowly pull off the tape.

SinfulColors Mint Apple

Mint Apple is a cream teal color with silver shimmer. This color is very similar to Essie's Turquoise & Caicos. It is opaque in two coats and was smooth in application. Note: I was enjoying my grandma's homemade chocolate chip cookies at the time of this picture.

Two Coats

OPI Purple With a Purpose

Purple With a Purpose is a vibrant purple. It is opaque with two coats and has never failed me with its intense color and smooth application.

Two Coats

Ulta Duty Free Shopping Spree

This is the best lavender ever! Duty Free Shopping Spree is my probably my favorite polish. It is a creamy light purple with amazingly smooth application. The brush on this bottle is also great.

Two Coats

OPI Pink-ing of You

Pink-ing of You is a basic light bubble gum cream pink. Sometimes it comes out a little streaky but it's not that bad. This has become one of my favorite pinks.

Two Coats

Essie Blanc

This is the best white cream polish I have at the moment. It was a little disappointing because after two coats it looked at bit streaky. A third coat would probably be needed for full coverage. However, I found it to be a best cream white I have yet tried. (My Essie Marshmallow doesn't count in my opinion because I consider it a jelly or sheer white.)

Two Coats

SinfulColors Rise and Shine

Rise and Shine is a medium green that has a light shimmer. I really like the SinfulColors' formula because the polishes I have from that brand are creamy with smooth application and are opaque with two coats. This polish (much like the other ones from this brand) dried slightly matte.

Two Coats. Left: Indoor light. Right: Sunlight.

Cherry Bomb Gradient

Tried out a different technique to do a Gradient Manicure. I painted my base first using OPI Pedal Faster Suzi! Then used OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress for the tips.

Starting from top right. 1: Paint a strip of the pink polish and red polish right next to each other. 2: Using a toothpick or dotting tool, drag the red up to the pink to blend the two colors only where they meet. 3: Press the makeup sponge right on the polish from above. (The sponge will soak up the color.) 4: Then gently apply the sponge to the tip of the nail, working your way up towards the cuticle to gradually add the red color. (You can focus more of the red on the sponge on the tip to of the nail if you need to.) 5: There is the finished Gradient Manicure.

The finished product

Cloud Manicure for My Anniversary

I did this cloud manicure (my first one) back in April for the one-year anniversary of dating my now fiancé and I celebrated. *Sigh* Happy Times! Made with OPI Sit Under the Tree and Pedal Faster Suzi!, Essie Lapiz of Luxury, and Ulta Duty Free Shopping Spree.

Annnddddd the gorgeous pearl and diamond ring my fiance gave me!

After My Own Heart

I've been wanting to do little hearts for a long time but this was my first and practice manicure. My sister requested this. Base was OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress. The hearts were made with a dotting tool, but I don't remember which white polish.

Silver Caviar

Recollections Silver Microbeads from Michaels with OPI Lincoln Park After Dark for my first caviar manicure...on my sister's nails.

It is very hard for my to take pictures of someone else's nails. Ahhh!

Novice Multi-Stripe Manicure

I think my taste leans more toward pastels with this style. Created with OPI Purple With a Purpose, Orly Sweet Peacock and Instant Artist Jet Black, Ulta Silver Lining, SinfulColors Hazard.

In Sunlight

Lighting in my room

From top to bottom, left to right: 1. Paint your base color (Purple With a Purpose). 2. Paint a strip of your first accent color (Hazard). 3. Add a stripe on each side of the first accent color, preferably with a striper (Jet Black). 4. Paint a strip of your second accent color on the other side of the nail (Sweet Peacock). 5. Add a stripe on each side of your second accent color with the striper (Jet Black). - This a picture of just one design, but, as seen in my other pictures, I varied the stripe pattern on all of my nails -

Gradients and Glitter

This was inspired by "Lisa_beth" on Instagram. For the gradients, I used Essie Blanc and SinfulColors Mint Apple and Rise and Shine. The glitter is on a base of Rise and Shine with Milani Teal as the glitter.

My First Gradient

My very first gradient manicure with OPI Pink-ing of You and Essie Lapiz of Luxury. I painted Pink-ing of You as the base and then sponged on Lapiz of Luxury. I used Chelsea King's tutorial on YouTube under the username "getnailedd."

Marshmallow and Jelly Sandwich

I was inspired by a Jelly Sandwich manicure that used Essie Marshmallow and A Cut Above. I loved the pink and white together but wanted to try something I had not seen yet. So here's what happens when Essie Marshmallow and Milani Teal sandwich up.

Two coats of Essie Marshmallow and two coats of Milani Teal. I also loved this look but had to proceed with the marshmallow and jelly sandwich I was envisioning.

Step-by-Step. 1. Two coats of Essie Marshmallow. 2. One coat of Milani Teal (just to see how it looks). 3. Another coat of Milani Teal (two coats total of the glitter). 4. One thin coat of Essie Marshmallow.

The finished Marshmallow and Jelly Sandwich. Love, love, love!

Rainbow Jelly

This Jelly Sandwich Manicure was created with Essie Secret Story and Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie.

Two coats of Secret Story and one coat of Rainbow in the S-Kylie.

The next step for the jelly sandwich: I added one thin coat of Secret Story to top it off.

Step-by-Step. Top: Two coats of Secret Story. Middle: Add one coat of Rainbow in the S-Kylie. Bottom: Finish with one coat of Secret Story.

My First Jelly Sandwich

Essie A Cut Above and Secret Story and Milani Hot Pink

Suzi Design - Part 2

I added black polka dots with Orly Instant Artist in Jet Black by just dabbing a little puddle of polish onto my work surface and dipping my dotting tool into that to create the dots. I was inspired by a talented girl named Chelsea King. Miss Chelsea used glitter instead of polka dots though. She has an Instagram account, Facebook page, and YouTube channel. Her amazing work really got me into doing my nails!

Suzi Design - Part 1

Apparently I have a little bit of a double stripe look going on here. I created the stripes with Orly Instant Artist in Jet Black. Orly Instant Artist is a water based paint and the paintbrush is thin and long to make designs like this.

Dots on Dots!

Base: Orly Sweet Peacock. Dots: Ulta 14 Carat. Featuring a necklace my mother recently gave me as a gift!

Surfer Girl - Part 2

White Dots: Sephora by OPI A-ha! Moment. Caution: Make sure your dots are relatively dry before you apply a top coat. You don't want you dots to drag like mine did. Also, I discovered that white polish is a pain to get off of dry cuticles.

Surfer Girl - Part 1

Base: Essie Turquoise & Caicos. Dots: Sinful Colors Hazard. Turquoise & Caicos is turning out to be a very nice stand in for my Essie Mint Candy Apple.

Glamour Polka Dots for My Sister

These little cuties were done with Ulta 14 Carat and OPI Lincoln Park After Dark.

Missing My Mint Candy Apple

This was my last manicure using Essie Mint Candy Apple. It is all thick now. I've heard about polish thinners but I haven't been able to purchase any yet. To complete this manicure though, I paired it with OPI Brisbane Bronze as the polka dot color.

Matte About Polka Dots

This was my very first time using Essie Matte About You. I painted two coats of OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, one coat of Matte About You, and then, using a dotting tool, used Lincoln Park After Dark again to make the dots on top.