Day 20: Floral

These are my Johnny Jump Up/Pansy nails with OPI Passion, Essie Splash of Grenadine, Ciaté Big Yellow Taxi, Ulta Duty Free Shopping Spree, Essence Break Through, and Seche Collected Moments.

February Day 14: Match OOTD

My outfit for February 14 was pretty boring because I just went to the doctor and work that Friday. This manicure matches my outfit for Saturday, February 15th, which was a blue skirt with white pin stripes, a red top, and my black bead necklace.

So, to match my outfit, I used Ciaté Power Dressing, Seche Warm Hearted, Essie Licorice and Marshmallow, and Orly Instant Artist Crisp White with Butter London Nail Foundation as the nude color on my index finger.

February Day 11: Pastel

I used OPI Pink-ing of You for the base, Essie In the Cab-ana and L'Oréal Royalty Reinvented for the polka dots, and Orly Instant Artist Crisp White for the stripe. I applied Ciaté Cutie Pie (a light, sheer pink) over the entire design to soften the colors.

Bows + Everybody = BoBody

I was lacking inspiration/motivation for a manicure but remembered doing a swatch of this yellow a while back and loving it.

But how, you may ask, will I jazz this up a bit? Cage match style...sorry, more of The Office references.

Well of course I'm going to be inspired by the bow on my Ciaté Big Yellow Taxi polish bottle. ;) I added Essie Splash of Grenadine for a splash of contrast and Essence bow rhinestones.

May's Purple Thursday Week 3 - Delayed Post

Note: I did try to upload this post on-time, and I believed that it had uploaded. I was very disappointed to see that it never did. Since then, I've tried repeatedly to upload this post, gotten an error message, and then became very frustrated with the whole complicated, problem-ridden procedure. Now I'm back and hopefully I won't encounter the same issue. 

I decided to do Galaxy nails with my poor rendition of the USS Enterprise...because I'm seeing Star Trek tonight. 

I used Barielle Hidden Hideaway, L'Oréal Royalty Reinvented, Essie Splash of Grenadine, Ciaté Magic Carpet, Orly Instant Artist Crisp White, and OPI Pirouette My Whistle. Plus a Essence polish I can't remember the name of (stat tuned). 

May's Purple Thursday Week 2

I know this post just barely made it, but I'm glad I took the time for this mix-and-match design.

I'll update this post with natural-light pictures tomorrow. 

For the base on every nail except my ring finger I used L'Oréal Royalty Reivented. Then I used Essie Bond With Whomever for the base on my ring finger... I added Sally Hansen Snow Globe to that. The heart was done with Ciaté Caberet, and I used Essie Splash of Grenadine for the swirled and criss crossed lines. 

May's Purple Thursday Week 1

So I had exactly 20 minutes to come up with a manicure idea, shape my nails, paint, and photograph them today. So this is what I came up with and execution was rushed, but I'll be improving every week.

I used Essie Splash of Grenadine and Ciaté Magic Carpet as the base and Essie Bond With Whomever,  L'Oréal Royalty Reinvented, and Barielle Grape Escape as the polka dots flower/star bursts.

Autism Awareness Month 2013

As you know, April is Autism Awareness Month. I did this manicure a few days back but have been slacking when it comes to updating my blog. I'm working on improving that. :)

More importantly:
A dear friend of mine's son was recently diagnosed with mild autism, so this is for her and her family.

I used Essie Marshmallow as the base with L'Oréal Not a Cloud in Sight, SinfulColors Why Not, and Ulta Blue Streak for the gradient. I added Ciaté Glass Slipper for sparkle and Milani Silver for the glitter placement heart.

Like my most recent gradient post, I used a white polish as the base (Essie Marshmallow) so that the colors would pop without me having to put tons of layers of blue on.

Wondering how I did the glitter placement? I used Milani Silver because it has large glitter in a clear polish. I just dabbed the polish on a piece of kitchen foil (so it wouldn't dry too fast) and used a dotting tool to pick up individual glitter pieces to make the heart.

Red Carpet Worthy

For this manicure, I embellished it a little more by adding subtle glitter to the red.

So here's what I did:
Ciaté Dangerous Affair (solid red) and Enchanted Rose (red glitter)
Sonia Kashuk Smoke and Mirrors (applied with a thin paint brush)
Orly Instant Artist Jet Black

By the time I finished, I thought it looked rather elegant and classic. What do you think?

Loaded Gradient

In a desperate attempt to make up for all the days without having my nails done, I did a gradient, glitter, and rhinestones manicure. I don't usually have so many things going on at the same time, but I do love it!

I used Ciaté Speed Dial, Dangerous Affair, and Cabaret, OPI Pirouette My Whistle, and Cina Rhinestones.

In case the pictures don't really show it well, it goes from orangey-red, to red, to purple.

Ruffian Girl

So I tried my hand at the ruffian style manicure for the first time using OPI Pedal Faster Suzi! and Ciaté Headliner. I love how the colors look together, especially the contrast because Pedal Faster Suzi! has a pink/silver shimmer and Headliner has a subtle gold sparkle.

For this look I just painted my base color and then added the second color but with some distance away from my cuticles. So it did take time and a steady hand. I still need practice to get a better curve, but it was fun twist on just regular nail painting.

Connect-the-Mustache

Can you see the mustache? I used Ciaté Mojito and Barielle Grape Escape for the sponging, Essie Shine of the Times over that, and Orly Instant Artist Jet Black for the mustache. Note: I used Essie Marshmallow as a base so that the colors would be opaque but also light.

Cotton Candy Reminiscent

I finally got some real inspiration for a manicure. I dreamt I was wearing this combo so I had to recreate it, and I'm happy to say it turned out as planned. With a gradient that contains all of the colors of cotton candy I have ever consumed and delicate sparkles and glitter I couldn't stop staring. I used OPI Pink-ing of You, Ciaté Headliner, Ulta Duty Free Shopping Spree, and OPI Pirouette My Whistle.

Stripe Bright

I used eight different colors to achieve this multi-stripe mani. I used SinfulColors Pink Forever and Hazard, Ulta Sun-Sational, Ciaté Mojito, Headliner, Cookies and Cream and Twilight, and Barielle Grape Escape.

I just applied each line with a thin nail art brush.

Ciaté Big Yellow Taxi

Big Yellow Taxi is a creamy and vibrant yellow. Apparently I have a thing for yellows because I've fallen for each one I have tried recently.

Saran/Cling Wrap

Here is my first try at Saran or Cling Wrap nails. It is super easy, and I didn't have to worry about being neat. I used Chelsea King's YouTube video here. I used Ciaté Big Yellow Taxi and SinfulColors Pink Forever, then I added Essie Pure Pearlfection.

The basic idea of saran or cling wrap nails: 1. Paint your base color and let it dry (or let it dry a little bit...I wasn't that patient); 2. Paint your second color over that; and then 3. Lightly dab wadded up cling wrap over the nail to remove the top layer of polish in some places.

Ciaté Mini Mani Month Reds and Pink Review

Yesterday I swatched the Ciaté Mini Mani Month reds and pink. Compared to the blues and purples I have already done, I think that the reds have a better formula and look at those colors, gorgeous! The pink is very nice too, but I'm still blown away by the richness of the reds. All swatches are over Butter London Nail Foundation with no top coat.

Dangerous Affair is a deep berry red, deeper and darker than I was able to capture. I painted two coats here and liked the way it looked, but you still can see my nails a little bit through the polish on my index and middle fingers. I would describe this as a high pigmented jelly.

Enchanted Rose is a bright red glitter in a clear base. This is three coats over base coat. This glitter really glistens and I wish I was able to capture that in my photos. Like the other two glitters in this collection, there is no grittiness whatsoever.

Mistress is a bright red and reminds me of the most iconic shade of red lipstick possible. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but that's the first that popped into my mind as I painted this. I would say that it is a jelly formula, but it was opaque in two coats. The reason I say it has a jelly formula is because I tried it over Enchanted Rose and could still see the glitters underneath.

Cupcake Queen is a bright/neon pink with an iridescent blue shimmer. It has a very smooth formula that is opaque in two coats. 

Ciaté Mini Mani Month Blue and Purple Reviews

My husband recently got me the Ciaté Mini Mani Month Collection which includes 17 colors, three glitter polishes, and four mini bottles of caviar pearls. There are so many new colors to try that I decided I would swatch the blues and purples all this morning. None of the swatches are with top coat.

The individual polish reviews are underneath the photos as a caption. Just wondering, does anyone else have issues moving the order of photos around and then the photos move on their own when you want to create space in between them and/or add text?

Magic Carpet is one of the three polishes exclusive to this collection. It is a small purple almost fuschia glitter in a clear base. I painted three coats over base coat and, as you can see, it would take several more for full coverage. But I do love how bright the glitter is.

Cabaret is a dark purple polish that requires three coats to be smooth and fully opaque, but I only did two coats here. 

Fade to Greige is the first greige color I have ever owned. It is a muted gray eggplant color that needs three coats so that there are not any sheer spots. However, the formula is very smooth.

Glass Slipper is another one of the three polishes exclusive to this collection. It is a small bright blue glitter in a clear base. I painted three coats over base coat and, as you can see, it would take several more for full coverage.

Headliner is a bright aqua cream blue. It is very smooth and only requires two coats to be opaque. It is my favorite out of this swatching session.

Power Dressing is a dark and smooth navy polish but it does require three coats so that it does not have sheer or streaky areas.