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 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.

February Day 9: Hearts

Apparently some of my favorite manicure ideas only pop into my head when I only have 30 minutes to create the look and no time for it to dry.

For these contrasting hearts I used Essie Splash of Grenadine and Marshmallow, Ulta Blue Streak and Sun-Sational, L'Oréal New Money and Crazy fro Chic, SinfulColors Hazard, and Orly Instant Artist Jet Black.

February Day 4: Polka Dots

Please pardon the dot smears - that's what I get for doing this in 30 minutes (including top coat). Please pardon the glare - it was cloudy and rainy when I took this photo.

I used Essie Bond With Whomever and Licorice, L'Oréal New Money, Orly Instant Artist Jet Black, and Seche Warm Hearted.

Seche Nostalgic

The first photo is very close to the real color of Nostalgic but I included the second photo to show how the polish can look more silvery.

Seche Uplifting

Uplifting has a wonderful consistency (actually all the Seche polishes I have apply very well) but I could not get a color accurate picture. The first photo shows Uplifting a little too pink and the second photo shows a little bit darker than it really is.

Another Crazy Retro Pattern

I was experimenting with some different manicures I could make using the same colors. This somewhat retro pattern was a result of that and has been used as a guest post on one blog already.

I used L'Oréal New Money, Essie Bond With Whomever, Barielle Love, and Orly Instant Artist Jet Black.

Vintage Dotticure

I forgot to post this happy little dotticure when I did it. I used L'Oréal New Money and Essie Bond With Whomever for the base and Barrielle Love, a sheer pearl white, for the dots.

Twinsie Galaxy Nails

My sister and I did Twinsie Galaxy Nails recently and I loved the outcome.

I used Essie Licorice and Turquoise & Caicos, SinfulColors Snow the White, Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac, and Nicole by OPI Here Kim's the Sun.

Royal Ruffian

This ruffian was inspired by colors of royalty: Essie Beyond Cozy and OPI Suzi and the 7 Düsseldorfs.

Splash It! Art

So I have some catching up to do since my last post...in September. This manicure actually was the result of doing my nails in a hotel room in New York after a day of plane, train, subway, and bus travel. I needed my nails to look nice for my long weekend trip, but I was way too tired to do any design that required a steady hand. Thus this pain splatter look was born!

For the base I used Essie Cab-ana, then I used cling/saran wrap to dab on Essie Splash of Grenadine, L'Oréal New Money and Members Only. I added Sally Hansen Snow Globe for a nice iridescent glitter effect.

Pop Stars

I was in love with this girly, bright and cartoony manicure for the weekend.

So here's how it happened. I started with my favorite base coat, Butter London Nail Foundation (Thanks again mom. I can't believe it has lasted me a year.) and then painted two coats of Essie Bond With Whomever for the base.

Then I sponged on Bond With Whomever and L'Oréal Members Only using a super cheap makeup sponge triangle. Note: I put both colors on the sponge, side-by-side so that the colors will blend better. Look up Gradients on my tutorial page for pictures on that. 

After the colors on each nail was blended just the way I wanted, I immediately applied Nicole by OPI Here Kim's the Sun. Applying it while the gradient colors are still slightly wet helps the colors blend even more. After Seche Vite top coat, the gradient was done!

So this is what happened next: I wasn't really happy with my nails...they were just too plain for my mood. So I got out Ulta Sun-Sational and painted a few squares on a new Ziploc bag, making sure that the squares were opaque. I let them dry overnight, and, in the morning, I got my star hold punch (originally purchased for scrapbooking...that never happened), gently peeled off the dried yellow polish squares from of the plastic baggie, and put them through the hole punch as if they were paper. Out came these brightly colored, perfectly cut stars.

To attach the stars, I just did a dot of top coat on my nail, applied the star, and cut off any excess with small cuticle scissors. Another coat of Seche Vite and this little beauty was the result.

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.

Starry Eyed

For the middle and ring finger, I used Essie Bond With Whomever. For the index and pinky finger, I used L'Oréal Members Only. I added Sally Hansen Snow Globe, then I placed star glitter. 

Glitter and Grunge

After doing a manicure that included trying to draw letters...and failing horribly (I might post that up later), I did this glitter gradient and saran wrap manicure that is more my style.

I used L'Oréal Royalty Reinvented as the base, Sally Hansen Snow Globe for the glitter gradient, and Essie Licorice as the second color for the saran wrap effect.
 

A Girl Watches Monsters University and then Does Her Nails

I was encouraged by my cousin, Julia Mendoza,  to do my nails and start posting!

I guess I was subconsciously influenced by watching Monsters University because one of my followers pointed out that it kind of looked inspired by the movie.

I used L'Oréal New Money (pictured) for the gradient base and the swirls Essie Cab-ana for the second color in the gradient and base for the ring finger and Splash of Grenadine to finish off the gradient.

This is what happens when Mike and Sully are smushed together with a touch of Celia Mae on the ring finger.

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.

L'Oréal Royalty Reinvented

Royalty Reinvented is a cream purple color that refuses to be color accurate in my photos. Note: It is not as blue or periwinkle in real life.

The formula was smooth and easy to apply. The wider brush on the L'Oréal polishes does make application quicker, however this is the second L'Oréal polish from this collection that has had one brush bristle sticking out longer than the others. That one bristle always gets me because it puts polish past the line of polish that I want and the line that the rest of the bristles extend to.