Monet Polka Dots

For Easter I wanted something quick and easy, so I went for this great Monet-inspired polka dot manicure.

I love them!  So does my boyfriend.  He is so supportive (when the manicure is finished.. not so supportive when I'm buying MORE nail polish haha!)  This was an effortless design to do.  I used the fat, thicker end of a toothpick to make the dots.  Easy as pie!

Products used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Beige Blast, Lightening, and Snappy Sorbet

OPI Rumple's Wiggin'

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape Matte

Revlon Pink Chiffon

Maybelline Express Finish in Pie in the Sky

SV Topcoat

Toothpick!

A Little Egg-stra Curricular Activity for my Plates...

A friend suggested I konad an Easter egg... so of course I did!

I went for some springtimey designs.  All are from Bundle Monster plates- BM10, BM06 and BM13.  And I used all Sally Hansen Insta-dri in Silver Sweep, Lightening and Flashy Fuschia.  

Just a silly little way to celebrate :)

Guess What IIIII Got

That's right!  Someone got herself some crackle nail polish finally!  I am super in love with it.  My boyfriend likes it a lot too!  

Products used:

OPI Rumple's Wiggin'

OPI Black Shatter

SV topcoat

And here's a bonus picture of Jack, who is also SO ENTHUSED 

about crackle nail polish!

ELF Summer Ready Collection: Lilac

I really really wanted to wear a pale purple matte manicure, and thought "Hey, why don't I continue swatching the polishes from my ELF collection?"  Because I said I was going to do that and never did.  Unfortunately, I decided to do it late at night when the sun wasn't out, so my photos of it aren't so great straight out of the bottle.

Here you can kind of see the color.  It's pretty sheer, this is I think 3 coats.  I probably would have gone for another one if I hadn't been wanting to go to bed.  I used OPI's ridge filler as a basecoat, but you can still see them ridges.  Overall I think it's a very pretty, springy color.  Oh and forgive the part where there's polish all over my skin and stuff, I have a very slapdash method of applying nail polish, and I definitely didn't clean up before taking pictures.

So after that, I slathered it with a coat of Essie's Matte About You.  These photos really don't do it justice!  Also it looks pretty streaky or bare in some places in the photos, but definitely not IRL.  I really liked this one, and my boyfriend liked it a lot too.  I think it would look super great with the green that also came in the ELF collection, so maybe I will try some combination of the two for Easter!

Ugh, Abby's hair gets everywhere!

Products Used:

ELF Summer Ready Collection: Lilac

OPI Ridge Filler

Essie Matte About You

Polka Dots Feather Mani in Yellow

Living in Oregon is tough sometimes.  It's so dreary and rainy 9 months out of the year, and I'm pretty sure March broke a record for being particularly cold and rainy.  And April isn't off to a good start.. it was hailing today!  So I thought I needed some bright spring/summer color in my life to get me through this.  I tried my hand at a feather manicure.  It was way more difficult than I had planned, but the good news is that I learned very quickly (the second hand I did was exponentially better than the first).  So here's a few photos to share!

Left

Right

Left again

So I did my left hand first and here's what I learned: definitely trim up the feather as closely as you can to the shape of your nail before sticking it on the nail.  Putting on a layer of SV and then smushing the feather on did NOT work for me.  I ended up using Elmer's glue to glue it down and SV to really stick it.  On my left hand, I used two feathers because my first feather ended up kind of misshapen and wonky and didn't cover the whole nail (due to me struggling to get it to stick) so be sure that your feather is big enough!  My right hand surprisingly (because I was using my bad hand) came out better.  The feather looked nicer and covered most of the nail.  My only problem is that I had a difficult time trimming it up and it had some sharp edges hanging off- I used a nail file to get at those bits after applying my topcoat.

Other than that, I think it came out pretty well!  The feathers that I bought came in a multitude of colors, so I definitely will try this again sometime.

Products used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening

SV topcoat

Elmer's glue

Creatology Feather Plumes from Michael's

Springtime in Matte Green and Pink

Well I tried to use both my new products, but the pink Essie did not show up well over the green, so I reverted back to my old faithful- Sally Hansen!

OPI's Gargantuan Green Grape Matte was, like most mattes in my experience, very streaky at first but dried almost instantly.  Shown in photos is about 3 layers.  I don't like the way my ridges shown through so visibly, so next time I would definitely use my ridge filler as a basecoat.  There is no topcoat used here.

Products Used:

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape Matte

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Flashy Fuchsia

Bundle Monster plate number BM16

Matte Black and Shine, and a teeny Ulta haul.

Saw this design floating around the internet and decided to give it a go.  It came out okay... looks way better in person, but if I were to do it again, I'd do a few things differently.

I used a matte black and covered it in a matte topcoat.  The I used SV on the tips.  Next time, I would do tips in a non-matte black color and THEN a topcoat of SV for extra shine and to really make the separation more obvious.  But for a first, time, I don't think it's too shabby.

Products used:

L.A. Girl Matte in black

Essie Matte About You topcoat

SV topcoat

Annnd today I went to Ulta for the first time (it is right down the street, that's really a crying shame) looking for crackle nailpolish (no go) BUT I discovered their clearance section and snapped up two OPI matte/suedes and a pink Essie.  I'm totally going to do the green and pink together- how springy!  Maybe I'll do another watermelon design.  Each one was like 50% off- each $4.99 for each bottle, regularly $8-$8.50.  Score!

Essie Exposure, OPI Gargantuan Green Grape Matte, and OPI Russian Navy Suede

Mermaid Nails: Teal and Gold Glitter

I bought these from a local store on sale (buy one get one half off).  The gold is what I really wanted, and the teal was more of an afterthought.  But the more I looked at them together in my basket, the more I thought they looked really great together.  And the more I looked, the more they started to remind me of mermaids!  So I came home and tried it out, and I have to say I love them together.

And on another note, I'm LOVING these big gold hexagonal glitters.  I will DEFINITELY use them again, and if they have them in silver I'm totally getting it next time I hit the store, sale or no sale.

I will probably do this again in the summer, if I ever get myself to the beach.

Products used:

Milani: Pool Party

Milani Jewel FX: Gold

Method of Storage

I think I need a new one.

Katy Perry E.T. Music Video Inspired Mani

So Katy Perry's new music video for E.T. was released recently.  At first I was kind of meh on the song, but it has grown on my hugely (except for Kanye's part... "I know a bar out in mars/ where they drive spaceships instead of cars" REALLY?!  That's the best you could do?) but I am in LOVE with the visuals.  So I did.... well, this.

It was kinda fun!  I really like the way the braid came out, and the one that kind of looks like giraffe spots.  I might use those designs some other time.

Here's some screencaps that I used for inspiration:

Products used:

Revlon Scented Parfume: Grape Icy

Maybelline Express Finish: Goody Plum Drop

Sally Hansen Insta-dri: Pronto Purple

Wet n Wild Virtual Nails: Virtual Rust

Zoya: Gretchen

L.A. Girl Metal: Gold Plated

Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro: Steel Grey

OPI: Moon Over Mumbai

Revlon: Creme Brulee

Sally Hansen Maximum Growth: Tranquil Taupe

Nicole by OPI: It's Possible

Wet n Wild: Black Creme

Glitter Makes the World Go 'Round

THREE interviews this week!  THREE!  Which means absolutely no fun nail polish!  So as soon as I got home from my last one today, off went the neutral and on went the purple.  I've been wanting to use this glitter polish since I got it a few months ago.  And guess what- it's totally the Nicole by OPI Justin Bieber line.  For shame!  Truly though I can't be embarrassed because it's an awesome color.  I love it to bits and the only reason I didn't do every nail was because glitter is such a PITA to get off, and I've already got another mani planned for tomorrow.

As a side note, I tried out one of the new Revlon scented nail polishes and be forewarned-  the scent is STRONG!  I smelled grapes as soon as it went one, and I kind of want to eat my hands because they smell like candy!  I layered my Maybelline polish on top of the Revlon for two reasons: to try to mask some of the scent, and because I wanted the color to be more closely related to the color of the glitter, and the Revlon was more of a plum.  I can still smell grapes! 

Products used:

Revlon Scented Parfume: Grape Icy

Maybelline Express Finish: Goody Plum Drop

Nicole by OPI: One Less Lonely Glitter