Game Day Nails!

The skins are in the playoffs so... party like it's the Superbowl!  I did some game day nails for the game this afternoon.  This was really fun!

Products Used:

China Glaze Merry Berry

Spoiled Designated Driver

Wet n Wild 449C

China Glaze Electrify

Essie As Gold As It Gets

Milani Jewel FX in Gold

LA Colors Art Deco in White

Rainbow Dot Nails

I've seen this style floating around the Internet lately, and seeing as how I can't let a rainbow pass me by, I decided to give it a shot.  I received a set of dotting tools for Christmas- yay!- so this was my first shot at using them!  Very cool!

Not too shabby!  There's a few things I would do differently next time, but overall I think it was fun and bright and cute for the end of 2012!

Products Used:

LA Girl Matte Black

Zoya America

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening

China Glaze Gaga for Green

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue

China Glaze Gothic Lolita

NOT a Gradient! Wow! Glitter instead

A break from gradients for me.  This one was especially difficult to capture on camera.  I used two red glitters- one micro and one chunky- and the microglitter just did not want to capture on my camera!  Trust me though, it was very lovely and I got compliments at work.  The different size/shape glitters gave it interest and depth without being too much.  Sometimes I feel juvenile in glitter manis- which is fine most of the time!  But this one seemed work appropriate, and definitely appropriate for the Holiday season!

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Red Carpet

Priti Polish in Union Jack

Candy Stripes

The kids really loved this one!  It didn't come out exactly as I had planned (I was hoping for more, thinner stripes) because of the thickness of the brushes, but I still think it came out really well!  One of the kiddos smelled my nails (and probably would have tried licking them a second later) so I guess I will take that as a success!

P.S. Yup- Another gradient!

Products Used:

Zoya America

Wet n Wild 449C (note to self- unpack the rest of your nailpolishes, it has been 6 months since the move!)

Rainbow Dots!

This one was super simple but still one of my favorite looks when finished!  UNFORTUNATELY.  The color I chose to use as my base- Stone Cold from China Glaze's Capitol Colors collection- purely exists to make me SO MAD.  It is a gorgeous, gorgeous color.  It's all metallic and glimmery and gorgeous when matte and even moreso with a top coat.  But the formula is so bad!  I mentioned it briefly before. but it seriously chips within literal minutes of drying!  It doesn't seem to matter what I do- basecoat, no basecoat, top coat, no topcoat, whatever.  I look down and then realize that my nails are all chipped up and I just painted then an hour ago.  Talk about frustrating!  In order to take these photos I had to completely redo my thumb and pointer finger, got back to my computer and realized that the pinky finger was all chipped to hell also!  So I just covered up the chips and went to redo the pictures.  Bah!  China Glaze is probably my favorite brand.  But this particular color is just a pain in my side.

Anyway, wow, what a long-winded rant.  Onto the photos!

                       

Products Used:
China Glaze Stone Cold
Zoya America
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed
China Glaze Sunshine Pop
China Glaze Gaga for Green
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue
China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Watercolor/Tie-Dye (Picture Heavy)

Something a little different!  I asked the fiance what colors I should use, so credit goes to him.  I think they came off super awesome- pastel colors are more like a watercolor, and though this is the exact same effect I feel like these brights make it more like tie-dye!  Either way, I'm super obsessed with the way they look, and although I did a pretty crappy job with cleanup, I think this is one of my new favorites (along with gradients). What do you think??

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (base)

Zoya America

China Glaze Dance Baby

Revlon Royal

Tropical Brights Gradient

Every now and then I get into a super rut with my nails.  Usually when I'm super stressed out about something.  This one started with our move, and hasn't ended yet.  With moving in, unpacking, applying for jobs, having job interviews... My nails have really taken a beating.  As have my poor cuticles.  In these times of crisis, there's really only one way to get myself back on top of my game- I have to spend a long time doing something cool with my nails (here is just one example).  Normally I try to do something freehand, or water marble.  It's time consuming and (usually) looks pretty awesome, and knowing that I spent a lot of time and effort on a certain design is the ONLY thing that can override my need to nibble when I'm stressed.  So this morning I spent two hours (yup) doing my nails with a pretty sweet, tropical bright gradient mani.  It took so long because I used a white base coat first, and then redid my entire left hand because I didn't like the way it turned out.  Plus, cleanup was just awful.  But anyway, enough with the words and the sad stories- onto the pics!

I really needed these brights today- you can see the 

rain droplets in the picture!

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White Out (basecoat)

Orly Fabulous Flamingo

Zoya America

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed

4th of July mani for the beach

Me and the fiance and the fam are headed to the ocean this week.  I figure this mani won't last all the way till the 4th, but I'll bring polish to do another one when it chips off.  I thought this turned out pretty cute- like a little soldier's outfit or something.  For last year's mani check out this link.

Products Used:

Zoya America

Revlon Royal

LA Colors Art Deco in White

Fire!!!

I saw this design floating around and I decided to try my shot at it... I decided to use Zoya's America (my absolute favorite red) to go along with China Glaze's Electrify.  I love how it came out, it's probably one of my most favorite designs ever.

Products Used:

Zoya America

China Glaze Electrify

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black

Raspberry Glimmer- 2 Weeks of China Glaze

This one was a quickie.  It's China Glaze Wicked Style with Kleancolor Chunky Holo Fuchsia on top.  Yum!  It was fun and glittery and exactly what I needed for a few glum days in Oregon.

Products Used:

China Glaze Wicked Style

Kleancolor Chunky Holo Fuchsia