Rainbow Leopard for Summer Vacation!

Nothing says "red eye flight" like rainbow designs!  I went home this weekend to visit and I have some exciting news, but that can wait until tomorrow.  Until then, here's the design I headed back home to Maryland with:

Products used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in: Whirlwind White, Lightening, Brisk Blue

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in: Sun Kissed

OPI: You're Such a Kabuki Queen

Wet n Wild Mega Last: Soul Mate

Base/Top Coat: Sally Hansen Double Duty

Konad Plate: m57

"My Little Pony" Pink/Glittery Mani

I got these two new polishes the other day and decided to try them together, and my friend, upon seeing them, exclaimed excitedly, "they're like My Little Pony nails!!!!"

Byte is more pink and glittery in real life, 

it was terrible trying to capture it with the camera.

Also let this be a reminder to myself:  ALWAYS ALWAYS lotion before you take photos!  Ugh, girl, your cuticles!!!!

ALSO while I'm here, let me say that I've replaced SV as number one topcoat in my house.  I'm using Sally Hansen Double Duty now, both as a base and top coat, and I will never go back.  It doesn't shrink my color like SV does, it doesn't STINK TO HIGH HEAVEN and require a gas mask like SV does, it costs HALF as much as SV does, and my nails last like two or three times longer than they do when I'm using SV.  I'm sold!

Products Used:

Sally Hansen HD in Byte

NYC in Starry Silver Glitter

Sally Hansen Double Duty (Base and Topcoat)

Starting Over

So I was doing such a great job with my nails.  I mean, a great job for me.  I was painting them multiple times weekly, doing some fun designs, and they were growing!  It was working!

But I'm in grad school.  And doing my practicum.  And it got overwhelming, and the last two months of the school year I got so stressed out and it was over.  A few stressful weeks and I haven't been able to recover!

So I finally got fed up and decided to go get a professional manicure.  Which lasted for like three days.  But my practicum is over now, so hopefully this summer I will be able to recover and spend some time making my hands and nails look lovely!

My poor hands :(

Store mani

Fauxnads!  And a bracelet I made.

Products featured:
China Glaze in Sun Worshipper
Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Grey
Nicole by OPI in It's Possible
Bundle Monster B19

Color Changing Nail Polish!

If I had had this nail polish when I was a kid... man, I don't even know.  Even now, I am 25 and I slapped it on literally 10 minutes before running out the door- I didn't even use nail polish remover from my white mani, I just peeled that stuff off and slapped on a base coat and went on from there, so there's little bits of white remaining... I really was not expecting much from this stuff.  But I have been playing around like a little kid for the past few hours.  I am SO EXCITED about it.  I watched it change when I stepped outside, when i was in the mall, I pressed my nails against the cool window and watched the contact points change.  I am LOVING this stuff and I can't wait to go back and buy ALL of the other colors.  Seriously!

This is directly after being run through cold, cold tap water.

This is directly after being run through hot tap water.

Transitioning from hot to room temperature (yellow-green)

The foreground is room temperature, the background transitioning from heat.

In these photos, there is a basecoat and 3 layers of polish, no top coat.  

Products used:

Mood Struck (no name, colors are green/yellow)

As Promised

We had one day of sunshiney warm weather here that got me SO EXCITED for summer that I had to do some white nails.  To make it look a little bit less like white-out/liquid paper, I decided to add a little bit of sparkle to it.  I think it has a really nice subtle shimmer that looks excellent in person and was difficult as all get out to actually capture with the camera.

Please please please ignore my terrible cuticles

Products used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri: Whirlwind White

Cover Girl Boundless Color: Crystal Mist

I Have Been MIA... and Very Bad :(

I haven't posted in ages, and here's my excuse... I bit off ALL MY NAILS!  I am so ashamed.  I've still been painting them, but quickly and without much love, and I've been so stressed and busy that I haven't had time for photos.  But I'm back in the swing of things (my summer semester started up and it took me a few days to readjust) so hopefully I can get myself back on track and grow these babies out.

I have a mani on my nails right now that I want to show yall, but I haven't cleaned it up yet or put on a topcoat.  So I will do that and hopefully have some photos by tonight or tomorrow to get things going.  But until then, I have some non-nail-art related photos to tide you over.

My boyfriend and I went to Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm for their tulip festival a few weekends ago.  So here's some colorful, happy, springtimey flower photos!

And I leave you with a few questions/I'm asking for advice:

1. I once again attempted to use my Zoya matte polishes and, once again, they chipped off within the first day.  Then I tried again with Essie Matte About You topcoat and that STILL didn't help.  Does anyone else have these problems?  It's not with any of my other matte polishes, only Zoya.  Do you have any suggestions to make that work?

2. I am looking for a baby, baby, pale pastel blue.  Actually, any baby baby pastel color recommendations would be so awesome.  But particularly a blue, as I haven't been able to find one.  So: powder/pastel/baby blues that you've tried/heard are awesome.  

Thanks so much!  I'm trying desperately to catch up on everyone's blogs, so sorry if I spam you with comments all at once!

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!