Swatch: Essie School of Hard Rocks

Essie's School of Hard Rocks is part of the Winter 2011 collection.  It's a really lovely greeny-teal and it's perfect for the season.  I'm a big fan of Essie's recent dusty-ish tones they've been coming out with recently, and this one is no exception.

Pretty, right?  I love it.  

Winter Design- Sweater Inspired!

I'm super into sweaters, and I'm obsessed with my newest one.  It's warmer than any other sweater I've owned, and it is soft and not as itchy as I thought it would be.  So when I tried out Essie's Brooch the Subject, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  I matched it to my new sweater!

Products Used:

Essie Brooch the Subject

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed
Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black

Swatch: Essie Brooch The Subject

I won an Apothica giftcard in a giveaway a while ago, and was saving it for a rainy day.  When I saw that they had three of the Essie winter 2011 collection, I knew that day had come.  Here's the first of those three: Brooch the Subject!

Sorry about these dreary photos, my usual camera was MIA

As you can see, this is one of the nudiest nudes that ever... nuded.  Or something.  This is two coats, no base coat, no top coat.  You can definitely see my ridges here, so next time I'd be sure to use a ridge filler and maybe one more coat just to be safe.  Overall, I like this color.  It's very work appropriate, and I need more of these khaki cremes in my collection

I've never had a manicure that was more "me"- ELF Royal Purple swatch, and Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada (pic heavy)

Maybe if I were to paint some flamingos or something, we'd get pretty close, but till probably not as close as this!  I needed something quick, so I just chose a polish that was sitting on my desk- an ELF polish that was part of this TJ Maxx haul way back in August.  I set the polishes I have yet to swatch near my desk, and this one had been sitting there for AGES.  So I popped it on because I was in a purple kind of a mood (when am I not, though, really?)  And I was so pleased!  I couldn't really capture the color in some of these pictures.  It's November in Oregon, which means rain rain rain, and not adequate amount of sunlight to really get the good photos.

This is all the sunlight I could manage

This is a bit more accurate

Anyway, It's this really lovely shimmery sort of royal/jewel purple.  I think it would be GREAT for a peacock theme, which is now on my mind.  So I wore Royal Purple by itself for one day, and then decided I would try out another polish from another haul (from like September when I got those Butter Londons)- Ulta's Pinata-Yada-Yada.  Here's the final look:

This is a way more accurate picture of what ELF's Royal Purple looks like

Purple polish, multi-colored glitter- this manicure screams my name!  Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.

Products Used:
ELF Royal Purple
Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada
Seche Vite

Glitter Gradient, Navy and Pink!

I don't really have much of an introduction for this- I wanted to use my new Butter London glitter, but I didn't want to paint the whole nail.  This is what I came up with!

Products Used:

Ulta's Into Astrono-Me?

Butter London Rosie Lee

Seche Vite 

Pink Stamped Floral Mani

I wanted something quick and easy, and boom!  Pink on pink, my nails have been hosed down with pepto-bismol.  Easy, fairly subtle, and work appropriate.

Products Used

Revlon's Pink Chiffon

Sally Hansen Beyond Perfect in Cassis Comfort

Bundle Monster BM16

Ten Minute Mani: Purple Polka Dots!

Sometimes I love spending an hour on my nails, hand painting with toothpicks or tiny paintbrushes or whatever, and sometimes I just want something that's done quickly and looks nice.  This was one of those times.

I wanted something fun, but that would also be ok to wear to my internship.  I decided to do some subtle stamping.  I chose my colors based on some of the nail mail I got from Ulta that's been sitting next to my desk for over a month- China Glaze Devotion was the one that I chose for tonight, and I paired it with OPI Rumple's Wiggin, my go-to light purple.  Some quick polka dot stamps, and voila!  A manicure that didn't take much time, and got me several compliments from the kiddos at my elementary school.  Success!  This is FOR SURE one of my favorite manicures I've ever done, and so simple!  I am definitely going to save this idea for a rainy day.

I seriously was racing the sun home to get these photos.
Totally forgot about Daylight Saving's Time screwing with my afternoon sunshine!

Products Used:

OPI Rumple's Wiggin

China Glaze Devotion

Bundle Monster plate BM19