Disney Challenge: Inspired by Belle

Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I saw the movie in theaters eleven times when it first came out and I've gone to the re-releases with my mom. I originally was thinking of doing a yellow or gold manicure to match Belle's ball gown, but blue is more my speed so this manicure was inspired by the blue and white outfit she wears throughout the first part of the movie.

I used two coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu for the white jelly base. For the glitter gradient I used  OPI Gone Gonzo, OPI Crown Me Already, Happy Hands I Blue Myself, and Sally Hansen Blingtastic. I smoothed everything out with a coat of Gelous and one coat of HK Girl. I aboslutely loved how this turned out. I actually wore this back in March when I saw the Beauty and the Beast Broadway play in downtown Sacramento.

So much glitter!!!

Extra Relaxed Challenge: Day 5, Blue

I always see everyone talking about Sinful Colors Cinderella on nail polish blogs, so when I saw it at Walmart in February I figured I had to try it for myself. I was already wearing two coats of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, so I layered one coat of Sinful Colors Cinderella over that. It's a very delicate glass fleck that looks more like a shimmer unless you're looking at it really close up. Anyway, it's a very cute combo for spring. I used OPI Natural Nail for my base coat and HK Girl for my top coat.

Thanks for reading!

Tri-Color Polish Challenge: March, Day 3

Second post of the night, whew! I incorporated all three colors (green, purple, and coral) for this manicure. I applied three coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then used a dotting tool to make the dots with OPI I Eat Maine-ly Salmon, Sation Love at First Lavender, and Illamasqua Nomad.

This was a really fun and easy manicure! I like how it turned out. The coral is coming out more orangey-red than it really is :-/. Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 DC: Day 16, Color Opposites

 

I decided to go with brights over a dark color for the "color opposites" theme. I scored this amazing glitter during the Llarowe restock last walk.

This is the amazing Emily De Molly Bright Young Things. I LOVE it! It's so amazing. Seriously.

This is two coats of Bright Young Things over two coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather. I applied one coat of Gelous and one coat of HK Girl to make sure it was smooth. I will definitely be wearing this again soon! Thanks for reading :)

Creative Layering with OPI and China Glaze... and a Road Trip!

One of the great nail groups I'm in on Facebook, Polish-aholics Anonymous, has a Monday mani challenge. Today's theme was creative layering. Last week Lacquered Lover posted a photo in the group of shatter/crackle over liquid sand polishes and it looked pretty cool, so I decided to try it! I used two coats of OPI The Impossible. Once that was dry I applied one coat of OPI Black Shatter, then one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, one coat of Gelous, and one coat of HK Girl.

It didn't come out quite as cool as I had envisioned, but it's nice to get out of my comfort zone every one in a while and try something new. Speaking of something new, I went on a Corvette run yesterday with my grandpa and it was so cool! We drove 250 miles through scenic back roads of mainly Marin and Sonoma Counties. The weather was perfect! Here's a few photos from the trip:

Southern Sonoma County

Outside of Petaluma

Tomales Bay

My grandpa's Corvette in Petaluma

The view of Stinson Beach from Mt. Tamalpais

I really can't imagine living anywhere else! Thanks for reading. :)

Laid Back 31 DC: Day 15, Watercolor

This is my first watercolor mani! It turned out better than I expected. I used this tutorial from Rebecca Likes Nails. I did my index finger first starting with purple and green (Color Club Pucci-licious and Color Club Twiggie), which was a mistake as it turned out too muddy.  On my middle, ring, and pinky fingers I only used orange, pink, and yellow and it turned out much better. Keep reading to see how it turned out!

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and applied two coats of HK Girl in order to protect the white base once I started doing the watercolor technique. Once it was dry I applied some blobs of Color Club Warhol (pink) and used a brush dipped in acetone to swirl it around the nail. Next I used Color Club Wham! Pow! (orange) and swirled it around, then finished it off with a bit of Color Club Almost Famous (yellow). Once it was dry I used HK Girl to smooth it out.

I definitely like how it looks with the brighter colors. You can see that my index finger is darker but I added some more pink and orange and it ended up looking better than it did before!

I was at Marshalls yesterday and found the Color Club Poptastic set for $9.99, so of course I had to grab it! Please check out the other manicures for today. Thanks for reading!

Extra Relaxed Challenge: Day 4, Green

It's the fourth week of the Extra Relaxed 31 Day Challenge and today's theme is green.  I just have a simple manicure using two coats of China Glaze Exotic Encounters. This is such a nice dusty green color! This polish comes from the On Safari collection that China Glaze put out last fall. Sooo many great colors in that collection!

Thanks for reading!

Tri-Polish Challenge: March, Day 2

It's Day 2 of the March Tri-Polish Challenge hosted by The Crumpet. The colors for this month are green, purple, and coral. Today I used green and coral. Keep reading to see today's manicure!

Today I've used Illamasqua Noble, China Glaze Liquid Leather, China Glaze White on White, and OPI I Eat Maine-ly Lobster. I used a tutorial from Nails by Kayla Shevonne and it was really easy, but I think I need to work on my branches. :P

Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 DC: Day 14, Stamping

 

Day 14 is stamping! Ok, so the only stamping plates I have are the cheap-o ones from Sally, so none of my stamping attempts turn out well. I quickly stamped on an accent nail using OPI Sand on Your Own Feet with a base of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu. 

Yeah, barely noticeable. But I loved the mint green (Revlon Minted--three coats) and I loved the idea of having a seahorse on my nails.  So luckily I had a seahorse charm from Hex Nail Jewelry.  I applied two coats of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and once the top coat (HK Girl) was dry I applied the charm with some glue.

Now, the seahorse charm did come off in the shower even though I had applied two coats of top coat over it to ensure it didn't happen. It got caught in my hair but luckily I found it before it got washed down the drain! So I reapplied it (shown here without top coat) and it stayed all day, but I was more careful than normal.

My right hand had an accent nail of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and OPI Lights of Emerald City.

I've ordered some stamping plates from Born Pretty, so hopefully stamping will go better with my new plates! Thanks for reading!

Tri-Polish Challenge: March, Day 1

Yes, that's right--another challenge! This an idea that is completely brand new courtesy of The Crumpet. There are four posts per month. Each month three different colors are chosen. You must pick a polish for each color and incorporate two of the colors in each challenge manicure (on each nail, not just an accent nail) and on one day you must use all three colors.

The colors for this month are purple, green, and coral. This manicure only uses the green and purple. I've chosen Illamasqua Noble for the green and Sation Love at First Lavender for the purple. The coral will be revealed when I use it! :)  Today's manicure was inspired by Rebecca Likes Nails. She always has the cutest nail art!

I used Essie First Base, one to one and a half coats of Illamasqua Noble, applied Sation Love at First Lavender on the top half of my nail, and used a dotting tool to make polka dots with China Glaze Liquid Leather. Once that was dry I applied HK Girl for my top coat.

As a side note, Illamasqua Noble applied so well! I wore just Noble on my right hand because I love this color!

Thanks for reading! I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with!

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St. Patrick's Day Manicure

I hope you all had a great weekend! This is the manicure I wore for St. Patrick's Day. 

Revlon Posh, Zoya Apple, Zoya Ivanka, OPI Sand on Your Own Feet, and Glitter Gal Lizard Belly

I applied three coats of each color.  On my left hand I applied Posh on my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers. I painted Apple on my index finger and Ivanka on my ring finger. Posh has to be my favorite green creme ever! On my middle finger I applied my new unicorn head charm from Hex Nail Jewelry. Their charms are so cute and the best part is that they are re-usable! I just got five last week and I can't wait to use the other ones!

On my right hand I used Ivanka on my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers. I used Sand on Your Own Feet on my index finger and Lizard Belly on my ring finger. I used HK Girl for my top coat and Essie First Base as my base coat. This is my first time using Lizard Belly; next time I will try it over an aqua base to see if that makes the green color and the holo pop more.

Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 DC: Day 13, Cheer Yourself Up Mani

I haven't really needed to cheer myself up lately, but I was super exited to score the three Emily De Molly polishes in the Llarowe re-stock last month! So that made me cheery! Today I'm showing you two coats of Emily De Molly Abstract Canvas over two coats of Orly White Tips. As shown below I used one coat of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials and one coat of American Classics Bridge the Ridge base coat and one coat of HK Girl for my top coat.

 

I love me some big black glitter circles! Thanks for reading!

Extra Relaxed Challenge: Day 3, Yellow

The theme for the third day is yellow! I think I only have two yellow polishes in my whole collection. I started with a base of CND Stickey, then applied two coats of Zoya Pippa and one coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu to soften it a bit.  I applied a top coat of HK Girl and let it dry completely.  I then used striping tape and painted a coat of China Glaze Liquid Leather over it, immediately removed, the tape, and applied another coat of HK Girl once the black had dried a bit. I didn't come out perfect, but I liked having such a springtime mani!

Good news! I got a new phone so all photos from here on out should be better quality. Yay! Thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31DC: Day 12, Tape Mani

This is my very first successful tape mani! I attempted one earlier that turned out too messy, so I opted to try again. 

Salon Sciences Instant Artificials, Orly Glowstick, Nina Ultra Pro Blu Blaze, China Glaze Shocking Pink, Zoya Charisma, Orly Melt Your Popsicle, China Glaze Liquid Leather, and HK Girl

I used three coats of all my brights except for Glowstick, which needed an extra coat. I put on HK Girl for my top coat, then waited until later in the day to apply the striping tape and black polish. I made sure to cut plenty of pieces of striping tape before I started applying LL. I painted it on one nail at time so I could remove the tape immediately and get crisper lines.

Next time I'll probably use a lighter blue and purple. Overall I'm really happy with how this turned out and it was also easy enough to do on both hands. Be sure to check out the other manicures for today's challenge and thanks for reading!

Laid Back 31 DC: Day 11, Splatter

Now we're into the real nail art portion of the challenge! Today's theme is splatter, which is a first for me. I'm very glad I put tape on the skin around my nails or else it would have been a pain in the ass to clean up! I had a bit of a problem actually getting the polish to come out of the straw, but overall I'm happy with how this turned out. Here are the polishes I used:

Seche Clear, OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, Sally Hansen Red Zin, and HK Girl

Blood splatter!

I used one coat of Seche Clear for my base, two coats of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, and one coat of HK Girl to speed up the dry-time. Once DPMY was dry I used a straw to "splatter" Sally Hansen Red Zin onto my nails, then used another coat of HK Girl once Red Zin had dried a bit. 

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the other splatter manicures!

Extra Relaxed Challenge: Day 2, Orange

Today's theme is orange. I went on a bit of an orange polish kick recently; I think I bought four in one day, lol! For this manicure I used three coats of Pure Ice Can't Stop. I used a dotting tool to make the flowers. The first dotting tool I used was far too large; combine that with my inexperience at doing flowers and my first flowers looked more like fried eggs. Once I figured out what I was doing I was able to make the cute flowers I envisioned. I use Orly French Tips for the petals and Zoya Pippa for the center of the flowers. I used HK Girl to seal it and voila!