China Glaze White Out & BM 205

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been really busy planning stuff for my wedding (and working out, phew!). It's only 2 weeks away! I've no idea what I'll do for posts while I'm gone. How do guest posts work? I've never done that before, but I've seen other bloggers do it. Any volunteers while I'm gone? Anyways, I'm really happy how this mani turned out. I've seen this method done before where multiple colors are applied on a stamp to get a cool effect, but I've always been too scared that the colors would all run together, but they didn't. YAY! For this mani I used 2 coats of China Glaze White Out as a base. I used BM 205 to stamp and I used 4 Konad stamping polishes: Sky Pearl, Red, Yellow, and Princess Apple Green. By no means is the stamping perfect on this one, but it's really not that noticeable unless you look really close.

OPI Ogre the Top Blue & Bundle Monster BM 224

This is such a perfect mani for spring/summer! I used O.P.I. Ogre the Top Blue as my base. I used 2 coats in the first photo, but didn't realize it wasn't completely opaque until I took pics, so after that I added another coat. It's really a beautiful blue. I love all of the colors from the Shrek Collection, but I only own this one =[ I stamped using BM 224 with Konad White and then added some gold glitter in the middle of all the flowers.

Gradient Zebra Mani

Okay Rebecca, out of all your manis that I love and want to re-create (all of them =P), this one has just been staring at me and I had to do it! Haha you can check out the tutorial for this design by Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails. First color: China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, second color: Color Club Koo-Koo CaChoo, third color: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Fuchsia Power. I used Konad M57 in Konad Black. For some reason, the orange in the photos doesn't show up that much, but in person it totally shows.

I'm sure you can tell, I've had a casualty this week and decided to chop all my nails ='[ Oh well, I should get used to short nails because when I start a nursing program in September, I will have to cut them even shorter than this.

Blog Tag: What's In Your Purse?

No nail post today. I wore the mani from my previous post for longer than I usually do and won't have anything for you guys until tomorrow. Sorry! Anyways, I've been tagged to do this by Sarah from Samarium's Swatches. Here goes:

Wallet, pen & highlighter, glass nail file, cough drops, hand sanitizer, hair ties, chapstick, purse hook, contact lens case.

Flashlight, iPhone, iPods, bluetooth audio dongle

I didn't know where to keep all my Best Buy receipts together so I decided to keep them in my purse lol

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Dump your purse, answer the questions, and tag 5 bloggers to find out what's in their purse!
1. Where did you get your purse, and how long have you had it?
My sister gave me this purse for my 21st birthday, but I guess you can say it's from the Coach store haha. I've had it for about a year and a half now.

2. What are 3 must-haves in your purse?(Not including keys and wallet)
Glass nail file, chapstick, pen

3. What is something you should have in your purse right now, but don't?A water bottle. I love water! I must have drank it all.

4. What is the thing you have the most of in your purse right now?
I don't have much going on in there, so I guess receipts haha.
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I tag whoever is willing to share what's in their purse! I hope I didn't bore anyone too badly =P

Simple Freehand Nail Art

Wow I really suck at making creative names for my posts. Sorry! Anyways, as I was saying yesterday, I wanted to do some abstract nail art for my wedding shower, I didn't like how the first mani came out, so this is my second one. I think it suited the occasion much better than my previous post and I'm glad I didn't settle :) I LOVE how this came out. I think this can definitely be a "go-to" design for me if I want to do nails for a special occasion. I got some inspiration from Dollface22772's tutorial on YouTube. It helped me a lot because I almost never do freehand nail art. For the base I used China Glaze Heli-Yum. I love this color!

Bright Freehand Nail Art

My wedding shower was a few days ago on Saturday, and I wanted to do some abstract nail art, but this was a total fail for me. I kept this on for maybe an hour and took it off. I did something after this and it looks way better, I'll post the pretty one tomorrow haha. For the base I used one coat of China Glaze White out and then two coats of China Glaze White Cap. Then for the brightly colored lines I used Color Club Warhol, Koo-Koo CaChoo, Mrs. Robinson, and Feelin' Groovy. I used a short nail art brush here because I thought it would give me more control (I couldn't be more wrong lol), but after I took this off I used a longer nail art brush and it worked WAY better to create the curved lines. Again, the pretty post will come tomorrow ;]

OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys & Bundle Monster BM 214

Can you believe it, this is my one and only brown nail polish! I just got it last week in my haul and really wanted to try it. I like it a lot! This is 3 coats of O.P.I. Suzi Loves Cowboys from their Texas Collection. It looks like I melted down a chocolate bar and painted my nails with it, yum! I wanted to use a bright color to stamp on this one and I had the perfect idea-- a Pocahontas/Native American inspired theme. I stamped using BM 214 in Konad Sky Pearl. Then I added dots using China Glaze Happy Go Lucky and China Glaze Hey Sailor. The stamping isn't done as well as my other manis, but it's a little harder with less intricate designs. I kept scraping more polish off than I wanted to. I still totally love the way this looks though!

Oh yea, and I just want to share the wonderful news with you all: I won Rebecca's giveaway from Rebecca Likes Nails!!! I'm sooo happy and I'll be sure to make a post about all the goodies when I receive them. Thanks Rebecca! <3 

Orly Charged Up & BM 207

This is my first monochrome mani! I've been meaning to do one, but I'm always second guessing myself because I think the stamp might not show up. Anyways, I read China Glaze's Romantique polishes work really well to stamp so I bought 6 of them. I used Orly Charged Up as a base color. I stamped using BM 207 in China Glaze Harmony. The purple base color photographs a little different than it looks in person, but I really like how this one turned out and yes, the Romantique polishes are awesome to stamp with!

Color Club Feelin' Groovy & BM 209

I got this neon green Color Club from their Poptastic collection. I'd have to say, this is such a beautiful collection with tons of bright colors perfect for summer. I might just get the rest of the entire collection. I'm always hesitant with neons because they usually tend to dry matte and chip very quickly. So far I've used 2 of these neons and they have a great formula that dries shiny. Here I used 3 coats of Feelin' Groovy. I stamped with BM 209 in Konad White and then in Konad Sky Pearl to get a layered effect and make the blue show up a little more. Sorry if the photos look a bit washed out.

Color Club Worth the Risque

Picked this one up in my haul earlier this week. I really wanted some holo polishes for my collection because I don't have any linear holos and I'm so jealous of looking at pictures of everyone elses haha. I got 3 from color club: Worth the Risque (this one), Wild at Heart, and Fashion Addict. This one had kind of a thick formula so it wasn't the easiest to apply, but it was still totally manageable though. I used 4 coats here to get an even application, but 3 would've been fine. It's not very holo, but I don't care because it's my first linear holo and some holo is better than none =]

Favorite pic of this one! Click to enlarge.

Kinda dark, but it shows the holo pretty well.

OPI Spark de Triomphe & O.P.I. White Shatter

I'm so glad I bought another set from OPI's Serena Williams Glam Slam Collection. Not much to say about this one, except that I LOVE it! Spark de Triomphe has a clear base with 2 different sizes of silver and gold glitter. I believe I used 3 coats here. Then of course, I used white shatter on top. I would have to say that out of the 3 brands of crackle/shatter polishes I've tried (Sally Hansen, China Glaze, OPI) that the OPI shatters have the best formula and work well for me all the time! My pictures really don't do this one justice.

Monarch Butterfly Nails

I have been wanting to try doing a Monarch butterfly mani for weeks now, and I finally got the courage to do it lol. I thought it would be difficult, but it was actually not bad. Maybe it's because I got actual nail art brushes last week that made it pretty easy. I followed this tutorial from Cutepolish on YouTube. She has really great video tutorials if you're looking for some creative ideas! For the base color, I used China Glaze in Papaya Punch, which is my favorite orange right now! The black I used was Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out. For the white dots I used Wet n Wild French White Creme. It didn't come out perfectly, but it came out way better than I expected it to. I'll admit, I only did this on my left hand so I'm not that awesome. How many of you nail bloggers out there do one hand manis? Haha just wondering.

Spellbinding Nails 500 Follower Giveaway!

Hey everyone if you haven't already, don't forget to enter Sarah from Spellbinding Nails 500 follower giveaway! She has polish AND 10 possible image plates to win. 8 of them are your choice! You have until June 19, 2011.

Click here to enter: http://spellbindingnails.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-second-500-give-away.html

Another haul, already?!

I went to US Nails Supply just one week ago, and lucky me, I was able to stop by again today and get whatever I wanted, thanks to my wonderful fiance. Here's what I got:

L to R: Worth the Risque, Fashion Addict, Wild at Heart (I wanted Revvvolution too, but didn't see it)

L to R: Mrs. Robinson, Warhol, Koo-Koo CaChoo, Feelin' Groovy (from Poptastic Collection)

L to R: Pucci-licious, Chelsea Girl, Age of Aquarius (also from Poptastic; I wanted the whole collection O_O )

L to R: White Out, 108 Degrees, Electric Pineapple, Blue Iguana, Grape Pop



L to R: Black Onyx, Suzi Loves Cowboys, Ogre the Top Blue, Jade is the New Black, Bling Dynasty, Blue Shatter

 So I'm finally part of the Color Club 'club'! Yay! I really wanted some Essie since I don't own any, but the colors were kinda limited so I still have no Essie. Thanks for everyone's suggestions yesterday, very helpful! Also, last week I was lucky enough to win my first giveaway! I received it in the mail today. This one was from Kelly at Polish, Puttering, and Ponderings. If you haven't already, check out her blog ;] Thanks Kelly!

L to R: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, CG Pom Pom, Revlon Perplex

OPI My Private Jet Swatch

First off, I just want to apologize for my absence these past few days. I had an eye infection last week that led to these massive headaches. I ended up getting a CT scan, which came back negative (phew!) and I was prescribed vicodin. The medication has been kicking my butt, but helping, and I'm glad to be back!

Now onto nail polish! I picked this one up last week from my haul at US Nails Supply and I'm so happy that I did. It's a charcoal that has a chocolate tint to it at certain angles and it's packed with holo glitter! I can say for the first time, I couldn't stop staring at my nails. This is kinda pic heavy, but it was hard to photograph. All photos can be enlarged.

Here it looks charcoal...

...and then here it has a chocolate hue.

 

Looks charcoal colored...



...looks chocolate colored.

And guess what?! My fiancee is taking me to US Nails Supply this week and he'll buy me whatever I want. I'm so excited =] Anyone have suggestions of colors I should get? I don't have much on my wishlist right now. I don't own any Essie or Color Club (except for Covered in Diamonds) and I think I may want to get some of those to add to my collection.

Multicolored Leopard Print Nails

I've seen nails done like this before and always wanted to try it out, so I finally did! First I used Wet n Wild French Creme for the base color. Then I used Konad M57 for the leopard print in Konad black. Lastly, I used a small dotting tool to add the colors. (Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor, Orange: ChG Papaya Punch, Yellow: ChG Happy Go Lucky, Green: ChG Four Leaf Clover, Blue: ChG Flyin' High, Purple: L.A. Girl Disco Brites Hustle). I used Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat over it, like I do over everything, but it kinda smeared this one a bit. It's usually really visible when using Konad black over white especially. I kinda wish I used hot pink instead of red and lime green instead of green. Also, this is random, but all my customers at work this weekend thought they were just stickers. It was kind of flattering and annoying at the same time. Anyone else feel the same way/have any thoughts on that? Haha.

US Nails Supply Nail Polish Haul!

Ok so I mentioned on Sunday that I was going to go to this store called US Nails Supply that's about 40 minutes from where I live. It's a freaking Disneyland for nail polish addicts! All of the employees were really knowledgable and friendly. I can't wait to go back, but this may have to be my last haul for awhile because I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but I'm getting married next month on July 14th!! Yea so I have to save money until then but here are pics from my little trip to heaven!

CG was $3.00, and only $2.75 when you buy 10+

All CG crackles were IN STOCK and only $4.00!

Section for Orly. Forgot to check prices lol.

Color Club was only $2.50 and only $2.25 when you buy 10+

New O.P.I. Shatters in stock and only $6.00

Only $10/set!

O.P.I. only $4.25

Essie was only $3.50

More Essie

Zoya only $4.00.

CND Effects. I think $4.50 for color, $5.50 for effects

What I bought!

L to R: For Audrey, Heli-Yum, Señorita Bonita, Recycle, Fault Line (crackle), Crushed Candy (crackle)

L to R: Turquoise Shatter, My Private Jet, Skull and Glossbones, On Stranger Tides, Steady as She Rose

Spark de Triomphe and White Shatter only $10.00

4 Oz. of Seche Vite AND a 0.05 Oz. for only $15.00!!!

Nail art brush set I got for only $6.00

I figured I'd be able to use these one day for only $1.00 each

I'm SOOOOO happy with my haul! Now my Pirates of the Carribean Collection is complete and I have all the crackles and shatters I've been wanting! There was a few that they didn't have that I really wanted like O.P.I. Jade is the New Black and Color Club Revvvolution. Oh well, there will DEFINITELY be a next time...after my wedding of course!