Can you even dye my nails to match my gown?

Hi everyone!  Tonight I'm going out for the amazing Mindi's birthday!!  I decided to finally rock my new leopard dress - and my nails just have to match!!!

I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Neptune.  It's a really pretty blue with a light silver shimmer.  The formula was a little thicker than I usually like, but it was easy to work with.  I followed with a coat of SV.

Next, I sponged on sections of Sally Hansen White On & OPI DS Illuminate, and then followed with another coat of SV.

I then used my dotting tool with China Glaze Stone Cold to create some randomly shaped spots to form the inside of the leopard rosettes.

I used my Kiss Black striping polish to outline the rosettes, and then used it with my dotting tool to create some other random spots.

I finished it all off with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.

I really love the final result for this one!!  It's really different and fun to look at!

It was also a very easy one to create, because you're not shooting for line perfection or a lot of blending.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do!  And ... 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINDI!!!!!!

Colors: Sinful Colors Neptune, Sally Hansen White On, OPI DS Illuminate, China Glaze Stone Cold, Kiss Black

Sea Urchin Fun

Hey everyone!  Here's a look at the mani I'm rockin at the moment!  My little Evan loves a new show on Disney called The Octonauts - and I happened to see a little sea urchin on one of the episodes!  

So here we go!!

I started with two coats of Barielle's A Bouquet for Ava for the ocean water, and Sinful Colors' Zeus for the urchins.

Zeus has an awesome formula and shine to it.  As far as A Bouquet for Ava?  I'm not crazy about it.  The formula is seriously thick, refuses to go on evenly, and dries with a borderline neon finish.  What's that about?!?  OH!  And if you happen to sneeze and get the tiniest bit on your skin ... congratulations!  You're skin is now stained with a less than delightful teal hue.  Grrrrrrreat.  But I do adore the color!

I applied a quick coat of SV over Zeus, and cut small pointed strips of scotch tape for the urchin design.  Once the tape was in place, I added a coat of A Bouquet for Ava, and removed the tape immediately.  Then I finished it off with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.

I used my dotting tool with Kiss Black & Kiss White to create the bubble design by first placing black dots on my nails, and then placing smaller white dots over the black.  I finished this off with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.

I hope you enjoy today's mani!  Sorry my Barielle rant was a bit lengthy.  I don't know if it's me, but I'm just not having a lot of luck with many of their polishes.  Has anyone else had this problem??  I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!!

Happy Painting!

Colors: Sinful Colors Zeus, Barielle A Bouquet for Ava, Kiss White, Kiss Black

Fiercely Aquatic

Yesterday I went to see my amazing friend, Michael.  He's gorgeous, he's fab, and he is the greatest master stylist to ever touch my hair!!!  If you're lucky enough to be in the Atlanta area, I strongly suggest you make an appointment with him at the Aqua Salon pronto!!!  So, I got the idea for an Aqua inspired mani!!

I started with one of the new L'Oreal cremes, Now You Sea Me.  I really love this shade.  It reminds me of an almost dusty burnt teal - if that makes sense.  I wasn't completely wild about the formula though. The first coat went on a little thin and streaky.  The second coat started to be the same, so I used a thicker second coat, and it was fine!

For an extra aquatic look, I topped Now You Sea Me with one coat of Wet n' Wild Use Protection, from the new Spoiled collection, except on my ring fingers.  It's a really pretty teal jelly, loaded with multicolored micro glitters.  The brush is super wide, so application is a breeze! 

I used my dotting tool with Kiss Black and Kiss White to create some bubbles in the water!

One my ring fingers, I created some shimmery scales with my extra large dotting tool and Sally Hansen Celeb City, Orly Charged Up, and Barielle A Bouquet for Ava.

I wanted to create some waves, so I used one of my Shany stamping plates, SH-11, with my Sally Hansen Teal-y Fast.  On my middle fingers, I used the same plate with Konad Special White polish for the little starfish!

I had a lot of fun creating this, especially since it was inspired by one the greatest people on the planet.  

I hope you all enjoy it!  And seriously ladies --- if you haven't been to the Aqua Salon yet, you're missing out.  

Colors: L'Oreal Now You Sea Me, Wet n' Wild Use Protection, Kiss White, Kiss Black, Orly Charged Up, Barielle A Bouquet for Ava, Sally Hansen Celeb City, Sally Hansen Teal-y Fast, Konad Special White

Truly Tiker

I'm going out for some much needed drum & bass tonight, so of course I need an absolutely out there mani!

I decided to grab my Elixir Lacquers With a K, and Kiss Black.  I feel like I haven't really done a scotch tape mani for a while now, I broke out the tape too!! 

I used two coats of With a K, covered with one coat of SV, since I'm using tape.  I cut even strips and striped them over my nails, then applied one coat of Black, and removed the tape immediately.  I did this on each nail, and finished it all off with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.

I love With a K, and I love tiger stripes, so Tiker was born!!  I really love the how With a K reacts to the black.  It makes it stand out and pop even more!!!

I hope you enjoy it!  Happy Painting!!!

Dots in a Dash!

So last night I went out for my friend Jacky's birthday.  (And let me just say, Jacky is decidedly awesome.)  I was a little pressed for time, since I take longer to get ready than should be legal.  I'm consistently in the severe habit of wearing only black or grey when I go out.  So, I always try to have a blast of color on my nails .... and then of course I have to match the make-up to the nails.  ('Cause, ya know.)  So I grabbed my dotting tool, and went to town!!

I started off with two coats of Zoya Savita, an absolutely luscious deep purple matte.  Next, I used Revlon Blue Lagoon, Kiss Black, and Kiss White to create the dotting pattern.

I kept a paper towel handy so that I could keep my dotting tool clean in between applications.  (I used the large dotting tip only for this step.)  I wanted the lines to be precise, so I started the top line in Blue Lagoon, and made just one dot.  Next, I used the white to place the second dot next to it, slightly higher so that the lines would slant.  I just repeated the process until the nail was full.

Finally, I used the small dotting tip with Black and placed the dots above each line of larger dots, in between where the larger dots appear.  I almost left it at that, and finished getting ready.  But there is something about Savita with a gloss finish that simply dazzles and commands attention!  So I finished it off with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.  To be honest, I adore this mani!  And I had an absolutely fabulous time out!!!

Colors: Zoya Savita, Kiss Black, Kiss White

Nighty Night!!

Some nights, our little two year old, Evan, just doesn't want to go to bed.  Shocking, right?!  Well, tonight we turned on The Good Night Show.  This particular little blip that we caught featured all of the Sprout TV characters sleeping in their beds.  While I found this to be a little ridiculous, after about 7 minutes of watching this, Evan declared that he was ready to go to bed!!!!  So guess what we'll be watching every single night now?! This little event is the inspiration behind this design!

I started with two coats of Zoya's Ki - an amazing multi chrome polish that shifts from grey, to purple, to green.  I thought this would be perfect for the night sky color, as it changes so often as well!

I am absolutely in love with this color!  It goes on so brilliantly as well, being completely opaque in two coats.

After the two coats of Ki, I used my dotting tool to create the cloud edge with Jo, a soft shimmery blue.  Once the dots were in place, I used the polish brush to finish the cloud shape by dragging the brush downward from the dots.  

I repeated these steps for the inner cloud shade with Kotori, which is an amazing glitzy blue.  To look at the bottle makes you assume it is a metallic, but it is really anything but!  Kotori is actually a bit thin and almost sheer, so thicker coats are necessary.  For a little detailing, I used a striping brush to create the little Z's, then I used Luminescent with the Salon Effects plate SE21 for the moon and stars.  I finished it off with a coat of SV.  

(I didn't realize until shortly after that I used three Zoya's for my main colors, and painted three Z's on my nail.  Ha!)  I hope lil' Evan likes this one when I show him in the morning!  

So, I guess all that's left for me to say is nighty night!!!

Colors: Zoya Ki, Zoya Jo, Zoya Kotori, Kiss Black, Color Club Luminescent

Argyle Makes Me Smile!

I love argyle print!  I even had an aunt named Argyle.  Seriously.  I was the only kid in the family who could pronounce her name properly!!!

Colors: Orly Charged Up, Wet n Wild Toad-ally Amazing, Kiss Silver Glitter

I started with two coats of Charged Up, a really pretty purple cream.  (I used two thick coats of it, since it can be a little too sheer otherwise.)  Next, I taped off the side sections and applied two coats of Toad-ally Amazing.  This is an awesome light teal with a soft sliver shimmer to it.  It's part of the new Wet n Wild "Spoiled" Collection.  I used the Silver Glitter for the opposing diamond outline pattern, and then topped it off with a coat of SV.  I hope you like it!  Happy painting ladies!!!

Stars Over Plumeria

Welcome to another Pink Wednesday!  I recently got Revlon's Starry Pink as a gift, so I thought today would be a good day to give it a shot!  It's a very delicate, almost milky, pink with small silver glitter and silver hexagon glitter.

Isn't it pretty?!

Colors: Revlon Starry Pink, Ulta Devious, Confetti Get the Party Started, Kiss Silver Glitter

I decided to use my Red Angel plate RA-119 to create the plumeria (aka frangipani) flowers with Devious.  For the ring finger, I used Get the Party Started on the plate, with a little Devious on the edges of the flower petals.  I mean, come on, it's Pink Wednesday!!!  Then I used the Silver Glitter to stripe a little down the center of the flower petals.  I hope you enjoy this one!  I know I do!  Happy Pink Wednesday!!!!!