"L" is for the way you look at me...

Alright ladies...we are just 2 weeks away from Valentine's Day (aka Happy Singles Awareness Day)! Haha...wanted to get a head start on the holiday of love, hearts, teddy bears, roses, chocolates.  Wal-Mart's already been a land of pinks, reds, balloons, & everything Cupid for over a month ;)  I wanted to step up my nail art game in honor of such a passionate annual celebration...go all out.  I got inspiration from all over the internet.  I also love the shape of my natural nails, but wanted longer nails for my french tip-style art.  Didn't want anything as permanent or damaging as acrylic.  I glued on some Kiss nails to my tips & filed the edges so it blended into my natural nail bed.  After that, I applied my acrylic gel base coat & painted as normal.  Did a different art design on every finger, used 8 different polish colors, and....finished with some delicious Seche Vite topcoat! Check out these pics of my love-filled nails :)

Main colors:                                                                       Accent Colors:

China Glaze "Go Go Pink"                                               NOPI "Have A Heart"

NOPI "Kim-pletely In Love"                                            Essie "A Cut Above"

NOPI "It's All About The Glam"                                      Essie "Forever Yummy"

Revlon "Stiletto"                                                                OPI "Speak For Your-Elf!"

             

Above: little sample of the mess I was making with my Nailene Tip Tape

Below: just finished around 2am! used NOPI "Kim-pletely In Love" as the base for all nails first

 (1 coat is completely clear-sheer with a slight blue iridescent shimmer in sunlight)

**Pleasant surprises: Revlon ColorStay "Stiletto" is a gorgeous perfectly opaque black creme with 1 coat AND it's very affordable $$$.  Also, loving the OPI used for the pointer finger & ring finger...fabulous jelly-based red glitter.  

Direct sunlight

Left: used Essie LuxeEffects "A Cut Above" over the white tip to create a little glittery tiara

Right:  picked the hearts out of the NOPI "Have A Heart" for my middle fingers

 Are you in L.O.V.E with this glittery heart-filled mani?  Do natural nails or these look better?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! .....will you be mine?

Just Another Mani Monday: "Berry" Purple-icious!

My last mani was very dark & edgy so I wanted to lighten this next one up and make it more playful... Purples, Blues, & Greiges are my absolute fave polish colors right now, so I wanted have an over-the-top purple nail design.  I've never done too much nail art & this is my 1st attempt at freehand nail art with a fine paint brush & 3 different colors.  The base is a deep berry purple by Essie...dried a lot darker than the bottle & looked more eggplant/blackberry in the shade).  I applied 3 coats of the Essie, slowly & soaking nails in ice water betweens coats to prevent bubbling.  Essie is a fantastic brand of polish, applies opaque & dries with a high-gloss shine. Next i wanted to create dot flowers on the side of the tips.  I first used an OPI glitter to create the center off the flowers with a fine thin tip paint brush. It's not a ton of glitter but just enough to give the flower a little bedazzley pop! Next I used OPI "Planks A Lot" to create the 'flower petals'.  Lastly, applied OPI Topcoat & sprayed with Sally Beauty Supply Rapid Dry aerosol spray.  

Essie "Bahama Mama", OPI "Planks A Lot", OPI "Show It Or Glow It"

natural lighting but not in direct sunlight (looks very dark)

In direct sunlight, appears more berry merlot-purple

 Little Dot Flowers 

This OPI glitter from the Burlesque Collection: all same-size micro glitters in a clear base, mainly fuchsia glitter mixed with silver, gold, & a tiny amount of teal glitter pieces

OPI "Planks A Lot" from The Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection

Hope you enjoyed my 'berry' purple-icious flower mani! 

What do you think of my first attempt at freehand nail art painting??

The Girl On Fire

In honor of my love & obsession for the incredible book series: "The Hunger Games", I wanted to come up with some sort of manicure to represent my addiction for the books and upcoming movie.  If you haven't read the books then you probably won't really get the point of this mani...to represent the main female character, Katniss Everdeen, "the girl on fire".  She is from the District 12, the coal mining district, and because of the use of coal to create fire/flames, Katniss gets dressed up to represent "a girl on fire".  To create my mani, I used 2 OPI colors and some stencil designs by Kiss Nail Art.  For the main 4 nails, I used OPI's "My Private Jet".  For the accent nail & thumb stencil, I used OPI "Pros & Bronze" from Serena William's Grand Slam Collection.  I wanted to use the "My Private Jet" (a deep chocolate base filled with tiny pieces of holographic glitter) to represent the Coal District; and have the accent nail of "Pros & Bronze" to represent the coal catching fire... I wasn't too pleased with the quality of the stencil designs.  I really wanted a stencil/stamp of a bird because all 3 books are centered around the symbol of the mockingjay.  The ring fingers have a 'futuristic' design, and the thumbs have a spiral & dot design. This isn't my best post or best photography but I tried. If you haven't read the books, I highly recommend it because they are heart wrenching & breathtaking.  The Hunger Games movie comes out March 23rd!  ....also can't wait for the China Glaze "The Hunger Games" collection: Capitol Colours

OPI "My Private Jet" and "Pros & Bronze"

The Hunger Games movie trailer

Everything's Bigger & Better in Texas...

Needed a new mani (as much as I love that last purple with flaky accent nail mani).  So I'm swatching a new OPI I got on sale from The Texas Collection.  It's really a gorgeous deep green...not quite a grass green. Its got a more rustic feel, kinda like green clay.  5 years ago I would've never worn all these blues & greens, and now they seem to be some of my absolute favorite types of colors.  I love the way this green turned out.  It's so different & fresh & fun. No gimmicks, glitter, shimmer, or flakes...just the simple straight up green, 3 coats.  I realize this color is from Spring/Summer 2011, but it's never too late to fall in love with old polishes I say ;) Yeehaw! Giddy-up Cowgirls!

"Don't Mess With OPI" OPI: The Texas Collection

My Time To Shine...

Decided to finally get my mani changed & swatch some of my new Essies! This purple color is from Essie's brand new collections...I ended up doing 3 coats of this. It wasn't streaky or anything but the color DEFINITELY changed with each layer.  It's a crazy fun electric Easter-egg purple.  I wanted to go bright since my last mani was a deep blue-green.  After letting the purple dry, I decided to finally lose my "flaky-virginity" and finally use my Essie flakies from the LuxeEffect Collection :) I only used "Shine Of The Times" on my ring fingers & do an 'accent nail'.  I've been loving how vibrant this mani is...let me know what you ladies think of this combo :) .....and don't forget to let all your beauty SHINE!

"Play Date" by Essie

"Play Date" with a touch of "Shine Of The Times" by Essie

"Shine Of The Times"

New Year's Haul Post!!!!

Ladies...Ladies...Ladies....here are all my most recent purchases.  And I have to first take the time to thank you all for creating even more of a spending monster than already existed.  I maybe bought a new nail polish or 2 every few months.  No, now after reading all your fabulous blogs, creating my own blog, seeing all your fantastic polishes and creative nail art....I have been on a buying spree! It's terrible.  But I am so excited because as of today, I finally own my first flakies! Can't wait to swatch em for y'all :)

Today's Treasures!

Left to Right:

"Play Date" Essie

"Shine Of The Times" Essie Luxe Effects

"Flashy"  Finger Paints Special Effects

"Flecked" Finger Paints Special Effects