Union Jack & Polka Dots Mani

Hi all! I just got back from studying abroad/vacationing in Europe and one of my stops there including London.... obsessed. I already loved everything British beforehand, but going to London just solidified my love and obsession with it. So, being on my British high, I of course had to incorporate something British into my nails! For the pink I used Essie's "Mod Square" and for the turquoise I used Essie's "Turquoise & Caicos" ... both great colors for summer too! For the Union Jack, I used a striping brush, and for the polka dots I used Sally Hansen's nail art pens.. both incredibly easy to do! For the Union Jack, I did the "X" first.. a wider base of white, then a thinner stripe of the pink. BE SURE THE WHITE & PINK ARE DRY!! Before doing all of the separate layers, be sure that each color is dry, otherwise there'll be spreading and mixing and it'll just be a big mess. After the X is dry, I did the "+" part of the flag. Again, wider stripes for the white and thin stripes for the pink. Once all is dry, seal it in with your top coat and you're set! It's brilliantly British!! xx

Design FX Nail Stickers- Gilded Groove

Again.. haven't posted in forever.. it's just been crazy.. whatevs. Anyways, I recently got my hands on Dashing Diva Pro's Design FX nail stickers and they are amazing!! This pattern is called Gilded Groove and I'm absolutely obsessed with it! They go on very easily and lasted me several days before the ends started lifting a little (and all of those days included work, so they probably could've lasted longer if I wasn't using my hands as much). These are my favorite (and best working) nail stickers I've tried so far and I will most definitely be using them again!

Pink, Black, & White Multi Mani

So. I'm completely obsessed with this mani. It's super girly and fun and got me so many compliments! For the polish, I used OPI's Pink Friday, Sinful Color's Snow Me White, and Wet N Wild's Ebony Hates Chris. I also used Sally Hansen's nail art pens in white and black. For the pinky, I did two coats of the pink and then used the nail pens to create the leopard. On the ring finger, I also did two coats of the pink and waited for it to completely dry, and then used the hole reinforcer method to make the half-moon mani. For the middle and pointer fingers, I did two coats of the white and then did the stripes and polka dots with the nail pen. I really wanted to do a pink heart on the striped nail, but ran out of time and blah blah. Thumb nail, did the two coats of pink again and two coats of China Glaze's World's Away (part of their Cirque collection). As always, a top coat to finish it off!

Mint and Glitter Half-Moon Mani

Happy MLK Jr. Day! Hope everyone is enjoying their day off! For this super cute mani I used Wet N Wild's Fast Dry in #229C Ebony Hate Chris, China Glaze's #551 Fairy Dust, and Revlon's #85 Minted. This manicure started off as just black, but then it started to chip and I didn't feel like changing it, so I touched up the chips and threw on the glitter. (The glitter is awesome, by the way! It's holographic glitter and shines like crazy in the light!) Then that started to chip and I still didn't feel like changing it, so I stuck on the hole reinforcers and made the mani minty fresh! Top coat to seal it all in, of course!

Red and Pink Leopard Mani

This mani originally was just a basic red, but I thought, "Hey, let's spice it up some," so I did leopard, naturally. For the red I used Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in #375 Stiletto Red and to make the leopard I used Sally Hansen's nail art pens in pink and black. For the tutorial on how to do a leopard mani, click here. I PROMISE it only takes 15 minutes!! Don't forget your top coat! (Especially if you use the Sally Hansen nail art pens- they wipe off easy without it!)

NYE Mani

Ah I haven't posted in ages!!! I'm so bad at this!! Whatevs.... I'm just super excited to share my NYE manicure with you all now!! I already love glitter and anything that shines, so NYE is one of my fave holidays because it gives me even more of an excuse to sparkle! Tonight I'll be wearing a multi-colored glittered clutch, so naturally I had to have my nails match. For this mani I used black (my favorite is Wet N Wild Fast Dry in #229C Ebony Hates Chris... I usually only need one coat and it dries super quick!... Winner!!). Then, I did one or two coats of Wet N Wild Party of Five Glitters (depending on the glitter disbursement on each nail). This is one of my absolute favorite glitter polishes A. because it has different sizes and colors, B. because it shines unbelievably, and C. because it's super inexpensive! Top coat to seal it all in and you're done! Hope you all have a good and sparkly New Year's Eve and a fabulous year to come!

James Bond Mani

So I'm super excited to go see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, that just came out, and I of course had to do my nails for the occasion!! This was a fairly easy manicure... takes some patience and time to do the 007 nail stickers, but it's totally worth it. For the black I used Wet N Wild's Fastdry in Ebony Hates Chris and for the white on the tuxedo I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in White On. (For the white on the sticker, I use white acrylic paint.) So anyways, two coats of black, except on whichever finger(s) you want the tuxedo on. For the tuxedo nail, I did two coats of the white in a triangle sort of way, so it wouldn't be too clumpy when I painted the black over it. Wait for the white to semi-dry, then do the edges with the black. For the "buttons" and "bow tie" I used a toothpick with the black polish, but if you have a polish pen, I would probably use that. For the 007, I made my own nail sticker and applied them once the black polish was pretty dry, so it's easier to press down on the sticker for air bubbles. Hope everybody goes to see the new movie!!!

Candy Corn Mani

So this is definitely one of my favorite manis I've done and people seem to agree, as I get so many compliments on them!!! The colors I used for this are Piggy Polish in Funshine (yellow), Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed (orange), and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in White On. First I did my base coat (duh), then two coats of the yellow. Then I waited for it to partially dry (I'm very impatient) and then took the orange and brushed two coats of it horizontally on my nails. The first time I did this mani, I was surprised how straight the lines came out, but it's easy if you just do a quick swipe of the polish. Then I did two coats of the white for the tips. DEFINITELY seal it with a top coat!!!!! It's very lumpy otherwise!! Happy Halloween all!!

Caviar Spiderweb Mani

So I know I haven't posted in a while, but Halloween is coming up and I'm super into holidays, so I will be posting a bunch for Halloween. First up is an accent finger with a spiderweb made out of caviar beads (AKA microbeads from a craft store). I'm already apologizing in advance for the horrible quality photo... forgot to take it with my camera before I left, they got ruined, blah, blah. Anyways, the color is Essie #760 Carry On (it's an extremely dark purply brown). Then I used my top coat (Out the Door) and lightly brushed my dotting tool I got from Sephora with the top coat and painted/dotted little sections with it on my nail. Moving quickly I dipped the dotter into my silver microbeads and positioned them onto my nail to begin forming the spiderweb. You have to keep repeating these steps and do little sections one at time, as the polish will dry too much for the beads to stick if you just did one coat. After I finished the web, I put an extremely thick top coat over it.... huge mistake. The top coat itself wasn't a mistake because otherwise the microbeads would've immediately started falling off, but the thickness of the coat was. It gave me SO many air bubbles. So, what I would suggest is doing a thin top coat, waiting for it to dry, and then doing another thin coat, because those suckers fall off so easily.

Fairy Dust Glitter Ombre Mani

My favorite way to cover up wear and chips on my nails is to do a glitter ombre on them! They're super easy to do and look so pretty! What I like to do is first paint a thin coat of glitter just on the tips. Then, one nail at a time, I put a glob of glitter on the tips and brush it back. Finish with a top coat and done! It looks like a fairy sprinkled some magic dust on them, right?! The pale pink is Sinful Colors in Easy Going and the glitter is Nicole by OPI in Twist of Fate. Be sure to use a fine glitter polish for this and not a large glitter, as you wouldn't get the same effect.