Think Pink.. With Scalloped/Cloud Tips :)

Good morning starshine, the Earth says hello!  :D

Today's mani is "the design that started it all", so to speak.  When I first started painting my nails I thought I was being so creative/clever and fashion forward by having an accent nail with polka-dots (genuis!  lol).  And then I saw this design on Nailside and my mind was blown!  I had to try it and try, try I did... lots and LOTS of times!  So much so that I swore to myself I wouldn't do them again for a while.  It's been a little over two months hahaha...

 Colors Used: JLB - 03 (mauve) and 04 (pink), Salley Hansen - Golden-I

Both of the JLB's were pretty sheer but easy to work with.  I applied 3 coats of the pink and 2 coats of the mauve (probably should have done 3, you know what they say about hindsight...). I let those dry for a minute and then I applied 2 coats of the gold.  I like 'em!

Aaaaaand the big one...

I am still not crazy about the color pink, but I do love this mani :) 2 more mani's to go tho.  I may be a convert yet!

Quick question... would it be more convenient for you if I created a Facebook page to go along with this blog?  I can't stand Twitter and, while I love Pinterest, it's a little impersonal... what do you think?

Until next time!

Stef <3

Think Pink... Tape Mani! (kinda)

Hello hello hello!  Happy hump day!  Lol.  I can't believe it's already Wednesday!!  One more day of work and then it's the weekend for me (and I get paid on Friday which means I will most likely be buying more polishes haha) :D

For today's mani I decided that I should try out the taping technique, taping off sections of my nails to create a fun design.  And I failed miserably!  I couldn't paint fast enough, so the polish would start pulling up with the tape and I ended up with stringy/gloppy lines.  It irritated me to no end!  So I took it all off and started over freehand.  This was much much easier for me to do.  Any lines that weren't quite straight I fixed with acetone and my angled brush.  I then added some striping and glitter to dress it up and this was the final look...

Colors Used: JLB - 02 (light pink), JLB - 05 (pepto pink), O.P.I. - Pirouette My Whistle

I know, I know... I use Whistle a lot :\  But it's the perfect glitter in my collection because it's not overwhelming while still adding some pop!  I really like it :)  Here are some more pics...

 

And one final shot...

 

I realized last night that I said I would have pics to show you of my polish storage and I never posted them... how terrible am I??!  So here it is (after the jump of course :P)...

Think Pink... An Adventure in Neon!

Good morning lovelies!  I apologize for my posts being up a little later than usual.  I always try to have them up by 8:30, but the long weekend threw off my sleep schedule.  And if I don't sleep I am a bear to deal with lol.  Anywhosie, let's get started!

Yesterday I posted my haul from the last 2 weeks and in it I showed a neon pink by China Glaze called Pool Party.  Well, today I've decided to be bold...

Colors Used: China Glaze - Pool Party, Ulta - Pinata-Yada-Yada

I applied 3 coats of Pool Party, brushed the Pinata on the tips and then topped it off with Out The Door.  Very simple but fun :)  A couple of things tho... Neons are usually thicker and more challenging to work with, but this applied like a dream. I applied 3 coats to ensure that it was completely covered.  

The only thing that bugged me was how it dried.  I mentioned in a previous swatching post that I've noticed that neons dry darker than they look in the bottle.  This polish is no exception and it's kind of turning me off to neons :(  The above picture is one of the better shots I got.  None of the photos have flash.  In the following pics, the polish looks orangey...

*sigh* It is what it is!  One last pic, I think it's the closest representation of the color...

Well, there you have it!  What are your feelings on neons?  Have you had a similar experience with them?  I hope you all have a lovely day :) 

Until next time!

Stef <3

Think Pink... By Complete Accident!

Good Morning!  Happy Memorial Day to those of you in the states :) 

Today's mani is actually what inspired me to do a whole week of pink!  I wanted to do a jelly sandwich again because I think they're really fun.  I also wanted to use polishes that I hadn't opened up yet.  I did not expect it to become a pink-glittery-girly-thing.  Here's what happened...

 

Colors Used: O.P.I. - You Callin' Me A Lyre?, Love & Beauty - Faded Rose/Multi, Konad - Special White, Rimmel - Black Satin

 I layered 2 coats each of Lyre and Rose (jelly sandwich style), I was expecting the Rose to be a deeper magenta color :\  The reason I used Konad White (a stamping polish for those who are unaware) is because I'm fed up with the thin streaky polishes I currently have.  The Konad is almost the consistency of White-Out and I figured it would do the job a lot better and a lot faster than my other whites. I added white and black striping thinkng that it might help dress up the look...

 But it was still lacking something!  So I went back and added some white dots aaaaaaannnd... A matte top coat (excuse me while I get excited all over again :D:D:D:D:D:D)!

I liked them so much that I kept them on for a full 24 hours lol.

Ok... I should explain my excitement over this simple top coat.  I was late to the matte polish game and by the time I went out searching for a matte top coat, there were none to be found.  I was getting desperate and about ready to shell out the $8 + shipping on Amazon for Essie's matte.  Luckily my cravings for mint-chip ice cream got the best of me on Saturday, so I popped over to Rite Aid and while I was there I perused the polishes and I found one!  NYC's Matte Me Crazy for $2!  And I LOVE it!!  Hahahahaha  :D

This will lead us into my polish haul for the past 2 weeks... after the jump... tada! 

Church Mani: Think Pink!

Good afternoon/evening y'all!  It has been a crazy-busy weekend, one of those where I feel like I need another weekend to recuperate from this one lol.

I have some news.  Not great, not horrible.  Maybe a little bit interesting / exciting.  I have decided to challenge myself this week and do only pink mani's! *gasp!*  I know... I have shocked / disgusted myself with this idea, which is why it's great :D  I plan on producing the most horrifically girly pink mani's that I can manage and rock them out (in public!) for the entire week.

Seeing as it's Sunday and technically the start of the new week I figured why not start now?  Buuuuutttt church mani day is supposed to be fairly simple so here is what I came up with...

Colors used: Sinful Colors - Snow Me White, Sally Hasnsen - French White Creme, JLB - 06, Savina - Heavenly, Confetti - Heartthrob, China Glaze - Love Letters

With flash and without (indoor)

The reason why I used two different whites for the tips is that I haven't found the perfect white polish yet.  Sinful Colors is almost perfect in one coat, with just some slight streaking, but it's super thick.  The Sally Hansen is really thin and requires almost 3 coats to be opaque.  So I used one coat Sinful first and then applied one coast of Sally to cover up any bald spots.  I then used my dotting tools to create the different sized dots and voila... mani!

That's all there is for today folks!  I will have my polish hauls from the last 2 weeks up with tomorrows mani and then for Tuesday I will show you how I store my pretties :D  I hope you're weekend has been wonderful and blessed!

Until next time!

Stef <3

For Audrey with some RAWR! ;)

Hello, hello!  How are we all faring this loverly day?  I'm feeling pretty ok and I'm really excited for today's mani :D  Here we go!

Colors Used: China Glaze - For Audrey, JLB Cosmetics - 06, Rimmel - Black Satin

I new that I wanted to use For Audrey with a pink-ish accent nail (I'm really trying to accept pink into my life but it's soooooo hard!! lol).  The mauve-y color is one I found in a boxed set at Ross and I will probably show that in a haul tomorrow after church (I'm just slacking with the picture taking :\)

I added the zebra stripes as an after thought and I love the way it turned out!  I may actually keep this on for more than one day lol...

 (indoor lighting)

 

 (outdoor lighting)

 For Audrey is a color that China Glaze created to match Tiffany's signature brand color (so I've heard).  I was skeptical (even after I had it on my nails) so I pulled out and old Tiffany's box that I've had for years.  I don't even remember what came in this box originally, it now holds some Ivory (*sniff* poor heffalump) dominoes that I inherited from my grandfather...

 

I was wrong, it's pretty much perfect, spot-on, wonderfulness!

So there it is and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Swatch and Compare :)

Oh-lo friends!  It's the weekend... woohoo!!!  :D  I promised that I would have a swatch / comparison for you this week so let's get to it :)

This is the completed mani (for thumbnail's sake)...

 

And now the story... A while back I bought Sinful Colors - Dream On

I bought the polish because it was so pretty and bright in the bottle.  I assume that it's a dupe for Illamasqua - Stance.  The first time I applied Dream On, it dried really dark!  I was soooo bummed :(  I decided to go hunting for another.

I found Jesse's Girl - Wild Thing while out shoping with my friend, the Fashionista :)

My bottle has a tall thin cap not this big square one... strange!

We each bought a bottle because, along with me, she thought that her bottle of Dream On was a little deceiving.  Surprise, surprise... Wild Thing dried dark too *sigh*. 

I personally can't really see a difference in the two polishes but I'll let you decided for yourself...

 I applied 3 coats of each polish. Dream On is thumb, middle finger and pinky.  Wild Thing is index and ring fingers.

 

In certain lighting / angles Dream On looks slightly darker than Wild Thing.  Other times they look exactly the same.  Very frustrating!

I have seen swatches online of Illamasqua - Stance and it seems as if that polish dries dark as well :'(  I've come to terms with the fact that the color I am looking for is unattainable, and that is ok.  

Of course I couldn't walk around with just plain polish on my nails... So I busted out the laser tape that I got from Amazon a while back and my handy-dandy dotting tool (it's just a polka-dotty kind of week I guess lol)!

 

My frustration turned into immediate joy and I was a very happy lady!

Again I just wanted to say thanks for all of the lovin'!  You guys rock :)  And just a reminder that I plan on having a giveaway when I reach 25 followers (tell yo friends... yes... I said YO)!  Lol...

Until next time!

Stef <3

What's Your Flavor?

Happy happy HAPPY Thursday everyone!  I love Thursdays because they are my last day of work for the week and then I have a 3 day weekend to look forward to (altho I suppose I technically "work" at church on Sundays.  But it's a labor of love so it shouldn't count hahaha).

Today's mani is inspired by the one thing I can NEVER say no to... it's my Kryptonite... Mint-chip ice cream!  *sigh* I love it so very much, probably a little too much :P  I've been craving it for weeks and still haven't gone out to get any :\  The other night I finally mustered up the energy to go to the store only to come to the realization that it was closed.  I was going to whine about it but instead decided to get creative...

 

 Colors Used: Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet, Sinful Colors - Nirvana, Jesse's Girl - Spring Break, Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow, Sally Hansen - White On

I'd seen this drip nail idea on quite a few nail blogs and YouTube tut's and I thought it would go well as a sort of sundae look.  I went digging around in my fimo box for cherries but the only ones I could find were 2 attached to a stem, not quite right.  So I opted for strawberries :)

For those who are curious, I used my biggest dotting tool to draw the fudgey drips.  This is definitely a look I'm going to try again in the future to see if I can improve on the drippy look.

One last photo to send you off with!

 

 

I'd just like to say that I really love and appreciate all of the positive feedback that I've been receiving from you all!  You guys are amazing and I love you *gasp*... I said the L word!  Hahaha :P

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think :)  If you have a suggestion for a mani you think I should try out or if you have any questions about how / what I do, leave those in the comments as well :)  Also, follow me!!  If you look on the left side toolbar you'll see a little thing that says "followers".  Click join this site and then I'll know that you're following me and I can send some love your way (I have a sneaking suspicion that there are more than 19 of you lol).  If I get to 25 followers I plan on doing a giveaway... because you guys are awesome and deserve one :D

Soooooo, with that being said...

Until next time!

Stef <3

Inspired By TOMS

That's right... TOMS!

Lol good morning peeps :)  Today's mani is simple but the inspirations is a little obscure.  The back story is that one of the little girls at my work was raving about her new shoes that her mother had bought her over the weekend.  Here's a pic of them...

Very sparkly, very girly... and they imbedded themselves in my head!  I could not stop thinking about these silly shoes!!  So I decided to mani them up and hoped that I'd get it out of my system...

 (Indoor lighting) Colors Used: Love & Beauty - Nude, Spoiled - I Have No Reception

 (Outdoor Lighting)

I have a really hard time putting compacted glitters on my nails because I LOATHE taking them off... truly, I absolutely dread it!  But I just could not stop thinking about how pretty the TOMS looked in the sunlight and I had to have it on my nails.  An accent nail seemed like the best course of action.  The nude color was just a random choice (and really I think it's more of a peach than a nude).

I really love the shape of my nails in these photos (shortly after taking these I tore the corner of my middle finger *sigh*).  I'm hoping that my nail growing process will hurry itself up.  I don't want super long claws, but a little bit more length would be nice.  Anyway, that's all for today!

Until next time!

Stef <3

An Ombre Polka Dot Mani(s?)...

Good morning to you dearies :)  I'm really excited to show off today's mani so let's get to it!

I was perusing through my blog roll and saw an ombre polka dot mani from Lindsey at Neverland Nail Blog (I really love the work that she does, take a peek!) and I went kookoo kachoo over them!  So I decided that I had to attempt this mani for myself...

 

And these are the pretties I used...

Colors Used: Love & Beauty - Teal, China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover, China Glaze - For Audrey, Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet, Love & Beauty - Mint

I love the way these turned out!  I wore them Sunday night, with a Teal dress, and went off to play pool / billiards with some friends.  And then last night I got a little crazy lol.  I decided that rainbow ombre polka dot nails would be genius!  I now think I may have gone overboard hahahaha...

In total there are 26 polishes used in this mani and I am refusing to list them all lol (if you really REALLY need to know, email me :P).  It's a lot of color but it's something different and fun :)

That's it for today, I hope your Tuesday is a great one :D

Until next time!

Stef <3