A Speckled Half-Moon Mani

Good morning, lovies!

I've pulled another one out of the vault today :)  This is a mani I did for my first concert of the season.  I usually balck out my nails for concerts to go with the "concert black theme"  This time I decided to do something a little different (frankly my director couldn't care less what I have on my nails lol)...

 Colors Used:  Icing - Delicously Scrumptious, Sinful Colors - Whipped, Orly - Dazzle

I started with 2 coats of Scrumptious and top coated.  Once it was completely dry, I taped off my nail, leaving only the "moons" exposed...

I then applied 1 coat of Whipped.  I thought the design looked a little incomplete so I decided to free-hand the stripes of Dazzle.  In hind sight I should have taped and painted Dazzle and then taped again for Whipped.  Oh well!  Haha ;)

I really like this look.  I'll definitely be re-creating it in the future :)

So I'm being a little bit sneaky with these vault photos.  Yes, I need to clear out some of my designs and I love sharing them with you.  But it's also providing my the opportunity to grow out my nubs a bit and get them back to the length and shape that I love.  'Cause this just ain't cuttin' it!

Until next time!

Stef <3

Summery Citrus Fun Take One!

What's up everybody?  It's Saturday and I am soooo thankful.  Hello rest and relaxation... I've missed you! hahaha

I'm going to keep today's post pretty simple.  I had an idea in my head for a fun summery mani and I'm not quite sure that I executed it well.  I'll let you be the judge (just don't judge too harshly :P)...

 

Colors Used: Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow, Love & Beauty - Orange, Sech Vite - Top Coat (a lot!)

Firstly what I do like is the color combo and, of course, the polka dots ;)  I don't like that my half-moon shape is inconsistent, that my clean-up was sloppy and that my top-coating is too thick (I lost count on how many layers I applied because I wanted to avoid using nail glue *sigh*).

 

 I'm going to attempt doing this mani again in the near-ish future, but for now I'm just not really satisfied with it :\  What do you all think?  Does it have potential?

Until next time!

Stef <3

Bleedin' Purple and Gold :)

Hello, hello, hello!  I'm hoping the week has treated you all very kindly (and if it hasn't... remember that Friday is just around the corner!)  :)

We finally got some rain yesterday, although pre-storm we had some mucky-swamp humidity going on.  It was gross!  I don't know how Floridians do it!!  Anyway, onto the mani...

Today's nails are inspired by my all-time favorite basketball team... the Lakers :D  Now, my boys have had it hard this season and it seems like one bad thing happens after another.  My favorite player, Derek Fisher, was traded this season and I'm still pretty upset about it :'(  I could go on and on about how amazingly wonderful that man is but I'll refrain.  His being traded gave me the true inspiration for these nails (he will always be Laker #2 in my book!).

 Colors Used: Cosmetic Arts - Explosive, Sinful Colors - Dream On, Sinful Colors - Snow Me White

I really like the way they turned out!  I'm going to be pretty sad when I have to take them off lol. I do have a couple of comments (questions?) about this mani.  I currently have 4 neon polishes in my collection and they all paint really streaky and the finish is flat (I wouldn't necessarily call it a matte finish, but it's very dull).  Is that normal for neons?  I haven't seen a lot of the nail bloggers talk about the formula with these polishes and I'm a little curious o.O  That being said, a top coat is my best bud when I use my neons hahaha.

I'm going to be painting some friend's/family's nail in the next couple of days so those will probably be the mani's you will see over this weekend.  And it looks like I'll have a fairly full schedule so if I miss a day I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me!  ;)  So, what do you think??  I love how bright and fun they are!!

Until next time!

Stef <3

My Mani's so far...

Hidey-ho and Happy Earth Day everybody!  My post for today consists of all the photos I've shared on my FB page with my girlfriends.  It was actually their positive support that pushed me to start this blog (hopefully I won't crash and burn!  haha).  All of these photos were taken with the camera on my HTC and a few of them have filters added because... well, I was just having a good time with my new phone :)  I was really surprised at how well the camera picked up true-to-life colors!  I'm no pro but I think the pics are decent.

I received the phone as a bday gift from my wonderful fiance (I will probably refer to him as my honey on a regular basis <3).  Around that same time I decided that the cost of getting my nails done, on a weekly basis, was taking away from our wedding savings. So I stopped going to the salon and started painting my nails myself.  And then I Googled images for inspiration.  And then I became obsessed!

Most of these photo's were inspired by photo's and tutorials I saw from A Girl And Her Polish, Chalkboard Nails, Copy That, Copy Cat, and Nailside.  A few were inspired by trends I saw on Pintrest.  And a couple I came up with on my  lonesome :)

3/18/12

 

3/22/12

3/24/12

 

3/26/12

3/27/12

  

3/28

3/30/12

 

4/3/12

 

4/6/12

4/9/12

 

4/10/12

  

4/13/12

 

4/16/12

 

4/18/12

4/20/12

 My honey said he's gonna get me a point-and-shoot in a couple of weeks to support my new love (he really is the greatest!  hahaha).  I really hope you all enjoyed this post and I'm sorry if it's a little bit loooooonnng :P  I suppose that's all for now soooo...

Unrtil next time!

Stef  <3