Watermelon Tribal

Good morning, dolls!

I have a quick post for you today.  This is a mani that I did a couple of weeks ago, because I was in the mood for something bright.  I know it's Fall and the season of dark colors but... it gets so booooring!  Lol I need color in my life!

 Colors Used: Nabi - Pastel Green, Color Club - Flamingo, Sinful Colors Nail Art - Time Off

There is no rhyme or reason to this one.  I just sort of grabbed polishes and painted this was my end result haha.  

I have to say my SC striper is my new favorite nail arting tool.  I've had it for years and only just now am I realizing how fabulous it is!  It's super pigmented and so easy to work with.  I don't know if they're still sold in stores but if you find it, snatch it up ;)

I started with 2 coats of Nabi's Pastel Green.  I am not familiar with this brand at all, but I saw it in a bowl of polishes at this clothing store I frequent and thought it looked so much like pics I've seen of Lime Crime's Pastelchio (a long time lemming).  The formula is ok but the color... I just can't get enough!

I then applied a large stripe of Flamingo using the bottles brush.  After that I just went to town with the black triper.  I used a small dotting tool for my dots.  It was all topped with Color Club Clear.

Watermelon goodness ;)

Alright loves I have to skidaddle!  I have a date with The Doctor and musn't be late :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Kaboom!

Hello, lovelies!

I'm wishing you all a very happy Friday!  I have another vault mani to share with you today :)  This is one that I did over a month ago I think?  I used some new-to-me polishes from Color Club's Fiesta Collection and a polish from Salon Perfect's Neon Collision Collection that came out over the summer...

 Colors Used: Color Club - Wild Cactus and Sunrise Canyon, Salon Perfect - Kaboom, Daisy Nail Lacquer - White Diamond

A little bit of this and a little bit of that in this skittle mani.  Kaboom is actually a perfect dupe for the ever coveted "Floam", an indie polish that has been discontinued.  Did you ever play with Floam as a child?  I loved the stuff lol.

It's been a while since I did this, so I can't remember how many coats all of this was.  I know that Sunrise Canyon (middle finger) was 3 coats.  I remeber being concerned about streakiness at first, but by the third coat it was golden.  I also remember putting Kaboom over a base of Wild Cactus, but I'm not sure how many coats I used.  Maybe 2?  The tribal print was free-handed using a striping brush.

All in all i like the color combo and it was 3 more polishes to get out of my un-used pile lol.

Slowly but surely my nails are growing.  I'm hoping that their will be a noticeable difference when I start sharing more current nail art with you.  Then again maybe you'll think, "She made a big fuss over this??".  Hahaha we shall see ;)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Step Into Summer - 3D

Hi there, lovlies!

I want to apologize for the infrequency of my posts.  Summer is the busiest time for me at work with summer camp.  By the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is paint my nails and post.  Usually I'll just pass out on the couch until my hubby comes and puts me to bed lol.  I have fallen really behind on my summer nail challenge because of it... Ooops!

Today I'm knocking out the "3D" mani...

 Colors Used: Love & Beauty - Strawberry (scented), Rimmel - Black Satin, Essie - Beyond Cozy

Originally I wanted to do a mani with fimo slices.  I have a ton of them, so the sky would be the limit.  But it was swim day at camp and I was afraid of them falling off in the pools and such.  This summer is ruining my life lol...

I opted for studs instead.  I picked these ones up over a month ago while perusing nail stuff at Claire's.  it came in a variety wheel that also includes micro beads, rhinestones and pearls.  Again, because of summer, I haven't gotten a chance to really play with them.

For application, I would topcoat 1 nail, apply the stud(s) and move on the the next nail.  I them applied a 2nd layer of topcoat once all of the studs had set, for extra security.

I think my thumb's my favorite haha :)

Here's hoping I can muster up the energy to do my nails again tonight...

Be sure to check out all of the awesome nail art in the links below.  You're bound to find something that suits your fancy :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Happy 4th of July!!

Hello there, lovelies!

Happy Independence Day!!  With all of the issues America has, I must say that I'm very thankful for my country and what it has provided me.  I'm thankful for all those that came before me, who fought and died so that America could be free.  It's a pretty awesome thing :)  With that being said... onto the mani!

Last night's post was just an "Oh... I should probably do something with my nails for the 4th" kind of a thing.  After I posted them, I said to myself, "Self!  You can do better!!".  So I did...

 Colors Used: Sinful Colors - Ruby Ruby, Sally Hansen - White On, Love & Beauty - Cobalt, Spellbound Nails - Drink Me

I started with 2 coats of each color as my base (same polishes I used for my last mani).  I then used my striping tool to apply the designs on my thumb and ring-finger.

 I applied Drink Me, an awesome white glitter, to my middle finger and then topped my nails with OPI RapiDry...

Simple, bright and oh-so patriotic!  Leaps and bounds better than last years manicure (yikes!)...

Happy birthday Amurika :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Step Into Summer - Neon

Hello, lovelies!

Another quick post today :)  I have decided to participate in the Hobby Polish Bloggers Challenge for the months of June and July.  It's a really relaxed challenge with 8 themes to be posted at ones leisure... my kind of challenge lol.  Today I'm going with "Neon"...

 Colors Used: China Glaze - Celtic Sun, Love & Beauty - Purple, Orly - Mayhem Mentality

Downside... my light tent REALLY subdued the crazy brightness of this polish :(  But I still really loved the mani so I had to share haha.

Celtic Sun, in person, is blinding-highlighter-yellow.  It's amazing!  I layered 2 coats over a white base.  I then popped over to my inspiration board on Pinterest and re-discovered a great tutorial for my accent design.

"Why you not brighter??!!!"

I have to skidaddle now, but I hope you all have a fabulous day!

Until next time!

Stef <3

April TPC - Day 4

Helloooooo, darlings!

It's the final day of April's Tri Polish Challenge and while I'm glad to tuck these bright polishes away, I'm a little sad too.  I've really enjoyed this month's challenge because the formula on these Color Club polishes has been amazing!  They're so much fun to work with haha.

Today's mani doesn't really have a theme, it's not inspired by anything.  My hubby said, "I don't know what it is, but it's awesome!!".  I'm inclined to agree ;)

I used the same 3 Color Club polishes as before... Edie, Jackie OH! and Koo-Koo CaChoo.  I also used a new silver polish, NYC Tribeca Silver.  And the white dots are my go-to Sally Hansen White On.

I started with Edie and Koo-Koo Cachoo as by base colors, each requiring 2 coats.  I then took my 3 CC polishes and painted  blocks of color on some transparent tape.  While I waited for that to dry, I took out my striping brush and applied my Jackie OH! stripes to my thumb, index and pinky...

Last I cut triangles out of my painted tape, layered them, dotted my white and applied my silver stripes.  I top coated them with Nutra Nail Speed Dry and that was that!

I've had a lot of fun creating manis for this challenge.  I'm not sure if I'll be doing it again next month, tho.  There is another FB group that I am apart of called the Hobby Polish Bloggers and the ladies have come up with a challenge for the month of May.  Granted, it's also 4 manis and there is no set schedule.  Maybe I could do both?  I dunno.  What would you all like to see?  Help meeeee!!!!  Lol ;)

Don't forget to take a peek at the other gals below...

Until next time!

Stef <3

Wild Shinies!

Hey there dolls!

It has been a crazy week and it's only Wednesday!!  I am so sleeeeppyyyyy ZZZZzzzzzzzz...

Well today's mani is a result of indecision and allergy meds lol...

 Colors Used: Love & Beauty - Strawberry, Julep - Amy, Color Club - Beyond the Mistletoe

The pictures are terrible but I think the mani is pretty fun!

It's very girly, I know.  But I'm running low on acetone and can't get to the store until friday so... blam!  I wanted something fun that I could rock for the rest of the week and feel alright about it lol.  The glitter is unbelievably shiny and has a pretty holo mix to it :)

Yay shinies :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Tryin' Tribal

Hello hello  :)

Sorry for my absence, I had a very VERY busy weekend.  One of those weekends where you need another weekend just to recover haha.  I also can't shake this droopy fatigue I've got going on.  I woke up this morning with the worst sneezing and itchy face.  I took some allergy medicine and now I feel like a zombie... bleh!

But that's enough ranting about me.  Let's get to some nails!

Today's mani was created by using Julep + Trina Turk polishes that I received last month... Gunta and Hoch.

 

Gunta is the blue, Hoch is the green.  What's interesting about Gunta is that it's not supposed to be a navy blue.  It's more of a royal blue.  When I received my bottle, I thought it was strange but not the end of the world.  And then last week I recieved a "Mystery Color" from Julep in the mail.  It's the exact same shade.  I'm a little bummed, not gonna lie.  I don't even like blue all that much :(

 

 I used striper polishes by Sinful Colors to draw my lines.  Time Off (black) and Bad Chick (White)

 

 With my dotting tool, I applied Julep's Felicity.

Tada!

That's all for now.  I'm kind of having a nail crisis at the moment.  This last month with the wedding a packing/moving really did a number on my hands.  I neglected them and now they're have their revenge.  My middle finger nail on my picture hand broke so badly that I had to give it the chop and now my nails just look disasterous D: (hence why I pulled this mani out of the vault)  So do I continue painting mani's and hope that you'll forgive me or wait until it grows back to an acceptable length?  Decisions, decisions...

Until next time!

Stef <3

P.S. Don't for get to enter the giveaway if you haven't already.   3 more days!