Mosaic Do-Over

Tuesday,  yay! How was your Memorial Day weekend?  I had to work Monday,  but whatevs.  I got a lot of stuff done which was cool.

So, my cue for this week is inspired by the season.  Since it fluctuates so much here in Iowa,  I wanted something that would be between spring and summer.  I then remembered that I wanted to redo the mosaic mani that I got for vacation. I picked a bunch of cm colors off the rack, and went to it.

I started out with a white base and then I took My Boyfriend Scales Walls (light white-grey) and outlined my blocks. After that I went in and colored the blocks in.

That neon green is a total pain in my butt. This is the second time I've used it. The first time, it stained terribly.  This time, it bled into the white. What a jerk.

Light green: OPI Did it On 'Em
Neon green: Sephora X Radioactive
Turquoise: Essie In the Cab - ana
Purple: Color Club Unnamed Purple Neon
Gold: Cult Cosmetics Stay Gold
White: OPI Alpine Snow

I totally love this because it looks like fun and warmer weather without being totally cheeseball.

That's all I've got. Ta ta for now!!

April

Super SPAM of the past week

Hey guys and happy Monday to you all.  Did anyone have fun weekend plans?  Some friends went with us to a beer festival in Peoria on Saturday and it was a blast. I'm typically an IPA girl,  but shockingly I really gravitated towards the alcoholic ginger beers. They were delicious! Plus it was almost 80 degrees and sunny,  so they were super refreshing. Now today it is dreary,  rainy and cold. Darn Midwestern weather.

I'm going to hock my Instagram page again today,  because I tend to update that more often because it's so much easier. I've taken on the Californails April challenge, do I have the past 2 prompts to share today.

First is from day 8, chevron. Have I mentioned how much I want some of those dang nail vinyls?  I get so frustrated using tape. Here I've got OPI's Chic From Ears to Tail,  which is a pretty pink shimmery crelly. The glitter is Cult Nails Center of Attention. COA is one I acquired through a swap and I love it.  It's so sparkly and it has a golden / Iridescent shimmer in it too.  Now for my chevron. Ugh. I used Essie Chinchilly, but that frigging tape kept messing up  so I free handed this.  So frustrating.

But I did really like how this turned out. It felt springy and glitzy at the same time.  I love chevron,  but I need some help.

Second prompt is for today,  Peeps!  Ok,  seriously,  peeps?  Kind of weird,  but whatevs. I had another swapped polish from Polish Addict,  called Candy Pop. To me it looked like fluffy candy,  so I wanted to use that for sure.

For the peep and the logo,  I used my sticker method. I free hand paint with polish on a sandwich baggie,  top it with a top coat and let it dry. Peel it off the plastic,  and it's a sticker that you just place on and top coat to seal. 

I kind of like the little bugger. Although I hate Peeps with a passion  (marshmallows make me gag when not in s'more form) I think this was a sweet Easter look. 

I've actually got a review of a product for you all next post. Hint : my 3 nails covered in glitter.  =)

Have a great day!
April

S Nail Polishes Post

Hey there! Look at me squeezing in a post on the first week!

I've mentioned it before,  but I'm in a polish group that on Mondays we go through the alphabet and everyone posts a mani with the letter of the week. The week was the letter S, so I of course had to go overboard again and use three different S polishes.

I started with a white base and then sponged on a gradient of Essie's Sunday Funday and China Glaze Sunshine Pop. The accent nail is Orly Starburst. I think I have an issue with circle glitter.  The issue is that I'm OBSESSED!!! Haha.

I really liked this. I was inspired by a post on Instagram by Sloteezy, but her gradient was much brighter, and more pink fading into the yellow. Since I didn't have any hot pink polishes that started with S, I had to go with the red / coral color that Sunday Funday is. She didn't do an accent nail,  but having all 5 fingers match really drives me crazy.

I thought that after a day of wearing this that it looked like candy corn, lol. So I will most likely revisit this look in the fall.  But it definitely was warmer and this girl needs some sunshine.  I think I'm turning translucent.


That's all for today! Have a wonderful day!
April

Latte Nails

Good morning everyone!

I am LOVING this week! Gotta love months that have an extra week in them, so I have a free week without meetings and events. I love it. And bonus for the two of you that read this, you get more posts, lol.

Here's a look that I put together and I can't recall why I chose this color combination.  I wanted to use the new circle glitter polish that I got, and then I needed to pair it with something so I went with a tan to nude to white gradient. I think it looks like a latte with foam on top!

The accent nail is a base of Essie Turquoise and Caicos, topped with this glitter. I tried to Google this polish and I've come up empty.  I've been told that the maker is Bear Polish, and the name of it is Absolem. If anyone knows more about this indie, please let me know because this girl loves some circle glitter! !!

The other nails are a gradient of Zoya Flynn, Taylor and OPI Alpine Snow.  I in finished them off with a light blue rhinestone because it seemed like too harsh of a contrast between the light and the blue.

Ps, how cute is my new midi ring?? I've been wanting one for a long time, and found a set that had this cutie in it. Here's the thing: my hands are so small that the dang rings come down too far!  #smallhandproblems.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day
April

Days 11 and 14 of the February Challenge

Sorry for the delay in posts, guys. I was loving my Olympic nails way too much to follow the Californails February challenge exactly.  Maybe I should have used pastel colors for the Olympic look?  ;)

So, because I suck and I want to get back on track, you get two posts today!

First is day 11, pastels. I think maybe the reasoning behind this was like a box of candy hearts,  because I don't really associate pastels with February. Regardless, here's the look I went with.

Hey, can I get some props here because this is my right or Cinderella hand? Lol, I pretty much liked it better than my left. Look at how good my middle finger came back from that massive break in December! 

I used several pastel toned colors, and then stamped on top with Pueen plate #27. I topped it all off with a matte finish topcoat. In hindsight,  I should have used a different plate. The hearts that were solid look like a big smeary smush. I call these Laced up Easter Eggs. Lol

Ok, mani number 2. This one is for day 14, Match OOTD. So it's no secret,  I plan ahead, do my nails at night and then take pics in the morning.  Tonight I had to pick out what I'm wearing for tomorrow and hope that I still feel like it in the morning! I purchased this sweater last season at Old Navy, and I love it. I love mint, and love polka dots. Sweater full of win.

The mint here is from Essie's new Spring collection,  Fashion Playground. The grey is OPI'S Suzy Takes the Wheel.  I did the grey with mint dots on 3 of my nails, and the inside cuff look with the opposite colors. I like it, you can't go wrong with this color combination.  Simple, but that's ok because I'm tired of wearing Valentine's Day looks!! (Bonus, I looked up on Essie's website for more info on Fashion Playground and couldn't find anything... it's that new! Boom! We never get sneak peeks in Iowa!)


That's all chickies! Have a great weekend
April

Day 9, Hearts

Hello everyone!

I got the best compliment yesterday on my Olympic nails- Nail Art Magazine "hearted" my pics on Instagram! !!!! I about died. So, because I was really enjoying being in the Olympic mood, I wanted to keep those on for a bit longer and therefore I am behind in the #nailartfeb challenge.  No worries though!


The prompt for the 9th is hearts. Meh... I'm not a very mushy girl, so I'm not an "isn't this cute how much I love everything and everyone" displayer of affection. Hearts just aren't my thing. But, I wanted to give it the good ole try.

So, no one laugh. I tried to do the negative space look. Fail. Utter fail. I think I had too much polish on to try to remove it was a nightmare, and my heart was sloppy.  But by that time of night inwas over it. I'll reluctantly try it again.

Colors used here are my new Orly Pink Waterfall (which is so close to a radiant orchid shade that I got on clearance at Ulta!!!), Ciate Pepperminty, and Essie Licorice. I wanted a candy hearts look without doing candy hearts.  Does that make sense? Lol.

Thoughts? Not my favorite.  I was mad that I had to do these last night, because the Olympics were on, and we just recently dumped our cable and satellite television service. We're strictly streaming or using bunny ears to watch TV. our TV upstairs and in the kitchen are so old that we need to buy converter boxes or new TVs. So I was Olympic-less upstairs at my polish station. Boo.

And one last pic, my hubs completed my nail polish racks, so now I have room to grow! I'm only at about 240ish bottles,  which doesn't look like so many when on the wall! Need. More.  Polish. Ha.

Have a great day!
April

Day 7 of the Nail Art February Challenge

It's the weekend! !!!

I'm so excited.  For reals. I am so I busy the first week of the month that the first weekend is like chocolate coated. With sprinkles.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this prompt, which is XOXO. Of course I needed it to be slightly different,  so I did an abstract XOXO.

The textured polish here is L'Oreal Too Dimensional on top of one of my faves, OPI'S Do You Lilac It? The pink is Essie's The Girls Are Out. I taped off the criss cross, or the X's, and then I free handed the O's.

Funny story. I did this pretty late last night, and I turned on the comedy station on Pandora for background sound. I do NOT recommend doing this. You should see my right hand. You can see every move where I laughed. It looks like my 8 year old niece painted them.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Is it beer thirty yet?   ;)
April

Fake It Galaxy Nails

Hey-yo!!! It's so close to the weekend I can smell it!! I've got a very busy weekend ahead of me,  so hopefully everything goes well.

Today I have an awesome find that I snagged up at Walgreens the other day. I'm not usually a fan of this brand,  but it was so beautiful that I had to have it.

So I say to myself,  April... I bet that would be blamo on black. I was right! I always loved the galaxy nails I did back on the 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge, and I haven't done them since. Once I put this over black, I knew it was going to be perfect.

This is one coat of Essie Licorice,  and then the Sally Hansen Grape Shifter on the tips waterfalling down. I waterfalled a little Zoya Suri on the ring finger, but then still topped it with the glitter.

For those of you that might be nervous to try out galaxy nails,  this is a super easy way to accomplish that look.

I'm so in love. It's subtle with being stunning at the same time.


On another note,  I picked up an amazing stash at Ulta and TJ Maxx last night. Gotta love clearance polish! The Zoya's and the Orly were $4.99 each, and Mistletoe was $3.49. The OPI's came as twofer sets at Maxx, and also came with either sparkly hair ties or a cute little makeup bag. They were $7.99 for two polishes. Boom!

Starting at the top, then going clockwise: OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Sweet Heart, Zoya Suri, OPI It's Frosty Outside, Orly Digital Glitter,  OPI Meet Me Under the Mistletoe,  Zoya Sunshine and OPI Emotions.

Have a great Thursday!!!
April

Lavender Gradient with Sephora X

Hey guys... so is it frigging cold out, or what?  Schools are canceled,  church services were canceled on Sunday... it's so darn cold. I'm hoping for a little spring weather,  so I broke out the cheerful spring colors to maybe get in a warmer mood.

I forget sometimes about doing thise old school techniques like gradient.  I start out with a white base, in this case I used Essie Blanc,  and then sponged on three different shades of purple.

The main reason for this is to share this amazing shade from the Sephora X line, Freaky Like Freud. Its an insanely holographic lavender top coat,  and it just explodes with rainbows when the sunlight catches it. I finished off with a leafy stamp from the Pueen Love set.

This definitely brightens my spirits a little,  but to have a day over 20 degrees would be nice too.

Stay warm, my chickadees... I'll be the girl in the knee length wool voat, scarf and hat. You may be able to recognize the tip of my nose peeking out.    =)

April

Christmas Polka!

Sooo excited my chickadees! !! Today is the last day of work for me until after Christmas.  I need to do some major baking and shopping,  so looking forward to that!

I've got a little something different today.  Definitely more my style.

I've decided to call this midnight snow globe. Base is one coat of Essie Licorice, and then a slew of white dots. Go back over the dots with red and lime green, voila! Accent nailamajig is L'Oreal Sparkalicious. This is great beginner nail art.

Ah, glitter nail, how I have missed you.


I'm sure that I will have a few more Christmas manis before the holiday,  so stay tuned.

5 pm countdown is on!!!!
April

Christmas Plaid

Hello and happy Friday!!! Apologies for my absence in fall. Not sure why I didn't create posts... I still of course did my nails and took pictures,  so I will probably do a SPAM post of a ton of older pics.


Today I want to share my first Christmas mani. I was inspired by the Polishaholic,  which is the first nail blog I ever followed and still look up her swatches when I think about purchasing a color. I was thumbing through Instagram and saw a snippet of a red plaid thumbnail- she was actually posting a pic of a trio of mini polishes from Zoya,  but I was blinded by the plaid.  I say to myself, self- I think this is fantastic and you need to do it.


So then I had to figure out how to get a layered look with the plaid stripes. I tested it out, and this is what I came up with.

I die. I love this so frigging much that I might cry when it chips or when I take it off. All of the nails feature a base of OPI MY Boyfriend Scales Walls,  and the ones that are still that grey-white have a top voat of Essie's Pure Pearlfection . Now for the plaid.



Base is the same white, and then I used a tan color for the medium toned stripes, dark green for the darker ones, and a red on the green nail. Then taking a jelly-ish red and a jelly green, swiped that on top over the stripes. I finished them off with a thin white stripe on top.

I'm officially obsessed.  I'm so pleased how well these turned out. I can't wait to do more.

Also, I almost completely snapped off a nail the other day (thankfully on my non-swatching hand). It was bad. Prepare yourself for this pic.

I used the tea bag method to repair it. Glue the nail back in place, cut a piece of the bag to fit the break, glue that on. Buff, glue, repeat.  Add clear coat,  buff. Repeat.  I basically made a fiberglass patch. Its still hanging in there and seems pretty sturdy!  I can't believe it worked. Here's the after:

Be back soon with the spam I promised.   =)
April

Fall Leaves

Ever since I saw the Nimbus nail tutorial on the Nailasaurus' blog,  I've wanted to give it a try. It's a technique where you soak a q-tip in acetone and then thin out polish and dab it on. You can view her tutorial here.


I haven't done any fall seasonal looks yet,  so here was my grand opportunity. I used a butt ton of colors here.  Base is OPI My Vampire Is Buff. The leaves are Essie A-list,  Zoya Flynn, Zoya Darcy, and Sinful Colors Clementine. Since it was so fall-ish, I added a tree!

And of course, it was pretty windy and all of the beautiful leaves that we had are now on the ground and the trees look all haunted house-y. I typically love fall, but this year the seasons were all jacked up and fall was super short. We went from beautiful weather to snow and in the teens. Gotta love it in Iowa.

Whatcha think of my little tree?

April

Baddy Scaddy Nails

So I know that you've seen a ton of these manis,  but I couldn't help myself.  There is something so spooky but awesome about it that I just had to do it too.

Blood.  Bloody Nails.

It's the splatter technique,  where you dip a straw into polish,  and then short blast it onto the nail.  My base coat is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls,  and the blood is Essie's A List.

Totally spooky,  right? I was going to redo the ring finger but I like the huge splotch. Here's the right hand too.

My sisters and I had a weird childhood where we didn't watch those normal kids movies,  we watched scary movies.  And loved them.  It freaks my hubs out that I haven't  seen some Disney flicks,  but we liked to be scared. We also took trips to the old cemetery in town when we were bored to look at the tombstones. Again, weird.


So,  as I am typing this,  I'm watching this horribly scary movie,  Mama.  I'm seriously spooked.  This is one of the freakiest new scary movies I've seen.  Kind of crappin myself right now. Also, why does every actor in scary movies never turn on the lights? Idiots.



So,  what's the scariest movie you've seen lately?

April

Dark blue matte

Best day of football ever on Saturday.  It's no surprise to some of you that I love the Iowa Hawkeyes and I have season tickets this year.  We've had our ups and downs,  but we won in overtime this weekend. I have never yelled so much in my life.  I do a black and gold mani every game, so maybe I need to create an album of just those.


Today I have a quick mani to share.  I was fumbling around on Pinterest and saw a lovely manicure that was a super dark blue shimmer that was mattified and decorated with silver studs.  I totally stink at studs.  I get nail glue all over the nail and on my fingers.  Hate it.  So, I dug out my new Pueen stamping plates, and did that instead.

My blue is Essie's Aruba Blue.  This is just two coats and is a deep royal blue. The accent nail is Pueen plate #33 and the polish is Maybelline Bold Gold. The matte finish top coat I use is Essie's Matte About You.

I love how royal and elegant this looks when matte.  I'm not usually a big fan of blue nails, but I'm totally loving this.

I also need some more practice with stamping. I'm fairly new to it, and I'm having issues every time. Either the polish is not working, or the stamper doesn't grab the image. Top it off with that then I tend to put it on crooked.  I just need to sit down and mess with them more I think.


Also- I uploaded a ton of pics to Instagram on Sunday.  Follow me here and help a sister out.  ;)


Any tips with stamping? What's your favorite matte finish?
April

Finally, Day 31-Re-create a Mani You Love

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week... life got out of control and I ended up wearing that Louboutin mani for a long time because I was so scared to take it off. (Which it wasn't that bad... I soaked my nail and then used a Q-tip to grab out all the underside)

But today is the final prompt for the 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge,  re-create a mani you love. This took me FOREVER to find one that I wanted to do. And I'm still not completely sold, so look for a do-over sometime soon.

So after searching for hours on Pinterest,  reading a multitude of nail blogs, I went back to one on my own Nailed It Pinterest board that I pinned like a year ago.

And of course, in true Pinterest fashion, I'm not sure if the link that I have on the pin is correct.  So for the copyright Nazi's that might be reading this, I hope that whatever language the link is in says that it's her own nail art.  ;)

Source (I hope) Linvant

I altered this slightly for my version.  Since we are expecting snow today, (SNOW!!! Ugh!) I thought that the pink and lilac was just too springy. I instead used OPI's My Vampire is Buff as the base. Then because I did this last night at like 9 pm, I free handed the purple shapes- which is OPI'S Do You Lilac It? . And again, since it was slowly creeping on my bedtime,  I free handed the black shapes too, which is Essie's Licorice.

I'm strangely liking the overall look, but as what happens with me all the time, is that I don't have the patience or the plan-aheadiness to have a completely dry base before attempting to tape. Oh well, like I said,  I will most likely do another version sometime down the road.

Well, that takes me to the end of the 31 day challenge.  How long did that actually take me, lol? I hope to still post regularly.  I just got a new nail polish station upstairs, so my DH will be very happy that my crap is not clogging up the dining room table anymore.  He's already got to refinish the table because varnish and acetone don't mix well.  (Whoops).

Have a wonderful day, and for the rest of you in the Midwest today, be safe for the first bit of bad weather today. People tend to get all wackadoodle when this happens.
April