Butterfly Manicure for Spring

Good morning! The theme this week in our stamping group is Spring, and, although I know the good weather is right around the corner, the persistent cold around here has been keeping me down. Well, this mani may have just pulled me right out of it because it makes me happy just to look at it! I did some simple stamping in green and then created some butterfly stamping decals to place over top. I really love how these came out!

I started off with two coats of Julep Francis, then stamped this vine pattern using Bundle Monster plate BM-406 and NYC High Line Green. Here is what it looked like before I added my butterflies.

After that, I created decals using PUEEN39 (and removed all of the flowers). I colored in each butterfly using Sally Hansen Purple Craze, Barielle Joytini, and Wet n Wild Dream Poppy. I added white to the back of each one to make the colors brighter. Once they were dry, I placed them on each nail at different angles, then added topcoat.

Hooray for Spring! I'm so excited to finally feel WARM again! Here is a quick swatch of Julep Francis all by itself. I'm slowly working my way through a lot of my untried colors, but it is taking a while. :)

Thank you so much for stopping by to read! Please make sure you take a peek at what everyone else did for their spring manis!

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52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge - Stained Glass + Pink and Orange

I am combining prompts again this week with a pop art style stained glass manicure that has pink and orange, and bunch of other pretty bright colors in it. I have been desperate for bright colors lately because I am just itching for Spring to finally get here. It is so gray and dreary I just can't stand it! We have had some sunny weather, so I know it's not too far away. I just want to be WARM again! :) So anyway, I created this pop art stained glass manicure using PUEEN36.

I made decals with the image using Konad Special Black, then colored in all of the spaces with Nicole by OPI Be Ama-zing!, OPI Do You Have This Color In Stockholm?, Julep Donna & Francis, Barielle Joytini, and Zoya Pippa.

These took a pretty long time, but most of it was waiting, so you know I was multitasking. I have three stampers now, so I was able to create 3 decals at once, and while I waited for those to dry, I painted my nails white so the colors would pop, then went about cleaning, doing laundry, and whatnot around the house. I went back to them several hours later, applied them, trimmed the edges, and added topcoat. Then, I created my last two decals. I let them dry overnight, and put them on in the morning before work. ;) Oh, and then I had to be REALLY careful all day not to chip them so that I could photograph them when I got home. This is the life of a nail art blogger who has a day job. I think I need to just buy two more stampers so that I can do a whole and of decals at once! ;)

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you liked my pop art stained glass manicure! Please make sure you check out what everyone else did for this week's prompts.

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Gradient Pastel Chevrons and Birds

Good morning! Today I have some cute chevrons and birds on my nails for the double stamping prompt from my stamping group on facebook. I really love how these came out (despite the stamping troubles I had with this darn birdcage stamp).

I started off with a simple gradient using Zoya Wednesday and Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac. Then, I stamped a chevron pattern over top of it using Konad Special White polish and Bundle Monster plate BM-423.

After that, I added the birdcages to each nail using Konad Special Black polish and Bundle Monster plate BM-407.

Thank you as always for taking the time to read my post! I hope you enjoyed my manicure. Please take a moment to enjoy the manicures that my fellow stampers came up with for today's double-stamping prompt!

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January 2015 Julep Box - Chrysalis Collection

Hi all! I have been slowly swatching this collection as I cashed in all of my Jules and got all of the colors from their Chrysalis collection back in January. I received 10 bottles of polish (9 from the collection and then a bonus polish that I will show here as well). You have seen some of these already as the base of some of my recent manicures, but here I will show them off on their own. I received a gigantic box because of all the polish they put in there. I also got another add-on that I will show at the end of this post. They are holographic chevron stickers, so I paired this with one of the polishes that came in the collection. I have some left, and I'm thinking about trying them out as a mask to see how that works. I'll let you know when I use them. :)

First up, we have Maryam. This is a dark red-wine shade with gold shimmer. It applied nicely in two coats.

Next, is Shawn. This is a lovely bright pink leaning red. It is a great opaque cream color and went on in two smooth coats.

Next up is Alicia. This is a lovely, clean, coral and was nice and opaque as well. This is two coats.

Next, we have Phyllis. I feel like I have at least a few other polishes from Julep that look just like this, but it is a soft pink cream. As I looked through my other pale pink creams from Julep, I found that it was similar to (but not the same as) Jules and Fifi. Normal girls probably want a selection of classic pale pink creams, but I am not a normal girl. I want crazy new glitters and lots of variety. :P

Next, is Margit, which is a really interesting polish. It is dusty rose shimmer, but it's neat because you can actually see three different shades in there. I see a mushroom-y color, a rosy color, and a darker, almost brick color. I like it even though it is very muted. It looked good with everything I wore because it was so neutral. This is two coats.

Next is Sandi. It is a dark eggplant cream with a slight grayish hint. Again, this is two coats. You all know I love purple, so I am happy to add this to my collection. You can never have too many purple creams. ;)

Next up, is Casey. This is a pretty, dark teal cream. As much as I love teal, this is pretty much identical to Julep Donna, which I already own, so it is another disappointment in my book. Beautiful color, but a duplicate from Julep, which is why I'm skipping March, and will probably ultimately cancel my account. This is two coats.

Next, is Tilda. This makes up for the disappointments in this box, as it is an iridescent topper. Julep calls it a "Metamorphic Top Coat". These are cool because they can change the look of any polish. This one is green, so I layered it over Casey. This would still look green if you layered it over a black polish, though. I did just one coat over Casey here.

Next, we have Shelly, this is a pale mint cream. This is slightly more blue than Julep Susie if you have that shade. This is two coats.

Last, we have Janae. This is a dark charcoal grey cream. This is a good shade to have for nail art, so no complaints here. This is two coats.

Here is what the holographic chevron stickers look like over Sandi. They are pretty cute, but I found that they started peeling up (even after topcoat) after just a day. This really isn't a problem for me since I was ready for a change anyway, but I have to figure out how to combat this issue with nail stickers. It seems like some are worse than others, and this may have been more of an issue with these because the stickers went right to the edge of my nails and that is where they started peeling up. Once that happened, I could not keep myself from picking at them. This pretty much happens with any sticker that has a loose edge at the side of the nail, so I'm not sure if it can be helped. If any one has any tips for this, please comment below with your solutions!

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my swatches. I still love my Julep polishes, but will probably just buy a polish at a time from them when they come out with something interesting as opposed to getting the monthly boxes. I forgot to skip February, and wasn't disappointed, so I will show off that box in the next couple of weeks (I know, you all will LOVE to see Valentine's Day polish in April). :P Bye for now, I'll be back in a couple days!

52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge - Mermaid + Lavender and Green = Little Mermaid Nails

Hi everyone. I thought long and hard before I attempted this manicure because the idea of butchering my favorite movie EVER, kind of made me want to throw up. But, I decided to get brave and try it.  With the theme this week being Mermaid + Lavender and Green, I just had to. I know miss Debbie Crumpet was leading us all in this direction with this prompt, but I took the bait anyway. There are a lot of colors in here besides lavender and green, but technically this mani encompasses all of the prompts. :)

I love The Little Mermaid so much. It is my favorite movie - since I was 5 years old. I used to splash around in the pool at hotels like a maniac and jump up on the edge singing Part of Your World like there was no tomorrow. As an adult, I restrain myself in the pool, but I still sing the songs at the top of my lungs while I'm painting my nails each night. I might also have Ariel pajamas.... ;)

Anyway, I am so stoked on these. I was so scared I would mess them up, but I am satisfied with the results. I wish I were better at painting tiny faces, but practice makes perfect, so I will keep trying. I used a lot of different colors in this manicure, so I am not going to list them all here. If anyone wants to know what any of the colors are, just ask in the comments below. :) Here is what I shared on my instagram earlier to show a little peek at my painting process.

Thank you so much for looking and make sure you look at what everyone else did for this week's prompts!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Good morning! Today is St. Patrick's Day, and for once I actually have a manicure for it! I love this green polish I used for the base of this manicure SO much. I got to play with my new squishy stamper, too, and there was a bit of a learning curve, but I figured it out. :)

For this manicure, I used China Glaze Paper Chasing for my base. I stamped on an image from Bundle Monster plate BM-406 using Konad Special White polish, and then stamped on a second image from plate BM-403 using Konad Special Black polish.

I have a little Irish in my blood, and you can tell by my tiny nose (according to my mother). So, it is only right for me to participate in the holiday. I am a big fan of green, and am super happy to show off this pretty polish. Here it is by itself. This polish is a little brush-strokey but not too bad. It is thin, but built up surprisingly fast in just two coats.

Thank you so much for stopping by and be sure to check out what everyone else posted today for St. Patrick's Day!

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#HePicksMyPolish - Lacrosse Nail Art with Polish Chosen by my Husband

Hello! I bet you all thought I fell off the face of the earth, but I did not. I have just been really busy with work and have hardly had any time to do my nails. I do have a bunch of swatches done, though, so you will see some of that in the next few days, too. Anyway, on to the nail art! My husband got to pick out my nailpolish for this mani and he picked colors that would work for one of his favorite sports teams. Since I love him so much, I obliged and did an Ohio Machine manicure. This is our local lacrosse team.

I started off with Julep Margaret as my base, then I used a nail art pen from Sally Hansen in black to draw each image. The white is O.P.I. Alpine Snow, and the red is An Affair In Red Square.

The images are all related to the various logos that the team has used. The image on my thumb is their main logo. It is Ohio with some gears and a little star near the middle which I think signifies their location. The image on my index finger is a helmet, and mimicked the gears/star design on my middle finger. The image on my ring finger is a lacrosse stick, and my little finger is just the same star from their logo.

I had fun doing this lacrosse manicure, and I think my husband approves! Now we are off to a date, so have a great night everyone. Make sure you look at what everyone else did for their #HePicksMyPolish posts!

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Owls and Glitter

Good evening! I did this owl manicure for a prompt from my stamping group on facebook. I am going out of town tomorrow for work, and did not have time to set up any posts, so you will not hear from me for at least a week. Also, I waited until the last minute to pack, so I will let my pictures do the talking. ;)

I used Barielle Gel-ous Lover for  the base. The glitter is China Glaze I'm A Go Glitter. I used BB Couture Honey Bunny, Nicole by O.P.I Pros & Confidence, and Julep Nellie to color in the decals I made using Bundle Monster plate BM-412.

Here is what Barielle Gel-ous Lover looks like by itself. I did two coats here. It's a creamy, pale pink cream.

And here is a closeup of China Glaze I'm A Go Glitter. It's a fun little mix of medium and small hex glitters.

Thank you so much for looking! Make sure you check out what every else did for the owls prompt.

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