Bright Skittles

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my other Easter post up and ready because we headed out of town to visit family. In fact this post is scheduled and posting while we're on the road! I'll get my that other post up on Monday (which coincides with Monday Mani anyway!).

Luckily for all of you, I did this mani not long ago that I think is still very appropriate for Easter. Since this is an old post, I still have long nails.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this mani! The super bright colors are fun and make me wish soooo hard for spring! But it's coming! We're scheduled to have a high of 54 today!

For this mani I used (from left to right) 2 coats of Sinful Colors Why Not, 2 coats of Sinful Colors Rise and Shine, 3 coats of OPI The "It" Color, 3 coats of NYC Spring Street, and 2 coats of NYC MoMa.

Next, I topped each nail with 1 coat of L.A. Girl Uninhibited and added my topcoat.

I attempted to make these look like Whoppers Mini Robin Eggs, but it didn't work out so well. I'm glad I took these pictures before I attempted it though because otherwise you would have missed out!

Orange Cream Easter Skittles

I recently picked up a few new Sinful Colors and thought they would be perfect for Easter themed manis! Today, I used just Sinful Colors Orange Cream.

I used one thin coat and one thick coat for this mani. Orange Cream isn't very orange, in my opinion! It's a peachy orange that leans heavily toward pink. I don't have any colors like this. While I don't usually wear pink, I decided to step out of my comfort zone, and I'm glad I did! I think Orange Cream looks great on me!

You may also notice my super short nails. Well, I had a deep side break on my middle finger that I patched. A few hours later, I got one on my index finger! So I decided to chop off all my nails! I also chopped off all my hair yesterday (went from almost mid-back to chin length). It's spring (or almost here in Wisconsin) so it's time for fresh starts all around.

Orange Cream also had a beautiful micro shimmer that is hard to see from far away, but you can see it in this macro shot.

I added some random designs on my nails using Rimmel French White Nail Tip Liner. The pinkie is sort of like a flower or sun design. Make sure you wait long enough to add top coat! I didn't on my pinkie, and the color dragged a bit.

On my other two fingers I added two coats of Lynnderella Connect the Dots. I love Connect the Dots over brighter colors. It really pops!

I hope you all enjoyed today's mani! I'll have another Easter themed one later this week that features a bit more nail art.

Monday Mani: Creative Layering

This week's Monday Mani theme at PAA (Polish-aholics Anonymous) is creative layering. I used 3 layers for this mani, not including base coat or top coat.

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do going into this, but I ended up with this color blocked mani loosely based on this design by Nails 4 Dummies!

I started with a base coat of Rimmel Grey Matter. I only did one coat because I knew I was going to layer something on top of it.

On top, I layered two coats of KBShimmer Elle. The polish description says: "The circus, full of fun, color, and a wonder for people of all ages. Lions, tigers, and elephants! Elle is our nail polish elephant. A pale grey jelly color, we added several pink glitters, white and grey glitters for a polish that soft and beautiful."

Because it's a jelly, I chose to layer it. You can see some issues on my middle finger. Elle took a bit to dry so I ended up smudging it. But....I just covered it up later on! This mani is great for covering up imperfections!

To do the blocking, I just taped off random sections and painted using Sinful Colors Black on Black and NYC MoMa. Finally I added topcoat to smooth everything out.

O.P.I. Can't Let Go

I got O.P.I. Can't Let Go from a friend as part of a Secret Valentine's Day swap.  I was really excited to try it out!

Application was pretty easy. I used 3 coats for these pictures. It took FOREVER to dry though! I know I didn't use top coat for the mani, but I still feel like it dried slower than normal polishes.

I love all the glitter (check out this awesome macro), but I don't know if I love the fusiness.

Monday Mani: St. Patrick's Day!

Monday Manis are officially back! For those of you who don't know what they are, let me tell you!  Each week at PAA (Polish-aholics Anonymous), we vote on a theme for a mani.  Then on Monday, everyone post their manicures in the album. You can do your mani at any time, but no posting until Monday! It's so cool so see everyone united over polish and to see where our imaginations can take us.

This week's theme was St. Patrick's Day.

For this mani, I used 2 coats of China Glaze Glittering Garland plus 2 coats of Revlon Gold Coin.  Then I used my dotting tools and those two colors to add on a 4 leaf clover plus some dots.

This mani was super shimmery, and I loved it!

This last photo isn't the best, but it really shows off the shimmer in these two polishes.

OPI on ULTA.com!

OPI Now Available at ULTA.com, First Authorized E-Commerce Source in United States

            OPI announces the start of authorized e-commerce on ULTA.com. ULTA has been a licensed OPI salon account since 2000 and will be the first authorized account to sell OPI products online in the United States.

            ULTA.com will carry the full OPI consumer product line, including the latest collection releases as well as over 200 classic nail lacquer shades, nail treatments, lotions, and certain manicure/pedicure tools.  The site will also offer some of OPI’s value-priced consumer promotions. 

            “ULTA has been a strong OPI partner for many years,” explains Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI co-founder and Artistic Director. “ULTA caters to the fashion-forward and general beauty consumer. In today’s digital age, this audience is looking to purchase product with the click of a fingertip.

            “For this reason, OPI has decided to retail online with one of our current partners. ULTA knows the OPI brand, and we feel ULTA.com will continue to uphold OPI’s commitment to providing the best in high-quality products. In addition to carrying consumer products online and in-store, ULTA will continue to offer OPI GelColor, the two week gel manicure, in over 500 full-service salons!”

OPI is available now on ULTA.com. For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

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St. Patty's sparkle

For today's mani, I knew I wanted to use NYX Girls Emerald Forest, but I wasn't quite sure how. It's in a light green base so using it as a topper would change the color of any base too much. Using it over green, would mask it's glittery goodness.

In the end, I decided to use it on its own as my favorite accent. I used 3 coats for this mani which gave me perfect coverage.

For my other nails, I used 2 coats of Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches. Mossy Britches is a olive green/gold metallic that is perfect for St. Patty's Day.

When I was putting NYX Girls Emerald Forest away, I spied Milani Jewel FX Gold and decided that I needed to add that to this mani as well. I love the blingy, sparkly effect.

You may notice my nails are a bit shorter than the last post. Well, they were getting too long for me to manage! I was having a hard time messing around on my phone so I shortened them a bit. This is the perfect length for me, I think.

St. Patty's gradient

I love green polish (have I mentioned that before? lol!) so of course I needed to do a mini St. Patrick's day nail art series.

Today I have a simple gradient. I didn't quite turn out how I hoped, but it still looks nice.

I started with 3 coats Finger Paints Paper Mache. Then I sponged on OPI Don't Mess With OPI. Here's where I messed up. Don't Mess with OPI isn't opaque enough and I just couldn't get the gradient to work out right.

Finally, I added Jessica 18K Gold Leaf on top. It's pretty sparse so I globbed a bit onto my palette (I use a cereal box or magazine since the glossiness slows drying), and then picked up the gold pieces with my brush to add on.

Sassy Lacquer Blue Mist

Today, I have another new polish from the Sassy Lacquer Spring Showers Bring May Flowers Collection.  I named this one so I'm super excited that I got to try out this polish!  Blue Mist is described as "a teal frost, reminiscent of a rainy day, with silver peeking through."

I used 4 coats for this mani, though I could have probably gotten away with 3. I tend to use thin coats though  because they dry faster than thick ones. If the baby wakes up from his nap, I don't have to worry about smudging!

As you can see, Blue Mist really is a gorgeous color. Despite being a frost, you can't see brush marks which is really nice.

This macro really shows you the awesome glitter in Blue Mist.

And since I can't leave any mani below, I stamped on some clouds (very appropriate I thought!) using BM-312 and Konad White stamping polish.

Blue Mist can be purchased for $9 through Sassy Lacquer's store. For more information, check out her Facebook page or blog.

Polish sent for review, but opinion is all mine.

Sassy Lacquer A Frosty Crocus

Today, I have a new polish from the Sassy Lacquer Spring Showers Bring May Flowers Collection. I have A Frosty Crocus to show you today. A Frosty Crocus is described as "a stunning purple with flashes of pink and many different colors."  It also has micro pink glitter in it as well. 

On my ring finger I layered 2 coats of A Frosty Crocus over Wet N Wild Black Creme. I used 4 thin coats on my other fingers.

Even though I had to use 4 coats, the dry time was good so it didn't take long at all to do this mani.

Over black, you can really see some of the colors changes in this polish. I see flashes of purple, blue, and pink.  You can see them when the polish is used alone, but the black really emphasizes the shifts.

I really want to try layering this polish over other colors (pink, purple, blue) and see what shows up.

These macro images really show up the pink glitter in A Frosty Crocus.

A Frosty Crocus can be purchased for $9 through Sassy Lacquer's store. For more information, check out her Facebook page or blog.

Polish sent for review, but opinion is all mine.

Read Between the Lines French

I decided to take yesterday's mani and play with it a bit. I freehanded a French tip using Rimmel Black Satin. 

I kinda like the combo, but I'm not super in love with it.

I didn't wait long enough for the black to dry so I have some dragging on my middle finger. Sorry for that!

Sassy Lacquer Read Between the Lines

I have another Sassy Lacquer polish for you today.  I bought Read Between the Lines before Christmas, but I haven't gotten around to using it until now! Yikes!

Read Between the Lines is a white base with tons of black bar glitter. It is inspired by notebook paper.

I can't remember how many coats I used for this, but it was at least 3. I might have done 4, but I can't remember now. For me, that's fairly typical of white polishes so it wasn't anything unexpected.

Application was good, and dry time was average.

Sassy Lacquer Stormy Skies

Just a quick post for you today. Recently, Sassy Lacquer was selling some of her one of a kind polishes. I managed to get my hands on this one. It's grey with glitter so of course I love it! I used 2-3 coats for these pictures.

Stay tuned because I have a few more Sassy Lacquer polishes to show you over the next few days.