Radiant Orchid Geometic Nails

Hi guys, happy Thursday.  I figured I would just give a quick update since I had two different doctor's appointments yesterday for my migraines.  The first doctor, my regular doctor, put me on a low dose blood pressure medicine.  Something about releasing the blood vessels and maybe reducing the migraines.  The ENT couldn't provide me with any answers so he referred me to a neurologist.  Thankfully I won't have to wait another three weeks and they are getting me in on Monday morning.  I'm a little nervous about the neurologist because I've never seen one and have zero idea with what to expect.  So that's where we are right now.  I appreciate everyone's nice comments and putting up with blog delays and me talking about this process, you guys truly are the best.

Today I have a fun post that I did a few weeks ago.  I've mentioned before that I am loving the radiant orchid trend this year so I decided to do some nail art.  I recently ordered Zoya Perrie from the Zoya website during a promotion and I put that baby on as soon as I got it.  I also have been loving geometric designs so that's where they both got put together.

For this look, I started with a base of Zoya Perrie and then pulled out a bunch of different radiant orchid polish variations.  I cut some semi-thick pieces of blue painter's tape and then taped them in sideways triangles on my nails.  I wanted each nail to be the opposite of the one next to it.  I filled in each empty space with a different polish and a small nail art brush, removed the tape while the polish was still dry, and then added topcoat.  Here's the different colors I used-

Zoya Rory-shimmery pinky purple muted orchid
Essie Madison Ave-hue-shimmery pink
Sinful Shine Spitfire-pastel orchid
Rimmel London Sweet Lavender-pastel lavender
Barielle Sexy Mood-the darkest purple orchid shade
Daphine Polish Rosina Violet-orchid glitter

There you have it...my love for the radiant orchid trend continues!  I hope you guys enjoyed this post and that you have a fantastic day :)

My Perfect Barielle Manicure & Giveaway!

Hi there everyone, happy Wednesday.  Today is a full day of doctor's appointments for me, the big day if you will.  Cross your fingers that I get some answers.  Today is a good day for all of you though because it's giveaway time again!  I was contacted by Barielle to create my version of the Perfect Barielle Manicure.  Get ready for some nakey nails....yikes ;)  Sorry they are stained, that's the nail blogger life I guess haha!

Below is a picture of everything I used and everything that you can win for yourself.

First step....remove that old polish.  I choose the Love Your Nails acetone-free remover towelettes.  My nails are on the longer side so I needed two towels for all ten nails.  These wipes were very moisturizing and left my nails feeling hydrated.  I also thought these would be perfect for travel. 

Step two was something I am just getting into because I can have some pretty unruly cuticles.  My nails grow very quickly and so do my cuticles.  Let me tell you, this cuticle remover absolutely rocks.  I applied it to my cuticles, let it sit for two minutes, and then used the wooden stick that came with the remover to get rid of my excess cuticles and push them back.  This product worked so well for me.  I used this about five days ago and my cuticles are still looking nice and neat.

After those cuticles are taken care of, the next step is an important one in starting your nail painting.  Base coat.  Base coats are important for nail health as well as making your nail polish stay on longer.  Barielle has many base coats to choose from but I went with a rebuilding base because my nails are naturally very thin.

Now onto the colorful part, the actual polish.  I wanted to pick a polish that would suit many different skin tones and was appropriate for Summer.  I feel like I have a constant battle trying to find a good peach polish and I finally found one.  Barielle Peach Popsicle is a bright medium peach cream and it applied like a dream.  I needed to easy coats for the photo below.

Time to seal in that pretty color with a good topcoat.  I choose a fast drying shiny topcoat, seriously, look at that shiny finish.  The drying time was decent and there was no chemical smell with this topcoat.

 

Last up, a product I have been a big fan of, Barielle's Nail Strengther Cream.  I have used this cream before and I can honestly say that it has made a difference in the strength of my nails.  I either apply a small amount around the entire nail area or slather it all over and wear gloves overnight while I sleep.

There are all the steps to my perfect Barielle manicure.  Now it's your chance to win everything shown above.  The first photo shows the exact prize you will win.  All products are brand new and unopened.  Barielle is the sponsor of this giveaway, so thank you to Barielle!  

Giveaway will be open for two weeks and is open to the US only.  I have the prize in hand and will be shipping it directly to the winner.  I am not responsible for the package once it leaves my hands.  Enter down below and please no cheating.

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The Great Polish Giveaway of 2014

Hi guys!  I'm sure most of you have heard by now, but if you haven't, Nail Polish Canada is giving away a huge nail polish prize, up to 200 nail polishes!!!  Currently the prize is up to 154 polishes, which were all polishes nominated by different bloggers.  I didn't realize I could nominate a polish until recently, so I hopped on that bandwagon real quick ;)



For my polish nomination, I chose OPI DS Classic, a polish I have always admired in pictures but have never gotten my hands on.  You can find it on Nail Polish Canada here.  Here's a shot of it below:

Source

You can gain entries by going on the Nail Polish Canada website and by also entering below!  Whoever wins is going to be one happy nail polish addict ;)  The giveaway is open to Canada and the US.  You can find the rules on the website.

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Twinsie Tuesday-Interlocking Design

Hi guys, welcome to another Twinsie Tuesday.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull this off last night but thankfully I did and I'm happy with what I'm showing you today.  I've been on a very quick downward spiral since last week.  Yesterday entailed blocking every bit of light out of my office and then sitting in the dark for 9 hours.  Tomorrow is my much anticipated ENT appointment but I also made a realization last night.  I've had really severe eye pain for the past five days or so, like almost not being able to open it, and I think it's from a blocked tear duct.  It's been there as long as I can remember but I looked at it last night and it seems to have doubled in size.  I'm at a loss for who to go to for it but if it turns out that was the cause of my migraines, I would simultaneously be relieved it was something small like that, but also think that that would be one of the most ridiculous causes I could think of.  Enough of the update, and onto the nails.  I do appreciate the support I've gotten from people, bloggers are regular people with everyday problems and as much as I haven't wanted all of this to affect my blogging, there's no doubt that it has...

Today's Twinsie Tuesday was an intimidating one for me because I don't think I've ever done an interlocking design before.  I've done puzzle pieces over a year ago but that was my one and only attempt.  After some research, here's what I came up with!

I started off with a recycled mani that I had been wearing yesterday.  It was a simple combination of OPI Kiss Me I'm Brazilian (the pink) and dots on my ring finger in Formula X Invincible (cream).  I taped off different portions of my nails and added the green which was Essie Ruffles and Feathers.  I finished off with my corresponding dots and added some green to the accent nail.  With some topcoat added, it was that easy.

Overall I was happy for the experience to experiment with a nail design I had never tried.  I really liked the color combo and how the final product looked.  I can't wait to see my fellow Twinsie's designs.  Also if my fellow Twinsies are reading this, I have obviously not been good at leaving comments but I do take the time to check out each and every mani I promise!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace 

 Anna at Going to the Showing  

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Triple Scoop Ice Cream Mani

Hi there everyone, welcome to Monday.  I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.  It went all too quick for me actually.  Yesterday we went to the movies and saw How to Train Your Dragon 2, and yes, we actually see more kids movies than adult movies.  I thought it was really good, just as good as the first one.  And yes, animated movies make me cry more than regular movies but I was able to fight back the tears in public ;)  I also made the realization that I am only working two out of five days this week, so that's a plus in my book.  Wednesday is my ENT doctor's appointment and I'm really hoping to get some answers then.  I'm just trying to stay positive about it and not think about anything else.

Today's mani is a fun one.  Summer means ice cream to me and I saw a cute print on Pinterest very similar to this design and knew that I wanted to re-create it on my nails.  I added the polka dots for a little something extra.  It also wouldn't be Monday if I didn't forgot my list of polishes that I used to create this.  I will try to remember it when I get home from work :)

To create this look, it was super simple!  I started with my stark white base of OPI Alpine Snow because I wanted all of the "flavors" of ice cream to really pop off of the background.  I started by drawing triangles with a small nail art brush for the cones.  The color for the cones is OPI San Tan-tonio.  I used a bunch of colors for the ice cream scoops, plus a dotting tool.  I finished off with some small polka dots with a nail art brush.  I wanted the dots to not be uniform, in my mind it made it a little bit retro-looking.  I finished off with topcoat.

I had a lot of fun creating this mani.  What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?  Mine are strawberry and mint chocolate chip ;)

OPI Don't Mess with OPI-Swatches, Review, and Comparison

Hi there guys, happy Sunday.  Hopefully the weekend is treating you well.  Yesterday was pretty good around here.  The husband and I went for a walk in a local forest preserve five minutes from our house, we did some shopping, and then the rest of the day it rained and stormed so we did some cleaning and then had an Ugly Betty marathon :)  Today it's going to be rainy again so we plan on going to the movies to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 and then we are bringing dinner to our friends with their little newborn baby.  Next week is going to be crazy so I'm looking forward to another chill day.

Today I have a simple post with an OPI that I recently wore.  OPI Don't Mess with OPI is from the Spring 2011 Texas collection and it is a warm medium green cream.  I got this polish from my monthly OPI swap but I recently found a bottle at Target which will make its way to one of my giveaways in the future. 

This polish is a grassy green cream and it leaned slightly warm toned on me without clashing with my cool skin tone.  I found that this polish applied like a dream and I had no problems with application.  I used two easy coats with topcoat for my swatches.

I had this polish on my OPI wall rack and I noticed it looked extremely similar to OPI Jade is the New Black.  They looked so close in the bottle that I couldn't help but do a quick comparison on a swatch wheel.  

As you can see, Jade is the New Black is much cooler toned, whereas Don't Mess with OPI leans warmer.  Don't Mess with OPI also looks more like a true green whereas Jade looks like it has more blue tones in it and has a touch of dustiness to the color. 

What do you think of this polish?  Do you like to wear green polishes, I know I do!

Nailstalgia-China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Hey guys, ugh, I'm so sorry this post is a day late.  I left to go up to Chicago for work, having already swatched this polish, and it just completely slipped my mind.  Sorry about that!  Today I have this month's Nailstalgia post which is China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy.  Let's get right into it!

Flip Flop Fantasy is a classic peachy neon from China Glaze that comes in two versions.  The older version, I think, is deeper and a little more coral.  The new version is more of a neon peach.  I will be showing you the newer version.  I panicked at the beginning of last week because I forgot this polish was the chosen one for this month, so my poor husband went two places just to find it.  Thanks hubby!

First off, I'd like to say that this polish is bright, like eye-searing bright.  I think this is the brightest polish I've ever seen or worn and even I didn't feel comfortable wearing it to work, and I've worn everything including neons to work.  

As for the formula, it's pretty crap-tastic.  It's streaky with a capital S and I needed three coats to even everything out.  I also noticed it pulled away the polish as you apply it so I had to be really careful with application as well as letting it dry in between each coat.  As with most eye-searing neons, it dries matte and needs topcoat to make everything shiny again.  My photos don't even come close to showing how bright this polish is, the camera just simply freaked out!

Do you guys own this polish?  What do you think of it.  I really do like the color, I'm just not sure how often I'll actually be wearing it, just because it's so bright :)

Recent NOTDs-Beginning of July

Hi there guys.  I just have a quick post today because I am going to be in the field for work today and tomorrow.  I'm not looking forward to that but the exciting thing is that I'm getting my hair done today after work.  I decided I wanted to go redder with my hair this time, so it's actually noticeably auburn red.  I'm excited but also a little nervous ;)  Maybe I'm just one of those people who will always be battling with my hair haha!

Today I have some of my recent "nails of the day".  I had a hard time with my migraines for most of this month so far so I wasn't the best at documenting every single day.  I compiled what I had and there's at least a few fun combinations. 

July 1-I really liked this quirky combination, it was very citrus-y.  This combination is OPI Call Me Gwen-ever, Orly Glowstick, and OPI Extra-va-vaganza.

July 4-This was the nail design I wore for the actual fourth of July.  The base is OPI Angel with a Leadfoot.  The glitter is Lumina Lacquer Dance in the Rain.  On my accent nail I used one coat of Northern Star Polish Phantasmagoric and polka dots with a mystery red that I can't recall.

July 6-Can you tell I used an older swatch photo for this one?  ;)  This day was a nice and easy cream polish, OPI Amazon...Amazoff.

July 7-Whoa there glitter bomb!  This was a really fun combination for me and I really enjoyed wearing it.  This is Essie Jamaica Me Crazy with Essie Jazzy Jubilant.

July 8-This one was a little different for me because I don't wear red polish on a regular basis.  I really liked this one though, I notice I lean towards the darker reds because they seem more flattering on me.  This is OPI The Thrill of Brazil with an accent nail of OPI Rose of Light.

July 9-Back again to my chartreuse trend for Summer, I always seem to gravitate towards this color for summer.  This is a simple manicure of OPI Life Gave Me Lemons.

July 10-Ugh, I love this polish!  This is OPI The Sky's My Limit from the new Mustang collection.

July 11-Another favorite of mine from this month, this is Essie Strut Your Stuff, with an accent nail of Essie Mint Candy Apple with Formula X Turbulent.

I hope you guys are still liking this kind of post, I apologize for slacking at the beginning of this month, I'm trying to get back into it.  Have a great day everyone, tomorrow's Friday woooo!

Easy Negative Space Mani

Hi there guys, happy Hump Day!   Yesterday I mentioned that my friend had her little baby girl and the hubby and I got to see her yesterday after work.  She was the cutest thing I've ever seen.  I held her for quite awhile and didn't want to let her go :)  It was a really cool experience because I think the last newborn I held was my sister, 21 years ago haha.  I need to stop now because I'm getting emotional haha!

Today I have a super easy nail design that I wore last Saturday.  I've been seeing more and more negative space nails, basically layering a nail design over your bare nails.  I had never tried this before and decided to start with something really simple. 

To create this look, I cut equal sized strips with some blue painter's tape and applied them to my nails on a diagonal.  For the pink polish I used Nicole by OPI Pink.Seriously. and the blue is Essie Strut Your Stuff.  One of the best parts of this negative space mani is that if your stripes don't come out perfectly clean, you can take some acetone on a brush and clean up those areas.  I finished off with topcoat and that's it.

Just to show how easy it was, I did end up doing both hands.  I can't wear nail art unless they match on both hands, it's a weird quirk I have ;)  I was happy to rock this look for a full Saturday.

I hope you guys enjoyed this easy nail art and maybe you can try it yourself!

Twinsie Tuesday-Nature Inspired

Hi guys, welcome to Tuesday.  Hopefully the week is treating you well so far.  Today is quite the day of opposites for me.  On one hand, I am super excited because my friend Lindsey just had her little baby girl around 5am this morning.  I hope we will be able to see them all soon, I was so excited I couldn't sleep last night because I knew she was at the hospital.  On the other hand, I have my mid-year review at 9am this morning, which I am less than thrilled about.  Although it's in no way fair, things from last year messed up the beginning of this year work wise and I suffered the consequences of that.  I don't think one thing should be a black mark two years in a row but there's nothing to do about that.  Anyways, onto the nails.

Today's Twinsie Tuesday theme is nature inspired and boy did I take some creative license on this one.  I couldn't think of anything traditional "nature-y" to do so I went to my nail art inspiration pinterest board and found this picture.  The thought of recreating the electric palm trees was really exciting, so that's what I went with :)

To create this look, I started with a plain black base of Essie Licorice.  The rest of the design was just a matter of taking a small thin nail art brush and making wispy palm fronds.  Here's the colors I used:

Purple-OPI A Grape Fit
Dark blue-Sally Hansen Pacific Blue
Pink-OPI Hey Baby
Orange-OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go?
Aqua-Essie In the Cabana

I hope you guys enjoyed this creative take on nature inspired nail art.  I can't wait to see what my fellow Twinsies do!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace 

 Anna at Going to the Showing  

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Geometric Nail Art ft. the OPI Mustang Collection

Hi guys, happy Monday.  I hope you all are having a fantastic start to the week.  I feel like I'm back in the swing of things now after my week home with migraines two weeks ago and then my week at the lake last week.  Today is my first day back at work and today I will hopefully be getting back into a filming routine.  I did a ton of nail art this weekend and have plenty of posts planned so I hope to get starting on my massive filming wish list after work today.  I have several things planned including reviews on the Miss Manga mascara, the Lorac 2 palette, a drugstore haul, and normal monthly videos like my Ipsy bag, July polish favorites, and empties.  I also have heard your requests for a nail care/how I do my nails video so that is in the works as well :)

Today I have some nail art that I am really excited to show you.  I did these nails about two weeks ago when I was at home during the work week.  It did take a lot of time because it does have many layers of polish but I'm pretty proud of this one!  For this look, I started with a base of OPI The Sky's My Limit from the new OPI Mustang collection (swatches here).  To create the rest of the look, I taped off random sections of the nail and filled the space in with different colors from the same Mustang collection.  I did this a total of three times on each nail, resulting in a geometric bonanza ;)  I finished everything off with topcoat and the look was done.

I hope you guys enjoyed this look, I know that I had a ton of fun creating it and I really liked the final result.  I think this week will primarily be nail art posts which I am happy to be getting back into!  Have a great Monday everyone!