Blue Stripe Mani

This is another manicure inspired by Chloe's Nails, her striped mani.  It didn't turn out quite how I'd wanted because it was my first time doing it and my nail didn't get divided into 3 equal parts.  Learning where to place the tape when you're taping off to do each color takes a little practice, so my bottom sections ended up being biggest on most nails.  I still think it turned out okay though.

For this mani, I used Revlon Chic and Essie Go Overboard, which are both cremes and two of my favorite polishes.  The silver is Pure Ice Silver Mercedes.

 

Classic French With a Twist

Sometimes when there are so many polishes and ideas, it's hard to pick just one!  Last night I found myself wanting something new, but I didn't really feel like doing all the work for a complicated tape mani or water marble.  I took to my Pinterest board and found inspiration from Chloe's Nails (as is often the case!).

Feminine, classic, and so, so pretty!

Base coat is Sinful Colors Bare - it is a gorgeous creamy pink with subtle pearl shimmer.  I saw it in the bottle, and now that I've worn it, it's probably my favorite pink polish in my collection.

The tips are Sinful Colors Black on Black, and a top coat of Seche Vite for that extra shininess.

I am in love with this mani!

Newspaper Mani!

The newspaper mani was one of the first nail related items I found on Pinterest that I loved.  I had been wanting to try it for a while, and last week I finally got the chance.  I used Zoya Megan as a base since it's one of my lightest polishes, and the color is actually fairly similar to many newspapers.

This is so cool, and so easy.  Once your base coat is dry, just cut 10 small pieces of newspaper.  Pour rubbing alcohol or vodka - I think any strong, clear alcohol will work - into a small cup or bowl.  Dip the nail for 5 seconds, then press the paper to the nail for 20-30 seconds then pull it slowly off.  Let it dry for a few minutes, then top with your favorite top coat. 

The trickiest part is pressing down hard and evenly enough to transfer the ink without getting paper stuck to your nail.  It does take a little bit of trial and error, but it's so worth the results!  I also noticed that the transfer darkened the color of the entire nail slightly, so your polish color won't stay exactly true to the original.

I've seen this done with foreign newspaper, and one I saw which I thought was really cool had used part of the crossword puzzle!  You could use classified ads to get smaller text, or comics for cool designs.  I'm excited to experiment with this more!

China Glaze Capitol Colours Mani + Bonus Haul

I have been coveting just about every polish in the China Glaze Capitol Colours collection since I found out about them (you can see amazing swatches of all the colors at Vampy Varnish).  I seriously want to own all of them, but the three I've most had my eye on are Riveting, Agro & Stone Cold.  When I was walking at the mall with Danny yesterday I noticed a display in Hot Topic - the colors had arrived!  I didn't buy there because they're $1-2 more than at Sally Beauty Supply, so today I stopped by there to see if they had them in.  They only had a few - but they did have Agro & Riveting!  I also picked up Luxe & Lush.  I may stop back at Hot Topic later this week to see, I think they did have Stone Cold in, and that one is so unique I really want to get my hands on it.

When I got home, I was trying to decide what to do and I was thinking about a mani I'd seen in the last few days with a stripe pattern.  I first saw a design like this a couple of months ago at Nailside, and I'd tried it once before.  My first thought was to do Riveting under black, but then I started looking at my swatches of Riveting & Agro together and decided to do a full on Hunger Games mani!

One of the things I was dying to try with Riveting was a matte topcoat.  Sam at Fashion Polish featured this the other day and it was so gorgeous!  I decided to top this mani off with Essie Matte About You and... wow.  I LOVE it!  I feel like it's muted and a little gritty and beautiful and perfect to go with The Hunger Games.

I also went and had my nails filled today and re-shaped.  They're shorter than they were before, and I went to a different salon on the recommendation of a few friends.  I am so much happier with them - she spent a lot of time on the detail, filing them down after she'd put the acrylic on and making it so that they were not thick and bulky.  She also gave me the square shape I wanted.  From now on, I'll be going to Happy Nails!  It's a little more expensive, but it's worth it for the quality!

I also stopped at Rite Aid today just to browse, and came across a heck of a deal.  This is my haul:

I got all of these for under $7!  They were all 75% off.  I'd looked at the Sally Hansen HD polishes before, but I hadn't wanted to spend the money.  Well, for under $2 each I decided how could I not?  I picked up the other two on a whim because they were super cheap - I think the Wet N Wild one only came out to around 25 cents.  Usually when the polishes are so discounted I have no interest in the colors, so this was a fun find!

China Glaze For Audrey

The other day I finally picked up China Glaze For Audrey, and I used it as the base in the patchwork mani I did last week.  Before I covered it, I took photos because it's just such a gorgeous shade.  It's a robin's egg blue, but there's just something so pretty about it.  It's also got crazy good coverage, it only took one coat to look fabulous.  The first photo is with the flash, it looks a tad lighter in bright light, but fairly similar.

Patchwork Mani

One of my favorite nail blogs is Chloe's Nails.  She does a lot of manicures that inspire me, and are not super, super hard to replicate.  My current manicure is inspired by her Patchwork Mani, and she's got a tutorial posted here.   You can also look at the patchwork mani label on her blog for a bunch of really cool color ideas.  

Mine never looks as good as hers always do - she gets amazing clean lines.  But, it was also my first time trying this particular design, so I'm trying to cut myself some slack. 

I recently picked up China Glaze For Audrey, and I've been wanting to try it out.  I put that on as my first coat and actually took photos of it by itself because it's so pretty, so I'll have those up sometime soon.  I matched it with Wet N Wild Bite the Bullet and Sally Hansen Moonstone Chrome for a little pop.

I have to say, I am LOVING the Seche Vite I bought.  It comes in really handy for doing nails at night and not having them get wrecked while I'm sleeping, and also for doing layering because your layers dry a ton faster with it.

My cuticles look a little funky because I've got growout, and I was going to go get a fill today but plans got changed and now I won't be able to do it until Tuesday.  It will be 3 full weeks at that point - too long!  

I will definitely be trying this again - it is a nice one to use for holidays, different greens for St. Patrick's Day etc.  

Swatch Project

On Tuesday I stopped at Sally Beauty Supply and picked up some blank wheels so I could swatch all my polishes.  I get annoyed the ones that look different on the nail than they do in the bottle, so I wanted a way to know what it would look like before I started.  It was totally fun doing this, and it was nice to pull some polishes out that I have not used in a while and remember why I bought them.  There were a couple of purples in particular that I can't wait to wear again now.

My polishes  

Reds and Pinks

Some Blues

Crackles and Glitters

I don't have a HUGE collection, but compared to the average Joe it's not bad!