Spring, Butterflies, Gradients? Oh my!

Hi guys!! How are you all? On my end things are up and down as they have been the last few weeks. I've been feeling down and depressed and nothing really seems to be helping. Although there is one thing that has been helping, that  is my friends not just here at home but on the Internet too! If it hadn't been for their words of encouragement I don't know what I would do. I just have to remember I'm not alone in my struggles and eventually everything will work out.

So for today's post I wanted to share with you some nail art I did last week. Since the weather is finally getting warmer (its gonna be 60 today) I was inspired to do a bright manicure.

I started off with two of my favorite neon's from China Glaze, Pink Plumeria and Loves A Beach. The pair of polishes created a subtle gradient that I really liked. Then I decided to add some nail art. Originally I was going to do butterfly wings on all of my nails but since I like the gradient so much that I only did the accent nail.

I have to say I need to practice my butterfly wings more, my nails also need to grow out more too. Its hard to do a butterfly wing on short nails.

After finishing the nail art I waited a day and added Finger Paints Flakies in Flashy.  The iridescence of the flakies really made it look like a butterfly wing. I topped it all off with Julie G Jet Set Fast Drying Top Coat. It has quickly replaced my Seche Vite and Sally Hansen Insta Dry as my favorite top coat!

That's it for today! See you next time! <3 Nicole

My Top 10 Polishes of 2012! Part 2!

Good Morning and welcome to part 2 of My Top 10 Polishes of 2012!

Today I am going to show case my last five favorite polishes of 2012.

Lets get started!

First on the list in the second half is from Cover Girl! This fall Cover Girl released a nail polish collection with all different colors. I'm sure Cover Girl has had polishes in the past but this is the first I have seen them since I started blogging. Out of the collection that Cover Girl has to offer I chose a polish that I definitely don't own already or have anything close to. It is called Wine Stain. It is an dark blood red jelly finish polish that is super saturated with color and is right up there with my favorite reds.  I used this polish also in a Halloween manicure this year, it looked pretty really for fake blood drippings.

Next is a polish I never thought I would get my hands on. OPI is not commonly sold where I live but the grocery store that I work at sells it and sometimes we get in one or two of the new collections. Like right now there is a polish from the James Bond Collection hiding in the back waiting for me to purchase it this weekend!

Anyway my favorite OPI from this year is I Have A Herring Problem. Its from the Holland Collection that was released in the spring. It is a blue-grey polish that is just beautiful. It has this most amazing silver shimmer running through it as well.  Its the one polish out of the collection that if I was going to buy one it would be this one.

 Back in September my sister from another mister had a beautiful baby girl and when we had her baby shower one month before her due date I wore this next favorite. I got it when I ordered half the Summer Neon Collection from Head2Toe Beauty. It is Pink Plumeria. It is a lovely light corally pink neon. This collection of neon's is special, because they are not just BAM in your face neon's, they have a shimmer to them that even if you left them without a top coat they would still look amazing.

When I wore this polish for the baby shower I stamped butterflies over it and I think it was very appropriate for her shower. Take a look.

Second to last on my list was a glitter polish. What nail polish addict doesn't love a good glitter polish. I know I do. As much as they can be a pain in the you know where, I can't resist. China Glaze released a collection during the summer called On Safari. I was attracted to only the glitters. I'm Not Lion is a gold micro fine holographic glitter polish. In the sunlight it is super sparkly and would be appropriate I think in the work place. Its not loud its just right.

Last but certainly not least is a polish that I think a lot of nail polish lovers liked. I know I had a few conversations with people about it. China Glaze's Wicked Halloween Collection had a couple amazing polishes in it this year, as you saw by my choice for Immortal. This last one is just amazing. Its called Bizarre Blurple. You know how here in the nail polish world we sometimes combine words to make a new that describes a polish? Well China Glaze caught on and gave us this beauty. When I took these pictures my camera didn't want to pick up the purple, as it never does it just got the blue of the polish. Doesn't matter though it still amazeballs!


   
                               

 

 

So that's it! My Top 10 for 2012! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and if you wore any of these polishes this year leave a comment below!!

 

 

I believe my final post for the year will be a new years eve manicure so keep a look out for that!

 

Nicole 

Loreal Paris Nail Polish: Tea and Crumpets!

Good morning my dears!

Hope you all are well and ate lots and lots of turkey and did some Black Friday shopping! I went shopping on Saturday and scored five polishes off my wish list. They were never up here on the blog though b/c I'm horrible at updating those pages!

Today I have for you the last of the Loreal Paris Polishes from tr British collection. This one is called Tea And Crumpets. It is a fantastic nude color. Defnitly a palette cleanser for me. I don't have anything like this in my stash.

It's a very pale nude/grey cream that is opaque in 3 coats, the first coat is sheer and patchy but buy the second coat it starts to even itself out. If your too quick to apply each coat you can get some unevenness and visible brush strokes.

I plan on using this polish for the base color for some nail art ! I started over Thanksgiving trying out different designs and decided on my first tape mani. I haven't really attempted one because I always screw if up! But this time I managed quite well! Usually people use scotch tape but I didn't have that on hand so I used masking tape and just ran it over my hand once or twice and then placed it where I wanted it to go.

I then used China Glaze Pink Plumeria on the part that wasn't taped off. I have to say that the manicure is very work appropriate and just overall nice and clean. I feel like one could get away with wearing such a manicure in a more strict office setting.

Okay that's it for this post! Stay tuned for the next one and check out the pictures below! All taken in natural light!