Faux Water Marbling

I am a huge fan of water marbling only I can't do it myself.  I have tried many, many times and have been unsuccessful each time as well as left with a HUGE mess.  So after perusing the nail art blog world, I found many people utilizing this technique as an easy, clean alternative.  It's basically dabbing 3 or more colors on your nail and using a toothpick to drag through the polish leaving a marbling affect.  You just have to work quickly because as soon as the polish begins to dry it will start to get chunky and difficult to work with.  I like how it turned out for being my first time.  I maybe could have not done so many swirls so it looked more like a water marble but I still really like it.  Thanks for visiting!!

Sinful Colors: Study in Style Collection "Pull Over" Swatch

I snapped the photo of the collection display when I stopped at Rite Aid today.  I'm really loving this set! Only thing with this collection is that "Leap Flog", a really rich pretty green is the only new color (I learned this fact from Nouveau Cheap - awesome blog!) . I will be swatching "Leap Flog" shortly .  According to G from Nouveau Cheap and many other bloggers, Sinful Colors notoriously re-releases colors all the time.  Anyhow I just fell in love with yellow so I decided to swatch it first, AND green is my favorite color so that should tell you how gorgeous this yellow is! It reminds me of a Thanksgiving-ish color, a really rich yellow and a bit on the dark side with some almost orangy undertones.  It was almost completely opaque with just one coat.  And it's only $1.99! This color makes me want to rush into Fall - I do not like the heat or Summer.  I like bundling up and getting cozy with my chubby babies.

I've been missing my nail art lately! Recently I haven't had much free time.  I just finished up my son's first birthday party and we've just started the process of getting our home on the market so between open houses and trying to keep the place clean for then next open house, I've had little time for my nail art.  But I have tons of post it notes on  my phone with all my nail art ideas to come.  Also before you go submit a picture of your summer nail look.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.  THERE IS JUST 2 DAYS LEFT FOR ENTRIES.  And just wanted to remind everyone that if you want to be considered for the awesome prize you need to enter a photo.  Good luck everyone and thanks for stopping by!!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pure Ice Twinkle

I thought I would do a simple swatch today.   I've been working like a mad man planning my son's 1st birthday party so I've had no time whatsoever to do any cute nail art.  I picked up this color at Walmart the other day because it was only $1.67 and it was so pretty.  It's like a perfect summer color with how it reflects gold nicely.  Kind of like looking at a really nice sunset.  I added a picture from the the Pure Ice website so you can see how it looks in the bottle.  The picture does it no justice at all.  It also went on almost opaque with one coat.  Anyway before you go check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.  There is less than 2 weeks left for entries.  Also just wanted to remind everyone that if you want to be considered for the prize you need to enter a photo.  Good luck everyone and thanks for stopping by!!

Jelly Sandwich Manicure

E.L.F. "Lilac"

NYC "Starry Silver Glitter"

This was my first attempt at a Jelly Sandwich.  It didn't go over very well.  If anyone has any suggestions for me I would gladly appreciate them.  Maybe I didn't use an opaque enough base color, or maybe my glitter wasn't big enough, I can't figure it out.  I was almost not going to post this but I decided to just do it.  Good or bad, I figured maybe I can get so helpful hints out of it.  Anyway this lilac color from E.L.F. is the ABSOLUTE prettiest lilac I have seen so far.  It goes really well, I think with my skin color.  Also forgive my smeared middle finger nail.  My 1 year old woke and I thought my nails were completely dry but I forget, they are never completely dry when I think they are.  Before you go check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.   Thanks for visiting!!

Pink Diamonds

NYC's: Lincoln Square

I love how this manicure came out despite the fact that I didn't get the glitters on too straight.  I was sent these diamond shaped pink glitters (item Rhombus Laser Glitter- LB912) from KKCenterHK.  They have tons of nail art items as well as makeup and hair products at very reasonable prices.  I have seen the Nailasaurus do this manicure using hexagon shaped glitter and it came out awesome so I wanted to try this.  It takes a while and I needed 2 coats of my top coat to ensure the glitter was really on there but I can't stop looking at my nails. Before you go, check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite Summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.  Thanks for visiting!!

Huggies Wipes Inspiraiton

Santee "White"

Color Club "Almost Famous"

OPI "Uh Oh Roll Down the Window"

Sinful Colors "Nirvana" 

Revlon "Safari Chic"

I had been eying the pattern on my son's Huggies Wipes box for some time now and I'm glad I finally did it.  I love how it came out.  I'm trying to preserve this manicure for as long as I can.  It was so simple.  Just a small dotting tool and my polishes.  I listed only a few of the colors I used, you can really go with whatever you have that looks similar which is what I did or go with a completely different color scheme.  I might do
that next.  It's just really eye catching and cute.  Thanks for visiting!!

Summer Color Blocking Manicure

 

Sinful Colors "Hazard"

Sally Hansen's "Limestone"

Color Club's "Almost Famous"

Santee's "White"

Sinful Color's "Dream On"

Sinful Color's "Aquamarine"

Forever 21's "Neon Pink"

I have been MIA again.  For those of you who are mom's out there maybe you can sympathize with me.  My son will be a year next month and I breastfeed him.  He's a big boy! And literally taking ALL of my vitamins along with any energy I may have left.  And being my second baby along with work, I am just drained.  I haven't painted my nails all week.  As much as I want to, I choose sleep and rest over my nails.  Anyway I really couldn't stop thinking about this new trend and really wanted to try it.  I started with my new base coat of OPI Nail Envy for Thin and Peeling nails, then 1 coat of white.  Next with a black acrylic paint and a thin nail art brush, I lightly painted random horizontal and vertical lines.  I find that when I use acrylic paint I have more control over it and it dries much quicker.  Next I took a small dotting tool and filled in each square, I have more control with that too.  I tried it with a brush and it was streaky and I had to go over it multiple times, so using the dotting tool took just 1 application.  Once all the blocks are filled in I went back over each black line.  That covers up any mistakes I made while filling in each block.  Lastly a coat of Orly Sec'n'Dry top coat.  I still fully intend to post the giveaway I've had ready for the last 3 weeks on Tuesday, my day off.  Thanks for visiting!!

Fourth of July Nails!

OPI "Swimsuit...Nailed It"

    Santee "White"   

Santee "Blood"

Sally Hansen "Golden"

Milani "Gold"

This manicure was fun but took forever.  It's so basic, no real technique besides the striping on my middle finger which is a bit smeared.  I used a different top coat this time and I think I like it.  I want to use it a couple more times before I can really say.  It's Orly's "Sec 'n' Dry".  It doesn't dry as fast as Seche Vite and you can't apply it too quickly after you paint your nails as you can see above, but it doesn't shrink.  I can't take SecheVite's shrinkage anymore.  My manicures look awful after a day because the shrinking gets so bad.  Anyhow this manicure was really fun, I think my best one yet.  Anyway peek back tomorrow - I'm posting the Summer Giveaway.  Thanks for visiting!!

Summer Neon Sparkle

Sinful Colors "Dream On"

Orly Topcoat "Sec 'n' Dry"

My Giraffe manicure didn't last through dish washing last night.  So I had a moment and quickly did this manicure.  I had purchased Sinful Colors "Dream On" a while ago now and finally had time to try it.  First off, this color isn't the actual color.  It photographed as a pink however on my nails it is neon purple.  A dark neon purple actually.  The first photos were taken outside in the sunlight and the last picture is under the fluorescent lights at my desk. Can you believe the difference?! It looks totally different in the sunlight, very pink.  Again I apologize, my cuticles are a mess and my polish is streaky.  I have extremely dry skin and summer isn't even in full bloom yet as well as I didn't anticipate getting time to change my manicure so I tried to do it quickly in case my little one woke up.  Anyway it's a beautiful bright summery color and Sinful Colors is so inexpensive I couldn't go wrong.  Thanks for visiting!!

P.S. Thursday is the Summer Giveaway Reveal so peak back!!