Random happenings.

Here are some other random happenings as of late:

1.

Zoya.  How much do I love thee?  A LOT.  This whole mani is with Zoya polishes.  The pink is Harper from the summer Tickled and Bubbly line.  Great sparkly pink.  The black is Raven with the Monet top coat on top...let's talk about this top coat for a second.  This may be becoming a new obsession for me and I think it will get its own post soon.  This polish came out in the spring and it is unique to me.  The glitter has a different look pending on what base polish you are using.  It has this blue halo look to it over back.  While when playing around with it on other polishes, the glitter would look yellow or green or blue predominantly.  There are multi-color glitters in this polish, I just like that it seems to change its look.  The remaining nails are pixie dust in Dhalia and Tomoko.  The other fun fact in this mani is that I used the new OPI Glitter Off base coat...I need to play with this more in-depth as well.  It didn't just peel off with a tool for me, but with polish remover I barely needed to use any muscle to get these glitters off.  That is a bonus!

2. 

Neon Skittles with a little gradient.  I love love love neon nail polishes.  They may be my all time favorite as I am just drawn to the bright colors and the pop they have.  This one uses all China Glaze polishes.... Pool Party, Flip Flop Fantasy, I'm With the Lifeguard, and Celtic Sun.  All on a white base coat.  Same colors are used for the thumb gradient

3. 

Speaking of neon.....A little bit of China Glaze Pink Voltage....

4.

My June Julep Box.  I opted for both the Oxygen top and base coats.  I wasn't a huge fan of the Oxygen Nail Treatment before as I don't usually like light pink on my nails and they really don't recommend you use it under polishes.  So I ended up giving it to my mom so someone will use it.  In this box, I went with my usual It Girl profile.  

Polishes included were:

- Gold Shimmer/Metallic color- Savoy--tried it real quick and it takes a lot of patience to have it come out even.  Much like the Essie metallics but not the same consistency.

- Blue- Glitter in their Stardust Finish- Jennine-  I needed to layer it a lot in order to achieve opacity.

- Purple- Halo-like color-  Phia

The hit parade.

I wanted to update everyone further on what I have been up to nail wise during my quiet time away from the blog...so here are some highlights....

  

Playing around with the one stoke technique...they almost look like flowers....

And a simple purple gradient....

One of my FAVORITES...

Simple pink glitter gradient....

There was this craptastic Valentine's Day caviar and glitter mani.

Another TOP FAVORITE based on a pair of earrings that I purchased.

Summer neon with glitter....all China Glaze and fun.

A mod matter color block... 

Flip Flop Fantasy with stripes and dots....

Now I look to the future to see what I can learn, perfect, and just admire because it is pretty!!

Galaxy Nails...Aurora Borealis.

One of the things I love about doing nails is all the folks out there that love to do nails as well.  In addition to following all the lovely blogs out there, I love to share on Instagram and see what others are also doing.  I also like participating in Google+ communities.  One, Nail Polish Lovers, is a great place to share what they are doing and in addition they do a weekly challenge.  I need to start doing more challenges more regularly.  The challenge last week was  Galaxy Nails.  Yay!  I love this technique!  If you remember, I did these for the new release of the Star Trek movie this year....

and

I love this look.  I can't help it.  It may actually be my favorite mani.  For the challenge, I wanted to do something a bit different, but sticking with the technique.  So I decided on a lighter version.

For this I used:

- Sinful Colors: Amethyst [purple] and Soul Mate [pink]

- OPI- Can't Find My Czechbook [light blue]

- China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise [turquoise]

- Julep Adrianna [green]

- China Glaze Fairy Dust [micro glitter]

- Color Club Club Platinum Record [larger hex glitter]

The base coat is Sinful Colors's Amethyst with the other colors sponged on and layered for the nebula effect.  I get in such a groove when I am doing this, that I always forget to take pictures to document each step of the process.  I will make a point to start doing this with more regularity.  I promise!!

This effect was achieved by using a small amount of polish on a make-up sponge and applying the color gradually.  The more polish, the more opaque it will tend to be and the less you will be able to blend the colors.  I actually re-did the ring finger and thumb in order to correct this issue.  I wasn't happy with the color layers.  I like when it looks airy; the color wispy.  

After the color is applied, I use a coat of the Fairy Dust by China Glaze.  This may be my favorite small glitter nail polish out there.  No, I am committing.  This IS my favorite small glitter out there...I then placed the larger hex glitter by hand and finished with a top coat of Seche Vite.

What do you think of it with the lighter color/purple base coat?  Do we like the remix?  Or is classic black background still the way to go?

China Glaze Party Foul

I love texture nail polish...concrete texture, sugar coats, fuzzy coats, pixie dust...I am in!  I was out picking up new nail files over the weekend last week when I stumbled into China Glaze's flocked collection.  LOVE IT!  I think the hardest part for me was trying to decide which pretty bottle was going to be coming home with my new nail files.  I settled on Party Foul, mainly because of the flecks of peach color in it.  

I did add top coat to it as I was afraid it was going to fleck off as I am incredibly hard  on my hands.  

PS-  I think this nail polish is lucky as it is the polish I had on when I found my wedding dress.  :)

A little mermaid.

I have been trying to improve my glitter gradient skills.  This last one that I am posting today is from a few weeks ago.  I do confess that I have been in full on wedding planning mode this month and have been neglecting this part of my life.  Well...NO MORE!  :)  i have a few posts to share with you of what I have been up to this month.  I want to start with this glitter gradient.

This look was inspired by a video that I saw on YouTube. HERE It is by PackAPunchPolish.  I had all the colors she used, so I thought, "what the heck!  Let's try it!"  

I started with a base coat of China Glaze's Unpredictable.  The three glitters on top are from Sinful Colors: Call U Later, Nail Junkie, and Super Star.  

I really like the was this one looked outside.  Sadly, I couldn't get the camera to pick up half of the iridescence and sparkle that this mani had.  Trust me, it sparkled!  

Mani Monday: A little ombré.

Seems like a good time for a bright ombré!!!

I do love this technique.

Colors used:  Julep's Eden and China Glaze's Pink Voltage.

These colors are so bright and cheerful.

Dog Days Of Summer

This weekend my dog became a hipster.  I begged Frankie not to go that route, but he did anyway.  He has a new collar....

and it is SOOOO CUTE!!

Andy Warhol-like dogs wearing trendy sunglasses and mustaches.  This collar is so freakin' cute.  Thank you PetCo for having this.  It is so cute and colorful and....perfect inspiration for a manicure!!

For this manicure I started with two coats of Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Color in White On.  Then began my skittles neon manicure.

Colors Used:

green- China Glaze's I'm With the Lifeguard

yellow- China Glaze's Celtic Sun

pink- China Glaze's Pink Voltage

aqua- China Glaze's Turned Up Turquoise

purple- Circus Tight Rope

Once all these great neon colors dried, I free hand drew the icons using my Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black.  This was then all topped off with my favorite top coat, Seche Vite Rapid Dry.

I tried to get a pic with Frankie today, but he was a bit fussy about having his picture taken.  He seemed to think we were going to go for a walk when I put his collar on.  Not sure where he got that idea from......

Pool party!!!

It is Memorial Day Weekend here in the States. Sadly, we sometimes lose focus of what this weekend is all about, our Veterans. My nails at the moment are joining this trend. I didn't have time to do what I had in my head. So I threw on a quick neon color. Hence, China Glaze Pool Party!!!!

I will have to save my patriotic nails for the 4th of July, which also happens to be my birthday. :)

Work It! Wednesday: China Glaze Bump and Grind

Work It! Wednesday!

Today on the red carpet mani cam, we have a lovely texture nail polish.  Check out China Glaze Bump and Grind from their Texture Collection.  

Lovely bright pink texture polish that has a light grit to it.  The texture is similar to the Julep Sea Salt finish in that it has a bit of bumpy texture and grit to it, but it is still one dimensional in color.  It is still subtle enough that it won't get annoying for texture on your nails.  I do love me a texture nail polish and I have a feeling this one will become a quick favorite for summer.

WORK IT!!

Mani Monday: Adventures in striping tape

I have been drawn to what folks are doing with striping tape and their manicures lately.  And I have had striping tape sitting in my stash drawer for the LONGEST time.  It has just seem too fussy for me to want to deal with.  But that is just silly.  So I settled in with Game of Thrones episode last night and set about cutting tape pieces to use....

First, I need some nail polish...

Of course I need some neon to start.  From left to right: Celtic Sun, I'm With The Lifeguard, Spectacle, Pool Party, and Tightrope.  I started with a base of Essie's Blanc as a base.  I wanted this neon to pop as best it could.  I topped off this neon party with some Wet n' Wild fast dry in black...well, I  don't know if that is its real name as it's sticker has fallen off.  But it is black.  :)

I went for a variety of pattern.  I wanted to see if my left hand could keep up in this adventure as well, and it did!  I guess this tape is not as fussy as I thought it would be.  Because as we all know...

But I did not really have that problem this time around, thankfully.  

Overall, this was an easy process and it has me thinking of all kinds of designs I can start playing around with.  It was a learning process as well.  I found I really needed to pull the tape off directly as any kind of angle just caused some speckling, which you can see on my ring and pinkie fingers.   Heck, for a first time while watching one of my favorite tv shows, I am okay with it it!  

What are your taping horror or success stories?  Happy Mani Monday!!

Work It Wednesday!

It's Wednesday! Which means it is mani cam time. Time for nails to work it on the red carpet!

Today's star is from China Glaze and their neon collection. Introducing Pink Voltage!

YOU BETTER WORK, :)

NOTD: Neon with China Glaze Celtic Sun

I have a confession....I have been late to the game in obsessing with neons.  I have been ALL about neon color lately. I don't know if it is the weather, or the boring, I mean to say muted, clothes that I wear to work typically or what. But I find when I am thinking about my next mani, I keep reaching for the bottles of neon. I could be guilty of a lot worse I guess. ;) And in light of all that happened in Boston yesterday, this bright color gives me a bit of peace and sunshine when I think of what a lot of my friends are dealing with at home right now. Small as that may be...

I used China Glaze Celtic Sun with Whirled Away on top. I originally started out with Celtic Sun on top of just base coat. But the color is a bit watery, so after layer upon layer, I scrapped it and put a white base coat down first. This is 2 coats on top of the white. MUCH BETTER! I also love this glitter....well. The look of it anyway. I am not a fan of its actual application. It s just a nightmare. The glitter wants to stick to the brush or clump up at the end of my nail. I ended up having to use a tooth pick to place it on my nail. The overall result was worth it!

NOTD featuring China Glaze Pink Voltage

Happy Saturday!

The sun has finally come back out here in Florida!  Woo hoo! It has been raining for two days straight.  I was starting to think I was living up north again.  I must admit, I am spoiled by the constant sun of southern Florida.  This kid is happy to have the sun back.

The sun is back out. 

What better time for Neon Pink Voltage!

Polishes used:  Deborah Lippmann's Putty In Your Hands, China Glaze Pink Voltage [Neon], and a little sparkle with China Glaze Fairy Dust.  

I decided it would be a good day for a little bit of gradient fun on a Saturday.  I love playing with gradients.  And I love this fusion of nude and neon.  Sparkle on!!