Partly Cloudy

Two weeks ago, a friend and her awesome daughter were coming down to Florida to visit family.  I haven't seen them in a few years, sadly.  I was super excited when the fates aligned and I was actually able to go to see them while they were in town.  I packed up my car with car snacks, made a super long playlist full with jams to sing along with, and got ready to drive the almost 5 hours to get there.  But first, I needed to do up the nails!!

Colors used:  The blue is OPI's Can't Find My Czechbook, gold is Zoya's Pixie Dust in Solange, and the white is Essie's Blanc.  the clouds are hand drawn.

Days 3 & 4 of my July 4th Manicure Bonanza!

It has been a pretty busy weekend here in my household between summer cleaning and organizing, to family and friend visits, and the ever present wedding plans, that I did not make time to post my holiday nails until now.  So without any further adieu, here is day 3 and day 4 of my July 4th Super Birthday Mani Extravaganza.....or, 7 days of holiday nails until July 4th.  

Day 3:  Fireworks Gradient

Sticking with my red, white, and blue color scheme, Day 3 features a couple colors we have already used, and one I am very excited to announce.  The red is Julep's Delaunay and the blue is Butter London's Blagger.  Saturday my July Julep Maven box came in the mail....which will be posted tomorrow...and I did add on their special glitter polish to my box.  It is the third polish in this picture and it is called Fireworks.  This polish is packed to the brim with glitter.  The glitter is both multi-dimensional large and small hex glitter in red, white, and blue.  You gets lots of glitter per swipe of the brush and I just love it!

I decided on basic red and blue bases to let the glitter take center stage.  I pulled the glitter down from the tip so that it looks a bit like a shower of sparkles and added the loose stars to the blue nails.  

Day 4:  Deconstructed Stars and Stripes Tape Mani

For today's manicure, I used the above colors:  Sinful Color's Under 18, Essie's Blanc, and Julep's Eloise.

I wanted to produce at least one tape manicure in this series, and this is it!  I started with the blue as a base and the moved to utilizing the tape to divide my nail in half for the coats of red.  But I needed more pizazz then to then tape it off again for the white.  Solution?  Dots of course!!  I think it gives it a hint of both whimsy and sophistication.  Not sure if one can be both, but I am running with it!

Day 2...Stars and Stripes

It is day 2 of our 4th of July Nail Week, Birthday Celebration, Nail Extravaganza! 
As I posted yesterday, my birthday is on July 4th and I am doing a week of 4th inspired and themed manicures.  Yesterday was a subtle pattern, while today is......

Stars and Stripes Forever.

For this flag interpretation, we went literal.  I started with bases of red and blue.  I took a a striper and added white lines to the red.  On the blue based nails, I stamped on the stars in white.  Cute, simple, and patriotic!

7 Days of 4th of July Nails

B Day is coming.....B Day is COMING!  I am officially hitting the middle of my dirty 30's on July 4th. Seeing that our nation is going to be celebrating 237 years of independence and I will be celebrating my 35th, it seemed like a great idea to do a week of manis to celebrate!  Each day I will be posting a new manicure that has a 4th of July theme to it.  

Day 1....Hint of patriotic pride....

Our first day is a dottie manicure.  

Colors used for this mani are Julep's Delaunay, Essie's Blanc, and Butter London's Blagger....Not pictured China Glaze's Fairy Dust.

It felt a tad bit early for me to start with a collage of stars and stripes.  So I started with 3 coats of the white with dots and finished it off with a bit of sparkle.  This little guy is a fun summer manicure that is perfect for the season without hitting you over the head with pride.  

Stay tuned for more!

Work It! Wednesday with Blue Ombré Reversi.

It is mani cam time on the red carpet!  This week's carpet worthy manicure is my blue ombré manicure with reverse blue ombré dots. 

Polishes used: Zoya's Blu, Julep's Claire, Zoya Pixie Dust in Liberty, Essie's Mesmerized, Deborah Lippmann's My Prerogative.

I can't help it...I LOVE how this manicure came out.  I think this combines my three favorite nail items all on one hand: texture nail polish, blue polishes, and dots.  This is topped off with Seche Vite top coat with the exception of my middle finger, which I did not polish.

WORK IT!

NOTD: Mod Spring Flowers

Good morning polish fairies!  It is a beautiful summer like day here in Florida.  Seems like a good day to go do some wedding scouting.  As I have been reminded, it is 9 months away...oy!!  Guess I need to get a-moving with the details over here! :)  But before I leave the house, I need to share my current nails with you!

The weather is so gorgeous, that a dotting tool and some pastel colors seemed to be just what the weather man ordered!

Colors used:  Sally Hansen's Peach of Cake, Julep's Blake, Zoya's Blu, and Essie's Blanc.

I love dotting tools.  SO much possibility as to what you can create.  What is your favorite go-to design tool?  The make-up sponge?  Dotting tools?  Paint brushes?  Tin foil?  Let me know. :)

Foto Friday.

It is Foto Friday!

It is casual Friday...so it is casual Foto Friday.  I enjoy snapping random pictures while I am out and about, and that also applies to my nails.  Foto Friday is my random picture sharing experience.  

I was in a matte mood the other day...above is the result!  Polka-dots, stripes, and zebra stripes, OH MY!!  I love Essie's Matte About You.  Fun and subtle was to play with black nail polish.  

Happy Friday!!

Mani Monday on the town!

A day late, but my Mani Monday went on a trip yesterday and got home pretty late. Here in Miami, it is the second week of the annual Sony Open Tennis Tournament.  So it seems only natural to do a tennis mani!

This mani is a tennis fan and is waiting for the Serena Williams match.

I used Zoya's Mitzi for the tennis ball nails.  The thumb is Essie's Beyond Cozy.  The court is a mix of
Essie's Pretty Edgy, Sinful Colors Amethyst, and the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in white.  Mitzi is actually one of the Mate Velvet Mod colors from Zoya and I tried to keep the integrity of the finish.  But without a top coat, the white lines were wearing off as I was getting ready to leave the house.  So I topped everyone off with Seche Vite rapid dry top coat before dashing out the house.

Sadly the Sally Hansen nail art pen gave me too thick of a line for my tennis court nail.  Next time I think I will use an actual brush to get the thinner line I was looking for.  How do you find the nail art pen for smaller, thinner lines?
My left hand is all tennis balls with one Beyond Cozy glitter nail.  I'm a righty, so my left hand wasn't ready to attempt a second tennis court.

I am pretty happy with this manicure.  It was fun and pretty easy to do and a great learning experience with the nail art pen.  Love - 15, Nail Art Pen!!