NOTD: Birthday Balloons!!!

Today is my birthday! I haven't had much time for anything but school... but special occasions need fresh manicures!

Products Used:
China Glaze- White on White | Kate Spade- Florence Broadhurst nail polish kit | Julep- Bette | CM Nail Art- black.

NOTD: V-Day Ready?!

Valentine's Day is fast approaching {actually it's still kind of far off huh? lol} Anyway...

Today's mani was inspired by this picture {which was done on acrylics, I think}.

 I free-handed everything using 2 polishes and a thick top coat:

1. I painted horizontal lines for the tips, gives them a little roundness at the edges.

 {rather than making straight lines across}

2. For the heart, I began with 2 dots above the white line and connected them downward 

with a fine short brush.

3. Then I filled the them in and tried to make it as close to a heart as possible! :)

My week has been jam packed with schoolwork!!!  Doing nail art definitely helps me de-stress  a bit!  I hope that you guys enjoy it as much as I do :)

Products Used:
China Glaze- White on White | Orly- Razzle Dazzle | Seche Vite- Top Coat.

NOTD: Reverse French Tip

This color combo screams Holidays to me :) 

The red is Avon and the dark gray is China Glaze Stone Cold from the hunger games collection.

CG Stone Cold is a micro-shimmer dark grey polish that dries matte and really only needs one careful coat to be opaque and smooth. I definitely love this polish with a top coat better since the shimmer is much  more visible and festive this way :)

After painting a coat of Stone Cold I took some hole reinforcement stickers and placed about 1/3 of it on the bottom half of my nail then painted 2 coats of red on the top part of the nail. I carefully peeled the sticker off while the polish was still tacky and added 2 coats of clear top coat.

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is this week! that means excess food and excess sales {although I don't think i'll be joining in the deal hunts this year}!!! :D

Products Used:

Avon: Real Red | China Glaze- Stone Cold.

NOTD: Halo Effect

I must admit, I had a hard time working out the kinks in this manicure! But, I think I finally got it down What do you think: Is halo in or out?

To achieve this manicure, first I painted my nails gold. Then I painted my nails turquoise leaving the sides and cuticles exposed. Finally I repainted the tips gold.

Note: the outdoor lighting made the turquoise color come out a bit darker than usuual check out this post for the accurate color :)

Products Used:

Avon- Gold Vision | China Glaze- For Audrey.

NOTD: China Glaze Golden Meringue

Today's polish is extremely sheer. In the bottle it reminds me of China Glaze Sunset Sail 

{reviewed here}, but on the nails it is a sheer peachy nude color with a prominent gold sheen.

 After applying 4 coats I could still see my nail line, so I added an emerald green color and made it a french tip.

It would be really pretty with a white tip too.

This is what it looks like over a white base. In my opinion, it looks better on its own.

Products Used:

China Glaze: Golden Meringue | Avon- Noir Emerald, French Tip White.

NOTD: China Glaze Sunset Sail

This is another polish I picked up this past weekend, It's a peachy nude color with the tiniest silver specs. With 2 coats it is opaque and streak-free!

• After applying 2 coats of color,
• I added a few criss-crossed lines to each nail.
• Immediately after applying a top coat, I added rhinestones.

This manicure reminds me of ballet shoes :)

Products Used:

China Glaze- Sunset Sail | Jordana- Silver Glitter | Top Coat- Seche Vite | Rhinestones.

NOTD: China Glaze White on White + Snow Cap

This weekend I succumbed to my addiction and bought more nail polishes... My mini-haul included China Glaze- White on White & Snow Cap.

China Glaze White on White is opaque and almost streak-free after 3 coats and smooth once the topcoat is on.
China Glaze Snow White takes about 4 coats to be opaque on its own, or 2 on top of a white base {like I have shown here on half on my nail} It is a milky white glitter polish with both silver and gold glitter. the gold gives it a gorgeous sheen!

Hope you find this helpful!

Products Used: 

China Glaze- White on White, Snow Cap.

NOTD: Strawberry Fields {again}

This idea came to me while browsing the thousands of pictures on instagram {follow me @roxypie89}

and what better polish to use than one named just for the things I wanted to paint- strawberries!

Again, this polish takes 2 coats to be opaque and streak-free which is great because it is a fav of mine!

• For the leaves I mixed the two green polishes to create 3 different variations of green and painted them on from darkest to lightest decreasing my brush strokes for each color.
• I finished it off with dots of gold to represent the seeds using the smallest dotting tool I have.
•  {a toothpick can work just fine for this part}

yum!

Products Used:

China Glaze- Strawberry Fields | Avon- Sweet Mint, Noir Emerald | Revlon- Gold Get 'Em.

NOTD: Tiffany Manicure

This is another manicure that I had been dying to try, but I just couldn't free-hand the bow right and stamping just wasn't cutting it. So, I order some adorable bows from eBay and waited 2 long weeks for them to arrive before attempting it again.

I'm sure most of you guys have heard of, seen, or own China Glaze's For Audrey. It is the perfect Tiffany blue color and goes on opaque and even after 2 coats.

• After applying 2 coats of color, I used my CM nail art to draw horizontal lines across the nail- these represent the ribbon on the iconic tiffany box.
• On the accent nail I added a vertical line and placed a bow in the center using a thick layer of top coat to secure it in place.
• That's it! :)

I did notice that one of the bows is defective but for the $1.69, well worth it.

Products used: 

China Glaze- For Audrey | CM Nail Art White | Bows via eBay {$1.69} gogo_newlife123 or direct link to product here.

NOTD: China Glaze Strawberry Fields

On today's nails I have China Glaze- Strawberry Fields. This polish is a really pretty summery pink color with micro gold glitter that creates a beautiful sheen in natural light. I wasn't able to capture this in pictures, but went along with the color scheme and added an ombre effect with gold glitter!

• I applied 2 coats of strawberry fields, the polish is completely opaque and streak free at this point. 
• Then I applied a first coat of glitter {make sure the brush has as little polish as possible} to 3/4 of the nail.
• I applied another coat of glitter to the top 1/2 of the nail {this coat can have a little more polish than the first}
• I finished it off with a final coat of polish to the tips only. 

This might be my favorite pink polish after Chanel's April.

Hope you have a great week!

Products used:
 China Glaze- Strawberry Fields, Blonde Bombshell.

NOTD: China Glaze- Pool Party

I have to admit, getting rid of my baseball manicure made me sad. Luckily there are more of those mani's to come since we are only half-way through the season!

Today's nail polish was not what I was expecting. In photographs the color looks more pink than it does in real-life. I currently have neon orange nails :'( I should have used a white polish as my base coat to make the pink color stand out more {lesson learned}. Does anyone else have this problem with neon pinks, have you found one that works well on its own???

As with other neon polishes the application is a hassle- use a steady light hand when applying and wait a few minuted to avoid pulling off previous coats. And of course when dry, the polish is matte and uneven so a top coat is a must to fix these problems. Another thing to be aware of when removing the polish is that it does stain my skin more than usual.

I'm liking using thumbs as the accent nail.

{note: I had a difficult time adjusting the contrast in these pictures because of the darn polish color. I wish this was the actual color!}

I used a dotting tool to create large flowers, then I applied a top coat and pressed rhinestones into the polish to make sure they stayed in place for the length of my mani.

This is what the color looks like in real life and compared to the color in the bottle- big difference huh?

Products mentioned:  China Glaze- Pool Party, Avon- French Tip White, CM Nail Art Heavenly Pink.

NOTD: Mixing Patterns

Today I decided to mix patterns! :) 

The sun came out just in time for me to take more pictures!

Polka Dots, Stripes, Flowers, Glitter... how can you go wrong?!

I am loving this jelly glitter polish, but the sparkle doesn't show up in regular pictures, so I took a fuzzy  one.

My Method: 

•  I used my handy double sided dotting tool for the flowers, make 4 dots close enough together so the edges overlap a little, then dot a darker color in the center.

• For the stripes I used the CM Nail Art polish, and made steady strokes vertically down my nail. You can go over each stripe a few times to get the desired thickness and opacity.  I actually like the brush in this polish over the nail art brushes I bought on eBay because those unfortunately frayed out when I cleaned tried to clean them :(

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! What other types of manicures would you like to see?

Wow, I just realized all my polishes are water inspired!

Products mentioned:
Essie- Absolutely Shore. China Glaze- Atlantis. Avon- Aqua Fantasy. CM Nail Art- White. 
Dotting tools- blueskynailsupply.

NOTD: 4th of July!

It is July, and I jumped on the bandwagon and gave myself a 4th of July mani! It was fun creating different designs on each nail especially the star, which proved to be quite easy with my CM nail art polish.

After each nail had 2 coats of color, I used glitter for the middle finger, a dotting tool to create the dots, and the CM nail art to freehand the lines and the star.

•  I made the star by using this method, then filling it in: 

• The Red is one of the best formulas I've tried, glossy and very opaque even after one coat.
• The White is also one of the best I've tried, not thick at all, and after 2 coats it is mostly even and streak-free. {Good job Avon!}
•  The Blue is actually a shimmer polish, but the finish is nice and even, not thick at all.

The holographic glitter has various sized silver particles. So pretty!!

Products mentioned: 


L to R: Seche Vite Top Coat, OPI Ridge Filler, CM Nail Art White, Avon: French Tip White, Illusion, China Glaze Techno, Avon: Splendid Blue, Real Red. Dotting tools via blueskynailssupply.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!!!