NOTD: Gold Glitter + Nude Reverse French Tip

Today's manicure is festive, but great all year round. Combining gold glitter and a pink-y nude color gives the most flattering and girly effect on any skin color!

I used hole punch protectors to create this reverse french manicure.

Mo-Mo decided to photobomb a little bit :P

This manicure could easily be made more festive by switching out the nude color for any type of red {especially deeper one's with a shimmer finish} or an emerald green!

Products Used:
Essie- Topless and Barefoot | Julep- Sienna | China Glaze- Blonde Bombshell | Avon- Sparkling Gold.

NOTD: Essie- Topless & Barefoot

I bought this polish thinking it would be the perfect opaque nude color, and it is except for the application... not the easier polish to apply.

Topless & Barfoot is a pinkish bone color that needs at least 3 careful coats to be somewhat even. It is fully opaque after 2 but looks lumpy :( 

Overall, I do like the color, but the application isn't great.

Products Used:

 Essie- Topless & Barefoot.

NOTD: Essie- Bahama Mama

Bahama Mama is extremely similar to Chanel's Provocation {the FNO limited edition polish}. I will have to do a post comparing the two.

Bahama Mama is supposed to be a deep purple color, but it's more of a dark redish-purple. It's one of those must have shades for Fall and Winter. I used 2 coats and it was perfect, 3 coats will make it an even darker richer color.

With no sunlight and flash Bahama Mama looks almost identical to Chanel's Provocation

Products Used:

Essie- Bahama Mama.

NOTD: Essie- Bobbing for Baubles

Clean non-artsy manicures have been my go-to things recently. I am desperately waiting for cooler weather to kick-in here in Socal so I can properly begin to feel out the holiday season in manicure form- hot weather is just not cutting it enough to adorn my nails with leaves, snowflakes, and christmas trees :(

Bobbing for Baubles is an amazing dark navy color that is opaque and streak-free in just 2 coats. It is extremely glossy without a top coat. All I can say is, I love it!

My adorable polka dot and sequin sweaters are in desperate need of tender loving wear! Someone tell the weather to tune it down about 20˚... please!

Products Used:

Essie- Bobbing for Baubles.

NOTD: Essie- Marshmallow

I have been wanting this color for so long! So, when I found it at Skylark for $4 I was thrilled!

Marshmallow is a creamy {somewhat jelly-like} white polish. I used 4 coats to achieve this level of opacity. Seche Vite helped to dry all the coats perfectly :)

I love this polish!

Products Mentioned:

Essie- Marshmallow.

NOTD: Flamingos

Today is the last day of summer! So, I thought I'd over-do it with some bright pink birds :D

Bye-bye Summer, Hello Fall!

Products Used:

Essie- Absolutely Shore | CM Nail Art- white, black, heavenly pink, hottie pink | China Glaze- Fairy Dust.

NOTD: Ombré Effect- Essie's Main Squeeze

This manicure is a bit weird, I used eyeshadow to create the gradient effect. It took me a few tries to get the effect that I was looking for and I have to say, I could never get this sort of gradient using only nail polishes.

•  After applying 2 coats of color to each nail I painted the third coat individually, waiting until the polish was just dry enough on my nail,
• I the brushed over the nail gently using flat nail art brush loaded with pulverized eyeshadow. This is the crucial step, if the polish wasn't dry enough I risked pulling it off with the brush.
• I went over the bottom 1/3 of the nail with another coat of polish and brushed over it again to concentrate the color even more.
• I finished it off with a coat of Seche Vite and this is what I got!

In the bottle Essie's Main Squeeze is a light grey-ish blue color with a fine purple sheen, on the nail it translates as more of a light purple blue with a great purple sheen :)

Products Used:
Essie- Main Squeeze | Seche Vite top coat | Clinique- CSS contour shade from beach plum duo.

NOTD: Burberry Manicure

I've been meaning to do this manicure ever since I saw THIS awesome video tutorial on youtube by NailsByiMichelley. It's easier than I thought it was going to be!

I would describe how to do this manicure myself, but NailsByiMichelley did such a great job in her video. Why deny you the opportunity to see and try it out for yourself?! :)

On a different note, I am officially going to see my favorite band of all time next week! I can't wait to share pictures of The Adicts playing live with you guys! :) {I know what you're thinking...punk rock concert after buying Ann Taylor clothes?! But, you'd be surprised at how fun and catchy most of their lyrics are!} I am a little nervous though, I have no idea what to wear and I just know I will be out of my element, hopefully in a good way. It has been so long since I delved into the world of old school punk rock. Eeek!

Products Used:

Essie: Case Study | CM Nail Art- White, Red, Black.

NOTD: Cherry Blossoms

This Japanese cherry blossom manicure is really simple to create, and so pretty!

                    Step#1: 3 coats of polish.                     Step#2: Paint 1 line diagonally {imperfect is good}

                                                                                               then add smaller ones stemming from it.                                                       

    Step#4: Add 3 dots to form flowers,       Step#5: Add a pink center to each flower, follow with top 

                  randomly spaced.                                     coat.

Products Used:
Essie- Absolutely Shore | CM Nail Art- black, white, heavenly pink.

NOTD: Chanel April + Matte

Today, I used my all-time favorite color to create this matte manicure after seeing this one {but black seemed to dark for all this summery heat}

• After applying 2 coats of April I used Essie's Matte About You as a top coat, 
• Then I used Konad m73 to stamp this flower pattern on my nails using April. 
• The effect is subtle, but very pretty!

Products used:
Chanel- April | Essie Matte About You | Konad plate m73.

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.

The Past Nails: Part 1

Here are a few of my past manicures, I get most of my ideas from pinterest. My execution may not be perfect, but I definitely enjoy painting my nails. I hope that you enjoy these pictures, there are more to come!
(Comment below if you'd like nail polish colors or additional information on the manicures)

Accent Bow Mani

Chanel+Lace

Aqua+Leopard

Tape Mani with Pink Glitter

Contrast Mani

Spring Bling Mani

Ocean Meets Sand Mani

Do you want some tips on creating clean manicures??

• Apply a base coat- I really like OPI- ridge filler
• Push back your cuticles- I like cuticles trimmers like these
• Apply nail polish in vertical strokes without fully reaching your cuticle: click here for pictures
• Apply a top coat- I like Seche Vite
• Clean up if necessary: click here for pictures