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: 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: French Tip With a Twist

 I have been dying to try this tape manicure out since I saw something similar floating around on Pinterest. But my impatience got the best of me twice... Until now!

These are my fool-proof steps to getting good Tape manicures:

Step#3: cut at an angle. Use the
triangles you cut off as a guide
for the rest. 

Step#1: Cut square pieces 

of tape. Clear or glossy will

work fine.

Step#2: Fold the tape in half
with the sticky sides facing out.

Step#4: Before applying the
tape make sure the polish is
completely dry. {I applied a
coat of Seche Vite, this
actually makes tape manis
a lot easier!} 

     

       Step#5: Position the tape in the
       middle of you nail, make sure all
      the edges are fully taped down.

Step#6: Paint over the tips & peel 

off after about 1 minute. {At this 

point if some lines were not 

perfect I used a thin brush to

correct them} Apply a top coat!

 Polish Review: The pink polish is quite opaque and took 2 coats to be streak free and pretty much even. The black took only one coat, but 2 coats would create an even opaque nail if worn on its own. I find that all of my Avon polishes tend to last 3-4 days without any chipping and minor wear to the tips when I use a base coat (OPI ridge filler) and a top coat (Seche Vite).

Don't mind my kitty in the background :)

Products Used: Tape, Avon- Black Licorice, Pastel Pink. Seche Vite Top Coat, CM Nail Art Black.

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 + Baseball

I had an exciting weekend, I bought more CM Nail Art polishes, gave myself a cool manicure, and saw my favorite rookie baseball star Mike Trout! <3 {get ready for loads of pictures!}

Let's start with some Nail Art:

 The final product: #27 for the my favorite Angels' Mike Trout :)

•  I started out with a base coat of red polish, then added glitter and finished it off with 2 more coats of red polish. Result... 

Jelly Sandwich!

The sandwich gives off a multi-dimenional look I really like!

• Next I took my red CM Nail Art polish and added 2 semi-circles followed by lots of small lines to create the baseball.

• Finally, I drew the A and the 27 (freehand, using logos I found on Google as my guide) in Blue, then added Red over that. 
• I finished the A off with a grey Halo- I used a shorter brush in order to get the rounded effect more precise.

I realize that the 27 could have used a second attempt... but I blame it on having a strictly dominant left hand and being too excited to see the final result!

Moving on to Game Day pictures:

My Rally Monkey didn't make it to the game, 

  she had other engagements. I forgot her :(

Mike Trout!

And the Angel's won, until next time  Trout!

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!!!

Nail Polish Haul + NOTD + Kate Spade

One thing that I have learned about myself is that I cannot exercise self-control in a store full of every shade of nail polish! Today me and my sister went back to Skylark Nail and Beauty Supply and bought even more polishes! I also gave myself a girly mani, and went to Marshalls!

L to R: CM Nail Art White{$1.50}, OPI Ridge Filler{$4}, Orly Bare Rose{$4.50}, China Glaze: Pool Party, Strawberry Fields, Techno, Atlantis{$2.50 each}.

I used 3 coats of Avon Pastel Pink, one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on all nails (except accent).

On the accent nail: one coat of Black Poppy Silver, 3 coats of Jordana Silver Glitter, one coat of China Glaze Fairy dust. 

Fairy Dust gives off amazing rainbow reflections, I love this one!!!!

I have noticed that this particular pale pink Avon color does take a good 3 coats and minor wait time between coat applications to be completely even and streak free. But I have tried Sinful Colors Easy Going which is another pale pink with worse results.

Finally, I went to marshalls with a $10 voucher I got in the mail (that I got by accumulating points from purchases made by using my store credit card). I ended up buying this Kate Spade lotion for $12.99. My total cost: ~$4! Yay!

That's it for now, hope you enjoyed! 

NOTD + Tool Haul

I recently purchased some nail tools from Ebay! I'm so excited to use them...

1. The dotting tools work great! they are well made and I do recommend these, shipping was extremely fast too!
2. The nail art brushes seem to work well too, but be careful to not get acetone on the handles since the paint does rub off easily. {UPDATE: I don't recommend the brushes, I have a hard time cleaning them and keeping the hairs from fraying.}

Here are some pictures of mani's done with the dotting tools!

My manicures last a good 4 days without any chipping and minor wear to the tips, the key is to use a good base and top coat! (my experience has shown that Essie and Avon polishes last the longest.. updates to come.)

My friend let me do her nails too! Thanks!

After applying about 2 coats on each finger of the desired color, I took the fattest dotting tool and dipped it in some polish and made sure the dots had a good amount of space between them. I recommend re-dipping the tool after each dot, this created uniform dots every time.  

After about 3 minutes, I applied a top coat. Waiting ensures that your dots don't bleed into your base color. Clean up any stray polish with a Q-tip or a brush and acetone.

Products mentioned:

Dotting tools: Ebay via- blueskynailssupply ($2.50). Nail Art Tools: Ebay via- d.linux. ($5.29)

Polish: China Glaze-For Audrey, Avon-French Tip white, Chanel- April, Seche Vite-top coat, OPI- base coat.