A Couple of Late Valentines...

As I've focused on decorating my apartment (only about 6 months AFTER moving in) and trying my hand at a Pinterest craft or two, my posts got a little forgotten, but the manis didn't! 
Overall, I really enjoyed my Valentine's Day manis this year.  Here are the last 2 that I wore:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Sinful Colors Cream Pink
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat China Glaze Make A Spectacle
*1 coat Out the Door

This one was inspired by this pin (if you know its origin, please let me know so I can credit the creator!)  Cream Pink was a bit brighter than I remembered, but just as pretty.  It's not a cream at all, but a gorgeous pink packed with golden shimmer.  I used Make A Spectacle, an iridescent multi-sized glitter, to add some sparkle to my white accent and added a heart sticker that I recently found while cleaning out my mani drawer.  I didn't love the sticker, but overall liked this bright look!

Then there was my actual Valentine mani:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*2 coats Zoya Gaia
*Zoya Kimber
*Zoya Rory
*1 coat Out the Door

This was a twist on a Christmas mani I did, inspired by The Swatching Sprite.  I'm not sure why, but I think I liked the first one better--maybe I sized the dots a little better.  This was still fun, though!  I used Gaia, a sheer "white" polish that is really more of a gold shimmer, over my base.  Then I used the amazing Kimber (magenta) and Rory (lavender-pink) from the Surf collection shimmers that I NEVER get tired of.  I was a bit down on this one at first, but it really grew on me.

So that's the end of Valentine's 2015 (although it's never the wrong time for a pretty pink mani)!

Take two!

I really loved the funky French that I did in my last post, so when it started chipping I decided to give it another go with slightly different colors.  I was a little less happy with this only because I went a little faster, which means that I made a couple mistakes.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Insta-dri Man-go Team!
*Zoya Kimber
*1 coat Out the Door

Man-go Team! is another clearanced polish I found at Target.  This is a more orange, warm yellow, reminding me of marigolds.  It covers well in a clean cream finish.

 

You can see in the second photo that I got a little over excited and added my top coat too soon.  Ugh!  I need to learn patience, but it's so hard when you want to protect something that looks cool!  I just need to remember I'm doing more harm than good when I rush. 
I am so glad that I found my striping tape again.  I do have some trouble with it curling up though, which made for a mess on my right thumb.  Have any of you found a good way to avoid that?  Do tell!

New 31DC: Inspired by a fabric

I was a little panicked trying to think of how I can make a mani around "fabric."  I am not very into fashion, so I don't see a lot of inspiring looks.  Then I remembered my duvet.  In my first 31 day challenge, I used my current duvet as my pattern inspiration.  This one is based on the one that I have stored right now that I love.  It's packed up right now, so I didn't pull it out to photograph.  Here's a link to it, though, that I found.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*1 coat China Glaze Mahogany Magic
*Zoya Zuza, Meg, Kimber, Carly and Myrta
*1 coat Out The Door

This look also let me use my 2 favorite collections from last year.  I keep coming back to colors from China Glaze Capitol Colors and the Zoya Surf collection.  A-mazing!  Because I knew I was going to be using a lot of dots, I just used ONE coat of Mahogany Magic.  I love any time I can get away with just one coat of a polish!

 

 

The Surf colors were actually really close to the colors of my duvet, a bit dusty or jewel-toned.  These are just gorgeous on the nail and, I think because of their shimmery/foil finish (just look at it out of focus there!), are great coverage.  IF I were a stamper, I think that these would probably be really great to use.  I was just about to remove this to do a little catch-up for yesterday (things are a little messy in my family right now, so I didn't get to a challenge) but I think that will have to wait until tomorrow so that I can wear these for a full day...you understand, right?  Some polish is just too pretty to let go of!

 

Even stop lights...

Tonight I had to give Christmas light nails a try!  I was not loving my Santa bellies, mostly because I was lazy.  When I decided to scrap the original candy cane mani after I painted my left hand, I left my right hand white and just layered Ruby Pumps over it.  The effect was not nearly as deep and awesome as it is on its own, and I just got tired of looking at it with regret.  So, here is a little string of lights!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope
*OPI Skip the Gift Wrap
*Zoya Myrta, Zuza, Kimber and Rory
*1 coat Out the Door top coat

 

I knew I wanted to give this look a try and agonized over what color base to use.  I wanted to do green, for the tree, but I also wanted to use green for the cord.  I finally went with white, but added Kaleidoscope to soften it a bit and to add some sparkle.  I love this glitter so much!  It is a silver holo with micro particles and scattered larger hex pieces.  It is sparse enough to not overtake a mani but can easily build.

I used OPI Skip the Gift Wrap for my green cord.  It is a shimmery deep green that dries to a foil finish, almost frosty.  It's really pretty and pretty perfect for Christmas.  Again, I debated colors for the dotted lights for a while and chose to go with the 4 from the Zoya Surf collection.  I NEVER get tired of using these beauties.  They shimmer like no other and have proven perfect for dotting.  The shimmer makes them glow in the sun, which is why I chose them for the bulbs.

I didn't get too particular about the shape of the lights or where they were placed.  I think that I like some shapes better than others, like my index finger and thumb.  Overall these aren't necessarily my best art, but they are so fun!  It's late, so I'm excited to see them in some good sunlight tomorrow!  Have you done lights this year?  Did you find some really good color combos?  Do tell!

Go Pink Wendesday: not the end

Today is the 5th and final Go Pink Wednesday manicure for breast cancer awareness.  Andrea at Finger Painting Fingers has done a wonderful job of uniting bloggers and helping promote awareness!  It has been inspiring seeing all of you ladies promote awareness and give support to those who are fighting, have fought, or are vulnerable to this disease.
I figured I'd try to redeem by last post of polka dots (based on a tutorial from Chalkboard Nails) without my hair getting in the way!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*3 coats OPI I Think In Pink
*Zoya Kimber
*Zoya Rory
*1 coat Seche Vite

I Think In Pink is a cream polish that is quite sheer.  I used 3 coats, which build pretty well, but still had visible nail lines.  I knew I was going to cover the tips with dots, so I didn't add a 4th layer.  This is pretty much the perfect baby pink, part of their Pink of Hearts duo for breast cancer awareness.

 

I used Rory for my first round of dots, knowing that Kimber would be able to cover it when I overlapped the dots.  I love Kimber so much that this light, shimmery pink tends to get overlooked in my collection.  Because of the shimmery "foil" finish, it has good coverage with just the one coat dotted on.

Beautiful, shimmery Kimber went over the top of Rory.  I still wish that the dots had a bigger difference in sizes for contrast.  Besides that, I like how these two look together, especially as a tip for the cream base. 

So, this is the end of the breast cancer awareness posts for this October, but it's not the end of awareness.  There is a danger in seeing this as a yearly crusade when it is really meant to be a daily one.  Continue to know yourself and and changes in your body.  Be comfortable and willing to discuss tough issues.  Cancer is scary.  When you are open about it, when you are aware and catch it early, when you are willing to face the reality head on, you rob it of some of its power.  Thanks to continued vigillance, research, and support, we will hopefully see a day when there is a cure.  Until then, this isn't over.

Go Pink Wednesday!

I've been getting a little cocky in the nail art department this week, what with all of the challenge work and all.  So, I figured I'd go out on a limb with my support this week.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener base
*2 coats Zoya Kimber
*2 coats Milani One Coat Glitter Pink Flare on accent
*1 coat Out the Door topcoat

I love the Zoya Surf collection, so I used that shimmery beauty Kimber as my dominant color.  I realized that I don't have a lot of darker pinks, but this one caught my eye.  This is such a pretty color in the sun, packed with pink shimmer (Zoya calls it a "foil" finish).

 

 

I think this might be the first time I used this Milani glitter.  It is so pretty, packed with micro light pink glitter and larger silver holo hexes.  I used 2 coats on my ring finger, and it's almost opaque.  A third coat, or base, would take care of my nail line.  I used Kimber and a thin paint brush to draw a ribbon over the top of Pink Flare.  It covered pretty well.  I think my ribbon's not too bad (it's just a good thing you can't see my right hand!).

 

 

 

Tonight I went to a book reading for a blogger that I really love (you have to check out Enjoying the Small Things!  It's not a polish blog.  It's a mommy blog.  It's a photo blog.  It's a special-needs blog.  It's a rad blog from a woman with amazing outlooks and outfits.  It's a life blog).  At the reading, she spoke a bit about blogging.  She talked about how different our world is, connected through the Internet and blogs.  People ask her (and I ask myself) if it's weird or creepy that all these strangers know about her life.  She looked at the crowd and said "This is why it isn't weird."  She talked about how this is a new way to connect, finding things we share around the world and connecting.

 

That's what Go Pink Wednesdays are all about.  It's about connecting.  This manicure, this ribbon, this blog post, they are all about about letting people know that they are not alone.  We can support each other in small ways, like a little pink polish.  This is what life is really all about--finding ways to connect.  This is why I'm wearing pink.