Fairy Love

My love-hate-mostly-love relationship with Valentine's day is in full swing.  Bring on the pink!  Bring on the sparkles!  Bring on the hearts!  Bring on the love!  (Pretend to ignore my lonely singleness!)
Here's my first mani for the season.  I wanted to have some sparkling red on my nails, and went from there once I got some new decals in the mail that I ordered from RLR Creations.

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya America
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*3 coats Butter London Fairy Cakes
*1 coat China Glaze Fairy Dust
*1 coat Out the Door

America is 2 easy coats for perfect red coverage.  Adding Fairy Cakes as a second accent was a last minute decision, but I'm glad I did it.  Sometimes too much red makes me feel...old.  I like breaking it up like this.
I used Snow Me white as a base for my red heart decal.  This comes in a really cute Valentine's set.  I was kind of off as I was finishing up this mani and left the first decal in the water WAY too long and it got folded as I slid it off.  This one lost a little bit of the red as I patted it on, which is really only noticeable up close.  I've never had this happen with these decals, so I'm assuming it was a fluke--we'll see with some of the others from this set that I can't wait to use!
 

I was having a rough day when I I painted this, so I figured a little more sparkle was in order.  I added a coat of Fairy Dust, the perfect micro holo glitter, and then shined it all up with a top coat. 
I've been doing a lot of cleaning/decorating/crafting lately, so I've gotten some chips on my right hand.  At first I was bummed because this was such a fun look, but now I'm a little happy because it gives me an excuse to move onto the next festive look!

Do you have any "love" looks you love?  Let me know!

"Say something, I'm giving up on you!"

I'm alive, I swear!
Between the holidays, travel, school, finals, work, attempting to sleep, and the little things, like taking a shower or breathing, the end of the year was insane for me!
I painted my nails a few times, but they were basic, uninspired, and left on for far too long.  January was a nekkid nail month, so there was nothing to see.
Then it was Valentine's day!  I really wanted to do a bunch of different things, but then it was the 13th, so I had to just go with something.  I promise that I'll be around a lot more now, because I was reminded how much I miss this little "me" time.
So, here's the look I loved:

*1 coat Gelous base
*3 coast China Glaze Good Witch?
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*2 coats Butter London Fairy Cake
*Savina Hearts
*2 coats Out the Door

I used this pin of a mani by @yesnails.http://www.iphoneogram.com/u/278152314 as my inspiration.  I went with black instead of white on my accent because, well, it is Valentine's day, after all.  I used my striping tape that came in from Born Pretty instead of my shaky hand and a heart glitter from the Savina polish. 
I went with Good Witch? to match the pink heart from the glitter.  This polish is so odd.  It's a pretty metallic rose with matching micro glitter throughout it.  It's stunning in the sun.  The mini glitter gives it a bumpy look, though.  It sort of kills me because it looks funky, but the color and sparkle are great!
I never get tired of the beauty of Fairy Cake's holo goodness, so that was my second accent.
I am LOVING these and do not want to take it off, but they were quick and look awesome, so it's a good motivation to get back into things.
Thank you for your loyalty through my silence.  Today I passed 10,000 views, which is not much for some bloggers but really blows my mind!  Than YOU for stopping by and making me smile!

Love-Hate

I love and hate Valentine's day.  This year was a pretty crappy one, due mostly to an insane amount of work between two jobs.  I felt, to be honest, like I should reflect this attitude in my mani:

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Color Club Ruby Pumps
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Out the Door

This was a really simple one.  I used Ruby Pumps and Black Out for my accent.  I freehanded a heart on my thumb (which was...interesting...on my right hand).  I would say that I love this red, but I've learned that I am not allowed to fall in love with a red polish.  It's been more than a year and my bottle of Color Club Ruby Slippers still won't open (I can't bring myself to toss it) and I opened my box of indies this weekend to find that Annalicious had been killed!  I have no idea how, but the bottle broke right at the neck.  The top was laying next to the rest of the dry bottle.  I was going to buy a replacement this weekend with the promo, but just couldn't justify it.  I was so bummed!

Something Lady Like

I've been a bit M.I.A. the last week.  I had the best of intentions for the 31 day challenge, and did a lot better than I thought.  I also was really stoked to do the Flip Flop challenge in February.  Then, I just got very overwhelmed with everything going on in my life.  I needed some time away, some rest, some perspective.  I had a couple of manis that I decided not to photograph and share, even though I really liked my Super Bowl one.  But really, it just wasn't important.  Taking a deep breath was.
I thought I would try to catch up or jump into the Flip Flop challenge, but I think that I am going to keep that for another time.  Instead, I'm going to enjoy my nails a bit more.  When I was changing every day, I didn't get to savor them, and there were some looks I really liked!  I know that is why I started this blog in the first place--to keep track of the manis I did so that I can come back to ones I liked--but it was a little sad to work hard and then wash it all away.  So, I won't be posting daily, but I'm okay with that.  I hope you are too!

*~*~*~*

I have a love-hate relationship with Valentine's Day.  I love love and pink and flowers.  I hate being alone when everyone else has love and pink and flowers galore.  I'm sure you would NEVER understand that... I've been saving up some Valentine mani ideas that I'm excited to try out.  Like I said, I love love and pink...

 

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Essie Lady Like
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Out The Door.

This first look comes courtesy of Mixed Mama.  I found this simple but lovely mani on Pinterest a while ago and have been dying to try it out.  This is the reason that I ended up getting Lady Like!

Lady Like is not a polish I would ever say is "me."  It is a cream, dusty mauve of sorts, almost beige.  It's a little old lady-ish.  It applies like a dream--I used 2 coats for a smooth finish, but 1 careful coat is really enough.  A one-coat neutral!  Maybe it's because it's really different from what I wear.  Maybe it's because I've been loving this look for so long.  Maybe I'm just an old lady at heart, but I really like this color!  Sometimes, I think I need something more subtle and soft, and this is both in such a perfect way!

I used a dotting tool to draw on the hearts with Snow Me White.  I tossed this bottle when I was done--it's gotten really thick and makes little strings as soon as it's out of the bottle.  I have a back-up already, too, but just wouldn't get rid of this.  When it messed up this mani, that was the last straw!  I had waited too long to let thick polish get in my way!

I like how simple and quiet these are.  It feels so weird to have no shimmer or glitter on my nails, and I considered adding some iridescent glitter to the hearts, but I'm glad I didn't.  I waited for Valentine's Day-ish to try these, but I think they might be a simple, mostly-neutral go-to look from now on!