Pink Polka-Dots for a Cure...

We're in October already, can you believe it?!? This year is flying by! Yesterday I did the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. This is the second year I participate and this year was even better than the first. Last year, it was just two of us...this year it was 4 (next year...maybe 100!!).

October marks the starts of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I thought I would celebrate it (and the race) by tweaking THIS mani that Denize did. I fell in love with it immediately. Finding a bunch of pinks that complimented each other yet weren't too similar was a bit tricky. I finally ended up using these:

-Sally Hansen Celeb City
-Hello Kitty Bubble Gum
-Milani Pink Rocks!
-Sinful 24/7
-OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries
-Zoya Lola

I had a great time at the race, there were sooo many people there. It always feels good to be a part of something so meaningful and to see so many people there dedicated to the same cause. Here is a pic of us after we crossed the finish line

I will be trying to go through alot of my pinks this month (along with a few other ideas I have cooking up).

I hope everyone's weekends are going great!!

You Can Never Have Enough Minty Colors!

I was looking through my stash last night and I think I have no less than 5 minty blue/greens. WHAT?!? Who needs that many?? I do! It came down to Barry M Mint Green and Essie Turquoise and Caicos. I've worn Mint Green once before and I LOVED it...but in the end I decided with an untried. Here is T&C:

I wanted a simple accent that wouldn't be too over the top, so why not try matte?? With my dotting tool, I used Hard Candy Matte Top Coat to make the dots. Ok, so I went a little overboard with the dots (I was originally going to just do one nail)...but I loved the contrast between shiny/matte.

:::mental note::: swatch Mint Green

Is there a certain color you have alot of nps of??

My Favorite Pair of Shoes

I have a thing for Converse! I'm on a mission to own as many colors as I can, so far I'm up to 6 pairs, but the teal ones are by FAR my favorite of them all! A while back I did a Chuck mani on MUA

My nails were much shorter back then (this was in December I think). The closest color I had to match my shoes was OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui. SSFS is a gorgeous blue, and I love it...but it doesnt quite match the color of my shoes. Then alooong came Sally Hansen Blue Me Away. It is a perfect match!! So I decided to recreate this mani, I even added an additional accent.

The white tip on the ring finger was done with Scotch tape. For the laces and black trim I used Sally Hansen Nail Art pens like these, and just applied rhinestones to the lace holes. For the thumb I used my dotting tool and freehanded the star with OPI Simmer and Shimmer.

I'm even having a separate pair of Chucks custom painted. I can't wait for them to be ready so I can show everyone! This took me a while because I was watching DWTS...yes, still Kirstie FTW! The cleanup took a while because blues are just a total PitA to remove, they stain horribly! I'm sure you can see it in my cuticles. my accent nail is actually horribly stained :( Oh well, I still love you BLUE!

Thanks for looking :)

Peace & Love

Happy Wednesday! I have been playing with this idea in my head for a while. I TRIED to do a another mani, but I need a whole lot more time for it. I think that will be my weekend project. (Stay tuned for that one). One of my favorite pieces of jewelry ever is a necklace that I have that has a dove (my favorite) and a blinged out peace sign. It's very similar to this one. I combined this idea and my favorite tee and came up with today's mani:

Index:

BM07 stamped with Konad black over MAC Obey Me

Middle:

WnW Black Creme with silver dots from bornpretty. I LOVE that Black Creme is a one coater! My "&" sign came out a bit lopsided :(

(Edit)

Ok, so here is a quick tutorial on how I did the ampersand. Since I had only done one coat of Black Creme, it was pretty much dry by the time I got to my middle finger (I did this finger last). With my dotting tool I scratched on to the nail where my design would be to use it as a guide. I then traced about the length of where 2-3 balls would go at a time (so that it wouldn't dry) and just pasted one little ball at a time. This one nail was actually alot faster than I originally anticipated. I found that when the balls started to dry, they actually dried as a "string". Once I was done with the design, I went back and just lightly repositioned the "strings" to where I wanted them to go (as they were easier to manipulate because they were already stuck together) instead of trying to move them around as I was placing them on the nail. Then I applied 2 coats of SV to "seal" the design in.

Ring:

Dotted heart using Milani Red Sparkle over Zoya Kelly

Pinky:

MAC Obey Me

I'm in a very Beatles mood today :)

Everytime I wear Kelly I remember why I love it so much! It's just sooo pretty.

So....here goes one from the vault:

It was Christmas-time, can you tell???

Thanks for looking!

Spring is On It's Way

We had the most perfect weather all weekend! Mid 70's and clear skies. How can I not be inspired? Nothing says Spring is here like the birds and the bees :)

For this mani I used OPI The "It" Color. It's a bit sheer, so this is 3 coats. Not the easiest color to work with, but totally worth it in the end; it reminds me of egg-yolks :)


A while back I ordered some heart rhinestones, pearls, and a set of dotting tools from BornPretty and they FINALLY came in. I couldn't wait to use the dotting tool. This was the smallest dot. I used BM20 to stamp my thumb with Konad Polish. I was going to do my whole nail, but I'm a bit hung over so I did not have the patience to tape it off or try and restamp my thumb. Plus, I think the off angle shows off my lil' bee's stinger more :) The black dots were done with WnW Black Creme and the daisies were dotted with WnW French White Creme. The flowers were really easy to do, just one center dot followed by dotting the petals. Since the polish was still wet, the rhinestone went on without the need for the usual clear polish to make it adhere. I applied a coat of SV to seal all the colors in. In total this took about 30 minutes (3 coats take a while to dry)


I REALLY hope the weather stays this way for a while. DH is coming home this week so I hope we can enjoy some quality outdoor time with Bella before it gets too hot. (Houston weather is brutal in the summer).


Thanks for looking:)


                                                    

Nail Art Challenge (Day 17&18)

I have been totally slacking! I'm off from work and my laptop at home is super slow. So here is yesterday's mani:

17 of 31

 

I hadn't yet tried a dotting tool mani yet, and since I have probably wore out the shamrock plate I tried it out. I was going for a french tip, but I think my dots went up way too high. :(

Here are the colors I used:

-Milani3D HD

-China Glaze Laser Lime

-SH Emerald City

-Zoya Edyta

-Nina Leaf Me Alone

I like the mixture between finishes (shimmer, holo, and cremes). I think it contrasts well. I had better luck with this than with my previous dotting tool experiment. I worked one color at a time, so the polish didn't dry up on me like it did last time.

My DH decided to give me the day off today and when I woke up he had headed off to work and dropped Bella off at the babysitters to give me some "me" time. Good call! I have been watching HOUSE all day long and laying on my couch. So since I have this new found love for mood polishes I wanted to try another one out today. I went with Claire's Peaceful/Confident. It was a total bust! Like...no color change at all. I applied 3 coats and still...nothing! I took like 8667578679 pics and I could see no change at all. This mani overall was a letdown. I did some flowers with gold Konad polish and those weren't that visible either. It just like I randomly placed the rhinestones :( Booo for day 18!

18 of 31

I celebrated St. Patty's yesterday by going to the beach, so I knew I needed to wear something that would really pop in the sun. I wore OPI DS Coronation. It's a silver holo. The application was really nice, and the holo really popped in the sun. Like with most holos (in my experiece) it ate up my top coat. I should've applied two coats of SV. Here it is with one: (excuse all the sand in my cuticles, lol)

Here we are. Galveston water is more like dirty puddle water...no amount of Photoshop can change that, lol

Have a great weekend everyone!

Laura :)

Nail Art Challenge (Day 8)

Happy Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying today. I saw everyone eating pancakes...is that something common? I'm drinking a GINOROMOUS Coca Cola because starting tomorrow I won't have another one for 40 days. I saw so many neat ideas for Mardi Gras inspired manis and I was super excited to try something out. I get home and I am sooo tired! I lost all my inspiration, so I did something really simple.



8 of 31

I used a dotting tool to make a "bead necklace". I used SH Pronto Purple, Emerald City, and Orly Glitz & Glamour. I have a bunch of multicolored rhinestones, so I went with the gold ones.

I would have done a more complex pattern, but because I had to do 3 colors at one time, the colors kept smearing into each other. At least it's festive!

What are you guys planning to do for Mardi Gras??