NOTD: Playing with Bundle Monster

Simple little mani for you today. My bro was over on Sunday and he just has excellent taste in manicure ideas, so here is one that he picked for me. I started with a base coat of China Glaze Shower Together:

Then, I added a an image from a new Bundle Monster plate (223) using Rimmel Grey Matter

I really like how simple this manicure is and it's so great that the new Bundle Monster plates cover the whole nail!  It makes application so much easier.  I was also surprised how well Grey Matter stamped.  Add that to your list of regular polishes that stamp well.  Of course after I stamped it I thought about my Silver Sweep and how much more that would've stood out on this color, but that's okay, I'll just tuck it away for a future date ;)

Pink Wednesday French Tips

I've been collecting a bunch of decals lately, and it took so long to find the perfect polish combination to use them, until now!  For today's pink Wednesday manicure I wanted to use some heart decals I got with the purchase of a bottle of Seche Vite. My pink tips are Zoya Flora, and I used a white striper to add a line under the pink. 

I guess since my nails have grown out I've really been into french tips lately. How are you celebrating pink Wednesday this week?

Dolphin Nails

These nails would be perfect for a vacation.  They remind me of all the times I just sat on the beach watching the dolphins jump in the air. 

Base color is Zoya Yummy.  Tips are China Glaze Dorothy Who? Stamping was done with the Hello Kitty plate from Born Pretty using Zoya Ibiza.

What are your vacation plans this year?  I know I can't wait to hit the beach in August.  Have you done any great beach themed manicures lately?  I'd love to see them!  Just share the link in the comments!

Weekly Nail Blog Roundup

Sharon had everything looking rosy

Dawn showed off her talent for water marbling

Theresa shows us her Gelish Silver Fade

Grace enjoyed some Strawberries & Cream

Claire impressed us with her magnetic nail varnish

Sarah has something fishy going on!

Lady Luck is getting ready for summer
Trisha is trend setting with ombre nails

Have a great weekend! :)

NOTD: OPI Stranger Tides

When I saw OPI's announcement of their Stranger Tides collection, this was the one color I just HAD to have. As you saw on Monday's post, I finally got my hands on this beauty last week! Here is a swatch of the beauty:

Stranger Tides is soooo gorgeous! I just love it's creamy murky greenness!  I decided to pull out my dotting tool and give it some cute little dots using Zoya Shawn and Pipppa.

I'm in love with this simple little manicure.  What do you think?  If you don't have Stranger Tides yet, GET IT NOW! 

It's a Blingtastic Pink Wednesday!

Apologies for this being a day late.  Blogger would not cooperate for me yesterday when I was trying to post this. 
For today's pink Wedneday I have what may be one of my favorite shades of all time: Zoya Areej.  (last seen here) I think I love Areej so much because my favorite colors are pink and purple and she just seems like the perfect combination of both.

 I gave Areej a cute little bow stamp from my Big Fat Plate but can also be found on Konad's M76 plate.

 Then I added three different shades of pink rhinestones.  The photo above was taken with my blingy iPhone case because it matched so well! :)

I am in love with this manicure.  I've kept it on for two whole days, so you know it must be good! :)  Hope everyone had a great pink Wednesday!

Quick NOTD

Had to wear a very boring nude color to a business meeting last week.  I used my perfect nude Color Club's Nature's Way, which usually I love, but this time I started with a white as the base to save me some coats, but the white made my perfect nude super peachy, and peach is just not one of my favorite colors.  It was so ugly, I didn't even take a picture.  As soon as I got home from the meeting, I wanted to change that color as soon as possible, so I threw on my favorite crackle: China Glaze Cracked Concrete, and it turned my boring peach nails into a really cute manicure!  I think peach and gray are a super trendy combo.

What do you guys think?  While I was in the city for my meeting, I found this HUGE beauty store, and I just had to stop!  Turns out it was more a store for African American hair, but there was still a few nail displays to check out.

Here's what I came home with:

A Nail Repair kit, just in case of any breakies, some Acetone since it was a good price and I go through it so quick over here, some polish thinner because I didn't have any, OPI Stranger Tides (a huge lemming of mine ever since this collection came out), L.A. Colors Treasure Island, NYX Dreamy Glitter, and some loose glitter (I see this all the time in Robin Moses tutorials, and I can't wait to try it for myself)

So, that's a little adventure I went on this week.  I need a bumper sticker that says "Will Brake for Nail Polish" :D

Weekly Nail Blog Roundup!

Grace was inspired by Cosmo to create this cute summer manicure
Ladyluck had fun with her French manicure
Sharon created a holographic leopard design
The Nail Addict tested and reviewed P2 crackle
Stacie freestyled with black, blue and holographic polishes
Claire was inspired by her Swatch watch
Sarah stamped a stylized pastel peacock design
Lena watched the trends for summer
Pink Wednesday was rosey for Jen
Ari entered a competition
That’s so fresh stamped on China Glaze yellow polka dot bikini
Lingling announced the winners of her contest 

Have a fantastic weekend, lovelies! xoxox

NOTD: China Glaze Mosaic Nail Art

When I saw Liquid Jelly's tutorial on Mosaic Nails, I just fell in love and knew I HAD to try this! If you want to try it for yourself, check out her tutorial here. Here are the colors I chose for my mosaic manicure.

China Glaze Flying Dragon Neon, Showing Together and Purple Panic Neon, and I used this striper to make the white lines.  Here is the final product: 

At the end I added a coat of Fairy Dust to see how it would look, but I think it looks better without it. Have you tried this look yet? There are so many color combinations you can try with it.

Stamping Pink Wednesday

I love Zoya Pinks!  This Wednesday I chose Zoya Lo. 

Then, I stamped some pretty roses from my Big Fat Plate (which can also be found on Konad M76)

I love the simplicity of this manicure.  Perfect for a gorgeous pink Wednesday! :)  Hope you're having a lovely one!

Gloomy Nails

I know it's summer and I should be posting bright and cute nails, but lately I've been in a MOOD and I just felt like taking my nails into an unseasonably dark direction. One day I was in the mood for black, so I painted my nails this really hot sparkly black from Forever 21's Love and Polish brand.

Then I added a little funky french action to it with Zoya's uber sparkly silver, Luna. This would make such a great going out manicure, wouldn't it?

The next day I wasn't over my MOOD, so I painted my nails gray - Zoya Dove to be exact, and played with different images from the new Bundle Monster collection.

BM 216 as a half moon instead of a french.  This reminds me of Charlie Brown's famous t-shirt.

BM 218 as a cute scrolly french.

Hope you like these gloomy nails.  The good news is that I've got some fun manicures coming up soon, looks like like my gloomy mood has passed! :D

Drag Marbling Purple Roses Tutorial

Pretty little manicure for you today.  I tried my hand at drag marbling and created the following:

My base color for this manicure is Zoya Marley.  Here is a swatch:

Sorry for the lack of cleanup on this pic.  Marley is such a pretty color. With drag marbling, when you lay down your base color, you will want to do the last coat pretty thick, and start working with it wet.  So, for this manicure I worked with one nail at a time.  Here is how I laid out my polishes on a piece of scrap paper:

With a thick coat of Marley on one nail, I took my dotting tool and put a big drop of my darkest color: Zoya Pinta and started to swirl it and mix it with my base.  Like this:

Then I added Zoya Lael and a bit more Marley to my nail with my dotting tool, and did some more swirling:

Then I added some leaves using CQ mint Green.  Here are some more shots of the final product:

Simple Little Pleasures has done some amazing things with drag marbling and water marbling.  If you haven't checked out her YouTube video tutorials or blog yet, what are you waiting for?

Hope you liked this little tutorial and this mani!  Have you done a drag marble mani yet?  I'd love to see it!

Weekly Blog Roundup!

• Sarah created a psychedelic design using konad plate
• Jen created a pretty design using China Glaze for Audrey
• Grace showed us how to tie dye
• Claire tested out OPI's Glam Slam! Spark de Triomphe & White Shatter
• Stacie was inspired by Cath Kidston Strawberry Oilcloth
• Sharon had the blues
• Ladyluck tried her hand at Cherry Blossoms
• The Nail Addict created a summer manicure
• Ari created a wedding manicure

Hope you all have a FANTASTIC WEEKEND!!!!  I'll be back a little later with another manicure for you! :)

My First Franken - Starry Night

When I saw my fellow blog roundup pal, Ling Ling, at Wulio's Nails was having a franken contest, I just had to give it a try. I follow a lot of blogs that franken all the time, but I never tried, so this was a perfect chance to give it a try! I've had this Zoya South Beach Ice for awhile now. It is the only Zoya that has ever really disappointed me because its sooooo sheer. It would be the coolest color if it was just one of their glitter formulas. Its still a great color for layering, and turns out, its also a great color for mixing in a franken! So, here is the color I came up with:

I mixed my color on a piece of paper first to get the right mix of colors, and then I started blending the polishes in an empty Seche Vite bottle. As I was blending the polishes, I kept testing on a nail wheel until I got the desired darkness. I really love how this came out.

Here are all the colors I put in my franken: Zoya Ibiza, Zoya South Beach Ice, Dollar Store White, and China Glaze Dorothy Who?

And here is my final manicure.  I decided to add a little nail art to match the theme of the polish I created.  For my nail art I drew some shooting stars using Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and the tail from the star is Milani HD Holo. Tell me what you think.  Any franken tips for me?  I really loved doing this, but I feel like I'm lacking supplies to do it all the time.  What should I stock up on if I want to do more?

On Wednesdays we wear pink and polka dots!

Happy Pink Wednesday, lovelies! Thank you so much for all the comments you guys post on my blog!  They really brighten my day! :)  Since on Wednesdays we wear pink, today I decided to play with a very light pink: Sally Hansen Insta Dri Petal Pusher.

Here is a swatch of Petal Pusher.  She is a VERY sheer pink.  I think this was about 4 coats.  I have to say, that I really love the brush on these bottles.  It makes it very easy to stay on the nail and not go on the cuticle. 

On top of the pink I added some black dots.  This stamp is from my big fat plate, but can also be found on Konad M79 plate.  This picture was taken right after I stamped with no top coat and no cleanup (sorry about that). 

Then with a small brush I added the black french tips.  I think it finishes off the manicure nicely.  This was a great professional look for work yesterday!  Inspiration for this manicure came from an image I found on Pinterest  Let me know what you think!  XOXO

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover with a Herringbone Design!

So, I'm kind of in love with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover. Around St. Patty's Day EVERYONE was using this color and it became such a lemming of mine. I wanted it so bad! So, when Sally had their free China Glaze promotion last month, I had to use it to get this gorgeous color, and let me tell you, it lived up to its reputation of a GORGEOUS Kelly Green.

Please forgive my crappy iphone pic of the swatch. I did this mani over at my mom's and was only able to grab a quick snapshot on my phone before I started stamping.

Here is my final manicure.  I used BM 201 plate for the herringbone pattern.  I really loved this manicure.  It felt so trendy to me!  Speaking of trendy, the same night I did this mani, I also reunited with my lover, Pippa, this time on my toes! :D

Something about yellow toes makes me soooooo happy!  BTW, check out my new ottoman from Homegoods, isn't it cute?  Homegoods is definitely a weakness of mine!  I always bring home the cutest decor stuff from there. 

A bit of warning on these vivid China Glaze colors: THEY STAIN!  I use a base coat all the time, and I only ever have trouble with my China Glaze colors staining my nails.  Does anyone else have problems with this brand and staining?  Do I really have to buy a CG base coat to wear their gorgeous colors?  Any tips for me on these, please tell me I'm not the only one that has this problem with China Glaze.  One time I accidentally wore Shower Together without a basecoat on my toes and I STILL have a little staining on my big toe from it.  Lesson learned, for sure.  Just wish there was a way to wear these colors without the staining.

Audrey's Jewels

For this manicure I started off with China Glaze For Audrey, which is a perfect Tiffany blue color. Then I stamped the necklace design from my big fat plate, and added some rhinestones as pendants to the necklace.

I couldn't decide between lots of rhinestones and just one.

What do you think?