Few of my most recent Manis!

Hello again, ladies! Yes, I am back with a post after who knows how long! Like I said before, life gets in the way. I am a first-year college student and timing is never perfect for photos, but now that spring and summer are approaching, I plan on doing a lot more nail posts, especially once I move home for the summer :) I still have a lot of untried polishes in my stash and I want to purchase a couple of polishes from the spring 2013 collections as well! Side note with that...I am in love with EVERY color from the new Butter London collection...my wallet is already crying.

So I thought to make up for my ultimate lameness, I could show you guys a few of the manicures I've done lately. I don't remember all of the polish names and the photo settings are not ideal, but I'm going to give it a whirl anyway!

China Glaze It's a Trap-eze

 This first mani is a combo of 3 different colors: a lavender (possibly Essie St. Lucia Lilac or China Glaze Light as Air), a Sally Hansen nail art pen in white and China Glaze It's a Trap-eze to top off the white. I loved the effect of this design, but I wish I had made the white area in the center thinner. That way the lavender would've shined through more!

SOPI Seriously, It's a Naan-Issue
Nails Inc. Warwick Way & The Thames

SOPI Seriously, It's a Naan-Issue
Nails Inc. Warwick Way & The Thames

I love dot manis! I wish I used lighter colors for the dots or a lighter base for the polish, but whatevs. I just used alternating dotting tool sizes to create a little pattern. Warwick Way is a little on the thin side. Seriously, It's a Naan-Issue is perfection! 

Revlon Coastal Surf

I love Revlon Coastal Surf! It is such a gorgeous shade of blue- this makeshift photo does not do the color justice! Also, the formulation was great! Barely needed two coats :)

Unfortunately, I can only remember 1 polish from this mani- Zoya Ziv. Ziv has been my recent go-to gold polish and it just looks great with every type of mani! I used a nude base and sponged on Ziv as well as an Indie glitter on the tips. I love the effect this created! I will definitely recreate this for an actual post!

Revlon Provence
Confetti Lonesome Dove

Yet another poor photo, but I love this design! It's the "puzzle piece" design. I painted half my nail Revlon Provence and the other half Confetti Lonesome Dove. Then I took large dotting tools and did purple on the gray half and gray on the purple half, spacing the dots out to create this look! I love Revlon Provence, its formulation is great. I also really like Lonesome Dove, it is a great neutral gray and wallet-friendly!

I hope you guys enjoyed this!

-Shelby

Brush Stroke Mani!

Hello ladies! I hope you all had a lovely weekend :) My family had a holiday party yesterday, so I've been quite the busy bee. It was well worth it though :)

A couple days ago, I did a mani that I saw on a couple tutorials- a brush stroke type mani. Hope you like it! :)

What I used:
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Zoya Kristen
Essie Bikini So Teeny
Sinful Colors Lavender
OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui
OPI Ski Teal We Drop
China Glaze Fairy Dust

I loooove how this turned out! I used a medium-length striper brush to achieve this look. I was a little skeptical after the first couple colors, but I couldn't get enough of the final look :) I may have forgot to list a color, but I honestly can't remember.

Merry Christmas in case I don't post before then!

-Shelby

Sephora by OPI Don't Feed the Hand Models, Butter London West End Wonderland and Zoya Ziv

Good afternoon ladies! I hope you all are having a lovely holiday season. I've been doing some Christmas shopping recently and oh man, are the stores packed. I walked into Sephora today to take a quick browse and the line was 15 people long. Geesh, I'm glad I wasn't purchasing anything :)

Last night I visited with my boyfriend and played a fun game with him and his sisters (telestrations): it's a combo of telephone and pictionary. If you guys have kids/nieces/nephews/etc. around the age of 10-15 you should consider getting this game for them! Lots of fun and laughs :)

I have a mani for you guys that I did a few days ago; I absolutely love the combo!

What I used:
2 coats Sephora by OPI Don't Feed the Hand Models (except ring finger)
2 coats Zoya Ziv (ring finger)
1 coat Butter London West End Wonderland (ring finger)

Sephora by OPI Don't Feed the Hand Models
Butter London West End Wonderland
Zoya Ziv

Sephora by OPI Don't Feed the Hand Models
Butter London West End Wonderland
Zoya Ziv

Sephora by OPI Don't Feed the Hand Models
 Butter London West End Wonderland
Zoya Ziv

Don't Feed the Hand Models is a gorgeous cool-toned nude creme. This kind of nude is what suits my skintone best; the more beige nudes don't suit me too well. This was opaque in 2 coats. Ziv is a phenomenal gold foil. I am smitten for this polish! It may be my new fav :D. Or maybe the combo of Ziv and West End Wonderland, a gold and red glitter polish. They are just stunning and almost look like one polish when combined. 

What do you think?

-Shelby

Zoya Paloma & China Glaze I Herd That

Good afternoon! Today's mani is inspired by what my boyfriend had in mind! I asked him which colors he'd like to see on my nails next and he said berry and pumpkin orange. I decided to do a bit of both with a jelly sandwich!

What I used:
2 coats Zoya Paloma
1 coat China Glaze I Herd That
1 coat Zoya Paloma

Zoya Paloma
China Glaze I Herd That

Zoya Paloma
China Glaze I Herd That

Paloma is a raspberry jelly; I love it! The formula was great and worked perfectly for the jelly sandwich. I Herd That (such a cute name!) contains copper, gold and red micro glitter. I think this combination is gorgeous and I may use this combo again for the holidays!

What do you think of this mani?

-Shelby

Nina Ultra Pro Ink-Ling Dotticure!

Good evening ladies! I've been drooling over all the dotticures on the blogosphere lately and had a craving to do one myself! I decided to use another one of my new Nina Ultra Pro polishes, this time in Ink-Ling!

What I used:
2 coats Nina Ultra Pro Ink-Ling
Confetti Lonesome Dove (for dotting)
Zoya Toni (for dotting)

Nina Ultra Pro Ink-ling
Confetti Lonesome Dove
Zoya Toni

Nina Ultra Pro Ink-ling
Confetti Lonesome Dove
Zoya Toni

Ink-Ling is a dark, blue-toned gray creme! It was a dream to work with! No cleanup was required and the consistency is great! No complaints here :). I am really impressed with the Nina Ultra Pro polishes so far. I then took a large dotting tool and used Lonesome Dove and Toni to make large dots, then used a small dotter to do the same colors elsewhere, and finally used a medium sized dotter to dot the opposite color inside the large original dots! Confetti is a not very well-known brand, but I really like them! They also are $1.99, which is appealing! Lonesome Dove is a light gray creme. Toni, a berry red creme, is from Zoya's recent fall line and I thought this was a great polish, too! On the thick side, but I don't think that'll be a problem when doing a full mani!

What do you think of these polishes and this dotticure?

-Shelby

Zoya Kristen & Smitten Polish Moonbeam Dreams

Hello again! I hope everyone is having a great Friday so far! The Meryl Streep movie (Hope Springs) was really good, but more serious than shown in the previews. I liked it none the less, though :).

I painted my nails last night with a Zoya polish for the first time! I own 2 Zoyas and haven't gotten around to wearing them yet! Below I did 2 thicker coats of Kristen!

Zoya Kristen

Zoya Kristen

Zoya Kristen

Zoya Kristen

Kristen is a blue/gray creme. In some lights it look gray, in some blue, and in some a cross of both! I like this color a lot and I don't have anything like it, making it unique :). This polish is on the thick side; I used 2 thick coats because no matter how much I scraped off the brush, a lot of polish would come down off the handle. The outcome made the process worth it though :)

I decided to spice it up this afternoon and try out a new Smitten Polish glitter I got, Moonbeam Dreams!

Smitten Polish Moonbeam Dreams

Smitten Polish Moonbeam Dreams

Smitten Polish Moonbeam Dreams

Moonbeam Dreams is a bright blue glitter suspended in a cool-toned purple base! That's quite a mouthful of a sentence! I'm unsure how I feel about this polish; on one hand, I like the color combo, but I'm not so sure I like how the glitter doesn't translate as bright on the nail as it does in the bottle. Maybe I'll give it another go on its own without another polish as a base, then I can give it a fair judgement! :)

I hope you guys enjoyed!

Do you have Moonbeam Dreams? What do you think about it?

-Shelby