Mermaid Nails

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I do not have green or rainbow nails for today's post, but I do have something that will still feel like you found the gold at the end of the rainbow. I have mermaid inspired nails. I'm letting the secret out of the bag: I LOVE mermaids. Since it was spring break this week and I have been at the beach as much as possible I wanted the inspiration of those beautiful sea people on my nails. I was able to do it from this simple tutorial on Little Nails. Check it out!

Mermaid's tail inspired

This was such a simple design to create. I only wanted to do an accent nail to try it out and now that I know how simple it is, I will do each nail in this mermaid design for now on.I used bobby pins to make the dots, but I will use a dotting tool next time for larger sized dots. The colors I used for the mermaid nail were: Sinful Colors Cinderella (base coat for all of my nails), Zoya Rica, OPI Planks A Lot, Rally Pretty Pink, Not Like the Movies, and China Glaze Custom Kicks. The other nails then had one coat of Not Like the Movies painted over Cinderella. I wanted them to look like the inside of a sea shell. 

Also, excuse the messed up nails. Right after I finished this beauty I had to save my sister from getting red hair dye all over her face. I haven't had a chance to fix it because I've been so busy hosting my aunt while she visits Florida. Still enjoy the mermaid nail though!


I see many more mermaid manis in my future for summer. I plan on being a beach bunny all summer long and this nail design is perfect for it. 


I hope you all have a happy, fun and safe Saint Patrick's Day.


Hugs and Love,
Karen

Sinful Colors Cinderella

Hello all! Why is it Monday again? The weekend flew by and I feel like I did not do anything. I think it's this apartment, it sucks the life of me. Thank goodness the hubby and I are moving in about two and a half weeks. Our new place is going to be wonderful and it's gorgeous at the new complex. We'll actually have plants to look at! It's a long story so let's move on to the nail polish! 


I've seen this color around the blogosphere and I had to get it. I love everything fairy tale so naturally Sinful Colors' Cinderella had to be part of my collection. Look at the beauty of the finished product.

I can see the slight pink color that Cinderella has to offer. The color itself is a light blue shimmer with flashes of pink throughout. It was a little streaky and left some bald spots, but with two coats the color evened out. 

I was inspired by all of the magic that the story of Cinderella has to offer, and of course her gorgeous glass slippers. To include the parts of her story I sponged on two NYX un-named blue glitter polishes. Then I sponged the tips of my nails with Nicole by OPI's Follow Me on Glitter. 


I really loved this look and I wore it for a good three days before I finally chipped it. I will be using Cinderella a lot in the future. It's such a pretty, delicate and whimsical color.


Here's one more picture for the road! 

I hope everyone had a magical start to the week.


Hugs and love,

Karen

OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress

I'm baaack! Hello all! I've missed my lovely nail blog. I am thrilled that nail polish inspiration has hit me again! I know I said that I was going to make a new post in March, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to post on February 29th. Come on, it's a leap year! It's a "leap" to a new polish direction. 


So what is this new amazing polish that I just had to post? OPI's I'm Not Really A Waitress. 

I LOVE this color. I tend to stay away from reds because I have horrible memories from when I was eight-years-old painting my nails red and having my nails stained red FOREVER. Oh the cuticles! Thank goodness I have gotten much better since then. 

I only purchased this color because I read about it so much in Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. She is my absolute favorite author by the way. In her series the protagonist, Mac, loved to have her nails perfectly manicured. One of the colors she enjoyed wearing was I'm Not Really A Waitress. Of course I had to see it for myself. I bought it and then stared at it regretting my decision. The color looked too dark in the bottle, but after painting my sister's nails with this color I HAD to have it on mine. I'm in love.

Look at the red shimmer! Look at the shine! This is without a top coat. 

It looks like it is glowing from within. This is on my top ten list for sure. 

I also wanted to share the flawless application of polish on my pinky. I didn't even have to clean this one up. It was perfection and I am so proud of it! Even my husband and his friend are amazed at how well I can apply polish now. 


Here's one last picture for the road. This is my finished manicure with two coats of I'm Not Really a Waitress and two coats of Northern Lights.

I hope that each and everyone one of you have a fantastic day! I'm so glad to be back and sharing my nail polish adventures with you once again.


Hugs and love,
Karen

Finger Paints - Flashy

Hello all! Wow, do I have a gem for you! I am sure many of you have seen this on the blogosphere, but I was finally able to get my little manicured fingers on Flashy by Finger Paints. It is the first flakie polish in my collection. It is not the original color tone that I wanted, but it was the only one left on the shelf at Sally's. I picked it up anyway and I'm glad that I did. 

Flashy is a green to orange (or orange to green) flakie polish suspended in a clear base. I layered it over OPI On Stranger Tides.  My hubby said that my nails looked like Slimer from Ghostbusters. I took that as compliment because I think Slimer is the bomb. Yes, I went there. No more words, just some close up shots of the awesomeness that is Flashy. 

That's some Ecto Cooler right there. Otherwise known as "Slimer Juice" in my house. 

And just one more for the road. Flakies are my new obsession and I must own more. Too bad rent, groceries and utilities come first. :-p

Have a Fanciful Friday!


Hugs and love,
Karen

A Modge Podge of Stuff

Hello all! Today you get to see what happens when I go into a crafting mood (i.e. creating bathroom organization holders and front door wreaths for Valentine's Day). I felt like trying to do something different to keep the crafty juices flowing. The results of today's mani were inspired by yet another Pinterest picture I saw. The blogger (and I am so sorry that I did not pin the picture because I cannot remember her blog or her name) created a stained glass design using foil polishes and a stamping plate. I tried her method and failed. Stamping and I are enemies! So I attempted to create my own version of a stained glass mani. 



I started with a base of Zoya Christinna. Once that was dried I went to town with my make-up sponges and sponged on a modge podge of colors. I used foil polishes, shimmer polishes, and some good old cream polishes. I quite liked the look a lot. I would have left my mani with the different colors but I had to try the next step or I would have gone crazy wondering what would have happened.

Zoya Christinna

Modge Podge of colors.

Next I wanted to create that stained glass look so I used OPI Black Shatter. I know everyone has done and seen the shatter polishes, but I never really used them like crazy when I first got them. I guess I was a little over done when it came to all of the pictures I was seeing of shatter and crackle manis. And I know why I do not touch my Black Shatter that often - it is a super annoying formula. However, I did get the result pictured below. 

Ignore the messy cuticles. It was 1:00 a.m. after all.

It was not exactly what I had pictured in my head. It looks more like a mosaic than stained glass, but hey I had to try. Next time I know I will definitely just keep the sponged look.

I hope that everyone has a Marvelous Monday!

Hugs and love,
Karen

Watercolor Nails, Take One

Hello all! I hope that everyone is having a splendid Tuesday. I know that I am, but any time I have some yummy coffee in hand makes for a splendid day. Today I have for you a watercolor mani. I came across the technique after spending some time on Pinterest. Then I discovered that the picture I saw belonged to this blog and, well, the directions were so simple and the results so beautiful that I had to try it for myself. I call it "take one" however, because I decided to try this out at 11:00 p.m. last night, while watching Dr. Quinn and I was too lazy too actually look up the blog again. Turns out that I missed a few steps but, hey, I like my results. On to the pictures! 

I used OPI On Stranger Tides as my base coat and then tried out my new Revlon polishes for the "watercolors" because I love how their pastel colors look together. I wanted a Monet effect. 

Here is a shot of all of the colors I used for my "watercolors".

What you see here is OPI Planks A Lot and the three new Revlon colors I recently purcashed. From left to right, they are: Blue Lagoon, Minted and Sunshine Sparkle. On a side note, I finally made Sunshine Sparkle work for me!

And just because I absolutely, with out a doubt, fell in love with this color last night; I present to you On Stranger Tides!

Oh. My. Goodness. I did not realize how beautiful this color was. Last night was my first time really trying it out and I cannot believe I waited this long. The creamy sage color is just so beautiful. I could literally stare it all day long. If I had it my way, and I was able to use sage as one of my wedding colors (oh husbands, how they change your plans sometimes), this would so be the color I would have used for my manicure. A pure gem!

Well, I hope you continue to have a great day. Check out the link to the blog I mentioned and try this one out for yourself. It's pretty darn awesome. :-)

Hugs and love,
Karen

Pure Ice Oh Baby! (A Pink Wednesday Edition)

 I am in love with today's mani! But before I go any further let me just say that today is my first time ever doing a Pink Wednesday post. Hooray! Okay, back to the amazing and beautiful Pure Ice Oh Baby!

I do not know where to begin. Oh Baby! is an iridescent shimmer packed in a clear-ish base. In the bottle you can see flashes of blue, green, pink and purple. It reminds me of the inside of an oyster shell. I layered it over two coats of OPI Sparrow Me the Drama (insert squeal of delight). On the nail you mostly see a sea foam green iridescent shimmer, but in the right light at the right angle you can catch the pink and some blue.

Here is a closer look at the iridescent beauty. I am also really proud of my polish application this time around - best one ever! I found it a bit difficult to capture the depth of Oh Baby! on camera, but believe me, it's stunning. I feel like I have fairy wings painted on my nails. I have caught myself just starting at my nails before I realize I should be doing something else, like, I don't know, driving...just kidding! 


And for fun and giggles I present you with a picture of just Sparrow Me the Drama because this has got to be one of my favorite pink polishes I own. 

Just look at how lovely it is. And the shine! This is without a top coat. I need to use this color more often.

I hope you enjoyed and happy Wednesday!

Hugs and love,
Karen

Rally Pretty Pink: the polish name I'll never get right, ever.

Hello all! I wanted to share the the amazing polish job of a professional. Last Saturday a friend and I went to get pedis. We wanted to be pampered before going to a mutual friend's wedding. I do not enjoy painting my own toes and so I only ever pay to have them done. I usually skip having my nails done because five minutes after they are polished to perfection, I chip them. It makes me angry. Since I was having such a blast with my friend and with the amazing nail stylist, Amy, I decided to get a mani as well. Okay, it was more than just having a blast. I saw a shade of nail polish gleaming at me from across the room and I had to have it on my  nails ASAP! 

Rally Pretty Pink by OPI is now a new mini obsession of mine. Can we say duo-chrome? These photos do not do it justice. It's captivating and eye catching. I love love love it. It really reminds me of rose gold. The foil and glitter effect work well together. I watched Amy put on two coats of this polish to make it fully opaque. I have no idea what she topped it off with, but I had to use polish remover in school the other day (totally forgetting about my nails because my students come first) and realized the polish remover didn't ruin anything. I'm glad too because I did not want to see the color disappear. 

Oh and as I was trying to find the actual name of this polish (I kept calling it Rally Ready Pink and Ready, Set, Sparkle haha) I came across The Muppet collection on OPI's website. Who isn't ready to get their little Miss Piggys' on those colors?



Hugs and love,
Karen