autumn leaves

Growing up, fall was always my favorite season. As I've gotten older, I tend to enjoy summer more. No classes, warm weather, more opportunities to travel and vacation... but as a kid, fall what were it was at. I loved the changing leaves, playing outside after school in the crisp weather with my neighbors, going to the Big E, camping... the memories go on and on.

Today's manicure was inspired by something I saw on The Nail Network. I tried to copy this look in its entirety, minus a few color changes. I love everything about her blog; I suggest you check it out! Anyway, I found this manicure by googling "autumn leaves mani." I wasn't entirely impressed with some of the others but I loved this particular one. Here it is:

My version didn't come out perfectly but I was happy with the finished product. I first painted on two coats of Essie A Lot Of Shekels which is my go-to sheer pink/nude French manicure shade. Every time I use it, I fall more and more in love with it. I think it's an older color, because I got it in a clearance bin at a beauty supply store (actually, at the one I'll be working at starting next week!). Great clearance bin find.

I then freehanded some French manicure tips with OPI Warm & Fozzie (bottle pictured in the picture above). W&F is such a great fall shade! It's got so much depth to it. I swatched W&F on its own here, if you're curious! ;D The French tips don't have to be completely perfect because you end up stamping over them anyway. I used two coats of W&F to get this look.

For the leaves, I used image plate bm04 from bundle monster's first collection. I tried a whole TON of different colors to stamp the leaves but a lot just wouldn't show up well over my base. I ended up with a brown/orange, Love & Beauty Brick, and a red, OPI Revved Up & Red-y. Brick is actually a brown but looks more like burnt orange stamped. I wish I could've gotten more colors to work.

I'm eager to try this look again with different shades or even a different variation (ie butterflies instead of leaves, or snowflakes??). I'll leave you with two pictures I took at Ashley Reservior in the town next to mine in little old Western Massachusetts.

 

My foliage mani WITH some foliage! Couldn't pass up this shot.

This picture was edited on Instagram to show the depth of the foliage. I love this time of year.

What do you think of my autumn mani? Do the leaves change color like this where you're from?

Day 9: RAINBOW

Happy Sunday, my fellow polish fiends! Today is day nine of the challenge! For today, the theme is rainbow! I can honestly say I've never done a full-out rainbow manicure. There's gotta be a first for everything, right?!

 To me, the "rainbow" idea is a little daunting because of how many colors it requires... I am not an artistic person, and sometimes matching colors is hard for me (i.e. which "purple" or "green" is right). I was a little nervous about this challenge day. The fact that there was so much creative liberty scared me. Red is red. Blue is blue. Polka dots are polka dots. Stripes are stripes. But rainbow? You can do anything with rainbow. Ahhhh! The possibilities are endless.

I ended up with a rainbow base and a black stamped manicure. Check it out.

 

My first thought process was.. roygbiv = 7, my fingers = 5. This is where the idea to do half-colors on my nails came from. Then... I stamped.

 

I'll list the colors I used from pinky->thumb:

pinky: OPI Overexposed In South Beach, Love & Beauty Dark Purple

ring finger: China Glaze Shower Together, Brash Electric Sky

middle finger: OPI Don't Mess With OPI, Piggy Polish Poet-Tree

pointer: Zoya Pippa, Essie Meet Me At Sunset

thumb: Essie Ole Caliente, Cult Nails Evil Queen

HOLY POLISH! I've never used this many colors in one manicure! It was a lot of fun to do, though, that's for sure. I used however many coats it took to reach full opacity. For the yellow, it was a few more than for the red. Actually, I only used one coat for my thumb nail- Cult Nails polishes rock! 

I stamped with bm-205. I really like this butterfly/bow-looking image. It looks whimsy & fun over the rainbow design, something different.

What do you think? Are you wearing rainbow today, too?

 

My Favorite Shade. Ever.

It's the age old question- "You have so much polish in your collection, Emily. If you could only have one, which would it be? Which is your favorite?" To me, that question sounds like a scary ultimatum. Only one? What? Up until recently, there is no way I could answer that question. I love all of my polish babies equally! Well, no more. I have a favorite. Here's an older picture of my favorite (today I'll be showing you a dupe of my favorite- but I love them both equally as much).

 

Ladies & gentlemen (although I doubt a gentlemen audience is present), I present to you OPI's Catch Me In Your Net! *eyegasm* GAH! This polish is just so perfect. Too perfect. I love it. Blue, green, shimmery goodness. Unfortunately CMIYN (a cute little polish-world acronym) is hard to find. I got lucky last summer and found it at a salon when I was getting a pedicure. It was only 3/4 full (maybe less than that), but I bought it and swaddled it in the car the whole ride home. We've been happily in love ever since. However, I keep my CMIYN usage to a minimum so as to prolong her little life. 

Thankfully, CMIYN is so easily dupe-able. It's in the same family as Zoya Charla, Essence Choose Me! and a new, long-lost cousin... Forever 21 Patina! 

I didn't do any die-hard swatch comparisons but these look close enough for me. I can't stop staring at this manicure. It's so simple, but I freaking love it. Something about the blue polish with silver stamping. To. Die. For. Plus, this polish is only $2.80 USD. Yup, AMAZING! If you're looking to buy online, go here. You know you want to! The formula is great, no problems with the brush either. This is 2 coats and 2 coats was enough. It builds to great opacity pretty quickly, so I didn't see a need for a third coat. 

What do you think? What are some other CMIYN dupes that you can think of?

Love & Beauty Sapphire Sparkle-fied

I finally decided to try out one of my CND Effects! I picked a random untried to put it over and wound up with a gorgeous, mermaid-like combination. Check it out!

OPI Don't Mess With OPI FLAKIEFIED

Hiiii! So glad Monday is almost over.. I apologize for the lack of posting, but the weekend has been busy. I saw Blake Shelton on Saturday, and he was SO good! I didn't take any great pics.. I was too busy swooning. Such a good concert. Blake Shelton is going on tour with Justin Moore in 2012, and I'm determined to see them while on my southern road trip next summer. :-)

Anyway... on to the mani!