begin again

Tonight I'm going to show you all one of my new favorite reds. Of course, all I can think of when I think of red is Taylor Swift... merh. I used to be a huge fan, but as she's gotten popular and gravitated more towards pop instead of country, I've just started to like her less. I do absolutely love one song off of her new album, however. Begin Again is a great song. It's catchy and makes me smile and just feel generally hopeful.

I'm going to be away for the weekend, so this will be my last post until Monday or Tuesday (but hopefully Monday). I get to get away with the bf which is SOOOOO exciting. Can't wait to be a few hours away with no cell reception sitting by a fireplace! 

Back on topic... today's red is from none other than OPI's Germany Collection. 

 

This is two coats of OPI Danke-Shiny Red. I got this done as a pedicure a few months ago and I loved it. Something about red pedicures... I'm actually wearing my first not red pedicure for the first time since July. I mixed it up with pink tonight. :o) Instead of showing you Danke on my toes I figured I'd spare you and swatch it on my nails instead! 

Pictured is two coats with no top coat. This polish dried so quickly, and application is just perfect. It's my ideal. You know when you put the first coat on of an absolutely great polish? How it just glides on? Yep, that's how this one was. 

I had to include my new ring in one of the pictures, too. I think it looks killer with hot red nails. 

What do you think?

cult nails annalicious

Hey hey. It's Suuuunday funday! By funday I mean working all day-day. Ah well. Such is life. Today I'm going to show you one of my MANY Cult Nails favorites. I wore this a few weeks ago but am just now getting it up on the blog. Blogging is always my favorite way to procrastinate doing quite possibly everything and anything else that I have to do.. like getting ready for work when I have to leave in twenty minutes.

 

I do apologize for these not-so-great photos. Sometimes polishes just don't photograph well, no matter how great they are. I can never get good photos of reds to save my life. Maybe it's my camera. Yeah, let's go with that. I couldn't capture the orange shimmer in this. It's definitely red-orange, and the shimmer is AMAZING. Application was phenomenal, per usual.

This is two coats of Cult Nails Annalicious. I wasn't going to get this one but I couldn't help it after seeing these amazing swatches from ChitChat Nails. Her swatches put mine to shame. F'reals.

Did you fall in love with this one, too? It's scary how fast my Cult Nails collection has grown in the past few months... ahhhh! 

Have a good one, guys. Hope most of you have today off and can relax with some football on the telly. 

Day 1: RED

Happy first day of the 31 day challenge! I didn't think I'd get this post up today, but I'm cutting it really close to midnight! My internet shockingly started working again today before the repairman comes tomorrow. Yay! Today I'm starting the challenge that a ton of other bloggers are participating in. For the next 31 days, I'll be doing my best to change my nail polish EVERY DAY to post something new for the challenge! It's going to be very interesting... 

Here's day one: RED!

 

This is two coats of OPI The Thrill of Brazil. I picked this little baby up at Transdesign. I love it. It's a great red. It reminds me of the CND Shellac mani I got while I was on my cruise in February (except I like my painting job better ;D). And- what's that on my accent nail, you ask? Oh, just some plain old craft glitter I found in the basement. I thought it'd be a fun way to add a little something to this mani! I really like it.

What do you think? Which red are you wearing? And to remind you... here's the challenge: 

Cult Nails Evil Queen: I have found my perfect red!

my giveaway ends soon! don't forget to enter to win Floam, Fantasy Fire & Flecked !!

OK. You guys have to brace yourselves for this one! I haven't been able to stop staring at my nails since I put this on yesterday. This is the perfect red.

 

Colors Used: Cult Nails Evil Queen

I'm not a red person. I like the look of red nails but I could personally take or leave red polish... yet this was the first one in the collection I reached for to use... that just tells you how AMAZING it is! Clean-up wasn't bad, which is always a reason I tend to stay away from reds. Even the littlest bit of stray polish on cuticles/skin is so hard to get off, and leaves ugly stains on your skin. As you can see, there was none of that with this polish! As per usual, the formula is spot on. In fact, this could easily be a one-coater, but I'm so OCD with using 2-3 coats of polish that I added another coat to the first one.

Cult Nails is definitely an amazing brand. I'm not one to buy full collections, but I knew I had to have this collection so I pre-ordered it right away! Although the pre-order is over, the collection is available for purchase (either single bottles or the entire collection together) on Maria's website. If you don't already, follow Cult Nails on Facebook to keep up with sales and new colors. 

Happy Mom's Day: my mom's FAVORITE color

 don't forget to enter to win Floam, Fantasy Fire & Flecked !!

I have the best mom in the world! To celebrate, my dad and I got her an iPhone 4S with a RED case, and I made her a cake with RED icing. She loooooves red and always has. To celebrate how awesome she is, I thought I'd show a manicure I did a couple of months back that I never posted.

 

Colors Used: OPI Love Is A Racket, Barielle Elle's Spell

I was on the fence about this one, which is why I didn't take very many pictures. I still figured it was worth a post on the blog.

What do you think? What is YOUR mom's favorite color?

O.P.I. Revved Up and Red-y

I'm gonna show you guys one of my favorite nail colors- this one got me into buying O.P.I.'s. I got a manicure done at a local nail salon, something I never do but my friend talked me into it because they were cheap. Going through the colors, I crossed a gorgeous sparkly red that had the Ford Mustang symbol on it!! I am absolutely obsessed with Mustangs so I immediately chose this polish for my manicure pick and saved the name in my phone so I could look it up online.

Ford Mustang teamed up with O.P.I. to put out 3 beautiful polishes based on real car colors in 2005. There were three: "You Make Me Vroom," "Gone Platinum In 30 Seconds," and the one you're about to see on me!! I think it's gorgeous. I just hope I don't smudge it when I go to bed because I have to do so soon since I have work really early tomorrow.









This manicure was a little messy but I don't think it's too bad. I just couldn't go another day with the chipped "Smooth Sailing" I was wearing so depressingly. Excuse the lighting as well. I need to work on that more.

:-) Hope you all have a fab Friday!