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?

Day 14: FLOWERS

Hey guys. Really really quick post today because my laptop is about to die & I have to get to bed! I wasn't happy with my overall manicure for challenge day 14 but it is what it is. I kept failing at stamping and freehanding so I resorted to some plain old decals. 

 

The base for this manicure is three coats of Cult Nails Enticing, a new polish for me but definitely one of my new favorites. These decals are from Sally's from a while back. I liked how the color looked on its own but of course today is a day for flowers so I had to add some somehow. 

What do you think? Do you like this light, soft pink?

 

Day 7: BLACK AND WHITE

Hi ladies, happy Friday! Today I tried a stamping pattern for my black and white mani. I just received some new polish in the mail from Zoya so it was hard to put those aside and wear black and white.. wah!! That's definitely the hard part of this challenge! Anyway, here is what I ended up with today:

 

My black was Nina Ultra Pro Black and my white was OPI Alpine Snow, my go-tos. I'm not sure why my stamping didn't come out so good, but I didn't have the time to re-do the mani so this was my end result. The stamp I used was bundle monster-319.  

Do you like the puzzle piece look? I'd love to see how this looks with different colors. 

The Nail Files: Girly Gradient

Happy Friday! I've been having internet problems at home all day, and the guy won't be out to fix it until Sunday... very crappy. I was so excited to post this manicure, too. All is well, though- I'm at my best friend's house using her internet! ;D It was pretty quiet at work earlier so I managed to do this manicure at work. At first I thought it looked really bad but then I fell in love with it. Check it out!

 

 I got a pedicure today! OPI Danke-Shiny Red! from the Germany collection- stunning!

What I used for this manicure was three coats of Catrice Just Married and a sponged glitter gradient of China Glaze I'm Not Lion. This is one of my favorite manicures I've done in a while... but I feel like I say that every time I do my nails. I just really like glitter gradients. They're a really easy way to add a touch of class to a mani. 

Just Married was really spotty. The formula was great but the polish was sheer and hard to build up. Three coats was ok but I don't think it would've looked good enough to do on its own. I bought this polish from a blog sale mainly for the name- it reminds me of the Ashton Kutcher movie, Just Married. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Ashton will forever be my fave. As for I'm Not Lion, I freaking LOVE this polish. Definitely one of my favorites for 2012. Don't you agree?

Also... I'm planning to participate in the 31 Day Challenge! You may see the first post back-dated for a few reasons.. 1 being how much I love this manicure & I don't want to take it off, 2 being that my internet will be down until Sunday. Here's the template for the challenge!

 

A bunch of bloggers are participating and I'm excited. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up! Like I said, be on the lookout for my first post on Sunday. Will you be joining me?!

Cult Nails Let Me Fly Glitter Gradient

Hiiii! Happy Friday night to those of you who are home relaxing, out partying, or just plain enjoying your time away from work. If you are actually at work, I feel your pain. I'm currently babysitting for a few more hours (not that babysitting is anything awful; this kid is a blast).. then I get to go home and relax. It's a short lived period of relaxation. I'm back at work at nine in the morning and for a solid twelve hours. Y. U. C. K. I hate working a double on Saturdays. No matter how many Saturdays I work, I still hate it so much. Ah well. Not much I can do about it now, is there?

I actually left work a tad early today because I wasn't feeling so hot. The day was supposed to be really busy, but it didn't quite live up to that so I was able to sneak out before I was scheduled to live. I was really grateful that my coworkers let me leave early. I've had so much on my mind lately about school, work, this and that. It's overwhelming.

Anyway... as I was rummaging through my newly-organized polish storage, I got the idea to do a glitter gradient, one of my favorite manicure designs. I've only tried it once before but I love it! Simple and easy, yet they look so awesome! An untried, Butter London Victoriana stood out to me first. I always have the same problem- I see Victoriana and instantly think of Cult Nails Let Me Fly. Then it's over for me, and I have to use Let Me Fly. I just love it.

 

This is two coats of Cult Nails Let Me Fly topped with Sation Pyramid Princess. I added on the glitter with a triangular makeup sponge. This always proves to be so much easier than I expect it to be. This manicure honestly might be my favorite manicure of all time. 

Below is a picture of Let Me Fly on its own. This is my first Cult Nails polish, so it holds a dear place in my heart. Eleven other Cult Nails polishes later and I still love this one the most. 

Still gorgeous even on its own.

Do you own Let Me Fly? Which are your favorite Cult Nails shades? Have a great weekend- stay safe and have fun if you get the weekend off! xo

Jumping on the indie polish bandwagon...

I was so lucky to win a few of the prizes in Holographic Hussy's recent giveaway! They were my first indie polishes! Here are the two I won: 

KBShimmer Proud Peacock & Utopia Secret Lover

Today I'm going to show you KBShimmer Proud Peacock. The KBShimmer website describes Proud Peacock like this: "Like a peacock's tail, this polish is one you will be proud to show off. A teal green base is accented by tons of glitter. We started with a large blue hex, and added both a black and black opal hex. We then went micro with black and white diamond glitters. Fuchsia, teal, and navy small glitters accent several holographic glitters, including a silver bar, teal, and two sizes of silver." This polish is packed with glitter in the bottle, but I struggled to get that to show on the nail. Here it is-

To achieve this look, I used 3 coats of Proud Peacock. The top picture is of my right hand and the bottom picture is of my left hand. I like how the glitter distribution looks different on each nail- that's always fun. To be honest, I like the way this looks in pictures better than I do in person. It looks a lot lighter in these pictures and I like that coloring better.

What do you think?! What do you have on your nails today?