God Bless America!

Happy Independence Day and birthday of my country!
Base of Illamasqua Scorch (2 coats) then hand painted fireworks- China Glaze  Fairy Dust over top.

Subdued Elegance

I managed a couple really great swaps recently and decided on a "palate cleanser" mani using three of them. I like alot of color, holo and glitter, but occasionally I need a break and head to beautiful creams. Illamasqua Purity is a not-pink pale peach (ever so slightly yellowish) that is like nothing I own (yeah, imagine! lol) I read the reviews talking about streaking  but was pleasantly surprised- two coats covered pretty well, and even a bit of dabbing to repair a pull didn't leave any marks- I love the color on my skin and the quality just dripped off the brush. Well done, Illamasqua! I dabbed a few Shimmer glitters around to encrust a couple nails and done! HKGirl topcoat.

the artsy shot

Girl's Night In!

My daughter's are having friends over and decided to make chocolate popcorn and "let" me do their nails- here are three fun manicures-

OPI Skull and Glossbones with a couple mixed matte polishes

Orly Decades of Dysfunction accented with Essence Julia

China Glaze First Mate and Kleancolor Pastel Blue accented with Utopia Stars and Stripes

Cheap Polish That's Not Cheap

I have weeded out all but a few of the "drugstore" polishes in my stash. I read recently however, some sterling reviews of the Sinful Shine polishes, so my last trip to Walgreens included picking up one color, Blue Suede Shoes, a dense blue-gray cream. I am very impressed with the quality- a bit thick, but I will usually go two coats, one thin then one thick for my manicures and this polish performed beautifully. I did one accent nail with LynBDesigns Angels Have the Phonebox, a Dr. Who polish of gray crelly with small black hexes, white matte squares and tiny blue micro glitters. Very office friendly yet contemporary. May need more Sinful Shines.... Shown with Poshe topcoat, although the Sinful was quite glossy alone.

My Very First Magazine Article!!

http://abeautifullittlebride.com/?slide=mani-monday-lifes-a-beach

Paula's Tri-Color!

I was recently accepted as a contributor to an online beauty magazine, and today's mani will be my first for that publication- I will link it here after it is shown online there first, OK? Instead, Paula graciously allowed me to pick both colors and design for her today- Bettina Resort collection polishes make a bright and cheerful manicure, with stripes of two polishes accented by a fan-brush design down the middle. It's mu first time trying this technique, and I picked up a few tips- first, don't overload the brush with paint, and also, use fast-dry topcoat before doing the accent to keep the third color from bleeding into the other two.

On a Rainy Day.....You HOLO!

Color Club Kismet, a pale peridot true linear holographic- two thin coats with Poshe over- so darn shiny and rainbow-y. Even my patch job on my ring finger shows, so good base preparation is important. Regular base coat is fine though- no need for aquabase.

Twinsie Tuesday! Newspaper Nails

First real attempt at this technique- I did NOT watch youtube videos first, hence the massive fail on a few nails- including newspaper stuck to the pinkie. Go. Watch the videos- do what they say. It works! I have three coats each Orly Gumdrops and CND Guava (which, btw is a dead on dupe- for Essie Tart Deco) Paula has the same colors reversed.