Watermelons!

It's summer!  Why not celebrate it by eating some fresh fruit, hanging out by the pool/ocean, and having some good 'ol fun?  I'm quite the homebody myself, but I do enjoy the things that summer offers!  Therefore, I decided to go for some watermelon-themed nails!  Can't get much more summery than that, right?

How I did it:
1.  Start with a base coat.
2.  Paint a pink polish across entire nail (various pinks could work for this - this was the closest I had)
3.  Paint a french tip on all nails with a green color (I used Sally Hansen Hi-Def color)
4.  Allow to dry
5.  Using either a nail pen or a nail brush with a very thin tip, paint your watermelon seeds.  I did these diagonally outward towards the tip.  I chose to do 3 per nail, but more or less would work fine I'm sure.
6.  Finish up with a top coat

Hope you enjoy them!

Calling for Reinforcements!

I've been extremely upset the last couple of days.  I cried last night, I cried this morning on the way into work, I cried during work, I'm crying right now.  I know that something is wrong.  I have a general idea, but the more I think, the more of a headache I develop.  I've had a headache since I woke up.  I know that I will figure this out and then I can actually articulate it and not sound all weepy.

That being said, I know I still have some serious updates to post.  I'm hoping that will make me feel a bit better, because, let's face it, nails are what keep me happy these days.

For starters, look at the ridiculous amount of products I got at Bath & Body Works a couple of weeks ago.  They had a buy 3 get 3 free special (is that a regular thing?  If so...that's dangerous).  I'm obsessed with everything I got except for this 'Sensual Amber' shower stuff.  It's just way too sweet smelling - I feel like I'm rubbing maple syrup all over myself.  A bit much, although it IS a nice smell depending on how much of it you smell at a time.

On to the nails.  I have no idea who came up with this, but it is brilliant and seems to work like a charm.  Reinforcement labels.  Amazing.  Up until now, I have used Scotch tape that I had cut into the right shapes (ghetto, right?), but it turns out these are just the right shape for french tips, reverse french, etc. 
As you can see, you just put the reinforcement label where you want it, paint over your nail and let it dry, and BAM!  All fanci-fied!  Remove the label, put some top coat on, and you're set.  In my case, I didn't let the undercoat dry quite long enough so I had to go in and make a couple of touch-ups.  I've tried this since then, though, with that in mind, and it worked like magic.

Hope you enjoy, and next time I'll be in better spirits, promise!

XXOO,
Steph

p.s. sorry for the crappy phone-taken pics!

Shades of Gray: a test run!

Hi y'all!
Wow, talk about delayed posting.  I've gone through a few nail changes since my last post - gotta rush to get back up to date, because I LOVE what's going on with them right now and will have to share!  :)
 
That being said, I had been dying to try gray nail polish, and finally here I was giving it a shot.  For this, I not only used gray, but also a matte top coat, so I wonder if my findings would be different if I hadn't used the matte?

Anyway:  Essie's Chinchilly polish.  Saw it.  Had to try it.  I must say, I still love the color.  I think I'm not crazy about how it looks on me, though.  If my skin was a bit lighter, I think I'd like it better.  But on me, I feel like it looks kind of like mud or something.  It strangely feels like it blends into my skin color and I'm not so sure about that ;)  Maybe I'm just so used to having elaborate nails, it just feels weird to have them be just the one color.  I think when I use this again, I'm going to try it with a glossy top coat and not the matte and see what I come up with.


Still going strong, however, is this Essie Matte About You Top Coat.  Love this stuff.  Matte is such an interesting look for nails.  I also love watching as it shifts from glossy to matte within a few seconds of painting it on!  Shouldn't be as fun to watch as it is, but let's face it - it just is!  :)

These also dried reasonably quickly, so I was super-happy about that.  I have a tendency to think my nails are dry and just ruin them by accident.  Like running my fingers through my hair.  Or making a Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Or rolling around on the floor.  You get the idea.

Until next time!

XXOO,
Steph

Krypto-nails!

Hi everyone!

I don't know about you, but this feels like the longest work week ever, and it's only Monday.  Sigh. 

On a lighter note, we've been addicted to Smallville lately.  We're big fans of the show/Superman, and it inspired my latest nail look...Kryptonite nails!  ;)  I think my nails almost always reflect something that's going on with me at the time, so there you have it - when you watch hours upon hours of the saga that is Clark Kent, you get ideas from there!  Dorky, I know, but whatever :)
.

To do this, I had a few steps.  I used this green color I love from Sally Hansen.  It's called 'Hi-Def' nail polish, but I couldn't find the actual name of the polish color.  The lid says 'Hi-Def' as well - maybe the name is the same as the type of polish?  Psh, I  don't know.  It is a fun metallic greenish color.  I also pulled out my go-to 'Sci-fi' by China Glaze for the much necessary silvery addition to my Kryptonite.  When I realized this didn't completely show up on my nails when I stamped this color, I also decided to double-stamp them, and I liked what I came up with!  I did the first stamp with the 'Sci-Fi' color, and then just randomly stamped the same thing on top of that with a white color.  I don't think the pictures do these justice, but they are really fun :)


The stamps I used:  a 'Faux-nad' star stamp I got online (not sure the stamp #, but it came with a set of stamps that I found on ebay!), and then one of the stamps off of the M25 plate.

Aloha!

Happy Wednesday!
My bee-inspired plaid nails were starting to chip after 2 days, so in my quest for perfection I decided to change them up.  This was a bit of a bitch.  I painted them with Sally Hansen's 'XL' polish in 'Marine Scene', which was a color I fell in love with at the store.  You'll need about 3 coats of this one, however, from what I learned.  Anyway, from there I stamped a floral pattern from Konad's m25.  For the color, I used 'Sci-fi' by China Glaze, one of my main go-to colors.  This turned out OK, but I wasn't happy with it, so after a day (yep, just one day - sigh), I changed it yet again.  This time I ended up happier with my result.

Hawaiian nails!  Well, kind of ;)  This time I started with my go-to 'Sci-fi' color (shoulda known!).  Then, I used the same m25 stamp, only with 'Big Apple Red' by NYC Color.  I stamped the flowers wherever I saw fit, and ended up with this look.  The only thing I maybe would have changed about this look is I may have stamped with more than one color for fun.  But, I was pleased enough with my turnout :)  Sorry for the excess polish on my skin - I didn't have much time to clean these guys up before I took the pictures.

Hello Everyone!

If you're anything like me, you spend most of your time working and not enough time playing.  I work 60+ hours a week and am always on the go.  I think life is about a lot more than that, though.  The things that make me happiest happen when I get home.  I can watch TV/Movies, play video games, play with my hair/makeup, and do funky things with my nails.  Changing it up is the most important thing to me, and when you don't have much of a chance to do it, you may get a little crazy with it, like I do ;)

Some people say I've gone off the deep end with my nails - I think I'm just evolving.  I can get bored really easily with nails, so I think it's fun to add variety.

Long story short?  I guess the reason I am starting this blog is so that I can chronicle my descent into Vanity madness :)  If you want to read along, that is great!  If not, I am fine being vain all by myself :)

xxoo,
Steph


See below for some of my previous nail bonanzas (shoot me a comment if you want a tutorial on how to achieve any of these looks):