Springy Grass Mani

Usually I like to do my nails every other day, but yesterday I was just completely uninspired. I had no clue what to do so I skipped a day, and later on my super awesome friend Alice suggested a grass mani, and it sounded perfect. Sadly, by then the sun was going down, so I knew I'd have to wait to do it today so I could get decent pictures in the sun.

I used Sinful Colors Be Happy as a pretty sky blue base, Sally Hansen Going Green as the base color of the grass (applied with a paint brush to try to give it that uneven look of blades of grass), and an unnamed green glitter from the Shades of the Season Holiday collection from CVS. I'd started it with just this, but it looked a bit... plain. So, I added some simple birds with a black nail art polish on my thumb and ring finger, because what's a sky without some birds?

On the topic of how awesome Alice is, she made me this awesome phone case! I was going to post about it in my last post, since I actually received it in the middle of doing my David Bowie mani and some of the glitter got onto it, but my SD card stopped registering in my computer for some reason. Anyways, here it is! She's literally amazing at everything and she started a blog when I did, so you should check it out. She also loves nail polish as much as I do!

David Bowie Inspired Lightning Mani

While watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics last night, I came to a great realization from the British  music montage, and the song that Great Britain walked into the games to -- I need to do a David Bowie mani! I love the man, and have a tattoo of lyrics from Space Oddity on my foot, but never really thought to do a manicure inspired by him. When I think of Bowie, one of the first things to pop into my mind is the Aladdin Sane album cover, and the blue and red lightning bold painted on his face. So, that's what I wanted to do! Sadly, it suddenly turned cloudy as I was finishing my nails, but I wanted to try to get pictures in case I muff them up before tomorrow if it's sunny again.

I used an unnamed gold from a random Shades of the Season collection from CVS that I got for Christmas last year. They have some beautiful colors, I just wish they had names! It's a shimmery gold, with small holo glitters throughout, which make it amazing to see in real life, especially when it's actually sunny! I made the lightning bold using the tape method and Revlon Mysterious (which is also my go-to TARDIS Blue, and the bottle is half empty for that reason. I needed to paint a tiny TARDIS for a friend, and decided that it'd be easiest to do with nail polish. Good thing I used cheaper brands and not anything too expensive!) and Sally Hansen Brilliant Bordeaux. The Brilliant Bordeaux looks a lot more brown in the photos than it really is, again due to all of the clouds. Either way, I'm quite happy with this one, especially looking at it in real life opposed to the photos.

Fishtail Braid Mani - OPI Pink Friday, Fly, and Essence Icy Princess

After seeing the Fishtail Braid Mani's all over the place, I finally did one of my own with this pictorial tutorial from Lucy's Stash, and I'm extremely happy with the results! I used OPI Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj collection as the base color, as well as Fly from the same collection and Essence Icy Princess for the braid. I think it turned out well!

The only problem with the mani is that by the end, there are so many layers of nail polish that it takes forever for it to dry, and it still wasn't completely dry when I took the pictures. But, better to take the pictures then instead of risk messing it up before I got a chance!

This mani is no where near as hard as it seems. The lines don't need to be perfect stripes, and it looks beautiful with any colors you use. You can even do it with more than three colors, which I think would look awesome with an ombre manicure, with a couple similar colors.

Essie Go Overboard and Once Upon A Polish Murky Water

I have a whopping number of two indie nail polishes in my collection. Some of them are just so hard to get, and that combined with being in school and not having a job makes it hard for me to get them. But that just makes me love the ones that I have even more.

Today I'm wearing two coats of Essie Go Overboard with one coat of Once Upon A Polish Murky Water over my thumb and ring finger. It may not be obvious yet, but those are my favorite accent nails.

Go Overboard is a really pretty dark teal cream, and I thought it would go nicely with Murky Water. Murky Water is a greenish shimmer base, with silver, blue, white, pink, and black glitter. It's a truly pretty polish, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I absolutely needed it. I've noticed there's a small amount of curling in the polish, but it doesn't change the aesthetic of it at all, and I still love it! I did tell her about it, and found that Murky Water is sadly no longer being produced, but there's obviously no longer a problem with curling glitter for her.

Once Upon A Polish can be purchased here at their Etsy shop. She has tons of beautiful Disney related nail polish, so I suggest taking a look! I know I'm definitely wanting to order from her again in the future.

China Glaze Agro and Sinful Colors All About You

In the time that I posted my first post, saying I was hoping to make this into a nail blog, I managed to figure out how to take clear photos with my camera. That's always what was stopping me from starting a blog before, and maybe now that won't be a problem!

I know the Hunger Games collection from China Glaze has been out for ages, and I'd gotten all of the colors I wanted right when it came out. Agro was a color I hadn't really wanted - until I saw it yesterday at Sally's. Yes, it was on sale for only about $2 or so, but I wanted it for more than that. Suddenly, it was an amazing color that I just needed, and here it is, with Sinful Colors All About You, a gold glitter, on my thumb and ring finger.

Not perfect pictures, but much better than I'm used to! I do have to figure out a better way to actually hold the bottles - I broke my left wrist when I was younger, and mobility is still really bad with that wrist and hand. But that, and my photos, will get better, especially as this is only my first post.

Anyways, Agro was only a whopping one coat, and that I was especially happy with. Not many of my polishes can be used with full coverage and no streaks, and it's a beautiful green shimmer, almost metallic. For a color that I didn't want at all to start with, I love it now!

I'm still working out kinks, but I'll hopefully be using this blog as time goes on. Ideally for nail polish related things, hence the name.