LOVE-ly Manicure #3

I adore the new Naturel Satins collection by Zoya, so naturally I had to use them for a soft, delicate Valentine's Day manicure. I painted free-hand hearts over Brittany and added a rhinestone accent nail. (My apologies for my dry hands...I didn't realize how awful they looked until these photos.)

 

Polishes used: Zoya Brittany with hearts in Ana, Rowan, and Leah

Yellow and Neutral Alternative French Manicure

I love my family. We have always had the tradition of buying one another gifts when we are on vacation. One of the latest items I got from my vacationing family members was a beautiful scarf. It's only been the past year or two when I embraced the fact that I can indeed pull off some yellow articles of clothing. I do not have any scarves with yellow in them so I was excited to receive this one.

The summer weather has not been very conducive to scarf-wearing in the southern Midwest, but that didn't stop me from using the colors of this beauty for inspiration.

Polishes used: Zoya Chantal & Darcy (I used black rhinestones but you could always replicate this by using black polish)

The Luck O' the Irish...

Many of you have exciting and festive weekends planned. Being pregnant means that this is not a "fun" day to celebrate. I am instead going to do other fun things and channel the inner Irish in me through my lovely manicure. I must confess that this is not a holiday or celebration that I normally get really into. I normally create more subtle St. Patrick's Day manicures, as seen here and here. This year I enjoyed taking it to the next level (and it's better than solid green).

What do you think? What does your St. Patrick's Day manicure look like (festive or unfestive)? Feel free to leave links below:)

Polishes used: Zoya Edyta and Tomoko with rhinestone accents.

Brighten Up!

Brrrr! It sure it a chilly one. To heat it up, I created a bright coral manicure with just a little twist. Half moon manicures have been everywhere on runways, red carpets, and in the media. I created a neutral moon by simply taping it off before adding a bright, orangey crelly to my tips. To finish it off I matte-ified it and added a ray of sunshine in the form of yellow, square rhinestones.

I know the edges are a touch messy, that is my own error. I need more practice with striping tape and french tip guides:)

Polishes used: Zoya Elodie and Revlon Matte Top Coat

Beat the Winter Blues

Winter is upon us, and it doesn't feel like we will be shaking it soon. I'm dying to wear lighter and brighter colors, flowy fabrics, sandals (or even flats!) and springy florals. Until then (because I'm still dressing in layers and wearing boots) I will channel my love for spring into my manicures.

 I chose some glitter, polka dots, and a favorite pastel to create this cute manicure which is the perfect balance between winter and spring.

Polishes used: Zoya Kristen, Purity, and Cosmo

Ps. Thank you for your support and patience over the past few months. My inconsistent posts have been due to horrible morning sickness and extreme exhaustion. I appreciate all of your supportive emails and well wishes as my husband and I are trying to prepare for the adjustments we will be making to our lives. We are excited to be welcoming our bundle of joy in mid July (halfway there, woot!). I will continue to make posts and be in touch, but it may be more delayed than you are used to. Thank you again, what would a girl do without you?

LOVE-ly Valentine's Day Manicure #1

 Valentine's Day usually evokes either romance or disdain, depending on your circumstances. The Hallmark holiday always makes me think of all things chocolate, lace, red, pink, white, purple, and sparkly. I drew on this inspiration while creating this festive manicure. I tried to create a manicure that was texturally (new word, folks!) interesting.

Polishes used: Zoya Toni and Miranda

Valentine's Manicure--Take 1

Before I kick off my Valentine's Day manicures for 2013, I want to thank you all for your patience and support over the past couple of weeks.  Your thoughtful emails, cards, and even your gracious gifts have made me smile.  I love all of you so very much!  With that being said...

We all love a little romance in our lives.  We love to love one another.  Valentine's Day reminds us to love one another.  Whether you're single, dating, married, etc. I hope you spread love to others over the next week.

This "season" of love also is an excellent excuse to include hearts, glitter, pink, and red in any and every manicure.  I have created a couple of Valentine's Day/love inspired manicures for your viewing pleasure:)

Valentine's Manicure #1

Today's edition includes fun layering, flakies, metallics, rhinestones, and purple.  I used a base coat of bright metallic purple on all nails.  Then I carefully added 3 pink rhinestone hearts to create an accent nail.  Finally, I used a flakie packed red jelly polish as a topper for my other nails.  I really love the effect the layered polishes create.  I think I will have to wear it on all fingers sometime.

Nail polishes used to create this manicure: Barielle Rio's Rockin' Bands and Elle's Spell

Time Warp Challenge--Day 8

This is sadly the final day of the "Let's Do the Time Warp" Challenge.  I think this was my favorite challenge ever.  It was so much fun and everyone participating was so encouraging.  Thank you to all of you for making this so wonderful.  And a special THANK YOU to Lindsay from Neverland Nail Blog for hosting and creating this challenge.

Today's challenge is... 

Let's do the TIME WARP again!

This challenge was basically to recreate a manicure of another participant.  This was such a difficult challenge.  The manicures were all so amazing and well executed that I was intimidated to recreate any of them.  However, when I saw the manicure created for Day 4 (Lights, Camera, Action!) by The Polished Squirrel I new that this was the one I wanted to attempt.  Stephanie was inspired by the classic fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses.  Here is her incredible manicure & a bit of the story if you're unfamiliar with it.

The version I grew up with was slightly different from the one Stephanie recounts.  The book I remember is this one:

I always loved the story, but the illustrations in this particular book were to die for.  They were so stunning.  The story I remember is different from the one Stephanie told in that the soldier in her story was a gardener in the above tale AND in the one above the princesses were under a curse.  To solve the mystery, the gardener was given a magical golden flower to put into his lapel that made him invisible unlike the cloak of the soldier.  Due to these differences, I changed the manicure ever so slightly to include the flower instead of the cloak.  Below are the trees of the silver, gold, and diamond forests with the magical flower on my pinkie.

 I adore this manicure.  Thank you so much Stephanie from the Polished Squirrel for your inspiration and your beautiful manicure.  I could never do it justice!

Polishes used: SinfulColors Black on Black, Barielle Granite Glitter, Barielle Gold Digger, China Glaze Champagne Bubbles, NfuOh 61, Barielle Green Opal, OPI Stranger Tides, and marquis rhinestones

That's all.  Thank you to all of you for your wonderful comments and support throughout this challenge:)  Here's a quick recap: 

Time Warp Challenge--Day 7

Today's challenge is... 

You're timeless to me!

Styles that have been popular both "then" and now were supposed to inspire this manicure.  Since certain clothing articles/styles have become part of the style cycle (aka. if you keep something long enough it *might* become stylish once again) and regained popularity, I thought this day would be a cinch!  Well, I had extreme difficulty translating what was in my head or on paper to my nails.  So I took the theme literally and used something that is timeless in more way than one...

Image from Fashion in Motion

What is more timeless than a Rolex anyway???  My husband was traveling when I was taking this picture so I didn't have an actual Rolex to use, but a bunch of other watches works, right?

Polishes used: Barielle Granite Glitter, SinfulColors Black on Black

What timeless style/article would you have chosen?

4th of July Manicure!

Here is my festive manicure for the 4th of July.

Last year I was so embarrassed by my sloppy nail art and the horrid manicure that it created so I refused to post.  This year I must say that I am more pleased with my manicure, although my nail art still has a long way to go (especially my stripes)!

This year's patriotic manicure used Zoya America (very appropriate) and Zoya Purity.  The stars on the accent nail are from an AL Cosmetics Mix Styles Glitter Rhinestone Wheel #5.

Summer Fun Challenge--Day 3

Lindsey at the Neverland Nail Blog is so incredibly creative.  I love her blog so very much and about 3 weeks ago she announced The Summer Fun Challenge.

Day 3: PooL ParTy!

 While brainstorming for this manicure, all I could only think of beach towels, beach balls, inflatable pool toys, splashing, and sunscreen.  I was not very motivated to go down that road, so I started thinking of swimwear and immediately "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" by Brian Hyland popped into my head!  This song adequately reflects my feelings about wearing a swimsuit for the first time each year.

Disclaimer: I am actually afraid of yellow nail polish, so this was a more golden polka dot bikini;)  I created this manicure using 3 coats of China Glaze Champagne Bubbles with 3 coats of Zoya Purity as an accent nail.  The golden yellow rhinestones are from an AL Cosmetics Mix Styles Glitter Rhinestone Wheel #5.

For a look at other Pool Party manicures click on the pictures below...