Lisa Frank Inspired, Inspiration?

I took the idea from Dollface, she has done 4 different looks so far inspired by the bright colors and animal prints of Lisa Frank. You gotta love it! I was also one that was mildly obsessed with Lisa Frank stuff as a kid. Who could resist? Click here for her design: Dollface - Lisa Frank

I love how her's turned out and sadly I only kind of like mine. :(

What do you think?

I started with an Essie basecoat and then Sally Hansen's "Lavender Cloud"

Then using a thin nail art brush, brushed on the following colors:

All China Glaze -

Lemon Fizz

I Wanna Lei Ya

Laced Up

Bahaimian Escape

Spontaneous

I wanted to see how it looked with Essie's Matte About You topcoat, that's on the ring & pinky nail.

Out the Door topcoat on index & middle.

I much prefer this look being glossy so I topped the whole thing with OTD.

I'd like to revisit this mani in the future but use brighter neon shades with a green thrown in there. And I'd much prefer a shatter topcoat that would seperate more and in bigger chunks to show underneath.
What do you think? Do you prefer it matte or glossy? Which colors would you like to see under shatter?Pin It

Blue Polka

ChG "Shower Together" and "First Mate"

My pinky looks broken from this angle. I promise it's not!

I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• 3 coats of ChG "Shower Together" (could have passed with only 2 though)
• Dots of ChG "First Mate" using two different sized dotting tools. Randomly applied.
• OTD topcoat

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Zebra Toes

I have a coworker that is busy planning her wedding. Her colors/theme is hot pink and zebra print. Sounds interesting right? I thought it would translate well to nails.

I used:

• Essie trillionails base coat
• 2 coats of ChG "Laced Up"
• taped off the tips
• Sally Hansen "Lavender Cloud" for white tips
• Konad plate m57 zebra print
• Konad stamping polish in black
• removed the tape and added OTD topcoat.

I think it turned out super cute, but this wasn't a success the first time around. A few days ago I had tried the following combo:

I just didn't love how it turned out, so I didn't want to post it. But I thought it would be better if I flipped the design and now it's just right.
Which version do you like?Pin It

Cutest Perfume Ever

Sis and I went to the mall yesterday to try and find some good stuff, which we did. I wanted to go into Victoria's Secret cause I had one of those $10 off your purchase reward cards. Didn't really find anything in the undies dept but I fell in love with the packaging on this perfume. Check it out:

Isn't it adorable!

And it had a super cute box too.

Smells pretty awesome. This is the description from the website:

"Flirt. Play. Tease! Show it off in this thrilling twist of juicy fruits and seductive florals.

It’s an enchanting blend of black vanilla, frozen pear and blooming gardenia."

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Guest Nails- Pink Shatter

Hello Everyone!   I am Leslie's sister.  That's right, I'm the goober who thought that Ludacris really liked, no loved, pink and gold.  Who doesn't though.  Honest mistake really.   Anyway, I have a bad history with doing my nails.  It was only in recent months that I quit using any available pocket knife to remove old polish.  Leslie was as horrified as I'm sure most of you nail gurus are.  But don't be too worried, there is a solution!  Essie Ridge Filler.  When I used this as a base coat, it smoothed all the gashes out of my nails.  I then used one coat of China Glaze Laced Up and then OPI's Black Shatter.  With a quick coat of Out The Door Topcoat.  With as impatient as I am, this topcoat is amazing.  Dries in probably less than a minute.  Anyway, thanks to Leslie, I can now look presentable at work tomorrow.  This reminds me I need to go buy more polish remover...Pin It

Katy Perry's The One That Got Away

Three coats of OPI's new Katy Perry "The One That Got Away".  Used the Essie Ridge Filler as a base coat, that we managed to get 75% off. No topcoat used in these pictures.Pin It

Shattered Red Sparkle

Here is OPI Black Shatter over Milani Red Sparkle of the one coat glitter collection.

Taken with my hand hanging out the back door to catch the sunlight!

Poor nubbins of an index :(

• I used two coats of base coat to hopefully protect against any staining.
• Then two coats of Milani Red Sparkle followed by topcoat.
• I then faded to sleep with my hands carefully positioned outside the covers so they wouldn't mess up before completely drying!

Do you want to see a video of the sparkly goodness?

Sorry it's not really focused, I am using a camera that's been with me since high school....

Excuses, excuses...

Added one coat of Black Shatter followed by another layer of Out the Door topcoat.

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Crack Agent Lavender by Any Means Necessary!

Cheesy, I know but couldn't help it with the spy theme. ;)

I was so happy when I got my OPI Black Shatter in the mail today! I immediately wanted to try it over everything. I swatched over a zillion different colors on my nail wheel before deciding to do a mani using Agent Lavender and Black Shatter. Next, I must use it over an intense glitter! So many ideas, and so few fingernails....

 Solid mani of China Glaze's "Agent Lavender"

I included the blurry pic below just because I feel like it's the most color accurate.

I just had to take so many pics because every nail turns out totally different!

This is so cool, total geekdom.

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Below Deck

I love this color! It's the perfect blend of purple and gray. The application was super easy, no streaks, 2 quick coats. Don't forget the base coat and topcoat! :)

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Sew Lined with Gold

My favorite color is green, but I have had a really hard time finding a green polish that looked good on my skin tone. I love the murky/army color of Essie's Sew Psyched, and it looks ok on my skin, at least in my opinion.

I used:

• OPI Natural Nails base coat
• 2 coats Essie Sew Psyched
• Bundle Monster plate BM11
• China Glaze 2030 for stamping
• Out the Door top coat

*Warning that the colors aren't exactly accurate in the photos. I tried to tweak it to make it more color accurate and they're kind of washed out and wonky. Sorry!

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Pink Patchwork

Chloe's Nails does wonderful things with scotch tape. I took inspiration from her "patchwork" design and used pink, glitter, and black.

I used:

• China Glaze's "Second-Hand Silk"
• Milani "Disco Lights"
• Pure Ice "Black Rage"

Last night I painted two coats of 2ndHS then 4-5 coats of Disco Lights. (I lost count). I did this as an enire mani but I didn't much care for it. I let it dry overnight because of the ridiculous # of coats.

Today when I woke up I decided to amp it up by using Chloe's patchwork idea. I took scotch tape and sectioned it off and painted on the other colors. Now I like it a lot more ;)

I was on a hunt for OPI's new black shatter and I went to my local Trade Secret in the mall. Needless to say they didn't have any idea what I looking for and had never heard of it. Tsk, tsk, this town needs more nail polish addicts.... But anywho, i check out their clearance section and got some great deals!

I got a combo pack of OPI top coat with a bottle of OPI base coat (not quick dry) - only $4!
Then a bottle of Essie trillionails base coat for 75% off. $2!!!!
Same deal for a Essie top coat (not quick dry) for only $2!!!!
They had a few colors but I didn't much care for them.
I did pick up Essie "Looking for love" which is a very pale blue jelly that ended up looking terrible on me. But for $2 I couldn't pass it up. I'm sure I'll find something to do with it though.

And on another note, I went to my CVS trying to pick up any left over Milani one coat glitters. They only had 2 colors left and it was the same colors I already had. :( I still picked up a set of fake nails so I could somewhat hide my busted and broken index fingernail. While I was checking out, the cashier told me she saw something new on the truck when they were unloading the other day. ESSIE! She said she'd never heard of it and doubted it would sell. I assured her that it was one of the nicer brands that has some pretty cool colors and that it can retail for $8 or so at other stores. So I asked when they would have it out for sale, most likely around the end of January when they re-do the main wall of cosmetics. So I am so excited and will be checking back quite frequently for that!Pin It

Pink Ombre

I know this isn't the newest idea out there, but I like it.

It adds interest without being over-done and too crazy.

I used:

• OPI Nail Envy basecoat
• Pinky = China Glaze "Something Sweet"
• Ring = mix of China Glaze "Something Sweet" & China Glaze "Second-Hand Silk"
• Middle = China Glaze's "Second-Hand Silk"
• Index = mix of China Glaze "Second-Hand Silk" & China Glaze "Laced Up"
• Thumb = China Glaze's "Laced Up"
• Out the Door topcoat

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Artsy Anchors Away

I liked my solid mani of Sea Spray, but was in the mood to go a little crazy. Here's what I came up with:

 

Pre-existing mani of China Glaze's "Sea Spray". I used scotch tape to mask off the diagonals, then ONE coat of China Glaze's "First Mate." It's a fantastic polish that is beautiful and evens out with zero streaking and is completely opaque. Loving it! Then I used two different sizes of dotting tools to apply the dots of Sally Hansen's "Lavender Cloud" along the dividing line. Out the Door topcoat to finish it off.

Poor little damaged index nail :(

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GingerKittyDesigns: "Shatter" Ring Giveaway....

GingerKittyDesigns: "Shatter" Ring Giveaway....

I loved Tracey's designs! She is genius to have come up with whatever magic she uses to make her jewelry. I would own every piece if it could fit in my budget! So far I have bought a necklace from her and I love it. I must wear purple colored scrubs for my job and it matches beautifully every time. I get tons of compliments too! Thanks Tracey!

The pendant I bought is bottom right in the picture.
*This pic below is copied and pasted from her store's website so credit goes to her.
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Anchors Away - China Glaze's "Sea Spray"

2 coats, covered very well. Gorgeous blue/gray color!

I hid my index nail because it took a beating just yesterday. Crazy as it sounds, I got it caught shaving and nicked a huge chunk out of the free edge. I clipped it down thinking that would be good enough, but then discovered that it had also split and peeled down into the nail bed. Ouch! So I did my first tea bag nail wrap to at least salvage what I can until it grows out.

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Strawberry Fields

Another staple to any collection in my opinion! China Glaze's Stawberry Fields.

This was 3 coats. I normally don't care for jellies, I absolutely HATE visible nail

line! This is an exception however, it's a strong pink with lots of tiny gold glitter.

It almost looks like an orange flash in certain lights. My nails did a good job at

keeping me distracted while at work because I couldn't help but stare at them

over, and over, and over again. :)

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China Glaze - Below Deck Comparison

I received my recent order from TransDesign.com. I ordered a few polishes from the new Anchors Away collection as well as some other brands I had been lemming. I thought Below Deck looked similar to a few polishes in my collection and I thought I'd share the comparison with you!

Left: Sally Hansen's "Commander in Chic"

Middle: China Glaze "Below Deck"

Right: OPI "You Don't Know Jacques"

Please excuse the messiness as it was just a hastily applied swatch. ;)

As you can probably see, YDKJ has more brown undertones. CG- BD has more purple

undertones, while SH - CIC is more neutral with a stronger gray influence. I will say that

I much preferred the application of China Glaze. The formula is great and I really could

have gotten away with one coat if done carefully. Sally Hansen also had great application

(as do all in the Salon Manicure line, in my opinion) covered easily with 2 quick coats.

I was most dissappointed with OPI however. :( It took 3 coats, and even then wasn't

great looking. I also most like the color in Below Deck. I really like the purple influence.

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Toes Like Rebecca

So I found an awesome new nail blogger like myself, and one of her designs inspired me!
http://rebeccalikesnails.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-favorite-nails.html

Warning! Toes down below!

I used:

• China Glaze "Recycle"
• China Glaze "Spontaneous"
• China Glaze "For Audrey"
• Kiss Nail Art black striper
• China Glaze "Millenium"

I would never have thought to put these cool colors together! Rebecca is a smart girl ;)
I used some random clear rhinestones on the big toe, but just put "Millenium" on the little toes using a dotting tool.

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Blue Skies

I used the following:

• 1 coat of OPI's Nail Envy base coat
• 2 coats of Pure Ice's "Platinum"
• Long after that dried, I used hole reinforcers to mask off the moons.
• 2 coats of Hard Candy's "Sky" then removed reinforcers.
• Applied China Glaze's "Millenium" with a dotting tool along the moon.

I like the look because the darker shade of silver looks like a string of pearls along the dividing line.
Enjoy!

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Golden Roses

I wanted to plan my nails to match my outfit I'm wearing Sunday morning. This is a pic from another event that I wore the dress to.

Cute, right? It's solid red with the focus drawn to the small rosettes and rouching at the shoulder.
And I usually pair it with gold jewelry and a pair of gold sling-back sandals.
Here are the nails I came up with:

I used:

• Beauty Secrets Base Coat
• 1 coat China Glaze's 2030 over entire nail
• Covered my moons using the paper hole reinforcers method
• 2 coats of Orly's "Haute Red"
• Stamped the roses image from Konad plate m65 with the same 2030 polish
• Gently remove the hole reinforcers with tweezers.
• Top with Out the Door topcoat!

A tip for when using hole reinforcers, or any french tip guide, for that matter... Always pull them off by pulling upwards and toward your cuticle. That way the line is very clean and you won't accidentally pull off more polish than intended. Hope it helps!Pin It