Braided nails

Today I'm going to show you a really easy nail design. This design is generally called a braided nail.

What you do is get 3 colors and paint criss crossing lines so it has a the look of a braid. (If I've totally confused you, you can find plenty of tutorials that will explain it much much better.)

The polishes I used for this manicure were Julep Niecy, Maybelline Color Show Metallics Amethyst Ablaze & Navy Narcissist.

Hope every has a good Friday night! ;)

Ruby Glitter Gradient

Today I want to show you another cute and easy glitter gradient manicure.

I painted on two coats of Julep Lynn and then just sponged on Be-Claus I Said So from Sephora by Opi. I really liked the way these two polishes looked together.

That's all I've got for you this evening! I'm still recovering from being sick so I've been sleeping pretty much nonstop, I just woke up to eat dinner and write my 10th blog post. I can't believe I've made it this far!

Now if only I could get some followers, or at least commenters.

Dot Dot Dot

Today's mani was done using Wet n Wild Black Creme, NYC Matte Me Crazy, Julep Niecy, and Love & Beauty... Blue? I'm not really sure if the polish has a name or not!

Started out painting my nails Wet N Wild Black Creme. After they were mostly dry, I applied the NYC Matte Me Crazy over them.

And then onto the fun part! I got out my dotting tools and put a line of four large dots of Julep Niecy in the middle of my nails.

(This was painted with my left hand so please don't judge the straightness of my lines too much!) After the pink, I added a line of smaller blue dots on one side.

And a line of the same amount of blue dots on the other side.

Repeat on all nails, and you've got an easy & quick nail design.

I really loved the way the matte made the colors pop.

Now off to get some sleep before my classes tomorrow. Goodnight!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Review

Sorry for being a no show yesterday (if there's anyone out there keeping tabs on me). I woke up sick and was dragging all the way through my first day of classes. Not fun.

Anyways, today I want to tell you about Sally Hansen's Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. The ones I used were called Kitty, Kitty.

Let me start with the application. These strips come so long that it's difficult to put them on without getting creases. I've also got pretty small hands so in addition to trimming the length, I also needed to trim the sides of these. I'll admit I did get a little frustrated with this.

 When I had them on, I felt like I needed to do a little something to make my nails unique, so I painted  Milani's Disco Lights onto my ring fingers.

Then I just put Seche Vite over these to make 'em last. I kept these on for 5 days and only had minimal tip wear on a few fingers. I had to put some elbow grease into taking them off so I think they would have lasted a few more days.

Bottom line is it sucks to put these on, but they look great and last a long time.
I don't think I'll ever use them again, but if you're looking for a cheap (cheaper than going to a salon) and long lasting manicure Sally Hansen is the way to go.

Navy French Manicure

So today I'm going to show you how to fix a crappy manicure... kind of.

I saw this adorable chevon french manicure on Instagram that was nude with navy over it and I thought I have to try this!

I pulled out my Revlon Gray Suede and Maybelline Navy Narcissist.

This was the result which I thought was alright, but really wasn't all too pleased with.

So I whipped out my dotting tool and Wet N Wild's Tickled Pink.

Not my favorite manicure, but I think the pink dots made it much cuter!

I think I might have to do a hurricane mani next, seeing as Hurricane Isaac is heading my way. Keep your fingers crossed I get a few days off school ;)

Pikachu Nails

When I was a little girl, I loved Pokemon. But then again, who didn't?

I was feeling pretty nostalgic one day, and I remembered seeing this Pikachu nail art design.

So cute, right!? And It was easy to do.

Started out with two coats of Julep's Blake. With a dotting tool I put Rimmel London's Stiletto Red for his cheeks. Wet n Wild's Black Creme was dotted on my pointer and ring fingers. With a nail art brush I painted his nose and mouth on my middle finger.

After the black of my pointer and ring dried I dotted Julep's Kate over it.

There you have it, my nerd nails ;)

Holographic Nails

Today I want to show you all my favorite nail polish.

It's called Layla Flash Black and it's holographic. Yes, I said it, holographic.

What exactly does that mean, you ask?

The most gorgeous fascinating nails ever! Literally could not stop staring at my nails.

This polish really looks gray in low light situations but you still get those beautiful little rainbows.

I bought Layla Flash Black for $15 off zappos.com. I'm not the kind of girl to shell out $15 for one bottle of nail polish but once I saw it I had to have it. And it did not disappoint!

It's fairly easy to apply. I heard base coat makes the polish streaky so you just buff your nails and then apply two coats of the polish.

The only problem I had with these was how easily the tips chipped, even with my Seche Vite topcoat.

Regardless, still my favorite polish of my collection! What do you think?

Dots

Good morning!
Before I got into nail art, I used to love to paint my nails solid white. So naturally, I love nail art designs with a white background.

Today I've got a colorful dotted mani for you:

I took a few pictures throughout the process, but not one every step of the way (don't ask me why). 

To begin, I applied two coats of Julep's Kate. By the way, I use Beauty Secret's Base Coat before every mani if anyone was wondering!

After that dried I started adding dots using a dotting tool:

The colors dotted on above are Love & Beauty Purple from Forever 21, Revlon Posh, and Nina Ultra Pro's Blu Blaze. You could definitely stop here if you like this look, but I wanted something even more fun and colorful.

Yellow always brightens it up a little more! This polish is Julep's Blake.

For the finishing touch I put on Julep's Niecy. Locked it all on with Seche Vite Topcoat and called it a day.

Pink Glitter Gradient

So I was going to post mostly old nails I had done until I caught up with my current nails, but I did a mani this morning that I just can't not show off!

I love glitter gradients because they're so easy and they look great.

I started off with Wet n Wild's Black Creme and sponged on Milani's Disco Lights. I just bought Disco Lights yesterday and I looove pink so I couldn't resist trying it out on this mani.

The only thing I don't like about glitter nail polish is the removal. But that's the price of beauty!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Olympic Nails

I meant to get this blog rolling before the Olympics ended so I could show off these nails, but I just didn't get around to it.

Here you have them now, my Olympics-inspired nails:

For this manicure, I started out with two coats of Revlon's Gray Suede:

In my opinion, this is the perfect nude polish. I absolutely adore it.
After the Gray Suede, I applied Maybelline's Navy Narcissist, Julep's Blake, Wet n Wild's Black Creme, Revlon's Posh, and Rimmel London's Stiletto Red in half moons:

I was originally going to leave them like this, but I wanted a more uniform feel to them so I decided to add a line of Milani's Art of Gold under each 'ring':

And there you have it! Four more years until my next Olympics nail art design. 

First Post/Peek-a-boo nails

Hello to all in the blog world! 

I've recently become completely obsessed with painting my nails and nail art. It's been one of the few things keeping me sane this summer.

I don't really know much about blogging but I've been encouraged to share my nail designs with the internet world so I'm giving it a shot.

I'm far from being a licensed nail technician (although I wouldn't mind that) but I absolutely love my nail art and hopefully you will too :)

Anyways, on to the good stuff. These are my favorite nails I've done so far:

I call them Peek-a-boo nails. I just started out with two coats of Julep's Mila, then put striping tape on, painted Wet n Wild's Black Creme over it, took off the striping tape when the black polish was almost dry and viola! 

One more picture of these babies for your viewing pleasure.

Hope to see you all again soon! ;)