February Tri-Polish Tuesday #3

I am sticking with the same polishes I picked for this month - yay!

This time I only used the pink and brown polishes.

• Essie Your Hut Or Mine
• Ulta Chocolate Kiss

I wanted some fun stripes so I went with a striping tape mani.

I started with one coat of my usual white undie polish and then added 2 coats of the pink.  I put a layer of Seche Vite down to get it to dry quicker and randomly added the striping tape on the nail.  My wonderful husband cut all of the strips of tape for me while I painted the base layers!  I love the support he gives me! I did each nail individually to help with the clean lines.  I added 1 thick coat of the brown on top of the tape and quickly pulled each strip off.  The lines came out really crisp because it was still wet polish.  I waited as long as I could to put the final layer of Seche Vite on as I didn't want it to smear.  

I love this one so much, I might just keep it on all week!  I am super swamped with work so I am not sure how I am going to do another mani this week.  

February Golden Oldie Thursday #2

Valentine's Day is kind of "blah" for me this year.  My husband and I have really been through the ringer over the last year and we have spent a lot of time just cherishing each other lately.  So, I just don't see the need to specifically celebrate this one day.  With that said, I still love the pretty colors used for Valentine's Day mani's.  There are some stunning submissions to today's challenge!  Be sure to take a look at the bottom of this post.

• China Glaze Elfin' Around
• Zoya Sooki
• Milani White On The Spot

I stuck with a simple gradient this time and used some red polishes.  The Elfin' Around leans kind of orange with the glitter effect in it but I still love it!

This is roughly 3 passes with the polishes for the gradient effect with a layer of Seche on top.

I used some heart sequins I purchased from the Born Pretty Store a LONG time ago now.  There are 3 different colors (pink, white, purple) on the middle nail but because there is a bit of iridescence on top of them, it is hard to see clearly.

Be sure to take a look at the other lovely work done by these talented women below!

February Tri-Polish Tuesday #2

Time for another tri-polish Tuesday manicure.  This will be a quick post as I am struggling to stay awake tonight.

• Essie Your Hut or Mine
• Zoya Zeenat
• Ulta Chocolate Kiss

This is a little bit of a skittle-let... I used my newly acquired Pueen plates (Pueen 43, 35) for these stamps and I used my trusty Milani White on White and American Apparel Hassid.  I also have some sticker decals on my pinkie and thumb from Pueen that I got off of Amazon a little bit ago.

I was a bit disappointed in my top layer of Seche with this one.  I am not sure why it smeared everything! Even the sticker decal had a little smearing!

It is a cute little Valentine's Day mani...

February Golden Oldie Thursday #1

I am late on this post and for that I apologize.  Work has been a bit crazy and there just hasn't been time.  I'm sure you will all forgive me.  LOL!

I did a double whammy with this manicure: GOT - Green & Summer from the Nail Challenge Collaborative.

• China Glaze In The Lime Light
• Color Club Unknown
• Kleancolor Starry Meteor

I started with my usual white undie polish and started doing a sponge gradient with these colors.  It was a failure so I just started layering the polishes to get a gradient effect.  It is a bit harsher than I had intended but it was so late and I just didn't want to start over!  

I added this little dragonfly decal I got from Winstonia to an accent nail.  It's so cute!  For the other nails, I put one coat of the Starry Meteor over top, followed by a layer of Seche Vite.

It's simple and BRIGHT!  

February Tri-Polish Tuesday #1

Brown, Pink & Grey.  Brown, Pink and Grey?  Brown. Pink. Grey.

This took a lot of time for me to wrap my head around this color combo.  I struggled with it for sure!  I chose my design and painted my nails last night and I am running very late on putting this post together.  I'm going with a diagonal french tip kinda look.  I have been admiring all of the submissions today - these girls are TALENTED!!!

Here's mine...

• Essie Your Hut or Mine
• Zoya Zeenat
• Ulta Chocolate Kiss

There is a lot of polish on these nails!  I started with a base coat then put one coat of my usual undie down.  I used 2 coats of the Zoya grey color (probably could have done 3 as this a very light color).  I then put a layer of Seche Vite down to seal it in and get ready for taping.  I taped off about 1/2 the nail and added the Essie pink color (1 thick coat), quickly removed the tape and added another layer of Seche.  The next round of tape was added so that I could do one final coat of the Ulta brown color and another round of Seche.  

My pinkie is my favorite. 

January Golden Oldie Thursday #4

It's the last Thursday in January and our theme today is dots!  I love dots!  I had a few suggestions from friends but when I was looking at things on Pinterest for inspiration, I kept going back to one by A Girl And Her Polish.  You can see it here.  She is amazing!

• China Glaze Sea Spray
• Milani White On The Spot
• Ulta Cream Of The Crop

I started with my trusty base coat and one coat of my undie: Milani White.  I used 2 coats of the White On The Spot and 3 coats of Cream Of The Crop.  I put one coat of Seche Vite on top to seal in those colors and to prepare for dotting.

I really randomly added dots...  I sealed it in with another coat of Seche Vite and called it a day.  Thanks to Katee for such inspiration!

January Tri-Polish Tuesday #4

It's the last Tuesday in January already!  I have loved this challenge so far!  I loved my colors for this one, that I kept them even though we didn't have to.

• OPI Animal-istic
• Pure Ice Twinkle
• Orly Melodious Utopia

I also did my very first stamp nail decal with this manicure.  I can't even tell you how proud of myself I am on how well this turned out!  Not too shabby for my first go!  It seems like I am not the only one who is giving it a try right now - it is hot in the community.  :)

I am in love with this red polish!  I started with a base coat and then painted each nail with 3 coats of the respective polish.  The white is Milani White and then there is the decal..

I used MoYou Princess 08, stamped with American Apparel Hassid, and then colored in the wings with both the red and orange colors.

What a great end to the January TPT!

January Golden Oldie Thursday #3

Yay, it's Thursday!  I love this challenge because it allows for so much freedom in what you can do.  I also like that I can do it in the middle of the week because I can keep it simple.  Today's theme is "blue" so I chose these colors:

• Revlon Dreamer
• Milani Bolting Blue
• Ulta Blues Cruise

I started with one coat of my white undie followed by 3 coats of Dreamer.  This beautiful light blue doesn't have the best application.  It was streaky and didn't level out well.  I will say that where my polish is stored is fairly cold and that may have something to do with it.  The Revlon brush is great though.  I used 2 coats of Blues Cruise on my pointer finger.  I then added 1 coat of Seche Vite and started stamping with Bolting Blue.  How well it stamped was surprising as it isn't a very opaque polish.  I used BM-H02, BM-319 & BM-H01 for this mani.

I love these colors for a winter look.  I haven't done anything with winter yet this year and boy is it WINTER here!

Take a look at the other brilliant looks for today's theme:

January Tri-Polish Tuesday #3

I can't even believe we are 3 weeks into 2014 already!  So, it is back to Tri-Polish Tuesdays...  I used the same polishes as last time, only a little differently.

• OPI Animal-istic
• Pure Ice Twinkle
• Orly Melodious Utopia

These colors are so great together that I wanted to do a gradient...I love gradients!

I started with my usual undie polish (Milani white) then added 2 coats of the Orly.  Once that was dry, I sponged on my gradient using all three polishes.

I added a layer of Seche Vite to seal it all in and added my stamp to my ring finger and thumb.  I used GA15 for this look and I used American Apparel Hassid.

One last layer of Seche Vite and it is finished!  This is so tropical and beautiful.  I am going to stick with these polishes for the last Tuesday too...I just love them together!

January Golden Oldie Thursday #2 (Inspired by a tutorial)

I was inspired by Kick Acetone for this look.  It seems as though I wasn't alone in this thought for the stripes theme!  LOL!  Thankfully, we all used different colors!

You can see the tutorial here for the reverse gradient stripes.

I used these gems from my untried stash:

1. American Apparel Office
2. Sinful Colors Envy
3. Sinful Colors Calypso

I started with 2 coats of Office, then sealed it in with a layer of Seche Vite.  I sponge applied my gradient with Calypso at the tips, Envy in the middle, and Office near the cuticle.

Once I was satisfied with the gradient (about 2 coats), I sealed that in with another layer of Seche Vite.  I will say that these colors made a beautiful gradient and I was really sad to cover it up but I was committed to the look.  

I applied the striping tape and then went for the reverse gradient with the darker color at the base of my nail and the lighter color at the tips.  What do you think of my middle nail? I mentioned in the last post that I chopped it off due to a major break.  It doesn't look as bad with some pretty nail art on it!

I removed the tape once the second gradient was applied.  Once dry, I put on a final coat of Seche Vite on top.  I really love how this turned out!  I can see why so many people have reproduced it - it is so neat!  I got so many compliments today at work which always makes me smile.  This is the first time I have tried this style and I haven't used green polishes like this - ever!