I'm alive!

Sorry to be M.I.A. for almost a MONTH!! I'm back to catch you up on some nail art and what's been going on in my life..

I landed a job at an amazing salon and spa in town, I'm still training but am so excited to start taking my own clients in the next few weeks. I'm more than thrilled about this oppurtunity, I've been out of the salon environment for almost 2 years, and I'm so ready to dive back in and get to use my creative side at work! I'll be wearing Shellac so that my manis will stay on while I work, so sadly I won't be able to blog as much, unless I'm using photos from the vault or nail wheel art.

Now on to some nail photos!

Tried out a new watermark for this one, the rest of the photos aren't even edited or watermarked because I'm way too lazy. I used CND Blackjack and OPI Alpine Snow and a dotting tool for this look.

CND Blackjack and an unknown China Glaze with gold studs from Aerial.

Another look with larger studs.

One of my favorite shades ever, China Glaze Peachy Keen, to match my outfit for one of my best friend's weddings.



The shoes.



Some bottle shots from organizing my stash.



A spring-inspired manicure. I used China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, and stamped with CND Blackjack.

Hope you enjoyed this post and that I can come back with some more photos soon!

Last Friday Night

Today I have one pic, a short and sweet post of the mattified version of the mani I did last week:

The same mani, just updated with one coat of Matte About You :)

Hope you're all having a great Monday!



Spacy Layers

I have a simple layered mani to show you today:

I wish it had photographed a little truer to real life, but oh well! I used 2 coats of CND-Brilliant White for the base, and 2 coats of OPI-Last Friday Night to layer over it. 1 layer of SV for the top coat.

I really liked the soft jelly look this mani had, and I will probably experiment with a matte top coat on it tomorrow!

What do you guys suggest to layer Last Friday Night over?



Leopard Paws

Finally, a little nail art! It's been awhile :( Today, I have a simple leopard print design in classic colors to share with you:

Try to ignore the paint stains on my pinky, I worked on painting the 2nd bedroom in our house the day I wore these nails!

The nubby right hand :)

I used China Glaze-Fast Track as the base, a gorgeous shimmery gold-beige from the new Hunger Games collection (Who else is psyched for the premiere?!). I did the spots with a dotting tool and OPI-Over the Taupe, and the outlines with a nail art brush and CND-Blackjack. I finished the look with one coat of SV.

I loved this mani and wore it for almost a week, which is uncommon for me.

What is your favorite color combo for a leopard mani??



Van Gogh!

Sorry I've been a bit M.I.A. lately!! My boyfriend and I have been remodeling our home for about a year now, and are FINALLY in the last stages of everything.. With all the painting, cleaning, etc. I have been neglecting my poor little nails and the blog as well! I'm queing up a few posts today, and when we're all moved in, I'll have so much more time to dedicate to this hobby of mine!

On to the nails.. Today's post is a quick swatch of a shade from the new OPI Holland collection, Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh:

I've heard great things about this formula on other blogs, but you really have to use this polish yourself to realize the true amazing-ness that it is! So smooth, and perfectly opaque in 2 easy swatches. Not only is the formula great, but this polish turned out to be an almost-exact dupe of my favorite nude ever, Ulta-Set the Nude. Set the Nude is gorgeous, but the formula is a thick, streaky mess and hard to clean up. I'm definitely going to buy a back up of Van Gogh, and if you're a nude fan, you need this polish!

What were your favorites from the Holland collection?

Pastel Zebra

This is yesterday's mani revamped with some (sloppy) stamping:

Although the stamping could use some improvement, I really love the way this turned out! I used CND-Asphalt for the stamping.

What is your favorite gradient/stamping combo to work with?



Pedal Faster Suzi!

Today's post is a swatch of the polish I just had to have from OPI's new Holland collection. Sadly, I was a little dissapointed that the shade didn't look so great with my skin tone but oh well, it's still a beautiful polish!

It was a bit streaky, but other than that covered beautifully in 3 coats.

This last pic looks like a magnetic polish or something, but it's just shadows reflecting off the window I was photographing next to.

What do you think of this shade??