Bright and Beautiful "Gradient"

Hey there sweetums! How is everyone after Thanksgiving, still in a food coma?? I had such good food AND I got 4 days off of work!! It was so awesome that I don't know if I'll remember what to do when I go back.

My husband and I actually got to go on a date! We went out to dinner at HuHot and then we did some Christmas shopping at TJ Maxx. Then I went into Ulta and my husband bought me the Be Merry Be Bright palette for my bday which is coming up on the 11th. All of you, please, feel free to shower me with gifts of polish, makeup, candy and jewelry!

Alright, finally on to what y'all came here to see - mah nails! These were SO fun, quick and easy! I started off with a base coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On so that I would only have to do one coat of the colors and they would really POP!

I wanted the "gradient" to be kind of rough and didn't really want it to blend so I just used the polish brushes and haphazardly added the colors to 1/3 of the nail. At the base of the nail is one of my favorite polishes, Barry M - Indigo. Then comes one of my new polishes (new to me!) Essie - Bottle Service which is a beautiful, rich, pigmented pink! Finally, I added China Glaze - Custom Kicks. This is a fabulous, creamy bright teal! I stamped over my "gradient" using Konad Black and Cheeky Jumbo Plate 9 - Wild At Heart.

If you like stamping, you seriously need to check out these Cheeky Jumbo Plates, they're freaking adorable! I only have three for now but plan to add to that eventually!

Then, of course, I had to top it all off with a coat of China Glaze - Fairy Dust. What do you think? This was one of my faves and it even lasted 4 days before I finally took it off and it still didn't have a chip in it - that's a major record for me!

You love it, don't you?? I know you do! Go ahead, comment and tell me how much you adore me and my fabulous nails!

I seriously love each and every one of you that takes the time out of their busy, crazy lives and reads my little blog, it honest-to-goodness means a lot to me!

If you're wondering why I keep putting the word "gradient" in quotations, it's because there's really nothing gradual about this gradient, it's more of a splat of colors. So now you know, your life is complete.

Waterfalls In The Nude

Hey, hey, hey!! I told you I'd be back! I've had a cold and have lost my voice so typing this is kind of nice since I feel like I can finally communicate for once! Of course at work, clients RARELY every call me but as soon as I lost my voice, the phone was ringing off the hook! Then the clients wouldn't leave a message so I didn't know who it was that called and I couldn't email them to let them know. One of them decided to contact my boss to say I wasn't getting back to her - UGH, really? I didn't get in trouble or anything but I had some annoyed clients.

Today I was finally able to talk on the phone but I sound like someone who has been smoking for 632 years! 

Anywho - on to much better things! This mani that I have for you is one of my favorites. I just had to try the waterfall mani so I started with a base of Essie Sand Tropez. This is seriously my favorite nude. It's tough to choose between this and Zoya Flynn but I think the Sand Tropez is more of a true nude and matches my skintone a little better. 

The waterfall was done using China Glaze - Peachy Keen, Sweet Hook and Dance Baby. I also used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet and then I added a touch of China Glaze - Fairy Dust. I seriously love Fairy Dust, it is the PERFECT touch of glitter to go on top of a nail art design. It's not too overpowering that it obscures the design which is really important!

 

Looking at these photos, I'm really missing my fingernails being this long but it's honestly just too dry right now. If I grow them much past my tips, they just curl really bad at the corners and then want to peel and break so better short than sorry!!!

Seriously guys, if you haven't tried this technique, give it a go! It's super easy and the color combinations are truly endless! The best part - it's quick and precision is not required!

Girly Geometric Nails

So school is finally underway and I'm back from camping with the family as well! Unfortunately, this past weekend, the baby was sick with the puking yucks so that wasn't any fun! I had my interview for my new position at work and I will hear back regarding that one by Friday at the latest!! It's a major opportunity and while it will definitely be more hours, it will be twice the money - GULP!

Enough of that though, let's get to the important stuff! I did these nails quite a while back and I absolutely love them! The colors used here are China Glaze - Sweet Hook and Dance Baby and Orly (can't find it right now - I'll get back to you on that one!) I used a TINY brush to paint the shapes and then I outlined them with black acrylic paint and an even tinier brush!

 

What do you think? I kinda liked these! I also was about halfway done with some really sweet neon nails before I left for camping. Needless to say, I didn't get those done and I'm pretty sad about that one! I hope to see you again very soon - love you all!

Rockstar Nails

Happy new week everyone! I hope you all had some fun and some relaxation this weekend. I got in a couple of glorious naps! One of them was interrupted by a huge storm that came through with some nasty hail! It was so loud that it woke everyone up and I couldn't figure out what in the world was going in for a while - it was cray-zay!

 

Today's mani uses one of my fave polishes, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard. Isn't it a fabulous green? Then on my ring finger is Jindie Nails - Live Out Loud. I am so in love with everything I have from Jindie Nails - the application is amazing for an indie! I think the little black stars added just the right touch to these nails, what do you think? Do I look cool?

 

 

I don't have time for any more chit-chat *sigh* as I have to get to work. But I hope you all have an absolutely fabulous day!!

My First Cloud Mani

Happy FRIIIIIIDAYYYYYYYYY! Am I excited? Just a little!

 

I finally decided to try a cloud mani. While I'm not 100% satisfied with the outcome, I think it was fairly good for my first try and I'll definitely want to give it another go! Next time I will give the bottom two colors more room to show and not do such a large section of the third! I did this using the polish brushes but I've also seen it done with a dotting tool as well.

 

The polishes here are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Bubblegum, aEngland - Avalon and China Glaze - For Audrey. This is actually the first time for me to use For Audrey. I hear people rave about it and it's being used in nail art everywhere but I'm just not a blue person I guess! I also have issues matching/contrasting colors so I'm not even sure if these look good together, lol! Don't tell me if it's complete crap, I don't want to know! XD

 

 

My nails were also so short here that I was pretty limited with what I could do. I hate it when my nails aren't at least to the tips of my fingers, but at least they grow quickly!

Whimsical Undies!!

I know what you're thinking and get your mind out of the gutter! A couple of weeks ago I finally decided to try out my bottle of Revlon Whimsical. So I slapped a coat on my naked nails...and then another...and another! By the third coat it still wasn't opaque and I wasn't a happy camper! I had seen some really pretty swatches of this polish and I wanted mine to look like that too! So I asked my Instagram ladies what was going on - did I get a bad batch? I was quickly informed that I needed to put something under this polish. I know that some of you are thinking, "duh Lindsey!" Well, I really don't ever use undies unless I'm doing nail art like a watermarble or something. Usually when I use a glitter polish, I prefer to use enough coats to make it mostly opaque.

So once I had accepted the fact that I needed some undies, I asked for suggestions and there were quite a few readily given! So I decided to try them all and share them with you! Each of these swatches is shown on it's own and then with 2 coats of Revlon Whimsical on top.

The first five polishes I tried are as follows from thumb to pinky: a England - Camelot, Wet 'n Wild -Megalast On A Trip, China Glaze - Lemon Fizz, Essie - Butler Please, OPI - If You Moust You Moust.

Next up in thumb to pinkie order is Catrice - Am I Blue Or Green?, MUA - Frozen Yoghurt, Essie - Go Overboard, China Glaze - For Audrey and GOSH - Silver.

And the third set is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On, Sinful Colors - Cinderella, Wet 'n Wild - Tickled Pink, Wet 'n Wild - Lexington Yellow and China Glaze - First Mate.

What do you think? Any you love, hate? I kinda like them all!

Abstract Stripes and Dots Nails

Good morning everyone, how are you all doing this fine Tuesday? I'm COLD!! When I went to take the kids to school this morning it was 12 degrees - brrrrrr! I had a pretty quiet weekend but I kind of like it that way. I haven't painted my nails in about 4 days so I'm really hoping to have time to do that very soon because I'm starting to jones for a nail polish fix!

 

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do when I started this mani. I just grabbed some polish, a striper and a dotting tool and this is what came out of that! The base is two coats of Wet 'n Wild Megalast - Wet Cement. I really love this color!! It's mostly a brown but it has a touch of gray in it and it's a truly lovely neutral. Then for the stripes and dots I used Wet 'n Wild Megalast - On A Trip, NYC In A New York Color Minute - Lexington Yellow, China Glaze - For Audrey and OPI - If You Moust You Moust.

 

I really love how this turned out - what do you think? My husband even commented that he liked that and he usually couldn't care less - score!

 

Purple Polkadot Nails

Helloski! How is everyone's Thursday so far? My week has been a bit of ups and downs but I'm still here and that's what counts, right?

 

I've got something simple for you today! I painted a base of 2 coats of Barry M - Berry Ice Cream and then slapped on some striping tape in a diagonal line across all 5 nails. This was a LOT harder than I thought it would be! You can see that in some places the strip of dots is thinner on some fingers but I think it turned out fairly well! The dots were made using the following colors, China Glaze - Gothic Lolita, a England - Avalon, Avon Nailwear Pro + - Decadence and NYC Long Wearing - French Tip White. I got this idea from a pin I saw on Pinterest but, unfortunately, the pin was not linked back to the source and there was no watermark. What do you think of this? I kinda think anything with dots is good!

 

 

 

Also, PLEASE help me make fabulous YouTube video tutorials by answering a couple of questions and giving me your opinions HERE! I appreciate you all so much!

 

Neon Stripe Nails

Hello Tuesday peeps! Sorry I didn't get around to blogging yesterday, Mondays always seem to be here and gone before I can even think about it. It was a great day though and I even managed to squeeze in a nap!

 

I really love today's nail art and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out! Not only that, but it was easy and that's always a plus in my book. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this whole striping tape thing. Although I do have one role that has a crinkle in it and as I unroll it, it splits and really cheeses me off! The colors I used for undies, starting with the thumb are two coats of each of the following, Illmasqua - Prosperity, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard, Catrice - Twist of Lemon, China Glaze - Papaya Punch and OPI - Kiss Me On My Tulips. The black was, of course, a England Camelot. I can see I'm gonna need a backup of that beautiful baby!

 

That's right...I have pink bubble wrap - who's jelly now? XD

 

Sorry for the tip wear, I decided to wait until the next morning to take pics and that was not the right decision!

 

I miss you guys, what's been going on with all of you - you've been so quiet! Hopefully you're just busy being fabulous!

Random Hearts Mani

It's Friday, it's Friday, oh yeah, oh yeah it's Friday! Can you tell that I'm excited about it being Friday? It's been a pretty good week though, I can't complain! How have all of you been doing?

I am so proud of these nails today, they turned out so much better than I thought they would! I never have time to do freehand art so this was really a treat! I've been seeing so many cute heart manicures going around and I was getting a little jealous! Of course, all those little pictorals that show you how "easy" it is to make a perfect heart are full of bunk! I made the two little dots and then used a brush to try to drag the polish down to a point to make the perfect heart and what I ended up with was not very heart-like! So I figured out my own best method. When I first did the hearts I wasn't too impressed with them but once I added the white highlights they really came to life! I also like the randomness of them. I really have an issue with randomness. I see all those awesome dotticures where the dots are randomly placed and they are so cute but every time I try to recreate it, it turns out a hot mess! I'm pretty sure that "random" is a skill all it's own and certainly one that I haven't mastered.

The polishes used here are a base of 2 coats of China Glaze Hang Ten Toes. This is such an awesome pink, I'm really loving it! Then the hearts are made using Catrice - Twist of Lemon, Barry M - Indigo, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifegaurd and the highlights are done with NYC Long Wear - French Tip White.

Black, Purple and Yellow Gradient Nails

T.G.I.F!!!! I can't tell you how happy I am that it's finally Friday! This week has been super busy at work and I am really ready for a break, how about you? I wish I had something exciting, or even interesting to talk about but I can hear work calling me and it's not going to shut up until I take care of it! With that said, I hope, in the near future to begin posting more interesting reading for you as opposed to just listing the polishes used and poppin' in a few pictures! I also really want to do video tutorials! They take a lot of preparation though and one of those prep steps involves cleaning my room and I am totally dreading that!

 

I keep seeing these gorgeous gradients all over IG and they make me drool so I decided to do one of my own! It turned out pretty good, I like the color combo, I just hate that my white undies are showing! In hindsight, I could have used the yellow underneath but I hadn't picked out my gradient colors at that point! The white undies is OPI Alpine Snow and the gradient colors are Avon Sunshine, China Glaze Gothic Lolita and a England Camelot. Then I slapped a coat of LA Colors Sassy Sparkle on top. I really wished I had taken pics before I put the glitter on it because I liked it better without it. I really need to get CG Fairy Dust or INM Northern Lights so that I can have a TINY bit of sparkle without overwhelming the design!

 

Sorry it wasn't an enthralling read but at least you got what was important, right? Love you all - mwah!

Waterspotted Nails

Happy Humpday - thank goodness! I'm late so I'll just list the polishes and leave you to it! This is the waterspotted design created by Cute Polish and I had to give it a try. My experience was that it was best to use room temp, filtered water and I actually used plain rubbing alcohol in a little spray bottle! Also, I first tried this with Wet 'n Wild Black Creme and it would not spread out in the water so I switched to aEngland Camelot (which almost made me cry!) and it was easy peasy from there!

 

Polishes Used:

Finger Paints (unlabeled hot pink)

China Glaze Papaya Punch

Barry M Indigo ( this polish is amaaaaazing!)

Catrice Twist Of Lemon

aEngland Camelot (the ULTIMATE black polish!)

 

Candy Land Watermarble

Hellooooo everyone! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty quiet but I don't mind that at all! It's been seriously cold around here - with the wind chill it's been below zero all weekend, BRRRRR!

 

I finally got my greedy little paws on some Jindie Nails Candy Land!!! It is such a beautiful polish and was actually easier to work with than I was expecting! I know a lot of people layer this over white but I really wanted the jelly sandwich effect with the max amount of those neon hexes so I used 3 coats of Candy Land by itself, isn't it gorgeous??

 

 

Then I wanted to do some nail art that would highlight this polish rather than cover it up. So I decided on a water marble using the colors that were already in the polish! I'm not 100% happy with the results, most of the colors ended up with too much coverage and you can't see the Candy Land underneath and the pinky is so sheer that it just looks weird to me! My thumb is more of the effect that I wanted to achieve. It's sheer enough to show the Candy Land but bright enough that you can tell it's a watermarble! From thumb to pinky, these are the polishes I used: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in Limeade, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Fuchsia Bling Bling, Bettina in Art Deco Yellow, China Glaze Gothic Lolita and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Freeze!

 

 

I hope you were all at least mildly entertained by this and willing to come back for more! :)

 

 

Golden Snake Stamp Nails

Hello pretties! Just a quick post today because work is completely crazy! This fun little mani uses China Glaze Foie Gras as a base color and then I used Revlon Golden for the stamping color with Mash plate 43. Do you like? Well too bad, it's all you're getting! Well, gotta run, ta-ta for now!