Manicure Monday : French Tips with a Gem!

I wanted to pant my nails something classic.  I had my toes done with my sister and did a French on them, they look so pretty, I decided to match my fingers!

When I was younger I would put tape across my nail and then paint the tip that was exposed.  As I grew older I saw that they basically make the same stuff I was using.  I bought it once, and then went back to the old masking tape.  It is wider, so I did not have to worry too much about how neat I was being, the smile strips they sell were just too thin for me.

Now days I just free hand them with white nail polish.  I used OPI's Alpine Snow on the tips.  I do not drag the nail polish brush across the nail, rather I just sort of make short swipes on the nail tips pulling it off the edge.

Manicure Monday : On Her Majesty's Secret Service-OPI

This week I wanted a darker color, but thought I should not go too dark, and figured that if it sparkled, then it would be acceptable.  

 

I am not completely sold on this color though.

In the bottle it looks like there should be a little more purple in it, but they almost look to be a denim color.  But, I will wear it out.

How often does this happen to you?  Where you have a color you want to wear, and it turns out to be a little off?

Manicure Monday : Metallic Blue

My nails have not been growing very long, and splitting and peeling and cracking and breaking lately.  It is a big bummer.  My mother always had really pretty nails, and I like to have nice nails too.

But instead of being a whiny baby.  I am working with them.  I rubbed oil all over them after I took off last week's polish, and then put lotion on them in hopes to help them get stronger/less dry.  I have been taking a multi vitamin, but that apparently hasn't been helping.  Or maybe it is making them grow too fast?

At any rate, this week I went with a Metallic Blue from my massive collection.  I wanted to go black, but I just thought it might be a little too dark, I mean, I really want Spring to show up sometime soon.. Hopefully we hit 50 outside this week, that would be nice.

Do you have any suggestions of what to do/try?  I am listening!

Manicure Monday : Light Pink

I have an interview on Tuesday!

I know, exciting right?  It is at the same company that I currently work, for a 'Project Coordinator' position, which is more aligned with my career goal of becoming a Meeting Planner with my current company.  It would be a very lateral move, but again, better aligned.

So with that in mind, I painted my nails a very muted light pink.  Profession, short nails, nothing flashy.

I would also like to say how I feel it is funny that people don't know the 'old school' way of handling follow up after an interview.  I had a friend that interviewed for a position.  After it, she was excited, and was like, well now I have to wait to hear if they like me!

Uh, correction friend.  You now need to bust out some thank you letters to these people. 

Do people now not write thank you letters/notes?  Really?

Manicure Monday : Heart

Simple design, and I was rushed. I appologize for it not looking as fab as it could have.

So I did a nude nail, and a purple heart as my accent nail.

You can find a tutorial here, if you would like to re-create it for yourself.  I used a little different tecnique.  I basically take 2 dots, and drag them to a point.  Same idea, but different.

 



Manicure Monday : Pink

I don't usually color my nails pink. This week I did because it is coming up on Valentine's Week, and the Hubster likes me to be girly.

Do not get me wrong, I love make up, hair and nails. I just have not ever enjoyed pink, or dresses.

When it is something special, I will wear a dress. The first time I wore one was our first Birthday dinner for him. The bummer about being 'girly' is I enjoy heels, and with a dress, I feel I need them. The Hubster is only about 3 inches taller than I.

I wear about 3" heels. I wore a pair for our wedding as well.

Which makes me just as tall as he. And, makes me feel less girly. I am not sure if you have ever tried to find shorter than 3" heels. It can be quite a challenge.

Anywho, this week's color is Pink.

What do you do to try to be 'girly'?

Manicure Monday : Dark Gray Sparkle

Unlike last week, I know what color this is!  I have a gray sparkle on.  Still dark, and still holographic.

I like the holographic because it makes me smile in the middle of the day when I take a moment to enjoy the little things.

Manicure Monday : Dark Teal Sparkle

This week I did a darker color. It's a teal-ish color. I wouldn't say blue, I wouldn't say grey either. But it has a sparkle.  A sort of holographic sparkle.

Manicure Monday : New Years

I am going to go to my friend's house tonight for New Years. She actually told me there is a 'no sequin' rule. I am not sure that I will be following it though... We will see.

I am not that impressed with my nails. The 2013 is good, but the paint drip thing- not the best, and it wasn't completely dry by the time I showered, so it smushed and I had to re-flatten it.

In other news, my resolutions for the year were simple: paint an accent nail every time I paint them (failed on this the week of Christmas, and Thanksgiving), wear earrings everyday- I did improve over last year at least, and the last one was to try, on average one new recipe per week. Which I did. I had started out the year by posting them on the facepage, but then my mate's aunt seemed to think we were in competition, which took the fun out of it. But based on photos I have on my phone, and recipes I remember, I made about 54 new recipes. So, that was successful! :)

I am still working on resolutions for 2013, have you figured out yours? Please share!!

Manicure Monday : Steal My Heart

Well, I went to the Dentist today. That was fun.  I haven't been to the dentist in 4 or so years.  I have cavities. Too many.  And I need to schedule to have a deep cleaning instead of just a regular 6 month check up cleaning.  So that will be more fun.

My little nephew also had surgery today.  He had his tonsils and adenoids removed, and his tubes replaced.  He is 2.5 years old. He seemed okay when I visited him, we watch some Madagascar 3, and played with his dinosaurs, and I brought some coloring pages.  He should be fine, other than eating soft, like, runny foods for 10 days.  Poor kid, and over the holidays too.  I am watching him on Saturday as his dad is going out the night before, and won't necessarily be in baby watching condition while my sister is at work.

Either way, for this fun filled day, I painted the nails with a steel gray polish, and painted an itty bitty heart on my accent nail.

Do you have any plans for the holidays?  Christmas is next week already!

Manicure Monday : Christmas Tree

For this week, I decided to try out the Christmas tree thing that I've seen a fair amount on Pintrest.

Mine didn't turn out as cute as some of the others I have seen, but, they are all right.

Just a few more weeks left of this year, and this is probably one of the only New Year's resolutions I have kept.

The other one that I may have kept, is to try a new recipe once a week, which would be 52 recipes..
I will have to go through my phone photos to see if I did it.. I might have though.. :)

Manicure Monday : Snowman!

My finger nails aren't very long right now. I had originally wanted to have a 3 ball snowman, but he looks okay with just the two.

I used some if those nail art metal sticks. I bought them on eBay some time ago. They seem to work pretty decent.

Before the sticks, I would use a dried out pen, or a toothpick. It's kind of nice to have the metal ones though.

Hope you like!

Manicure Monday : Maroon and Gold

Hello!
It's Thanksgiving this week!  I LOVE Thanksgiving.  It is my most favorite holiday of the year! Everyone gets together, they eat a bunch of food, and then they just hang out.  There is no giving or receiving of gifts, just people hanging out, engaging in fellowship with one another.

I painted my nails with Thanksgiving in mind, and I decided to do a maroon and gold look.

I am not going to lie, it is really similar to my black cherry and gold manicure I did back in September, but I swear it's not the same, it's a little different.

I painted all my nails with the exception of my ring finger maroon, and painted my ring finger gold.  Then I followed up with gold glitter on the tips, doing a little big of a gradient on them, and then I did all over gold glitter on the gold nail.  Sealed it in with a top coat, and viola! We have a manicure people.

What is your favorite Holiday?

Manicure Monday : French Tips!

I got Married on Saturday! But on Friday night as we were running around we still needed to get our nails done, and a spray tan.
Thankfully we found a place at 7:45pm that would take us for mani/pedis.

I got a gel french manicure with a rhinestone, pretty traditional.

We will see how long it lasts!

Update: It lasted like a week, and then I started chipping it off, which was a bad idea.  It tore off little layers of my nails, and they needed a lot of nail TLC.

Manicure Monday : Teal Sparkle!

Sometimes when my nail polish matches my shirt and even other clothes that no one can see, it really does make me feel like I have my sh*t together. Even if it is for that moment that I realize it.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way, right? :)

Manicure Monday : Spooky Eyes

It's the week of Halloween!

And with that in mind, I painted my nails black, I had seen on Pintrest these cute little googly eyed guys, and I knew I wanted to recreate them!  The original pin was from the Icy Nails blog.

It's pretty basic.  Use a pen/pencil/toothpick, or anything with a tip, and put a large dot of the white. Once that is dry, then go back with a smaller tipped item, and put a little black dot on it to make the pupil.  Then, seal it with a topcoat!

Hope you enjoyed. Check out Icy Nails' blog, and if you tried it, let me know! I would love to share your photos!

Manicure Monday : Purple Glitter

Hello Hello Hello!!!
It.
             is
                           Monday!!

Are you ready for this?! No? 

Well, you better get off my page man.

So, today we are sporting a fantastic purple manicure, with a fantastic glitter polish, looking pretty snazzy, right?!

Hope you like it!!

Manicure Monday : Black Cherry and Gold

This week, we are going Black Cherry and Gold Glitter Gradient.

I talked in a previous post about how to do the gradient, you can find that post here.

It's a pretty easy technique, and not too difficult.  I do hope you try it sometime for yourself sometime soon(and also that you share a photo with me of your handy work, and I will post it)!

Manicure Monday : Leopard Spots

Happy Monday!

Well, yesterday I decided I wanted grey nails, and to add a little pop of fun in the mix,  I have done a leopard print before in my life, this time though, I decided to do the pink leopard look.

I promise you this: it is actually easy!  Paint your nails a base color. and then grab a contrasting color, and put some on a piece of paper or something, and dip the tip of a pencil, toothpick, anything that has a tip of some sort, and kind of dab it on in a dot sort of formation, or drag it a little into a 'v'.  Keep them pretty spaced out, because you need to add the black outline to it too!  For that, put a dab of your darkest, 1 coat coverage black, or other preferred color, and just sort of add a thin line with the tip of a toothpick or what have you around the edge of the dots, 2 or 3 marks should be good.  And then put your top coat on.

Then, as you walk around sporting your super sweet nail art, let everyone know what a bad A** you are.  Because you did it yourself.

I just googled it, and came across this polish-a-holic's site: Candy Coated Tips.  Same idea, grey and pink.

Have you tried this look, or do you have a nail art design you would like to share?!  Let me know below!