Up A Tree

A few weeks back Alison from ALIQUID Lacquers had a nail art contest with the theme "Young At Heart". I gave it some thought on what that meant to me. The one thing that came to mind when thinking about what makes me feel young at heart was climbing trees. In my original Instagram post I wrote, "One of my favorite childhood pastimes was climbing trees. If you couldn't find me, I was probably up in a tree. I was quite the tomboy back then. On the rare occasion I will still find myself high in the branches of some tree looking out through the leaves and it brings me back to more innocent days."

Autumn Dotticure With Barry M Polishes

Happy Monday everyone! I have some super simple, yet oh so seasonally appropriate nail art for you today. I used a couple untrieds for this mani- Barry M Watermelon and Chili- that my mom brought back from London for me earlier this year. I asked her to get me some Barry M but didn't tell her which colors and those were the two she chose. They're not in my usual taste as colors go, but I really liked them once I tried them on! They go together so well too.

Bordered Half Moons

Hello everyone! How ya'll doing? I can't believe it's going to be June tomorrow! It seems like winter lasts a lifetime, and then before you know it, it's 100 degrees and I'm dying from heat stroke. I'm just so glad that I live in such an arid climate and don't have to worry about humidity! Yesterday there were storm clouds hovering that raised the humidity to probably something like 3%, and it was getting uncomfortable. Haha. Well I know talking about the weather is so fascinating (okay, but it seriously is for me), so we will move on to the nails..

Nude Nail With Two Toned Tips

Today I have a subtle and elegant mani for you. I've had this is mind for a long time. I think now was a good time for something simple, because I have some crazy stuff in mind for December. I don't know how many of my ideas will be realized and make it to the blog. I hope at least a few of them do! (They always seem super awesome in my head, but don't always turn out that way!) 

In this mani I really wanted to show off the base color, Barry M Lychee. I love this shade and the formula is pretty good too! When I bought this polish I also got PiCture POlish Splendour in the same order, along with some others. I tried the two together and was pleasantly surprised by the results. I loved the subtlety of the pair.  

I started with two coats of Barry M Lychee. When it was completely dry, I taped off a small section at the tip of each nail with striping tape. I applied one coat of Ulta Twilight to the taped off section and removed all the tape. Then I repeated the process with one coat of Zoya Pepper, this time with the tape going the other direction, overlapping the section already painted. Then over the entire nail I applied one coat of PiCture POlish Splendour. Splendour adds just a little bit of extra specialness with those beautiful flakies. It was all finished off with a coat of Seche Vite.

What I used:
Barry M Lychee
Ulta Twilight
Zoya Pepper
PiCture POlish Splendour
Seche Vite top coat

I think this could be pulled off in a more conservative office work environment. I've never had that kind of job before, so I couldn't say for sure. But I have a pretty good feeling about it :).
Thanks for reading (or just looking if you didn't read any of the other text)! Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Breast Cancer Awareness Nails: Save the Ta Tas

I didn't initially have plans to do a Breast Cancer Awareness mani this month. It was when I was browsing Try My Hand's BCAM post, featuring half moons and french tips, that my genius idea struck. Then I couldn't wait to do this post, and I am endlessly amused by it.

See what I did here? PLEASE tell me you see what I did here. LOL.

I "enhanced" the half moons to be a little bigger than usual by reshaping a couple of paper reinforcements. First I applied a couple coats of nude polish and topped it with Seche Vite. When it was completely dry I used the paper reinforcements to mask off above my cuticles and painted the pink above it. Then I finished with another coat of SV.

I painted the ribbon on in like, two seconds. I wanted to do some fancy water marbling on a couple of my fingers, but finally gave up after an hour's worth (or more) of failed attempts. I finally settled on a sponge gradient on my thumb. Then as quick as I could, I painted a reverse gradient ribbon so I could finally be done!  I know this doesn't look like it took much time to do, but I tried a ton of stuff to finally end up with this. I'm so glad this is what I ended up with because I love it!

What I used:
paper reinforcements
Barry M Lychee- nude
Sephora by OPI What Aura Gonna Wear?- deep hot pink
Clinique Pinkini- bubble gum pink
Jenna Hipp Damage Control- pastel pink

This is for all you lovely ladies and gents(don't forget you have breasts too!). Be healthy and well!
Especially to anyone who has been, or has loved ones affected by this disease. Much love to you. <3

33 Challenge Day 03: Tape Mani

I LOVE each and every one of these polishes. This features some polishes that have been patiently waiting to be used again. I've been trying to find a way to incorporate them into the 31 Day Challenge that I've been participating in. They just haven't found an opportunity to shine yet, so now it's time. I also welcome another chance to do a tape mani because I love the way they look!

I loved the golden shimmer in my water marble mani, so I tried to somewhat imitate that effect here.

One of my very most favoritest polishes is my OPI Wooden Shoe Like Too Know. It has the prettiest pink and gold micro shimmer in it.

I started off with two coats of Barry M Lychee and topped it with Seche Vite, so it could dry extra fast. Then I layed down all my striping tape pieces on each nail. Over the stripes I used three different polishes to make the colors swirl together a bit. I tried to get all the colors on quickly so they didn't start to dry at all before I removed the tape. On my ring finger I placed the striping tape in a "v" and painted the polish below and above it.

Mmm, chocolate and gold goodness.

What I used:
Barry M Lychee- nude
OPI Wood Shoe Like to Know-deep taupe brown
Ulta Chocolate Kisses- warm red-purple brown
Sephora by OPI I Only Shop Vintage- shimmery toffee-gold
Zoya Maria Louisa- amber gold flake
Seche Vite top coat

striping tape

I love that it's Fall and I can really utilize these colors. Not that there's a rule against using them the rest of the year, but they just fit so well right now!