31DC2016 Day 13: Beetle Nails

Today's prompt for the 31 Day Challenge is "animal print" . As much as I love a leopard or zebra pattern, last night I was exhausted and went for something super simple. Beetle nails aren't exactly a print, but it falls into the animal category at least. What counts is that the nails are pretty!

Pink Skittlette With UberChic

Great news guys! I have a new computer! A friend of ours built it for us, wasn't that so nice? Thanks dude (he's never going to read this)! Only thing is, I still need Photoshop installed, and an auxiliary camera card reader. So for now I will be showing you another post I've had saved up in my draft file. Why haven't I published it yet? Good question, I don't really know why. You can tell how long I've been hanging on to this though by looking at how GREEN the grass is in the background. All of my outside photos have white backgrounds now, haha.

Fade Into You Valentine Gradient

In case you couldn't tell by my recent manis, or the calendar, Valentine's Day is almost here. Do you have any special plans? Dinner with your sweetheart? Partying with your girlfriends? Cuddling with your kitty? The hubby and I have plans to do something. We just haven't planned what that something is yet. We prefer to avoid the crowds and celebrate before or after the 14th. Something about mobs of hungry people just doesn't say "romance" to me. If you are braving the crowds and don't have dinner reservations, I have a helpful tip. After three+ years of working as a hostess I can tell you it doesn't hurt to attempt a little bribery. Or if you're not into that, you might want to bring some crackers to munch on while you wait two hours for your table.

Candy Striped Valentine

Alright ladies, you asked for it (*not really)! I have another Valentine's Day mani for y'all. This mani's design is cute and simple and was inspired by Very Emily's Pinstripe Bow Nails. I LOVED how Emily put the hearts together to create a darling little bow. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to recreate it. What could be more perfect than making it into a Valentine's mani?

Blooming Valentine Hearts

Happy Saturday everyone! Anyone else as excited as I am that it's the last day of January? It feels twice as long as every other month each year. I feel a little giddy now it's over. I am already in full-swing with Valentine's Day nail art. My draft box is lined up with a number of them for the next couple weeks. Get ready for a lot of pink!

Neapolitan Ice Cream With Caramel

Recently I was having random thoughts about Neapolitan ice cream (random being the operative word). And like just about any thought I have nowadays, it leads me to wonder, 'How could I put that on my nails?' So that's how today's mani happened. I was reminded of my idea when I did last week's Quatrefoil Skittlette, with two of the shades looking a little like chocolate and vanilla. If I remember correctly, the brand we always bought when I was a kid had the vanilla in the middle. For this design though I kept the colors a little more muted and arranged in a gradient fashion. Then for a little more pizzazz, I added caramel sprinkles on top. Yum!  

Candy Cane Swirl

My number one rule for December: keep life simple, simple, simple. With the tendency for the holiday season to get a little frantic, I can be easily overwhelmed. Once that happens, I curl up in a ball and get nothing accomplished. So I aim to keep the presents easy, not overload my schedule, and go with the flow. Of course, just as I cross everything off my list and reach my zen, I remember my son's birthday is three days after Christmas :P. He's turning five this year, which means I can't keep his celebrations as basic as I once did.

Now on to the nails. In accordance with my above^ rule, I have kept my nails s i m p l e. Thinking of a complicated design hurts my brain right now. And really, I just like how this looks better. 

Luxe Birthday Nails

Another year, another birthday. Which is awesome news for me because that means more nail polish! I had a plan for festive birthday nails for today, but my stamping plates still haven't arrived (grr). So instead I decided to celebrate with something that is simply beautiful and luxurious.

31DC2014 Day 21: A Color That Can't Be Tamed

I didn't go super, over-the-top creative with today's prompt. To figure out what to do I searched through my nail polish collection, paying attention to the names, and came up with a handful of ideas. Then I picked the easiest one. The color that I was inspired by is Sephora by OPI A Color That Can't Be Tamed. Hence the "wild" leopard print. And who doesn't love a good leopard print?

OMD2 Challenge Day 11- Rainbow

I loooove this mani! I've been wearing it for three days now and I really need to take it off to do another one for the challenge. So sad. I really don't want to. I've probably looked at my nails 500 times since I did these. I didn't take photos, but even my right hand looks just as good! Okay, sorry, I'll stop gushing now.

OMD2 Challenge Day 6 - Duochrome

Today's OMD2 Challenge prompt is duochrome. I LOVE the way duochromes look in the bottle. They still look pretty cool once they're on the nail, but I'm always just slightly disappointed. For that reason, and for the fact that I have a hard time finding good ways to use them in nail art, I don't own many. The duochrome featured in this mani, Sephora by OPI Nifty Shades of Gray, is one of about five that I have. Since I've done a couple labor intensive nail art manicures recently, I went real low key with this one.

Scottish Festival and Highland Games

This weekend my family and I had a fun time at the annual Highland Games held here. The weather was perfect (it was strangely cold for the middle of June but eventually warmed up), so we were able to spend a few hours there. We listened to bagpipes, watched a dancing competition, my son battled a medieval knight, and did a little shopping too. Last year my husband picked up a kilt, a Douglas Clan tartan. This year we shopped to find a sporran to go with it.

Of course I had to have nails appropriate for the festival, so this is what I came up with.

Wild Zebra Hearts Can't Be Broken

Remember my last post when I said that I was ready for bright, bold, and crazy nails? Well this is what I was talking about! I have been sucked into the 80's flashback current, and I'm just going with it. Bright colors make me happy, and wearing this mani was a blast!

Royally Pink and Gold

Happy Friday everyone! Some exciting news for me- Nail Polish Society is finally on Instagram! I'm still working on uploading photos and such. Feel free to start following me now because tomorrow I have a special surprise! Okay, I'll spoil the surprise... I'm having another giveaway! To celebrate finally getting on the IG bandwagon I've got one super duper prize. You won't want to miss it. Seriously.

Birch and Umbel Nails Snippet

Hello everyone! Today's post is short and sweet. Enjoy!

Garden Critters Skittle Nails

I've had this design in mind for weeks and finally had the courage to try it. I say that because I have never tried any of these designs before, and I get intimidated by trying something new. I have this bad habit of being afraid of failure. So I bit the bullet, spent a couple hours on it (or more), and here is the finished product. I am so happy to say that this mani came out just as I had envisioned it!

I had been thinking about the theme of Spring and that led to the idea of bugs. I thought it would be cool to do another macro design like the one I did for my black and white animal prints. I wanted to think of a fifth bug, but couldn't come up with one that would be easy to do or not totally creepy. So I went with a snail instead because they are kind of adorable.

Here's the long list of polishes I used. I used the same black on each nail, Sephora by OPI What's a Tire Jack?

Ladybug: OPI Red Hot Ayers Rock

Butterfly: Sephora by OPI Hi Def- orange, China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin- yellow/orange, China Glaze Lighthouse- yellow glass fleck, Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Caterpillar: Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Sephora by OPI Yellow My Name is Betsey

Beetle: Sephora by OPI S-age Is Just a Number

Snail: OPI Don't Preztel My Buttons- shell base color, OPI A-Piers To Be Tan- medium brown, mixed colors for snail body

What do you think? Would you try this mani yourself, or maybe just one of these designs on all of your nails? Would you like to see a tutorial?  I hope you enjoyed the post. Have a great weekend!

Please show some love and follow me on facebook, twitter, bloglovin', or pinterest! And thank you to all of my loyal readers. You guys are the bestest!!

xx Emiline xx

These Are But Wild And Whirling Nails

I think about my nails and my blog A LOT. When someone catches me lost in thought and ask what's on my mind, more often that not I have to admit, "Umm... my blog". It's a little embarrassing that I seem so obsessed, but honestly I'm grateful to have a "safe place" for my mind to wander back to. In that last few months when life has gotten rough, I have had something positive to focus on, and help push out negative thoughts.

My point in this brief exposé will eventually get to this mani. As a result of nails being constantly on my mind, I often come up with ideas right as I'm falling asleep. I love getting those creative surges, but sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I can't remember my brilliant revelation! I used to have an excellent memory, which my kids have sneakily stolen from me. So when I actually remember something, it's a moment of pure joy! And when that memory actually ends up being something cool, and not a sleep-filled idea that turns out to be pure crap, it's even better. As promised, my point: this spiraling dotted swirl was one such idea I had the other night. It's pretty cool, don't you think?!

As happy as I was to remember this idea, and that it turned out so neat, I was really annoyed that it took soooo long. I'm talking hours here. I usually enjoy the zen-ful peace I get from the tedium of nail art, but this was a stretch for me. I've been wearing this for three days now to balance the time-creating/time-worn ratio. Plus, when I am feeling stressed out, I can just look at the swirl and hypnotize myself into a calm trance.

So as usual, it was worth it in the end. But I can't say that I have a desire to ever do it again. Then again, I can't promise I won't... ;).

For my index and middle fingers, I started with a white base color of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Then I used my DRK-A Large stamping plate with Sephora by OPI I'm Wired to add the coral swirls.

On my thumb and pinky, I have a base color of Zoya Caitlin, and stamped with Konad Special Polish in white. I tried doing the white swirls with MBSW, but it didn't show up as well.

For my accent nail I used a rhinestone picker-upper to add dots of MBSW, Caitlin, and I'm Wired. I alternated the colors starting in the middle, then overlapping them in an outward swirl. This took me a few hours because I had to wait a little in between each dot so the colors didn't all smush together.

I finished off each nail with a Seche Vite top coat. 

What I used:
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls- white
Zoya Caitlin- gray purple
Sephora by OPI I'm Wired- coral
Konad Special Polish White
Seche Vite top coat
DRK-A Large stamping plate


Do you like it? At what point does a manicure take so long that it's just not worth it anymore? Don't want to miss any of my future half-unconscious inspired posts? Please follow me on facebook, bloglovin', or twitter!

xx Emiline xx

Easter Chevrons

Happy Friday everyone! Are you all ready for Easter? I'm not at all! I haven't gotten a thing for my kids. I'm taking advantage of the fact that they're still young enough to not have expectations. Thank goodness for grandparents, because I'm basically depending on them to do all the work for me :). My mom and her husband are hosting the egg hunt and dinner. I'm just going to try to relax and focus on singing well in the choir at church. My allergies are still giving me grief, so I'm all little anxious about it. At least my nails are ready and looking good!

For this mani I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White and then top coat. It was late at night when I started, so I just left it at that until the morning. Unfortunately, I got a little bit of shrinkage from the Seche Vite top coat. Grr. Anyway... next I used some craft scissors and Scotch tape to make the chevron shapes, and tape off different areas of my nails. Then I painted on four different shades on a makeup sponge, and dabbed the sponge on each nail a couple of times before removing the tape. For the chick (isn't he tweet? ;)) I used a dotting tool for the eyes and a tiny nail art brush for the beak. I finished everything off with another coat of Seche Vite. Let's hope it doesn't shrink it too much this time :/

What I used:
Sinful Colors Snow Me White
Sephora by OPI Yellow My Name is Betsey
China Glaze At Vase Value- blue
China Glaze In a Lily Bit- lilac
Jenna Hipp Hashtag- peach
Jenna Hipp Damage Control- pink
Seche Vite top coat

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all have a great Sunday! I am looking forward to spending time with family and eating yummy deviled eggs. :)

Forever 21 Love & Beauty Nail Polish Swatches and Review

Ahh, the hazards of working at the mall. I work in a multitude of locations, which exposes me to way too many establishments that sell nail polish! The other day on my lunch break, I happened into Forever 21 to see what they had to offer, and found a number of unique polishes that needed a home (specifically, my home).

It took a while to make a decision on which ones to get, pretty much my entire 20 minute break. Is it a problem that I prioritized nail polish shopping over providing my body nourishment? I finally whittled my selection down to just six, but I have a feeling I'll be back for more. I've swatched them all for you, because I'm the nicest ever, and will share some thoughts on them.

The first thing you should know is that none of these polishes have names on the bottles. I think you're familiar with how I, and any other lacquerhead, feel about nail polish names. Five of the six names I have provided with the photos came from the Forever 21 website. The sixth one I couldn't find on the website. Secondly, you might be wondering where I'm getting the name "Love & Beauty". Good question. Once again, it doesn't appear on the front of the bottle or on the label, but I got it from the website.
Without further ado, here are the photos:

Pink Confetti has a bubblegum pink base with multicolored and multi-sized glitter. I used two coats, plus topcoat. The formula was easy to apply and there is a lot of glitter payout in just two coats. I used two mostly to get the pink base more opaque. I think the combination of colors in the glitter is fun and festive. Perfect for a birthday party, don't you think?

Festive is a milky white base with green, gold holo, and orange glitter. I used two coats, plus topcoat. The glitter is not as dense as Pink Confetti, but I like that. This polish would have been perfect in a St.Patrick's Day mani. I'll have to make a note for next year. IMO, the name Festive would have been more appropriate for Pink Confetti.

Subtle Blue Confetti is a robin's egg blue base with magenta and teal hex glitter, as well as holo bar glitter that didn't show in my photos. As the oh-so-clever name suggests, it has a more "subtle" amount of glitter, which is great because it's so wearable. This was two coats, plus top coat.

Mint Confetti (shown over Sephora by OPI Give Peach a Chance) has a clear base with mint and white glitter. The mint glitter has a pretty sheen to it that adds a special touch. This is one carefully-placed coat, plus top coat. For another look, I used this in my Heavenly Pastels mani.

This no-name polish (shown over Sephora by OPI Casting Call) is the one I couldn't find online. It has a clear base and a variety of silver holographic microglitter, shards, and hearts. This is the one polish that I had to put some effort into the application. I really wanted to get those darn hearts on! I had to fish around more than I hoped to to find any, so I just stuck with two. I like the shards of glitter the most.

Cosmic Matter has a deep grey base color with chunky silver glitter. You can see in the photos the bumpiness this glitter creates. I like that it makes it have a textured look, without it being rough. I don't have another grey polish like this. This is two coats, plus top coat.

I ended up wearing this polish the longest. I can't remember how long I wore it for (hours? a day?), but I know that it started to chip pretty quickly. For the price I bought them for, it isn't much of a surprise. Still, if you wear your polishes for more than a day, it might be a concern for you.

Mint Confetti retailed at $3.80. The rest were all $2.80. I purchased them in store, and they are also available at Forever21.com. Some additional thoughts:

What I liked:

• Fun, unique colors
• A good variety of glitters
• Formulas were easy to apply
• Inexpensive!

What I didn't like:

• Caps that are bulky and don't line up correctly when screwed back on. If you're OCD, this will drive you nuts!
• No names on the bottle!! Why?? How hard is it? Stormy Gray.. bam! There's a name. Pink Surprise.. bam! Another name. You Make My Heart Sparkle... bam! Someone give me a job already. It took me 5 seconds to come up with three names. Yes they have "names" on the website, but I want them on my bottle! (Also, the disconnect of the name "Love & Beauty".)
• Cosmic Matter chipped quickly.

So what do you think? Do you own any of Forever 21's polishes? Any of them catch your eye? I hope this review was helpful for you. Let me know in the comments!

Melting Snow Drips

The saying goes that if you don't like the weather here in Utah, just wait five minutes and it will change. It's a cliche that I assume could apply to most places (except Seattle where it only ever rains). Nevertheless, it is very true about our weather here. Spring is such a funny and finicky season that is totally unpredictable. The weather can be a balmy 70 degrees one moment, and then snowing the next. The guessing game can be a fun adventure, as long as you don't find yourself caught in the snow wearing shorts and flip-flops. We can get unexpected snowstorms all the way up until June. They are usually short, and the snow starts melting as soon as they're over. Which brings us to... the melting snow was my inspiration for this Spring themed mani!

I was trying really hard to do this mani quickly. Both my kids decided to take a nap, and I never know how much time that'll give me. I think this took me just about an hour. An hour is pretty quick for me as I like to take my time. This is only my second time doing a drip mani (here's my first), and the drips didn't all come out quite as I intended. I think I'll practice this technique a little more and work on my drips.

Upside down drips! It's like watching the rain in reverse. :)

What I used:
Sephora by OPI Frankly I Don't Give A-dam- medium grey
Sephora by OPI Break A Leg-Warmer!- dark grey
Sephora by OPI White Hot- white
Sephora by OPI Meet Me At the Disco- glitter
Essie Bikini So Teeny- blue

What do you think? Do you like crazy weather? I am not a big fan of snow, but I LOVE storms! Maybe I should do a storm mani in the future...hmmm.