31DC2016 Day 14: Roses and Tweed

I am typing furiously to get this in under the wire. I have been doing fairly well so far with the the 31 Day Challenge without too many hiccups. I don't know how or why, but suddenly I lost my mojo. This is my fourth attempt at a floral mani. FOURTH. What happened??! Anyhoo, I used a nail decal that I bought ages ago and finally tried out. It's beautiful right? It's also a piece of junk. I will be totally honest and tell you I photoshopped (attempted that is, you can still tell) the edges of the decal to make it look like it actually lays flat on the nail. It didn't. But I simply couldn't try a fifth look. #sorrynotsorry. 

31DC2016 Day 11: Dotted Daisies

I know today's prompt for the 31 Day Challenge is "polka dots", but in the past I've just interpreted it as making a design any which way with dots. Because I do what I want. So that's what I've done again today. I actually did this exact mani a couple weeks ago but wasn't pleased with how it photographed so I didn't post it. Well here we go again, because I don't love these photos either. Getting metallic polishes to photograph well is a constant struggle of mine. I do like these nails so much though. I even wore them outside the house for other people to see, which is rare these days.

31DC2016 Day 1: Red Poppies

Hello my wonderful Society Sisters! Well, here we are. The first day of the 31 Day Challenge 2016! It's just the first day of school when everything is fresh and new and exciting. Then reality sets in and you're loading with homework and stress before you know it. But let's not spoil this moment of newness and anticipation. Let's talk about what I came up with!

ABC Challenge: P is for Paint

Happy Friday everyone! This is the last weekday before the kids start back at school! Where did Summer go?? Believe me, I'm not complaining. I'm so ready for Fall. I'm just trying to wrap my head around how fast time is flying. Moving on to the nails now..

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Spring

Hello ladies! Who is excited about Easter weekend? It's one of my favorite holidays so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm joining in today with another 40 Great Nail Art Ideas link-up and I love today's theme. I could  have been a little more outside the box with the Spring prompt, but why pass up a perfect opportunity to do a floral mani?

Hehe 075 Stamping Plate Review

*provided for honest review

Hello there my fine friends! I have another Hehe stamping plate review for you today! My previous one was my Harry Potter nails that I just adored. I have created two different looks using this plate from the Plaids and Floral collection. The collection is full of timeless images that go SO well together. I don't usually do two looks in one post. I like to milk it as much as I can to make sure I post often enough. But since these manis are made using the same plate I'm giving it a try.

Guest Post By Paulina's Passions

Dzień dobry moi drodzy! I am just thrilled to share with you today's guest post brought to you by the amazing Paulina's Passions! I have been following Paulina's blog since I started blogging and have loved every single thing she does. Her manis are classy, photos are perfect, and she is the queen of florals. I have tried to recreate her magic on a few occasions including this attempt at her Nautical Rose Nails, one of my favorites of hers. My recreations are never quite up to snuff but I'll keep trying! It is no surprise that Paulina has created the perfect floral nail art once again, but this time it's for little ol' me! Squee! 

Hi my lovelies. Here it's Paulina from Paulina's Passions. Today I am taking over Emiline's blog to show you a cute floral nail art. I am so excited to be here as I have been an admirer and reader of Emiline's blog for ages and she is one of of my favorite bloggers! As you may know she just had the cute, little baby Alice and to take some of the blog work off her shoulders I am writing a blog post for her. Let's take a look at some pretty flowers.

31DC2014 Day 31: Honor Nails You Love- Very Emily's Floral Houndstooth Nails

Hallelujah! I did it! I'm done! *Cue Chariots of Fire* I have come to the end of my second 31 Day Challenge both totally exhausted and energized. 

For the last Challenge prompt, Honor Nails You Love, I chose this Floral Houndstooth mani by my darling friend Emily of Very Emily. I totally gushed over Emily's nails when I saw her post, and I immediately knew that I would have to try and recreate them. I am so in love! I think this one ends the Challenge with a bang, don't you?

31DC2014 Day 30: Inspired by Lucy's Stash's One Stroke Abstract Petals

The penultimate day of the 31 Day Challenge! I'm telling you, I am completely exhausted. I think I've been staring at the screen for about 20 minutes now without writing a thing, because my brain just wants to sleep. So I'll be succinct.
For today's Inspired by a Tutorial prompt I tried to follow this tutorial by Lucy's Stash. She is absolutely amazing with her one-stroke method manis. I have never tried the one-stroke method before and still felt a little lost after watching the video. Watching it a second time would have helped a ton, but by the time I got started with my mani the computer was occupied. So I kind of just went for it and created some random flower-like shapes.

31DC2014 Day 14: Patriotic-esque Floral Print

I had a few floral designs ideas for today. I decided against all of them yesterday once I saw a lady in church wearing this pattern. I almost asked her if I could take a photo of her dress for reference. But I don't know her and didn't want her to think I was a weirdo. Because people who do know me already know I'm a weirdo.

31DC2014 Day 12: Stripes and Blue Floral

Today has been busy, busy. So I needed to figure out a mani that was quick and easy, but I still needed it to look good of course! Ever since my dear friend Emily of Very Emily did this fabulous guest post for me, I've been wanting to copy her design. I just love the concept of these stripes over the floral decals. I put my own twist on it and am loving the result.

OMD2 Challenge Day 30- Fashion Inspired

Hello lovelies! I was in a race against myself to see how quickly I could do this mani and get the post finished. I had a plan to go to the gym that I don't want to give up on. It takes me a long time to do my posts typically, so I didn't think I would have time. I really wanted to try this mani for today's Challenge prompt though, so I thought I would give it a try. 

Tiptoe Through the Tulips With MoYou Stamping

Last week I got my MoYou London prize in the mail! I won it in a trivia contest they had on Twitter. I love trivia, so the prize was more of an afterthought. That is, until I won it. I was totally giddy about getting to choose from their Pro Collection stamping plates. I chose the XL 14 plate specifically for the tulip pattern. When I asked on my facebook page which stamp from the plate I should do first, the tulips was the first response, which is what I wanted to do anyway!

Spring Is Sprung

Hello lovelies! How are you enjoying your Spring so far? Today is a perfectly sunny day and I'm enjoying it while I can, because who know what next week will bring. Already down the street our neighbor's cherry tree is blooming. Each year it's the first to serve as evidence of the changing season. Now I am looking forward to more flowers blossoming, warmer weather, and longer days.

I am celebrating the start of Spring with some colorful floral nails. For the mani I used four China Glaze polishes from their new Spring 2014 City Flourish collection. I plan to swatch these shades and have them posted next week. For now, let's look at the photos!

I love how simple and easy florals are. You can be as abstract as you want and it still comes out pretty. I had planned to do more of a watercolor look for the flowers, but didn't realize how much it would blend in with the tan base color. I found this out by testing it on my right hand first, then decided to switch it up for my left hand. I am going to try a watercolor mani again soon and hope it comes out how I envision it.

What I used:
At Vase Value- bright pastel mint blue
Don't Honk Your Thorn- nude with silver microshimmer
In a Lily Bit- lilac
Metro Pollen-tin- orangey yellow
Seche Vite top coat


I hope you're having a great beginning to your Spring (or Fall for all you Southies)! Will you be sporting any floral nails?
Don't forget to come back and check out my full swatches of these four shades.

33 Day Challenge 10: Flowers

I didn't have much of a plan for today's design. I kind of wanted to see what I could come up in the process, by painting random shapes to see what it would turn into. I came up with a color palette, which I'm really pleased with, and would love to use again in another mani. I wanted my flowers to have an Autumn feel to them so I went with more muted shades. Similar to yesterday's post, I like the subdued feel here.

I started with three coats of OPI No Bees Please. I have always been in love with this color. It's so wearable, subtle, and squishy. Perfect for when I used to have to worry about work appropriate nails. I just realized I also used this polish in my African Violets mani. Apparently it goes really well with flowers! I am halfway through my bottle (that is rare for me!), which makes me sad.

I did all of the shapes with my dotting tools. I think I used three different sizes. I started with one big flower on each nail. I really liked how it looked at that stage, but I wanted to continue to experiment. So I just added a bunch of randomness all over.

I guess this is what you'd call a "skittle" mani, with something different on each nail.

What I used:
OPI No Bees Please- sheer cream/nude with pink microshimmer
OPI Nantucket Mist- dusty rose with touch of coral
Sephora by OPI Give Peace a Chance- yellowy peach
Sephora by OPI Tweet You Later- light pink mauve
Zoya Bevin- sage green
Zoya Caitlin- purple gray
Jenna Hipp Hashtag- peach

What do you think? Which season do you think this represents the best?

31DC2013 Day 14: Flowers

This is only my third go at floral nails.  My very first nail art manicure was floral, and well, it was my first time. My second attempt was my Days of Stripes and Roses, which is still one of my favorites. The roses were fairly easy, especially since I followed a tutorial. This time I wanted to try something I haven't seen before. something more challenging, to really test my skills. Well, as you can see, they were really tested! But now I feel like I have that much more experience under my belt.

Today's floral theme was inspired by one of my favorite flowers, African Violets. Or more correctly, (as I just found out), Saintpaulia. I'm pretty sure I'll never call them that. It doesn't sound nearly as exotic. Kind of like how I will only call Amaryllis, "Naked Ladies", because it's way more fun.

One of the challenges here was to decide on the arrangement. Since they grow in a group, I wanted to have at least some representation of that. I felt it would look too busy to have that on every nail. So I spread them out and did more of a close-up on the other nails.

I've been having a lot better luck avoiding shrinkage with my Seche Vite top coat lately. Last night though, it screwed me. I had the polish around my cuticles at a perfect edge. Then overnight they shrank and left it wonky. I know, nail problems.

These flowers remind me of home. Not in Africa.. we just always had these in our house.

What I used:
OPI No Bees Please- white/nude micro shimmer base
Essie DJ Play That Song- purple
Jenna Hipp I Can Afford It- darker purple with blue shimmer
Barielle Banana Drop- yellow
It's So Easy Stripe Rite- black
Seche Vite top coat

p.s. Sorry for my nasty cuticle, I had a little accident. If I was more deft with my photoshop skills, I would have fixed it.