Nail Art: Grass in the Shade

Hi everyone! It's a simple nail art that I did, and I love how it turned out! I am thinking of doing variations on the design if you all like it. All I used was Sally Hansen Opulent Cloud and Art Deco Black. I just tried to make as straight of lines as I possibly could, it looks almost oriental to me. What do you all think, do you like it half as much as I do?

NOTD: Extreme Pink French

Hey everyone! Today I wanted to share a quick mani that I did last week, which I think turned out kind of cool. I love the soft pink frosty base with the creme hot pink on the tips. I used Sally Hansen Rose Gold Opal as the base color and Art Deco Intense Pink for the tips. I love the bright tips for summer, neons just make me feel happy and sunny. Do you like it or do you think that I should have used a different color as the base?

Nail Art: Seaweed or Morse Code?

Hi everyone! I was really inspired by a post by The Daily Nail a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share what I created. I can't decided if it looks like seaweed or morse code.What do you think? I used China Glaze Metallic Muse as the base color and Art Deco Bright Green as the stripes. Please excuse the chipping and horrendous cuticles; it's been a long week. Do you like it?

KOTD: Lace Flip Flops

Hey everyone! I have been practicing my konading and I am slowly getting back into it and getting better at it. I used China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy as the base color, Art Deco Black as the stamping color, and a lace stamp off of the m71 plate. I double stamped the image onto my nails because I thought that it looked cool, which it it does. I think that I will be using more of my lace patterns on my plates, they are so pretty. Do you like the design too?

KOTD: Pool Party Swirls

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing kind of a konad fail, but I loved the concept of it. For some reason I could not get the black to show up as opaque as I wanted it to. This design is really cute though, I will likely be using it again. I used China Glaze Pool Party, Art Deco Black, and the S6 plate. Do you guys like the design? I might try something like this again if you do.

Art Deco: Baby Pink, Bright Green, Green Glitter

Hi everyone! Today I have a batch of Art Decos to show you all. I am not going to bother to review each and every color individually like I normally do because these are very much the same. I love the brushes on these, they are super thin and relatively easy to control. The colors are very opaque and can even be used to Konad. They are fun colors and you will see them a lot in my nail art. Baby Pink has a frosty finish, Bright Green has a creme finish, and Green Glitter is well, glitter. Enjoy the swatches!

KOTD: Lilypads for Leapfrogs

Hi everyone! I have only recently even begun wearing nail polish again much less using a konad, so I apoplogize that the images aren't perfect and that my cuticles are a hot mess. I used China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada as the base color, Art Deco Black as the stamping color, and I used an image off of the m66 plate. I really love pairing bright neon colors with black, I think that is looks cute! What do you think?

Nail Art: Pink Sky and Gold Stars

Hey everyone! Even though the weather here has been kinda crappy in the past week (snow and rain, even though it should be much warmer), I still want to be able to wear my bright colors and glitter, so I did! I used Essie Forget Me Nots and Art Deco Gold Glitter. This is what I ended up coming up with. I did the stripes on the thumb first and then decided that I wanted to do swoops of glitter on the fingers. It looks a little strange, but I guess like it. I haven't done my nails in well over a month, so I need to get used to doing them again. Maybe it's time to break out the Konading kit, because this is a little sad. I know that I can do better than this, but I need to get back into practice lol! Thank you to everyone who left comments on yesterday's posts, it is great to know that a lot of you are excited that I am back and I am really excited to be back. Have an awesome day everyone!

Nail Art: Neon Stripes!

Hi everyone, today I actually have a manicure for you, yay! Now in case you don't know, it is freaking snowing here again. In fact it is going to snow all week. So to will the bad weather away, I decided on some brighter nails. Now please ignore the horrifying cuticles, it's finals time and I am a chronic cuticle biter. And please ignore the indoor picture because the weather outside is terrible and I can't get god lighting. :( Do you like the new nail shape though? I am not really sure about rounder nails yet, we'll see. I used Sinful Colors Jamboree and Art Deco Bright Orange. I just did stripes, but I like how I varied the stripes. Can you tell I ran out of ideas when I got to my pinky lol? What do you think?

NOTD: Glitter and Neon!

Hi everyone! Awhile back I tried to do this combination to spice up China Glaze Blue Sparrow after it totally chipped on me. I kind of like how weird it looks, I don't know. I will call it "unusual", fair right? The silver glitter is Art Deco Silver Glitter. I will say that it saved me a lot of time from re-doing my nails because I had places to go and things to do! By the way I am loving Blue Sparrow, do you love it too?

Nail Art: 80's Night!

Hi everyone! Today I am bringing you a fun manicure. I was actually just playing around with my polish and I kind of stumbled upon this, and I really like it! It totally reminds me of the 80's. Although I never personally experienced the 80's I sure love the neons and glitter that were quite popular during that time. I used China Glaze Flyin' High, Art Deco Intense Pink, and Art Deco Gold Glitter for this mani; does it remind you of the 80's too?

Nail Art: Pink Palm Leaves!

Hi everyone! It's a quick post today, I am on my way home from my conference, which was really fun! So this is China Glaze Re-fresh Mint and the stripes are Art Deco Baby Pink, I really love how it turned out, it looks like Pink palm leaves! I was very pleased with my placement with the stripes, I think that I might be getting better at using them! I love the pastels too, it reminds me of spring! What do you think?

Nail Art: Pink and Gold Plaid

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing a fun manicure that I did. I was in a nail art mood and I wanted to break out my Art Deco polishes. I did this using Wet 'n Wild Shield, and Art Deco polishes in Baby Pink and Intense Pink. I was surprised at how straight I managed to get the lines to be, as I have pretty shaky hands. I got a lot of comments and compliments about this design when I wore it to class. Do you like it too?

Art Deco: Red, Red Glitter, Bright Orange, and Intense Pink

Hello everyone! Today I am bringing you a review of several Art Deco polishes.

The first on, which you may remember I used quite a bit during my Valentine's Day series, is Art Deco Red. This is a great red striper polish, it is a really classic primary red color and the brush is super long, skinny, and easy to work with. The formula applies very easily and is opaque in one swipe.

The next one is Art Deco Red Glitter. This is such a lovely glitter, this one has a red base color unlike the metallic glitters that have clear bases. This is kind of like the striper version of China Glaze Ruby Pumps, I love it!

The next one is Art Deco Bright Orange. This is an awesome neon red-orange color that I think will be great for summer nail art designs. This is a beautiful color and I can't wait to use it!

Last in this post is Art Deco Intense Pink. I could not get this polish to show up true to color because it has a lot of purple tones, so I apologize. In real life it is much brighter and much more neon, like a dark pink highlighter.
 
Do you buy stripper polishes? What brand do you use?

St. Patrick's Day French

Hi everyone! Today I am doing a St. Patty's Day inspired mani, it is just a green french lol! Nothing too special, but I love St. Patrick's Day so I had to do a couple of manicures to celebrate! I used OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow, OPI Green-wich Village, and Art Deco Gold Glitter. Do you like it? Are you doing anything fun for tomorrow?

So that you are all aware, I (yet again) am going to temporarly stop commenting on other blogs, but I will go back and read/comment on them probably Friday or Saturday. I have a midterm on Wednesday afternoon and 2 more midterms early Thursday morning, and then I have to pack to go home. So I will catch up in the airport lol! I will still be viewing the comments on this blog and answering any questions though. I will also be on twitter once in awhile to keep up, so feel free to tweet me if you would like! :)

Dollar Tree Haul and More!

Hi everyone! I twittered last night about my huge cheap haul and now I want to share it with you. I am a big bargain hunter, I love shopping for a good deal. In fact I got all of this polish for about $20! The first stop I made was a Dollar Tree in a part of town that I rarely visit.

If you have followed this blog for awhile then you know I LOVE my Art Decos for nail art. I found tons at the Dollar Tree and I bought one of every color that I did not already own. I also bought an old-school Maybelline, they had several but this color really caught my eye! From left to right they are Art Deco Red Glitter, Art Deco Baby Pink, Art Deco Bright Orange, Art Deco Green Glitter, Art Deco Bright Green, Art Deco Intense Pink, and Maybelline Two-Timer. The next stops I made were TJMaxx and Walgreens.

I found Sinful Colors Green Ocean at Walgreens and at TJMaxx I found 4 Essie minis and Goldie polishes! The Essies are (from left to right) Essie Ruby Slippers, Essie Rose Bowl, Essie Fearless, and Essie Wrapped in Rubies. They are so pretty! The Goldies don't have names, but there was this neutral set and a pink set available as well. I hope you enjoyed my haul! Tomorrow I will post my swatch of Green Ocean's awesome glitter/flakie goodness!

Nail Art: Olympic-Inspired Nails

Hi everyone! If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably already know how obsessed I am with the Olympics, so of course I had to do a mani inspired by the event! I have closely watched every Olympics since the Sydney Summer Games in 2000. In fact I even live in Salt Lake City, which hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was really cool to watch the opening ceremonies this year because I now know so many people around the world through blogging. When countries would march in, I would think of people that I know in those countries and cheer, it has brought me much closer to the international aspect of the Games. I love it! Do you watch the Olympics too?

I used OPI Alpine Snow, Art Deco Gold Glitter, OPI Sea, I Told You!, Sinful Colors Canary Yellow, OPI Black Onyx, OPI Green-wich Village, and OPI Big Apple Red. It is inspired by the Olympic flag, which I love because it contains at least one color that is on every flag around the world!

Nail Art: Mardi Gras!

Laissez les bon temps rouler! Hi everyone, today is Mardi Gras so I am sharing not only my Mardi Gras nails, but the Mardi Gras tradition as well. I used OPI Green-wich Village, China Glaze Harmony, and Art Deco Gold Glitter.

I am not Catholic, so I do not do Lent, but I do cheat and celebrate Mardi Gras anyway. Much of my family lives in Southern Lousiana so I am hardcore into the Mardi Gras tradition. I used to give presentations on Mardi Gras every year in French classes and such. I won't go through the whole shpeal with you all, but I will share a few fun traditions for those of you who may not know about the holiday. If you have any questions about this holiday at all, just ask, I can probably answer it.

In case you have no idea what this holiday is about (this is the super simple short version), in the Catholic religion people go through a 40 day period called Lent in which they give something up for the 40 day period (like chocolate or ice cream or nail polish lol). Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the day before the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday) and basically you gorge yourself on the thing that you are giving up that day. It is also a day of merriment since Lent isn't meant to be a happy time. So it is basically a day to party!

I want to share with you my King Cake! This is a traditional cake of the Mardi Gras holiday. Everyone at the party has a slice, and in one of the slices of the cake there is a little plastic baby (it is usually hidden in the cake). My grandmother actually express shipped me this cake half-way across America from Baton Rouge Louisiana, so this is very authentic lol. The person who gets the baby hosts next year's party!

Another tradition of Mardi Gras is the parade! I don't have any pictures for you of a parade, but basically it is a line of floats that throw candy and plastic beaded necklaces at the crowd. They play loud music and it is just so much fun! Don't worry, I don't spend my Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street! ;)

Masks are another important part of Mardi Gras. This is me wearing my cheapy mask because I don't have my nice one at school with me. Most Mardi Gras parties used to be Masquerade Balls. Even though we really don't have those today, the tradition of wearing masks is still widely practiced.

I don't want to make this post too long so I will stop there. If you have further questions please ask them to me, I love this holiday, it really ranks up in the top three for me! It is a really important tradition to me, which is hard in an area of the United States that does not really celebrate it, well at least not as hardcore as I do. ;)

Also Lucy, if you are reading this; it is great to see you back! I was very excited to see your comments!

Anti-Valentine's Day: Love Be Hanged!

Hello everyone! How about an Anti-Valentine's Day mani for the big day? I think my favorite nail here is the heart noose, isn't it fitting? I used China Glaze Flying Dragon as the base and Art Deco Black and White for the ropes. Do you like it? What are you all doing for the big day, any fun plans? Or maybe you are like me, and are too busy studying to do anything lol.

If you love this manicure, go vote for it here! Check out the Polish Bloggers Network's new website as well, it is pretty awesome!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has offered me comfort during this rough patch in my life. I hope that you are all right and that something better will come along for me! I <3 you all!

Valentine's Day: Deconstructed Lace

Hello everyone! Today I am bringing you another fun Valentine's Day manicure. *Please ignore the massive amount of bubbling I got, they appeared after my top coat was applied. I have never had bubbling problems before.*

I decided that I wanted to try multiple stamps on my nails. So I used the lace pattern on the m57 plate over and over again at different angles. I love how it turned out, to me it looks like ripped up lace. I used OPI Alpine Snow as a base, OPI Tutti Frutti Tonga for the pink, and Art Deco Red for the red stamping. Do you think that it looks cool too?