polish please | summer gradient

Summer is here {and has been here for a while in the Valley of the Sun}, so I decided to try a cool-toned gradient to combat this summer heat. I used a couple of Nicole by OPI shades that created a very subtle gradient from a cool blue to a sea green. First I put down a coat of white and then sponged on the gradient with a triangle makeup sponge. Not bad for my first attempt at a gradient!

What do you think?

polish please | textured polish

My sister picked up some polish for me for my birthday {I hadn't really seen here for about a month... boo!}, one of the wonderful polishes that she picked up was a textured polish. OPI Solitaire that is a beautiful creamy white polish from the liquid sands collection. I wasn't really sold on the whole textured polish craze... until I tried this beautiful polish on my digits. 

I L-O-V-E it! I think that this one little bottle opened me up to a world of trouble. I think that I need to go on a little polish shopping spree.

What do you think? Anyone tried out a textured polish that you love?

polish please | patriotic polish

Happy Independence Day! I hope that everyone is enjoying there holiday. I am enjoying a lazy day at home with the puppy waiting for the hubs to get home from work {he is finally getting to do doctor stuff now!}. 

For the special occasion, I went with some festive polish. Mike suggested red, sparkles and blue! 

The red is China Glaze Ruby Red Pumps, Savina Caribbean, and Essie Set in Stones is the glitter top coat. 

polish please | black & white glitter

I was looking around on the interwebs the other day for a little nail inspiration {Nailspiration? Yep, it could be a word.} and I came along these two posts {here and here} with some awesome polishes that could almost be indie. What is even better than that, is that you can pick them up at Wal-Mart for only four bucks a pop. 

I was feeling a little stressed after work the other day, and new that new polish would do the trick, and help me find my moment of zen. Boy, was I right. I am a sucker for cream based round-glitter-packed polish, as you can see from this post. They are just so pretty {for the first two days} and then the chipping and crumbling step in and they lose a little bit of their luster. 

But look how beautiful they are five minutes after they are dry! Love at first sight.

I painted Hard Candy Sugar Rush {2ish coats} over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls to try to prevent all the chipping that comes along with glitter packed polish. It did help, but wasn't a cure. On my ring finger I painted Hard Candy Black Tie Optional over OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts. That is just one coat with a little fishing to get that one big white hex glitter.

Something cool happened, one of my photos was used (properly) on a nail blog! Just thought that that was pretty neat.

polish please | tanzy arizona

The other day I received my Zoya Color Cuties in the mail, and let me tell you, I was SO PUMPED! I had a FedEx note waiting for me on my door, and was super bummed when the only time the apartment office was open was when I was at work. Boo. So I didn't pick these babies up until Wednesday. They were well worth the wait!

The minis are now sold out, but all still available in full sized bottles on the Zoya website. From top left to bottom right: Pippa, Tanzy, Shelby, Lo, Audrina, Zuza, Gilda, Happi, Arizona, Blu, Neely, and Yummy.

I have had Arizona on my wish list for obvious reasons, and immediately wanted to pair the two oranges for a tone-on-tone effect; his is what I came up with:

This was a very simple tape mani, with a very subtle difference {except for in direct light}. All you have to do is paint your base coat, base color Arizona, then quick dry top coat. Once everything is good and dry {make sure it is very dry so the tape doesn't peel up the polish} cover half of your nail with tape pain on your second color Tanzy, peel to reveal, and add top coat. 

I love the color combo and L.O.V.E. the Arizona! 

Which polish should I try next?

 

polish please | it's a trap-eze

Have any of you ever had your eye on something, and wanted it so badly, but have such a hard time making it yours? This was me until last week. I had seen this amazing polish on Chalkboard Nails {one of my favorite nail blogs} and I knew that I had to have it. So the hunt began. I checked out all my local polish haunts {Ulta, JCP, Sally's Beauty Supply, Beauty Brands} to no avail. I kept checking back once two to three times a week with promises of new deliveries, but every time there was no beautiful creamy white polish with multi color glitter. 

After weeks and weeks of searching the old fashion way, I befriended technology and took my search to the web. Amazon and Ebay had the polish, but man was it pricy! Not only the cost of the polish, but the shipping as well. That is when I finally remembered that I had pinned this polish on my pinterest board from a site that had very reasonably priced polishes. So I ended up snatching up the polish here for only five bucks! Who doesn't love fast, free shipping?

I paired the glitter packed polish with my other latest obsession, OPI Atomic Orange. The polish was a little thick and clumpy from all the glitter, but after two coats of top coat it felt and looked great. What wasn't so great was the almost immediate chipping of the polish, something that I have not experienced since switching to Essie First Base Coat. The densely packed glitter three layers thick may have been the reason for the horrible chipping. Next time I try this polish, I think that I will start with the white base color.

So, do you think that the hunt was worth the find?

polish please | valentines

I went a little crazy this year, and put my Valentines decorations up two days after I took down the Christmas ones. This year you know I had to do more than just red nails. So I did some nail art to wear this week to help celebrate. I have used all of these colors before in a mani that could have been worn for Valentines, but I really wanted to make this scream love, romance, and all that crap. 

Here is what I have been wearing this week...

Like other manis from the past {like this, this and this} I used tape to create both the stripes and hearts on my digits. Instead of using scotch tape like I usually do, I opted for washi tape after viewing a tutorial on The Beauty Department, and I really liked the way it worked out. The great thing about washi tape {masking tape would work just the same} is that I could use the same heart "stencil" multiple times without having to worry about it ripping. I also cut small strips of washi tape for the stripes. I wanted bigger stripes than what striping tape can offer. 

After it was all said and done, I liked it, but would do it differently. In really life, as opposed to blog life, the heart on my ring finger does not show up well unless it is in the right light. My thumb on the other hand {who talks about a thumb like this?}, my thumb heart is AWESOME! I think that I would have painted light pink and dark pink stripes with a glitter heart for better contrast. Oh well, there is always next year! 

Tomorrow Mike and I actually have the same evening off at the same time! Nothing big this year, just dinner and greeting cards, we are saving for a wedding after all. 

What are you doing this year to celebrate?

polish please | Logan

I wanted to show off one of my free Zoya polishes, this one is called Logan {also the name of my little bro}. I had been looking for an emerald green, and I just had to get this one because of the name. I am really glad that I did, because this color is gorgeous.

Emerald is Pantone's "Color of the Year" for 2013, and is in the color trend report for spring seen here:

  

via

 

polish please | little brown dress

Something super-duper excited happened today... my Zoya polishes came in the mail today! Woo-hoo!

https://www.artofbeauty.com/rd/016E3CED

Here are the polished that I chose when I ordered my three free polishes from Zoya to start off this year on the right foot. The colors are Lyric, Logan, and Faye. More to come with these later.

The polish that I have been rockin' for the past few days is  Essie Little Brown Dress. I paired it with a gold glitter alternating the glitter on the tips and cuticles, and completely coated my middle finger. This was very easy to create, and the brown polish actually covered in ONE COAT! Unheard of, I know, that is what made this one of my favorite manis to date. 

 Here is the instagram photo, please forgive the worn tips, this was taken today after the men's floorset. Long day, but so excited to end it with new polishes!

polish please | pink polka dot

I made it through all of 2012 without catching a single cold. Then there is 2013, one day it and I caught what was going on at work. I did manage to paint my nails in between naps, and I used some of the polishes that my mega best friend, Shawna, gifted me for the holidays. 

I used Essie Bachelorette Party as the main pink, Essie Beyond Cozy is the golden glitter, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls is the white, and the light pink is Essie A Splash of Grenadine. I used the opposite ends of a dotting tool to get the different sized dots. 

It feels a little Valentines-y to me, but I really wanted to try the new colors. Thanks mega best friend!

ciaté calendar day twenty-four | enchanted rose

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

I have been wearing this mani since the 24th, but haven't had a chance to post yet. I went straight from work Monday to my grandmother's for Christmas eve. The last day of the calendar was the perfect color for the holiday, and red glitter called Enchanted Rose. I started with two coats of Mistress on my nails, and two coats of white on my ring fingers. I added two coats of Enchanted Rose to the red polish. I evenly spaced stripling tape across my ring fingers diagonally and added a coat of Mistress. Once it was dry I used a striping brush to go over every other red stripe with the red glitter. 

I have to thank Ayn one more time for such an awesome gift; I had so much fun with the advent calendar!

ciaté calendar day twenty-two | sundance

I can't believe that after today there are only two days left of the Ciaté advent calendar. I am a little sad. I loved all the new colors, the polishes are all amazing, and it was really fun to post everyday. Today was the last caviar pearls of the bunch called Sundance.I used Big Yellow Taxi and Headliner to pair with the micro beads.

ciaté calendar day twenty | magic carpet

Today was a very exciting day for probably many reasons, but for me it was because I completed my Christmas shopping! I love that I have everything done before the weekend. Saturday is going to be a day of relaxing, wrapping, and spending time with friends. Thank goodness. 

The polish color of the day was Magic Carpet, a purple glitter that I layered over Cookies and Cream. I did one coat on every nail, and three coats on my ring finger. I also broke a nail at work today {look at that weird shaped middle finger nail!} and had to chop them all down. Sad face.

 See you all tomorrow with my tiny little nails!

ciaté calendar day seventeen | power dressing

Day seventeen is one of my favorite colors so far. It is a very dark, navy blue. I used glass slippers as a topper on my ring fingers. 

I love this combo!

it's the holiday season

The other night {shortly after my last post} the holiday fever caught me, and I have been decorating ever since. It used to be that Mike didn't get into the holiday spirit, but he has come over the the merry & bright side, and even helped me trim our tree. 

When I pulled out the decorations from two years ago {yes I did not put anything up last year for fear that Violet would try to eat it all} I realized that I didn't have that much to work with, so I knew that I needed to find some other items to help deck the halls. I headed to Michael's {it would have been Hobby Lobby if it weren't closed on Sundays}, TJmaxx, Target, and the Dollar Tree. 

When I walked in Target I saw the cutest gift bags right off the bat, and couldn't resist buying one of each with the idea of using them somewhere as decoration. That is when I thought that I should put them in inexpensive frames and hang them on the wall. Here is what I used:

And this is how it turned out. I thought that I would use the frames as-is, but the frames were nothing to write home about. I had some gold craft paint lying around, so I used a paper towel to wipe some paint on the frames. This really jazzed up the dollar store finds; I love that they have a vintage feel. The total cost was $12 for the festive framed prints.

Now this is the tree that my mom got Mike back when he was a little bit of a Grinch. I picked out the silver & black themed ornaments, and Mike picked out the pickle {kinda hard to see in this shot}. It always gets a spot front and center.

The flowers I picked up the poinsettia flowers at Michael's and traded out the Ikea daises seen in the upcycled glasses post.

Both of the table runners are from TJmaxx. The dinning table runner was just purchased this year, and the coffee table runner was from last year when our dinning table was MUCH smaller. The glass bowl was one that I picked up at Ikea for four bucks, and I filled it with ornaments that I picked up at the dollar store.

The best part was enjoying a home made chai latte by the tree.

polish please | a little vampy

I feel like I haven't really posted anything nail related in a while, so I might as well tonight. I love the way that this mani turned out {I cannot stop looking at my nails}. I made an agreement with myself that I would not buy any more polish until I wore everything I own at least once... yeah that didn't happen. 

When I was strolling through Target {always dangerous} I was over in the clothing department {no where near the polish} and there was a gift giving display that had clutches, accessories, and you guessed it, POLISH. I looked around for a little while, and picked up each color carefully looking at it, and then convincing myself that I really didn't need it. I put back one after another, almost like I had will power, until I ran into this gem:

Bobbing for Baubles by Essie. Self-control, shmelvf-control, I NEED this. The love was instant, and into my basket it went. This of course was only a gate way polish; I needed another fix, and off to the polish aisle I went. That is when I made friends with this baby:

Your name didn't lie, you are Beyond Cozy, and beyond gorgeous! I would love to say that I left it here. Two polishes, and out the door, but I did pick up this top coat. That is when I called it a day, and came home to make some magic. This is what I came up with...

In real life {opposed to blog life} it is a little darker, and a little less navy. This could be the easiest color that I have ever applied, it could have almost been a one-coat deal. The glittery goldish-silver also was very nice to apply {I haven't always loved the way Essie polishes apply or dry, but this was such a pleasant surprise}. After I applied the colors to my nails, I thought that there was a little too much contrast between the nails, so I used a little scotch tape to create the glitter triangles to the bottom of my index finger nails.

Not only am I super stoked on my latest creation, I also just got over 1,000 page views here at baileynicoleblogs! Thanks everyone for your interest in my ramblings!