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 | 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 | vintage flowers & dots

I got a new phone case a while back from J. Crew, and while searching for a suitable wallpaper for my home screen, I found this photo. 

Inspiration hit, and right when I decided that I wanted create these flowers on my nails, I kept seeing tutorials on my favorite nail blogs popping up for vintage flowers. Globe & Nail, The Nailasaurus, Chalkboard Nails, have beautiful designs that they can take you through step-by-step. Now let me show you how mine turned out.

For the base color on most of my nails I used Zoya Neely, the base color on my ring fingers is OPI My Vampire is Buff. For the flowers I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Essie DJ Play That Song & Cascade Cool and Ciaté Mojito. 

Not that bad for my first try! I will definitely try this again until I get them looking as good as the ladies from these other lovely blogs have done.

Has anyone else attempted the vintage flower look?

polish please | summer clouds

I had been wanting to try this design for a while, but never had enough courage until... NOW. There are so many great tutorials out there like this one, and this video. I have no idea what I was so worried about, this cloud design is really easy. One of those designs that you can actually reproduce on your non-dominant hand and be able to show people without cringing. 

I still had some of my Zoya minis that I hadn't worn, and thought that these bright, warm colors would look just lovely together. Starting from the left I have Zoya Audrina, Pippa, Arizona, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls {accent nail base}, and Shelby.

Super easy, bright, and fun. I really loved the way that this looked. The polishes that I used did apply a little thick {a problem that I keep having with the Zoya minis} so dry time was longer than one would hope.

What colors should I try next time?

polish please | blu & yummy

I am loving the Zoya minis that I got a few weeks ago. The pastel colors are really working for me right now. With the addition of OPI Nail Envy as my base coat, this mani has lasted for pretty much forever. This is what I was rocking right up until the wedding. Zoya Blu {lighter} and Yummy {darker}.

I need to do something more with these colors later. I love both of them so much, and and so happy that I got all of the minis when I had the chance. The only drawback with these polishes is that they go on a little thick. 

Just love these colors together... what else should I do with these babies?

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 | fancy french

Oh Blogger, how I have missed you. It has been almost two weeks since my last post. My bad. There has been a lot of things going on in our lives lately. Wedding planning is actually starting to get serious. We have booked vendors, mailed invites, put down deposits. This wedding is becoming pretty legitimate. 

We also had some wonderful news yesterday. March 15th was the day that medical students around the county found out what internship/residency program they had been accepted into. The school had festivities, and celebrations. I was so excited the night before, that I did not fall asleep until 2:30 am {when I had to get up at 6!}. There has been so much build up to this moment. Four years {plus} of hard work, months of planning, weeks of interviews... and then waiting. Yesterday was match day for thousands of future doctors, and Mike matched at a program that he is completely excited about. I couldn't be happier for him.

Since this week was really all about him, when I sat down to paint my nails the other day, I asked Mike what I should do. He said, "French manicure." To which I replied, "What colors?" His response, "The regular ones." And so it was...

So I rocked this look for all of 14 hours {six of which I slept}. I started with one coat of Essie Sugar Daddy, which I have owned for a while, and have only used twice. I then used the adhesive sticker guides from Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails French Manicure Kit to mark off where I would paint the white tip. You could also use tape, but I was feeling pretty lazy that evening, and the stripes are really simple to use. For the tip color I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. After the white coat dried, I added another layer of Sugar Daddy, and finished with Good to Go.

The next morning I was feeling a little bored with the neutral, simple look, and wanted to jazz it up just a bit. I had just picked up some L'Oreal metallic polishes {on clearance} that I thought would work well for stamping. I used Just Jest Setting and a small striping brush to add thin lines across my nails just below the white tips. This was also a neat trick to getting all nails looking uniform. {I believe I mentioned that I was feeling lazy what I started painting my nails.}

What do you do to add some interest to s classic French manicure?

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 | leopard

I had picked up some more polish at Ulta the other day with the gift card that Mike game me. One of the colors was Zoya Dree, the other was OPI Don't Pretzel my Buttons.

Again, I couldn't wait to use both colors, so I had to use them at the same time. The colors are very reminiscent of camouflage, which I thought about doing, but when surfing the webs I found inspiration on the China Glaze website. This is when I decided to do a leopard mani. I had seen a few that I liked on other sites, and ended up following a tutorial that I found on Chalkboard Nails.

I used my two new colors, China Glaze Liquid Leather, and one of my dotting tools {I used the dotting tool with the smallest points} to create the look. After painting on the base coat and two coats of the base color I added Essie Good to Go fast dry topcoat. The topcoat allows you to work a little quicker, but the mani was a little time consuming. I also practiced on a piece of paper first to work on my shapes, spacing and amount of polish to pick up/ put down with the dotting tool.

I put the contrasting spots on with the larger side of the dotting tool, making random shapes and making sure that they were not perfect. I also made sure to have them "fall off the nail." With the small end if the dotting tool I "framed" the colored spots with black, making sure to have each spot look a little different. I added some extra just black spots in between the colored spots and added more topcoat.  

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!

new years nails 2012

For Christmas Mike got me a wonderful gift; storage for my nail polish, and an ULTA gift card. Even though he HATES the smell every time I change my polish {which this month was a lot}, he is very supportive of my addiction, and the creative outlet it brings. 

I finally got a chance today to stop at ULTA, where I wanted to pick up It's a Trap-eze, but they were sold out! Total bummer I did get to pick up China Glaze Liquid Leather, and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (on sale for $4). And since I could do my original idea of "confetti" nails, I went in a different direction and busted out stamping plates!

I used two coats of Liquid Leather, although it almost covered in one, and used a "bubbly" stamp and Essie Penny Talk to add some champagne bubbles to help ring in the new year. 

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-three | mojito

Day twenty-three, polish and a little nail art, but before I get to that I just have to say that I have the hole place to myself for the evening. I have a few little things to wrap up {literally}, and am participating in one of my favorite Christmas traditions... watching White Christmas!

Now to the nails! The color for day twenty-three was a bright green called Mojito. I wanted to something a little Christmas-y so a added an abstract tree complete with ornaments and tree topper. I used the set of nail art polishes that my sister had gotten for me to draw on the squiggly Christmas tree.

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 eighteen | candyshop

Another caviar mani! I went a little bold for this one and applied the micro beads to EVERY nail. What do you think of this look compared to just an accent nail?

five days of nails

Mike and I went on a mini vacation. Well, I went on a vacation, Mike had interviews for residency programs. So while he was touring, stressing, and impressing, I was scoping out our possible new city of Tucson. I had been to Tucson once before, and what can I say... I hated it. It was a family vacation, and I was at an age where this was the worst thing in the world to be doing. Anyways, more on that later.

While I was gone I was still getting my polish on, but not able to post like I wanted to. So here is a wrap-up of all the days that were missed while I was away.

day twelve | twilight

day thirteen | glass slippers

day fourteen | speed dial

day fifteen | headliner

 day sixteen | big yellow taxi

So that is what you have been missing. And that is what I have been up to. Soon I will post more info on our Tucson trip and some other exciting information that has been brewing.

ciaté calendar day eleven | bumble bee

Day eleven was the second caviar manicure of my lovely advent calendar. This one is named bumble bee. I wore the black and yellow micro beads with the color from day ten ladylike luxe. The beads are fun for the first half of the day, but when you work with your hands and the beads start falling off, it doesn't take long until you start picking them off one-by-one.

They are super easy to apply, and are a fun look. They are perfect for wearing just for the day.

ciaté calendar day ten | ladylike luxe

Today's nail post actually involved a little nail art. It came from me not having enough time to re-do a full mani before work today. I'm not complaining at all, because I got to sleep in! It was well worth it, and it turns out that I got a pretty cool mani out of it. 

 I kept the red from yesterday {Mistress} and took scotch tape and placed it diagonally across my nails. On my ring finger and thumb I added the gold closer to my cuticles, and on all others I painted the "Ladylike Luxe" to the tips. I thought that it turned out pretty well, and it only took five minutes {no lie}, five minutes. 

See you all tomorrow!

ciaté calendar day four | caviar pearls prom queen

Day four, and it is my first caviar manicure; this is what I have been waiting for. The mani was way easier than I thought that it would be. I used the day one color, cupcake queen, to pair with the prom queen caviar micro beads on my ring fingers. I am super nervous that the beads are going to fall off in a hot second, but they look so cool. So to get this look going you paint your base coat and first coat of color per usual. Then nail by nail paint the second coat and pour the beads over the wet paint immediately {remember to do this one nail at a time}, tap off the excess beads and lightly pat the beads to the nail. To finish it off add a top coat just to the tip on the nails. I did this at first, and then I thought that I would try to add the top coat to the whole nail, do NOT do this. The top coat smeared the colors from the beads all around, and looked hideous! So I took the beads off and re-did my ring fingers. 

Enough blabbing, this is how it turned out:

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!