ABC Challenge: Flowers

I ended up doing a flower manicure because my two ideas prior to this were huge FAILS! lol. Yes, and that starts with an F!

Anyways, for this I used a base of China Glaze For Audrey and did a subtle gradient with OPI Fly (Yeah...you see what I did there? ;)) Then added some dried flowers. That seemed too bland for me, so I added some little iridescent sequins around the flowers, and it was perfect. I don't know how well it translates to pictures, but it really looked like flowers floating on sparkling blue water. I went shopping the next day and got tons of compliments on them!

Also, if you ever want to use dried flowers, my tip is to put them on tacky polish and then use a nice thick top coat to seal them on. That works the best. I didn't do that with my index finger (that's always my trial and error finger)...I had tried putting the top coat on first, then putting the flower on. It ended up falling off. But the rest were sealed in securely.

February Nail Art Challenge: Pattern

Today's theme in the February Nail Art Challenge was to do a pattern, I chose to do an argyle mani! I love love love argyle and knew immediately that was what I wanted to do. Although, next time I think I will make the lines solid instead of dashed.
 

Polishes I used:
China Glaze Sweet Hook
China Glaze Gothic Lolita
LA Colors Nail Art Striper Black

My inspiration: Top Coat It - B & W Argyle Nails

Valentine's Nail Art Challenge: Lace

It's the third day of the Valentine's Day Nail Art Challenge and today we are doing lace manicures. I really wanted to put actual lace on my nails for this, but could never find the perfect piece of fabric for what I wanted. I ended up trying to recreate lace from a tutorial I saw on Pinterest, and this is what I came up with.

My ring finger definitely turned out the best. My index finger looked kinda 'blobby' in some parts. Overall, I thought this turned out well, though. :)

Mardi Gras Nails

Since tomorrow is officially Fat Tuesday, but I already have two posts scheduled, I'm posting my Mardi Gras nails today. I don't personally know anyone that celebrates Fat Tuesday (well, other than to go out to the bar to drink), but somewhere out in blogging world, someone might be looking for some Mardi Gras manicure ideas :)

Polishes I used:
China Glaze All That Glitters
Sinful Colors Exotic Green
Julep Anne
Zoya Creamy

Valentine's Nail Art Challenge: Sweet Treats

Today's theme of the Valentine's Day Nail Art Challenge is Sweet Treats. At first, I wanted to do the conversation hearts, but figured that would be done quite a bit and also I couldn't find a design that I thought I could execute well enough. So, I ended up deciding on a cupcake/polka dot hybrid design. I loved this! When I showed my boyfriend, he said, "That looks very....Hello Kitty-ish." lol!! Well, good enough.

The polishes I used for this mani were Zoya Shelby, Zoya LC, OPI Alpine Snow, and two red rhinestones.

Valentine's Nail Art Challenge: Dotticure

Today is the first day for the 5 Day Valentine's Day Nail Art Challenge hosted by Pretty Polished Pointers. Even though I am already doing two others, none were too demanding, so I figured I would join this one, too.

For my dotticure, I did a cute flower design using dotting tools and some rhinestones. Of course, surrounded by polka dots. :)

Colors I used:
OPI Big Apple Red
Julep Carrie

February Nail Art Challenge: Glitter Loaded

Ahhhhh... Day 3...Glitter Loaded Nails. I really didn't want to just pile a bunch of glitter all over my nails, even though that would be an easy creation. I wanted something cool to look at and wearable, as well. So, I went with a rainbow gradient-ish glitter bomb.

I love how this turned out. It really did look like a glittering rainbow on my fingers.