Revlon Facets of Fuchsia Funky French

Hi all.

Happy....Monday?

Guess what? I FINALLY have a mani to show you guys that I'm actually relatively happy with!! I took off that Zoya funky french about an hour after posting it because the layers of polish started to seriously bug me. You know how when you have like 8 coats of crap on your nails and they just feel thick and gross and gnarly? That was my dilemma. So I removed it all about 5 minutes before I made an hour drive to visit boyfriend for the weekend, and was stuck with nakey nails.

Nekkie nails are not fun for me. I hate the texture of them. They always feel like they're going to break at any second. That's why I like to always have them polished - they just FEEL stronger. So after D left for work on Saturday night, the very first thing I did was sit down and do my nails (yes.... I may have brought a bottle of polish and top coat with me....). Mind you, this is a house full of men. So I sat down on my knees and polished my nails on his end table. No clean up, no cuticle cream....nothing. But I sat down, and put on two coats of China Glaze Gothic Lolita. And it was grand - I didn't feel like every nail was going to splinter into a thousand pieces anymore! But.... it was just so....BORING!

So yesterday, after we celebrated Father's Day, I sat down and did another funky french. For this one, I cut pieces of tape on a diagonal and placed them in the center of my nails. I used a coat of Revlon Facets of Fuchsia over top of the tape, and boy do I love the way these two colors go together!

Can you believe I've never used this bottle of Revlon Facets of Fuchsia?! I mean....ever. I've used Mom's bottle of DL Bad Romance, but never used this one. What a mistake that was, because I love this! I thought it needed a little more pizazz, so I added some silver lines with a striper brush. But in retrospect, I wish I'd just left them off. It was much sharper before I put the striping polish on, and the Kiss striper I used was so old and think and glumpy that I couldn't get a crisp line. Le sigh. I still like the way it looks :)

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend, back to the grind today :(

Memorial Day Water Marble

Guys. GUYS.

It's an exciting day in the Brown household. Why, you ask? Wellll..... I FINALLY managed to do a half-way decent water marble. HUZZAH! AND...

Wait for it....

I got a BRAAAAND NEWWW CAAAAR!! (I hope you said that in a "Price is Right" voice....because I did...) I know right?! DOUBLE HUZZAH!! I'M SO FLIPPING EXCITED!!

I'd been driving an old 2001 Sunfire since high school, and well, suffice it to say... poor little Sunfire was on his dying bed. And since I just recently got a job with my degree, I figured now's as good a time as any. Pardon my excitement, I just had to share with someone :)

Look at that sweet pimp-mobile...

Ok, I suppose you guys came here for a mani. Right?

For whatever reason, I decided I really wanted to do a [successful] water marble. If you guys have been following this blog for some time, you'll know that we both SUCK at water marbling. It's just..... not something that comes easily to me. But this time... I was on a mission! I sat down with my colors and experimented. And guess what? It only took me....

TWO FREAKING HOURS TO DO. I kept having to redo fingers and the whole freaking process is just way too time consuming and WAY too messy. But it came out....decent...so I guess that's okay. Props to you guys who make awesome water marbles because... I just don't get it. It seemed like sometimes the polish dried WAY quicker than other times. And I couldn't get any decent designs carved into the polish and ugh..... it was so frustrating. The colors in this are Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, Sinful Colors GoGo Girl, and China Glaze First Mate. Topped with China Glaze Fairy Dust. (DUH.)

/le sigh. I'm hopeless at water marbling.

Do you ladies in the States have any plans for Memorial Day? I do I do! I finally get a day off so we're having a little cookout with family :)

I hope you all have a safe and fun holiday!

Wet n Wild It's All In The Cut - Glitterbomb!

Hi all!

I don't have any nail art for you today, but I do have an awesomesauce glitterbomb to showcase! You may or may not know by now... that after I have nail art on for a while, I long for the days of simple (for me) manicures. It's like clockwork - after having a mani on with nail art, I do something simple for my next mani. This is simple....by my standards! I doubt most people would say an obnoxious holographic glitter is simple. But what kind of blogger would I be if I used things like NUDES and light pinks on a daily basis?! A boring one. That's what.

This is two coats of China Glaze Gothic Lolita. I totally could've worn this alone, it's so pretty! It's a medium purple with the slightest bit of shimmer. I topped with two coats of Wet n Wild It's All In The Cut, a light purpley pink holographic glitter - reminds me a lot of OPI Teenage Dream (one of my all time favorite glitters).

This is going to be quite the distraction in the coming days at work... I can't stop looking at my glittery nails! I wish I could showcase the holographic effect better, but when I took these pictures the sun was going down :( You'll just have to trust me when I say that it looks amazeballs.

Now I ask you this,

What's your favorite glitter polish? Let us know in the comments! Have a great day :)

Essie French Affair Accent Nail Mani

Hello ladies! Hope you all had a good weekend.

This mani is something I saw whilst perusing around on Pinterest. Sadly, I didn't repin the mani (because the iPhone app for Pinterest sucks) so I don't have the original source or picture of it. SO! If you've seen it floating around, lemme know and I'll add in credit where credit is do. 'Cause that's the cool thing to do, yo.

Edit: THIS is the original post!

This is 3 coats of Essie French Affair (do I even need to talk about me and my relationship with Essie or are you guys aware of that by now? You're probably aware... I mention it every time I use an Essie polish. But I digress...). The silver accent fingers are two coats of China Glaze Midnight Kiss topped with one coat of OPI DS Coronation and one coat of Sinful Queen of Beauty.

Blingy!

I just love the look of accent nail manis. They are so so simple to do, and I always get compliments on my nails when I do them. What do you guys think of the bling-tastic accent nail manis?

Have a great night!

Brownstone bling!

Hi guys, happy Friday :)

Today I'm showing you a blingalicious mani that I did over the weekend. I wish I had something newer to post, but my first week at my full time job has been killing me. I'm soooo tired :P

This is two coats of China Glaze Brownstone (I love this color, yadda yadda, you've all heard it before...) and three coats of Sally Hansen Golden Ticket on the ring fingers.

I liked this one! It was so simple but nice and flashy and eye-catching at the same time :) I'm sorry I don't have more to say, I'm kind of brain fried by now. But I hope you all have a great weekend! :)

New Years Eve Mani - Gradient Stars

Hi all. I know I know, it's been a bit since one of us has posted. But the holidays are crazy busy and I just couldn't find time to do my nails or get any posts up! Sorry about that :)

Since Christmas is over, I have to start on my new holiday to create nail art for -- New Years! Even though I'll probably only get two designs in ;)

I started with a base of China Glaze Cheers To You. Then I sponged on China Glaze Skyscraper on the tips. A coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (duh) and some hand painted and Konad stamped stars complete this look! Pretty easy really.

Did you all have a lovely Christmas? What was your favorite gift? I got the Naked palette! From my dad! That was a shocker! Hope you're all having a fabulous week.  We had our first snow of the year here in Indy! First snow of the year.... on December 27. Crazy!

Matte Party Hearty Glittery Goodness

Hi ladies. It's been a while since I've posted it seems -- I've been completely swamped with work. Working in retail around Christmas season is hell, I've learned. I have gained so much respect for people who like working retail because I clearly am just not cut out for it. I've been working pretty long shifts the past few times I've worked, and when I get home I'm so exhausted and irritated that the last thing I want to do is do my nails. The couch beckons.

On top of that, I had the stomach flu today. I woke up Sunday night/Monday morning with stomach cramps so bad I thought my appendix was rupturing! Bah, not fun. But don't worry, I am feeling better and have prepared a post for you girls. Yes, I will stop rambling :)

I wasn't really feeling up to doing any nail art tonight, but I still wanted to be festive. Sadly though, I don't have many greens and I've been doing reds all month it seems! So I settled on China Glaze Watermelon Rind. It's not exactly a Christmas green as it has kind of a blue undertone, but I actually think it turned out really nicely in this mani.

I had to use three coats of WR -- the formula was really watery and it kept flooding my cuticles. Drat! Then of course, I had to be festive and put on a coat of China Glaze Party Hearty. I sealed with a coat of Seche Vite....but something more needed to be added. But what!?

I decided to channel my inner Polished Perfectionist and mattify the glitter. Oh how I love this!! I have always liked matte nails but for some reason I always forget about my Matte Magic so I don't wear them nearly as often as I would like. I just can never think to use it!

I did notice that using a coat of SV before the MM seemed to make the matte look much better. Every other time I've used MM it looks a little streaky, but I think the Seche Vite did the trick.

This is so simple and easy, but I am digging it! Festive and cheery, don't you think?!

Hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas week with friends and family, and remember, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

Color Club Holiday Splendor

I think Amanda and I swatched this holiday line way back when in late October or early November but I haven't had a chance to wear it as a full mani until now.  And I was really missing out because this is truly a spectacular color.

I used one coat of Color Club Perfect Molten as a base - it is a light green foil and you can find it under the Color Club tag on our blog.  Then.. over the top I applied Holiday Splendor.  It's pretty in the bottle but on the nail is where it really shines.  My bottle is a little thick so I had to be careful with application (I left my thinner behind in the move, gotta pick up a new bottle)- but look at the holo goodness in this poilsh - oh my gosh!  I have a feeling I'll be holding my hands up to the sunlight today to drink in the beauty of this one.

Some of the pictures are left intentionally blurry to show off the holographic glitter.

Wow.  I love this one.  I'm glad I wore it before the holidays were over.  It reminds me of a Christmas wreath!

Eyegasm: Holiday Glitterbomb

Hi guys! Today I have an AWESOME layering combo to show you guys!

I received Wet n Wild Rockin Rubies from Steph the other day as a Secret Santa present! Rockin Rubies is part of Wet n Wild's Ice Baby collection. She also sent me the pinkish purple one and the teal one as well as some other fun goodies which I will be showing you throughout this week!

I started with two coats of China Glaze Brownstone which is one of my most favorite colors from this entire year. It's a brownish reddish burgundy creme and I LOVE it. Then I used one coat of Rockin Rubies on top and....omg. It's pretty much awesomesauce. I recommend big-ulating these pics to see the sparkly goodness!

Rockin Rubies is a red microglitter with holographic particles in a sheer-ish red base. I LOVE how RR over Brownstone looks. If you look at swatches of RR on it's own, it looks a little.....dull, but here it just looks so amazing!

In the shade!

I stared at this ALL day at work on Sunday. The only bad thing about this is that it's a top coat sucker upper... I used two coats of Seche Vite and while it's pretty much smooth, it still dried to a duller finish than I'd anticipated. It looked AWESOME when the SV was still shiny but, ah well, it's still so shiny and sparkly and glitter-tastic!!

I can't wait to use the other two polishes I received! Hopefully I can come up with some equally awesome glitterbombs :)

Have a great day ladies! Happy Tuesday!

Christmas Mani -- Cute Santa

Hi all! I'm so excited to start Christmas manis EEE!! I played around with my nail wheels last night and came up with some cute ideas so I sat down and did this one for today. It's an adorable chunky Santa!

I started with two coats of China Glaze Starboard. This is an awesome Christmas green in my opinion. Maybe a little light, but it worked for this mani :) Here is a swatch of Starboard in case you've yet to see one....unlikely.

Then I painted all nails except for my middle fingers with China Glaze Party Hearty. I told you I was going to make up for lost time by using this all the time! I love it. It's just so festive!

Chunky Santa was made with acrylic paints and that's it. Pretty simple really. Voila!

Day 19: Galaxy Nails

Galaxy nails! I've wanted to do these for a LONG time and now I had my chance! Yay!!

I started with a base of two coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather. Then I sponged on Orly Sweet Peacock, Sally Hansen Barracuda, Sally Hansen Pink Blink and a yellowy green Wet 'n Wild (can't remember the name right now).

After that, I made dots using Zoya Purity then used one coat of Orly Shine On, Crazy Diamond (obviously named by a hippie). Seal with a topcoat and you're good to go!

I am loving these galaxy nails and I am loving even more how EASY they were to do! Just a little bit of sponging, some tiny microglitter and you're done! I'll definitely have to try this again with some different colors because I looooove the way this turned out. I don't want to take this one off! :(

Do you guys like galaxy nails? Or are they too "out of this world" for you? BAZINGA!! I slay me :)

Day 18: Half Moons

Hello ladies!

At this point in the challenge, I am starting to feel a bit tired. Tired, uninspired....you name it. I sat down to do half moons with literally NO idea of where I wanted to go with the mani -- let me just tell you about my nightmare with half moons.

First, I wanted to do white moons with Zoya Phoebe. So I applied the white, put a coat of SV over and waited about half hours to use the reinforcement holes. Apparently it wasn't long enough because it pulled all the polish off. So, I removed it. Then I tried gold moons and attempted at freehanding the black over it. THAT didn't work either because they were so uneven (I obviously have a problem with patience). FINALLY, I was at my wit's end. I decided I'd just do a base color and wait until the next day to add the top color over the moons. And finally, success!

I started with two coats of Orly Star Spangled. Can you say LOVE?? I can! Love! It's no different than Ruby Pumps or Ruby Slippers...but I don't have either of those so I was like a kid on Christmas when I put this on. EEEE! Here's some pics of it alone. Because I'm sure you've NEVER seen a red glitter before. /sarcasm

Seriously though. Just enlarge that sucker!

I left it on overnight, and applied the reinforcement holes over top the next day. (I was so sad to cover up this beauty). I found that it is MUCH more hassle-free to wait until the polish has completely dried and cured before you put the reinforcements on. Just a little tip courtesy of your friendly nail neighbor ;)

Oh, the black is Ulta's Little Black Dress. Love!

I think this combo is so sexy and fierce. Makes me think of Dita von Teese a little. :) What do you guys think? Are you a fan of half moons?

Day 17: Glitter (China Glaze Party Hearty vs. Snowman Christmas glitter) [pic heavy]

Hi guys! Today I have something fun for you for glitter day -- CHRISTMAS GLITTER!!!

And no, it is NOT too soon to start using Christmas glitter...they are starting Christmas sales and playing Christmas music at the mall I work at so :P

So...funny story. Mom picked up Party Hearty for me LAST year when the 2010 China Glaze holiday collection was out. So I had it with me at school, but didn't want to use it until closer to Christmas. So I go home for the holidays and lo and behold, I forget PH in my apartment at school. Sadness ensued since I never got to use it (it was unused until today!) and now I guess I'm making up for lost time. But I thought it would also be good to show you these two glitters in case you decide you want them for Christmas season :)

The snowman polish is one Mom's boyfriend picked up for me at a Rite-Aid in Boston (thanks Scott!). It it also quite festive and looks a bit similar to Party Hearty so I thought it'd be nice to show you guys a comparison :) Both of these polishes are layered over two coats of Zoya Purity.

Party hearty is red hex glitter, small green glitter and gold microglitter in a clear base. You have to kind of place it on the nail -- it doesn't spread out very evenly. Wait a bit between coats too or else you'll just move everything you put down with the first coat.

The snowman glitter (it has no name) is small round red and green glitter. It's much simpler than Party Hearty, but still pretty and festive :) Snowman polishes are made by the same company that made the Pumpkin polishes for Halloween. I know you can get them at Rite-Aid, and they might carry them at Meijer since they had the pumpkin polishes there, but I'm not sure. Let us know in the comments if you've seen them anywhere else!

Do you ladies have either of these polishes? Which do you prefer -- Party Hearty or the adorable snowman glitter? I think the snowman is so cute... but Party Hearty just makes me squee! It's Christmas in a bottle! I will be using this so much through December that I'm about 99% sure it will replace Fairy Dust for the time being. I'm sorry I abandoned you last year, Party Hearty...

...don't ever leave me. 'Cause I'd find you!!!