NOH8 (Contest Entry)

Hey girlies. I don't have much to share today since I completely failed a nail design yesterday. I know, I know. I'm usually a few days ahead with my nail designs but I was working on something for a nail art contest! So, that's what I'm going to share with you today. First off, I'm sorry for the zombie claw I have going on in this picture ... I had to get my thumb since it was part of the design. I promise not to bite!!

These nails were done for an LGBT nail art contest hosted by Kyoti's Nails. This contest runs until June 30th so you still have time if you want to enter. The rules are pretty simple. They include (check here for full rules): It has to be your own work, and you have to do your nails for this contest. The idea can be old but you have to repaint it specifically for this contest. There has to be some form of nail art used; you can't use full nail stickers or one color (rainbow ombre, for example, is acceptable). And there will be two winners!! One for 'amateur' and one for 'advanced'.


To see all the entries and vote on your favorite go to Kyoti's Facebook page: look in the photos ... there's an album just for the entries. Voting on the Facebook page will not decide the winner but will be taken into account during judging. Go check out the entries! There are so many great nail artists entered so hopefully you'll find someone worth voting for. :)

Happy Ugly Tie Day

Hey everyone! Happy Father's Day ... or rather ugly tie day.

We don't do much for Father's Day in our family since we're a bit ... different. I have my mom and my bonus dad. That's our family's word for step.

So, my bonus dad gets a card and a gift. We also go to my bonus grandparents house for lunch. Today we're having hotdogs on the grill with homemade Chili sauce and sides.

With such a simple day I decided to keep my nails simple too.

I started out with three coats of white polish and drew the 'shirt collar' on with black. For the ties I used a dotter and my thin nail art brush. It is such a simple design that my family really enjoys.

That's it for this post. I hope you all have a great day if or however you celebrate.

Feature Friday

Hey everyone! I hope you guys are having a great day. I think I have finished moving things around on the blog for now but if there's anything you'd like to see different let me know. :)


I can't believe how quickly this week has flown passed, but it's Feature Friday again! Today I bring you an awesome gradient mani by Holy Manicures.

Holy Manicures does some really great nails. I was actually going to feature her Cow Nails, but I've been in love with this gradient from the moment I saw it. I'm obsessed with neons, and I don't think you can ever go wrong with glitter. I'm also becoming increasingly fond of gradients manicures, so these nails hit on all my favorites.

I think I've done everything possible to express my love of these nails. I have them in my favorite nails bookmarks, I've pinned them, I've even shared them with my family, and now I've shared them with you!

So, please take a moment and visit Holy Manicures' blog and gaze upon her awesomeness. Leave some nice comments and let her know she's loved!!

These nails are not mine. This is simply a feature post in an attempt to give another blogger some love.

Fashion Inspired

'ello girlies. Check out the Under Construction post if you're wondering if you found the right blog. I'm just making a few changes. However, that's not what today's post is about. Today's mani is fashion inspired.

I caught a glimpse of a dress on television last month or maybe the month before. I can't find a picture of it sadly, but I'll do my best to describe it. It was a black and white striped dress that had a sort of veed slit up the back. The vee was filled with this beautiful red fabric. I was immediately hit with inspiration and sketched out both the dress and a nail design.

Don't mind the claw. I didn't want to take the chance of smudging my nails by holding anything.

I finally remembered to get a work in progress picture. I always forget these pictures since I zone out while doing nails. It's almost a form of meditation for me. For these nails, I used three coats of white polish before using a 'V' cut piece of tape. Once they were taped, I used black polish to draw the stripes. After that it was simple to use three coats of an awesome shimmery red polish to fill in the vees after removing the tape. Before adding the red you can touch up your stripes if they're jagged. I was feeling shaky while doing these so I used a small flat brush to dab on the stripes. This left the edges slightly jagged in places but going back through and touching up what I could, filling in what I couldn't with more white, fixed that right up!

That's all I have for you today. I saved my favorite picture for last. Not sure why I like this one so much, but I do. It might be because I took it at a different angle than usual. Variety is always good. :)


Polish Used

• China Glaze - White on White
• LA Colors - Black
• Orly - Star Spangled

Under Construction

Some of you may be noticing a few changes around the blog. While I adore the template I started this blog with, I want to change a few things to finally make it my own. Things may be a bit messy for a few days as I get everything settled. I'll be trying out a few different headers, getting rid of some of the sidebar clutter, and giving the blog a sleeker design ... I hope.


I'm not the only one who has to look at this blog, so any thoughts you might have on these changes is welcome! You can use the comments section or email me if you don't feel comfortable leaving your thoughts in the comments. I hope we can settle on something we all can enjoy. :)

Purple Cameo

Hello girlies. I was set not to post today as I was supposed to be in Connecticut by way of New York and the Statue of Liberty but those plans have been put off to a later time. So, I bring you what I think of as Vintage Inspired: Take Two.

I bought Sally Hansen's Lacey Lilac for my Mother's Day nails, but I've become pretty taken with it. It's such a great shade of light purple, exactly the shade I reach for when I go for a lilac. Everything loses its shine after a time, so using NYC's matte top coat, Matte Me Crazy, really turns these nails vintage.

The cameo is hand-painted using the 'DIY nail art stickers' method. It's something I found on Youtube a year or more ago but only used a few times. I prefer hand-painting straight onto my nails but with something like this that needs a lot of precision it's a good fallback. I definitely recommend it if you have trouble painting your non-dominant hand or even if you're not too artistic, because you can print out a small design and trace it with this method.

The peals used in this mani come from the Born Pretty store. This is where I buy most of my nail art 'pretties': things like pearls, beads, studs, and rhinestones. My very first order through the store included these pearls. They are great because they come in three sizes: 4mm, 3mm, and 1.5mm. The pearls used in this design are the 1.5mm pearls. You can also buy a wheel of 1.5mm pearls in various colors. I have yet to try them, but they look so pretty! The Born Pretty store doesn't just carry nail art decorations or even just things dealing with nail art either. You can find cosmetics, really awesome contact lenses that I intend to buy at some point, hair decorations, jewelry, and much more. The prices are stunning and all with free shipping!!! If you haven't checked them out yet I definitely recommend taking a browse through. I'm sure you'll find something you just have to have. I know I do! So much that I keep a list of things I want between orders so I don't forget something.


Be sure to check out their specials for sales. Also, look into their Rewards Program. You earn points for each order, posting reviews, and uploading photos. These points translate to money that you can use in your orders. Use up to 1000 points ($10.00) with each order. Depending on your order you might just get it completely free!!

Sun Worshiper

Hello girlies! I hope everyone is having a great day. I know I am. I'm so excited to share this polish with you today.

Today's post is a China Glaze color swatch for Sun Worshiper. I'm not sure how I missed Sun Worshiper or the Poolside collection the first time around but Sun Worshiper was recently posted for sale on Sally Beauty. I've been longing for this polish for weeks, even ordered it at the end of April but it was cancelled due to sell out. I was so, so disappointed when I got the email that my order had shipped without Sun Worshiper. However, I saw it was back in stock last week and hurriedly tossed a few things into my cart and placed another order. Well, it arrived last Monday and I couldn't be happier!

I was stunned speechless when I saw Sun Worshiper in person. It was even more amazing in person than any of the blog pictures I found could ever show!

The first thing I noticed is that it is so bright! I knew it was neon but this is beyond amazing. It's like some kind of radioactive material contained in a polish bottle. Sun Worshiper is a stunning neon orange. It has a tint of yellow to it though like the bright yellow orange of a marigold.

I found this picture on Flickr and I think it just captures the color beautifully.

I'll say again, neons are always brighter over white. My pictures of Sun Worshiper are over two coats of China Glaze White on White. And I still needed three coats of Sun Worshiper.

Sun Worshiper is very sheer! I know I read this on many blogs before I purchased the polish, however I didn't understand just how sheer. Most bloggers aren't like me. When they do a swatch they use just the featured polish on their nails. I never use a neon until I have two to three coats of white down first, so I thought it would work a bit better. And it did ... with two coats of white as a base I didn't get a VNL. However, it still took three fairly thick coats of Sun Worshiper to cover the white. I couldn't be happier though. Over white Sun Worshiper is ten times brighter!! I didn't get a bad picture of these nails. It took forever to choose which ones I wanted to use.

Another thing to remember is that neons usually dry fairly matte. Sun Worshiper is no exception, so you'll want to have a high shine top coat on hand when using this polish. Remember to add a coat of top coat every other day to keep your nails shiny and chip resistant.


Will Sun Worshiper be on your list of must have neons for this summer?