Monthly Nails + Pick of the Month - February

Hi, everyone!  It's time for my monthly nails again.  I've only got two this month - both from the same brand :/.  I guess I did more nail designs than planned :)...

This one turned out much darker than expected!  It's e.l.f. "Party Purple".  Not the most stunning of all colors, but a nice deep, dramatic purple.













This one is a beautiful nude color.  It's again by e.l.f in the color "Nude".  I love the color - I haven't tried nude polishes like this much but I really like it!  My reaction to this brand is not too good, though.  Although I've only tried it out twice, e.l.f nail polishes did not turn out the best.  They went on the nail kind of patchy (do not attempt two coats, or it will look even more patchy - do one thick coat) and did not last long at all!  After one day there were several chips.  But I did not expect wonders with this brand - e.l.f. polishes run around $2 a piece.  Very pretty colors, though.

The pick of the month is not too hard for me... e.l.f. "Nude" is a perfect natural color.  It really sparked an interest in me for nude polishes like this.  I think it looks great - it makes your nails look better and "polished" but isn't something too bold - although it is fun to use bold, bright colors sometimes :) Hope you enjoyed!     

Valentines Hearts

Hi, everyone!  I'm back again with a Valentines nail design.  Really cute, and I thought I would share it with you all...

It turned out really adorable and girly! :) I used one of my favorite pearly-pink polishes (China glaze "Exceptionally Gifted") on all of my nails and then used a small dotting tool (a toothpick would work fine, too) and dotted some open hearts (with a lilac polish) randomly on my nails.  Hope you liked this!
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Also, an update from the last post - I mentioned on my last blog post "Winter Frost" that the design lasted "forever", I think I might know the trick.  I've been trying out a new base coat and top coat and the last two times I used it were with the Winter Frost design and this one - this design is holding up really good, too!  So I'm thinking I found the perfect base and top coats - we'll see.  I'll have to do a lot more experimenting first, though.  I will definitely give you an update on that in the future.   

Winter Frost

Hi, everyone!  I have a new winter design!  It's very simple and uses a technique which I love to do.

You could do this design with any colors you'd like, but I chose a purple-blue and a frosty pink.  It turned out really great and reminded me a lot of a snowy winter night.  I used a purple-blue to paint on all of my nails (China Glaze "Bizarre Purple"), then I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in "Champagne Toast" (a favorite) and cleaned off both sides of the brush on the side of the bottle and painted it roughly half way up my nail.  I used the pink again after the first coat's dry but didn't clean the brush off as well and painted it just on the tips.  I'm not sure whether it was the polish I used or that I just painted more on the tips of my nails, but this has lasted me forever without a chip!  You definitely need to try this one out!   

Monthly Nails + Pick of the Month - January

Hi, everyone!  I have a new monthly post for you - "Monthly Nails".  I've made a new years resolution to paint my nails every weekend, whether it's just one color or a new design.   So, at the end of each month (or beginning of the next month) I will do a blog post of all the one-colored nails I've done that month.  That way, I can give a little review on each nail polish.  So, you will be seeing about 3 or 4 different "nails" on each of these blog posts.  Also, I will do a "pick of the month" on each of these posts - my favorite nails that I've done that month.  Hope you all will enjoy these monthly posts!  Here it is...

The first weekend this month I used Finger Paints "It's Baroque".  It's a brown with a little bit of a green undertone.  It doesn't sound that pretty, but it really was as it kind of changed color in the different lighting.  It was fairly opaque - I still used two coats as I usually do.  It stayed on an average amount of time before chipping a little - 2 days or so.

  











Next is Orly "Synchro".  Beautiful!  A pinky-purple with a blue undertone.  Again, fairly opaque.  Stayed on an average amount of time, too.

Last is Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in "Pedal to the Medal".   This is one of my favorite lines of nail polish.  Excellent in staying on with no chipping - very tough.  It's, once again, fairly opaque.  This color is very pretty, a metal-like color.

So, for this month's pick of the month I have to go with my last nails - Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in "Pedal to the Medal".  Mostly because it's such a long wearing nail polish.  I put it on Saturday morning and it's still going strong - very unusual.
Hope you enjoyed this!  Feel free to leave a comment on your thoughts.  Here's a link to the nail design I did earlier this month "Mermaid Nails"

Mermaid Nails

Hi, everyone!  Today I have the easiest design in the history of my blog - and it's super stunning!...

I only used one coat of one nail polish!  Amazing, isn't it?  The photo doesn't quite show how stunning it really is.  I didn't know a nail polish could be so opaque with just one coat.  It's become my new favorite - China Glaze "Deviantly Daring".  It's a beautiful duo-chromed teal-blue.  Perfect mermaid nails!    

New Years Nails

Hi, everyone!  Happy New Year!  2013 is here, and I have a new nail design...

I thought it was pretty festive with the faded, sparkly, black tip.  I used a nail kit I got for Christmas with some different polishes to make this, but you could just use your own.  It had a shimmery white to paint all over the nails and then a grey to paint on the tips (about 1/3 from the tip).  Before the grey dries, paint on a sparkly black polish about 1/2 way up the nail.  Hope you enjoyed - great for parties or any other special event.

Christmas Nails

Hi, everyone!  Merry Christmas!  I did this really neat nail design idea from cutepolish - only I changed it a bit... Christmas trees!...

Really festive and pretty!  I used some red polish on my nails and then painted the tips with some gold glitter.  I made a Christmas tree on my ring fingers by drawing an outline of a triangle and filling it in with green polish.  For the Christmas tree lights, I used a glitter polish with some festive colors (red, green, silver).  And, finally, for the star (gem) on top, I painted a top coat on my nails and, while still wet, stuck on a silver gem.  Hope you liked this!  Happy Holidays!